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Category: Middle East Blog
Honorable Peace – and what brought up the idea?
After we had talked a lot about the marked hostilities in the Middle East, especially the competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the determination of the Iranian government to destroy Israel, I could tell a friend of the unique possibility of making peace that life had shown me:
It all began with my second visit to Egypt in 1981/82 when I had my bed directly opposite the entrance to the sanctuary of the Hussein mosque in Cairo, in one of the two apartments owned by the Sufi Sheikh Mohammed Osman in whose spiritual community I then lived for a full year. Every day I had the opportunity to visit the sanctuary and many times I made use of this opportunity, because I wanted to experience the spirit of that place and of its history.
This sanctuary, so it is said, enshrines the head of Sayyidna el Hussein, the son of Ali, the first caliph of the Shiites – who was a grandson of Prophet Mohammed. On October 10, 680, he was killed at Karbala in a battle against a Sunni army.
Not far from the Hussein mosque there is another mosque, the famed Al Azhar whose Grand Sheikh, Dr. Al Tayyeb, is the spiritual head of Sunni Islam. The Al Azhar was built more than a thousand years ago by the Shiite Fatimids, who then ruled Egypt. The Hussein mosque was built two hundred years later, during the crusades.
I also visited Al Azhar many times, but living right next to the Hussein sanctuary, made me feel emotionally closer to Hussein. Still, the fact that these two mosques stand right next to one other I found impressive, especially after I had heard that both had been built by Shiites and that the Al Azhar had since become a symbol for Sunni Islam.
Shiite and Sunni Islam, these two schools of thought, could not have regarded themselves as enemies in the way they do today or else these buildings would not still exist. After all, the second Caliph of the Shiites was a grandchild of the Prophet!
My experiences back then have since become the background to my attempt to find a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict – yet it took 9/11 to motivate me to dig deep into the matter.
After 9/11, I dealt mainly with the question of peace for Israel, which had become virulent after the United Nations divided Palestine, given one part to the Jews who, after repeated persecution in Europe, dearly longed for a state of their own in the area of the biblical Israel.
For the Muslim inhabitants and neighbors this came as a shock, because now, all of a sudden, the immediate vicinity to one of the most holy places of Islam, of al Haram ash Sharif, where Muslims think of Mohammed’s ascension into heaven, became a Jewish state. That radically changed the atmosphere between Muslims and Jews who had been living together peacefully thoughout the thirteen hundred years when the Muslims ruled the area.
During the times of Muslim rule, the Jews had accepted their status as dhimmis, as wards of Islam, easily. For the inhabitants of the state of Israel this was no longer an option. Besides the fact that the new Jewish state had been implanted in traditionally Muslim territory, that state did not acknowledge the superiority of Islam and, therefore, it could not be accepted by the Muslims. Thus, the Muslim neighbors refused to accept the partition of the land by the UN. The Muslim neighbors waged war against this alien implant – but they did not win the war. In the end they had to accept an armistice – which did not lead to peace.
Already in 2001 today’s Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu, formulated his ideas about a possible solution to the conflict in his book “A Durable Peace”. He believes that the deep resentment against the state of Israel, especially in the population of Israel’s neighbors cannot be changed by mere contracts. In consequence, he thinks that a new state of Palestine could never possess the rights of a normal state, because that would entail the possibility that a sovereign state of Palestine might team up with, say Iran, and station Iranian missiles on its territory which could not only call into question the existence of the state of Israel but could even annihilate it. Under such conditions, Netanyahu thinks that the Palestinians can never be accorded rights equal to the rights of Israelis.
While I, too, can see the deep rejection by Israel’s neighbors of the state of Israel as the main reason for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, my conclusions are completely different – because of my experiences during my year in the spiritual community of Sheikh Mohammed Osman in Cairo.
There I could see that by nature Muslims are willing to embrace peace, but such peace must not defile their honor, so that only an honorable peace would have a chance of becoming real peace. This means that peace cannot be imposed on them – as has been the case with all the models of peace which have been presented so far. Peace had to come from the Muslims themselves.
But how could peace with the Jewish state come from the Muslims when that state had in fact been imposed on them? Would that not be self-contradictory?
A truly honorable peace will be possible only if it is not imposed! But how could the coercion which forcefully installed the Jewish state back then disappear? That coercion is a fact of history! How could such a fact disappear?
The coercion could only disappear only if the Muslims could somehow be motivated to offer that territory to the Jews as a gift. But what could motivate the Muslims to present such a gift?
It is not as impossible as it looks. Muslims could, in fact, be motivated to present such a gift by considering the succession of their prophets: Nearly all of the Muslim prophets are biblical prophets. The religion of Islam owes a lot to Judaism! But current hostilities have made men blind to that awareness and pushed it into a dark corner in the background. Yet reality speaks for itself. Muslim authorities can revive the memory. And that would not be manipulation, it would only be the reemergence of reality – not in a sense that could cause feelings of guilt because there is no reason for guilt, but in a sense that would arouse natural gratitude on a scale that would enable the Muslims to present the country the Jews have named “Israel” to them – anyway only a small gift when one remembers the fact that, without the preparatory work of the Jewish prophets, Islam would hardly be thinkable.
And at that point the state of Israel itself could make a contribution of its own: the very name “Israel” goes back to Jacob, the ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob was entangled in a deadly conflict with his brother Esau. Under normal conditions, the reunion between the two meant certain death for Jacob, because his brother was determined to kill him. But meanwhile Jacob was able resolve himself to do something that would have seemed impossible before. Facing certain death Jacob could now see that he had to ask his brother for forgiveness. He did exactly that. He threw himself to the ground before his brother seven times. This gestures which was almost incomprehensible for Esau moved him so deeply that he was now again able to accept Jacob as his brother. The Bible says that for showing the steadfast courage to make that gesture God gave Jacob the name “Israel”, “the one who has fought with God and prevailed”. Thereafter both brothers could live in peace as neighbors.
Today’s Israel would need something of that kind, admitting that the implanting of a Jewish state in this region was a course of action that was necessary for their survival, yet completely unacceptable to the inhabitants of the land, and consequently, that the Jews have every reason to ask the Muslims for forgiveness – just as four thousand years earlier Jacob had every reason to ask his brother Esau for forgiveness. And just as Esau was able to forgive his brother the Muslims will now be able to forgive the Jews, especially if they remember that they have every reason to be grateful to the Jews, because God chose to use the Jewish prophets to open the mind of the prophet Mohammed, thus preparing him for the new revelations of the Koran which he was to impart to him.
An essential role in bringing these facts to the people’s attention will certainly fall to the Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar, Dr. Al-Tayyeb, who has plainly already embarked on that task – first by visiting the Pope in Rome, the location of that great Council which made the deepest, most positive changes to the Catholic church’s attitude towards Islam and Judaism.
Such a council in Cairo could change the entire world, on the one hand by making room for Muslim gratitude for what they received from Judaism, and thus enabling the Muslims to present the Jews with a state of their own, Israel – on the other hand, because such a council could also cement peace within Islam – as a side effect of the location of the council, in Cairo, on the site of the two mosques, which are in Sunni territory today, yet were founded by Shiites – and are still are of the utmost importance for Shiites, Al Azhar and the Hussein mosque!
By including the Shiites in the council, they could concur with the step of presenting the area of the state of Israel as a gift to the Jews, and thus come together in making peace, both with the state of Israel and with their Sunni brethren.
June 11, 2019, Report on 2019 May 27-29 »New philosophical and theological foundations for Christian-Muslim dialogue«
Dear esteemed memebers of our class world religions!
As report from our symposium in Portoroz »New philosophical and theological foundations for Christian-Muslim dialogue« I send to you some notes form me and a wonderful summary of our new member Lenart Skof who organized this meeting together with me. Thanks to him for the wonderful cooperation.
It was a great meeting with quite different approaches to the theme. I believe it’s a cornerstone meeting for building up a common home for all of us. Especially I was glad to see so concrete the two different and complementary vision for a cooperation of the religions for peace and development: The comparative and systematic (dogmatic) doorway and the more practical approach of fundamental theology with the theology of the people (teologia del pueblo) and political theology (teologia de la liberacion) which is direct connected to the social society level.
Both together – as mentioned in the lecture of comparative political theology – could be able to change the social societies an to strengthen the international peace building process against hate speech and terrorism. As I hope this cooperation will go on and bring as together as friends.
Yours Elmar Kuhn
Here´s the report of Lenart Škof
Between May 27-29 Hotels Bernardin in Portorož (Slovenia) have hosted an international conference titled »New philosophical and theological foundations for Christian-Muslim dialogue«. The conference has been jointly coorganized by Science and Research Centre Koper (Slovenia – as a main organizer), Iranian Association for Philosophy of Religion (Iran), Centre for Comparative Theology and Cultural Studies, University of Paderborn (Germany), European Academy of Sciences and Arts – World Religions Class, and Society for Comparative Religion (Slovenia), with the special financial support of Slovenian Research Agency and The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The conference was held under the honorary patronage of the president of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor. At the conference opening special addresses were given by H.E. the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Slovenia Kazem Shafei, Msgr Dr Jurij Bizjak (Bishop of Koper), Mag. Nevzet Porić (Secretary General of the Islamic Community in Slovenia), and Dr Gregor Lesjak, Director of the Office for Religious Communities of the Ministry of Culture of Republic of Slovenia.
The special importance of this conference is in close cooperation between Christian philosophers of religion and theologicans (Catholic and Protestant) and Iranian Shi’a philosophers and theologians. At this event, we wanted to explore new ways in which philosophical and comparative theological theories can foster Christian-Muslim understanding. Among the main questions, addressed at the confernece, were the following: Can Christian and Muslim theologies as equal partners in conversaton, and as comparative theologies, help us foster better intercultural and interreligious understanding? What are best philosophical models and theories of dialogue for framing the theological conversation between European Christians on one hand and Iranian and other Middle Eastern Muslims on the other? How can contemporary theories from both Christian and Muslim background help us shaping new paths of a »friendly co-traveling« in our paths, as one of the conference participans beautifully emphasized.
The focus of discussions at this conference also was on a current migration crisis and possible ethical responses to it, then on the rise of the populist politics in Europe and democratic responses from philosophers that rather then to hostilities, based on fear, would rather like to orient their thoughts towards better intercultural and interreliigous understanding. Participants have discussed also on the role of Sharia in Europe and on various aspects of the understanding the future cohabitation of citizens of European democracies.
During the conference, a special interreligious Christian-Muslim prayer was organized in the Church of St Bernardine, hosted by Dean of the World Relgions Class, Prof Dr Elmar Kuhn and in cooperation with Emer Prof Dr Janez Juhant, EASA and Prof Dr Reza Akbari from Imam Sadiq University in Tehran.
This conference has shown that in the era of insecurity and fear, underpineed with huge social and political challenges in Europe, USA and in the Middle East, we need to continue to work with our partners on interfaith dialogue in order to secure a peaceful place and harbor where people of all faith could find their resting place, but also where new theories in comparative theology and interreligious philosophical studies could be discussed and further shaped for our common future.
Prof Dr Lenart Škof, conference director
EASA Class World Religions
The basis of dialogue: in their essence all religions are one.
I spent a full year in the Muslim Sufi community of Sheikh Mohammed Osman in Khartoum and in Cairo. With the idea of the unity of all religions on my mind I asked the Sheikh “is this true? Or is Islam the only true religion?” What he replied I found truly enlightening. “There is only one true religion,” he said. “It is not the one with the name ‘Islam’, it is Islam!”
Then he explained the difference between Islam and Islam. The only true religion,” he said, “the only way to true inner peace, is obedience to the will of God. This is what is meant by the word ‘Islam’.” It is finding peace by doing what God wants you to do, by listening sincerely and honestly to this small voice inside you.
But there is also some general guidance. It can be found in the formula “bismillâhirrahmânirrahîm”, in the name of the all-merciful God. Devout Muslims begin whatever they do with this formula. In the name of the all-merciful you will of course not kill innocent people and you will not commit any crimes. In the name of the all-merciful all your actions will be benevolent. This is what is originally meant by the word “Islam” – but this same essence can be found in all religions. In this all religions are one. Sometimes it will happen that members of the religion named “Islam” will not follow Islam, but members of other religions will follow Islam and vice versa.
Another way to differentiate between the two meanings of Islam is the difference between “we” and “them”.
Once people identify with a religion of a certain name, they are differentiating between “us” and “them”. And then they are in danger of reserving mercy only for the in-group. Then, of course, the essence of religion is lost. Then, only the name of the religion is left. Members will identify with a religion named “Islam” or named “Christianity” or named “Judaism”. These will be the times of religious wars, “we” against “them”.
Please allow me to give you an example from some 17oo years ago – with powerful consequences up to this very day:
Just about 1700 years ago the religion of Christianity experienced its coming out. The mother of the Roman emperor Constantin had an important role in this. Helena was her name. She was Christian. When her son became emperor, she traveled to the Holy Land and tried to uncover the traces that were left of the life of Jesus.
Helena was incredibly successful. She found the place of Jesus’ birth in Jesusand she had the church of nativity built there. In Jerusalem she found the cross to which Jesus had been nailed and she found the hill of Golgotha, where they had put up his cross. From the hill of Golgotha she had seven shiploads of soil taken and shipped to the capital of the empire, to Rome. In Rome this soil was brought to a certain place she had named. It was heaped on the ground – and on top of that heap a new church was built, “Santa Croce”! This was her attempt of sanctifying the capital of the Roman empire. In Jerusalem she had built the “Holy Sepulchre”, the church of the grave of Jesus from which he had risen.
All of this was very meritorious, no matter from which angle you look at it. This is why she later became a Christian saint. But there is one detail she was not able to treat the best possible way. Her way of dealing with it has dire consequences up to this very day:
First, she ordered the Roman temples to be destroyed which had been built at the site of the former Jewish Temple. But instead of building a Christian monument there in memory of the Jewish Temple she demonstratively left that place in ruins and later on that site even came to be used as a garbage dump.
What she did there was the opposite of inter-religious dialogue. She apparently wanted to demonstrate Christian superiority over Judaism. There was no gratitude towards Judaism for providing the rich background from which the new religion of Christianity could emerge. There was also no respect for the Apostles who had continued to visit the Temple long after Jesus had risen to heavens. There was mainly disrespect. We know that, we are used to that. So we hardly even spend a thought about any other possibility.
But what if she would have had the due respect? Then she would have not left the site in ruins. Then she would have built a memorial at this site for the Christians to remember the day when the mother of Jesus brought her newly born son to the Temple, the days of the twelve years old Jesus teaching the teachers in the Temple, the days of Jesus returning to the Temple only days before he was crucified, and the days of the Apostles visiting the Temple after Jesus had risen from the dead.
With such thoughts on her mind, Helena most certainly would have had built a monument on the site of the Temple in high respect for its important role for both, Judaism and its great son, Jesus.
Please take a minute to imagine the impact such a monument at that site would have had.
First it would have inspired the Christians to hold in honor their predecessors, the Jews.
Then, such a memorial would have made a decisive difference for the Caliph Omar, when he asked the Christian Patriarch Sophronius to show him the site of the Jewish Temple.
Now we know, when the Caliph Omar asked the Patriarch to show him the site of the former Temple, Sophronius was embarrassed – because what he had to show to the Caliph was a garbage dump.
The Caliph was appalled. He had not expected such disrespect! He got his people to clean up the place. That way he practically took possession of the place. Later on, he built a simple but respectful memorial at the site. And one of his successors, the Caliph Abd El-Malik, built what we can see today, the beautiful Dome of the Rock.
But now, just imagine, if the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine had already built a Christian memorial at that site! What difference that would have made for the Caliph Omar – and what difference that would have made throughout the subsequent history up until today. Just imagine if you would see today above the Wailing Wall not a Muslim but a Christian Dome of the Rock!
Nobody can really know how history would have developed then. But then, there may have not been any crusades – and today there may not be a State of Israel! Because with the due respect of the Christians towards Judaism, there may not have been any Christian pogroms, and thus there may not have been the movement of Zionism, there may not have been the concentration camps – but, possibly, the Jews might have been allowed to return to their Holy Land much much earlier!
Under these circumstances, the Christian memorial at the Temple Mount meanwhile might already have been replaced by a new Jewish Temple…
Who knows? Of course, all of this is speculation – but, I hope that speculation may arouse your curiosity – also your curiosity about my book: “100 Years of Middle East Conflict. Honorable Peace. How Can Lasting Peace be Secured between the Muslim World and Israel”.
It is not a speculative book. It is a book about facts – but facts which today are not duly respected, in danger to be put aside, because they don’t fit in with our secular world view.
But our secular world view may not have the assets the world will need to make peace at this pivotal point between orient and occident, between the Muslim world and the West.
To discover a way to honorable peace we will definitely need to include the essence of religion, which is still present in each of the three religions based on Abraham. And that essence we all will need if we want to avoid any future 9/11s!
An impression I got trying to get invited to an interreligious conference of Religions for Peace
Within religion there is a constant control of anything said by members of that religion if it conforms to the dogma.
In the past the intolerance within a specific religion could go as far as to condemning people who were seen as not conforming to the dogma to death.
The intolerance within interreligious dialogue is, of course much milder, but it can lead to the exclusion of anyone who is not an official representative of one of the accredited religions or of an organization recognized for its interreligious dialogue.
Remarkably such intolerance is never present within truly accomplished representatives of specific religions.
This is what I experienced with a Sudanese Sufi teacher who had thousands of disciples in Sudan, in Egypt and all over the world; Mohammed Osman was his name.
With him I stayed for one year, mostly in Cairo. When I met him I had mainly one question on my mind: can it be said, that in essence all religions are one?
It took me a full year to pose my question. But this year was filled with wonderful information about the religion of Islam.
He truly taught me to understand Islam. And when I finally was able to ask my question his reply contained a twofold teaching.
My question was: can it be said, that in essence all religions are one – or is there only one true religion?
He replied: there is only one true religion, it is Islam – but it is not the religion known by the name “Islam”.
From all I had learned about Islam I could understand because the “Islam” he meant describes the peace springing forth from being conform with the will of God.
This conformity can, of course, be reached in any of the religions, it can be accomplished if a member honestly takes his religions as a guideline to deal with his personal consciousness.
But then it may happen that by taking his religion as such a guideline this person can get into contradiction with the representatives of his religion who are tasked with controlling its dogma.
Because, sometimes such officials have a rather narrowminded understanding of the dogma. They never would agree with someone saying that in essence all religions are one, because in their view, there can be only one true religion and it is theirs. In their view all other religions, are wrong and need to be antagonized.
For that reason, it can happen, and in the past more it has happened more than once that, confronted with such representatives of their specific religion, such persons were accused of being heretics.
The most famous example, probably, is Jesus. But there are numerous other examples of people who have been put to death because they were suspected of being heretics.
Within interreligious dialogue, of course, no one will be put to death. But a similar mechanism is at work.
Here, the organizers of such dialogue have to watch out, that only representatives of the participating religions or of recognized dialogue organizations will be invited to speak.
Persons who engage in interreligious dialogue without being representatives of a dialogue organization or a recognized religion are likely to be excluded, because their participation could cause irritation with some of the delegates.
This is what happened to me in August 2019 at a big interreligious conference in Lindau, Germany, which was organized by “Religions for Peace”.
I had just completed a book outlining a way to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By applying a strictly interreligious perspective I was able to describe a procedure which could enable the parties involved in the conflict to question their own position and to understand the true needs of the opposing parties.
With this book, I thought, I would be an ideal dialogue partner for the representatives of each one of the religions present at the conference in Lindau.
Even though I had been accepted as a dialogue partner by one of the most prestigious participants of the conference, Rabbi David Rosen, with whom I have been in contact for the past 17 years, the organizers of the conference were skeptical about my work. And, just to be on the safe side, they kept me out. They did not allow me to participate in their conference. They also did not allow me to present my book at an exhibition area of the conference where partner organizations could present their work.
And when I then distributed some flyers about my book outside the conference, they prohibited that and said, if I continued, they would send in the police – something that reminded me of measures against heretics in the past.
As I talked about this to another “visitor”, also excluded from the conference, he said, that he too had the impression that the organizers could only see their organization but not the intention from which this organization had arisen. And that these organizers have indeed great similarity to the representatives of religions in the past who were, as the guards of orthodoxy, entitled to exclude certain individuals whose scope of mind they could not grasp.
Honorable Peace: In this book religion appears in a completely different light. And this different light gives access to an entirely different world, one in which, surprisingly, both the main religions in this conflict have plenty in common.
Inclusion of the Religions in the Peace Process could lead to a Result
One of the basic rules for settling political disputes in our time is secularity. While that is certainly adequate in most cases, the author of this book believes that in the case of Israel and Palestine inclusion of the religions in the peace process could lead to a result which would not be possible on a solely political level: a peace that can speak to and for everyone.
However, including religion is unusual. For this reason, many people may suspect that this book is following a wrong approach. While they will admit that up until now not even one of the purely secular approaches has led to real peace, they will keep suspecting that involving the religions can lead only to chaos. And on the face of it, this makes sense. One has only to consider the hair-splitting about certain doors in the Muslim sanctuary. Thus, in his role as the custodian of the grand Muslim sanctuary in Jerusalem, the King of Jordan can only state that he will not deviate one millimeter from the status quo, which makes it quite clear that the Jews have no rights to any part of what they call their “Temple Mount.”
Nobody seems to notice that in all these contexts the term “religion” is being used exclusively in the sense of group identity and as a form of political power.
Isn’t it strange to see men so willing to fight for their religion and so unwilling to live according to its precepts?
In this Book Religion appears in a completely different Light
And this different light gives access to an entirely different world, one in which, surprisingly, both the main religions in this conflict have plenty in common.
On the way to the Jewish Wailing Wall a brief glance at the great Muslim sanctuary through a door where only Muslims are permitted to enter, Foto (C) Gottfried Hutter
In the world to which this book is leading no one will be surprised if the supreme representative of the religion of Islam decides to visit the Pope and vice versa, with both showing mutual respect and the will to peace, because both are clearly aware that they have more in common than what could separate them.
Thus, if you follow the track this book is laying out you will arrive at completely different concepts of conflict resolution, concepts far beyond the issues of power but grounded in virtues and mutual respect.
Follow this line and, suddenly, honorable peace will be within the grasp of parties who have lived in enmity for more than a thousand years or who managed to live together only by applying clearly defined instruments of domination or subordination.
Yet now, suddenly, we find them able to live side by side as equals, respecting themselves and one another.
Here is what’s new, even quite sensational in this book. For here is an approach that has the potential to instill true and lasting peace – something that would remain forever out of reach as long as religion remains taboo to would-be peacemakers.
For more information please see https://honorablepeace.com/the-solution-is-unconventional/
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Current: About Isagenix
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That’s when John sought out the help of Jim and Kathy Coover, two of the most respected names in the direct selling industry with a story just like John Anderson’s. He wasn’t the first to approach Jim and Kathy, and like John, they refused to cut corners. They saw other companies that didn’t have their customers’ best interest and knew there was a better way. Together, they formed Isagenix in 2002 with the mission to create the world’s greatest health and wellness products and business opportunity that together would transform lives both physically and financially.
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Meet the Team Leading the Way
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From The New England Music Scrapbook Web-Site – The joint was rocking on Friday, January 20, 1967, when, for the first time, the Boston Tea Party opened its doors to the public. The original location on Berkeley Street was once a synagogue. Then it became Moon Dial (or Moondial), a venue that showed underground films. (Going entirely on memory, it seems to me that Mel Lyman was connected with that establishment.) Ray Riepen and David Hahn bought Moon Dial and reopened it as the Tea Party, a rock ‘n’ roll music hall. New York’s Electric Circus probably exerted the main influence on this new development in Boston.
The Tea Party relocated the club to 15 Lansdowne Street in September 1969, taking over from the Ark club.
The Hallucinations – Peter Wolf and Stephen Jo Bladd’s first band, the Hallucinations played the Tea Party many times. On April 4 ‘68 they opened for Muddy Waters the day Martin Luther King was assassinated. Their last Tea Party gig was July 18-20 ‘68.
Review from www-tech.mit.edu – The Chambers Brothers and the Hallucinations appeared at the Boston Tea Party this Saturday night, February 11, and set everyone and everything in sight and hearing on fire. The Chambers Brothers were the main attraction of the night with their combination of hard rock and soul music. The quintet danced and gyrated along with the wild sounds they played. Most of their songs were solid rock rather than soul, probably for the benefit of the dancing public, but the soul songs that the brothers played came on smooth and mellow, though over-amplified. This is one of the few groups that sounds better live than it does on records; the Brothers performance of their latest hit “All Strung Out” left every one gasping for air When it was over. During their second set the group really had the audience switched on, dancing, clapping, and shouting in time to a five minute drum solo.
Not to be outdone, the Hallucinations, who alternated sets with the Chambers Brothers, roared in with their own brand of rock and roll. Depending heavily on the frantic harmonics and screaming vocals of their lead, the Hallucinations blasted out a sound that put everyone within hearing on their feet. The mere volume of the music knocked the legs off chairs and the surge and movement of the beat included dancing that paralleled the rites of spring.
The Boston Tea Party, where this took place, is an amazing discotheque of itself. The entrance is up a wide, steep flight of stairs between panels lettered with the names of men who have given light to the world; Prometheus, Uranus, Watt, Edgerton, Edison, Lao Tse, and others. The dancing’ is in a huge cavernous room where one is engulfed by cascades of light and sound and surrounded by dancers in all types of clothing, from “mad mod” to “straight.” The walls are covered with designs that glow purple and green under fluorescent lights, kaleidoscopic patterns that change shape and color in apparently ceaseless and unrepeating mosaics, Campbell soup cans, pictures of Batman, and flashing lights. “Organic” movies, blobs of color that dance and pulsate with the music, are projected onto a large movie screen that hangs above the dance floor illuminated by brilliant strobe lights that make the dancers flicker in and out of reality.
Dave Hahn, who runs the discotheque and is an MIT graduate, like to think of the Tea Party as an experiment in neur-psychology; what happens to the mind when it has received so much stimulus that it reaches the overload point? Some people are so overwhelmed by the noise and lights that they collapse into the nearest chair and don’t move for the remainder of the evening, others dance themselves into near exhaustion and then there is the fellow who wore a button that said “Take a trip with Jesus.”
The J. Geils Blues Band – Pete and Steve left the Hallucinations and joined the J.Geils Blues Band in the summere of ‘68. The new J. Geils lineup debuted on September 20-21 billed as the J. Geils Quintet, reverting back to the J. Geils Blue Band name for a gig on November 21-23. They returned to the Tea Party January 30-February 1 ‘69 (opening for Savoy Brown) and on March 6-8 (opening for Chicago).
The Boston Tea Party – 40th Anniversary Event – The Tea Party’s gone, but not forgotten – Seth Justman, Stephen Jo Bladd, and Danny Klein, together with other Boston rockers, gathered yesterday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the legendary club’s opening.
Photo Credit: Barry Miller
The Bostonian Society unveiled a marker that’ll be affixed to the South End structure that once housed the club. Other attendies included bluesman James Montgomery; guitarist Johnny A; Boston band members Barry Goudreau and Sib Hashian; Willie Alexander, who opened the club on Jan. 20, 1967, along with Peter Wolf’s band, the Hallucinations; former Tea Party manager Steve Nelson; promoter Don Law; Del Fuegos drummer Woody Giessmann; Phoenix exec David Bieber; car magnate Ernie Boch Jr; and Charlie Daniels, a.k.a. the Master Blaster, the club’s emcee back in the day.
Credit: “Photo by Allan E. Dines, courtesy of Music Museum Of New England”.
Steve Nelson (on the left) and Don Law with the marker in place on the Tea Party building
Boston Tea Party Marker Event, June 20th – The Bostonian Society will be installing the historic marker on the Tea Party building this Wednesday, at the corner of Berkeley and Appleton. This from Steve Nelson, President & Co-Founder of MM/ONE – Music Museum Of New England:
We’re not planning any big doings around the event, but Don Law will be joining me at 3pm for a photo shoot with the marker. If you happen to be in the neighbourhood, you’re welcome to drop by. And I expect you’ll see some follow-up coverage in the media.
Peter Wolf was unable to attend but sent in this statement
Click here to visit MM/ONE – Music Museum Of New England.
Click here for more info and a history of the Tea Party.
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About Jill Cueni-Cohen
Home / Posts tagged “business”
Posted on October 3, 2019 October 3, 2019 by jillbooks.com
Business Advice from Seasoned CEO’s
When a Star Employee Quits
It’s difficult to let good talent go, but experts agree that counter-offers are not usually the answer to a bombshell resignation. The experience should instead serve as a lesson for employers who value their best producers.
Author’s Note: This blog post is being published today in honor of a great businessman and father, Jack Roseman. Mr. Roseman died in hospice on Monday. He was 88.
The Roseman Family
The Pittsburgh Business Times called him a “pioneer of Pittsburgh’s tech community as an entrepreneur, investor, advisor, educator and mentor.” But to me, Jack Roseman was a friend; and kind of a father-figure.
I grew up in the Roseman household as his daughter Shari’s BFF. Today, his eldest daughter, Laura, is one of my dearest friends, despite having started out as one of my babysitters.
Our moms were also besties; along with our dads. I’m getting emotional just thinking about the reunion that’s going on in Heaven right now! Days like this make me miss my parents.
Anyway, I wrote this article several years ago for a Human Resource industry magazine. Jack was my go-to CEO!
In honor of his memory, I plan to publish a series of business articles I’ve penned over the years for various magazines, newspapers and websites.
This series will eventually become a book, so stay tuned…
A LETTER OF RESIGNATION
Shawn Layden’s leaked resignation letter reveals what’s really behind the power struggle at PlayStation.
If a valuable employee – one of your best revenue producers – tells you that they’re leaving your company for better compensation, should you try to tempt them to stay with a counter-offer?
A study conducted by England-based Communicate Recruitment Solutions reveals that most employers have never made a counter-offer; and most employees would not accept one.
Jack Roseman, director of the Pittsburgh-based Roseman Institute; which provides coaching, mentoring and negotiating assistance to CEOs of growing enterprises, says that employers must seek out the underlying truth from an employee who says they’re resigning over deficient compensation.
“There are good reasons and there are real reasons; tell me the real reason,” is the proper response for an employer to give to the employee who says they’re leaving over money,” says Roseman.
“People don’t usually leave for more money. In most cases, it’s because they’re unhappy with the company, and it’s the job of the employer to find out why they’re leaving and if they have a legitimate gripe.”
—Jack Roseman
Roseman suggests that an employee who is particularly valued in a company be asked to stay and work things out with the management. “it’s not really how much you make today, it’s what happens over the continuum of time,” he explains, adding that even during those instances when a real injustice occurs, it’s still ill-advised to give an immediate raise or counter-offer.
“Instead, you say, ‘Let’s see if things can get better over time.’ A counter-offer opens the door for blackmail, but maybe you can create an atmosphere they would be happier in? Pay can always be fixed over time if the employee has faith in you and faith in the company,” says Roseman.
LOOK AT IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY
James Lock, CEO of Communicate, says that counter-offers are nothing more than last-ditch attempts to keep someone within a business.
“They make employers and their companies look needy and should never be relied upon for long term success,” says Lock, adding that the best way to retain high performers for as long as possible is to ensure that their compensation, recognition and culture are as good as they can be.
“Then, when they do resign, you know you haven’t done anything wrong and it is simply the right time for them to move on; which is often a personal decision as much as a professional one,” says Lock.
Employers should resist the urge to react impulsively to a star employee’s announcement.
“When considering a counter-offer, ask yourself whether you would be offering the employee a pay rise or increase in responsibilities if they hadn’t resigned,” says Lock, adding that there is actually an opportunity in every resignation.
“Bringing someone with new ideas and different qualities on-board is an exciting prospect, particularly when you can dictate the level you want them to work at and a remuneration package you can afford. Good bosses should realize that personnel change is all part of the ebb and flow of running a business.”
Communicate’s Managing Director, Thomas de Freitas, believes that there is never a good reason to make a counter-offer.
“Under no circumstances should an employee be tempted to stay once they have tendered their resignation,” he says, pointing out that doing so will not solve the dilemma of having to fill a vacancy and re-train a new staff member.
“Good business leaders tackle issues head-on and do not delay them until a more ‘convenient’ time.”
“Going to great lengths to retain one employee can send the wrong impression to everyone else. They will question why preferential treatment is being shown to one individual and resent their colleague being cut a special deal, especially when they had one foot out the door.”
Thomas de Freitas
The success of any business relies on the sum of its parts.
De Freitas warns, “Don’t risk the relationship with your staff for the sake of one individual.” Communicate’s study drives this point home, because it showed that most employees who do end up staying for a counter-offer will leave within six months anyway.
Los Angeles Attorney Richard Frey says that employers should take a proactive approach instead.
“Key employees should be under contract instead of under an at-will policy, because it defines the terms of the employment and the terms under which employment could end. This way, supervisors won’t go around making reckless decisions; they must follow a cause standard in the contract to get out of it. So, if you have a good definition of cause, the employer can protect himself.”
Joe Phelps, former CEO of Phelps, a marketing communications firm based in Santa Monica, California, also takes a proactive approach by letting his employees know exactly what they’re worth to the company. “Truly have a way of measuring people’s performance and make it available before they even ask for it,” he advises. “We don’t make counter-offers, but we also make it clear that our numbers for people’s performance are open for them to review any time. “
Phelps believes that a high rate of employee turn-over stands in the way of a company’s success. Phelps is one of the oldest independent communication agencies in Southern California.
“Our longevity is due to doing what’s right for the client and having a good, solid team that’s not always turning over,” he says. “When the CEO changes, it’s so frustrating, and it’s the same with lawyers and insurance people.
“Finding good people and keeping them is the key to keeping good clients. Do what’s right for your employees, and it will come back and help you.”
Joe Phelps
© Jill Cueni-Cohen
Categories: Author, Business
Tags: business, CEO advice, employees, resignation letter
© JillBooks.com 2020
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Why are we trying to adapt our behaviour to that of other people? Why do we want to be like others? Why do we want to have what others have? Why do we absolutely want to belong to this mass of people who somehow try to be equal?
Whoever dresses in fashionable clothes, i. e. according to the latest trend, strives in principle to adapt to others, right? To imitate their appearance. To belong to, to be looked at, to feel good.
But those who do not follow these fashion laws, those who dress differently because they don't care what's in fashion, those who behave the way they want to behave are looked at weirdly.
So only those who are mainstream are normal or how do you understand that? Can you even understand it?
I cannot understand why we want to align ourselves, when we are all really unique and could celebrate this diversity. We all have different tastes, but we still wear the clothes we see in the media from personalities.
We even adapt our other behavior to each other. When all of a sudden Fidget Spinners are in fashion, we all pick up some and play like crazy with these parts. Why? We don't know.
Sure, we want to be cool. Showing that we're up to date on the latest happenings. That we know what's hip. That we belong. To the invisible group to which only the cool ones belong.
We want recognition. But for what? That we distort, just to be a part of it? For giving up our own style? For replacing our own interests with the interests of the masses?
It remains a mystery to me….
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Your Engineering Heritage: Grand Central Terminal
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Home / History Column / ViewsArticles / Your Engineering Heritage: Grand Central Terminal
by John Vardalas, Ph.D. 01 Jun 2013
A landmark in architecture, urban planning, and rail transport, New York’s Grand Central Station celebrated its 100th anniversary this year. Superlatives for this rail station abound. Paul Goldberger, a leading American architecture critic, proclaimed “[Grand Central] is sublime. It reminds you of the greatness of human ambition.” Necessity, daring and genius made Grand Central possible. Geography set rather rigid boundaries on the growth of rail transport in late 19th century Manhattan. New York City’s rapid growth placed enormous strains on the rail transport system serving Manhattan. A tragic accident unleashed an outcry to ban passenger steam rail from the Manhattan landscape. From these circumstances, boldness and imagination produced the wonder called Grand Central Station. And at the center was William J. Wilgus’s brilliant vision to design, from the ground up, an inner city railway hub based on electrical power. Electric power in transport was not new. Electric street cars had been in service in different parts of the world, including parts of New York City, since 1888. Wilgus’s vision, however, was a giant leap in electric-powered transport that demanded considerable innovation from a number of people and companies in the electrical field. These advances in electrical technology then opened the door to the revolution in architecture and urban planning that Grand Central Station represented.
Steam Railways in Manhattan: Growing Demand and Objections
New York City grew at a breathtaking pace during the second half of the 19th century. By 1880, New York City had emerged as the nation’s leading center of commerce and manufacturing. By the end of the century, New York City had become the world’s largest port. Manhattan’s population leapt from 813,669 in 1860 to 1,850,093 in 1900. This prodigious growth put enormous demands on the city’s transportation infrastructure. Manhattan’s island geography only compounded the challenge of efficiently moving people and goods.
Cornelius Vanderbilt, who had already made a fortune in shipping, saw great opportunities for rail service into and out of Manhattan. In 1867, he gained control of the New York Central Railroad. Two years later, after acquiring the Hudson River Railroad, he merged it with the New York Central. Then by 1870, with his purchase of the Harlem River Railroad, Vanderbilt had a complete monopoly of all passenger and freight rail traffic into and out Manhattan. In 1869, he had bought a huge parcel of land between what are now 42nd and 47th streets, on the south and north, and Madison Avenue to 4th Avenue on the west and east. On the site, Vanderbilt erected the Central Station Depot; an imposing steel and glass train shed. The Depot was fed by tracks from the North running along Park Avenue, (formerly 4th Avenue). Closer to the Depot, the tracks multiplied out into a vast yard of switching and shunting lines to accommodate the traffic coming and going from the Depot’s numerous platforms.
Though placed in the middle of nowhere in1869, by the end of the century the Depot’s operations ran up against the northward expansion of Manhattan’s population. Conflict was inevitable. North of 42nd street, the rapidly expanding density of rail traffic brought increasing noise and pollution. Running all hours of the day, the coal burning steam locomotives belched out soot as they thundered up and down Park Avenue. Sharing this thoroughfare not only limited the railway’s speed, and hence efficiency, it also increased the danger for pedestrian and street traffic. In response to growing public objections, New York Central excavated a deep open cut up Park Avenue with four tracks running along its bottom. Causeways were erected to allow street traffic to cross over the tracks.
The “cut” down Park Avenue and
the causeways over the tracks
The “cut” alleviated some of the noise, allowed the trains to run faster, and increased safety. Any initial public satisfaction with this solution was short lived, however. Calls now came to completely cover the cut and turn it into a tunnel. Part of it was turned into a tunnel. With little ventilation, this tunnel could be hell for passengers stuck on trains due to disruptions and delays. The success of the Grand Central Depot rested on New York Central’s ability to respond to the public outcry over the growing operation of steam railways in the dense urban environment of Manhattan. But a tragic train wreck sealed the fate of Grand Central Depot and the rail transport model on which it was predicated.
It was Wednesday morning, 8 January 1902, and the local train 118 from White Plains to Grand Central Depot was five minutes behind schedule. It was rush hour. By 1902, passenger rail service into Grand Central Depot had reached 44,000 people on any given weekday. At rush hour, there was a train every 45 seconds, going into or leaving the Depot. The engineer on the 118, who was relatively new to the job, worried about making up the time. In the Park Avenue tunnel sat a commuter train from Danbury, Connecticut, waiting its turn to proceed to the Depot. The tunnel was filled with choking smoke and steam. Train 118 entered the tunnel but its engineer failed to see any cautionary signals. His locomotive plowed into the back of the Danbury train with such force that the boiler went through its last car. Fifteen people died and hundreds were seriously injured. The press called for indictments of manslaughter to be issued against the engineer and senior executives of New York Central. The following year, in 1903, New York State and New York City both passed legislation that prohibited all steam locomotives south of the Harlem River. New York Central was given five years to comply.
The Vision of Grand Central Terminal
New York Central had to rethink the technological basis of its Manhattan network or lose its very profitable New York City operations. Electrification was the answer. There was added pressure from the Pennsylvania Railroad, who for many years had been looking for a way to bring its trains into Manhattan from New Jersey and break New York Central’s monopoly. The solution lay in a tunnel under the Hudson River. Through such a long tunnel, it would be unthinkable to subject passengers to the emissions of coal burning locomotives. The locomotives would have to be electrically powered. Pennsylvania Railroad was just a few years away from starting this project. New York Central had to act.
William Wilgus, the Chief Engineer for New York Central, realized that the challenges that New York Central faced went beyond the problematic steam locomotive. Grand Central Depot and its large track yard could not keep up with the exploding demand for rail service. In a flash, Wilgus saw that electrification would allow New York Central to completely reimagine a large, rail station in the heart of a dense urban setting in way that would also accommodate greater traffic volume. Rather than retrofit electric locomotives to the existing infrastructure, Wilgus proposed a radical solution. Turn the existing two-dimensional surface landscape into a 3-dimensional subsurface structure. With electrification, the unsightly sprawling railway yard, along with the Depot, could be transformed into three-level railway shed housing both commuter trains and long distance rail all buried deep into Manhattan’s bedrock. It represented a three-fold increase in New York Central’s capacity on the same land area. Besides aesthetic and operational improvements, freeing up the surface had another advantage, one that was vitally important. It provided the financial viability for what was to be the largest urban railway project that the world had seen.
Wilgus’s cost estimates to carry out his project were enormous. Initially $40 million they soon climbed to $70 million. For the state and city governments, improvement to the rail infrastructure was not a public works issue. New York Central would have to underwrite Wilgus’s entire vision. With the company’s total annual revenues being $80 million, Wilgus knew that New York Central’s executive and board would never agree to embark on such a staggeringly expensive undertaking. Rather than scaling back his vision, Wilgus came up with a revolutionary business model for the project. Wilgus called it “taking wealth from the air.” By putting the rail operations completely underground, Wilgus created a new resource with which to finance the project in its entirety 48 acres of real estate. The right to build above the railways operations could be sold off of to developers to build large hotels, upscale apartment buildings, office buildings, and other commercial space. This railway project, thanks to electrification, spawned a massive development that transformed the urban blight of the rail yard into one of the world’s most prestigious urban areas. Where Grand Central Depot once stood the architectural marvel Grand Central Terminal would rise.
The Electrical Technology for Grand Central Station
The railway electrification proposed by Wilgus was of a scope and scale beyond anything that had been done in the world. To construct Grand Central, New York Central needed to build the world’s largest electric powered rail system. The first important decision to make centered on the electrical current. Would New York Central’s electrification be based on alternating (A.C.) or direct current (D.C.)? More than a decade earlier, Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse waged an intense public battle over which option was best suited for the future electrification of North America. New York Central’s decision to build Grand Central Station around an electrified rail network unleashed the “Battle of the Currents” all over again. This time the key protagonists were Frank Sprague and George Westinghouse who advocated D.C. and A.C. respectively. General Electric (GE) and Westinghouse were competed for the contracts to build the power generation system. Wilgus had engaged Sprague as one of three electrical engineering consultants to the project. Sprague’s advocacy of D.C. incensed Westinghouse. Reminding everyone that GE had acquired Sprague’s company, he attacked Sprague’s recommendation as biased and a conflict of interest. This time Westinghouse was on the losing side. New York Central chose D.C. Westinghouse was about to receive more bad news from New York Central.
The central technical question at the heart of the Grand Central Station project was electric traction. Could electric locomotive be built to pull the much heavier rolling stock of New York Central’s long-haul passenger service? Prior to the call for electrification, New York Central had a monopoly on passenger rail service on the island of Manhattan. The traction issue was crucial if the company was going to integrate this monopoly with the rapidly expanding commuter rail service to the island. The plan called for a 2,500 h.p. locomotive capable of pulling a 550-ton train over a round trip of 34 miles in less than one hour. General Electric and Westinghouse competed for this prestigious contract. George Westinghouse was furious when GE won the bid, and he once again made his displeasure quite known to the powers within the New York Central railway.
On 13 November 1904, about a year after winning the contract, GE got the opportunity to prove to the railway industry and the world that electric locomotives could perform as well, if not better, than steam locomotives. In a head-to-head competition, pitting the new against the old, two parallel 4 mile long tracks were built. On one was a New York Central “Atlantic-type” steam locomotive on the other was the GE locomotive. From a dead stop, each locomotive pulled three passenger cars. From the start the electric locomotive pulled ahead and by the end of the route it was ahead by a half-mile. The next day, the New York Herald proclaimed “Electric Engine Beats All Rivals.”
Atlantic-type locomotive, 1904, similar to the one used in the competition.
Another fascinating aspect of New York Central’s electrification plans was the use of Multiple-Unit (MU) trains as the basis for its commuter service. In these trains each passenger car would have its own independent electric traction. The length of the train could be easily adjusted to meet demand. Having a chain of self-propelled cars raised the problem of simultaneously controlling them in order to guarantee the safe and smooth operation of the entire train. In 1897, Sprague had concluded that the technology that he developed some years earlier to control the movement of any number of elevators, from a central location, could radically transform electrified commuter rail. In 1905, in an article in Century Magazine, entitled “The Electric Railway,” Sprague explained,
“
the thought suddenly flashed upon me. Why not apply the same principle to train operation? That is, make a train unit by the combination of a number of individual cars, each complete in all respects, and provide for operating them all simultaneously from any master switch on any car. Its great possibilities instantly absorbed my interest, as I saw the opening of a new epoch in electric-railway operation. Here was a way to give a train of any length all the characteristics of a single car, with every facility of operation which could be demanded by the most exacting conditions of service and capacity.” (p. 522)
As early as 1899, Sprague tried to convince New York Central to adopt his idea of an electrified MU commuter service. Wilgus was supportive. But there wasn’t sufficient interest among the company’s executive to go further. The accident in 1902 changed everything. As part of Wilgus’s plan to electrify New York Central’s commuter service came an order to GE to design and build 180 MU cars.
At the official opening of Grand Central Terminal, in 1913, the New York Times boasted that “without exception it is not only the greatest station in the United States, but the greatest station, of any type, in the world.” A recent PBS documentary noted that, after the construction of Grand Central, the traveler “no longer saw a great shed filled with billowing steam engines. Instead electric driven engines were hidden on many levels below. What the eye saw was a wonderful, well proportioned, beautifully detailed building, one that reflected human history and celebrated humanity.”
In the “Architecture of the Well-tempered Environment“, the noted British architecture critic Reyner Banham proclaimed the rise of electrical technology as “the greatest environmental revolution in human history since the domestication of fire.” Electric lighting completely transformed the design and use of private and public spaces. The electric elevator made possible soaring skyscrapers. The story of Grand Central Station is another striking illustration of the role of electricity in provoking new and imaginative approaches to architecture and urban design.
Sam Roberts, Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America, (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2013)
Kurt Schlichting, Grand Central’s Engineer: William J. Wilgus and the Planning of Modern Manhattan, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012.
John L. Sprague and Joseph J. Cunningham, “A Frank Sprague Triumph: The Electrification of Grand Central Terminal,” IEEE power & energy magazine, Jan/Feb 2013, 58-76
“Grand Central”, director and writer Michael Epstein, a PBS American Experience Series documentary. First aired in 2008. Complete program transcript available at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/
grandcentral-transcript/
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Jamieson Wolf
Number-one bestselling author
Little Yellow Magnet
The Wish by Alex Brown – A Book Review
Posted on June 3, 2018 by Jamieson Wolf
Sam Morgan is trying to hold his life together.
He knows that he has driven a wedge between him and his wife, Chrissie. Sam knows that he’s missed too many birthdays and anniversaries. There has been too much distance, and too much time, between Chrissie and himself; but he knows that he still loves her and that he would do anything to bring their family together again. He has come back to Tindledale in hopes of salvaging what is left of his marriage, before it’s too late.
Jude Darling has returned to Tindledale to start over. Tired of travelling and giving in to her wanderlust and dating men that weren’t right for her and relationships that didn’t go anywhere, she has come back from Los Angeles and home to her father, Tony. She has also come home to her best friend Chrissie and Chrissie’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Holly. Jude has her hands full trying to run her antiques store and dealing with a washed-up rock star that has moved to the village, Myles King. He hires her to redo his estate, but is really just a clueless, infuriating man. She often feels as if her life is getting away from her.
Holly is a thirteen-year-old girl who desperately wants her parents back together. That is all she wants, more than anything. She lives with diabetes and has to deal with a lot. Holly puts up with her parents and their constant bickering or the long, icy silences. She often feels like her life is falling apart and if her parents would just work on staying together, then all would be well. She is still young enough to believe in the power of wishes, so Holly makes a Wish and hopes that it will be enough…
It’s so lovely to be back in Tindledale! I love this town. Everyone has become someone that I feel I honestly know as Alex brings you right into their lives. What I love about the Tindledale books is that someone who is a protagonist in one novel will show up as a secondary character in another, so you always feel as if you are seeing your friends. It shows the quality of Alex’s writing that the characters feel so real.
More than that, it’s the emotion that Alex is able to evoke. The Wish goes beyond everyday chick lit. You have a couple that are desperate to save their marriage, but unsure of how to do it. The relationship between Sam and Chrissie is so real and so true to life. This isn’t a simple plot where the man tells her he loves her and she comes back to him. Instead, we are shown the plight of Sam and Chrissie as they try to rebuild their lives as a family. I’m pretty sure that that kind of subject has never been tackled in chic lit before. It left be breathless and I ached for them.
Then there is the storyline of Holly having diabetes. I have also never read this kind of a storyline in a chic lit novel It’s told so truthfully and so honestly that my heart also ached for Holly and being such a young age and having to deal with this kind of a disease. I know many people with this disease and Alex has told it so true to form. She doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff and that gives this book more heart and substance.
Of course, there is Jude and her dealings with Myles King. This relationship brought a smile to my face. Never have I met a man who is so clueless yet somehow so very endearing. I thoroughly enjoyed their storyline and how Jude frequently stepped in to save the day, in more ways than one.
I love that Alex brown goes beyond the boundaries of chick lit and gives us something more. She gives us a novel with characters we grow to love and storylines that whisk us away, as is typical in summer reads. However, Alex Brown has gone beyond that. She has given us real life written upon the page.
By the last page, I was so emotionally invested in all of these characters. I can’t wait until I see them again in a future Tindledale book. It will like seeing a ray of sunshine. I can’t wait to read The Wish all over again.
Category: Book Reviews, InfoTags: Alex Brown, The Wish, Tindledale
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Buy Little Yellow Magnet from Amazon and Kobo!
Jamieson Wolf has written a compelling story about navigating multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. His story will touch your heart, make you cry, then laugh, and inspire you. A touching memoir with a bit of magic…and tarot! ~ Theresa Reed, author of The Tarot Coloring Book
What the Snow Can Hide – A Short Story
A Year of You: Ignatius Finkelstein’s Secret
What's In a Name – A Poem
See also: Two Steps at a Time
Looking for the Oracle
The Descent and Smashing Tropes
The Story Within My Self – Love and Lemonade out now!
The Stone Man Speaks
Copyright © 2019 Jamieson Wolf
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Tag Archives: Puerto Rican
Voltaire comes to Anthocon
Spencer Hill Press’s and Spence City’s lovely Kendra L. Saunders interviews the Gothic icon for Jason Harris Promotions.
Hello Voltaire!
I have to say, I’m incredibly excited about the prospect of meeting you this weekend at Anthocon in Portsmouth, N.H. I attended Anthocon last year, (which was actually its debut year), and had a blast. Your guest appearance at an event like this is going to be a really cool marriage of the macabre and über-fun, especially since you’ll be debuting the cover for your novel, Call of the Jersey Devil (Spence City, 2013).
So, to get everyone ready for Anthocon, I’d like to ask you a few quick questions.
Q: Your book, Call of the Jersey Devil, continues your long-standing jokes on Jersey. For the people that don’t know, what’s up with you and Jersey?
A: I was born in Cuba, but within a few years of emigrating to this country, my family had settled in New Jersey. At first, we lived in Newark, and I was the only “white” kid at my all black and Puerto Rican school, so I was in a fight every day for being different. When I was in third grade, we moved to the suburbs, and I went from being “white” to being the only “hispanic” kid (or “spic” as they called me) in an all-white neighborhood, again, because I guess I didn’t fit in. Furthermore, growing up in the suburbs of New Jersey from that point on, I was constantly ridiculed for being interested in art and music and stop-motion animation. I was perpetually bullied and called a “fag.” I finally ran away from New Jersey when I was 17 and went to New York City where I seemed to fit in just fine. My experience in New Jersey was that they don’t like anything that isn’t completely familiar and grotesquely mediocre. Suffice to say, if you’ve seen the MTV show Jersey Shore, let me tell you, that’s exactly how New Jersey really is!!!! I simply had to get out to keep my sanity.
Q: When I mentioned your name online recently, I heard a lot of happy cybersqueals from your fans. Happily, they come from all walks of life including bookstore clerks, steampunk fans, writers and folk lovers. They’re definitely excited about your upcoming novel. What would you say is the one thing about your novel that will most surprise your fans?
A: I’m not entirely sure the novel will surprise these nice people. I think that over the years, people who have followed my work have noticed a certain twisted sense of humor mixed with a poignant sense of pathos. I do believe there is a unique thread running through most of what I do. It’s simply my way of looking at the world. This novel is really, I think, the culmination of all of the things that makes my point of view, uniquely mine. So if they’ve enjoyed what I’ve done in the past, I think they will really appreciate this book. I do believe it’s my best work to date. If it tells you anything, there are parts that still make even me laugh out loud when I read them and tear up like a baby as well.
Q: Now, as a musician, you must have a pretty cool soundtrack for when you’re writing, right? What are a few of the songs or albums that you really enjoyed listening to while you wrote Call of the Jersey Devil?
A: Believe it or not, I feel most comfortable writing in noisy places. There is no place more productive for me than a busy cafe. Like most of my comic books, I wrote this novel at Yaffa Cafe in NYC between the hours of midnight and eight am. The music I wrote to was mostly the clanging of silverware, random conversations between transvestites and after hour club people and whatever CD the waiter chose to play on any given night.
Q: There’s something about the smell of coffee or the sound of strangers talking that inspires, that’s so true. Anthocon is a horror and [speculative fiction] convention, so I have to ask, what are your top three favorite horror movies? And how about horror novels?
A: That’s probably impossible to answer. There are about twenty films in my top ten! They are also not all “horror” films because I’m a fan of monsters, not genres. So I don’t tend to separate sci-fi, fantasy and horror if they have monsters in them. I just call them “genre” films or “monster movies.” If I had to name three favorites off of the top of my head, I’d say King Kong (1933), Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth and Ridley Scott’s Alien. As for novels, at the risk of alienating a lot of people, I will admit that I’m not an avid reader, so I can’t really say. It probably explains why most of my novel’s influences are horror movies from the 80s!
Q: I love that though! So many good authors are influenced by movies and music and other forms of arts than just books. Now, you’ve done a little bit of everything; stop-motion animation, music, books. What’s next on your agenda? World domination?
A: Believe it or not … acting! I’ve always wanted to do it and recently was cast in my first real role in a feature. It’s a horror film called Model Hunger, directed by the talented horror film actress, Debbie Rochon. I play an acerbic alcoholic (yes, I was typecast!). It comes out at some point in 2013. I hope to do much more of this. It was as much fun as I’d imagined!
Q: You’re appearing at Anthocon on Sunday. Will this be your first time in New Hampshire?
A: Nope! Last year, when I went on my “Black Unicorn Cabaret Tour,” I performed in Manchester, New Hampshire. That was my first area show.
Q: I’m pretty impressed by your wardrobe, gotta say. Were you visited by a goth fairy of great fashion sense or were you always just this cool?
A: You’re too kind! I’m not a fairy, though Neil Gaiman did describe me once as a “Gothic Elf Lord” which, of course, I loved! If it tells you anything, I was run out of New Jersey on a rail in 1984 because I was a “New Romantic” or “Goth”. So, the desire to dress up has been with me for a long, long time. I’m middle-aged now and putting on some pounds around the middle, so I no longer wear tights and dress like Adam Ant, but I still have a little dark glamour left in me!
Thank you so much for your time and we all look forward to seeing you at Anthocon, for your reading AND for your concert!
For more information about Anthocon, please visit: http://anthocon.com/
A: My pleasure entirely! And for those who would like to learn more about my comics, animation, music and toys, of course, they can always check out my official website at www.voltaire.net
Cheers! Voltaire
Kendra L. Saunders is the author of the magic realism novel Inanimate Objects and the upcoming dark comedy Death and Mr. Right. She is marketing coordinator for Spencer Hill Press and has conducted interviews for Steampunk Magazine and ipmnation.com. In her spare time, she likes to drink too much tea, read fashion magazines, attend steampunk conventions, daydream about boys with dark hair, listen to records on vinyl and try to travel back in time to the Jazz Age. Find her online at www.kendralsaunders.com
By dudley228 • Posted in Anthocon, Article, Readings/signings • Tagged Adam Ant, Alien, animation, Anthocon, Black Unicorn Cabaret Tour, Call of the Jersey Devil, comics, Cuba, Death and Mr. Right, Debbie Rochon, Gothic Elf Lord, Guillermo Del Toro, Inanimate Objects, Jersey Shore, Kendra L. Saunders, King Kong (1933), Manchester New Hampshire, Model Hunger, MTV, music, musician, Neil Gaiman, New Jersey, New York City, Newark, Pan's Labyrinth, Puerto Rican, Ridley Scott, Spencer Hill Press, Steampunk, Steampunk Magazine, toys, Voltaire, Yaffa Cafe
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CLASS Dismissed: Obama Administration Pulls Plug On Long-Term Care Program
By Julie Appleby and Mary Agnes Carey October 14, 2011
Federal officials on Friday effectively shut down part of the health care law that would have helped consumers cover some long-term-care costs, saying they could not find a way to make it work financially.
After looking at a variety of options, the Obama administration determined the CLASS Act program could not simultaneously meet three important criteria: be self-sustaining, financially sound for 75 years and affordable to consumers.
The move does not affect the rest of the health care law, although it does remove more than $70 billion in expected federal budgetary savings over 10 years. The savings would have come having policyholders pay premiums for the first few years, but not receive benefits until 2017.
The program – championed by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy – would have allowed working adults to apply for insurance that would provide up to $50 a day in cash benefits if they became disabled. The money could be used to help with in-home assistance or nursing home care.
While acknowledging the need for such long-term-care assistance, the program’s administrator, Kathy Greenlee, said Friday that the numbers just didn’t add up.
Under one scenario shown in a report sent to Congress Friday, administration analysts said a basic CLASS insurance plan with a $50 a day benefit might have cost $235 to $391 month. That might have been more than consumers would have been willing to pay based on the benefit. If enough people did not voluntarily enroll, the program would not have been self-sustaining.
“The overall program could not run if it had a highly priced solvent product no one would buy,” said Greenlee, administrator of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) program.
The Tumultuous History Of The CLASS Act
Strong Words From The Left And The Right
Republicans had slammed the CLASS since its inception, describing it as a scheme that would require policyholders to pay into a program whose costs would quickly surpass its revenues. Recently, Hill Republicans had asked for a congressional hearing into the program and had released a report that concluded HHS officials ignored warnings about its sustainability.
Late last month, the Obama administration reduced the CLASS office staff, and the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a draft spending measure that cut funding for the program’s planning and implementation.
Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., who chairs the House Labor and Health and Human Services appropriations subcommittee, recently called the CLASS Act “a budget gimmick to make the cost of Obamacare look better and cheaper.”
HHS officials had said for months they were evaluating the program to make sure it could deliver an actuarially sound, affordable product. In February, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said it would be “irresponsible … to ignore the concerns about the CLASS program’s long-term sustainability in its current form, and we haven’t done that. But it would unconscionable to ignore the likelihood that without the CLASS Act countless Americans will have to clear out their savings and leave their homes and loved ones in order to get the services they need.”
Separately, in an April 2010 report Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief actuary Richard Foster predicted that over the long term, “there is a very serious risk that the problem of adverse selection will make the CLASS program unsustainable.”
The decision to stop implementation of the program will no doubt add fuel to the ongoing GOP campaign to repeal or, at the very least, defund the health law before its major provisions – including exchanges to help people purchase coverage and an expansion of Medicaid — go into effect in 2014.
“All the kings’ horses and all the kings’ men just can’t make this law work,” says critic Michael Cannon of the libertarian Cato Institute.
Greenlee and other officials were quick to say that the rest of the law is moving forward – and that deficit reduction resulting from other provisions in the law is estimated to save $127 billion from 2012 to 2021. Nonetheless, she said the Office of Management and Budget will likely further reduce revenue estimates from the CLASS program in the president’s 2013 baseline budget.
Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, the ranking Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, praised Sebelius’ decision to pull the CLASS program. He also said it may indicate more problems ahead for other provisions of the health law.
“After seeing the many unintended consequences that surround the President’s new health care law, this is more evidence that casts suspicion and doubt on the remaining portions of law. Rather than increasing premiums and eliminating coverage, maybe now Congress can take a stand and work to make health care more affordable,” Enzi said in a statement.
But an administration official said the decision did not endanger other parts of the law. “The CLASS program is a unique, stand-alone program,” he said. “Long term care is important and it’s something we are committed to addressing, but drawing conclusions between this and other parts of the law simply doesn’t make sense.”
Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., D-N.J., a co-author of CLASS, also disagreed with Enzi.
“While we are fighting so hard against Republican attempts to cut Medicaid, which is currently the only available option for long-term care for seniors and the disabled, abandoning the CLASS Act is the wrong decision,” he said in a statement. “Soon enough, those in need will have nowhere to go for long term care.”
The seniors group AARP also said it was disappointed by the decision and urged the administration to look for ways to make the program viable. “Medicare does not cover long-term care, and 70 percent of people age 65 and over will need long-term care services at some point in their lifetime,” said Joyce A. Rogers, senior vice president for government affairs at AARP.
Julie Appleby: jappleby@kff.org, @Julie_Appleby
Mary Agnes Carey: maryagnesc@kff.org, @MaryAgnesCarey
Aging Cost and Quality Insurance
Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News and Mary Agnes Carey, Kaiser Health News
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Stephen King Rage
Marco Ferrarese: My words are an extension of my punk rock spirit
Marco Ferrarese, who made his debut as novelist at this year’s Singapore Writers Festival with Nazi Goreng (Monsoon Books), is a former international punk rock guitarist, and now a freelance travel and culture writer based in South East Asia.
According to his publishers, Nazi Goreng is an intense Malaysian coming-of-age novel that stands alongside the works of Irvine Welsh and Chuck Palahniuk.
Nazi Goreng is fast-paced, entertaining and a fascinating insight into the vernacular of the streets of Malaysia. It is “purely fictional, albeit based on real events that occurred in Malaysia in the past few years,” says Ferrarese. “I wanted to make people reflect about their condition, their racist views, and the shit stains at the crack of their own asses. I couldn’t just keep it all inside of me any longer.”
Kitaab interviewed the author a little while before the book launch.
From a rock guitarist to a travel writer and now a novelist based in Malaysia. How did that journey happen for you? Did you always want to be a novelist?
Well, it’s been a long journey that requires a long explanation: I started reading fantasy and horror fiction when I was pretty young. Lovecraft, Howard, King, Barker, Dick, Asimov etc. I was lucky as my mother believed books were important tools for education, although she didn’t approve my penchant for the supernatural and the horror. Yes, I knew I would have written fantastic books: my first attempts at writing are prehistory. I believe that a couple notebooks filled with my terribly undulating 10 years old handwriting still lay somewhere at my parents’ house in Italy. A pointless supernatural story, set in the USA, trying to clone Stephen King.
Zafar Anjum November 10, 2013 Authors, Book, Features
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A Decade of Video Games – Games I Have Completed Since 2010
I am in no way organized when it comes to cataloging which games I own let alone those I have completed. Below is my attempt to create a list of games released within the last decade that I have finished:
ABZÛ
Batman: The Telltale Series (Season 1)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Destiny: The Taken King (expansion)
King’s Quest: A Knight to Remember (Episode 1)
Kirby Star Allies
Mazurka – A Ghost in Italy
Minecraft: Story Mode (Season 1)
Sayonara Wild Hearts
Tales from the Borderlands (all episodes)
That Dragon, Cancer
The Last of Us: Left Behind (DLC)
Now, to pick my game of the decade.
Tags 3DS, Abzu, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Apple Arcade, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Batman: The Telltale Series (Season 1), BioShock Infinite, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Destiny, Destiny 2, Detroit: Become Human, Donut County, Final Fantasy XV, Finish, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Firewatch, Florence, INSIDE, iOS, Journey, King's Quest, Kirby Star Allies, Mass Effect 2, Mazurka - A Ghost in Italy, Minecraft: Story Mode, Monument Valley, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Oxenfree, Playstation, Pokémon X, PS4, Race The Sun, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Sony, Spider-Man, Steamworld Dig, SteamWorld Dig 2, Super Mario Odyssey, Taken King, Tales from the Borderlands, That Dragon Cancer, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, The Final Station, The Last of Us Remastered, The Last of Us: Left Behind, Titanfall 2, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, UNCHARTED 4: A Thief's End, Video Games, Virginia, West of Loathing, What Remains of Edith Finch, Wolfenstein: The New Order
Introducing: The Long Hall Podcast
Well, I finally did it. I finally:
Sat down and planned things out
Scheduled a guest
Edited (I may hate Audacity)
And Posted
All that said, I would like to introduce you to my new podcast project, The Long Hall.
Take a listen to the pilot episode and tell me what you think in the comments below.
Listen/Download via the Broken Jars Network
Listen via iTunes
Tags Abzu, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, children, gaming with kids, LEGO games, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, Minecraft: Story Mode, Overcooked, Podcast, Race The Sun, Roadblocks, The Long Hall, Video Games, Videogames
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Tag Archives: Isabelle Huppert
The Maids review
Isabelle Huppert and Cate Blanchett. Photo: Lisa Tomasetti
The starry line-up of Cate Blanchett, Isabelle Huppert and Elizabeth Debicki in Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Maids is one of the most glittering pieces of casting seen on the Sydney stage for a while.
The vehicle that brings them together, meanwhile, is a dark, challenging, existential play.
Written in 1947 by French playwright Jean Genet, The Maids was inspired by a notorious, real-life case in 1933 when two sisters working as servants in Le Mans brutally murdered their mistress and her daughter. Discovered naked in bed together with the murder weapons, they immediately confessed.
In the play, two maids play a sadistic, sexualised, ritual game in which they act out the roles of servant and dominating employer and fantasise about killing their mistress. Reality and fantasy slip and slide in a play with layer upon layer of role-playing.
On this particular day, Claire (Blanchett) is playing the role of the mistress, while her older sister Solange (Huppert) plays Claire. An alarm clock from the kitchen sits on the bedside table to warn them of the impending arrival of their mistress (Debicki).
Director Benedict Andrews uses a muscular, new translation by himself and Andrew Upton, which feels contemporary yet true to the play, while the glossy, stylised production features several of his directorial signatures: glass walls and cameras feeding live footage onto a large screen.
Designer Alice Babidge transforms the stage into an opulent boudoir with a long rack of elegant couture, a bed, dressing table and hundreds of flowers in vases all over the room, with fake flowers underlining the theme of artifice.
The walls act as mirrors but through them we glimpse camera operators. The video (designed by Sean Bacon) gives us close-ups of the actors and brief scenes from a bathroom behind the main room but also picks out details like a knocked-over vase or rubber gloves lying on the bed. At times it’s distracting but overall it works, enhancing the intimacy of the play in the large theatre and the sense of voyeurism.
Andrews does a great job of mining the dark humour in the play and genuinely jolts you at times (think spit, profanities and toilet scenes).
The three actors respond to his vision with deeply committed, heightened performances.
Blanchett is remarkable, mercurial and fearless as she swans around histrionically in the guise of the mistress, then slumps back into Claire’s slutty, bitter anger and despair at her dead-end life. Holding nothing back, she seems genuinely spent at the curtain call.
The petite Huppert is more wry, playful and laissez-faire as Solange in a highly physical performance that sees her doing pull-ups from the clothes rack, pumping her legs on the bed and moving in a jerky, girlish fashion. However, her strong French accent has you straining to understand her at times, particularly when she speaks quickly. In a wordy play where the language and what they say is so important, it’s problematic.
Though both Blanchett and Huppert are individually terrific, the relationship between the two maids as co-dependent sisters doesn’t feel entirely believable.
Elizabeth Debicki and Cate Blanchett. Photo: Lisa Tomaetti
In the smaller role of the mistress, the statuesque Debicki (a 22-year old newcomer fresh from playing Jordan Baker in Baz Luhrmann’s film The Great Gatsby) holds her own. Flouncing in like a celebrity used to the glare of the paparazzi flashbulbs, she captures the character’s skittish, careless, preening, self-regarding behaviour as she gushes over the maids one minute and barely knows one from the other the next.
The mistress is play-acting herself: playing at being the authoritative mistress as well as the devoted, suffering wife whose husband has been arrested. Debicki feels very young for the role and pushes close to farce as the mistress dashes off to see her husband but it’s a mesmerising performance by an actor we will doubtless be seeing a great deal more of.
But for all the passion on stage, I watched the production dispassionately, almost forensically without being sucked into the play. I felt totally disconnected from it. Perhaps that’s what Andrews wants; Genet certainly doesn’t invite an emotional response but I suspect it’s partly the theatre too, which feels very large for such an intimate piece.
Nonetheless, it’s a fascinating production of an intriguing play with some very fine acting.
Sydney Theatre until July 20
An edited version of this review appeared in the Sunday Telegraph on June 16
Posted in Theatre | Tagged Alice Babidge, Andrew Upton, Benedict Andrews, Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth Debicki, Isabelle Huppert, Jean Genet, Sean Bacon, Sydney Theatre Company, The Maids | Leave a reply
Elizabeth Debicki interview
Posted on June 3, 2013 by jolitson
The last few weeks have been a complete whirlwind for Elizabeth Debicki, the 22- year old Australian actor who is being hailed as the breakout star of Baz Luhrmann’s much-anticipated, much-scrutinised film The Great Gatsby.
She’s walked the red carpet for the movie’s gala opening at the Cannes Film Festival and at the lavish Sydney premiere. She’s wined and dined with the rich and famous at several exclusive events including a Prada dinner hosted by US Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
In between all that she’s been rehearsing a production of Jean Genet’s The Maids for Sydney Theatre Company with Cate Blanchett and French film star Isabelle Huppert.
It’s enough to go to a girl’s head, but Debicki seems unaffected by all the glitz, glamour and media attention.
“Someone asked me, ‘how do you stay grounded?’ Well, it’s a bit bizarre but I feel very normal. I just feel busy and tired. And happy,” she says.
“I’m happy that the film has come out and is doing so well and I’m happy to be working at STC on this play. I think that’s one of the best things to keep you grounded after a whirlwind press junket – waking up and coming to a theatre rehearsal and standing at the foot of (the play) and saying, ‘I’m not sure how to do this.’ That will keep you grounded,” she says.
“Someone asked me if I’ve been recognised (on the street). The answer is no. I don’t look anything like myself in this film. So life is pretty normal. I’m just working here everyday.”
“Here” is the Wharf Theatre where she is rehearsing Genet’s dark, elliptical play about two maids who act out a ritual fantasy of murdering their mistress.
We meet during a break in rehearsals. She’s dressed in ripped jeans and striped T-shirt without a skerrick of makeup but she still looks glowingly elegant. Much has been made of her creamy, luminous beauty, which has a similar quality to Cate Blanchett’s, with inevitable comparisons being made between the two actresses.
Debicki shrugs the idea off as if flicking at a fly. “Oh, it’s very flattering but I think people just have to have something to liken you to,” she says amiably.
Genet’s 1947 play was inspired by the notorious, true-life story of French servants Christine and Lea Papin, two quiet sisters who in 1933 brutally murdered their mistress and her daughter, attacking them with a kitchen knife and a hammer and gouging their eyes out.
The Sydney Theatre Company production will use a new translation by Benedict Andrews, who also directs, and Andrew Upton.
Elizabeth Debicki during rehearsals for The Maids. Photo: Lisa Tomasetti
Debicki plays the mistress. Starting rehearsals with Blanchett and Huppert was, she says, “daunting and thrilling. ‘Surreal’ is my buzzword in my life (at the moment). It’s an accurate way to describe it. It’s very strange when you meet somebody that you’re admired for so long you are a bit in awe of that person.
“I definitely was, and I still am everyday as I watch them work. And I did spend the first few days feeling quite – not out of my depth because nobody made me feel that – but I was sitting there pinching myself. I kept looking at Cate and Isabelle because I’d watched their films forever. I’d met Cate in person before when I came to talk about the play with her and Andrew. That was surreal. We had a cup of coffee and it was like, ‘I’m having coffee with Cate Blanchett.’
“But I’d never met Isabelle and I’ve loved her work for so long so to be actually working with her is kind of electric. I still can’t believe it when we are playing the scene together that I have the honour of working with someone with that talent.”
Andrews has no doubt she belongs in their company and predicts that her “brave, thrilling turn” as the mistress will be “an unforgettable Sydney debut of a serious new actress.
“Elizabeth is an astonishing talent. The real deal,” he says. “It’s a treat to watch her share the stage with Cate and Isabelle – two of the greatest living stage actresses. I love watching her soak it all in and learning on her feet. She’s commanding, seemingly fearless, hyper-inventive, deliciously playful and fiercely intelligent.”
For her part, Debicki describes Andrews’ direction as “wonderful and relentless – which is a good combination. It keeps me on my toes. I remember something Cate said: that his rehearsal room was really muscular, and it is. It’s incredibly physical. It’s relentless (but) not in a bad way. The play is like that too, it demands a lot of the actors. There are so many things happening on so many layers and levels and they are firing off all at once.
“One day in rehearsal you could be working on one level and then you think, ‘oh good, I’ve got that’, then you come in the next day and there’s another whole level. It’s just an every-expanding monster.
“It’s all about roles, the maids playing the role of the mistress and (one of them) playing the other maid. But the mistress is playing the role of mistress as well as playing the abandoned mother and devoted woman so there is so much role-playing. When we first started work on it I found it so dense I didn’t know where to place things but I think I’ve almost let myself not know now.”
Debicki was born in Paris to a Polish father and Australian mother, both of them classically trained dancers. They moved to Melbourne when she was five, where her mother still runs a dancing school.
She trained as a dancer but by age 16 was too tall to become a ballerina – she is a statuesque 1.9 metres – so turned her attention to acting. She graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2010 and a few months later was cast in The Gift by Joanna Murray-Smith at Melbourne Theatre Company. She also landed a bit part in Stephan Elliott’s film A Few Best Men.
During The Gift, she put down an audition tape for the role of Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby. “I think by then they had been trying to cast Jordan for a while,” she says.
The LA casting agent was impressed and Debicki was flown to Los Angeles to audition for Luhrmann during a crazy four-day trip.
Jordan Baker is a professional golfer, who lives a reckless, glamorous lifestyle. “It was the most fun I’ve ever had playing a character – though Mistress is getting pretty close,” says Debicki. “I think Jordan is a fabulous role. She just a party girl. To be perfectly honest I just had a really good time. There’s something really liberating about playing someone who is so reckless, with real commitment issues. She’s so careless. I’ve said it before but I just inhabited her bold ‘whateverness’. That was how I survived such a massive shoot. But she was great. I got amazing costumes, amazing jewellery, great wig. I kind of just had a great time.”
Debicki, who admits she’s never been sporty, had a golfing instructor for the role.
“There’s one (golf) swing in the whole movie. It was probably my most nervous day of shooting,” she says. “I had the instructor on the side of the camera telling me how to do it. I was so determined to get it perfect. This was a massive character trait – she’s a professional golfer and there are so many people around the world who play golf so if they watch the movie and go, ‘that’s a terrible swing’, I’d be mortified. So I tried really hard but I don’t think I’d ever play golf again. It’s so dull – though conceptually I understand that it’s a beautiful game.”
Reviews for The Great Gatsby may be mixed but Debicki, who has landed raves, has nothing but praise for Luhrmann and the film. “I think it’s beautiful. I’m so proud of it,” she says.
Having moved to Sydney for the filming, Debicki been based there off and on for the past 18 months but says she’ll go where the work is.
“I’m actually really good at doing that,” she says. “It just suits my personality. I get bored when I’m in the same place. I like building a nest somewhere then dismantling it and moving on. I’m too much of a traveller I guess. I like to be in new places.”
Doubtless she has been inundated with works offers but right now she has her sights set firmly on The Maids.
“I’ve got really wonderful agents in America already that I’ve had since I signed up to the movie,” she says. “Certainly a movie like this does help (your profile) obviously, but I’m really focussing on getting through this play. It’s quite consuming at the moment. Then I can take the blinkers off and see what the future holds.”
The Maids, Sydney Theatre, June 4 – July 20.
An edited version of this story appeared in The Sunday Telegraph on June 2.
Posted in Interviews, Theatre | Tagged Andrew Upton, Baz Luhrmann, Benedict Andrews, Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth Debicki, Isabelle Huppert, Jean Genet, Sydney Theatre Company, The Great Gatsby, The Maids | Leave a reply
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メイン Handbook of School Counseling (Counseling and Counselor Education)
Handbook of School Counseling (Counseling and Counselor Education)
Hardin L. K. Coleman, Christine J. Yeh
The mission of this forty-eight chapter Handbook is to provide a comprehensive reference source that integrates counseling theory, research and practice into one volume. It is designed to meet the needs of entry-level practitioners from their initial placement in schools through their first three to five years of practice. It will also be of interest to experienced school counselors, counselor educators, school researchers, and counseling representatives within state and local governments.
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Series: Counseling and Counselor Education
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counseling3770
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counselor2015
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racial793
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adolescents703
psychology689
gifted685
developmental650
consultation546
behaviors520
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bullying392
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curriculum386
multicultural385
culturally350
peers345
asca332
competence327
behavioral326
african american314
minority294
outcomes293
efficacy288
interpersonal279
disabilities259
diversity245
harassment241
counseling programs239
educators237
aggression231
attitudes229
administrators229
professional school counseling226
elementary school222
effectiveness213
gifted students212
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vocational206
retrieved201
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Contributors .......................................................................................................................... ix
School Counseling from a Multicultural and
an Ecological Perspective: An Introduction.................................................................... xxvii
Hardin L. K. Coleman and Christine J. Yeh
Introduction to the Field of School Counseling
History of School Counseling ................................................................................................3
John J. Schmidt
A Concept of Best Practices in Training School Counselors ............................................. 15
Robbie J. Steward, Douglas M. Neil, and Matthew A. Diemer
School Counseling: Moving Toward Standards and Models ..............................................37
Carol A. Dahir
Student Accomplishment: Equity and the School Counselor’s Role ..................................49
Hardin L. K. Coleman
Understanding Yourself as a School Counselor .................................................................63
Christine J. Yeh and Stephanie T. Pituc
Diversity and School Counseling
The Acculturative Environment of Schools and the School Counselor:
Goals and Roles That Create a Supportive Context for Immigrant Adolescents ..............79
Edison J. Trickett and Diana Formoso
vi Contents
Immigrant Children and Youth in Schools .........................................................................95
Sarah J. Lee and Karen A. Cort
Racial Harassment in American Schools ........................................................................... 111
Robert T. Carter, Tamara R. Buckley, and Schekeva P. Hall
The Role of Ethnic Identity in the Practice of School Counseling ..................................127
Shannon Casey-Cannon
Understanding and Implementing Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender,
Questioning Affirmative Practices as School Counselors ................................................ 135
Shelby J. Semino
Social Class in School Counseling .................................................................................... 145
William Ming Liu, Alice Fridman, and Thomasin E. Tranel Hall
Disability in the Schools .................................................................................................... 157
Tina M. Anctil and Stephanie San Miguel Bauman
Race and Ethnicity in School Counseling ......................................................................... 177
Marie L. Miville
African American Empowerment in Secondary School Counseling ............................... 195
Leon D. Caldwell, Richard Oldfield, Bettina M. Beech, and Vann Price
Facilitating Personal and Social Development ..................................................................209
Nancy Bodenhorn
Physical Health and Emotional Development: A Primer for School Counselors ............ 219
Laura Fillingame Knudtson and Hardin L. K. Coleman
Adolescent Sexual Health and Development ...................................................................243
Laura Fillingame Knudtson and Hardin L. K. Coleman
School Counselor’s Role in Promoting Literacy in Elementary School–Aged
Children .............................................................................................................................. 259
Carrie J. Linskens and Hardin L. K. Coleman
Designing Culturally Responsive School Counseling Career Development
Programming for Youth .....................................................................................................269
Kimberly A. S. Howard, V. Scott H. Solberg, Neeta Kantameni,
and Melissa Kraemer Smothers
4 School Counselor Competence
School Counselor Training: School and Societal Needs in the 21st Century . ................293
John L. Romano, Kay Herting Wahl, and Julie M. Koch
Contents vii
Supervision of Professional School Counselors ................................................................309
Diana Gruman and Mary Lee Nelson
Multicultural Competence of School Counselors ............................................................. 321
Delila Owens and Madonna G. Constantine
Consultation With Teachers, Administrators, and Counseling Agencies .........................329
The School Counselor’s Role in Creating Caring School Communities .......................... 351
Jennifer J. Lindwall and Hardin L. K. Coleman
School-Based Interventions
Youth Development and Prevention in the Schools ........................................................381
Sally M. Hage, Jonathan P. Schwartz, and Sara Barnett
Individual Counseling as Intervention in the Schools .....................................................397
Jeri L. Lee and Stacie E. Putman
Focused, but Flexible: A Developmental Approach to Small Group Work
in Schools ...........................................................................................................................409
Jean Sunde Peterson and Heather L. Servaty-Seib
Conducting Groups in Schools: Challenges and Rewards ............................................... 431
Denise Beesley and Lisa L. Frey
Families in Context: An Essential Component of School Counseling .............................449
Terence Patterson
Crisis Management in the Schools .................................................................................... 459
Michelle L. Murphy
Consultation and Collaboration as Essential Services for School Counseling
Programs .............................................................................................................................481
Michael B. Salzman
Career Development Interventions in Schools .................................................................497
Wei-Cheng J. Mau
Creative Arts Counseling in Schools: Toward a More Comprehensive
Approach ............................................................................................................................ 517
Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers
Counseling the Gifted and Talented ................................................................................. 531
Corissa C. Lotta, Barbara A. Kerr, and Erica A. Kruger
Cultural Identity Enhancement Strategies for Culturally Diverse Youth .........................563
Hardin L. K. Coleman, Sara Cho Kim, and A. Yang
viii Contents
Working With Socioemotional Challenges
Interpersonal Relationships ...............................................................................................587
Stephanie T. Pituc and Tracy R. Juliao
Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention .......................................................... 613
Sheri Bauman
Working With School Failure ............................................................................................ 635
Karen A. Cort
Measuring and Evaluating Adolescent Connectedness .................................................... 651
Michael J. Karcher, Michelle R. Holcomb, and Elias Zambrano
Bullying and Peer Victimization ........................................................................................ 673
Susan M. Swearer, Eric S. Buhs, Amanda B. Siebecker, Kelly Brey Love,
and Courtney K. Miller
XLI
School Violence ..................................................................................................................693
Anne Gregory and Elise Cappella
XLII
Substance Abuse ................................................................................................................ 717
Chris Wood and Lisa Hinkelman
XLIII
Accountability and Professional Issues in School Counseling
Evaluating School Guidance and Counseling Programs: Past, Present,
and Future .......................................................................................................................... 739
Norman C. Gysbers
XLIV
Research in and on School Counseling ............................................................................ 751
Bryan S. K. Kim and Saul G. Alamilla
The Essential Role of School–Community Partnerships in School Counseling . ............ 765
Mary E. Walsh and Jillian DePaul
XLVI
Law and Ethics in School Counseling ...............................................................................785
Patricia L. Wolleat
XLVII
Professional Activities in Professional School Counseling ............................................... 811
Keith€M. Davis, Laurie L. Williamson, and Barbara A. Scarboro
Author Index ......................................................................................................................825
Subject Index ......................................................................................................................865
Saul G. Alamilla
Saul G. Alamilla, MS, MA, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and
School Psychology at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He received a BA degree in sociology in 2002 and an MS degree in counseling in 2004, both from the California State University at
Fullerton. He earned an MA degree in counseling psychology from the University of California at
Santa Barbara in 2006. His current research interests include Latino/a mental health, ethnic/racial
psychology, and the measurement of cultural constructs.
Tina M. Anctil
Tina M. Anctil, PhD, is Assistant Professor of counseling psychology at Washington State University.
She coordinates the EdM in School Counseling Program at WSU and is the administrator of the WSU
School Counseling Professional Education Advisory Board. In addition to teaching in the School
Counseling Program, she is a licensed professional counselor and a certified rehabilitation counselor.
She has worked in school settings across the country, assisting children and adolescents with disabilities with their educational and career development pursuits. Her research agenda is varied but
is fundamentally concerned with how schools can empower all students to achieve in spite of life’s
challenges including disabilities, mental health disorders, poverty, and other risk factors.
Contributors ix
˘ Contributors
Sara Barnett
Sara Barnett, MA, MEd, currently teaches fifth grade in the South Bronx as member of the New York
City Teaching Fellows Program. She holds a BA from Harvard University and an MA and EdM in counseling psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests include minority
student achievement, majority privilege, and racial-cultural identity development, among others.
Sheri Bauman, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and is director of the MEd program in School Counseling and Guidance at the University of Arizona. Her research
focuses on school bullying, with an emphasis on relational bullying and teacher responses to bullying. In addition, she conducts research on professional issues in school counseling and on aspects of
group work. She is editor-elect of the Journal for Specialists in Group Work and will become editor in
July 2007. She is a licensed psychologist with a small clinical practice in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Stephanie San Miguel Bauman
Stephanie San Miguel Bauman, PhD, is Associate Professor of counseling psychology at Washington
State University. She coordinates the EdM in Counseling Program at the WSU Tri-Cities campus and
is a member of the WSU School Counseling Professional Education Advisory Board. She received her
PhD from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1995. Her research interests include risk
and resiliency factors for children of color, children with chronic illnesses, and their families. She has
published in the areas of social support for families of children with autism, learning disabilities and
social skills, and multicultural counseling.
Bettina M. Beech
Dr. Beech is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology. She received her DrPH in community health sciences in the School of Public Health from the University of Texas Health Science
Center at Houston and a master’s degree in public health from Temple University. She has focused
her research in the area of behavioral risk factors that contribute to chronic diseases, specifically
among adolescents and ethnic minority populations. Dr. Beech has been the Principal Investigator
of 14 grants from the National Institutes of Health, The Assisi Foundation, and Memphis Alliance for
Public Health.
Denise Beesley
Denise Beesley, PhD, is Associate Professor of educational psychology at the University of Oklahoma
(OU). She currently serves as the Coordinator for the school counseling program and as Director of
the OU Counseling Psychology Assessment Clinic. Her research interests include school counselor
and teacher training, working with at-risk youth, diversity issues, relational and behavioral health, and
psychological and psycho-educational assessment. She serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal
of School Counseling.
Contributors xi
Nancy Bodenhorn, PhD, was a school counselor for 20 years before earning her PhD in counselor
education. Nancy’s career has included counseling at all three academic levels, alternative schools,
and gifted and talented magnet schools. She has worked in schools in four different states as well as
in international schools in Kuwait, Bangkok, and Brussels. After that exciting career, Nancy is following a new direction, transferring her passion to the next generation of school counselors. She earned
her PhD at Michigan State and has been teaching at Virginia Tech since 2001.
Tamara R. Buckley
Hunter College, City University of New York
Tamara R. Buckley, PhD, earned her doctorate in counseling psychology from Columbia University,
Teachers College in 2001. She is currently Associate Professor at Hunter College, City University of
New York in the Department of Educational Foundations and Counseling Program, and she is a New
York State licensed psychologist. Dr. Buckley’s research focuses on racial identity and health, educational, organizational outcomes.
Eric S. Buhs
Eric S. Buhs, PhD, is Assistant Professor of educational psychology at the University of NebraskaÂ�Lincoln in the Cognition, Learning, and Development program. His research interests include examining children’s peer relationships and school adjustment with a focus on the role of behavioral
correlates of peer rejection and the examination of cultural and ethnic differences in aggression. He
has been conducting and publishing research using longitudinal examinations of peer rejection effects
on victimization, social exclusion, and classroom engagement and is currently examining potential
effects of aggression and victimization on adjustment in Latino adolescent populations.
Leon D. Caldwell
Leon D. Caldwell, PhD, is Visiting Associate Professor of counseling psychology in the Department
of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Research at the University of Memphis. Dr. Caldwell’s
research focuses on the cultural determinants to health behaviors, African American male mental
health promotion, adolescent mental health promotion, youth development and violence prevention
intervention, and academic performance of African American and other underrepresented students.
Dr. Caldwell has served as a consultant on national projects involving issues such as€gang prevention,
health disparities elimination, cultural competence, and the academic achievement gap.€
Elise Cappella
Institute for Juvenile Research, University of Illinois at Chicago
Dr. Cappella is Assistant Professor at the Institute for Juvenile Research, University of Illinois at Chicago. She received her PhD in clinical–community psychology from the University of California,
Berkeley. Her research integrates education and psychology with the goal to understand the social–
emotional and academic development of children in schools. She€currently is studying an intervention to promote learning and positive behavior among students in urban high poverty schools and
has€conducted research€on children’s peer relationships and achievement trajectories. Dr. Cappella
began an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at New York
University in 2007.
xii Contributors
Robert T. Carter
Robert T. Carter, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and Education in the Counseling Psychology Program
at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Carter is known internationally for his work on Black
and White racial identity. He has published in the areas of psychotherapy processes and outcome,
career development, cultural values, racial identity issues, educational achievements, and equality in
education through the lens of racial identity. He also provides consultation on organizational, legal,
and educational issues associated with race and diversity.
Shannon Casey-Cannon, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the California School of Professional Psychology
at Alliant International University. She is currently doing research related to ethnic identity, cognitions
associated with shifting between diverse cultural environments, and minority student achievement.
Dr. Casey-Cannon teaches Psychometrics, Statistics, and Research Design, as well as courses related
to cognitive behavioral therapy.
Sara Cho Kim
Sara Cho Kim, MS Ed, is a 5th-year doctoral student in counseling psychology at the University of
Wisconsin–Madison. She has presented and published on topics related to cultural identity formation,
psychosocial factors in student achievement, and stereotype threat. Her major research interests are in
studying cultural and contextual factors influencing psychological processes and outcomes for Asian
Americans. In addition, she has taught courses on multicultural counseling and career development as
an adjunct professor at Shippensburg University. She received her master’s degree from the University
of Pennsylvania.
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers, PhD, is Assistant Professor of counseling psychology at the Graduate School
of Education, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Her research interests include cross-cultural
psychology with children and families, bilingualism in psychotherapy, resilience, and public education through the media. A key interest is to explore what fosters resilience in children and adolescents
at home, in the community, and in schools. Her recent books include Diversity Training for Classroom
Teaching: A Manual for Students and Educators (Springer, 2006), and she was coeditor of Community
Planning to Foster Resilience in Children (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004).
Roosevelt University, Chicago
Roberto Clemente holds a PhD in counselor education from Oregon State University, a master’s in
school guidance, and a bachelor’s in science education from the University of Puerto Rico. He was
an Associate Professor at the University of Northern Iowa and is currently at Roosevelt University in
Chicago in the Counseling and Human Services Department. He has written two book chapters and
several refereed articles, and has coauthored a book on ethnically diverse children and counseling
interventions. In addition to providing sensitivity and multicultural training in schools and mental
health agencies, he has conducted international consultation activities in St. Petersburg, Russia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.
Hardin L. K. Coleman, PhD, is Professor of counseling psychology and Associate Dean in the School
of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His primary teaching and training focus is on
the development of school counselors and professional development training in multicultural competence for teachers. His clinical focus is with lower income African American families with a particular
interest in adolescents.€His current research focus is on the noncognitive factors that affect minority
student achievement in K–12 educational settings and interventions that enhance cultural identity
development. His other research interests include the development of cultural identity, strategies for
effectively coping with cultural diversity, and bicultural competence.
Madonna G. Constantine
Madonna G. Constantine, PhD, is Professor of psychology and education in the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. The scope of her work
includes exploring the psychological, educational, and vocational issues of African Americans; developing models of cross-cultural competence in counseling, training, and supervision; and examining
the intersections of variables such as race and ethnicity in relation to mental health and educational processes and outcomes. She is currently involved on several editorial boards in her field, and
she serves in various leadership capacities in counseling and psychological associations across the
country.
Karen A. Cort is currently a doctoral candidate in counseling psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her MA and EdM in psychological counseling, and MPhil from Teachers
College, Columbia University. She has worked with students for over 10 years in academia, serving as
a high school counselor for 5 years and as an adjunct faculty member at LaGuardia Community College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Dowling College. Her research interests include race,
education, and adolescent development, specifically focusing on students of color.
Carol A. Dahir, EdD, is Associate Professor in counselor education at New York Institute of Technology. Dahir is the coauthor of The National Standards for School Counseling Programs (1997) and has
also coauthored The Transformed School Counselor (2006) and School Counselor Accountability: A
Measure of Student Success 2e (2007) with Carolyn Stone. She writes and presents extensively about
transforming school counseling, school counseling program development, and accountability in textbooks, journals, publications, and professional development venues across the nation.
Keith M. Davis
Keith M. Davis, PhD, NCC, is a Licensed North Carolina School Counselor and Associate Professor in
the Department of Human Development and Psychological Counseling at Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina. He has worked in public education as a high school teacher and high
school and elementary school counselor.
xiv Contributors
Jillian DePaul
Jillian DePaul, MA, MEd, is a doctoral student in counseling psychology at Boston College’s Lynch
School of Education. She received clinical training at a variety of settings, including Fenway Community Health Center, the Tufts University Counseling Center, and Chelmsford High School. Her research
interests include systemic interventions in schools, gender identity and socialization, and issues of
sexual orientation in schools. Prior to pursuing graduate studies in psychology, Jillian taught fifth
grade for 2 years in Austin, TX, as a member of the Alliance for Catholic Education, a service program
housed at the University of Notre Dame.
Matthew A. Diemer
Matthew A. Diemer, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Michigan State University MA Counseling Program. His teaching and training interests include preparing culturally competent counselors, social
justice counseling perspectives, comprehensive guidance models, and integrating career development
into the practice of (particularly school) counselors. His research interests include the cultural context of career development, facilitating sociopolitical development and critical consciousness among
oppressed/marginalized individuals, and synthesizing these domains to explore sociopolitical development/critical consciousness as a predictor of career development and occupational attainment
among economically disadvantaged youth of color.
Laura Fillingame Knudtson
Laura Fillingame Knudtson, MA, is a doctoral candidate in counseling psychology at the University of
Wisconsin–Madison. She earned her master’s in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota. Laura’s clinical work focuses on working with diverse adolescent populations as well as the
clinical supervision of master’s level counseling psychology trainees. She has conducted research in
the areas of positive youth development, racial/ethnic identity development, minority student achievement, body image, and training medical professionals’ skills in working with adolescent patients.
Laura’s current work focuses on adolescent sexual decision making and sexual health education.
Lisa L. Frey
Lisa L. Frey, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the counseling psychology program of the Department of
Educational Psychology at the University of Oklahoma. Her teaching and research has been greatly
influenced by her previous clinical experience, which focused on work with youth who have experienced trauma and/or perpetrated violence, as well as individuals from diverse populations. Dr.€Frey
has consulted extensively in schools and community agencies. Her research interests are in the
areas of at-risk youth, particularly youth who have been identified as delinquent and girls involved
in the juvenile justice system; diversity; applications of the relational cultural model; and relational
Alice Fridman
Alice Fridman is a doctoral student in her 3rd year of the counseling psychology program at the
University of Iowa. She received her BA in psychology from Carleton College in 2003. Her research
interests include social class and other multicultural issues, and her clinical interests include trauma
recovery, diversity issues, gender issues, and play therapy.
Contributors xv
Anne Gregory
Curry School of Education, University of Virginia
Anne Gregory is Assistant Professor in clinical and school psychology at the University of Virginia. She
received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research identifies contributors to the
overrepresentation of African American students in the discipline system. Co-authored recent publications include, “The Discipline Gap and the Normalization of Failure,” in P. Noguera and J. Wing (Eds.),
Unfinished Business: Closing the Racial Achievement Gap in Our Schools (2006) and “School Climate
and Implementation of a Preventive Intervention,” American Journal of Community Psychology (in
press).
Diana Gruman
Diana Gruman, PhD, NCC, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Western Washington University in Bellingham. Her primary area of teaching is in the CACREP-accredited school and
mental health counseling programs. Dr. Gruman received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from
Whitman College, her master’s degree in school counseling at Western Washington University, and
her€doctorate in educational psychology, with an emphasis on counselor education and supervision,
at the University of Washington, Seattle. Her research interests include student mobility, effectiveness
of school prevention/intervention efforts, and the professional development of school counselors.
University of Missouri–Columbia
Norman C. Gysbers, PhD, is Professor with Distinction in the Department of Educational, School, and
Counseling Psychology at the University of Missouri–Columbia. He is a licensed school counselor
in Missouri. Gysbers’ research and teaching interests are in career development, career counseling,
and school guidance and counseling program development, management, and evaluation. He is the
author of 79 articles in 17 different professional journals, 31 chapters in published books, 15 monographs, and 17 books. Since 1967, he has served as director of numerous national and state projects on
career development and career counseling, and school guidance program development, implementation, and evaluation.
Sally M. Hage
Sally M. Hage, PhD, is Assistant Professor of psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia
University, Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology. She is a licensed psychologist who
earned her doctorate at the University of Minnesota and an MDiv from the University of Notre Dame.
Her areas of special interest and research include prevention and training, spirituality and counseling, prevention of interpersonal violence, and multicultural psychology. She has written extensively
in the area of prevention and psychology and she is the lead author of the “Best Practice Guidelines
on Prevention Practice, Research, Training, and Social Advocacy for Psychologists,” The Counseling
Psychologist, 2007.€
Schekeva P. Hall
Schekeva P. Hall, BA, is a doctoral student in counseling psychology in the Department of Counseling
and Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests include racial
identity development, racial discrimination, and mental health with Black immigrant populations.
xvi Contributors
Thomasin E. Tranel Hall
Thomasin E. Tranel Hall graduated with a BA from Gonzaga University in 2004 with majors in psychology and Spanish. She is currently working toward a PhD in counseling psychology at the University of
Iowa. Her specific interests are in the areas of child developmental disabilities and behavior disorders,
acculturation among Latino adolescents, and social justice issues in counseling psychology.
Lisa Hinkelman
Lisa Hinkelman, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the counselor education program at The Ohio State
University. She is licensed as a school counselor in the state of Ohio and is licensed as a professional
counselor. Her work includes serving as Project Evaluator for Project Success, an Elementary School
Counseling Demonstration Act project in the Columbus Public Schools. She has published and presented on topics such as the development of leadership in school counseling students, girls’ career
development, body image and eating disorders, sexual assault prevention, and mental health issues
in schools.
Michelle R. Holcomb
Michelle R. Holcomb, MA, is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in the state of Texas. She
received her Bachelor of Science Degree in psychology from Angelo State University in San Angelo,
Texas and her Master of Education in counseling psychology from the University of Houston. She is
currently pursuing a doctorate in counselor education and supervision at the University of Texas at
San Antonio. Michelle worked as a high school guidance counselor for 2 years in Houston and an LPC
working with at-risk youth grades K–12 in San Antonio for 5 years.
Kimberly A. S. Howard
Kimberly A. S. Howard, PhD, is Assistant Professor, the Coordinator of the School Counseling track,
and the Chair of the Masters in Counseling program in the Department of Counseling Psychology
at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Howard’s research interests include the examination of
the career development process of diverse, low-income youth. She is interested in factors that promote vocational development and resilience, including supportive relationships and personal agency
beliefs. Her early research explored the reasoning processes used by children and youth to understand career choice and career attainment. At present, she is engaged in an international study of
protective factors that predict positive academic, career, and life outcomes.
Tracy R. Juliao
Genesys Regional Medical Center
Tracy R. Juliao, PhD, earned her baccalaureate degree in psychology from the University of Michigan.
She pursued her graduate studies at Teachers College, Columbia University where she earned a Master
of Arts in developmental psychology, a Master of Education in psychological counseling, and a PhD in
counseling psychology. Tracy currently practices full time as a Health Psychology Fellow at Genesys
Regional Medical Center in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Her primary research and clinical interests include
multicultural issues in clinical practice, women’s issues, effectiveness of family interventions, integrating health psychology within primary care, incorporating multiculturalism and behavioral medicine
into medical education, and developing comprehensive pain management programs.
Contributors xvii
Neeta Kantamneni
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Neeta Kantamneni, MS, is a doctoral student in the counseling psychology program at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She received her master’s degree in counseling from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests include contextual factors in vocational development and
career interests, as well as multicultural counseling and competencies.
Michael J. Karcher
Michael J. Karcher, EdD, PhD, is Associate Professor of Education and Human Development and Coordinator of the School Counseling Program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He has studied the
phenomenon of connectedness in schools for 10 years. In 2002, he became the principal investigator
for the Study of Mentoring in the Learning Environment (SMILE) funded by the William T. Grant Foundation. He is on the editorial boards of Journal of Primary Prevention, Professional School Counseling,
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, and Psychology in the Schools, and is coeditor, with David L. DuBois,
of the Handbook of Youth Mentoring published by Sage Publications in 2005.
Barbara A. Kerr
Barbar A. Kerr, PhD, is Williamson Family Distinguished Professor of Counseling Psychology at the
University of Kansas. Her interests include the psychology of optimal human development, including
giftedness, creativity, and spirituality; counseling and psychotherapy; and gender issues. She is also a
member of the National Association for Gifted Children.
Bryan S. K. Kim
University of Hawaii at Hilo
Bryan S. K. Kim, PhD is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of
Hawaii at Hilo. Previously, he was Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical,
and School Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Assistant Professor in the
Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Kim’s research focuses on
multicultural counseling process and outcome, the measurement of cultural constructs, and counselor
education and supervision. Dr. Kim is an associate editor of The Counseling Psychologist and Cultural
Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. He also serves on the editorial boards of Measurement
and Evaluation in Counseling and Development; Journal of Counseling Psychology; Psychotherapy:
Theory, Research, Practice, and Training; and Educational Review.
Julie M. Koch McDonald
University of Minnesota–Twin Cities
Julie M. Koch, MEd, is a doctoral candidate in the counseling and student personnel psychology
program in the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. She
has worked as a school counselor at both elementary and high school levels and is a certified K–12
school counselor in the state of Texas. Her research interests include school counseling, multicultural
counseling, international and immigrant populations, and counselor training and development. She is
an active member of the American Psychological Association, American Counseling Association, and
American School Counselor Association.
xviii Contributors
Erica A. Kruger
Erica A. Kruger, M.S., is a licensed professional school counselor in Madison, WI. She earned her
master’s degree in counseling from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2004, with dual specializations in community mental health and K–12 school guidance. From 2001 to 2004, Erica also worked
as a residential coordinator of summer enrichment programs for the Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth. In addition to her experience in educational settings, Erica has also worked
as an in-home family therapist at a local community mental health agency. Her interests include
socioemotional concerns of gifted and talented youth, strengths-based practices for families, creating effective school-based intervention programs, and the personal and professional development of
beginning school counselors.
Jeri L. Lee
Jeri L. Lee, EdD, is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Graduate Program in School Counseling in the Psychology Department at Tennessee State University. Dr. Lee is licensed as a professional school counselor, a teacher, and a counseling psychologist. Her research interests include legal
and professional issues, program evaluation, and parenting strategies. Publications include a book,
The Two Yes Maxim: Maximizing Parenting Effectiveness, and articles appearing in Tennessee Psychologist and The Southern Speech Communication Journal.
Sarah J. Lee
Sarah J. Lee received her MA and EdM in psychological counseling from Teachers College, Columbia
University. She has worked with diverse populations in the City College of New York system as an
instructor, counselor, and advisor providing students with personal and career counseling, academic
advisement, educational planning, and mentorship. For the past 5 years, Lee has focused her research
efforts in the areas of Asian Americans and mental health and addressing needs of immigrant youths
Jennifer J. Lindwall
Jennifer J. Lindwall, MS, is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the Department of Counseling Psychology. Upon receiving her masters in counseling from University of Wisconsin–Madison, she became licensed as a school counselor and worked with elementary and middle
school students. Additionally, Ms. Lindwall has worked as a teacher, mentor, and counselor for youth
and their families in other settings, including precollege programs, an after-school program, a community counseling agency, and most recently primary care settings. She is primarily interested in
school counseling, school psychology, prevention science, and developing effective interventions for
culturally diverse youth.
Carrie Jo Linskens
Office of the Attorney General, Nevada Department of Justice
Carrie Jo Linskens received an MS in counseling from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where
she prepared for certification in both school and community counseling. She is currently working for
the Office of the Attorney General in Nevada in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Her responsibilities
include investigating abuse and neglect of patients. The information in her chapter is based on her
master’s thesis completed in cooperation with the second author.
Contributors xix
William Ming Liu
William Ming Liu, PhD, is Training Director for the Counseling Psychology Program at the University
of Iowa. He received his doctorate from the University of Maryland. His research and clinical interests
are in social class and classism, poverty, and men and masculinity. He is on the editorial boards for
The Counseling Psychologist, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, and Psychology of
Men and Masculinity.
Corissa C. Lotta
Corissa C. Lotta, PhD, is a faculty associate at University of Wisconsin–Madison, Department of Counseling Psychology. Her areas of primary interest include gifted and talented/creativity, clinical/communications training, at-risk youth, and diversity/women’s issues. Within the Counseling Psychology
Department, she teaches a variety of courses, supervises students’ clinical work, and is the Masters
and Doctoral Practicum Coordinator. In addition, she is developing counseling and support services
for students in the School of Veterinary Medicine and clients in the Veterinary Medicine Teaching
Kelly Brey Love
Kelly Brey Love, MA, is a doctoral candidate in school psychology at the University of Nebraska–
�Lincoln. She is currently completing her predoctoral internship in professional psychology at McLean
Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Belmont, Massachusetts, and is working with the Klarman Eating Disorders Center and the Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Her research
interests include analysis of aggressive, depressive, and anxious symptomatology in adolescents who
witness bullying interactions.
Wei-Cheng J. Mau, PhD, NCC, is a professor of counselor education at Wichita State University where
he has been teaching career development and other school counseling courses since 1991. Dr. Mau
has published over 40 journal articles, books, book chapters, reviews, and monographs. He has presented numerous papers at national and international conferences. His primary research areas include
cultural differences in educational/vocational aspirations and career planning, academic achievement,
help-seeking attitudes and behaviors, and computer-based career interventions. He has served on the
editorial boards of Journal of Vocational Behavior, Career Development Quarterly, and Measurement
& Evaluation in Counseling and Development.
Courtney K. Miller
Catholic Social Services, Lincoln, Nebraska
Courtney K. Miller, PhD, is currently completing a postdoctoral fellowship with Catholic Social Services in Lincoln, Nebraska, and is a provisionally licensed psychologist in the state of Nebraska.
She received her doctorate of philosophy in the area of school psychology from the University of
Nebraska–Lincoln. Dr. Miller’s research interests include bullying and victimization among school-age
youth; multisystemic interventions to support youth and families; and integration of spirituality within
the therapeutic context.
xx Contributors
Marie L. Miville, PhD, is Associate Professor of psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She also is the Program Coordinator and Director of Training of Counseling Psychology
programs at Teachers College. Professor Miville has conducted research and developed workshops
on social attitudes and universal-diverse orientation, Latino mental health, and the interrelations of
various aspects of identity, as based on race, culture, gender, sexual orientation, and ego identity
among populations of color. Dr. Miville is the author of nearly 40 journal articles and book chapters
dealing with multicultural issues in counseling and psychology. She is currently serving or has served
on several editorial boards.
University of North Florida
Michelle L. Murphy, PhD, LMHC, NCC is Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Leadership,
Counseling, and Instructional Technology at the University of North Florida. Dr. Murphy has a dual
specialization in mental health counseling and school counseling and guidance, and her current areas
of emphasis include crisis intervention, suicide prevention, sexual assault, and relationship violence.
She has worked as a high school counselor and a mental health consultant, collaborating with schools
and community agencies to provide counseling services to at-risk youth. Dr. Murphy is an instructor
and trainer for the North Florida Crisis Intervention Team and works with a local EAP providing crisis
response services and critical incident stress debriefings.
Douglas M. Neil
Douglas M. Neil, PhD, is Assistant Professor at Michigan State University’s MA Counseling Program.
Dr. Neil promotes the development of school counselors through highlighting the importance of
attention to psycho-socioemotional development across the life span in his areas of expertise in
teaching and research, which include multicultural counseling competence development, counseling supervision, and assessment. Dr. Neil also provides training in counseling supervision for
post-master’s level professionals in the community.
Mary Lee Nelson
Mary “Lee” Nelson is Professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Nelson has recently coauthored a book titled Critical Events in Psychotherapy
Supervision: An Interpersonal Approach. She has practiced school counseling and has trained school
counselors for 13 years. Her research has focused on supervision processes, the relation of appearance talk to body dissatisfaction in adolescents, and the psychological experience of social class. She
is currently on editorial boards of Psychotherapy Research, Training and Education in Professional
Psychology, and The Clinical Supervisor.
Delila Owens
Delila Owens, PhD, is Assistant Professor at Wayne State University. Owens has nearly 10 years of
experience working with adolescents. Her areas of specialization include school counseling, adolescent counseling, career and counseling/development. She has taught courses such as Diverse Learners
in a Multicultural Perspective, Child Development, Career Counseling, and School Counseling and
Consultation. Her research interests are in the areas of adolescent counseling, urban school counseling, early parental attachment and later adult adjustment, and college student adjustment.
Contributors xxi
Terence Patterson is Professor at the University of San Francisco. He is a licensed psychologist and
is board certified in family psychology with the American Board of Professional Psychology and a
Fellow of the American Psychological Association. He is on the board of The American Journal of
Family Therapy, a reviewer for Professional Psychology: Research, & Practice, and senior consulting editor for the APA bulletin The Family Psychologist. He is author of The Couple & Family Clinical Documentation Sourcebook and The Comprehensive Handbook of Psychotherapy (2nd ed., Vol.
2—Cognitive-Behavioral). He€is currently active in promoting diversity and competence in specialty
areas in psychology.
Jean Sunde Peterson
Jean Sunde Peterson, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Purdue
University and coordinates school-counselor preparation. Her research has focused on underidentified
and understudied populations of gifted children and adolescents, with particular attention to underachievement, bullying and other trauma, homosexuality, and giftedness as a risk factor. She is currently
the chair of the Counseling & Guidance Division of the National Association for Gifted Children. She
has published 70 books, articles, and chapters, including 3 books on group work with teens.
Stephanie T. Pituc
Stephanie T. Pituc, MA, MEd, earned her baccalaureate degree in psychology from Northwestern
University in Evanston, Illinois. She earned a Master of Arts and Master of Education in psychological
counseling from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is currently affiliated with the University
of San Francisco, School of Education’s Department of Counseling Psychology. Stephanie’s clinical
work and teaching experience include high school, community college, and university populations in
the New York City area. Her research interests include multicultural counseling, interpersonal dynamics, Asian immigrant populations, cultural adaptation and acculturation, and racial/ethnic identity.
Stacie E. Putman
Stacie E. Putman, EdD, is Assistant Professor in the Graduate Program in School Counseling in the
Psychology Department at Tennessee State University. Her research interests include posttraumatic
stress disorder among sexually victimized children, multicultural counseling issues, and issues related
to juvenile sexual offenders. Dr. Putman is a licensed professional counselor/mental health service
provider in the state of Tennessee. Her publications include articles appearing in The Journal of Counseling & Development.
John L. Romano
John L. Romano is Professor of educational psychology in the Counseling and Student Personnel
Psychology Program at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. He received his PhD from Arizona
State University. He was a core faculty member on the evaluation team that assessed the outcome and
impact of the national Transforming School Counseling Initiative, originally supported by the Wallace–Reader’s Digest Fund in partnership with the Education Trust. He has also conducted workshops
and research with preK–12 school personnel on models to enhance student well-being. His current
research interests include applying principles and concepts of€prevention to counseling and applied
psychology and international psychology.
xxii Contributors
Michael B. Salzman, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Counselor Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He has worked with diverse populations as a teacher in an inner-city public
school district in Brooklyn, a school counselor in the Navajo Nation, with Alaska Natives in a model
rural mental health program, with the Native Hawaiian Leadership Project in Hawaii, and as a psychologist at a community mental health center in South Tucson, Arizona. Dr. Salzman has developed interests
in the psychological functions of culture, cultural trauma, consultation, indigenous psychologies, movements of cultural recovery, ethno-cultural conflict, and the processes of psychological decolonization.
Barbara A. Scarboro
Barbara A. Scarboro, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Human Development & Psychological Counseling Department at Appalachian State University. Previously, she worked in the public schools of
North Carolina as a substance abuse prevention coordinator, student assistance program counselor,
and professional school counselor. Her current research interests include mental health reform,
professional school counseling, professional development; counseling students with emotional and
behavioral challenges; substance abuse prevention, intervention, treatment and dual diagnosis;
group counseling; and multiculturalism and diversity issues. She is a National Certified Counselor,
Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed School Counselor, Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist, and Case Presentation Method Evaluator for the North Carolina Substance Abuse Professional
Practice Board.
East Carolina University, Greenville
John J. (Jack) Schmidt, PhD, is Executive Director of the International Alliance for Invitational Education and professor emeritus of counselor education at East Carolina University, Greenville, North
Carolina. This year, Jack is a visiting professor at Wake Forest University. In addition to service as a
university professor, Jack has been a social studies teacher; an elementary, middle, and high school
counselor; a school system director of counseling and testing; and the state coordinator of school
counseling with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction from 1985 until 1989. Author
of over 50 articles, professional manuals, book chapters, and book reviews, Jack has published more
than a dozen books.
Jonathan P. Schwartz
Jonathan P. Schwartz, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Counseling Psychology Program at the University of Houston, Department of Educational Psychology. His research interests
include prevention, intimate violence, and gender roles. He is the current Communication Officer for
the American Psychological Association Division 17 Prevention Section and is the editor for the Section’s
publication, “Prevention in Counseling Psychology: Theory, Research, Practice and Training.”
Contributors xxiii
Shelby J. Semino, MEd, is a doctoral candidate in counseling psychology at Fordham University in
New York City. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in human service studies from Cornell
University and obtained her Masters of Education degree in psychological counseling from Teachers
College, Columbia University. At this time, Semino is completing her psychology internship training at
the Child and Family Institute of St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. Simultaneously, she is working
on her dissertation, which focuses on the psychological impact of racial and sexual identity development processes among nonheterosexual Black women.
Heather L. Servaty-Seib
Heather L. Servaty-Seib, PhD, a counseling psychologist, is Assistant Professor in the Department of
Educational Studies at Purdue University and teaches graduate-level courses on counseling theories,
group counseling, and children and death. Her research interests include a broad range of areas
within the field of thanatology, with particular emphasis on adolescent grief and social support
offered to the bereaved. She maintains a small private practice, counseling children, adolescents, and
adults who are struggling with loss issues. Dr. Servaty-Seib has held a number of leadership positions,
including Second Vice President, in the Association for Death Education and Counseling.
Amanda B. Siebecker
Amanda B. Siebecker, MA, is a fifth-year doctoral student in the School Psychology program at the
University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She is the President-Elect of Student Affiliates in School Psychology
(SASP). In addition, Amanda is a student-editor for School Psychology Quarterly. Her research interests
include issues related to the measurement of bullying, the role of special education verification in
bullying and victimization, and the identification of effective prevention and intervention programs
for schools and communities.
Melissa Kraemer Smothers
Melissa Kraemer Smothers, MA, is a doctoral candidate in the counseling psychology program at the
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She graduated from Boston College with a master’s degree in
counseling psychology. Her research interests include supervision and psychotherapy process and
multicultural counseling. She currently teaches in the areas of counseling theory and group counseling, as well as supervising master’s level students in practicum.
V. Scott H. Solberg
V. Scott H. Solberg, PhD, is Director of Wisconsin Careers in the Center on Education and Work at
the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he is also a member of the faculty of the Department of
Counseling Psychology. From 1995 to 2006, Dr. Solberg served as Associate Professor of educational
psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. His primary work has focused on improving
school classroom settings through intervention programming designed to promote a number of resilience characteristics including academic self-efficacy, motivation, positive relationships, stress management, and health. His intervention work has been published recently to be available to schools as
Success Highways by ScholarCentric publishing.
xxiv Contributors
Robbie J. Steward
Robbie J. Steward, PhD, is Professor and Director of the Michigan State University Master’s Counseling Program, whose training and teaching foci include the development of trainees’ basic individual
and group counseling skills and self-efficacy, appropriate selection and implementation of counseling
strategies and consultation skills, and research competence. Her research specialty areas are multicultural counseling development, counseling supervision, the identification of trainees’ cognitive and
academic background and personal characteristics that influence optimal training outcomes in terms
of counselor competence and self-efficacy, and the identification of variables that influence academic
persistence in both K–12 and university settings.
Susan M. Swearer
Susan M. Swearer, PhD, is Associate Professor of school psychology in the Department of Educational
Psychology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She is the codirector of the Nebraska Internship
Consortium in Professional Psychology and is a licensed psychologist in the state of Nebraska. Her
research interests are in the areas of bullying prevention and intervention, comorbidity of internalizing and externalizing disorders, and cognitive-behavioral interventions for youth and their families.
Dr. Swearer is Associate Editor for School Psychology Review and is on the editorial boards of School
Psychology Quarterly and Journal of Anxiety Disorders.
Edison J. Trickett
Edison J. Trickett, PhD, is currently Professor of psychology and Chair of the Community and Prevention Research Division in the Psychology Department at the University of Illinois. Throughout
his career, his research has focused on the development of an ecological perspective for conducting
community research and intervention. His empirical work has focused on how to assess the social
environments of public schools and their effects on adolescent development. In the past 15 years, the
emphasis has been on the role of the schools in the acculturation and adaptation of immigrant and
refugee adolescents and families. His current work focuses on school contributors to burnout among
ESL and bilingual high school teachers.
Kay Herting Wahl
Kay Herting Wahl, PhD, has been involved in school counseling training programs in several university programs, including in South Dakota, Iowa, Nevada, and Minnesota. She is a former school
counselor, working at all three levels of education: elementary, middle, and secondary. She is currently involved in a federal grant that has hired school counselors in elementary schools in the inner
city and a suburban school district to complete a comparison on the effectiveness of comprehensive
programming by the school counselor.
Contributors xxv
Mary E. Walsh, PhD, the Daniel E. Kearns Professor of Urban Education and Innovative Leadership
in the Department of Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Lynch School
of Education at Boston College, directs the Boston College Center for Child, Family, and Community
Partnerships. For the past several years, Dr. Walsh has been a lead partner in a school–community–
university partnership among Boston College, the Boston Public Schools, and community agencies.
This partnership, known as Boston Connects, addresses barriers to learning and promotes academic
achievement by enhancing the school climate and the student support process for the school community and improving health and mental health resources for student and their families.
Laurie L. Williamson
Laurie L. Williamson, PhD, is a counselor educator and Professor in the Department of Human Development and Psychological Counseling and the Coordinator of the Professional School Counseling
Program at Appalachian State University. Her clinical background is in medical social work, residential
treatment, and mental health services. She has worked as a professional school counselor for 10 years,
including in two international settings. As a counselor educator, her interests include school counseling, diversity, supervision, and career counseling.
Pat Wolleat is a professor emerita from the Department of Counseling Psychology at the University
of Wisconsin–Madison. She received her PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1971 and a law
degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1987. She began her professional career as a seventh-grade
English/social studies teacher. At the University of Wisconsin, she pursued research and teaching
interests in law and ethics, clinical supervision, and career development of girls and women. She has
supervised many school counseling practicum students and interns and published several articles in
The School Counselor and Elementary School Counseling and Guidance journals.
Chris Wood, PhD, NCSC is currently in the Counselor Education Program at The Ohio State University. He taught previously at the University of Arizona and has been on the editorial review board of
Professional School Counseling for many years. He has authored numerous articles and book chapters
advancing the field of school counseling. A nationally certified school counselor (NCSC), he has experience as a counselor educator, a high school counselor, and a counselor/group leader at a residential
youth facility for troubled teens.
A. Yang
A. Yang is a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. She received her Masters of
Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research interests can be encompassed under
multicultural counseling, as it relates to promoting healthy psychological adjustment among culturally
diverse groups through theory, research, and practice. For example, previous research topics of interest included studying racial/ethnic collective self-esteem; ethnic support network, and its influence on
interracial dating and marrying; and cultural identity as a resiliency factor. Currently, she is investigating characteristics of counselors and therapists who encompass more ethno-relative worldviews and
thus a greater capacity toward intercultural sensitivity competence.
xxvi Contributors
Christine J. Yeh
Christine J. Yeh, PhD, is Associate Professor of counseling psychology and Coordinator, Educational
Counseling/PPS Credential Program at the University of San Francisco. From 1998 to 2006, she was
a Professor and Coordinator of the School Counseling Specialization at Teachers College, Columbia
University. Her interests include developing school-based intervention programs for culturally diverse
and immigrant children and youth and facilitating school counselor collaborations with teachers, staff,
and outside agencies and organizations. She is currently Principal Investigator of a 5-year NIMH grant
examining the cultural adjustment, academic achievement, and mental health of recent immigrant
students. She is on the editorial boards of Journal of Counseling Psychology and Training and Education in Professional Psychology.
Elias Zambrano
Elias Zambrano, MA, is a doctoral student at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Counselor Education and Supervision. He is a retired certified school counselor, having worked as a professional
school counselor for 28 years. During that time, he also served as the Safe and Drug Free Schools and
Communities Program Coordinator and then Director of Guidance Services for Northside Independent School District in San Antonio.
School Counseling from a
Multicultural and an Ecological
Perspective: An Introduction
As counseling psychologists, we (the editors) are committed to positive youth development, educational equity, and
social justice. We seek to prepare school counselors who
will help students become effective citizens in a democratic and pluralistic society through integrating theory,
science, and practice in school counseling. We wanted to
create a handbook for professional school counselors and
counselor educators that reflects these commitments while
contributing to the growing field of school counseling. This
was an incredibly challenging and ambitious task that, due
to the high quality of chapters created by our contributors,
has been accomplished.
In planning the Handbook of School Counseling, we
realized that today’s schools are under pressure to meet
the needs of an increasingly diverse student body. For
example, in large cities such as New York City, only 15.3%
of public school students are racially identified as White
(Young, 2002). Across suburban, rural, and urban public
schools in the United States, more than one third of students are from racial minority groups and this number
continues to grow (Hoffman, 2000).
Due to the increasing diversity of school-aged children and youth, schools offer a unique and critical context
for understanding multiple aspects of student development including race, disability, sexual orientation, social
class, and linguistic differences. Specifically, in the past
few decades, immigrants are the fastest growing and
most culturally diverse group of school-aged children and
youth in the United States (Zhou, 1997). In terms of linguistic diversity, 31% of all American Indian/Alaska Native,
Asian/Pacific Islander, and Latino/a students enrolled in
U.S. public schools speak English as a second language
(U.S. Department of Education, 1996). Moreover, the percent of students at the poverty level continues to remain
high (Fix & Capps, 2002; National Center for Children in
Poverty, 2002). Due to the high costs of individual counseling, cultural stigmas, and other cultural barriers to mental
health services, school counselors are an optimal choice
for addressing socioemotional issues and fostering positive
student development. Similarly, school counselors’ daily
contact with youth affords them opportunities to address
many everyday issues facing students including academics,
career development, literacy, interpersonal relationships,
and sexual and physical health.
Understanding and incorporating multiculturalism in
school counseling requires an appreciation of the range
of values, customs, behaviors, and lifestyles represented
within a school context (Kim & Yeh, 2002) and in the surrounding communities. Culturally diverse children and
youth must learn to negotiate multiple sets of norms and
identities across numerous social systems. Students experience challenges when they are expected to function and
achieve according to the norms and goals of the “dominant culture” (Yeh, 2004). Helms (1990) defined the dominant culture as White European American with power and
wealth. Because racialized interactions occur at multiple
levels across various systems (Helms, 2003), school counselors with White privilege must explore and understand
the influence of this power in the school setting and in
their direct and indirect interactions with students (see Yeh
& Pituc, this volume).
Children and youth are developing in a society that
is undergoing a significant change because of the industrial revolution when schools transitioned from singleroom houses in agrarian communities to comprehensive
high schools in urban areas, followed by the consolidation movement across the United States in the 1960s and
1970s. Such shifts, in an increasingly multicultural society, mandate changes in the how we envision the role of
the professional school counselor—a role that has evolved
Handbook Introduction xxvii
xxviii Handbook Introduction
in the past three decades and will continue progress in
the immediate future. There are also dramatic changes in
technological advances that introduce a host of new challenges as well as resources for students and school counselors that are unprecedented. In this Handbook, we try
to address the most current and pressing societal concerns
and offer numerous current resources.
We hope that this Handbook can serve as a support
system for school counselors as they move from the end
of their preservice training and through the first 5 years
of their professional career. We also hope that students,
school counselors, school staff, counselor educators, and
counseling psychologists will use the Handbook in their
training and research as well as in program development and evaluation. Educational and psychology-based
researchers may also use this Handbook as a guide for
conducting research in school settings. In addition, many
social systems that collaborate and interact with schools
and students (e.g., families, community agencies, psychologists) may use this Handbook as a valuable resource for
various student issues.
Most textbooks that specifically address the needs of
school counselors tend to focus on understanding the history of the profession and the roles that school counselors
take within the schools. Many textbooks provide specific
techniques without providing the relevant conceptual, cultural, and scientific context. Certainly, our chapters provide
specific skills, techniques, and discussions of roles. However, we also wanted to integrate critical issues related to
child and adolescent development, positive youth development, diversity (in terms of ethnic, racial, cultural, geographic, gender, grade level, sexual orientation, ability,
etc.), urbanization and immigration, social justice, and
school-based interventions all within an ecological systems perspective (for an overview, see Bronfenbrenner,
1989, 1994).
The Organization and Overview
of the Handbook
The Handbook consists of 48 chapters and it is divided
into seven sections: Introduction to the Field of School
Counseling, Diversity and School Counseling, Student
Development, School Counselor Competence, SchoolBased Interventions, Working with Socioemotional Challenges, and Accountability and Professional Issues in
School Counseling. We asked each contributor to include
the most relevant current and past theory, research, and
practice and to provide multicultural and contextual perspectives that include diversity in terms of ethnicity, race,
sexual orientation, disability, social class, geographic location (e.g., rural, suburban, and urban) and grade level (e.g.,
elementary, middle school, and high school). We also asked
contributors to highlight the connection between research
and practice in relation to their topics. Because so many
of our contributors have extensive experience in school
settings (school counselors, school psychologists, program
developers/evaluators, etc.), they were able to integrate
their practical expertise in the chapters through case studies, examples of interventions, and student quotes. Many
chapters also include discussion questions; suggestions for
readings, videos, Web sites; and other resources for further
The first section includes five chapters and is an introduction to and overview of the field of school counseling.
This section addresses the history of school counseling
(Schmidt), the concept of “best practices” in school counseling (Steward, Neil, & Diemer) and a discussion of the
development and implementation of National Standards in
School Counseling (Dahir). In addition, our commitment
to multi�culturalism and context is underscored in chapters
on student accomplishment and equity (Coleman) and in
a chapter exploring school counselor worldview and cultural background as critical factors in training, practice,
and research (Yeh & Pituc). This section lays the groundwork for more in-depth discussion of the role of diversity
in the school setting.
The second section, Diversity and School Counseling, consists of nine chapters all dedicated to examining
the important role of multiculturalism in our schools. The
notion of multiculturalism is broadly defined and includes
issues related to immigration, acculturation, racism, racial
identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, social class,
disability, and empowerment. These critical aspects of
diversity are considered intersecting, dynamic, multidimensional, and contextually situated. For example, Edison
Trickett and Diana Formoso’s chapter, “The Acculturative
Environment of Schools and the School Counselor: Goals
and Roles That Create a Supportive Context for Immigrant
Adolescents” provides an ecological perspective on immigrant youth development and interactions in schools. They
discuss the reciprocal and complex nature of students’
social systems (e.g., peers, family) as significant acculturative contexts. The chapter “Racial Harassment in American
Schools” by Robert Carter, Tamara Buckley, and Schekeva
Hall explores social, political, and institutional practices
and policies that function as a basis of racial assumptions
and beliefs. Issues of White privilege are examined at multiple levels (e.g., individual, school) across various structures (e.g., educational and political practices) to provide
a context for understanding the systemic underpinnings
of the racial harassment of students of color. Similarly,
other chapters in this section are dedicated to helping
school counselors address oppressive practices in schools
and build a climate prioritizing equitable conditions and
interactions.
Handbook Introduction xxix
The third section, Student Development, includes five
chapters that incorporate major issues facing school-aged
children and youth as they navigate through childhood and
adolescence. There is a strong focus on the ways in which
school counselors can promote positive youth development
and health. The authors advocate for collaborative school
counselor relationships with teachers, school staff, families,
and communities to foster student development in areas
such as literacy, career, and physical health. Further, as
indicated in the chapter “Designing Culturally Responsive
School Counseling Career Development Programming for
Youth” (Howard, Solberg, Kantameni, & Smothers), positive development must be considered within its relevant
cultural and social context.
The fourth section, School Counselor Competence,
consists of five chapters that focus on the training, development, supervision, and practice of competent school
counseling. Using a contextual and multicultural perspective, the authors view competence as not just an individual
construct, but an integral aspect of counseling that involves
teachers, administrators, counseling agencies, training programs, and supervisors. For example, as Jennifer Lindwall and Hardin Coleman discussed in their chapter, “The
School Counselor’s Role in Creating Caring Communities,”
competence entails the creation and development of caring school communities, not just individual counselors.
The Handbook’s strong systemic approach is further
underscored by the fifth section, School-Based Interventions. This section includes 11 chapters that range from
examples of preventative intervention (“Youth Development and Prevention in the Schools,” Hage, Schwartz, &
Barnett) to “Crisis Management in the Schools” (Murphy).
Multiple ecological levels are addressed including individuals, groups, and families. Given the high student-to-school
counselor ratio, it is essential that we consider alternatives
to the one-on-one counseling model. Given our strong
multicultural focus, we also include chapters that provide
various models of interacting with students (e.g., “Creative
Arts Counseling in Schools: Toward a More Comprehensive
Approach,” Clauss-Ehlers) as well as different issues that
can be addressed programmatically, such as the enhancement of cultural identity (Coleman, Cho Kim, & Yang).
The sixth section, Working With Socioemotional Challenges, includes seven chapters that highlight some of
the most current challenges facing our schools and ways
that school counselors can address these issues. Many of
these issues create barriers to positive youth development
and must be confronted systemically. For example, Susan
Swearer, Eric Buhs, Amanda Siebecker, Kelly Brey Love,
and Courtney Miller provided the most current research,
theory, and practical offerings on the growing problem of
bullying and peer victimization in our schools. Anne Gregory
and Elise Capella discussed school violence from an eco-
logical systems perspective examining the continuous and
reciprocal interactions between individuals and contexts
(e.g., the role of neighborhoods, families, and school policies). Karen Cort’s chapter, “Working With School Failure,”
describes the racial and cultural contexts that are associated with school failure from an ecological perspective and
challenges the discrete, unitary diagnostic category of an
individual as being solely responsible for “failure.”
The final section, Accountability and Professional Issues
in School Counseling, includes five chapters focused on
some of the most pressing professional issues that school
counselors face and various laws and ethical issues that
influence the role of the school counselor (see Wolleat,
Chapter 46). This section examines issues of accountability
by discussing how we evaluate school counseling programs
(e.g., see Gysbers, Chapter 43) and the role of research in
and on school counseling (see Kim & Alamilla, Chapter
44). Our commitment to integrating the science and theory
of school counseling with practice is further highlighted in
the chapter, “Professional Activities in School Counseling”
by Keith Davis, Laurie Williamson, and Barbara Scarboro.
Hopes for the Handbook
of School Counseling
We have several additional hopes for this Handbook. Our
first hope is that, along with the journal, Professional
School Counseling, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), the efforts of the Educational Trust and the
Transforming School Counseling Initiatives, and the work
of counselor educators and school counselors across the
country, this Handbook serves to highlight the importance
and value of school counselors within the schools and in
the field of counseling psychology. There are many challenges in modern education from school violence to the
student achievement gap among many ethnic minority
groups. School counselors must work collaboratively and
systemically to prepare students to take on positive roles
as citizens in a global economy. They must provide leadership in a culturally relevant comprehensive guidance and
counseling program in order to foster positive youth development. Presently, the relationship between school counseling and counseling psychology has failed to live up to its
full potential for collaboration (Romano & Kachgal, 2004).
Our second hope is that the material in this Handbook
will help stimulate the integration of science into the practice of school counseling. To date, research and practice
in school counseling have often occurred in two separate and distinct conversations. Part of this disconnect is
shaped by€the structure of training programs (Coleman,
2004) and the difference between the focus on research
in doctoral level training in counseling psychology versus
the focus on practice in master’s degree level training in
xxx Handbook Introduction
school counseling (Yeh, 2004). In addition, the scholarship
and research associated with key topics in school counseling is spread across multiple disciplines (e.g., emotional
intelligence, social competence, vocational psychology;
Coleman, 2004).
Although there are numerous opportunities for multicultural research and practice in schools (Romano & Kachgal, 2004), the current research in counseling psychology
does not adequately reflect school age populations (Yeh
2004). Romano and Kachgal asserted that school counseling
has the potential to contribute unique research opportunities in terms of its emphasis on action research, qualitative methods, and developmental-contextualism. However,
because doctoral students and their mentors in Counseling psychology programs tend not to specialize in School
counseling research, few dissertations and later research
activities address school counseling issues (Yeh, 2004). In
this Handbook, school-based research, which incorporates
an ecological systems perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1989,
1994; Trickett & Schmid, 1993), is embedded throughout
various chapters.
Our third hope is that this Handbook will provide
guidance for greater collaboration between school counselors, other student pupil services professionals, teachers,
and community members. According to the ASCA Delegate
Assembly (2003),
School counselors work with all students, including those who are considered at-risk and those with
special needs. They are specialists in human behavior and relationships who provide assistance to
students through four primary interventions: counseling (individual and group), large group guidance,
consultation, and coordination. (¶ 1)
In order to serve as advocates for students, school counselors must work to ensure equal access to desired and necessary services. Hence, school counselors must collaborate
to offer groups, outreach services, and programs in school
and community settings.
Consistent with the ecological systems perspective
(Bronfenbrenner, 1989, 1994; Trickett & Schmid, 1993),
school counseling can greatly benefit not only from research
that incorporates a systemic approach but also from practice applications as well. Specifically, ecological systems
theory fosters our understanding of influences on children’s and adolescents’ psychological and emotional functioning across multiple contexts and helps shape relevant
counseling approaches. Ecological settings are a group of
reciprocal and interacting systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1994)
that must be incorporated into current school counseling
practices. Because many school-aged youth utilize dif-
fering coping strategies depending on their situation and
environment (Coleman, Casali, & Wampold, 2001), school
counseling practice must also involve important relationships for children and youth.
Colbert and Magouirk Colbert (2003) discussed the
change from the individual focus in school counseling to
the larger educational system as part of a necessary “culture-centered education reform” (p. 3). This framework
is useful because it conceptualizes the role of the school
counselor as a student advocate, organizational change facilitator, and consultant (Colbert & Magouirk Colbert) and
removes the naïve perception that the individual student
is accountable for the problems in a school setting. Along
these same lines, we assert that school counselors must
consider their role in the larger context of social justice and
see their roles in fostering social, cultural, and institutional
change. The chapters in the Handbook strive to meet this
vision of the role of the school counselor.
Our fourth hope of the Handbook is that it will encourage school counselors and mental health practitioners in
schools to use the principles of social science to guide
and evaluate their practice. Moreover, we hope the Handbook will enhance and validate their identities as scientist-practitioners. Our contributors help us realize this goal
by including recent research findings, critical theoretical
perspectives, and the most pertinent clinical applications.
Moreover, these chapters discuss the links that connect
research, theory, and practice so that practicing school
counselors may better understand the role of research in
their everyday work. Similarly, training programs may better explain and validate this important connection through
education and scientific inquiry.
The Handbook fulfills the vision of the editors and
the numerous contributors and provides a clear agenda for
research, practice, training, and practice in the growing,
yet evolving field of school counseling.
American School Counselor Association Delegate Assembly.
(2003). The role of the professional school counselor.
Retrieved June 29, 2007, from http://www.schoolcounselor.org/content.cfm?L1=1000&L2=69
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1989). Ecological systems theory. Annals
of Child Development, 6, 187–249.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1994). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Colbert, R. D., & Magouirk Colbert, M. (2003). School counselor
involvement in culture-centered education reform. In P.€B.
Pederson & J. C. Carey (Eds.), Multicultural counseling in
schools: A practical handbook (2nd ed., pp. 3–20). Boston:
Allyn & Bacon.
Handbook Introduction xxxi
Coleman, H. L. K. (2004). Toward a well-utilized partnership.
The Counseling Psychologist, 32, 216–224.
Coleman, H. L. K., Casali, S. B., Wampold, B. E. (2001). Adolescent strategies for coping with cultural diversity. Journal of Counseling and Development, 356–365.
Fix, M. E., & Capps, R. (2002, August 31). Immigrant well-being
in New York and Los Angeles. Retrieved October 24,
2003, from http://www.urban.org/urlprint.cfm?ID=7889
Helms, J. E. (Ed.). (1990). Black and White racial identity:
Theory, research, and practice. New York: Greenwood.
Helms, J. E. (2003). Racial identity in the social environment.
In P. B. Pederson & J. C. Carey (Eds.), Multicultural
counseling in schools: A practical handbook (2nd ed.,
pp. 44–53). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Hoffman, L. (2000). Overview of public elementary and secondary schools and districts: School year 1998–99. Retrieved
October 24, 2003, from the U.S. Department of Education,
National Center for Educational Statistics Web site: http://
nces.ed.gov/pubs2000/quarterly/summer/2feat/q2-5.html
Kim, A., & Yeh, C. J. (2002). Stereotypes of Asian American children and youth in schools. ERIC Digest, 172,
EDO-UD-02-1.
National Center for Children in Poverty. (2002, September).
Children of immigrants: A statistical profile. Retrieved
October 24, 2003, from http://www.nccp.org/
Romano, J. L., & Kachgal, M. M. (2004). Counseling psychology and school counseling: An underutilized partnership. The Counseling Psychologist, 32, 184–215.
Trickett, E. J., & Schmid, K. D. (1993). The school as a social
context. In P. H. Tolan & B. J. Cohler (Eds.), Handbook
of clinical research and practice with adolescents (pp.
173–202). New York: Wiley.
Yeh, C. J. (2004). Multicultural and contextual research and
practice in school counseling. The Counseling Psychologist, 32, 278–285.
Young, B. A. (2002). Characteristic of the 100 largest school
districts in the United States: School year 2000–01.
Retrieved October 24, 2003, from the U.S. Department
of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics Web site: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/100_largest
/table_09_1.asp
histoRY oF School CoUnseling
John J. SChMidt, EdD
School counselors are members of an expanded profession
of practitioners who work in a variety of settings, including mental-health centers, family clinics, military services,
hospitals, businesses, schools, and colleges among others (gladding, 2000; nugent, 2000; Schmidt, 2008; Vacc
& Loesch, 2000). within this burgeoning field of professional counseling, school counseling is a specialty field
that has its roots in the vocational guidance movement
of the Industrial revolution during the late 19th and early
20th centuries (gysbers & Henderson, 2000; Schmidt;
Studer, 2005).
this first chapter of the Handbook of School Counseling provides an overview of the historical development
of the school counseling profession, highlights the role
that counselors have played in student development, and
offers a brief synopsis of professional issues and trends
that have had an impact on the practice of counseling in
schools. By understanding historical influences and the
emerging role of school counselors in American education over the past hundred years, a future school counselor or administrator can attain greater appreciation
for the vital role that counselors will have in our 21st
century€schools.
In previous books and articles, Schmidt (2004, 2008)
argued that, although school counselors serve students,
parents, and teachers with seemingly dissimilar missions
than their colleagues who practice in mental health, family
clinics, or other arenas, all counselors are united professionally by criteria of preparation and standards of practice.
these criteria and standards include a basic understanding
and command of helping skills and techniques; a broad
knowledge of psychological, sociological, and human
development theories; an appropriate level of training in
assessment, diagnosis, and intervention; and an appreciation of common goals and objectives that bring together
counselors from a variety of specialty work settings as
colleagues in the broader counseling profession. Before
exploring the history of school counseling as a professional specialty, it is appropriate that we first take a brief
glance at the counseling profession.
the Counseling Profession
the exact beginning of the counseling profession is unknown,
but its roots may be found in a range of helping relationships that have spanned cultures and societies throughout
the ages. In most instances, helping relationships that existed
within early cultures and societies encouraged the development of young people and their acquisition of personal traits,
social acceptance, and survival skills (Schmidt, 2008).
numerous historical events, such as the u.S. Industrial revolution, led to the emergence of professions to
help people with social, personal, and vocational concerns. these professions include the fields of social work,
psychology, psychotherapy, and counseling among others,
and the theories of practice adopted and developed by the
counseling profession have roots in the scholarly research
and practical guidelines established during the 19th and
20th centuries.
As a result, the counseling profession relies on a
broad knowledge of human development, psychology, sociology, and education. At the same time, it
incorporates effective communication and leadership skills with the essential human qualities of
caring, genuineness, regard, and respect for others. (Schmidt, 2008, p. 5)
the counseling profession evolved from traditions
and practices to help people formally assess their needs,
design interventions, and provide services to assist people
Ch 1╇ History of School Counseling 3
╇ Ch 1╇ History of School Counseling
in identifying issues, developing self-awareness, making
life-altering decisions, solving problems, and establishing
healthy personal and social relationships. As such, professional counselors in a variety of work settings provide
a range of services to help clients maximize their development and human potential, examine ways to prevent
barriers or obstacles to their development, and alter behaviors or life situations that cause problems. In summary,
professional counselors form different types of helping
relationships and provide other services to assist clients in
preventing future difficulties, developing optimal human
potential, and solving problem situations.
The counseling profession is primarily represented and
promoted by the American Counseling Association (ACA)
and its many divisions, including the American School
Counselor Association (ASCA). These organizations have
guided the development of the counseling profession,
established standards of preparation, set criteria for certification and licensure, and developed ethical guidelines and
standards of professional practice for counselors. At the
same time, other helping professions also use counseling
processes in their roles. Social workers, psychologists, and
psychiatric nurses are among those who apply processes
similar to those used by counselors in mental-health centers, family clinics, prisons, hospitals, and schools.
The growth of all of these helping professions in
the United States is largely due to social and economic
changes during the 18th and 19th centuries that raised concern about personal, social, career, and educational development among young people. In another book, Schmidt
(2008) commented,
Because the U.S. prides itself on democratic principles, equal opportunity, and human service, it
is understandable how so many related helping
professions could emerge. In particular, it is especially clear why counselors have played such an
important role in our schools, which themselves
incorporate principles of democracy, equity, and
opportunity for all students. (p. 6)
Within this framework of helping students develop their
potential by accessing opportunities for personal, social, and
education development, we introduce the school counseling profession and its attention to student development.
and€Student Development
School counselors work in elementary, middle, or high
schools across the United States, and today the profession is
expanding to many other countries throughout the globe.
These counselors matriculate in counselor education programs that stress human development, helping skills, and
professional practice in school environments. As noted
earlier, this educational focus is what links school counselors and other counselors as colleagues in an expanded
counseling profession.
Before the 20th century in American schools, classroom teachers provided guidance to students for their
social, personal, vocational, and in many cases, spiritual
development. Most historical summaries point to the U.S.
Industrial Revolution as the significant event or period during which the school counseling profession emerged as the
guidance movement at the beginning of the 20th century
(Schmidt, 2008; Sciarra, 2004). Some unfortunate consequences of the industrial growth of this era were urban
blight, challenges of city life, and creation of ethnic ghettos. At the same time, industrial growth contributed to a
factory mentality that frequently neglected or overlooked
individual rights, freedom, and human value. In response
to these conditions, some educators and social activists pro�
posed programs and services to help students with their
development, in particular with vocational aspirations and
choices brought about by the change from an agrarian to
an industrial society (Schmidt, 2008).
Emphasis on vocational guidance was an important
part of this early response to industrialization. As one example, George Merrill began experimental efforts in vocational guidance at the California School of Mechanical Arts
in San Francisco in 1895 (Miller, 1968). He proposed vocational experiences for students to explore occupational
trades taught at the school and, in addition, offered counseling and job placement services to complement vocational experiences. In addition to vocational exploration,
the guidance movement of the early 20th century helped
students with their moral development, social skills, and
interpersonal relationships. Leaders of this early guidance
movement included Jesse B. Davis in Michigan, Frank
Goodwin in Ohio, Anna Reed in Washington, Frank Parsons in Massachusetts, and Eli Weaver in New York.
Although his work did not focus directly on students
in schools, Frank Parsons, also known as the “Father of
Guidance,” is considered to have started the guidance
movement in the United States (D. Brown & Trusty, 2005;
Gladding, 2000; Schmidt, 2008). In 1908, he established the
Boston Vocational Bureau to assist young men in choosing their careers. Through his work with the bureau, Parsons focused on vocational development by helping young
men make the career transition from high school to the
world of work. Parsons (as cited in Schmidt) wrote a book,
Choosing a Vocation, published after his death, in which
he presented three essential factors for selecting a vocation: (a) clear self-understanding of one’s aptitudes, abilities, interests, resources, and limitations; (b) knowledge of
Ch 1╇ History of School Counseling╇
the requirements, advantages, disadvantages, and compensation for different types of employment; and (c) an understanding of the relationship between these two groups
of€facts.
As previously noted, this early guidance movement
spread to many other states and cities across the United
States including New York City, Grand Rapids, Seattle, and
Cincinnati. Within a few short years, city school systems
across the country had developed guidance programs. As
an example, in 1889, before Frank Parsons created the
Vocation Bureau, Jesse B. Davis established a guidance
program in the curriculum of the public schools of Michigan (Gladding, 2000; Schmidt, 2008; Wittmer, 2000). From
1898 to 1907, Davis was a class counselor at Central High
School in Detroit, Michigan, and was responsible for educational and vocational counseling with 11th-grade boys and
girls. Named as principal of a high school in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, in 1907, he soon established a schoolwide guidance program by having English teachers integrate into
their classes guidance lessons for helping students acquire
positive traits, choose appropriate behaviors, and address
their vocational interests (Schmidt). Davis’s work preceded
other guidance programs established across the country.
Anna Reed led the development of systematic vocational
guidance in Seattle, Washington. Similarly, in 1908, Eli
Weaver achieved national notoriety for his efforts at the
Boys High School of Brooklyn to establish the first guidance services in New York City, and in 1911, Frank Goodwin organized a system-wide guidance program for the
Cincinnati, Ohio, schools (Gibson & Mitchell, 1999; Miller,
1968; Schmidt). The focus of these guidance programs on
student development formed the early years of what we
know today as the school counseling profession. It is noteworthy that the school counseling profession throughout
the years has continually addressed aspects of student
development. The next several sections of this chapter
chronicle that movement and emphasis.
Vocational Development
The early guidance movement of the 19th and 20th centuries gained strength from the founding of the National
Vocational Guidance Association (NVGA) in 1913. One
of the most significant activities of this organization was
to publish the National Vocational Guidance Bulletin,
which spread news and trends about the vocational guidance arena. Eventually, this publication would become the
Career Development Quarterly, today published by the
National Career Development Association (NCDA).
The early NVGA focused on vocational choice and
career development, but its enduring legacy is the unification of counselors across a wide spectrum and the eventual
identification of what today has become the counseling
profession. During the next 3 decades and into the 1950s,
many national and world events would give direction and
momentum to the emerging counseling profession, particularly for counseling in schools. Related to this emphasis on vocational development was the country’s growing
interest in measurement and assessment of human traits
and aptitudes. This interest increased dramatically during
World War I, when the military began using assessments to
screen and classify recruits and draftees.
Assessment and Vocational Development
Intelligence testing, first developed in the beginning of
the 20th century, sparked interest in measuring human
potential and other traits, and using results to place people
in vocational tracks. The U.S. army adapted the work of
French psychologist, Alfred Binet, later expanded by Arthur
Otis and Lewis Terman, to create assessment procedures.
A group intelligence test, developed by Arthur Otis (Miller,
1968), led to the military’s Army Alpha Examination and
the Army Beta Examination (Baker & Gerler, 2004). What
followed was a proliferation of tests developed and marketed over the next decade, but many of these instruments
were flawed due to inadequate design and inappropriate
standardization processes (Schmidt, 2008):
Nevertheless, the military’s interest in using group
measurement techniques was embraced by schools
and the education profession when the war ended.
The potential for applying testing and other measurement techniques to pupil assessment helped
catapult the development and expansion of standardized testing in U.S. schools. (p. 9)
The testing movement contributed to the development
of approaches to guid
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Johnny Galecki, from left, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch members of the cast of the TV series "The Big Bang Theory," show their hands after placing them in cement during a hand and footprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Wednesday, May 1, 2019 at in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP)
Hugs, tears mark taping of final 'Big Bang Theory' episode
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Hugs and tears punctuated the final taping of "The Big Bang Theory," a lovefest for its stars, crew and audience alike.
There were plenty of punchlines as well, as the true-to-form hit comedy about scientists and those who love them wrapped the two-part, hour-long finale that will air in mid-May on CBS.
"This show has touched so many hearts," an emotional Kaley Cuoco told the fans who filled a Warner Bros. soundstage Tuesday. She shared a comment made by series creator Chuck Lorre at a reading of the final script: " 'The Big Bang Theory' will live on in our hearts forever."
Johnny Galecki, who plays husband Leonard Hofstadter to Cuoco's Penny, thanked the audience and called the top-rated comedy's 12-season run "a dream come true for all of us."
It was definitely a pinch-me moment for those lucky — and persistent — enough to be on hand for episode No. 279. Some, urged by audience warm-up comedian and emcee Mark Sweet, paid tribute to the series that turned the really smart set into unlikely crowd-pleasers.
Malerie Shakter of Oakland, California, who works in the tech industry, said she's been inspired by the powerful female characters portrayed on the sitcom. She waited in line for 14 hours to get a seat, she said, adding, "I would do it all over again."
Jim Parsons, who stars as awkward genius Sheldon Cooper, had a key fan in attendance: His mother, Judy Parsons. The actor, a four-time Emmy winner for the role, looked relaxed and even broke into a few dance moves between shots.
Parsons is keeping ties to his character, as an executive producer of "Young Sheldon," the CBS spinoff about the future physicist's childhood in Texas that stars Iain Armitage in the title role.
The cast, including Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar and Melissa Rauch, lingered after taking their final bows. Mayim Bialik, who plays neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler, hugged Lorre tightly on the stage that was named after the series last February. A plaque outside the building commemorates other projects filmed there, from movie classic "Casablanca" to the TV series "Cheyenne" in the 1950s and 1960s.
The celebration continued Wednesday, as the stars put their handprints in cement at the TCL Chinese Theatre, a nearly century-old Hollywood salute to its famous citizens.
The "Big Bang Theory" episode taped Tuesday will air as the last half of a two-part finale on May 16. Also airing that night is "Unraveling the Mystery: A Big Bang Farewell," with Galecki and Cuoco hosting a behind-the-scenes look back at the show.
Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber@ap.org and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lynnelber.
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Tag Archives: charles bronson
The Keith & the Movies Valhalla Induction
April 26, 2013 by Keith
The Keith & the Movies Valhalla is a place of tribute for those movies that I hold in the highest regard. These are films that embody everything that is great about motion pictures. These are the best of the best – movies that I truly love and that stand above the rest. There are many great movies that won’t find their way into these sacred halls. But here you will find those films that I believe personify brilliance in filmmaking, storytelling, and entertainment. These glorious 5 star accomplishments are worthy of special recognition as the very best. Ok, enough of the high drama! In other words, these are my favorite movies of all time, ok?
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968) – I’ve always been picky when it comes to westerns. I grew up around them but I never latched onto them. That was before Sergio Leone showed me what a western could be. His monumental work “Once Upon a Time in the West” from 1968 is hands down my favorite western. Everything from Leone’s gritty signature style and brilliant camerawork to Ennio Morricone’s entrancing score works to perfection.
There are so many memorable scenes in “Once Upon a Time in the West”. From the masterfully conceived train station opening to the intense and anticipated final showdown, the film is filled with one fantastic scene after another. And of course how can I talk about this movie and not mention the cast. A young Charles Bronson plays the mysterious stranger who everybody is trying to figure out. Jason Robards gives the best performance of his career as a scruffy bandit ringleader. Then there’s the breathtakingly beautiful Claudia Cardinale who holds her own with all the tough guys. But it’s Henry Fonda who steals the movie as one of the most detestable villains you’ll find. It’s a role unlike anything Fonda had played at the time which made his performance all the more spectacular. If you haven’t seen this film you should. If you don’t like westerns, it doesn’t matter. A great movie is a great movie and this is a great movie.
“Once Upon a Time in the West” is the fifth inductee into the Keith & the Movies Valhalla. But there are more amazing movies to come in the near future so stay tuned. What are your thoughts on this Sergio Leone classic? Is it worth the accolades it’s received or is it an overrated picture? You now know my opinion. I’d love to hear yours. Take time to share your comments below.
Posted in Movie News and Articles. Tagged charles bronson, claudia cardinale, henry fonda, jason robards, movies, once upon a time in the west, sergio leone, westerns
5 Phenomenal Movie Nicknames
June 4, 2012 by Keith
There are so many cool and fun things about movies. One of those things is the cool assortment of characters that filmmakers introduce us to. I’ve been thinking about some of these great movie characters lately. As I was thinking on them, I started noticing the many nicknames that characters have had. I thought it would be fun to do a Phenomenal 5 on movie character’s nicknames. The one’s I chose range from funny to cool to down right iconic. Now as always I wouldn’t call this the definitive list. But there’s no denying that these 5 movie nicknames are simply phenomenal.
#5 – BLONDIE
Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach share some fantastic and memorable moments in Sergio Leone’s classic spaghetti western “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”. The three title characters are trying to beat each other to a chest of buried Confederate gold. They scratch, fight, and shoot their way through deserts, civil war battlegrounds, and cemeteries. The movie is actually full of nicknames but none stand out more than the name Tucco (Wallach) gives Eastwood’s character. “Blondie” is funny in that it doesn’t exactly fit a tough-as-nails gunfighter. But it works so well especially in the classic final scene. How can you not love it?
#4 – SHAMPOO DOUGLAS
Before things really get serious in Jeff Nichols’ “Shotgun Stories”, we are introduced to the key characters through some genuinely fun scenes. While “Shampoo” Douglas (G. Alan Wilkins) isn’t one of the main characters, he cracked me up from the first time I saw him and in almost every scene afterwards. He’s part small town redneck, part dense-as fog airhead and you can’t help but laugh at him, the way he talks, and the interesting predicament he finds himself in. Then there’s his nickname. What’s so great about it is that he hardly looks like someone who has used much shampoo. But yet somehow the goofy nickname is a perfect match for this goofy character.
#3 – HARMONICA
Yet another Sergio Leone classic, “Once Upon a Time in the West” may be my favorite western of all time. It features some incredible direction from Leone and a fantastic cast of characters. We meet one of those characters in the brilliant opening scene at the train station. Charles Bronson plays the mysterious gunfighter who makes his presence immediately known. Aside from his quick draw, he stands out for the haunting tune he plays on his harmonica. It clearly has meaning and we see that later in the film. But it’s the on-the-run bandit played by Jason Robards who gives him the simple but perfect nickname “Harmonica”. He’s such a great character and every time someone mentions the harmonica I think of him.
#2 – WILLIAM “BILL THE BUTCHER” CUTTING
Daniel Day-Lewis’ award winning performance in Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York” is memorable for many reasons. Day-Lewis gives the character the same intensity and energy that he always does. He creates a scary and brutal gang leader who also has one of the more interesting nicknames. The name William “Bill the Butcher” Cutting is both funny and intimidating. The fact that his last name is Cutting is pretty funny in itself. But it’s his fondness and skill with knives that really give the nickname it’s pop. We see that he not only knows how to butcher meat, but he’s not afraid to use his knives on his enemies. He’s a great movie character with a movie nickname that really sticks out.
#1 – INDIANA JONES
How can any other nickname top Indiana Jones? Harrison Ford’s iconic action movie character is not only one of the most entertaining movie characters but he’s also known by everyone. We first saw Indiana in 1981 with the classic “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. It was followed by two fun sequels and more recently a pretty bad one. But Indiana’s icon status will never die. It’s a strange and unusual nickname but it’s one that after all these years feels perfect. I mean can you imagine him being called anything else? He may have taken the name from the family dog, but whenever I hear the name Indiana Jones, I’ll always think of the tough and cool archeologist that I grew up wanting to be. Without a doubt, Indiana Jones is the best movie nickname.
There they are. See a movie nickname you disagree with? What are some of your favorite movie nicknames?
Posted in The Phenomenal 5. Tagged charles bronson, clint eastwood, daniel day-lewis, eli wallach, gangs of new york, harrison ford, indiana jones, jason robards, jeff nichols, martin scorsese, once upon a time in the west, sergio leone, shotgun stories, spaghetti western, top 5
REVIEW: “BATTLE OF THE BULGE” (1965)
Ken Annakin’s “Battle of the Bulge” from 1965 is another solid entry into the field of War World 2 films. Over the Memorial Day weekend I had the opportunity to finally catch up with the entire film. “Battle of the Bulge” (the movie) has an interesting history. It was met with a wide range of opinions, mostly positive but plenty of negative. Some criticized the film for it’s obvious historical inaccuracies. Others griped about it’s overly talky and bloated script. There certainly is some merit to these and other criticisms, but I found the movie to be a solid war picture despite it’s overly long running time.
“Battle of the Bulge” is the telling of the German’s last-ditch offensive through the heavily forested mountain regions of Belgium in the later days of World War 2… at least the title of the film suggests that. It could be better described as loosely based on events surrounding the bloody, costly, and complicated battle. The film doesn’t depict any particular real-life figure during the war. It’s clearly intended to be a drama set during wartime. This is something some people took issue with but I don’t think the movie ever pretends to be something it’s not. Perhaps it could have chosen a different title for the film, but historical accuracy doesn’t seem to be a goal. That said, the movie does attempt to capture elements from the real 50 day battle. Some of the attempts work more than others.
The film’s centerpiece seems to be Colonel Hessler (Robert Shaw), a German officer put in charge of a large group of new King Tiger tanks. His mission is to slam into and push back the Allied lines which are slowly hemming the Germans in. The Americans believe the Germans are undermanned and out of resources and incapable of a worthwhile offensive, everyone except Lieutenant Colonel Kiley (Henry Fonda). During an overhead recon flight, Kiley noticed German tanks in hiding which leads him to believe the Germans are planning an attack. His suspicions are dismissed by General Grey (Robert Ryan) and the Americans are caught unprepared when Hessler and his tank division hit the Allied lines.
Hessler seems loosely based (there’s that description again) on the real-life Nazi Joachim Peiper. Peiper was a shrewd and brutal field officer with close personal connections with Himmler. During The Battle of the Bulge, Peiper was to lead a division of the new King Tigers. The tanks were heavily armored but they were gas guzzlers (it’s said the went about 1/2 mile per gallon of fuel). We see some of this with the movie’s Hessler character. He is a shrewd and dedicated German and we definitely see the fuel issue play a key role in how things turn out. But Peiper was a high-ranking SS Nazi and was convicted of war crimes for the brutal massacre of American prisoners and civilians who he came across during the battle. Hessler isn’t an SS officer and seems to be angered when he hears of a massacre that took place elsewhere during the offensive.
On the American side we send a lot of time with Lt. Col. Kiley as he tries to persuade the higher-ups of the upcoming attack and later as he plays a key role in trying to figure out Hessler’s ultimate strategy. We also spend time with Major Walenski (Charles Bronson) and his soldiers who find themselves face-to-face with Hessler’s forces on more than one occasion. Some of my favorite moments in the film revolved around Walenski and his men. I guess that’s why I was a little let down by the way he just drops off the map later in movie. Once he disappears, we never see him again. Telly Savalas plays Sgt. Gruffy, a tank commander who has a little business on the side. The movie tries to build a little story around him but it’s pretty flimsy. I did enjoy the short side-story about a green, by-the-books Lt. Weaver (James MacArthur) and the seasoned Sgt. Duquesne (George Montgomery). When things go bad for the two Weaver flaunts his rank while Duquesne relies on his field experience. It’s a familiar dynamic but one that I enjoyed.
But the complaints about the movie’s script are legitimate. There were instances where it felt like we were seeing the same thing over and over. The American leaders would discuss what the Allied game plan should be. Then we would switch to Hessler and his heads talking about a better course of action for them. Then we would do both all over again without making any progress in between. There were also some scenes that could have been edited better. For example, there is a cool scene where the Allies are sending guns via train to the front line to stop Hessler’s advance. The camera is put on the front of the train as it races to it’s location. But the coolness wears off as the scene just keeps on going and going. There were also several scenes features rolling tanks that seem to go on forever. A little better editing could have cut out some wasted time on scenes like these.
And while I don’t think the movie should be dismissed simply because it’s not historically accurate, I can see where some may not be as fond of it due to certain out-of-place details. For example, the location of a big tank battle close to the end almost resembled Arizona more than Belgium. It didn’t at all feel connected to the real environment in which they fought. In fact, much of the Battle of the Bulge was fought in snowy, hilly areas with thick forests. We see small bits of that here and there but it completely disappears later in the film. Now I perfectly realize that this is something that only someone interested in the history behind the battle would fuss about. And while it would add so much more to the film for someone like me, it really isn’t something that killed my enjoyment of the picture.
On the flip side, “Battle of the Bulge” is a visual delight. The film is filled with huge detailed set pieces and wide screened action sequences that feel completely authentic. The camera work is fantastic and there are times where the carefully crafted angles blew me away. Jack Hildyard, the Oscar-winning cinematographer for “Bridge on the River Kwai”, handles the same duties here and his work is fantastic. The movie is immediately set apart by it’s visuals and they only get better as the film progresses.
Yes “Battle of the Bulge” is long and sometimes talky. No it’s not a movie to watch in order to learn the real details of this historical and important battle. But in terms of cinema entertainment, the movie works. The performances are good especially from Shaw and Bronson and it’s visual presentation can stand with any other war picture. “Battle of the Bulge” may not be the best World War 2 movie, but it’s certainly a satisfying film that captures a lot of the action and spirit you want. It’s definitely worth checking out.
VERDICT – 4 STARS
Posted in Classic Movie Spotlight, Movie Reviews - B. Tagged charles bronson, dana andrews, george montgomery, henry fonda, james macarthur, movie review, robert ryan, robert shaw, telly savalas, ty hardin
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Pan Am Series – Part XL: Round-the-World Flight
29 June 2014 10 Comments
Pan American’s Round-the-World Services
John T. McCoy’s painting of Clipper America arriving at San Francisco, completing the first commercial airline round-the-world flight, 29 June 1947.
With the Fifth Freedom rights granted by Britain in the Bermuda Agreement of 1946, the United States obtained the authority for its international air carriers to pick up passengers in Britain (and in British colonies such as India and Hong Kong) to beyond points in Europe and Asia. What this meant was that Pan American would be able to launch a “round-the-world” service.
At the time, with World War II ended, the U.S. international air transportation system was taking on a whole new complexion. Prior to the war, Pan American Airways was the de facto U.S. flag international air carrier. This was achieved largely by Juan Trippe’s ability to (1) win Foreign Air Mail contracts and (2) negotiate landing concessions with countries of interest. This worked very well in Latin America because for all intents and purposes, Pan American’s activities in the region were in line with the U.S. desire to keep the Germans from establishing any presence there.
With the end of the war, however, as a result of their support to the war effort, the Civil Aeronautics Board awarded the likes of TWA, Northwest, United and American Export (AOA, later acquired by Pan American) international routes, much to the chagrin of Pan American. Juan Trippe had fought tooth-and-nail to be the designated U.S. flag international carrier (the “Chosen Instrument”), but was thwarted along the way by politicians and his competition. This story and its political intrigue is covered in detail in The Chosen Instrument, by Marylin Bender and Selig Alschul and An American Saga – Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire, by Robert Daley.
Nevertheless, Pan American had the beyond authority as granted in the Bermuda Agreement and on 17 June 1947, Juan Trippe departed on the inauguration of Pan American Airways’ round-the-world service, the first for a scheduled commercial airline.
The aircraft used was a Lockheed Constellation model 749, Clipper America, powered by four 2.200-horsepower Wright engines, with a cruising speed of 260 miles per hour and a pressurization system that permitted flying at altitudes between 18,000-20,000 feet.
Clipper America departed from New York’s LaGuardia airport and stopped in Gander, Shannon, London, Istanbul, Dhahran, Karachi, Calcutta, Bangkok, Manila, Shanghai, Tokyo, Guam, Wake Island, Midway, Honolulu, San Francisco and Chicago, arriving back in New York on 30 June. The journey entailed 22,170 miles. Not having domestic authority, the flight between San Francisco and New York was a “ferry-flight” and thereafter all of Pan American’s round-the-world flights departed from one coast of the U.S. and terminated on the other.
The round-the-world service was a fixture in Pan American’s timetables from then on, until the final round-the-world flight in October, 1982. During this time, the iconic round-the-world flights 1 and 2 represented the summit of Pan American’s power and glory.
Pan American’s Round-the-World Schedules
Below are descriptions of Pan American’s round-the-world service from selected timetables over the years. While a variety of flight numbers operated on the route, flights 1 and 2 were a constant and are focused on here.
Initially the Constellation and the DC-4 were employed in the round-the-world service, as shown in the June 1948 timetable. On the eastbound flight 2, the Constellation operated from New York to Calcutta and handed over to the DC-4 to continue the route to San Francisco. In the timetable, flight 2 departed New York on Saturday and arrived in Calcutta the following Tuesday, with stops in Gander, London, Brussels, Istanbul, Damascus, Karachi and Delhi. Flight 2 continued its journey to San Francisco, departing Wednesday evening and arriving in San Francisco on Thursday with stops Bangkok, Shanghai, Tokyo, Wake Island and Honolulu. The flight gained a day crossing the International Date Line between Wake Island and Honolulu. The DC-4 from Calcutta featured “Sleeperette Service”, specially reclining seats with “curtained privacy”.
Constellation (left, source unknown) and DC-4 (right, PAA postcard).
By 1952, the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser (“Strato Clipper”) was deployed into the service as illustrated in the April 1952 timetable. The westbound flight 1, a Strato Clipper, departed San Francisco on Tuesdays and Thursdays, arriving at Manila on Thursdays and Sundays with stops in Honolulu, Wake Island and Guam. The flight lost Wednesday when crossing the International Date Line. From Honolulu, “Sleeperette Service” was offered. Flight 1 changed gauge at Manila to a DC-4, leaving on Fridays and Mondays for Hong Kong, where a Constellation took over on Mondays for London via Bangkok, Calcutta, Delhi, Karachi, Basra, Beirut, Istanbul, Frankfurt and Brussels. The flight arrived in London on Wednesday morning where flight 1 was paired with flight 101 for New York with a Strato Clipper. There were optional fuel stops in Shannon or Gander on this segment.
“Strato Clipper” (right, PAA photograph).
By 1954, the Constellation was no longer operating this route and the DC-6B had been introduced, offering “Rainbow” tourist service in addition to the “President” first class service. On the eastbound route, flight 2 was paired with flight 70, a DC-6B offering “Rainbow” service and flight 100, a Strato Clipper offering “President” service, on the New York-London segment. Although the service was offered five days a week, flight two only operated on Mondays. From London, a DC-6B took over and offered both “Rainbow” and “President” service, departing on Tuesday and arriving in Hong Kong on Thursday, with stops in Düsseldorf, Istanbul, Beirut, Karachi, Rangoon and Bangkok. From Hong Kong, flight 2 continued to Tokyo where it laid over until Saturday morning when a Strato Clipper continued the flight to Los Angeles via Wake Island and Honolulu. In addition, from Hong Kong on Thursdays, a DC-4, flight 6, operated to Manila, where a Strato Clipper continued to San Francisco via Guam, Wake Island and Honolulu.
DC-6B (right, PAA photograph).
By 1956, the Super Stratocruiser and the DC-7B were operating in the round-the-world service. In the April 1956 timetable, eastbound flight 2 from New York was paired with flights 100, 102 and 64. Flights 100 and 102 were Super Stratocruisers departing on Sundays for London with the latter stopping in Boston and Shannon. Both flights arrived in London on Monday and connected to flight 2, a DC-6B, which departed on Tuesday for Tokyo via Frankfurt, Istanbul, Beirut (receiving traffic from flight 64), Karachi, Rangoon, Bangkok and Hong Kong. At Tokyo, a Strato Clipper took over for the remainder of the trip to Seattle with stops in Wake Island, Honolulu and Portland. Flight 64 was a DC-7B that operated from New York to Beirut where it connected with flight 2. The intermediate stops were Shannon, Paris and Rome. In this timetable, Pan American offered a daily round-the-world service with different flight numbers. With the exception of the service described above, the eastbound flights all terminated in San Francisco.
Super Stratocruiser (left, credit R.A. Scholefield Collection) and DC-7B (right, PAA photograph).
By 1959, the DC-7C and the Boeing 707-121 were seen in the round-the-world service. In the April 1959 timetable, westbound flight 1 operated on Saturdays with a DC-7C from San Francisco to Tokyo with stops in Honolulu and Wake Island. Flight 805, also a DC-7C, operated on Saturdays from Los Angeles to Honolulu, where it connected to flight 1. “Sleeperette Service” was available on both segments. Flight 1 arrived in Tokyo on Monday where a Strato Clipper took over for the segment to Hong Kong where the flight was handed over to a DC-6B. This aircraft continued to London with stops in Bangkok, Calcutta, Karachi, Beirut, Istanbul, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf. From London a DC-7C took over for the trip to New York, with stops in Shannon and Boston. In Beirut, flight 1 also connected to flight 115, a service to New York via Rome and Paris. From Beirut a DC-6B operated to Rome. From Rome, a Boeing 707-121 operated to Paris and then on to New York.
DC-7C (left, photo by Allan Van Wickler) and Boeing 707-121 (right, photo by Jon Proctor) at New York.
By 1966, the Boeing 707 and DC-8 were operating a daily all-jet round-the-world service. On Sundays, flight 2 departed New York in the evening and arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday via London, Frankfurt, Vienna, Istanbul, Beirut, Baghdad, Karachi, Calcutta, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Honolulu. Other stops on the route, depending on the day operated, included Belgrade, Ankara, Tehran, New Delhi, Rangoon and Saigon. By 1971, the Boeing 747 operated flights 1 and 2, between New York and Los Angeles with stops in Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok and, depending on the day, New Delhi, Karachi, Tehran or Beirut, and then Istanbul, Frankfurt and London. After the merger with National Airlines, flights 1 and 2 continued in round-the world service between New York and Los Angeles with 747s, with stops in Tokyo and Hong Kong, and, depending on the day, Bangkok, Delhi, Bombay, Karachi or Bahrain, and then Frankfurt and London. The service also added Las Vegas to the route with a change of gauge to a 727 for the flight from/to Los Angeles.
Boeing 707-321 at New York (top left), DC-8-32 at Los Angeles (top right), Boeing 747-121 at Los Angeles (bottom). Photographs by Jon Proctor.
By the end of 1982, Pan American’s iconic round-the-world service was history. Although flights 1 and 2 continued to operate, the service was between New York and London and onward to points on the European continent. With the sale of Pan American’s London Heathrow route to United Airlines, flights 1 and 2 were removed from the timetable.
The last round-the-world flight departed Los Angeles on 27 October 1982. Merle Richmond, who worked in public relations for Pan American, and his two children were passengers on that flight. His memories of that flight, featured in the book Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People are excerpted below:
“They say when French writer Jules Verne wrote Around the World in 80 Days in 1873 it was during a financially difficult time for the classic adventure novelist. Compared to Pan Am’s travails, it was no sweat. He couldn’t have been as financially bad off as Pan Am was over a hundred years later when the airline decided to end its historic Round-the-World Flights One and Two. But whether it was Verne’s novel, which I had read many years earlier, or perhaps Nellie Bly’s 1889 epic 72-day tale which she wrote for her newspaper, the New York World, I was awed by their feat and saw the last Pan Am RTW flights as my final opportunity.
“So it was on a fall evening in 1982 during dinner with my family that I announced that I was going to fly around the world that coming weekend, leaving October 27, 1982, and listened as my 14-year- old daughter Diana quickly asked if she could join me, followed later by my 12-year old son Dwight. Not sure that they understood the magnitude of the undertaking, I explained that the curtailing of Pan Am’s Flights 1 and 2, which had been operating since June 17, 1947, represented surrendering what many considered the most symbolic aspect of the airline. No other airline in the world had previously ever even attempted to make round-the-world service commercially viable. And we would be on the last flight!
“Not only we would be on the final flight, departing Los Angeles that Friday at noon, I told Diana and Dwight that if anybody in recent history had boarded Flight 1 and remained with the plane for the entire duration of the flight until it landed at JFK in New York on Sunday afternoon, I and others I queried, were unaware of such a back-breaking marathon.
“With the advent of jet service in 1958 with the Boeing 707, Pan Am switched departure city of Flight 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Thus the route of the flight would be Los Angeles-Tokyo-Hong Kong-Bangkok- Bombay-Dubai-Istanbul-Frankfurt-London-New York on a Boeing 747.
“And so on Friday, October 28, 1982, with Capt. Carl Wallace in the left hand seat, we joined the world of Verne and Bly. * * * For Diana and Dwight, the RTW trip was an unparalleled emotional and educational experience.
“Some two full days after takeoff in Los Angeles we landed in New York on a brilliant sunny fall day. We had made it in one piece after 56-hours of flying. We had eaten the best airline food in the world (more breakfasts than dinners when you fly west to east). . . [a]nd yes, Diana and Dwight even did some of the homework they brought with them.
“Altogether, 18,647 miles in 39 hours and 30 min. of actual flying time. And who knows how many steaks!!!! Worth every bite!”
For additional information about Pan American World Airways:
The Book Pan American World Airways – Aviation history Through the Words of its People contains 71 stories written by the people of Pan Am who played important roles in many of the important events in Pan Am’s history. The book is published by BlueWaterPress.
Preview Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People
For purchasing information, visit the publisher, BlueWaterPress or Amazon
Also available in a Kindle Edition
For a companion book with a timeline of Pan Am history and images of aircraft, timetables and other memorabilia, see a preview of Pan American World Airways – Images of a Great Airline.
The book is also available directly from the publisher, BlueWaterPress or Amazon.
For further information about the history of Pan American World Airways, visit: Pan Am Historical Foundation
Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Aviation Law, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Airline, Airline History, Aviation, Boeing, Boeing 377, Boeing 707, Boeing 747, DC-4, DC-6, DC-6B, DC-7C, DC-8, Douglas Aircraft, Flight Attendant, flight one, flight two, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Juan Trippe, London, New York, PAA, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am round the world flight, Pan American, pan american airways, Pan American World Airways, round the world commercial flight, Round-the world flight, San Francisco, Wake Island
Pan Am Series – Part XXX: Hawaii Reunion
29 March 2014 1 Comment
PanAmers Gather in Hawaii for an “Aloha” Celebration
The name Pan American World Airways brings to mind many destinations around the world, some exotic, some glamorous, some politically important and some world centers of commerce:
However, one destination, not shown above but should be, played an extremely important role in Pan American’s early accomplishments in commercial aviation and could very well be regarded as one of the most important in Pan American’s history:
Honolulu represented one of Pan American’s greatest achievements, the historic crossing of the Pacific Ocean by the China Clipper, detailed in a previous post. The challenge of being able to complete the initial leg between California and Honolulu meant the remainder of the voyage to the Orient was possible. The challenge was met and the rest is history. Pan American went on to establish routes all over the Pacific and become the dominant airline in the region for decades. This lasted until 1985, when the routes it pioneered were sold to United Airlines. For many PanAmers, this was a bitter pill to swallow.
During its heyday, however, Honolulu was one of Pan American’s most popular and important destinations.
Fittingly, this year, former Pan American employees are joining together in one of many of their favorite destinations, Honolulu, Hawaii for the “Pan Am Aloha Celebration”. Organized by former Pan American Captain Don Cooper who was the drive behind this celebration, Pan Amers from all over will have the opportunity to meet old friends (and make new ones) and reminisce about their times working for “The World’s Most Experienced Airline”. They will also visit sites in Honolulu where Pan American history was made.
Captain Don Cooper
Helen Davey, a former Pan American Purser, has written an eloquent and moving description about this event, and what Pan American means to its former staff, in the Huffington Post. The article in its entirety appears below:
“On April 2-5, 2014, former Pan Am employees from all over the world are converging on Honolulu, Hawaii, to enjoy the Pan Am Aloha Celebration. It will be a week of seeing old friends and making new ones, sharing memories and stories, and interestingly, celebrating our experience, while at the same time mourning our loss of Pan Am together.
“The day that Pan American World Airways ceased operations, December 4, 1991,Newsweek ran an article about the airline’s history, beginning with the statement, ‘This is not a story about planes. It’s about romance….It may be hard for today’s all-too-frequent flyers to remember that once, air travel was an adventure; that airlines once had a soul. Pan Am certainly did.’
“As a veteran Pan Am flight attendant for 20 years (1965 – 1986), and now as a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist for 27 years, I have studied and written about the unique relationship between Pan Am and its employees, and about the airline’s triumphs and traumas, in order to help those people who were still suffering from the loss of their beloved company.
Helen Davey
“Pan Am. No other airline in history ever evoked such images of glamour and adventure, because it was the airline that practically invented aviation. Known as the “Queen of the Skies,” it was the benchmark by which all other airlines were judged.
“And for good reason. Pan Am was the first airline to fly to Latin America, the carrier whose famed Clipper flights to Europe and the Pacific were the stuff of romance. It was also the first airline to circle the globe. Its round-the-world Flight 1 (westbound) and Flight 2 (eastbound) were inaugurated just after World War II. Then, at the dawn of the jet age, Pan Am flew the first Boeing 707 in 1958. Then came the 747. Pan Am was the airline of the ‘stars,’ and to the moon (2001: A Space Odyssey).
“But none of these innovations, as impressive as they were, was what made Pan Am different from other companies. It was the feeling of “family” and adventure and loyalty that Pan Am inspired from its very beginning. Its rich history, almost unbelievable events, and stories of our legendary “characters” were passed down through the generations, filtering – as family legends do – into each new-hire group.
“Indeed, no other airline had more intensely loyal employees, who continue even now to keep alive the spirit of a company that went out of business so many years ago. From the beginning, we were introduced into Pan Am as “family,” strongly bonded and loyal to each other. We became deeply interested in helping our company be the best, and while some people outside our ‘family’ saw that as arrogance, we saw it as striving for excellence.
“But what did that mean? It wasn’t just about the glamour of far-off places, 7-course meals served on fine china, or how proud we were wearing the Pan Am uniform. It’s about something called ‘the Pan Am World.’
“One of our company’s jingles was, “Pan Am has a place of its own. You call it ‘the world.’ We call it ‘home.'” In my view, there are two very different meanings of the word ‘world.’ One pertains to geography, and, of course, this was very significant to our peripatetic lives. Globetrotting was our lifestyle, but very few of us ever got over the thrill of taking off on a brand-new adventure.
“However, ‘world’ has another very important meaning, and that has to do with the way in which people make sense of their lives. Many Pan Am employees have described their relationship to the company as ‘a love story.’ Pan Am felt to us as if it had a living, breathing soul (as Newsweek described), and so the company’s essence was much more than a merely practical world.
“Indeed, it was a very emotional world, and Pan Am was much more than a mere company. A job with Pan Am was a passport to the world with unlimited horizons, and its employees shaped their lives around the framework of the Pan Am culture. In other words, every trip was a meaningful event, which makes the upcoming Aloha Celebration an even more meaningful event.
“On a personal level, I’ll have the opportunity to share with other Pan Am family members about our relationship to the company. I’d like to extend the invitation to my fellow attendees who’d be interested in being interviewed about their Pan Am experience.
“And we’ll have plenty of opportunities to chat. Several cocktail receptions and dinner at the Pacific Aviation Museum, as well as a special tour of the historic sights used by Pan Am during Pan Am’s China Clipper era, have been planned. And a ‘Clipper Club’ (Captain’s room) will be available each day for us to find our friends and circulate.
“On Thursday, April 3, from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., the public is invited free of charge to share in an exciting day of legendary “family” memories. This forum will be held in the Prince Hotel in the Mauna Kea Ballroom. One of the featured speakers will be Ed Dover (author of The Long Way Home), who was on the crew that flew a B-314 flying boat all the way around the world the other way, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It was an unanticipated first circumnavigation of the globe by a commercial airline. They flew in total secrecy and radio blackout for six weeks. It’s a great story.
“Author Jon Krupnick, author of Pan Am Pacific Pioneers, will be discussing his wildly successful book about Pan Am’s “boat days.” Our own Captain Don Cooper (the man largely responsible for organizing many of our most spectacular reunions) will set the historical and political scene in the Pacific before 1935, which led to Pan Am’s subsequent hegemony in the area. There will be other speakers as well, all passing along our Pan Am family stories.
“Fittingly, the world ‘aloha’ means both hello and goodbye, and it is with a tinge of sadness that we know that Captain Don Cooper will no longer be doing this. At 82, Captain Cooper feels that this reunion will be his swan song, reminding all of us that many of our ‘Skygods’ are now in their 80’s and 90’s. Our ‘hellos’ are joyous, but as is reflected in the closeness of our Pan Am family, we don’t like saying ‘goodbye.’
“But just as I was thinking this might be the last big all-inclusive Pan Am reunion, up pops the news of a Pan Am Worldwide Family Reunion on Long Island, New York on July 31 – August 3, 2014. It is being sponsored by Pan Amigo News (Miami), a newsletter for former employees for the purpose of keeping in touch, and sharing news of reunions, travel discounts, and finding friends we’ve lost track of.
“But it doesn’t stop there. We also have philanthropic organizations with their own newsletters, such as World Wings International (retired flight attendants), Clipper Pioneers (retired pilots), The Retirees Club (retired ground staff), and the Pan Am Historical Foundation (open to all including non employees). Many Pan Am websites can be found on the Internet, such as everythingpanam.com, and various closed groups just for Panamers. Meanwhile, the Pan Am AWARE store in Miami is busily supplying Pan Am memorabilia to those people who are nostalgic for ‘the Queen of the Skies.’
“Pan Am, as the slogan goes, is ‘Gone But Not Forgotten.’ The company as parent has died, but the family endures; the siblings continue to forge meaningful connections with each other all over the world – finding creative ways, as families do, to project themselves unendingly into the future. As long as the airline’s employees and their children (known affectionately as Pan Am ‘brats’, who grew up flying around the world with us) are still alive, the deep affection for Pan Am will endure.
“And like all families, we’ve had our share of tragedy. Most former Pan Am employees can tell you where we were when we heard about the sale of the Pacific routes to United, the Lockerbie tragedy, and the demise of Pan Am. We share common trauma, as well as phenomenal experiences: the high life and slow death of Pan Am is seared into our collective memory, but nobody can take away our love for our company.
“For those who are interested, I am including a link to a video about our Pan Am world, put together by Captain Tommy Carroll for the last big reunion, which was held in Monaco in 2012. It provides a glimpse of just some of our layovers in 86 countries and every continent, except Antarctica. Click on the following link, (747skygod.com) , and then click on the video ‘Pan Am Gone But Not Forgotten.’
“Then, sit back, relax, and prepare yourself for a nostalgic journey back to the ‘good old days’ – a time when America itself was at its zenith, and working for Pan Am felt like the best job in the world.
“Postscript: This article is also respectfully dedicated to all aviation employees who have lost their companies – our ‘Kissin’ Cousins’ at TWA, the former employees of Eastern, Braniff, Western, PSA, Piedmont, and Republic Airlines – just to mention a few.”
Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with Airline, China Clipper, Don Cooper, Hawaii, Helen Davey, Honolulu, Huffington Post, Pan Am, Pan Am Clippers, Pan Am destinations, Pan Am Gone But Not Forgotten, Pan Am history, Pan Am Reunion, Pan American, Pan American World Airways, the Pan Am Historical Foundation, the Pan Am World., the Pan Am Aloha Celebration
The Pan Am Series – Part XIV: Crossing the Pacific
Crossing the Pacific – The “Unsung Hero”
On the date 22 November, Pan American World Airways was part of two historic events. The first, in 1935, was the inauguration of trans-Pacific airline service, and the second, in 1963, was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In this installment is the story of the China Clipper, which crossed the Pacific Ocean in 1935; in the next will be the story of Pan Am’s part in the tragic events in Dallas, Texas in 1963.
Whenever there is reference to the first airliner crossing of the Pacific Ocean, invariably it is the Martin M-130 China Clipper that comes to mind. This, event, according to Ron Davies in Pan Am – An Airline and its Aircraft, was “one of the most noteworthy and historic dates in the history of transport”. The Clipper, commanded by Edwin C. Musick, departed San Francisco Friday afternoon, 22 November 1935 and arrived in Manila, Philippines Friday afternoon, 29 November, having stopped in Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island and Guam along the way. The 8210 mile trip took 59 hours and 48 minutes flying time.
In addition to its historic importance, the event was one of the most publicized ever. Described in detail by Robert Daley in An American Saga – Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire, the celebration included lunches, speeches by VIPs and “crowds on the docks, crowds on the rooftops and crowds aboard the extra ferries that had been added on”. In addition the inaugural ceremony was broadcast both in the USA as well as in Europe, South America and the Orient and included speeches by Postmaster General James Farley and Juan Trippe. Trippe concluded matters with the command, “Captain Musick, you have your sailing orders. Cast off and depart for Manila in accordance therewith”. Receptions greeted the Clipper in Honolulu and upon arrival in Manila between two and three hundred thousand Filipinos jammed together along a jetty to welcome the ship. In addition was an enclosure with two thousand prominent guests as well as people in the streets and on rooftops. A flotilla of military fighter planes flew out to escort the Clipper through its splashdown and landing. There followed a reception, banquet and parade. Later, Captain Musick presented a letter from US President Roosevelt to Philippine President Quezon commemorating the flight. It was indeed an important event in aviation history.
China Clipper Send Off.
Crossing the Pacific, however, was not the original intent of Juan Trippe in his desire to cross an ocean. It was the Atlantic. However the geopolitical situation coupled with technological limitations made that option impossible. The details are spelled out with precision in Marylin Bender and Selig Altschul’s The Chosen instrument. In a nutshell, the path to Europe was through Newfoundland. Unfortunately, negotiations between Juan Trippe, Britain, Canada and Newfoundland in 1932 did not provide the access desired, although some understanding was achieved between Pan American and Britain’s Imperial Airways with regard to traffic rights. Because Newfoundland appeared to be in doubt, Trippe looked south. Unfortunately, the political situation in Portugal made it difficult for Pan American to negotiate for traffic rights there as well. In addition, a survey trip made by Charles Lindbergh in the summer of 1933 brought into question the feasibility of using flying boats for regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic service.
What is interesting here, with respect to the negotiations over Newfoundland, is that it was not the American government doing Pan American’s bidding. It was Juan Trippe. And it was Juan Trippe who personally dealt with the governments of Britain, Canada and Newfoundland, following a pattern used when he negotiated traffic rights to countries in Latin America.
Any hope for trans-Atlantic operations, however, was dashed when, in April 1934, the British government demanded reciprocity with the United States over traffic rights. According to Bender and Altschul, the British “[g]overnment pulled the strings for Imperial, and if it viewed Pan American Airways as a similar instrument of national policy, then it would want to settle matters with the United States government.” Juan Trippe had overestimated his diplomatic skills and his “go-it-alone diplomacy” was not working. He admitted that he did not see much future for Pan American in the North Atlantic. In addition, as pointed out by Bob Gandt in China Clipper – The Age of the Great Flying Boats, “[t]he British, in 1934, had nothing like the S-42 or the coming M-130. Until Imperial Airways . . . possessed an airplane that could commence scheduled flights from Britain to the United States, Pan American would find itself blocked from the British crown colonies”.
One point of interest here is that during this time the state-owned flag carriers of several European nations were establishing routes to their own colonies in Asia, Africa and the Indian Sub-Continent, all without the need to obtain traffic rights. Privately owned Pan American did not have this luxury in that part of the world.
The focus thus switched to the Pacific. After a “great circle” trans-Pacific route through the north was ruled out due to issues between the United States and the Soviet Union, it was decided to take the route that represented the longest distance between the United States and the Orient: the mid-Pacific.
Here, the issue of traffic rights was not a problem for Pan American. The route involved stops at Honolulu, Midway, Wake and Guam, terminating in Manila, all of which were under U.S. jurisdiction. At Guam and the Philippines, the U.S. Navy had established bases on the pretext of potential confrontation with Japan. Midway was being used by the Navy for war games staged in the area. This left Wake, a tiny island, discovered by Juan Trippe in the New York Public Library, and, according to Daley, “[f]or a brief time – only the blink of an eye as history is measured – it was one of the most famous places in the world”.
The tiny island of Wake, an uninhabited coral atoll, was to become one of the most important way points on the route west to the Orient. It lay over 4000 miles from the U.S. mainland in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and was a minor trophy of the Spanish-American War. Inside was a lagoon with surface water smooth enough to handle landings of flying boats, but the presence of coral heads made landings impossible. Its location, however, made it a critical point for the trans-Pacific flight. Juan Trippe eventually got permission to use the island as a base, and on 27 March 1935, the S.S. North Haven, a cargo ship, sailed west with provisions to set up bases for Pan American at Midway and Wake. At Wake, an entire village was built, including a hotel for passengers en-route to or from the Orient. Everything used in building the base was shipped from the mainland. In addition, a swimmer from Columbia University, Bill Mullahey, who boarded the ship in Honolulu in a swimsuit, straw hat and a surfboard over his shoulder, was brought on board as the one man demolition expert to clear the lagoon for landings. Wherever there was a coral head in the lagoon, he would dive down and place dynamite sticks in holes in the coral heads and attach detonator wires to them. After he surfaced the dynamite was blasted, and afterward he would go down to inspect. The channel to be cleared was one mile long and three hundred yards wide and it took months to clear the channel of several hundred coral heads. His only gear was a pair of marine goggles; fins, face-masks, snorkels and scuba tanks had not yet been invented.
The below illustrations of Wake Island are from Robert Daley’s An American Saga. Shown is the treacherous surf outside the lagoon the workers bringing in gear had to brave, the village and the hotel’s lobby. Because there was no anchorage, the North Haven anchored offshore.
On 1 October 1932, Pan American placed an order for three Sikorsky S-42s, The aircraft was a product of the joint oversight of Pan American’s Chief Engineer Andre Priester and Charles Lindbergh. What was unique about this aircraft, according to Bob Gandt, was the design of the wing, which gave it greater range and the ability to bear a greater load. By the time Pan American accepted delivery of its first S-42, the aircraft had set several aviation records that made it probably the most advanced airliner in the world. Unfortunately, it was primarily designed for service in Latin America and was not suitable for trans-oceanic passenger operations. The aircraft could only carry six or eight passengers with the required fuel. In Latin American operations, passenger capacity was up two thirty-two.
At the same time, the Martin M-130, a larger aircraft capable of trans-oceanic flight, was on the drawing board. A more advanced airliner than the S-42, Juan Trippe also placed an order for three.
Survey Flights
The M-130 was the intended aircraft for the new trans-Pacific route, however it was not due for delivery until the end of 1935. Survey flights were needed and Juan Trippe would not wait. The West Indies Clipper, an S-42 then being used in Latin America, was selected for the duty. It was renamed the Pan American Clipper and was stripped of all passenger accommodation and fitted with extra fuel tanks, giving it an endurance of 21 1/2 hours and a range of 3000 miles. The key, and most important flight segment of the trans-Pacific trip was California-Honolulu. The ability to fly this critical segment meant there would be no barrier to the eventual establishment of trans-oceanic flight. That was achieved. The Pan American Clipper departed San Francisco on 16 April 1935 for Honolulu and returned on 22 April. On 12 June it surveyed the Honolulu-Midway segment; on 9 August, Midway-Wake; and on 5 October, Wake-Guam. On 24 October, the U.S. Post Office awarded Pan American the trans-Pacific mail contract, the day the Pan American Clipper arrived back in San Francisco from its survey flights across the Pacific.
The two illustrations below are from different sources: On the left is a picture of an S-42 departing San Francisco, presumably on one of the survey flights. It was provided by the late Marcel “Skip” Conrad, Esq., who was an attorney for Oakland International Airport. The picture was on one of the walls in his office. The picture on the right is the S-42 upon arrival in Honolulu on its first survey flight. This was an illustration in Robert Daley’s An American Saga.
China Clipper
The first Martin M-130, China Clipper, was delivered 9 October 1935. On 22 November, China Clipper inaugurated trans-Pacific airline service. The planning and preparation for this service was typical of the efficient organization nurtured by Pan American, and was a manifestation of the high standards demanded of the flying crews. As described by Ron Davies, “… there was a certain inevitability about the event. . . .the planning which went into the preparation for the historic event left no stone unturned, or to be exact, no potentially damaging piece of coral reef unmoved. * * * Pan American Clippers had cut the trans-Pacific travel time from a matter of weeks to a matter of days. The world’s biggest ocean had been conquered. A new age had begun.”
Below is illustrated the cover and the inside page (showing the route map and flight schedules) of Pan Am’s June-August 1940 timetable. Note the flight numbers were 800 and 801 and the aircraft used were either the M-130 or the Boeing 314. Until the sale of its Pacific routes to United in 1986, all Pan Am flight numbers in the Pacific were numbered in the 800’s.
The Unsung Hero
The “Unsung Hero” of Pan American’s historic crossing of the Pacific, Bill Mullahey. Without his bravery in blasting out each coral head in the lagoon of Wake Island, the flying boats could never have landed. He had another role in a later Pan American historic event that occurred after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. (Daley, An American Saga)
On 22 November 1985, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the historic flight of the China Clipper, Pan American re-enacted the event with a Boeing 747-212B, named China Clipper II. Ann Whyte, who was Manager, Public Relations at the time, was a participant. She tells about her experiences of that flight in the book, Pan American World Airways – Aviation History Through the Words of its People. Below is an excerpt from her story:
“The 1935 China Clipper, piloted by Captain Edwin Musick, departed from Alameda and stopped in Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island and Guam before finally landing in Manila. * * * Our 747 would follow the exact route. The revenue passengers, in addition to many VIPs, were composed of members of our frequent flyers program, others who yearned to be a part of aviation history, and those who wanted a package tour to the Pacific.
China Clipper II (Don Boyd photo, airliners.net)
“Excitement and expectancy were evident at our airport ceremony that included music and speeches. The son of James A. Farley, Postmaster General in 1935, was there. His father had delivered a message from President Franklin Roosevelt, who said, ‘Even at this distance, I thrill to the wonder of it all.’ San Francisco Postmaster Mrs. Mary Brown told us that a special China Clipper international 44-cent stamp had been issued at Treasure Island in February 1985 and that the original flight carried 100,000 letters to the Philippines. Also, 5,000 envelopes which had received philatelic treatment were on board our flight and would get special cancellations at each stop. Flight attendants paraded in the various styles of uniform worn since the early days. We cheered members of our flight crew when they were introduced. It was a festive atmosphere.
“For the 1935 flight, the San Francisco to Hawaii leg was the most dangerous. It took 21 hours for the seaplane to fly over the 2,397 miles of open water. There was no radar, no voice communication. The flight navigator had to climb out of a hatch several times at night to take star sightings with a sextant. Harry R. Canaday, a pioneer captain on board our flight, remembered that in the early days, even with the best equipment available, it was what they called ‘flying by the seat of your pants.’ Shure V. Sigfred, another pioneer captain on board, was astounded by the amount of people and cargo carried on our modern 747. ‘We loaded the ship according to the weather and weighed every ounce,’ he reminisced.
“But on our flight there was a party atmosphere. It took just five hours for us to reach Honolulu. I was eager to see each island for a different reason. I had had the opportunity to look at photographs and read accounts of those early days in the archives. What I saw were pictures of enthusiastic crowds, flowers, song and dance waiting to greet the M-130 crew in Hawaii 50 years ago.
“I could feel the hospitality as soon as we landed. To me, Hawaii signifies music, dancing, singing, fragrant blossoms, romance and exotic fruit. We received a warm Aloha welcome of leis, song and dance. Next we were whisked away to Pearl Harbor where we were honored with a ceremony to dedicate a plaque commemorating 50 years of commercial air service at the location where the original China Clipper landed, Middle Loch, Pearl City Peninsula. That evening, it was thrilling to be part of the reception, testimonial dinner and entertainment at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel where our pioneers were recognized and applauded.”
At the other end of the trip, Cass Myers, Regional Director for Sales based in Hong Kong, was involved with the re-enactment of the China Clipper’s historic flight as well. His memories are also included in the above book, and are excerpted below:
“The seats on the flight were marketed commercially and there were many celebrities participating, including author James Michener, an astronaut, and other dignitaries such as Charles Lindbergh’s four grand-sons. The Manila Hotel on Manila Bay was also nearly taken over for the group where two days of fun was planned.
“Two outside factors made this flight re-enactment especially interesting: (1) United Airlines had already purchased Pan Am’s Pacific Division and was scheduled to take over flight operations as United Airlines in early February 1986; and (2) the President and First lady of the Philippines, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, were on their last legs as rulers, both literally and figuratively. In a couple months, the world would know that Imelda Marcos owned 2,000 pairs of shoes.
“Being based at the Pan Am Regional Office in Hong Kong, I was fortunate to be one of the people responsible for the setup on the ground in Manila for the arrival, greeting and hotel transfer for the passengers and all the ceremonies and entertainment that followed.
“The event itself was what was expected and more! The arrival went without a hitch. The Pan Am Country Manager, the late Joe Basso, even managed to locate the same bugler who in 1935 was a Boy Scout and then (at 58 years of age) still had the same bugle and played for the arrival. Needless to say, a great time was had by all but it was, in a way, bittersweet as Pan Am’s presence in the Pacific was rapidly coming to an end.”
The above excerpts are from two of seventy-one stories in Pan American World Airways – Aviation history Through the Words of its People written by the people of Pan Am who played important roles in many of the important events in Pan Am’s history. The book is published by BlueWaterPress.
The writer of this article gratefully acknowledges the four sources liberally used in its preparation:
Marylin Bender and Selig Altschul, The Chosen instrument
Robert Daley, An American Saga – Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire
Ron Davies, Pan Am – An Airline and its Aircraft
Robert Gandt, China Clipper – The Age of the Great Flying Boats
Filed under Airline History, Airlines, Pan Am, Travel Tagged with andre priester, Atlantic Ocean, Bob Gandt, Charles Lindbergh, China Clipper, Edwin Musick, flying boats, Guam, Hawaii, Honolulu, Imperial Airways, Juan Trippe, Manila, Martin M-130, Midway Island, New Foundland, Ocean flying, PAA, Pacific Ocean, Pan Am, Pan American, pan american airways, Pan American World Airways, Robert Daley, Ron Davies, Sikorsky S-42, transPacific flight, Wake Island
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“IRONCLADS” (1991) Review
Posted on December 29, 2018 by ladylavinia1932
Between the late 1980s and the first few years of the 21st century, communications mogul Ted Turner had produced or oversaw a series of period dramas in the forms of movies and miniseries. Aside from two or three productions, most of them were aired as television movies on the cable network TNT, which is owned by the Turner Broadcasting System. One of those productions was the 1991 movie, “IRONCLADS”.
Set during the first year of the U.S. Civil War, “IRONCLADS” is a fictional account of the creations of the first two American ironclads, C.S.S. Virginia (also known as the U.S.S. Merrimack) and the U.S.S. Monitor, and their clash during the Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862. The movie began in April 1861 with the U.S. Navy personnel being forced to evacuate the Gosport Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia, following the state of Virginia’s secession from the United States. During the evacuation, Quartermaster’s Mate Leslie Harmon deliberately interfered with the militarily necessary demolition of the Navy Yard’s dry dock at Hampton Roads Naval Base in order to prevent collateral damage and civilian casualties in the city, as Confederates overran the base. While stationed in Norfolk, Leslie had made friends. Unfortunately, his actions were noticed and he found himself facing court-martial. It seemed the newly formed Confederate Navy used the undamaged naval yard to raise the sunken U.S.S. Merrimack and refit it into an ironclad ship.
Union officer Commodore Joseph Smith gave him the choice between facing court-martial or serving as a Union spy. Leslie was assigned to work with a Virginia belle from Norfolk named Betty Stuart, who had become an abolitionist and Unionist during her years at a boarding school in Baltimore. Betty had also recruited her mother’s maid named Opal and the latter’s husband, Cletus, as part of her spy ring. Using Leslie’s past actions during the Union evacuation as an excuse to label him a Confederate sympathizer, Betty introduced him to Norfolk society. This allowed the pair to spy upon the activities surrounding the development of the Confederate Navy’s new ironclad ship. At the same time, the Union Navy recruited John Ericsson to design their own ironclad ship.
Many years – and I do mean many of them – had passed since I last saw “IRONCLADS”. It is a miracle that I was able to watch it, considering that it has yet to be released on DVD. When I first saw “IRONCLADS” over twenty years ago, I had been impressed, despite it being a low-budget television movie that aired on a Basic cable station. But seeing it again after twenty-five years or so . . . I am still impressed. I honestly did not think this movie would hold up after a quarter of a century. Mind you, “IRONCLADS” had its flaws. I think this movie could have been longer . . . at least thirty (30) to forty-five (45) minutes longer. After all, it is about the first two ironclads in both U.S. and world history and I believe that Leslie and Betty’s activities as spies in Norfolk could have been expanded a bit.
But my one real problem with the movie is the romance between Betty Stuart and Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones of the Confederate Navy. It was bad enough that Lieutenant Jones, who was roughly 39 to 40 years old during the movie’s setting was portrayed by actor Alex Hyde-White, who must have been at least roughly 31 years old during the movie’s production. Worse, Betty Stuart was a fictional character. Lieutenant Jones . . . was not. The movie did an excellent job in portraying historical characters such as John Ericsson, Commodore Joseph Smith, Captain Franklin Buchanan of the C.S.S. Virginia, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles and yes, President Abraham Lincoln. But the movie made a major misstep in creating a romance between the fictional Betty and the historical Lieutenant Jones. I hate it when writers do that. I still have bad memories of George MacDonald Fraser allowing a historical character to be the illegitimate son of his fictional character, Harry Flashman. And the real Catesby ap Jones was already a married man with children during that first year of the Civil War. For the likes of me, I could not understand why screenwriter Harold Gast could not allow Betty to have a romance with another fictional character, who happened to serve aboard the C.S.S. Virginia under Buchanan and Jones.
Despite the above problems, I can honestly say that I still managed to enjoy “IRONCLADS”. Thanks to Delmar Mann’s direction and Harold Gast’s screenplay, the movie proved to be a heady mixture of espionage, military conflict and history. Step-by-step, the movie took television viewers on a road mixed with fiction and fact to that famous sea battle that stunned the rest of the world. What I found even more interesting – and I am sure that many might find this a reason to criticize – is that in an odd way, the production provided well-rounded characters from both the North and the South.
The Betty Stuart character proved to be rather ambiguous. She was a product of the Virginia upper-class, who became an abolitionist and pro-Union . . . without informing her friends and family about her change of allegiance. And yet, her love for Lieutenant Jones led her to betray her allegiance and beliefs. Her situation proved to be so complicated that the only advice I can give is to watch the film, if you can find it. Another complicated character proved to be the Northern-born navy quartermaster-turned-spy, Leslie Harmon. He got into trouble in the first place, because he thought more of the Norfolk civilians than destroying that dry dock. And while one can admire him for his humanity, I found it interesting that he never really considered the slaves who served the upper-and-middle-class citizens of that city. Until he became a spy and witnessed a Confederate Naval intelligence officer named Lieutenant Gilford harshly ordered Cletus to provide another glass of champagne for him. Leslie eventually confessed that he had never paid attention to Norfolk’s slaves before the war.
As anyone can see, the topic of slavery managed to play a strong role in this production. After all, Betty’s embrace of the abolitionist movement led her to become a pro-Union spy against her fellow Virginians. And she had recruited two of her mother’s slaves as part of her slave ring. What I found interesting about this movie is that it presented two incidents in which Opal and Cletus had individually faced the price of being slaves. I have already mentioned Leslie witnessing Lieutenant Gilford’s harsh and racist attitude toward Cletus. But for me, I was really put off by Mrs. Stuart’s decision to limit Opal’s “visit” to her sister to once a year. It was the manner in which she made this order. I found it cool, subtle, indifferent and self-involved. Naturally, Opal serving Mrs. Stuart’s needs was more important than the latter having the opportunity to see a relative.
However, this story is about the Monitor and the Merrimack. As I had earlier stated, the movie did a pretty damn good job in leading up to the events of the Battle of Hampton Roads. But let us be honest . . . the actual battle proved to be the movie’s pièce de résistance – from that first day when the Merrimack nearly made the Union blockade near Norfolk and Newport News obsolete; to the second in which the two ironclads faced each other. In fact, the battle took up the entire second half. Here, I think Mann, along with film editor Millie Moore, visual effects artist Doug Ferris and the special effects team led by Joel P. Blanchard did an exceptional job of re-creating the Battle of Hampton Roads.
However, the Battle of Hampton Roads sequence was not the only aspect of “IRONCLADS” that I enjoyed. Moore, Ferris and the visual and special effects teams did an admirable job in recreating Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia circa 1861-62. Their work was ably supported by Joseph R. Jennings’ production designs; the sound effects created by the sound editing team led by Burton Weinstein; the sound mixing team led by Kenneth B. Ross; Joseph R. Jennings’ production designs. By the way, the two sound teams both earned Emmy nominations for their work. I was surprised to discover that another Emmy nomination was given to Noel Taylor for his costume designs. Do not get me wrong. I enjoyed looking at them, especially those costumes worn by Virginia Masden, as shown below:
I found Taylor’s costumes colorful and yes . . . beautiful to look at. But if I must be honest, his costumes seemed to have a touch of late 20th century glamour – namely those worn by the Virginian elite – that I found unrealistic.
Looking back at “IRONCLADS”, I can honestly say that there was not a performance that blew my mind. The television movie did not feature a performance I would consider worthy of an Emmy nomination. Solid performances came from the likes of E.G. Marshall, Kevin O’Rourke, Leon B. Stevens, Carl Jackson, Andy Park, Burt Edwards and Marty Terry. I thought James Getty was pretty serviceable as President Abraham Lincoln. However, I think he managed to really evoke the memory of “Old Abe” with one particular line – “All I can say is what the girl said when she put her foot in the stocking. It (the U.S.S. Monitor) strikes me there’s something in it.”
But there were performances that I found very noticeable and effective. One would think that Philip Casnoff’s portrayal of naval intelligence officer, Lieutenant Guilford, to be a remake of the villainous character he had portrayed in the television adaptations of John Jakes’ “North and South” novels. However, Casnoff’s Guilford was no copycat of Elkhannah Bent. The actor effectively portrayed a cool and ruthless spymaster willing to do what it took to protect his new nation. Joanne Dorian gave a very interesting and varied performance as Betty Stuart’s shallow and self-involved mother, Blossom Stuart. At times, I found her portrayal of Mrs. Stuart hilarious or amusing. And yet . . . there was that scene in which the actress conveyed the ugliness of her character’s selfishness and racism.
Another performance that caught my eye came from Beatrice Bush, who portrayed Mrs. Stuart’s enslaved maid, Opal and Betty’s fellow spy. During the teleplay’s first half, Bush gave a solid performance. But I was truly impressed by how the actress had expressed Opal’s shock and suppressed anger over Betty’s decision to inform Catesby about their findings regarding the C.S.S. Virginia’s plating. I wsa impressed by how Bush effortlessly expressed Opal’s anger without allowing the character to lose control. I also enjoyed Fritz Weaver’s portrayal of John Ericsson, the Swedish-born immigrant, who became one of the best naval engineers of the 19th century and designer of the U.S.S. Monitor. Weaver gave a very entertaining performance as the tart-tongued engineer who was constantly irritated by U.S. Navy and the Lincoln Administration’s doubts over his work or the use of iron clad ships.
Alex Hyde-White gave a charismatic portrayal of Confederate Naval officer, Lieutenant Catsby ap Jones. The actor did a good job in conveying his character charm, professionalism. He also effectively conveyed Jones’ anger and confusion upon discovering his love’s role as a Union spy. I really enjoyed Reed Diamond’s engaging portrayal of the earnest Union Navy quartermaster, Leslie Harmon. I enjoyed how his character had learned a lesson about himself and what this war was about. He also gave, what I believe to be one of the best lines in the movies. Both Hyde-White and Reed managed to create solid chemistry with leading actress, Virginia Madsen.
Speaking of Madsen, and managed to create a solid screen chemistry with lead Virginia Madsen. Superficially, Madsen’s Betty Stuart seemed like the typical lead in a period drama – a beautiful and noble woman of high birth who has become dedicated to a cause. What made Betty interesting is that she was a Southern-born woman from a slave-owning family who became a dedicated abolitionist. And this led her to become an effective and yes, manipulative spy. But what I found interesting about Madsen’s skillful portrayal is that her character proved to be surprisingly a bit complicated . . . especially when her role as a spy and her feelings for Catsby Jones produced a conflict within her.
I am not going to push the idea that TNT’s “IRONCLADS” was a television hallmark or masterpiece. It was a solid 94-minute account of the circumstances that led to the creations of the world’s first two ironclads – the C.S.S. Virginia (Merrimack) and the U.S.S. Monitor – and their historic clash in Virginia waters. A part of me wished that this movie – especially the details leading to the Battle of Hampton Roads – had been a bit longer. And I am not that thrilled over screenwriter Harold Gast using a historical figure like Catesby ap Jones as the love interest of the fictional Betty Stuart. But I believe that both Gast and director Delmar Mann had created an interesting, complex and exciting narrative that was enhanced by excellent performances from a cast led by Virginia Madsen.
Filed under: History, Television | Tagged: alex hyde-white, andy park, beatrice bush, burt edwards, carl jackson, civil war, delmar mann, e.g. marshall, fritz weaver, history, james getty, joanne dorian, kevin o'rourke, leon b. stevens, marty terry, philip casnoff, politics, reed diamond, television, travel, virginia madsen |
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15 Rivalries That Shaped Women’s Wrestling
Last night on Monday Night Raw, Sasha Banks defeated WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte in the night’s main event (the first time women have had the main event match on Raw since December 6, 2004) to win her second World title, in what people from wrestling legends down to fans alike instantly dubbed another instant classic on their resume – as Tommy Dreamer put it on Twitter, “not a great WOMEN’S match, a great MATCH”. When storylines can get repetitive with the same match-ups, Charlotte and Sasha once again brought a sense of history and spectacle to the match-up and created another memorable closing segment in Raw’s lengthy history.
Wrestling rivalries are often hot topic debates. Who was the best one? And in nearly every conversation, these feuds are usually male wrestlers, either singles or factions: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant, Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat, Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels, The Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs. Granted, these are all massive rivalries that made huge impacts on the industry, but after last night’s clash between two amazing athletes like Banks and Charlotte, what have been some of the iconic rivalries that have shaped women’s wrestling?
Here’s a look at 15 rivalries in the world of women’s wrestling – nay, the wrestling industry itself. Since lists are too often subjective, instead of ranking them, let’s look at their place and impact in chronological history.
(Photos: pintrest.com)
MILDRED BURKE vs. JUNE BYERS, 1954
If you were to pick a starting point for women’s wrestling being taken seriously, it would be this short lived (but very real) rivalry between early stars Mildred Burke (an early carnival wrestler who legitimately beat nearly 200 male rivals in shoot fights) and young upstart Judy Byers. Their dislike was genuine and their match for the NWA Women’s title in 1954 went from entertainment to shoot match in a hurry. The match was called off due to it’s real life animosity and NWA awarded the title to Byers, despite Burke never losing the match. Both continued to claim the title (NWA only recognized Byers as champ) until Burke finally retired in 1955 after a 20-year in-ring career.
Photos: WWE.com
FABULOUS MOOLAH vs. WENDI RICHTER, 1984-1985
The Fabulous Moolah‘s dominance in women’s wrestling for nearly 30 years was more to do with her tyrannical ownership of the title itself, and outside of a mentor-student feud with Judy Grable around the same time as Burke and Byers fought, it was her rivalry with Wendi Richter during the 1980’s Rock N’ Wrestling Era of the WWF that she is perhaps best remembered for. It was a changing of the guard, as the Old School style of Moolah faced off against the young cool rocker with a more diverse arsenal. Richter would beat Moolah for the WWF Women’s title at the inaugural Wrestlemania in 1984 (backed by Cyndi Lauper), before continuing her feud with Moolah through her other students, like Lelanai Kai. While her WWF career ended somewhat sour when she departed in 1985, her induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010 was principally because of her iconic moment at Wrestlemania as the culmination of her singles feud with Moolah.
Photos: pintrest.com
CANDI DEVINE vs. SHERRI MARTEL, 1985-1986
Before being relegated to primarily valet status in both the WWF and WCW, Sherri Martel – aka “Sensational Sherri”– was one of the world’s top female wrestlers. She began in Verne Gagne‘s AWA and immediately entered a feud with AWA Women’s Champion Candi Devine. In a one year rivalry, Martel and Devine swapped the title three times, with Martel coming out on top following AWA’s Battle By The Bay in June of 1986.
ALUNDRA BLAYZE vs. BULL NAKANO, 1994-1995
Unfortunately, by the end of the 1980’s, a lack of attention – both from management and fans – saw the WWF Women’s division fall by the wayside and ultimately shut down. But in the early 90’s, during the New Generation Era, the WWF re-introduced it, bringing in former AWA and WCW women’s wrestler Madusa Micelli (renamed as Alundra Blayze) as it’s new focal point. They brought in All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling‘s Bull Nakano to be in archrival and for a brief spell, women’s wrestling began to get some traction again. But during a sabbatical by Blayze, Nakano was released for drug use and the feud never fully got it’s completion. But it’s brief glimmer of hope set the foundation for the WWF to return to keeping women’s wrestling as part of its programming. Although it would be without Blayze either, who returned to WCW upon her return (infamously dropping the WWF Women’s title in the trash on a live Nitro). While the women’s division would be put on hiatus for rebuilding from 1995-1998, Blayze and Nakano gave them hope they could get it right eventually.
MANAMI TOYOTA vs. AJA KONG, 1992-1995
It’s unfortunate that the world didn’t have the access to Japanese wrestling in the 90’s like we have today, or more people would be aware of these two. Toyota is widely regarded as perhaps the greatest female wrestler of all-time, and part of that is due to her feuds with the likes of Aja Kong. The two first faced off as members of tag teams, when Toyota and former rival Toshiyo Yamada met up with Jungle Jack (Aja Kong and Bison Kimura) in 1992. By the time both went solo, they were two of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJW)’s biggest stars. Hard hitting and intense, these two were often the match of the night in their encounters, inspiring a generation of women wrestlers in the mid-90’s, both internationally and in North America.
MANAMI TOYOTA vs. AKIRA HOKUTO, 1990-1995
While it’s arguable these two never truly had a proper feud, Japanese wrestling has always been more about the match-ups than storylines, and these two had plenty. Perhaps the most subtle of the rivalries on the list, but their match-ups were always text book clinics that showed how intense and athletic women’s matches could be. hokuto eventually came to North America in 1997 and joined WCW, winning the inaugural tournament for the new WCW Women’s Championship. Unfortunately, WCW dropped the belt immediately after the tournament.
CHYNA vs. JEFF JARRETT, 1999
Ok, yes, Jeff Jarrett is not a woman. But this was the feud that ultimately put intergender match-ups on the map as a viable possibility in the wrestling landscape. Sure, Jacqueline had done it two years previously in WCW when she defeated Disco Inferno, but it never really had the emotional charge of Chyna vs. Jarrett. For one, Chyna had engaged the public – men and women alike – more than Jacqueline had. And this was not only a women pinning a man, but a woman winning a man’s title. Chyna not only defeated Jarrett for the WWF Intercontinental title at No Mercy in 1999, but would go on to continue facing men, with a program against Chris Jericho shortly after. While WWE has rarely allowed females to compete against male wrestlers again since then (apart from Beth Phoenix‘ 2010 Royal Rumble appearance and mixed tag matches where equal genders must square off), the independent scene has taken intergender matches and made them not only believable, but entertaining. Lucha Underground, Chikara, PWG and many other top indie promotions around the world now showcase intergender matches as part of their programming and not merely as a spectacle.
LITA vs. TRISH STRATUS, 2001-2006
Considered by many to be the greatest women’s feud of all time, it’s amazing it occurred at all. While Lita came from a wrestling background (having previously competed in Mexico, Japan and the original ECW), Trish Stratus was a fitness model created by WWE. Both began their WWE careers as valets, Lita with Essa Rios before joining The Hardyz, and Trish with T & A (Test and Albert). Luckily for everyone, both women’s passion to compete in the ring was noticed early, first by the fans, and they became regulars in the women’s division during the height of the Attitude Era. They teamed up when their outlooks aligned, but it was their matches against each other that inspired a generation of girls around the world.
TRISH STRATUS vs. MICKIE JAMES, 2005-2006
Mickie James debuted in the WWE in 2005 as Trish Stratus’ biggest fan, following her around from event to event. The two eventually teamed up, with James becoming more and more obsessed with Trish’s character – she went from adoring fan to Single White Female. What resulted was an explosive rivalry that cemented James as the heir apparent to Trish and Lita as the head of the WWE Women’s division and pushed Stratus to some of her finest work.
Photos: impactwrestling.com
GAIL KIM vs. AWESOME KONG, 2007-2016
As WWE’s Women’s division slowly degraded into it’s Divas Division, TNA‘s Knock-Out Division soon became the gold standard bearer of women’s wrestling in North America in the mid-2000’s. And if Stratus/Lita is WWE”s greatest women’s rivalry, then their TNA counterpart is Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong. Two juxtaposing styles, these two managed to maintain an intensity and chemistry for nearly a decade. While Kong was released earlier this year for clashing with Reby Hardy, Kim was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame this past Sunday at TNA’s Bound For Glory. And while Kim has faced many competitors in her storied career, both in TNA and WWE, no rival comes close to the magic created by these two together.
ANGELINA LOVE vs. MADISON RAYNE, 2009-2016
These two on-again, off-again team mates from TNA’s The Beautiful People have more battles against each other than together. Two more names that helped build the Knock-Outs into a rival division that outshone WWE’s Divas Division on a nightly basis most times, Angelina Love and Madison Rayne’s careers are forever entwined – three of Love’s six Knock-Outs title wins came against Rayne, while two of Rayne’s five were off of Love.
KAITLYN vs. AJ LEE, 2013
It took WWE seemingly forever to realize that their Divas concept (hiring actresses or fitness models instead of wrestlers), which had produced WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus, was producing more duds than future Legends. But in 2014, it took one of each to set the Divas Division on fire for one brief year and reignite the passion for legitimate women’s wrestling in the WWE Universe. Kaitlyn, a former fitness model, and AJ Lee, a former indie wrestler, both met in NXT in 2010, arriving on the main roster as wrestlers together in 2011 as The Chickbusters. Kaitlyn would strike Divas title gold first in early 2013. What followed next was an explosive year long rivalry with former friend Lee, which ultimately saw Lee win her first Divas title. Kaitlyn retired shortly after the loss, but those months and feud of 2013 helped spark the change needed to get the Divas back to Women.
SASHA BANKS vs. BAYLEY, 2015
The feud that proved women could main event again. Sasha Banks and Bayley tore up NXT for the better part of 2015, with not one, but two Match of the Year candidates, stealing the show at TakeOver: Brooklyn and then a few months later main eventing TakeOver: Respect in the first ever women’s Iron Man match. With Bayley now on the main roster and same show as Banks, it’s only a matter of time before one of them turns (almost guaranteed to be Sasha) and this future legendary feud continues for the whole WWE Universe to witness.
Photos: luchaunderground.com
SEXY STAR vs. MARIPOSA, 2016
Lucha Underground has been a game changer since it’s debut in 2014, with it’s intricate sci-fi noir storylines and amazing wrestling, and with it, bringing intergender match-ups to its canon with great regularity. Sexy Star established herself early, with a mid-Season One victory over Pentagon Jr. Season Three saw Star enter a twisted feud against the mysterious and demented Mariposa (played by indie veteran Cheerleader Melissa), that culminated in the astounding and brutal No Mas match. While many women have had more violent matches in other indie promotions, the storytelling and athleticism made this one of the Season’s stand out matches. The moment Sexy Star proclaimed “F*ck YOU!” when asked to submit was one of the year’s most chilling moments in wrestling. While it’s unlikely this brief feud will continue with Sexy Star’s apparent retirement from wrestling, it showed that when push came to shove, the women were willing to push themselves as far as, and in some cases, further than many of their male peers.
CHARLOTTE vs. SASHA BANKS, 2013-2016
While Sasha Banks’ feud with Bayley was the talk of 2015, her true archrival is the “genetically superior” Charlotte, the daughter of 16-time World Champion Hall of Famer Ric Flair. They both arrived in NXT around the same time in 2012, and by 2013, were partners in the BFF’s. An eventual turn and consistent feuding has ensued ever since, from their days competing over the NXT Women’s title, right on through to the main roster, where both have become two-time WWE Women’s Champions in under a year (technically, Charlotte is a three-time, as the last woman to hold the defunct WWE Divas title). With each match topping the last – plus the rumours that these two will next face inside the namesake cage at this year’s Hell In A Cell – it’s clear that Charlotte and Banks will forever be linked in the history books. And it wouldn’t be surprising if in 10 years that these two former BFF’s take the top women’s rivalry mantle from Trish and Lita.
Main Photo: WWE.com
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Joey Ryan’s Penis Party Announces First Matches
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PANORAMAS DEL CINE CANADIENSE
‘Léolo’, the fantasy of baroque cinema
‘Léolo’ tells the story of a young boy named Léo ‘Léolo’ Lauzon, played by Maxime Collin, who engages in an active fantasy life while growing up with his Montreal family, and begins to have sexual fantasies about his neighbour Bianca, played by Giuditta del Vecchio.
Xphilo Liranzo · 10/12/2018 · Lattindencias
Initially released in the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, Léolo won three Genie Awards, including Best Original Screenplay for Lauzon, losing Best Motion Picture to Naked Lunch.
Léolo is a 1992 French Canadian movie released in Quebec in the summer of 1992. The film was entered in various prestigious festivals. In Cannes it was a nominee for la Palme d’Or, and at the Toronto International Film Festival TIFF it won The Best Canadian Feature Film. The film also won multiple awards at the Genie Awards and at the Fantasporto Film Festival in Portugal.
Léolo is a fantasy coming of age movie set in a working-class inner-city neighborhood of Montréal in the 1950s. The picture is an exercise in style and imagination, with vivid colors, surreal and hyperreal scenery, and enchanting music.
Despite being a fantasy baroque movie, the picture portrays a cultural perspective with a historical social basis; it can be interpreted as a reflection of the low self-esteem complex that many French Canadians had for a long time, a complex that was very present before ‘The Quiet Revolution’, which is the context of the story.
Several facts can support this interpretation: firstly, Léolo Lauzon, the main character, who is a pre-teen who lives with his dysfunctional family in Montreal, although he is French Canadian, he calls himself (in his imaginary world) “Leolo Lozone” pretending he is Italian, just like some of his working-class neighbors. He sees the world around him (including his family members) not as a Quebecers but as Italian immigrants, which is more “significant and attractive” for him.
Secondly, Léolo’s brother (Fernand) is terribly afraid of an English-speaking youngster who bullies him every time they see each other in the streets. It does not matter how much Fernand prepares himself to face this English-speaking Montrealer, he always falls apart when he is confronted by him.
And lastly, the inspiration of the movie is a book titled L’Avalée des avalés (The Swallower Swallowed in English) written by Réjean Ducharme, which is considered a classic of Quebec literature. This is a novel about the search for an identity, daydreaming and the need to create a different social reality. L’Avalée des avalés is the book that Léolo uses to fantasize his life and to escape the boundaries of the misery surrounding him.
Léolo is a movie that masterfully blends style, psychology, and imagination with social realism on his basis. Arguably, this film has created one of the most interesting and imaginative young characters in cinematic history. This is a must-see movie.
Original title: Léolo
Directed by: Jean-Claude Lauzon
Written by: Jean-Claude Lauzon
Starring: Gilbert Sicotte, Maxime Collin, Ginette Reno, Giuditta del Vecchio, Julien Guiomar
cine, Jean-Claude Lauzon, Léolo
Xphilo.com
Journalist, freelance writer. Born in the Dominican Republic, lives in Toronto since 2016 and previously lived in Montréal for two years. Film analyst, novelist, author of two novels in process of editing. He writes reviews of movies, books, and music albums. He is also interested in psychology, sociology, neuroscience, history, sports, health, and well-being. He has some experience in filmmaking (directing and as a screenwriter). Passionate about languages, he is fluent in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. He is also able to read and speak German (intermediate level) and Mandarin (Basic level). You can find most of his articles and reviews on his website: Xphilo.com
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8 December 2014 · ·
UK · Education
Why now is the time for further education colleges to upgrade their lights
Banbury and Bicester College has slashed its energy bill by half by replacing its old lights with LED panels. With more funding becoming available, colleges across Britain could save hundreds of tonnes of CO2 and thousands of pounds
With an ever-growing pool of green project funding, it’s becoming easier for colleges to do the maths and invest in some efficient, long-lasting LED luminaires. Further education colleges are the latest to be handed an opportunity in the form of £5 million worth of interest-free loans from the public sector energy-efficiency finance body Salix.
Colleges can apply for loans for lighting upgrades and other energy-efficient improvements, and will only have to pay back their loans once their projects start saving them money.
With the upfront cost taken care of, green funding is a chance for publicly funded institutions to upgrade their lighting to LED and improve their green rating. Some further education colleges are already reaping the benefits; Wakefield College in West Yorkshire used an interest-free Salix loan of £360,000 to install LED lighting upgrades in the college building.
‘The Salix application was straightforward and I found the team very helpful,’ said Shane O’Donnell, energy officer at the college, who oversaw the project. The college is now saving £90,000 a year.
Stafford College (pictured) used a Salix loan of £320,000 to install new lighting and heating. The upgrade saves the college £81,000 a year and has reduced its annual CO2 emissions by 394 tonnes.
Pat Eagle, project manager at the college, said: ‘Our savings from reduced use of energy are very impressive, we have lifetime savings of over £1 million. It’s a fantastic opportunity for the public sector to lead the way in energy conservation.’
Another college that has slashed its bills dramatically with an LED upgrade is Banbury and Bicester in Oxford, where Zeta Specialist Lighting installed LED panels in bespoke sizes in communal areas of the college. The lighting bill is now half of what it used to be, and has also lessened the running cost of the college’s maintenance team. 'We have reduced the burden on the maintenance team as well as benefitted from lower energy bills,' said facilities manager Bridget Richardson.
Salix estimates that the funding already allocated to further education colleges will help achieve lifetime savings of over £81 million and a reduction in CO2 emissions of 527,873 tonnes. So far the programme has seen £31 million given to projects in 201 further education colleges, 126 of which have undertaken lighting upgrades.
Craig Mellis, technical services manager at Salix, says a total of 430 lighting projects have been carried out at a value of over £8 million. ‘The funding covers many types of energy-efficient lighting upgrades, including both LED and efficient fluorescent lamps. Those colleges with external lighting, for example in car parks, can also utilise the funding to move to more efficient lighting solutions,’ Mellis said.
Colleges who have made use of Salix in the past are now seeing a noticeable difference on their balance sheets. Yorkshire Coast College (pictured) embarked on a Salix-funded lighting upgrade six years ago and has so far saved £68,203 as a result of installing T5 converters for the college’s existing luminaires with the help of a Salix loan.
‘We had made saving energy on-site a priority, especially since the introduction of legislation like the requirement for Display Energy Certificates,' said Geoff Adams, facilities coordinator at the college. 'But the reality was, we had very limited budget to spend on any upgrades,’
The installation of T5 converters paid for itself in just over three years and has reduced the college’s CO2 emissions by 612 tonnes so far. ‘We upgraded 95 per cent of our lights and it’s only now that we are starting to see a few of them failing – and I don’t mean many, I’m talking less than 100. It was definitely a good move’ Adams added.
The £5 million recently made available to further education colleges will be awarded in February 2015. Any college can apply, as long as it receives most of its income directly from the public sector.
The application deadline is noon on Friday 30 January 2015.
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St Paul's Cathedral Is Breathtaking, Covered In These Thought-Provoking Illuminations
By Will Noble
Will Noble St Paul's Cathedral Is Breathtaking, Covered In These Thought-Provoking Illuminations
© Double Take Projections/Tim Craig
These new images show how St Paul's Cathedral will be shown in a whole new light, from 24-27 October.
Where Light Falls comprises four evenings of spectacular illuminations at the cathedral — with projections that recall one of the darkest times in London's history, smothering the famous facade.
Firebomb turns to fireweed. © Historic England/Chris Redgrave
Swathes of London were razed to the ground during the Blitz of 1940-41, but prime minister Winston Churchill decreed that the Wren masterpiece should be saved "at all costs".
Armed with sandbags and water pumps, volunteers patrolled the cathedral, poised to throw away incendiary bombs and put out flames at any moment. Though suffering hits, St Paul's survived the second world war largely unscathed, thanks to these efforts.
'From the Log Book' by Keith Jarrett. © Double Take Projections / Tim Craig
The cutting-edge projections tell the stories of these daring escapades, combining powerful archive photography and animation with an atmospheric soundscape. A newly-commissioned poem, From the Log Book by Keith Jarrett, is narrated by the poet as his words come to life on the cathedral walls.
The shows — which take place on the evenings of 24-7 October — is a joint project between Historic England, creatives Double Take Projections, Keith Jarrett and the cathedral. If you've got a chance to go, do so — it looks like one of those London moments you'll forever regret not seeing.
© Double Take Projections / Tim Craig
St Paul's Cathedral, seen over the bombed ruins of the surrounding area, 1941. Out of Copyright: Source: Historic England Archive
The damage caused by a bomb that fell in the North Transept of St Paul's Cathedral, London. Out of Copyright: Source: Historic England Archive
Where Light Falls takes place at St Paul's Cathedral, 24-26 October (6.30pm-10pm) and 27 October (8pm-10pm) before moving on to Coventry Cathedral. It's part of City of London's Fantastic Feats festival.
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Council Democrats back hybrid of cuts and new taxes to fill budget hole
Photo by Michael L. Jones
Metro Council Democrats appear to have formed a general consensus on how the city should deal with its looming budget crisis: meet somewhere in the middle between cutting $65 million in government services over the next four years and the proposal to raise that same amount in new tax revenue over the same period.
The specifics on where those two will meet have not been hammered out yet, but there is not much time, as the council has until March 21 to pass any ordinance increasing the tax rate on insurance premiums if that is to go into effect for the next fiscal year beginning July 1.
Even the five sponsors of the proposed ordinance filed last Monday that would eventually triple the tax rate on insurance premiums within four years indicated in a meeting of the Democratic Caucus on Thursday that they are encouraging amendments that would specify offsetting cuts — therefore requiring less new revenue and allowing for a tax hike that is less steep.
That tax plan detailed in the proposed ordinance was first proposed by Mayor Greg Fischer on Feb. 13, who said that it was the only option to avoid “devastating” cuts to public safety and government services that would be necessary because of rapidly increasing pension payments mandated by Frankfort and the limited ways that the city can raise tax revenue under state law.
Since that first announcement, the mayor has held a number of news conferences highlighting the specific layoffs and city services that he says would need to be cut unless Metro Council approved his plan, urging the public to contact their council member and share that message.
Fischer’s announcement and the subsequently proposed ordinance drew swift criticism not just from Republican council members — who felt ambushed by both the budget crisis presented by the mayor and the limited time in which to act — but from some Democrats who felt like they were kept in the dark and are now facing waves of negative feedback about possible cuts and tax hikes.
At the meeting last week of the council’s Democratic Caucus, Councilman David Yates characterized most of the feedback he’s received from constituents as “a lot of four-letter words.”
Other Democratic members shared that they had heard from angry constituents, with Councilwoman Cindi Fowler saying that business owners told her that they would be hurt by tax hikes on their various insurance premiums.
“People are just not having it,” said Fowler. “They’re saying cut it, cut it, just cut it all out of the budget. And now I’m wondering if we shouldn’t just do it and let them live with it for a year.”
Councilman Bill Hollander, D-9
At the Democratic Caucus meeting on Thursday, Councilman Bill Hollander — one of the sponsors of the ordinance and the chair of the budget committee — repeated his sentiment from that meeting a week earlier, saying that ultimately the council should pass a combination of service reductions and increased revenues.
“As a sponsor of the ordinance, I have always said since Day 1 that this needs to be a combination of new revenue and cuts,” said Hollander. “I don’t think it’s acceptable to the community to do this purely through cuts. I think the cuts would be on a level that would really put us on a downward spiral, but I also think that we need to make some cuts if we’re having this kind of revenue enhancement.”
Since Fischer first unveiled his tax plan, Hollander said he welcomed ideas for alternative revenue sources and areas of the city budget that could be cut. However, he and other members have noted that the city is prohibited by state law from implementing many of the revenue options suggested from the public, and they have not received any specific plans from the Republican Caucus on what nonessential departments or services should be cut.
Several more Democratic members chimed in on Thursday in support of such a hybrid approach, including Councilman Pat Mulvihill, the chairman of the caucus, who said he has learned through conversations with the ordinance’s sponsors, council colleagues and the community that people want an option somewhere between $65 million in cuts and $65 million in revenue.
“One overriding thing I keep hearing is there needs to be a balanced approach,” said Mulvihill. Not A, not Z, but something more in the middle.”
Noting both the complexity of the issue and the very limited amount of time to pass a revenue ordinance, Mulvihill suggested not just additional caucus and committee meetings over the next two weeks to discuss the issue, but the creation of a “war room” with big pads and Post-It notes, where members could write down their ideas and requests for potential cuts and revenues. Councilman Brandon Coan added the suggestion that it instead be called the “solution room.”
While no “solution” of sorts has been identified yet on how much could be cut from the city’s budgets — and what specific departments or services they would come from — another debate is over whether the council should be focused on the four-year outlook of the mayor, or just the coming fiscal year.
While Fischer has identified a $65 million budget hole over the next four years, $35 million of that is for the next fiscal year alone. While the mayor’s plan focuses on incremental increases to the insurance premium tax rate over that time, Democratic council members like Jessica Green and Brent Ackerson said their immediate focus should be on fixing the $35 million problem for next year alone.
Both Green and Councilwoman Paula McCraney added in the meeting that they would never vote for the ordinance as it is currently written, advocating an amendment to look at both new revenue and cuts for the next fiscal year.
While the city has a strict deadline in three weeks to decide on a tax revenue model for the next fiscal year, any specific cuts could likely have to wait for the official 2019-2020 budget, which the mayor is scheduled to release a proposal for in April and must be approved by the council before July 1.
Councilwoman Barbara Sexton Smith, one of the five sponsors, added that “I don’t believe I ever intended” for her ordinance to be passed without being amended, “but it needed to be put out there and filed so we can begin the public discourse.”
McCraney took issue with that, saying that “we have been inundated with phone calls, with emails, with outcries, with cries from our constituents. If that was your intent, then well done, you certainly got what you wanted.”
Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin added her frustration with the mayor over his handling of the issue, saying that Fischer’s presentation of the two options and call for the public to contact their council member “makes it look like we’re the ones who are shutting these departments down.”
“It’s really a bad situation when the mayor doesn’t step in and take some of the heat off of us and put it on himself, instead of making it look like council people were the ones that said ‘let’s get rid of the libraries, let’s get rid of this and that,’ ” said Shanklin.
Metro Councilwoman Cindi Fowler, D-14 | Photo by Joe Sonka
Fowler also derisively referred to Mayor Fischer’s “infomercials” over the past two weeks, saying that they have failed to sway public opinion in his favor.
“I’m getting a whole lot more calls saying the mayor told me to call you,” said Fowler. “And I don’t think it’s working out for the mayor the way that he thought. I let him know that yesterday, but I’m not sure how that’s going to work.”
Meanwhile, much of the Republican Caucus has spent the past few weeks publicly laying blame at the feet of the mayor for not preparing for the “slow-moving train wreck” of the pension crisis, pointing to increased government spending over the past two years.
While several Republican members have indicated that they won’t vote for any tax increase this month, Councilman Anthony Piagentini told Insider Louisville last weekend that he expects a more bipartisan plan for potential cuts to come together in the coming weeks.
“I can tell you behind the scenes right now there’s a lot of people — bipartisan — throwing out ideas, and I think what will end up happening over the next couple of weeks is the good ones will float to the top and that’s what we will get,” said Piagentini. “I hope we get there. I would like to see us get there entirely with cuts because I think this tax increase is really going to be very, very hard on our economy… But with that said, that’s probably the realistic bipartisanship that will happen.”
Piagentini — who has cast scorn at what he calls Fischer’s deceptive “PR pitch” — suggested last week that the Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness was one of the “nonessential” city departments whose budget growth over the last two years could be cut back.
Likely referring to those comments, Fischer recently went as far as suggesting that some Republican members want to do away with the city’s health department.
At a news conference on Monday at University Hospital touting city programs aimed at preventing violence and the health department’s success at preventing a hepatitis outbreak, Fischer said that “we have some council members that are saying we don’t need a Public Health and Wellness Department.”
Pressed on that assertion by Insider, Fischer eventually conceded that “if I said that, I meant they said we need cuts,” adding “they need to be specific on what they mean.”
Responding to Fischer’s statement, Piagentini tweeted that “we have a Mayor who has the inability to be honest about his opposition. Cutting growth is not eliminating an entire department. But we can play this game… the Mayor wants to force seniors on fixed income into the street with his tax and spend policy.”
A review of the approved budget for the current fiscal year shows that general fund appropriations for the city health department actually decreased by 9 percent last year, or nearly $2 million, though much of that difference was likely caused by the Office of Safe and Health Neighborhoods becoming its own independent department.
Without new revenue, Fischer has estimated that the health department could be cut by an additional $2 million in the next fiscal year, which would lead to the closure of the city’s STD clinic and immunization program, a reduction in hours and staff of the syringe exchange, the elimination of funding for Centerstone Kentucky’s Living Room Project to divert people from jail and into addiction treatment and services, nine employees laid off at the Center for Health Equity and a total of 22 layoffs across the entire department.
Councilman Kevin Kramer, R-11
Councilman Kevin Kramer — the chair of the Republican Caucus and vice chair of the budget committee — told reporters Thursday night that he would not vote for any tax increase, and the caucus would release a detailed plan soon that would explain how this could be done without damaging public safety and essential services. He also questioned the Fischer administration’s number on the budget hole for next year, asserting that it is actually $25 million, not $35 million.
At the first special public hearing on Thursday evening to hear comments from the public on the budget issue, 42 speakers gave council members their thoughts on potential tax increases or cuts to government services, which took up just over two hours.
A majority of the speakers urged the council members to avoid cuts to city services and programs — such as libraries, neighborhood places, community centers, community ministries, addiction treatment, police and fire departments — arguing that they would have a devastating effect on Louisville’s most vulnerable citizens.
However, nearly a dozen warned that tax increases would hurt citizens and businesses. Attorney Theresa Camoriano warned that such an increase to insurance premium taxes would drive businesses out of the city that are the largest contributors to the tax base, which would “drive the city down like Detroit.”
Most of those arguing against any tax increases did not identify specific city services or departments that need to be cut, instead referring to general waste, redundancies and unnamed officials in the Fischer administration whose salaries are too high. Others mentioned specific suggestions for cuts that take up a fraction of the city’s total budget, like bike lanes and the economic development departments spending on entertaining prospective business guests at the Kentucky Derby.
Kathleen Parks of the National Action Network told the council members that no one’s taxes should be raised and that the $65 million budget hole could be filled with a GoFundMe campaign.
The next public hearing on the budget issue is on Monday at 6 p.m in the Metro Council chambers.
By Joe Sonka|2020-01-02T09:33:37-05:00March 1st, 2019|
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425 U.S. 80 - Geders v. United States
425 US 80 Geders v. United States
John A. GEDERS, Petitioner,
No. 74-5968.
Argued Dec. 1, 1975.
Decided March 30, 1976.
The trial court's order preventing petitioner, the defendant in a federal criminal prosecution, from consulting his counsel "about anything" during a 17-hour overnight recess in the trial between his direct- and cross-examination Held to deprive petitioner of his right to the assistance of counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment. Pp. 86-91.
(a) A federal trial judge has broad power to sequester nonparty witnesses before, during, and after their testimony to restrain them from "tailoring" their testimony, to aid in detecting less-than-candid testimony, and (in the case of a recess called before testimony is completed) to prevent improper attempts to influence the testimony in light of the testimony already given. But a sequestration order applied to a criminal defendant affects the defendant quite differently from a nonparty witness, who presumably has no stake in the trial's outcome and little, other than his own testimony, to discuss with trial counsel. The defendant has the right to be present for all testimony and may discuss his testimony with his attorney up to the time he takes the witness stand, so sequestration accomplishes less when applied to a defendant during a recess. A defendant is ordinarily ill-equipped to comprehend the trial process without a lawyer's guidance; he often must consult with counsel during the trial, and during overnight recesses often discusses the events of the day's trial and their significance. Pp. 87-89.
(b) The problem of possible improper influence on testimony or "coaching" can be dealt with in other ways, such as by a prosecutor's skillful cross-examination to discover whether "coaching" occurred during a recess, or by the trial judge's directing that the examination of witnesses continue without interruption until completed, or otherwise arranging the sequence of testimony so that direct- and cross-examination of a witness will be completed without interruption. Pp. 89-91.
(c) To the extent that conflict remains between the defendant's right to consult with his attorney during an overnight recess in the trial, and the prosecutor's desire to cross-examine the defendant without the intervention of counsel, with the risk of improper "coaching," the conflict must, under the Sixth Amendment, be resolved in favor of the right to the assistance and guidance of counsel. P. 91
5 Cir., 502 F.2d 1, reversed and remanded.
Seymour L. Honig, for petitioner.
Sidney M. Glazer, Washington, D.C., for respondent.
We granted certiorari to consider whether a trial court's order directing petitioner, the defendant in a federal prosecution, not to consult his attorney during a regular overnight recess, called while petitioner was on the stand as a witness and shortly before cross-examination was to begin, deprived him of the assistance of counsel in violation of the Sixth Amendment.
A grand jury in the Middle District of Florida returned indictments charging petitioner and several codefendants with conspiracy to import and illegal importation of a controlled substance into the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and 21 U.S.C. § 952(a), and with possession of marihuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a). The charges grew out of plans for several of the defendants to fly about 1,000 pounds of marihuana from Colombia into the United States, plans that might have succeeded but for the fact that the pilot of the charter plane informed the United States Customs Service of the arrangements.
The trial of petitioner and one codefendant commenced on Tuesday, October 9, 1973. Petitioner testified in his own defense on Tuesday, October 16, and Wednesday, October 17. Petitioner's counsel concluded direct examination at 4:55 p. m. Tuesday. When the court recessed for the night, and after the jury departed, the prosecutor asked the judge to instruct petitioner not to discuss the case overnight with anyone. Throughout the trial, the judge had given the same instruction to every witness whose testimony was interrupted by a recess.
Petitioner's attorney objected, explaining that he believed he had a right to confer with his client about matters other than the imminent cross-examination, and that he wished to discuss problems relating to the trial with his client. The judge indicated his confidence that counsel would properly confine the discussion, but expressed some doubt that petitioner would be able to do so, saying: "I think he would understand it if I told him just not to talk to you; and I just think it is better that he not talk to you about anything." The judge suggested that counsel could have an opportunity immediately after the recess to discuss with his client matters other than the cross-examination, such as what witnesses were to be called the next day, and he indicated that he would grant a recess the next day so that counsel could consult with petitioner after petitioner's testimony ended. Counsel persisted in his objection, although he appropriately indicated that he would as in fact he did comply with the court's order.1
When court convened the next morning, petitioner's attorney asked and received permission to reopen his direct examination of petitioner. The cross-examination which followed was finished in the morning; the judge then called the luncheon recess. Petitioner whose testimony on redirect examination was yet to come—was permitted to confer with his attorney during the noon recess. The trial concluded the following day, and petitioner was convicted on all three counts; he was sentenced to concurrent three-year prison terms.
The Court of Appeals affirmed petitioner's conviction. United States v. Fink, 502 F.2d 1 (CA5 1974 On the point here at issue, the court held that petitioner's failure to claim any prejudice resulting from his inability to consult with counsel during one evening of the trial was fatal to his appeal. In so holding, the court relied on United States v. Leighton, 386 F.2d 822 (CA2 1967), cert. denied, 390 U.S. 1025, 88 S.Ct. 1412, 20 L.Ed.2d 282 (1968), dealing with a similar order applied to a noon recess, and rejected the Third Circuit's position that prejudice need not be shown, United States v. Venuto, 182 F.2d 519 (1950), in a case involving an overnight recess. The Court of Appeals also disposed of several other claims of error. We granted certiorari limited to petitioner's claim that the order forbidding consultation with his attorney overnight denied him the assistance of counsel in violation of the Sixth Amendment. 421 U.S. 929, 95 S.Ct. 1654, 44 L.Ed.2d 86.
Our cases have consistently recognized the important role the trial judge plays in the federal system of criminal justice. "(T)he judge is not a mere moderator, but is the governor of the trial for the purpose of assuring its proper conduct and of determining questions of law." Quercia v. United States, 289 U.S. 466, 469, 53 S.Ct. 698, 77 L.Ed. 1321, 1324 (1933). A criminal trial does not unfold like a play with actors following a script; there is no scenario and can be none. The trial judge must meet situations as they arise and to do this must have broad power to cope with the complexities and contingencies inherent in the adversary process. To this end, he may determine generally the order in which parties will adduce proof; his determination will be reviewed only for abuse of discretion. Goldsby v. United States, 160 U.S. 70, 74, 16 S.Ct. 216, 218, 40 L.Ed. 343, 345 (1895); United States v. Martinez-Villanueva, 463 F.2d 1336 (CA9 1972); Nelson v. United States, 415 F.2d 483, 487 (CA5 1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1060, 90 S.Ct. 751, 24 L.Ed.2d 754 (1970). Within limits, the judge may control the scope of rebuttal testimony, United States v. Chrzanowski, 502 F.2d 573, 575-576 (CA3 1974); United States v. Perez, 491 F.2d 167, 173 (CA9), cert. denied Sub nom., Lombera v. United States, 419 U.S. 858, 95 S.Ct. 106, 42 L.Ed.2d 92 (1974); may refuse to allow cumulative, repetitive, or irrelevant testimony, Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87, 127, 94 S.Ct. 2887, 2912, 41 L.Ed.2d 590, 626 (1974); County of Macon v. Shores, 97 U.S. 272, 24 L.Ed. 889 (1877); and may control the scope of examination of witnesses, United States v. Nobles, 422 U.S. 225, 231, 95 S.Ct. 2160, 2166, 45 L.Ed.2d 141, 149 (1975); Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 83, 62 S.Ct. 457, 470, 86 L.Ed. 680, 706 (1942). If truth and fairness are not to be sacrificed, the judge must exert substantial control over the proceedings.
The judge's power to control the progress and, within the limits of the adversary system, the shape of the trial includes broad power to sequester witnesses before, during, and after their testimony. Holder v. United States, 150 U.S. 91, 92, 14 S.Ct. 10, 37 L.Ed. 1010 (1893); United States v. Robinson, 502 F.2d 894 (CA7 1974); United States v. Eastwood, 489 F.2d 818, 821 (CA5 1974). Wigmore notes that centuries ago, the practice of sequestration of witnesses "already had in English practice an independent and continuous existence, even in the time of those earlier modes of trial which preceded the jury and were a part of our inheritance of the common Germanic law." 6 J. Wigmore, Evidence § 1837, p. 348 (3d ed., 1940). The aim of imposing "the rule on witnesses," as the practice of sequestering witnesses is sometimes called, is twofold. It exercises a restraint on witnesses "tailoring" their testimony to that of earlier witnesses; and it aids in detecting testimony that is less than candid. See Wigmore, Supra, § 1838; F. Wharton, Criminal Evidence § 405 (C. Torcia ed. 1972). Sequestering a witness over a recess called before testimony is completed serves a third purpose as well preventing improper attempts to influence the testimony in light of the testimony already given.
The trial judge here sequestered all witnesses for both prosecution and defense and before each recess instructed the testifying witness not to discuss his testimony with anyone. Applied to nonparty witnesses who were present to give evidence, the orders were within sound judicial discretion and are not challenged here.
But the petitioner was not simply a witness; he was also the defendant. A sequestration order affects a defendant in quite a different way from the way it affects a nonparty witness who presumably has no stake in the outcome of the trial. A nonparty witness ordinarily has little, other than his own testimony, to discuss with trial counsel; a defendant in a criminal case must often consult with his attorney during the trial. Moreover, "the rule" accomplishes less when it is applied to the defendant rather than a nonparty witness, because the defendant as a matter of right can be and usually is present for all testimony and has the opportunity to discuss his testimony with his attorney up to the time he takes the witness stand.
The recess at issue was only one of many called during a trial that continued over 10 calendar days. But it was an overnight recess, 17 hours long. It is common practice during such recesses for an accused and counsel to discuss the events of the day's trial. Such recesses are often times of intensive work, with tactical decisions to be made and strategies to be reviewed. The lawyer may need to obtain from his client information made relevant by the day's testimony, or he may need to pursue inquiry along lines not fully explored earlier. At the very least, the overnight recess during trial gives the defendant a chance to discuss with counsel the significance of the day's events. Our cases recognize that the role of counsel is important precisely because ordinarily a defendant is ill-equipped to understand and deal with the trial process without a lawyer's guidance.
"The right to be heard would be, in many cases, of little avail if it did not comprehend the right to be heard by counsel. . . . (A defendant) is unfamiliar with the rules of evidence. . . .He lacks both the skill and knowledge adequately to prepare his defense, even though he (may) have a perfect one. He requires the guiding hand of counsel at every step in the proceedings against him." Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 68-69, 53 S.Ct. 55, 64, 77 L.Ed. 158, 170 (1932).
See also Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U.S. 25, 31-36, 92 S.Ct. 2006, 2009-2012, 32 L.Ed.2d 530, 535-537 (1972); Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 343-345, 83 S.Ct. 792, 796, 9 L.Ed.2d 799, 804 (1963). Other courts have concluded that an order preventing a defendant from consulting his attorney during an overnight recess infringes upon this substantial right. See United States v. Venuto, 182 F.2d 519 (CA3 1950); People v. Noble, 42 Ill.2d 425, 248 N.E.2d 96 (1969); Commonwealth v. Werner, 206 Pa.Super. 498, 214 A.2d 276 (1965). But see People v. Prevost, 219 Mich. 233, 189 N.W. 92 (1922).2
There are other ways to deal with the problem of possible improper influence on testimony or "coaching" of a witness short of putting a barrier between client and counsel for so long a period as 17 hours. The opposing counsel in the adversary system is not without weapons to cope with "coached" witnesses. A prosecutor may cross-examine a defendant as to the extent of any "coaching" during a recess, subject, of course, to the control of the court. Skillful cross-examination could develop a record which the prosecutor in closing argument might well exploit by raising questions as to the defendant's credibility, if it developed that defense counsel had in fact coached the witness as to how to respond on the remaining direct examination and on cross-examination. In addition the trial judge, if he doubts that defense counsel will observe the ethical limits on guiding witnesses,3 may direct that the examination of the witness continue without interruption until completed. the judge considers the risk high he may arrange the sequence of testimony so that direct- and cross-examination of a witness will be completed without interruption. That this would not be feasible in some cases due to the length of direct- and cross-examination does not alter the availability, in most cases, of a solution that does not cut off communication for so long a period as presented by this record. Inconvenience to the parties, witnesses, counsel, and court personnel may occasionally result if a luncheon or other recess is postponed or if a court continues in session several hours beyond the normal adjournment hour. In this day of crowded dockets, courts must frequently sit through and beyond normal recess; convenience occasionally must yield to concern for the integrity of the trial itself.
There are a variety of ways to further the purpose served by sequestration without placing a sustained barrier to communication between a defendant and his lawyer. To the extent that conflict remains between the defendant's right to consult with his attorney during a long overnight recess in the trial, and the prosecutor's desire to cross-examine the defendant without the intervention of counsel, with the risk of improper "coaching," the conflict must, under the Sixth Amendment, be resolved in favor of the right to the assistance and guidance of counsel. Brooks v. Tennessee, 406 U.S. 605, 92 S.Ct. 1891, 32 L.Ed.2d 358 (1972).
The challenged order prevented petitioner from consulting his attorney during a 17-hour overnight recess, when an accused would normally confer with counsel. We need not reach, and we do not deal with limitations imposed in other circumstances. We hold that an order preventing petitioner from consulting his counsel "about anything" during a 17-hour overnight recess between his direct- and cross-examination impinged upon his right to the assistance of counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment.
Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Court of Appeals, with directions that it be remanded to the District Court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Mr. Justice STEVENS took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.
Mr. Justice MARSHALL, with whom Mr. Justice BRENNAN joins, concurring.
I join in most of the Court's opinion, and I agree with its conclusion that an order preventing a defendant from consulting with his attorney during an overnight recess violates the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
The Court notes that this case does not involve an order barring communication between defendant and counsel during a "brief routine recess during the trial day."1 Ante, at 89 n. 2. That is, of course, true. I would add, however, that I do not understand the Court's observation as suggesting that as a general rule no constitutional infirmity would inhere in an order barring communication between a defendant and his attorney during a "brief routine recess." In my view, the general principles adopted by the Court today are fully applicable to the analysis of Any order barring communication between a defendant and his attorney, at least where that communication would not interfere with the orderly and expeditious progress of the trial.
Thus, as the Court holds, a defendant who claims that an order prohibiting communication with his lawyer impinges upon his Sixth Amendment right to counsel need not make a preliminary showing of prejudice. Such an order is inherently suspect, and requires initial justification by the Government.
The only justification expressly considered by the Court in its opinion is the desire to avoid the risk of unethical counseling by an attorney.2 The Court holds that the fear of unethical conduct is not a sufficient ground for an order barring overnight communication between a defendant and his attorney, and the same would hold true absent the most unusual circumstances, I take it, for an order barring consultation between a defendant and his attorney at Any time before or during the trial.3 If our adversary system is to function according to design, we must assume that an attorney will observe his responsibilities to the legal system, as well as to his client. I find it difficult to conceive of any circumstances that would justify a court's limiting the attorney's opportunity to serve his client because of fear that he may disserve the system by violating accepted ethical standards. If any order barring communication between a defendant and his attorney is to survive constitutional inquiry, it must be for some reason other than a fear of unethical conduct.
The discussion among the judge, petitioner's attorney (Mr. Rinehart), and the prosecutor (Mr. Blasingame), summarized in the text, was:
"MR. BLASINGAME: Has this witness been instructed now that he is not to talk to anyone whatsoever, including his attorneys or anyone about this case at all?
"MR. RINEHART: If he were instructed not to talk to his attorney, I feel that it would be improper. I think I always have the right to talk to my client.
"MR. BLASINGAME: I don't think so.
"THE COURT: Well I don't know whether you requested that I so instruct another witness when there was a recess, to that effect; but you do let's make this clear you always have the right to talk to your client but except for the accident and 'accident' means something over which you have no control the cross-examination would have been right now and you would not have had an opportunity to talk to him.
"Now, because of the fact that it is 5:00 o'clock and we are recessing until tomorrow, you would have that opportunity.
"If you had requested the opportunity and this had been 2:00 o'clock and if you had said 'If the Court please, I would like to have a recess' and then, outside the presence of the Jury, had said, 'because I want to talk to my client'; what would I have said?
"MR. RINEHART: You probably would not have granted the recess, Your Honor.
"THE COURT: Should I have?
"MR. RINEHART: Not if there was something else to do, Your Honor.
"THE COURT: Well would you have had a right to just talk to your client while he is subject to cross-examination?
"MR. RINEHART: Well I would not
"THE COURT: Would you have?
"MR. RINEHART: I would not instruct my client anyway.
"THE COURT: Well would you have talked to him? Would
you have had a right to confer with him? That is what I want to know.
"MR. RINEHART: If there were matters that I felt I had not brought out on Direct and that I should have covered
"THE COURT: Before he is cross-examined?
"MR. RINEHART: Even before he is cross-examined. Sometimes we remember things we did not
"THE COURT: Yes, sir. That is the reason you are entitled to Re-direct.
"MR. RINEHART: Right.
"THE COURT: Now I would appreciate it if you would answer my question. We have had a little trouble about being responsive.
"MR. RINEHART: All right.
"THE COURT: My question is: While a witness is subject to cross-examination, even though he is a defendant, does his attorney have the right to confer with him before he is cross-examined?
"You have been practicing law for a long time.
"MR. RINEHART: I feel that I do have the right to confer with him but not to coach him as to what he may say on cross-examination or how to answer questions.
"THE COURT: Then what else would you need to talk to him about?
"MR. RINEHART: I don't know. Such as whom should I call as the next witness.
"THE COURT: All right.
"MR. RINEHART: There are numerous strategic things that an attorney must confer with his client about.
"THE COURT: Well I don't have any questions, Mr. Rinehart, about what you I think you are a disciplined man. I think you are trained in the law. And I think if you should tell me, for instance, that you would not discuss this direct testimony with your client I would accept that statement without any qualification.
"MR. RINEHART: Your Honor, I can assure you of that.
"THE COURT: I understand that. But your client, as far as I know, has not had any legal training; and I don't
know anything about him other than what I have heard here today. And I don't know that he is subject to that same instruction that he would understand it.
"I think he would understand it if I told him just not to talk to you; And I just think it is better that he not talk to you about anything.
"I think you might ask him right now right here while we are here what witnesses he thinks you ought to call in the morning.
"Let's put it this way. Your ask him right now if he thinks there are any witnesses you ought to call during the evening. If anything comes up after he has been cross-examined, and after you have had an opportunity for re-direct, we would have a recess and you would have all the time you need to talk to him about strategies or anything else. We will take the rest of this month, if necessary, to give you an opportunity and him an opportunity for a fair trial. But we are not going to let strategy take the place of this situation.
"And I have held that I find that I don't think you would do anything wrong; but I think it would be better, under the circumstances of this case. And that is my ruling.
"MR. RINEHART: If that is your ruling, Your Honor, we will obey it.
"THE COURT: All right. Now you just move to the side, please.
"Now, Mr. Geders, will you stand up. I direct you not to discuss your testimony in this case with anyone until you are back here tomorrow morning at 9:30 for the purpose of being cross-examined.
"Do you understand that?
"MR. GEDERS: I understand.
"THE COURT: All right, thank you. All right, the Court will be in recess." (Emphasis added.)
The ambiguity of this colloquy appears to be resolved by the direction that petitioner "not talk to you (counsel) about anything."
United States v. Leighton, 386 F.2d 822 (CA 2 1967), on which the Court of Appeals relied, involved an embargo order preventing a defendant from consulting his attorney during a brief routine recess during the trial day, a matter we emphasize is not before us in this case. See United States v. Schrimsher, 493 F.2d 848 (CA5 1974); United States v. Crutcher, 405 F.2d 239 (CA2 1968), cert. denied, 394 U.S. 908, 89 S.Ct. 1018, 22 L.Ed.2d 219 (1969); see also Krull v. United States, 240 F.2d 122 (CA5), cert. denied, 353 U.S. 915, 77 S.Ct. 764, 1 L.Ed.2d 668 (1957). Cf. Pendergraft v. State, 191 So.2d 830 (Miss.1966).
An attorney must respect the important ethical distinction between discussing testimony and seeking improperly to influence it. Ethical Consideration 7-26 of the American Bar Association Code of Professional Responsibility (1975) states:
"The law and Disciplinary Rules prohibit the use of fraudulent, false, or perjured testimony or evidence. A lawyer who knowingly participates in introduction of such testimony or evidence is subject to discipline. A lawyer should, however, present any admissible evidence his client desires to have presented unless he knows, or from facts within his knowledge should know, that such testimony or evidence is false, fraudulent, or perjured."
Disciplinary Rule 7-102 of the Code provides in relevant part:
"(A) In his representation of a client, a lawyer shall not:
"(6) Participate in the creation or preservation of evidence when he knows or it is obvious that the evidence is false.
"(7) Counsel or assist his client in conduct that the lawyer knows to be illegal or fraudulent.
"(8) Knowingly engage in other illegal conduct or conduct contrary to a Disciplinary Rule."
Any violation of these strictures would constitute a most serious breach of the attorney's duty to the court, to be treated accordingly.
We note that the judge expressed full confidence that petitioner's trial attorney would respect the difference between assistance and improper influence.
I would assume, however, that the Court's repeated reference to the length of the overnight recess in this case 17 hours is not intended to have any dispositive significance, and that the Court's holding is at least broad enough to cover all overnight recesses.
For the distinction between ethical and unethical counseling, see Ante, at 90 n. 3.
The Court suggests, however, that "doubts that defense counsel will observe the ethical limits on guiding witnesses" would justify such actions as postponing the luncheon recess or extending the normal adjournment hour in order to complete the defendant's testimony. Ante, at 90-91. I would assume that trial courts generally take such steps out of a desire to move the trial along in an orderly and expeditious fashion, not out of fear that defense counsel might exceed the bounds of ethical conduct if given the opportunity. And I am unwilling to endorse the notion that where the orderly and expeditious progress of the trial would not be served, the trial court should nevertheless feel free to continue the defendant's testimony without interruption because of a belief that defense counsel is likely to act unethically.
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683 F. 2d 27 - Shop Save Food Markets Inc v. Pneumo Corporation P & C
683 F2d 27 Shop Save Food Markets Inc v. Pneumo Corporation P & C
683 F.2d 27
1982-1 Trade Cases 64,496, 1982-2 Trade Cases 64,832
SHOP & SAVE FOOD MARKETS, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant,
PNEUMO CORPORATION, Abbott Realty Company, and P & C Food
Markets, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.
No. 20, Docket 80-9053.
United States Court of Appeals,
Second Circuit.
Argued Oct. 9, 1981.
On Rehearing July 2, 1982.
John L. Primmer, St. Johnsbury, Vt., Robert D. Rachlin, Downs, Rachlin & Martin, St. Johnsbury, Vt., of counsel, for plaintiff-appellant.
Leslie W. Jacobs, Cleveland, Ohio, Charles L. Freed, Thompson, Hine & Flory, Cleveland, Ohio, Joseph E. Frank, Paul, Frank & Collins, Inc., Burlington, Vt., Francis D. Price, Jr., Syracuse, N. Y., of counsel, for defendants-appellees.
William F. Baxter, Asst. Atty. Gen., Robert B. Nicholson, George Edelstein, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., of counsel, for amicus curiae United States.
Before FEINBERG, Chief Judge, MESKILL, Circuit Judge, and PALMIERI, District Judge.*
MESKILL, Circuit Judge:
Rehearing has been granted. The opinion filed on January 20, 1982, slip op. 883, is withdrawn and the following is substituted therefor.
Shop & Save Food Markets, Inc. (Shop & Save) appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, Albert W. Coffrin, Judge, granting summary judgment for defendants Pneumo Corporation (Pneumo), Abbott Realty Company (Abbott) and P & C Food Markets, Inc. (P & C), in an action asserting violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1 (1976).1 For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
* Shop & Save, a Vermont corporation, operates retail grocery stores in St. Johnsbury, Derby and Lyndonville, Vermont. Pneumo, a Delaware corporation, owns or controls the other defendants: P & C, a New York corporation which operates a chain of retail grocery stores in New England; and Abbott, a Vermont corporation, which manages property for Pneumo. Pneumo acquired Abbott and Cross Company (Cross), a wholesale grocery distributor, in 1972.
Prior to the events giving rise to this action, Shop & Save purchased virtually all of its groceries from Cross. From 1970 to 1977 Shop & Save subleased from Abbott the property where it operates its Lyndonville grocery store, paying a rental of $20,000 per year. Abbott's assets were transferred to P & C in 1977.
In July 1976, Shop & Save sought from Pneumo a long-term sublease with renewal options for the Lyndonville property. Thereafter, a protracted course of negotiations ensued, dictated in part by the parties' competing business considerations. During this time, Shop & Save began to purchase a portion of its wholesale groceries from a competitor of Cross. Further, correspondence between the parties indicated that P & C would be opening a competing grocery store in Lyndonville.
Initially, Pneumo responded to Shop & Save's request by offering to provide a long-term lease if Shop & Save agreed to continue to buy groceries from Cross. When Shop & Save refused to commit itself to purchases from Cross, Pneumo responded that it would not offer a lengthy sublease at the month-to-month rate because that figure was "far below" current "fair rental values." Pneumo stated that if it had to risk the loss of Shop & Save's wholesale purchases from Cross, it wanted "compensation." Pneumo repeated its offer to provide a long-term lease if Shop & Save agreed to continue its purchases from Cross.
On December 16, 1976, Shop & Save reiterated to Pneumo that it was unwilling to commit itself to any wholesale purchases from Cross. Pneumo responded on January 12, 1977, with an offer of a long-term sublease at $31,500 per year plus 1.5 percent of Shop & Save's annual sales above $1,500,000. Thereafter, several offers and counteroffers were considered by the parties. Among these was an offer by Pneumo on January 24, 1977 that rent vary from $20,000 to $31,500 per year depending upon the amount of groceries purchased from Cross.2 Shop & Save found the rental formula acceptable but was not satisfied with the lease term and renewal options. Accordingly, no final agreement was reached on the basis of the January 24 offer. Pneumo ultimately revoked its variable rent offer, and reiterated its flat rent offer, which Shop & Save accepted on May 5, 1977.
On February 21, 1978, Shop & Save filed a complaint charging, inter alia,3 that defendants had violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1. Defendants moved for summary judgment on September 19, 1978. In opposing this motion, Shop & Save argued that it was forced to pay defendants a "penalty" rent for the Lyndonville property because it refused to purchase its wholesale groceries from Cross, and that defendants' conduct constituted a tying arrangement and a group boycott or concerted refusal to deal, all of which are per se unlawful.
The district court, on July 21, 1980, granted summary judgment for the defendants on Shop & Save's Section 1 Sherman Act claims. Judge Coffrin found that defendants' alleged conduct did not constitute a group boycott or a concerted refusal to deal because the only relevant conduct which Shop & Save "point(ed) to (was) P & C's determination to purchase wholesale groceries from Cross to the exclusion of other distributors. This (conduct) involved no other retailers-having failed to coerce (Shop & Save) to join-and we note that the Sherman Act does not prohibit individual companies from dealing exclusively with other individual companies." J.App. at 223. The district court found in the alternative that even if defendants had conspired to coerce Shop & Save to agree not to purchase wholesale groceries from Cross' competitors, Shop & Save had failed to allege an injury that was causally related to a group boycott or concerted refusal to deal. The district court also found that the alleged conduct did not constitute an illegal tying arrangement because there was no agreement in existence that involved two products. Shop & Save had acquired a lease for the Lyndonville premises and was free to purchase its wholesale groceries from any supplier.
The narrow issues presented on appeal are whether the district court erred in holding that defendants' alleged conduct did not constitute a per se illegal group boycott or concerted refusal to deal, or a per se illegal tying arrangement. For the reasons set forth in Judge Coffrin's thorough opinion, J.App. at 212-231, we affirm the grant of summary judgment on Shop & Save's group boycott or concerted refusal to deal claim. We also agree with the district court that defendants' alleged conduct does not constitute an illegal tying arrangement.
"(T)he vice of tying agreements lies in the use of economic power in (the tying) market to restrict competition on the merits in (the tied market)." Northern Pacific Railway Co. v. United States, 356 U.S. 1, 11, 78 S.Ct. 514, 521, 2 L.Ed.2d 545 (1958); see Times-Picayune Publishing Co. v. United States, 345 U.S. 594, 605, 73 S.Ct. 872, 878, 97 L.Ed. 1277 (1953). Therefore, as the Supreme Court and this Circuit have held, to prove a tying violation a plaintiff must establish, inter alia, the existence of two separate and distinct products, see Northern Pacific Railway Co. v. United States, 356 U.S. at 5-6, 78 S.Ct. at 518-519; Coniglio v. Highwood Services, Inc., 495 F.2d 1286, 1289 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1022, 95 S.Ct. 498, 42 L.Ed.2d 296 (1974), that he was actually coerced by the seller into agreeing to buy the tied product, Unijax, Inc. v. Champion International, Inc., --- F.2d ----, ---- - ---- (2d Cir. June 21, 1982); Capital Temporaries, Inc. v. Olsten Corp., 506 F.2d 658, 662-63 (2d Cir. 1974); Hill v. A-T-O, Inc., 535 F.2d 1349, 1355 (2d Cir. 1976), or at least into agreeing not to purchase the tied product from another, Northern Pacific Railway Co. v. United States, 356 U.S. at 5-6, 78 S.Ct. at 518-519, and that the illegal tying arrangement resulted in the actual foreclosure of competition in the tied product market, id. at 6, 78 S.Ct. at 519; International Salt Co. v. United States, 332 U.S. 392, 396, 68 S.Ct. 12, 15, 92 L.Ed. 20 (1947); Yentsch v. Texaco, Inc., 630 F.2d 46, 58 (2d Cir. 1980); Coniglio v. Highwood Services, Inc., 495 F.2d at 1292.
In this case, Shop & Save admits that no agreement was reached on Pneumo's January 24 offer which provided for a variable rent depending upon the level of Shop & Save's wholesale grocery purchases from Cross.4 Shop & Save asserts, however, that it has been forced to pay a penalty rent for the Lyndonville property. Shop & Save alleges that Pneumo's exaction of this penalty rent constitutes an illegal tying arrangement. We disagree.
As stated above, a tying arrangement cannot exist unless the buyer was actually coerced by the seller into agreeing to buy the tied product or to refrain from purchasing the tied product from the seller's competitors. Northern Pacific Railroad Co. v. United States, 356 U.S. at 5-6, 78 S.Ct. at 518-519; Unijax, Inc. v. Champion International, Inc., --- - ---; Capital Temporaries, Inc. v. Olsten Corp., 506 F.2d at 662-63; Hill v. A-T-O, Inc., 535 F.2d at 1355. Absent this showing, there is lacking a definite nexus between the tying and the tied markets from which to conclude that the seller's exercise of economic power in the tying market will "always or almost always tend to restrict competition and decrease output," Broadcast Music, Inc. v. CBS, 441 U.S. 1, 19-20, 99 S.Ct. 1551, 1562-1563, 60 L.Ed.2d 1 (1979), in the tied market. For example, in the present case, even if Shop & Save has to pay a "penalty" for the tying product, Shop & Save is free to purchase and in fact admits that it does purchase its wholesale groceries from competitors of Cross. Accordingly, because the seller is unable to use his power or leverage in the tying market to deny his competitors free access to the tied market, see Northern Pacific Railway Co. v. United States, 356 U.S. at 6, 78 S.Ct. at 519, an attempt to force a tie which results only in an agreement to pay a higher price for the tying product is not a tying violation.5
In deciding whether to invoke the per se rule, we must be cognizant of the teachings of the Supreme Court that "easy labels do not always supply ready answers(,)" Broadcast Music, Inc. v. CBS, 441 U.S. at 8, 99 S.Ct. at 1556, and that "(i)t is only after considerable experience with certain business relationships that courts classify them as per se violations of the Sherman Act (,)" United States v. Topco Associates, Inc., 405 U.S. 596, 607-08, 92 S.Ct. 1126, 1133-1134, 31 L.Ed.2d 515 (1972). The alleged unlawful conduct in this case may well give rise to a cause of action. However, it does not constitute a per se illegal tying arrangement. Neither does it constitute a per se illegal group boycott or concerted refusal to deal, for the reasons spelled out in Judge Coffrin's opinion below, J.App. at 212-231.
FEINBERG, Chief Judge, (concurring):
I concur in the result reached by the majority, but I would like to add a few words to recount the history of this case in this court.
The appeal was argued on October 9, 1981 and, by opinion dated January 20, 1982, a divided panel affirmed the district court on the group boycott and concerted refusal to deal issues, but reversed and remanded on the tying claim. The majority recognized that a penalty rent could have as strong an adverse effect on Shop & Save's ability to compete as a forced purchase of groceries from Cross. Accordingly, over a strong dissent by Judge Meskill, we held that a penalty rent should be treated as the equivalent of a tie-in and should be condemned if the trial court found that the other factors for finding a tying violation were present. There then occurred the rare event of a successful petition for rehearing.
The tie-in field, like much of antitrust law, rests on certain economic assumptions that are coming under increased scrutiny, see, e.g., R. Bork, The Antitrust Paradox 365-81 (1978). I concur in the changed result reached by the new majority because I agree that in view of the present case law and the current learning, it would be unjustifiable to extend the law regarding tying to the fact pattern presented here. Penalties exacted for the privilege of buying one product rather than two have been mentioned tangentially at least twice before, and on neither occasion was the practice condemned under the antitrust laws, see International Business Machines Corp. v. United States, 298 U.S. 131, 134 & 139, 56 S.Ct. 701, 703 & 705, 80 L.Ed. 1085 (1936) (15% increase in rental for release from condition that lessee buy tabulating cards only from lessor); SmithKline Corp. v. Eli Lilly & Co., 427 F.Supp. 1089, 1110-14 (E.D.Pa.1976), aff'd on other grounds, 575 F.2d 1056, 1061 & n.3 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 838, 99 S.Ct. 123, 58 L.Ed.2d 134 (1978) (loss of 3% bonus rebate for failure to buy minimum amounts of three products). But cf. United States v. Loew's, Inc., 371 U.S. 38, 83 S.Ct. 97, 9 L.Ed.2d 11 (1962) (remedial decree forbade non-cost-justified differential between cost of single film and package. But this relief cannot, under our decision in American Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Co. v. American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Inc., 446 F.2d 1131, 1136-37 (2d Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 1063, 92 S.Ct. 737, 30 L.Ed.2d 752 (1972), be relied on to determine the elements necessary to prove an illegal tie). I therefore agree with the district court and with the majority in the conclusion that there was no antitrust violation in this case.
Hon. Edmund L. Palmieri, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation
Although Shop & Save also asserted claims under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2, Section 3 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 14, and a claim under the Vermont Consumer Fraud Act, Vt.Stat.Ann. tit. 9 §§ 2451 et seq., Shop & Save does not appeal from the grant of summary judgment for the defendants on these federal claims and the dismissal of the state claim
Shop & Save alleged in its complaint that it had accepted Pneumo's January 24 offer but that in April 1977, before a sublease embodying these terms was signed, Pneumo revoked the offer. Shop & Save claimed that in the interim, it had purchased groceries from Cross with the understanding that the January 24 agreement was in effect. However, Shop & Save alleges no injury from this conduct. Accordingly, we need not decide whether an unlawful tying arrangement existed during this period
See note 1, supra
We express no opinion on whether an unlawful tying arrangement would have existed had an agreement been reached on the January 24 offer
As stated by this Court:
Tying arrangements are abhorred by the courts primarily because they foreclose a substantial quantity of business to competitors and extend preexisting economic power to new markets for no good justification .... Foreclosure implies actual exertion of economic muscle, not a mere statement of bargaining terms which, if they should be enforced by market power, would then incorporate an illegal tie.
American Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co. v. American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Inc., 446 F.2d 1131, 1137 (2d Cir. 1971) (citation omitted), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 1063, 92 S.Ct. 737, 30 L.Ed.2d 752 (1972).
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Essay on scientist archimedes
One of Archimedes accomplishments was his creation of the lever and pulley system. Archimedes then took to the streets naked, so excited by his discovery that he had forgotten to dress, crying " Eureka!
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Archimedes proved his theory of the lever and pulley to the king by moving a ship, of the royal fleet, back into the ocean. He was born in Syracuse, Sicily in the year B. They found that it took ten minutes for flames to occur and only with a cloudless sky and stationary ship.
Archimedes Archimedes was a Greek mathematician and scientist. He found areas and volumes of spheres, cylinders and plain shapes. Rome never got to benefit directly from Archimedes' expertise at creating weapons of destruction, they could only learn from what was used for so long against them.
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Archimedes Archimedes was a Greek mathematician and scientist. The same design could raise water out of the ground in order to bring it to fields, making it perfect for irrigation.Essay: Archimedes. Archimedes was a Greek mathematician and scientist.
He was born in Syracuse, Sicily in the year B.C. He was educated in Alexandria, Egypt. Due to the lack of information about Greek mathematics, many Greek mathematicians and their works are hardly known.
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Top 15 Interesting Facts about Archimedes Archimedes was born around BCE in the town of Syracuse in Sicily and he lived there until his death around BCE.
Archimedes is famous for his contribution to the world of mathematics, specifically geometry, and is regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived.
Archimedes produced the first known summation of an infinite series with a method that is still used in the area of calculus today. Famous Scientist Essay Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12, in Shrewsbury, England. He attended Shrewsbury Grammar School which concentrated on classic language.
Read this Biographies Essay and over 88, other research documents. Archimedes.
Archimedes was a Greek mathematician and scientist. He was born in Syracuse, Sicily in the year B.C. He was.
Archimedes Essay Words | 3 Pages. Archimedes was a Greek mathematician and scientist. He was born in Syracuse, Sicily in the year B.C. He was educated in Alexandria, Egypt. Due to the lack of information about Greek mathematics, many Greek mathematicians and their works are hardly known.
Archimedes is the exception.
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Factory floor to front door
Tom Willshaw 12 Jan 2018
Assessing the case for removing light industrial to residential permitted development rights The temporary permitted development right (PDR) for change of use from Use Class B1(c) light industrial to C3 residential came into force on 1 October 2017. This means that light industrial premises which have a floor area of less than 500 sqm can now be converted to residential use under the prior approval process, rather than requiring an application for planning permission. The temporary PDR is in force until 1 October 2020 (though any changes of use permitted during this period are permanent). The process is subject to various limitations and conditions, which are covered in an earlier blog by my colleague Owain Nedin. The new PDR represents another of the Government’s wide-ranging measures aimed at boosting housing supply across the country. However, the PDR raises some potential issues for the future economic vitality of local areas that local planning authorities may need to consider. These include: permanent loss of business space, particularly of smaller industrial and workshop premises which can play an important role in the local economy; limiting the ability of local areas to plan effectively for business needs, employment and growth; and creating potential uncertainty for businesses and reduced scope for land use planning and place making for the local planning authority. Local planning authorities have the ability to remove PDRs by introducing what is known as an ‘Article 4 Direction’. This allows authorities to require change of use applications, meaning they can refer to the development plan and weigh material considerations into the balance in the process of making a decision. An Article 4 Direction requires a clear justification and a defined boundary for the proposed exemption area. Local authorities must therefore compile the necessary evidence to meet these requirements. There are two main types of Article 4 Direction: immediate and non-immediate. An immediate Direction removes a PDR with immediate effect, but must be confirmed by the local planning authority following local consultation within six months, or else the Direction will lapse. A non-immediate Direction comes into force after a period of 12 months and the PDR is removed upon confirmation of the Direction by the local planning authority following local consultation. Lichfields has developed a staged analytical framework to support local authorities in making a robust case for implementing a non-immediate Article 4 Direction. The framework draws on a range of economic data sources, local commercial property market signals and the existing planning policy position. It enables local authorities to scope, evidence and prepare the case for an Article 4 Direction, by identifying and quantifying light industrial stock that qualifies for the PDR and the wider significance of this space within a local area in terms of business activity and economic value. In turn, this can allow an appropriate exemption area to be defined and taken forward through the due process as the basis for making a Direction. Lichfields recently prepared such an analysis (also including offices which are subject to similar PDRs) for the town of Newhaven on behalf of Lewes District Council. Newhaven was one of 18 locations that were awarded Enterprise Zone status in 2015. As part of the analysis, Lichfields quantified the number of eligible light industrial premises in the town and the proportion that fall within the Enterprise Zone area. Light industrial floorspace clustering example output. The analysis shows that Newhaven is an important location for light industrial activities in Lewes District, containing around a quarter of the local authority’s total stock of light industrial space. Furthermore, the vast majority of light industrial premises that are eligible for the PDR are within the Enterprise Zone, which has been designed to help stimulate the growth of the local economy. The quantitative analysis was coupled with site assessments to identify the function of different employment clusters in the town. The analysis concluded that the Enterprise Zone supports considerable light industrial activity, which is likely to develop further given that priority sectors for the Enterprise Zone include environmental technologies and healthcare and biologics. Lewes District Council’s Planning Applications Committee reviewed Lichfields’ analysis and found that it provided “clear evidence to support the implementation of Article 4 directions in Newhaven to protect office and light industrial use”. The Committee resolved to approve the Directions in October 2017 and these are likely to come into force later this year. They will serve to protect employment floorspace in Newhaven, thereby supporting the expansion of innovative, high value growth sectors in the Enterprise Zone. The new PDR has potential implications for industrial locations across the UK. The recently published Draft London Plan encourages London Boroughs to introduce Article 4 Directions where appropriate to ensure they can retain sufficient industrial and logistics capacity. As identified in Lichfields’ London Plan Insight, the vast majority of Boroughs are expected to retain or increase their existing industrial capacity. The implementation of Article 4 Directions will be vital to support the economic function of industrial clusters across the capital to help meet the ambitious targets for economic growth set out in the London Plan. Lichfields’ Article 4 Direction framework brings together robust analysis of local property markets and economic indicators which can help local authorities identify and prepare the case for making a Direction. For further information, please see our information flyer or get in touch.
Pros and no cons: unlocking new homes at Kingston Prison
Tom Willshaw 07 Oct 2016
Behind bars, banged up, in the slammer. One place we can probably all agree we don’t want to spend time is in prison. However, house hunters in Portsmouth will be clamouring to be ‘inside’ the city’s former jail, once it is transformed to provide new homes, a series of gardens and a café.NLP is pleased to have helped to secure a committee resolution to grant full planning permission and listed building consent for the re-use and development of the former Kingston Prison in Portsmouth. The project will provide 230 flats in the centre of the city, ensuring the impressive Victorian building will be retained, maintained and enjoyed for generations to come.Specialist heritage developers City & Country acquired Kingston Prison following its closure in 2013. Kingston was the last of 19 radial plan prisons that were built in the UK between 1842 and 1877. The prison has four wings that extend from a central rotunda, as well as other outbuildings and an additional wing that were added in the 20th century. The site is enclosed by a formidable three metre-high flint wall. NLP worked within a multi-disciplinary team which was proactively led by City & Country and included architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. The team was tasked with identifying a viable and sustainable way of bringing the site back into use. One of the key planning issues to overcome was that the principal prison building, perimeter wall, engineers’ workshop and gatehouse are Grade II listed. As such, the development proposals needed to be sensitive to these heritage assets. A successful scheme was devised that respects the heritage of the building, while creating a modern, liveable environment that is viable to deliver. While some unattractive outbuildings and the more modern extra wing are to be demolished, the main building is to be converted to apartments and five new residential blocks are to be provided within the historic walls. As well as providing new homes in Portsmouth, the prison site will be transformed to create a series of gardens that respond to the strong radial geometry of the buildings, with an additional entrance to be built into the imposing perimeter wall to allow the public to explore this historic site for the first time. The indicative layout of a one-bedroom apartment within the development, made up of seven converted cells. The project included full engagement with Portsmouth City Council, together with several well-attended public consultation events. It also involved the preparation of numerous technical reports to accompany the application. An aerial view of the proposed scheme. The redevelopment of Kingston Prison is part of a first wave of exciting transformations of former prisons. With the government signalling its intention to close and sell-off further prisons, there may well be more opportunities on the horizon for local authorities and developers to provide new housing on prime urban land. The proposed redevelopment of Kingston Prison demonstrates that these often austere buildings can be transformed into vibrant, attractive and sustainable developments that can ensure the continued use and enjoyment of historic buildings into the future.It would be a crime if these opportunities were not taken.
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Quick Takes: The Democratic National Convention Edition
I'm getting political today, and yes, I have very strong opinions when it comes to politics. So, if you really dislike me, you may hate me by the end, yikes. You've been warned! ;)
I am replacing the Quick Takes logo today with the logo of the Democratic Abortion Convention Democratic National Convention, to set the tone for today's theme:
Which brings us to our first Take...
1) Why are the Democratic logos so creepy, communist-style, Dear Leader, hero worship, father figure with happy children-citizens, faux egalitarian in their design? Seriously, it looks like it could work in North Korea.
2) One conclusion drawn from the Sandra Fluke speech: She absolutely identifies primarily as a victim of unthinkable oppression. Sheesh lady, cry me a river with your private Georgetown law degree. You are a well-fed, comfortable, spoiled, First World woman of leisure just like the rest of us. Did you not get the memo? No one is silencing your big mouth anymore than they are silencing mine. Gimme a break.
Can someone tell me again why I have to lose my religious freedom for a pack of her easily accessed $9 neutering chemicals? And can someone explain how whimpering and sniveling for free contraception is the very measure of the "empowered" feminist today? Why are modern feminists too weak and dependent to navigate Walgreens?
Sandra, I wish you could meet some of the women I know and get some inspiration! Talk about strong women! They are educated and well-read, they are fabulous wives to their beloved husbands, they manage households and finances, they raise broods of children, educate those children, adopt special needs orphans, have careers, volunteer at church and for the poor, are active in politics and have a roaring good time over a meal and margarita with friends while looking darn cute in those shoes -- and they do not whiiiiiiiine over what they don't geeeeeeet from the government, and they don't scream "I'm a victim!" "I'm oppressed!" "I've been silenced!" in the freest, greatest, most prosperous nation on earth.
If either of my daughters acted like Sandra Fluke, I would have failed as a mother. You think I'm exaggerating? Check it out -- the obvious hero of Democrats and the very poster child for women's oppression. Fair warning: It's painful to watch.
Special note: Within the first 47 seconds, she has told two demonstrable lies, which she herself knows are lies. First, the hearing was on religious liberty, not contraception, and she has no expertise thereof that would qualify her to testify before Congress. Second, there were two women on that panel, not zero. Unless the women were ghosts. Or holograms. Or maybe Ms. Fluke is blind. Or maybe she's just lying. I'll let you decide how she got that so wrong. After the first lies, they just kept coming. Dear God, they never stopped.
Anyway, could I say it any clearer? Ms. Fluke does not speak for me, my daughters, my sister, my mother, my aunts, or my friends. Classical feminists, I am so sorry for what they've done to your feminism. Weep for us.
3) I thought Sandra Fluke was the low point of the Convention, but I was proven wrong on Thursday night. Let me preface by saying that I have heard an endless string of scandalous statements from Catholic Democrats in my day, from Pelosi to Biden to Sebelius and so many more. But Caroline Kennedy took the cake. The venue, the premeditation, the thoughtful design that went into it…. I still can't believe it.
Caroline Kennedy invoked her Catholicism to advocate for unfettered abortion in America. Let me restate: She used the very fact of her Catholicism to champion the cause of abortion on demand. Oh, yes she did. So that those hearing her would think it's okay to be a Catholic and advocate for abortion!
"As a Catholic woman [oh, yes, she placed her religion exactly at this paragraph of the speech, deliberately], I take reproductive health seriously, and today, it is under attack. This year alone, more than a dozen states have passed more than 40 restrictions on women’s access to reproductive health care. That’s not the kind of future I want for my daughters or your daughters. Now isn’t the time to roll back the rights we were winning when my father was president. Now is the time to move this country forward."
It was one of the four of five times in my life that I actually expected lightning to come down. Not kidding, that's what I thought. And though I usually watch the proceedings on MSNBC for so many reasons, the TV happened to be turned to FOXNews. While I was still bellowing (you really should be at my house during political season), I noticed that the shock of what she said was not lost on others. I suddenly heard Bill O'Reilly speak of how utterly stunned he was. He could not believe it either. Could not believe it. I still can't:
Yes, that was the worst of it for me, more insidious than Sandra Fluke, and more show-stopping than the painfully embarrassing attempts to restore "God" and "Jerusalem" to the Democratic Platform after someone had decided to take them out.
4) So, as crazy as I always am during political season, it's even worse in the era of facebook. Some of you were following my facebook play-by-play of the Convention, and when the Caroline Kennedy scandal happened, there was quite a flurry of exchanges! Lots of fly off the handle pissed off hysterical ranting thoughtful musings on Kennedy's words were posted on the open threads. Ultimately, Kara, a firebrand Catholic warrior pensive and soft-spoken convert, penned a simple status update to express her concern:
Catholic my ass.
Some of us adopted that as our status as well, and then demanded begged inquired of JoAnna if she would make us a meme to go along with Kara's nuanced sentiment. Within moments, we had this:
Feel free to use and share. :)
Hey, if we can't have a little fun while our nation goes to hell in a handbasket, then what kind of Catholics are we?
5) Now it's time for video comic relief!
Let's go meet some of the Democratic delegates for some "man on the street" style interviews. Keep in mind, these are not folks on the fringe, they are the movers and shakers of the Democratic Party in their home states and local communities.
First, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Hope and Change 2 -- The Party of Inclusion (there's a commercial first, sorry):
Next, we have a roving reporting asking the Democratic delegates their position on "choice":
In this fun piece, Democratic delegates give their opinions on what to do about corporate profits:
And finally, delegates react to the DNC video that creepily described all United States citizens as "belonging to the government":
Guys, if you are as horrified about the thought of a second Obama term as I am, please, I beg you to vote this year, as well as volunteer on phone banks, donate money to Romney-Ryan, put signs in your yard and on your car. This is a crucial election.
6) We will close out the DNC part of this Quick Takes the same way the DNC itself was closed out -- with a benediction from Cardinal Dolan of New York. The Cardinal prayed for unborn children's right to life, for the integrity of marriage, and for the protection of religious liberty, all of which are threatened by the Democrats. Do you think they heard?
Something to chew on, from the great Professor Robert P. George:
"Since no minimally decent political party would let a bigot or misogynist take the podium at its convention—much less bless the proceedings—accepting the cardinal's offer to appear amounts to an implicit but unmistakable concession that there's no bigotry in opposing the redefinition of civil marriage, nor any misogyny in fighting for the unborn."
7) In all this mess of politics, I can't forget the orphans. Today I want to introduce you to two precious girls who need families desperately, as they are both in danger of being transferred to adult mental institutions very soon.
First, here is Piper:
I am a happy, friendly girl who needs a mama to love!
Basically, Piper's issue is that she's small. Although she is nearly four years old, she’s roughly the size of a two year old. She is easily the smallest child in her group. There is more to her story and several more photos here on my Orphan Report about her.
And next is sweet Janie:
Beautiful as a porcelain doll!
Janie suffers from CP and FAS, but with proper care and treatment in the States, she could thrive and reach her potential! Please go to my Orphan Report about Janie for more information.
I beg you to pray for these children to find families, and also share their faces and info with everyone you know.
Have a great weekend! And thanks to Jen for hosting Quick Takes!
Labels: Cardinal Dolan, Caroline Kennedy, Democratic National Convention, DNC, feminism, Janie, Piper, Sandra Fluke, victimhood
Leila@LittleCatholicBubble September 7, 2012 at 1:29 AM
Even Peggy Noonan could not stomach Ms. Fluke:
"What a fabulously confident and ingenuous-seeming political narcissist Ms. Fluke is. She really does think—and her party apparently thinks—that in a spending crisis with trillions in debt and many in need, in a nation in existential doubt as to its standing and purpose, in a time when parents struggle to buy the good sneakers for the kids so they're not embarrassed at school . . . that in that nation the great issue of the day, and the appropriate focus of our concern, is making other people pay for her birth-control pills. That's not a stand, it's a non sequitur. She is not, as Rush Limbaugh oafishly, bullyingly said, a slut. She is a ninny, a narcissist and a fool."
(Wall Street Journal)
Kara September 7, 2012 at 2:07 AM
Pensive and soft spoken. Hahaha!!! This is an awesome quick takes. Gonna watch the vids I haven't seen tomorrow.
Jennie September 7, 2012 at 4:21 AM
"Sheesh lady, cry me a river with your private Georgetown law degree."
Haha, awesome quick takes, Leila! Love it.
Awesome Quick Takes Leila.
"Why are modern feminists too weak and dependent to navigate Walgreens?"
This is how I have felt about Fluke all along! She seriously could not make herself look any more stupid in my eyes.
#7..... So glad you are still posing about these little ones.
Grace in my Heart September 7, 2012 at 4:48 AM
By far, my favorite post of yours of all time! That Reason TV video was hilarious. I enjoyed following along the commentary on your fb this week...good entertainment for this painful week of TV watching. :)
Sunshine September 7, 2012 at 6:20 AM
Endless Strength September 7, 2012 at 6:40 AM
Leila -- NO! The Dems did NOT hear Dolan's prayer. They blasted him with F-Bombs on Twitter all night long. Give me a break.
That meme is exactly right. I have heart palpitations at the thought of another Obama term.
Thank you for this. My dh and I have been watching the DNC and it was just painful. And thank you - going to Walgreens and *gasp* having to purchase your own prescription meds is NOT oppression or victimhood!!!!
And speaking of the "party for women"... what is with repeating the tired old stat that women make 75 cents to the dollar of men? I thought that stat was debunked 10 years ago (I was taught it was false over and over again at my liberal arts, state university??? How is this stat still around?)
@Sarah -- as long as the Dems think it will help them with women voters they will trot that sorry stat out.
Stacy Trasancos September 7, 2012 at 7:37 AM
My husband had to pry me off the TV screen last night.
Maybe JoAnna could work that into a meme? LOL.
Oh, O'Reilly's take was great. I feel like one day his head may explode. Poor guy.
Is that Daily Show clip real? Are those real people with real answers, or a joke? I wouldn't be surprised if it was real...
Carla Dobs September 7, 2012 at 8:32 AM
You knocked it out of the park today hon...
Carla -Henry's mom
Kara, it's absolutely real.
Endless Strength, that is awful!! sigh.
Sarah, I know! What the heck is up with that??
Thanks, guys. I actually really enjoyed writing this one. So much more that could have been said.
Since I was up till 2:00am writing, I'm going to take a nap….
Catholic Grammie September 7, 2012 at 11:09 AM
Thank you for keeping me informed. I couldn't watch it. Just the bits and pieces that you all posted for me. What disgusts me the most is that my Democratic friends throw the positions of Caroline Kennedy and Kathleen Sebelius in my face all the time - saying that we Catholics asked for this. And, I tell them - they aren't true Catholics...
Ah, looks like my comment was eaten the first time around!
When I was in undergrad, there was this big push by the two feminist groups on campus to get Plan B administered at the student health center. The nurse practitioner who headed the health center was of the "give the kids condoms so the gonorrhea will stop spreading" mindset, but was opposed to bringing Plan B on campus - not because, as she was painted by the student groups, a woman-hater, but because, as she pointed out at the public meeting to discuss it, the cost would be exorbitant (and would definitely be passed on to students), you could already get Plan B at the Rite-Aid a 10 minute walk from campus, the health center was closed on weekends (when most students would probably be requesting it), and if you were already on the Pill, there was no point in taking Plan B (and she was authorized to write prescriptions for the Pill.)
Sandra Fluke reminds me a lot of those students, and I was nauseated by them even as a contraceptive-using self-identified feminist. Now I'm just sad. Are women really so deluded that we think we can only contribute to society if we turn off our sexual functioning?
Hebrews 11:1 September 7, 2012 at 11:38 AM
I'll say it again...maybe Caroline Kennedy should've fact-checked Catholic teaching before using Catholicism to support things that are against Catholicism.
Leila@LittleCatholicBubble September 7, 2012 at 11:44 AM
mcbabyadventures, wow, that is pathetic.
Hebrews: Sadly, she knows exactly what the Church teaches. That is why this calculated move of hers is so dark and ugly. She's not regretting this at all. She's very proud of herself.
In Joyful Hope September 7, 2012 at 12:21 PM
Love your perspective and humor! It's the only way I can stomach this week's proceedings.
When Cardinal Dolan openly prayed in direct opposition to the major tenets of the Democratic social platform, the natural reaction I expected from them (especially given recent history) was hisses and boos. Instead, they applauded! I was shocked because by all that is logical they should have objected somehow. Their reaction evoked this thought, both saddening and enlightening: the Dems in the audience didn't even recognize the very language of life, marriage, and the Natural Law. How else could they applaud a prayer that advocates against their own core principles?
Leila@LittleCatholicBubble September 7, 2012 at 1:33 PM
In Joyful Hope, it's very true that most probably had no idea what they heard! I heard a hearty Amen at the end, and a smattering of applause. But apparently many Democrats around the nation did know better, as I've heard that the tweets were dropping F-bombs in response to Cardinal Dolan's prayer. It's definitely not a battle of flesh and blood here...
Sew September 7, 2012 at 2:58 PM
Sandra Fluke makes my stomach ill. There are so many wrongs with her speech I wonder if she is for real? Poor oppressed Sandra, how can she stand to live another day here.
Cmerie September 7, 2012 at 3:38 PM
How do I find you on facebook? I would love to read your comments.
BTW- How could I have been so naive to not know people actually thought this way?! I mean, I knew they did, but didn't KNOW they really did. Wow.
Cmerie, email me with your facebook info..
And, I know! If only the apolitical, the lukewarm American, knew.
LPatter September 7, 2012 at 6:29 PM
Steve - IJH September 7, 2012 at 7:36 PM
Leila, spectacular beat-down of Sandra Fluke. That was spot-on and so richly deserved. Your post is red meat for me -- grrrr!
The polarization in this country is amazing to me. Sandra Fluke and many others on the left don't have any idea how pathetic they look to me and probably many others who read LCB.
Lauren @ Magnify the Lord with Me September 7, 2012 at 8:23 PM
Oh, Leila. These videos. They are so appalling. I'm sitting here in total shock. We all belong to the government????? Ban corporate profits? Who ARE these people????? Please tell me fringe...
Love Peter Schiff and Reason.tv!
Christina September 7, 2012 at 8:41 PM
Leila, I loved your 7QT this week! Your humor is truly comic relief after a week of television torture. Just listening to the DNC from the other room was a near occasion of sin for me as I stomped around angrily at the unraveling of our nation. What in the freaking heck are we going to do if O wins another election?
Thank you for posting about the orphans. I want little Piper so badly! If only...
Thank you guys, so much. It was such a weird post to write, because this buffoonery, esp. Fluke, lends itself to comedy and satire, but then it hits me that the Democratic Party thinks she is a strong, amazing, inspiring woman! It's hard to know what to do with that: Laugh? Cry? Despair?
Lauren, they can't be the fringe. They are the base. They really think this. It's beyond my ability to understand what happened to America? We really do not hold the same values anymore. And, it's no coincidence that they are trying to become completely secular, pushing towards it. That opens the way for the sexual sins to be seen as "good" (along with abortion, i.e., child gets in the way of my sex-as-recreation), and also the state replaces God as the strongest force on earth (and becomes Daddy -- or husband; note how many single women love big government?). Government has the power to take care of me, to help me, to make me feel like I "belong", to love me!
Always a search for love and family and belonging (we all want that, but they look to government to fulfill it), and always a search for free stuff and the path of least resistance (which we all have a tendency toward; heck, I love free stuff too! Just not at the cost of my dignity or freedom).
Lots of psychology there. Lots of wounded folks. Very sad, truly.
At this point, I don't know what to think, and Christina, I don't know our fate, especially as Catholics, if Obama wins. I can't even go there mentally. It's too awful.
(Piper is a doll!!)
Might be my fave post of yours ever. And that's saying something!
Btw ken got called a racist for posting a video similar to the pro choice one. Lmbo!
I really don't understand all the high emotions around Sandra Fluke. I disagree with her point but I don't understand how she inspires so much venom. Yes, she's a little self-absorbed, entitled and has a very weak grasp on reality....but....most people are just like her.
I joked on Facebook so many people believe it is the other side's political views which will bring the downfall of this country but I think it will be our inability to walk 5 yards to return the shopping carts to the store.
The greed, selfishness and dishonesty in this country is staggering. Don't you guys have to deal with this everyday too? I can't go an hour at work without finding yet another example. Sure there are good examples too but the vast majority of people are all about what is in it for them and what they can get for as little as possible. Republicans and Dems. Christians and non-Christians. Surely, you guys deal with these people too.....
The republicans are guilty of it too. Look at one of their slogans from the RNC: "We built it"....it is built around a quote from Obama that was taken completely out of context. Obama's point was part of our blessings comes from the fact we live in a very blessed, politically stable country. If you disagree with his point you might as well be an anarchist because you just disagreed with the basics of the Social Contract. Yet the RNC twisted it into saying Obama said business people did no work in building their business....which isn't true.
Or take Rush's comments about Ms. Fluke......you think he didn't make a buck off calling a woman half his age a slut? It was a win/win situation for both of them. It wasn't about women's health and it certainly wasn't about protecting the moral fiber of this country. Fluke's an idiot....Rush is despicable.
Fluke claimed she represents women.....so did Ann Romney. You don't want to know what I yelled at the TV when I heard her make that claim.
They say we elect the government we deserve. Having watch some of each of the RNC and the DNC I've decided it doesn't matter how we vote. It is like the end of Ghostbusters....all we are doing is choosing the form of the destructor.
StarFireKK - No, we're not blind to the fact that politics can be downright ugly on any side of the fence. Most of us here are Catholics before any political party. I will say, though, that in the circles I run in, the greed and selfishness don't seem to actually be so prevalent. Believe it or not, there are some really great citizens out there, some amazing people, and plenty of ordinary folks serving others in ordinary ways. So perhaps I am at fault for actually expecting more out of BOTH political parties.
The beef I have with the DNC is that they are truly in love (it seems) with some truly unethical things that go directly and clearly against morality. While the Republicans are human beings who are capable of selfishness and greed as well as political games, they aren't openly celebrating and cheering tragic things like the death of the unborn. I watched both conventions and while I may not have gotten up and done a dance with a funny hat on for the Republican convention, I was truly appalled at the DNC's convention.
Another difference is that conservative Republicans often don't believe politics ARE the answer to the world's problems, whereas Democrats seem to put way too much faith in politics and government. Which scares me. And scares a lot of us.
Okay I don't really follow politics because really hearing the little snippets I hear from my husband or blogs has a tendency to disgust and enrage me. But I don't understand why Cardinal Dolan was even present at the DNC. I guess I feel it sends a mixed message to Catholics who could be swayed into thinking well he's an important Catholic who attends the DNC and is in support of them why not vote democratic?
I think the best thing would have been for him to stay out of the whole thing. My other complaint is about calling Catholics to vote for Romney when there are so many things wrong with his policies and ideas. Would I just be voting for the lesser of two evils just because he happens to carry the Republican ticket? I'm really not trying to incite a riot of angry comments but I often wonder if any other Catholic voter is as confused or put off by the whole thing.
Leila@LittleCatholicBubble September 7, 2012 at 10:52 PM
StarFireKK, I truly, truly disagree.
I am too tired to do a point by point, but I will say that Obama's comments were most definitely NOT taken out of context. I listened to and watched the context time and again, fully. Not taken out of context at all. If it was what we all obviously believe (that we all love our teachers, and we all are glad that we have roads, which are only necessary by the way because someone built first a buggy, then a car), then why would he be saying this to make a point to his base, to fire them up? He was not saying what we all understand. He was making a very ideological point. I encourage everyone to listen to it.
Of course he didn't mean that the business owners did 'no work' -- no one ever implied he did. He implied that a business owner was in partnership with all the government road workers, public school teachers, police services, etc. But that is nuts! There is no "partnership" there. Everyone gets those services, and the services are paid for by the taxes of….. businesses that make money, and their employees!
DNC speaker Elizabeth Warren said the same talking point months earlier: You didn't build it, others made it happen for you along the way, so you must pay us more in taxes to make it "fair". This is part of the left's ideology.
My husband started his own small business a year and a half ago after working for over twenty years as always someone else's employee, building his reputation. Damn straight he built it. He built it to take care of his family, just as a husband and father should. And it is frightening beyond words to know that the government has the power to ruin him if it so wishes. One misstep in regulations, one misunderstanding of the massive tax code laws, and we could be sunk. Big, centralized government is scary stuff.
So, the massive, wasteful, ineffective federal government telling all the producers that 'you didn't built that!' implying they don't pay their "fair share" vs. the business owners and risk takers saying, 'yes, we built it!' and actually creating wealth for their families and others? I will side with the latter every time.
And to compare Ann Romney to Sandra Fluke? I just honestly don't know what to say to that.
Maybe I am blessed to live in a Catholic bubble where people do work hard, provide for their families, strive to live a virtuous life and give back copiously to charity (in addition to the outrageous taxes they pay). Heck, even my friends on food stamps are cheering Romney/Ryan and are as horrified by the thought of an Obama second term as the rest of us!
There is a huge, huge difference between the political parties today, and the gulf is ever widening. I would never claim there are no greedy, selfish Republicans. Indeed there are! But at least they don't want to use the force of government (fines/jail/ruin) to coerce my conscience, persecute my Church, and take more of my income. At least those selfish Republicans, wherever they are found, will leave me be.
And keep in mind with all the class warfare rhetoric that the Dems throw around: Envy is a deadly sin, just as much as greed. But we forget that fomenting envy (which is the standard tactic of the Democratic Party), is a grave evil.
Two types of destructors? How can that be? How can conservative values "destroy" us when they are pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-school choice (all non-negotiables for Catholics, according to our Popes) and desire the federal gov't less in our lives and business (subsidiarity)?
Sorry, you know I like you a lot, but I just do not agree with you in the least.
I guess I was rambling. Sorry. But then again, I guess I'm allowed to on my own blog. ;)
allthemasons, I am glad he prayed for the unborn and for marriage and for religious liberty at both Conventions. He is the head of the Church in America, and his prayers are desperately needed.
As to why vote for Romney? Because his presidency will not be actively persecuting the Church. That is HUGE. HUGE.
And, never forget that while Obama would only have four years left, his federal judicial appointees (all who will be on the extreme pro-abort side, and gay "marriage" side -- you can take that to the bank) will remain for life. Looooong after he's gone doing much damage for decades to come. Supreme Court, circuit courts, federal courts. He will have had eight years of stacking the courts. People tend to forget about that legacy that presidents leave. No matter how bad Romney's judicial appointees are, they will never be as extreme and anti-Catholic as Obama's.
Bottom line, allthemasons: My political strategy this year is GET OBAMA OUT. It's as simple as that. (I do love Ryan, though, so it makes it easier to vote for Romney.)
And the reason Obama must go is because he directly persecutes the Church. If he can force us to choose between 1) closing our businesses and ministries, or 2) committing mortal sin and risking hell , in his first term, what will he try in his next term, when he has no worries about reelection?
He is an actively anti-Catholic president, and he has shown us his stripes.
We are fools if we allow him to trample our religious liberties for another four years, and which we may never get back.
Monica September 7, 2012 at 11:08 PM
Love the reason.tv video- watched that earlier this week and was laughing...
Here's my problem with Romney- he is not clearly pro-life either! He has flipped on this issue, and still is not "No abortions, no exceptions". If I lived in a swing state, I would vote Romney out of necessity (lesser of two evils), but since my vote will be cast in CA, I will be protest voting for a true pro-life candidate, Ron Paul.
I am disgusted by this election season. The democrats have seriously gone Brave New World insane, and the Republicans can't get their acts together! Argh!!!
I can't believe 3 years ago I was a liberal, and now I'm basically a libertarian. Ha! (Leila's fault!)
By the way, I totally agree Leila that priority number one has to be the removal of Obama. If this is how he behaves while still fearing for his re-election, imagine how the next four years will go, when he has "free reign" to do whatever the h*ll he pleases! That is some SCARY STUFF!
Monica, true enough about Romney! But, he will not actively work to stop the states' pro-life laws (of which there are more and more). Things are moving in the right direction, and Romney will step out of the way.
That's all I want from the federal government: Get out of the way, stop forcing my conscience, stop persecuting my Church, stop taxing and regulating me to death, stop stifling growth and stop fomenting race wars, gender wars, class wars.
Romney, I believe, will let us be.
The power of government to ruin people is something I never used to think about. But I have seen it. It is absolute power and there is no way to fight it. People should fear a strong centralized gov't much more than they do.
I'm glad you don't live in a swing state, Monica. ;)
And I'm glad you are not a liberal anymore, ha ha!! This blog has been worth it! ;)
Beresford September 7, 2012 at 11:51 PM
I found it interesting the Democrat surrogates were spinning as hard as they could today to try to rehabilitate them on "faith." I thought the most deceitful and shameful was this piece by PBS:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/september-7-2012/religion-and-the-democratic-national-convention/12924/
(Warning, you may lose it reading this.)
What's infuriating is that this not only passes for journalism, but the PBS propaganda is being underwritten by public taxpayer money!
Just one representative snippet from the PBS article:
STEPHEN SCHNECK (Catholics for Obama): When I look at the policies outside of the abortion arena, when I look at things like Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and community health centers and public housing programs, these are all programs that are proven to have a good impact in lowering the abortion rates in the United States.
LAWTON: Stephen Schneck is co-chair of Catholics for Obama. He asserts that the proposed Republican budget cuts will lead to more abortions.
SCHNECK: Thinking about that, I have to say I’m morally challenged to think about supporting Romney-Ryan as a pro-life voter.
IDK on the issue of taxes... on the one hand I know many 2%ers as they're called and most of them tithe to charity. We will be taking a lot from philanthropy. But on the other, there are areas of the tax code that need reform and if the republicans would admit this they would have an easier time. We're middle class and barely pay anything now. I wouldn't mind a tax increase to support the roads, schools, etc. I don't htink the govt needs to totally suppress the competition of captialism either... it has built us into a great nation.
That Catholic for Choice argument is such a flimsy hoax. They want to increase Medicaid and all these programs... saying its more pro-life??? Leading to fewer abortions???
Women don't choose abortion when the baby is already born! They think of their immediate financial situation and are given 'facts' depending on who they speak with. They choose it when they are feeling vulnerable and scared and the baby is often early in the pre-born stages. IF those laws were truly pro-life, they would give AT LEAST as much $$ to pregnancy counseling centers that provide actual prenatal care, diapers, GED instruction and job training - things that empower a woman to keep her child - as they do to clinics that 'don't judge' and offer to 'take away' the problem so that the woman doesn't need to 'struggle' on how little Medicaid covers to begin with. But Democratic governments have always blocked funding and support to pregnancy centers that offer a true choice. Come on, like public programs that save money make a difference to scared women at the time of that choice??? Cathoics for Choice are idiots.
theresa EH September 8, 2012 at 5:26 AM
As a Canadian EH I cannot vote in the American election, BUT I can BEG and PLEAD that my southern neighbours to vote Obama OUT of office in November, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sdecorla September 8, 2012 at 7:28 AM
I don’t think this is entirely accurate. You’re right that being pro-life and pro-marriage are non-negotiable, but I am almost certain that “school choice” is not. Many people think that vouchers will harm public schools. This is a matter of prudential judgment. (As an aside, I attended great public schools my entire life and NEVER left the Catholic faith I was raised in.)
Also, I think you misunderstand subsidiarity. It doesn’t necessarily translate to “small government.” It simply means that the lowest-level competent authority should take care of the problem. Sometimes, the lowest level that can competently take care of the problem is the federal government. Again, this is a prudential judgment. Subsidiary also needs to be balanced with the principle of solidarity. It seems like conservative Catholics only talk about subsidiarity and ignore solidarity, and vice versa for liberal Catholics.
It has always annoyed me when liberal Catholics try to make it sound like you HAVE to support this or that government program to be a good Catholic. It used to be that conservative Catholics stuck to the non-negotiables like abortion and would say that everything else was a prudential judgment. But more and more, it seems like conservative Catholics are doing what liberal Catholics have been doing for ages: elevating ideas that are simply conservative, like low taxes or small government, to the only true Catholic way. There seems to be a lot of confusion over what is a prudential judgment, on both sides. Everyone is trying to “catholisize” their personal opinion.
Do you read Mark Shea’s blog? He’s a completely orthodox Catholic, and one of the few Catholic bloggers who truly “gets it” when it comes to politics. He takes on the left and the right equally. I would be interested to hear what you think of his perspective.
Also, did you know that Paul Ryan wants to eliminate the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit? How is that pro-family??
Hi Leila, I like you too as you know. There's so much to say in response to your comment but I don't want to hijack your blog. But I did read the President's speech. I found it online. It was a very long speech but here is the part we are talking about:
Now, in an effort of full disclosure, these paragraphs did come after Obama talked about wanting to lower the taxes on the middle class but not the upper crust. The idea of taxing the rich at a higher rate than the poor is not new- our whole system is based on that idea. Anyways, here is what he said:
" There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. (Applause.)
If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet. (This is actually false- the net was developed for the military)
The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires. "
How can you possibly disagree with that statement? It takes a real lack of humility to say what Obama said in the above paragraphs isn't true. That's what the dems and the moderates (like me) hear when we hear the RNC say "We built it!"
You built the roads? You built the police force? You built the schools? You built the fire fighters? You built the military?
Or is it just you don't see any of those above things as important in business success.......
If those things do matter to a success of a business, how should we pay for it? How does the concept you received a benefit- but shouldn't have to pay for it- seem wrong?
You would never hire the railroad to ship your goods and not expect to pay for it. The more you ship- the more you pay.
I just don't get it. Our whole tax system is based on the idea the more you make the more you pay. That's why we have tax brackets.
This is why some of us get frustrated with the right---- because it seems to us you guys want something for nothing every bit as much as you claim the left does. That's why I say there's no difference between the two- each side wants someone else to pay for something they benefit from.
Sebastian September 8, 2012 at 8:18 AM
Dear Leila and friends, please help me figure out something. First if all, I do agree with your sentiment re the DNC convention, and if I were American, there is no doubt I would vote Republican in this election. And yet, the people at the convention, misguided, or worse, that they may be in our opinion, are made in the image and the likeness of God, like all of us. I agree 100% that we should fight their IDEAS, but not them, right? Shouldn't that be reflected in how we speak about them? Isn't the devil, the "divider" and the "accuser", as Fr. Barron explained so beautifully, having a field day when we judge those folks, smug in our own self-assuredness that we are right, and they wrong (speaking only for myself here) ?
How can we practically do that? How can we make them believe us that we, and God, loves them, but that the things they advocate for a terrible? And I mean both the simple delegates and voters, and the powerful decision makers, many of whom deliberately lie to achieve their aims. There's a specific reason I ask, but it takes too long here to lay it out. Thanks!
ugh that is "receive a benefit and should have to pay for it- seem wrong?"
I know there are other typos but that one was a bit important.
StarFireKK, the bottom fifty percent of Americans pay almost no or no federal income taxes. That alone seems a bit "unfair", no?
(Police, firefighters, etc. are paid by state and local taxes, not federal taxes, by the way.)
Here is a breakdown of the percentage of personal federal income tax paid:
http://ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html
(These are stats used by the NYTimes, so please no cries of partisanship)
"Taxpayers who rank in the top 50 percent of taxpayers by income pay virtually all individual income taxes. In all years since 1990, taxpayers in this group have paid over 94 percent of all individual income taxes. In 2000, 2001, and 2002, this group paid over 96 percent of the total." (That is from another source: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/incometaxandtheirs/a/whopaysmost.htm)
Why would the president say that the rich don't pay their "fair share"? What is a "fair share", in your opinion? I am truly curious.
And, being a "millionaire", according to Obama, is making $250,000 a year. (??) Even if that $250,000 is what a small business makes. A businessman whose business makes only $250,000 (which is not a lot -- this is not the businessman's take home pay, which is much less, this is his business' income) is taxed as an individual on that amount! So, he pays the millionaire tax on what his business makes (not even close to a million), and not on what he actually brings home in his own paycheck.
Crazy, no? But this is the "fair" way, according to Obama. Do you think that is fair? And, do you realize that none of that is going to make a dent in the deficit, even if he gets his way?
That's even assuming he can get all the taxes from people that he is seeking. He doesn't understand that many businessmen will just decide not to risk opening another business anymore. Or the truly rich just won't work on those new ventures since they can't keep the fruits, anyway. Why should they? Why work to fork over more to the government when the uber rich guy has enough money and might as well retire or stay just as they are. Happens all the time.
Obama never ran a business, and he doesn't have any idea how money comes in and how taxes can only increase if businesses are growing and thriving. Businesses don't grow and thrive (thus pay more taxes and employ more people who also pay taxes) if they are taxed to the point that they cannot be profitable. It's just not worth it. Why do you think most small business owners are voting against Obama and are so, so, so upset with him? He has no clue. And he's insulting to boot.
Anyway, I'm going to try to make that my last word on confiscatory taxes. I despise the whole subject and I hate, hate, hate class envy more than just about anything else.
Obama said:
"There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back."
Guess what? Anyone who wants to give more to the IRS can. They take donations. I am not kidding. They do. Why don't he and his friend write the IRS a check if they agree with him? I'm dead serious.
Believe it or not, many wealthy Americans want to "give back" -- to charities that actually do work with the people, and who do not waste and who are accountable for every penny, unlike the massive black hole of sinful waste that is the federal government.
Again, this is a Catholic principle:
http://littlecatholicbubble.blogspot.com/2011/10/subsidiarity-why-havent-i-heard-this.html
Manda September 8, 2012 at 9:55 AM
(Hear, hear! )*cheering
Bethany September 8, 2012 at 9:30 AM
StarfireKK- the problem is, the implication behind Obama's quote, that you posted, is that the only reason why people are successful is because they do receive "help" in various manners, i.e. roads, police, fire fighters, teachers, etc... If this were the case then EVERYONE would be successful in much the same way, and the truth of it not everyone is successful in that way.
The fact of the matter is, all of the "help" referred to by President Obama isn't real help. It's general welfare, but not help. EVERYONE benefits from that general welfare and the benefits go far above and beyond a successful business - heck I don't own a business, but I've called the police about 3 dozen times on my neighbors down the street for having loud drunken fights on the lawn.
Roads, police, teachers, fire fighters, libraries etc... etc... all of these services are what I classify as facilitative services (yes as an English Major I just made up a word). In other words the are services that facilitate one's OWN ABILITY to succeed, without any personal involvement or direct personal investment in that success. Help, on the other hand requires a direct personal involvement or direct personal investment in that success, even if the investment is purely emotional.
Let me give you an example. Let's say I'm a single mother, going to college to get my education. If I rely on state aid to send my children to daycare so that I may go to classes (this is the type of help President Obama is referring to) - this is facilitating my ability to succeed at my goal of finishing college. On the other hand if my mother watches my children, spending time with them and giving me the opportunity to attend class and succeed at my goal - this is help.
My mother has a personal investment in seeing me, her daughter, succeed, even if it's just the emotional investment of being proud of me finishing college. The daycare, nor the state providing the aid, has any such investment, if not me and my kids it will be someone else and their kids.
This is the difference. And while yes, small business owners have had the benefit of government funded (oh wait, we fund the government) services to help facilitate their ability to succeed, EVERYONE has had those exact same benefits - but their ability to succeed depends upon them alone and whatever real help they might need. The catch is - simply needing help doesn't guarantee real help, real help will only be offered by those willing to personally invest, and people won't personally invest in people who aren't willing to put in the work to make it happen themselves.
sdecorla, please, please, do not misunderstand. I have never said that a Catholic could not support a massive federal government and huge federal welfare programs. Catholics are free to do so if they wish. Like you said, it's a matter of prudential judgment. In my judgment, it is not prudential at all to have these massive entitlement programs. I feel they are wasteful, ineffective and utterly dehumanizing. But that is my opinion. This is not like abortion, I completely agree.
I had to chuckle when you said that most conservative Catholic folks talk about subsidiarity, because I have been a conservative Catholic for a long time, and only recently heard of the concept of subsidiarity. It's just nothing I ever heard growing up, or into most of my adulthood. And I've always been a politically active person. I am glad if more people are becoming acquainted with it! And as for solidarity, I have to note that Lech Walesa, who understood that concept well [understatement], was shunned by Obama, shamefully: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/301474/president-obama-shuns-lech-walesa-rory-cooper
Also, Lech Walsa, (Mr. Solidarity/dear friend and solidarity partner of JPII) has happily endorsed Romney:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/lech-walesa-to-romney-get-your-success---be-successful/2012/07/30/gJQAAwgYKX_blog.html
The people of Eastern Europe have little sympathy for growing and strengthening centralized power. They get where that leads and it ain't pretty.
As for education, you are right and wrong. First, I never said "vouchers", although the Catholic bishops in America are strongly pro-voucher. But the Church does hold as a non-negotiable "the protection of the right of parents to educate their children." We are the primary educators of our children, a right which cannot be abridged.
Which side is friendlier to that end? As I wrote in my "Why I Can't be a Catholic and a Democrat" post:
Democrats (and the liberal teachers’ unions to which they are beholden) go to great lengths to deny parents a choice in their children’s education, not only opposing school vouchers for private schools, but also opposing secular public charter schools, which often deviate from the leftist model. Laws that seek to limit the rights of homeschooling parents also come overwhelmingly from Democrats. By contrast, the Republican Platform states: “Parents should be able to decide the learning environment that is best for their child.”
To me, there is no contest which side is friendlier to my rights as a Catholic parent. On vouchers? You are free to disagree. We have charter schools here and I thank God for it. (I am a product of K-12 public schools, by the way; Catholics are free to put their kids in public schools if they so desire, of course.)
As for Mark Shea… love his books, loved being on his side in some old Catholic forums when the Net was new. We had a nice friendly acquaintanceship. I don't question his orthodoxy at all. I worry that sometimes he is bitingly rude and sarcastic and bombastic to anyone who dares to slightly disagree with him or challenge him. I don't enjoy that at all, so I avoid his blog. But I think he is a very sound Catholic, and I have many of his articles in my archives, because they are brilliant. I have used some of his work here. I definitely disagree with his approach to politics. To me, it's very obvious that a vote for a third party candidate is a vote for Obama. So, we disagree. And I don't think Romney and Obama are equally bad choices. Not at all.
I'm sorry, but I could not watch Ms. Fluke with her lies. An America where access to birth control is controlled by people who will never use it? Isn't she talking about the gov't here? Because, as far as I can tell, the govt is the ONLY force out there trying to control access to birth control. Gimme a break, you poor lost soul. *I love this quick takes, Leila! The cap on corporate profits piece was priceless! Who IS that guy? He's funny! And the choice video? Lol!
Manda, I know. She lied and lied. And I still can't get over that there was a comparison between Ann Romney and Sandra Fluke. Sandra Flukes entire public persona, her only claim to fame, is that she fought for the HHS mandate. The very same HHS mandate that got the bishops unified and speaking with one voice. The same HHS mandate that moved the POPE to warn that we are in danger of losing religious liberty in America. Sandra Fluke's whole "thing" is in support of what ends up being persecution of the Church. Because she had birth control already. This is not about access to birth control. It's about forcing the Church to provide it, at which point we either comply and go to hell, or we don't comply and lose our businesses and charities. Sandra Fluke is the face of that movement to cripple the Church.
How she and the damage she is hoping to inflict on the Church can in anyway be equated to Ann Romney is truly beyond my ability to comprehend.
Beresford,
You are right, I can barely stomach that. I see it all the time and it's incredibly disingenuous. To put matters of prudential judgement ahead of non-negotiables in the hierarchy of truth is not Catholic. It's deceptive. It's sneaky and it is intended to fool Catholics into believing that they can vote for vociferously pro-abortion candidates (and those who now embrace gay "marriage") and have a clear conscience about it.
Confused Catholics should read the words of the bishops and the last two popes very closely:
The last two popes and the bishops have taught that there are certain “non-negotiable” issues for Catholics involved in politics, issues which trump all other considerations. The non-negotiables come down to these:
Abortion is intrinsically evil and must never be promoted or condoned.
Embryonic stem cell research and human cloning are intrinsically evil and must never be promoted or condoned.
Euthanasia is intrinsically evil and must never be promoted or condoned.
The traditional understanding of marriage as the union of one man and one woman must always be upheld.
The right of parents to educate their children must always be upheld.
All other issues (for example, immigration, education, affordable housing, health and welfare, etc.) are considered policy issues, about which Catholics are free to disagree. As Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix has clarified in a guide for Catholics called, Catholics in the Public Square:
"On each of these [policy] issues, we should do our best to be informed and to support those proposed solutions that seem most likely to be effective. However, when it comes to direct attacks on innocent human life, being right on all the other issues can never justify a wrong choice on this most serious matter."
Indeed, Pope John Paul II wrote:
Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with the maximum determination. (Christifideles Laici, 38)
In his letter, “Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion,” Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) wrote:
Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.
In a 2006 speech to European politicians, Pope Benedict XVI said the following:
As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable. Among these the following emerge clearly today:
~Protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death;
~Recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage and its defense from attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different forms of union which in reality harm it and contribute to its destabilization, obscuring its particular character and its irreplaceable social role;
~The protection of the rights of parents to educate their children.
It is so incredibly clear.
http://littlecatholicbubble.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-i-cannot-be-catholic-and-democrat.html
Marc September 8, 2012 at 10:36 AM
First of all, I don’t support Obama or the Democrats, not even a little.
Secondly, Mitt Romney is NOT pro-life: “I’m in favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and incest, and the health and life of the mother,” he said. (This differs from the party’s platform, which calls for a constitutional amendment banning abortion, with no exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.)-- http://www.mediaite.com/online/jane-romney-abortion-ban-under-my-brothers-admin-never-going-to-happen/
We all know that “life of the mother” is construed to mean abortion for almost every reason. So, again, how is that pro-life?
Thirdly, and more generally, why do any of us continue to believe that the GOP is going to do anything for us?
“The Republicans you are being asked to elect will almost certainly do nothing to forward the socially conservative agenda you fear. Since Roe v. Wade was passed, we’ve had five-terms of anti-Roe Republican presidents. That’s 20 years of men appointing Justices to a Supreme Court that has refused to overturn Roe. That same court, by the way, banned anti-sodomy laws and paved the way for gay marriage across the United States.”
“I’m always surprised that social conservatives can be convinced every four years or so that voting Republican will aid their cause. We have three generations of experience that says this is simply not the case. But time and time again, there are the social conservatives pulling the lever—or pressing the touch screen—voting on the basis of hope over experience.” --http://www.cnbc.com/id/48767089
Yes, Obama is persecuting the Church with his HHS mandate, but Romney did the EXACT same thing with his version of Obamacare that he instituted in Mass. The same thing. But we trust him now? Even if you do, you are voting for someone who did the same thing to Catholics that Obama did.
Finally, his foreign policy seems to be an almost carbon copy of GWB’s. A foreign policy that the last two Popes have (yes in their private judgement) condemned, and that has been absolutely disastrous, strategically, economically, and most importantly to innocent life.
Even if I lived in a swing state, I would not vote for Romney. I don't know for whom, or if, I will vote.
Marc, you really think that Romney is going to move to persecute the Church? You believe he will work to make abortion more accessible, and interfere with all the progress the states have made in that matter? You think that Romney will promote gay "marriage" in law?
I don't think he will do any of those things, and those are the non-negotiables.
Not to mention that Obama's judges will poison our courts for many, many decades after he is gone.
I have tried and tried, but I don't understand your mindset. When I read stuff like what you wrote, and you are good people, I think we will be looking at four more years of Obama, and it's so unnecessary, and so unthinkable. It actually makes my heart heavy, and I have to walk away.
Maybe that is our penance. Maybe having our persecutor for four more years, and his judges for much longer, is our penance. Lord, have mercy on us and on our nation, and on the Church.
DD September 8, 2012 at 10:57 AM
Wow! What an amazing blog, Leila! I learn so much from you!! What just makes me CRAZY, is that I pay three times as much for high blood pressure medication that I HAVE TO HAVE, then these women pay for contraceptives right now that they WANT TO HAVE. And now they want IT TO BE FREE! It's wrong in soooooooooooooooo many ways.
...and no one is paying attention to the health risks of contraceptives, which is covered in every bit of medical research. I had to go on a low dosage of contraception due to being pre-menopausal and having horrible menstrual cycles all of a sudden that were making it difficult to function one week out of every month. I did NOT want to go on contraceptives, but my insurance would not cover hormonal testing and specific hormonal medications for my problem. My insurance WOULD however, cover contraceptives. Against my better judgement, I went on the Pill for four months. A month ago I got blood clots in my leg which turned into a severe problem bordering on life-threatening. My doctor immediately told me to stop the Pill as that was a number one cause of blood clots. I was only on them four month. Imagine what they must do to a woman's body after ten, twenty, thirty years?!!
Leila, I respect your opinion but I think it's pretty hard to argue against the history. Also, do you deny that Romney is pro choice? Can you show me where Obama has successfully overturned pro life legislation in a state? If he has then we have much more serious problems. It was a GOP SCOTUS appointee who upheld Obamacare, btw. Romney has also said that he supports SCOTUS appointees who practice stare decisis which typically is code for. Of wanting to overturn Roe.
I think you are admirable for fighting the fight that you do, but I think we are misguided in placing any hope in a party that went from Reagan to Bush Sr. to GWB to McCain to Romney. That is not progress. That is regression.
Bethany September 8, 2012 at 11:05 AM
The other difference between Obamacare and Romneycare is that RomneyCare was and is state-based. The state decided that. Obamacare is for the entire nation. Very few governors I know of will enact policies that they did at the state-level on the federal level, because it just doesn't make sense, fiscal or otherwise. The needs of MA are different from the needs of the country as a whole. Not to mention the side-steps that religious organizations could make through Federal laws in order to get around State enacted laws were present. On federal level the situation is completely different.
I will say, I don't necessarily believe that Romney is completely pro-life, I don't. Though, the habit of some people (not you, I don't think) of citing his comments made from 10 years ago, don't cut it for me. 10 years ago I was pro-choice too, and quite strongly. In fact it's only been in the last 4 years or so that I've come to understand the truth of it all. I'm not saying that you brought up his comments made 10 years ago, I just know some people do as if that alone is enough to call into question his dedication to pro-life. And it's not.
Is that Bill Murray in the Jon Stewart video?
Marc, I was going to answer you more specifically, but Bethany beat me to it, and quite well. As for abortion…. well, Obama's admin threatened Texas (bullied) with loss of funds if Texas rejected Planned Parenthood. Yes, Obama, whose major priority and backer is Planned Parenthood, interferes with the states on abortion. Yes, yes, yes.
You see Obama and Romney differing by degree. I see them differing in kind.
Whatever Romney's personal belief about abortion (and I think Bethany made a great point there), will not govern as a proactive, pro-abortion president, as Obama does every day of his life, including the weekends.
SCOTUS… yes, conservative judges have tended to move more to the left on occasion, as they get entrenched. All the more reason to go with the candidate that will start out with the more conservative judges. And if you think I am only talking about SCOTUS, you are wrong. The scope of federal and district judges is enormous. We are still dealing with the fallout of Janet Napalitano's appointees here in AZ and will be for a very, very long time. My husband is on the bipartisan committee which recommends judges. It's always hard to get conservatives on the bench. The answer is not to bow out of the process and throw our hands up because our candidate is not perfect, it's to stay right in it, become a player, and change things from the inside. Trust me, that's what the Dems do.
DD, that is awful about the clots and the Pill! It's so frustrating.
And yes, some people thought that was Bill Murray!
I think we are misguided in placing any hope in a party that went from Reagan to Bush Sr. to GWB to McCain to Romney. That is not progress. That is regression.
I think you may have missed all the young Republican rock stars coming up the pike.
I respect your opinion that the GOP is somehow better than the Dems. In some cases you are right, but not in this case in my opinion. I think you are all putting your faith in the hope that somehow Romney is different but I don't think there is much (looking back through the past) to reccomend that opinion.
I'm glad you are all out there fighting this fight. I don't agree with your methods but I do agree with your goals. I think Ron Paul's position of shrinking the Federal Government radically is more likely, in the long run, to succeed. I don't think we can ever Baptize the Federal Government.
I also think as Catholics we should remember that this country was not set up by us or for us. In fact in most of the colonies it was set up actively against us. This country is Protestat (barely anymore) and that is waning. If Romney wins we will have elected our first non self professed at least Christian. I have little hope that a polytheist non Christian is going to bring the Country forward. The Catholic Church explicitly rejects Mormonism as Christian and specifically rejects their Baptism.
Manda September 8, 2012 at 11:49 AM
The bottom line is that there are two contestants in this upcoming race: Obama or Romney. Pick one. Romney says he will repeal and replace Obamacare, he says he will protect the sanctity of life, he says he will stop the federal funding of planned parenthood. Those 3 things alone are enough for me to vote for him. Do I *wish* he would also balance the budget and reduce the deficits drastically? Absolutely, along with healing the sick and feeding the poor and obtaining world peace. But, we've dug ourselves so deep and beggars can't be choosers. So, let's take what we can get and try to make a little *progress* in the RIGHT direction.
Leila, what DO you think about our 16 trillion dollar debt? Ron Paul fans are posting all kinds of youtube videos claiming a police state is in the cards for us when, not if our economy collapses. This is sort of off topic, but there is also a lot of recent footage of military tanks, plastic liners (caskets) being stored by the hundreds of thousands, and over 200 fema camps set up across the U.S. The guy who writes for Natural News says they (the govt) are going to be going into every major city in the U.S. and rounding people up to take us to these camps. He says these camps have giant incinerators which many argue is for the trash we would make during a crisis (but we all know history)...I want to blow all of this talk away as nonsense, but it's starting to get to me. Add that to the clueless masses blindly stating that we "belong to the govt" and I'm starting to shake a little. Can I even talk about this stuff on the internet these days without being added to some list or taken in for questioning/"psychiatric" evaluation like that guy on facebook? It is really getting frightening and there is nowhere to run. I know as Catholics we are called to just have faith and pray, but should we also be getting ready for things to get ugly?
Marc, well, as my dear friend Nik Nikas of the Bioethics Defense Fund (www.bdfund.org) has said, "I am electing a commander-in-chief, not a theologian-in-chief." And believe me, he is far, far deeper and more intricately involved in fighting for the Culture of Life (it's all he does) than either you or me. I agree with him, re: the theology question.
You asked me about Obama messing with the states crack down on abortion, and I gave you a huge example of it (Texas), and you come back and say that both sides are the same. Okay, then. I don't know what to argue after that.
Manda, well, the trillions have only gotten worse with Obama's spending and inability to a single effective thing to make it turn around. I fear we are very tenuous, economically. There is a lot of danger with having an economy collapse, and it does scare me. But, I don't "go there" as far as seeing all the conspiracy stuff. It's just not me. I don't do that with all the Catholic prophecy stuff, either (that is not approved by the Church). Just not my personality to whip myself into those frenzies, and I am skeptical. But, I do not underestimate the danger of four more years of Obama policies and ideology. It is frightening to consider. That is why my sole concern at this point is to vote him OUT.
Typing too quickly, sorry. Should read "the ones that are not approved by the Church".
Marc September 8, 2012 at 12:46 PM
Leila, you are correct about Texas. Although, what ultimately happened there? You very well could be right on this issue and I could be wrong. I think the President's coercive power regarding the states is withholding funds and this is why I support Ron Paul (at least in theory) over Romney. His vision would give WAY more power to the states and end this Federal usurpation of state power. One problem is the GOP seems to be more interested in securing power than in shrinking the power of the Federal government and for this reason (among others) Obama has this power.
I just don't believe the difference is as stark or the choice as simple as you make it out to be.
We need a more radical vision than Romney offers. But he may be our only choice. I certainly won't vote for him since I live in CA.
Nicole C September 8, 2012 at 12:47 PM
Leila, you mentioned Obama's bullying of TX, but don't forget what they're doing to Indiana. Mitch Daniels defunded any clinic that provides abortions. So Obama said, "Ok, then we're holding ALL of your Medicare funds hostage until you reverse it." (Wait...who's anti-woman?) PP claimed that, "hey, look, only 5% of our business is abortion, so give us our money back." I guess they didn't think, if it's only 5% of your business, just STOP DOING THEM and you'll get all your state funding back. Einsteins. But I digress. The real issue I was getting at was the Obama admin bully tactics on anyone who dares not hold abortion as the highest virtue. No way Mitt Romney would intervene in a state issue like that. None.
"The real issue I was getting at was the Obama admin bully tactics on anyone who dares not hold abortion as the highest virtue. No way Mitt Romney would intervene in a state issue like that. None."
Nicole, totally agree. And as the president of Delaware Right to Life, you know a lot about how the Dems deal with this issue, politically. That's two big states he's bullied in the name of abortion. Plus the entire Catholic Church and all her entities. And that's when Obama was still worrying about reelection. Just wait till he doesn't have to, and wait till he stacks a few hundred more judges in the federal courts around the nation, who will rule in his favor when these issues come up again (and they will).
Nicole C September 8, 2012 at 1:08 PM
No disrespect to other commenters, but the idea that there is no difference between candidates is mind boggling to me. Truly incomprehensible. Is Romney perfect?? No!! But the situation is what it is. And we are called to make the BEST choice...not the PERFECT choice. If we adopt a "the GOP candidate must be a no exceptions candidate or else I'm voting 3rd party" mentality, we can just go ahead and plan to have Roe v. Wade around forever.
Bethany September 8, 2012 at 2:17 PM
I have to admit though, in some ways, I agree with Marc, and Mark Shea as well - give me a candidate who at least support grave evil (Obama - abortion, Romney-torture). And that's probably why I will vote for Ron Paul. It's not that I like the libertarian leanings all that much, but at least he's a candidate that doesn't support grave evil. On the other hand I have the luxury of doing that because I live in the one state that would still turn blue for Obama even if all the living people voted for Romney. (If you all catch my drift... *rolls eyes*)
I'd have a better chance of my vote counting if I voted for Teddy Roosevelt.
Hmmmm there's an idea...
Make that Abraham Lincoln.
Sounds like a lot of conservatives in blue states don't vote in certain elections because it "won't matter anyway". That is a real bummer. Who knows how it could have gone? Maybe more red voters would giver other lukewarm folks some courage.
Also, torture. Define it? I'm being dead honest here, I don't know if I think waterboarding is torture. After all, I would have no trouble seeing my son in the Marines or the Navy Seals, knowing that they would be waterboarding him in training. I wouldn't even blink, and I would be asking him all about it afterwards, as I'm sure he'd have a lot to say! But if, in his training, they were going to pull his fingernails out or electrocute his genitals? I would not stand for it! I'm pretty sure those things are torture!! (I think Oliver North said he's been waterboarded about 30 times in his career? Are we willing to say that the military uses torture to train recruits? If so, then what to do about the military?)
Anyway, the jury's out on that issue, but I'm open to being convinced.
Leila, I'm totally with you on the waterboarding issue. It's very difficult for me to call it actual torture, when while uncomfortable, there is no lasting damage and we even do it to our own guys for training. Even so, like you said, the jury is out. What it's not out on is abortion.
Leila- No, I really don't have a problem with families making less than $33,000 a year playing less taxes and families making more than $300,000 paying more. Just as I expect more from my nephew because his skills and natural talents make him a natural leader....I also expect more from the families who are our nation’s natural financial leaders. It is about having an expectation we are not to waste our natural talents or our resources.
I don't care if you make $300,000 a year if you pay your taxes, pay your employees a fair wage, and provide for your family and pay your debts. After you do all that and you want to go blow the rest of your money in a casino- that's your business. I'm allowed to think it is wasteful and you are allowed to say "It is my money- so there."
Some of the left are just plain greedy. They don't want you to have the nice boat until and when they can have the nice boat too. That's wrong.
But a lot of the left have an issue with the fact a vast majority of the wealth in this country being concentrated in a very small percentage because they believe something went wrong in the "pay your taxes, pay fair wages, provide for your family and pay your debts" portion of the equation.
There are some great small business owners. I'm sure your husband is one of them. So was my dad. They are honest and fair people who sometimes get squeezed because others don't play nicely in the sandbox.
But there are some small business owners who aren't as upstanding. Take my former boss. He spent years working hard to build up his practice and no one on his staff begrudged him the lion share the profits. But then for about a year, he was gone 2 to 3 weeks out of every month. Not, he was gone doing business- it was all personal time. The support staff stepped up and we did what we could to cover his absence. We worked late, we worked weekends, we did the lion share of the work. We dealt with the upset costumers. But credit and rewards were never given to the staff and he and his wife started wondering why they were leaking talent.
He and his wife got very defensive and circled the wagons because it was "their" business. Nevermine the rest of us were working to support our families as well and there is no way my boss could have maintained the business on his own. Was his reputation important- of course it was. That's why he got the bigger pay check, the nicer benefits, the cool vacation and the respect and prestige. But his reputation was maintained in his absence by his staff.
The only way he hanged on to the talent he had as long as he did was because there were NO other jobs. Trust me, we all were looking. (No, not when we were supposed to be working.) He took advantage of the poor economy to treat his workers unjustly. That's also wrong.
This is why the left gets the support it does. Because a lot of Americans see nasty business practices in place. A lot of Americans have an issue with someone that does little work take home the biggest paycheck while others work like dogs and barely make it. I've never met someone who doesn't agree the boss deserves more pay. The argument isn't you can't have the money you earned but did you truly earn it?
I have tremendous respect for you Leila. My mom always taught me not to talk about money or politics and here I am doing both so I'm a bit nervous. I don't always agree with you- not out of a desire to be contentious but usually because I don't understand. I also try to keep in mind you are a mother of 8 and have seen and done far more than I have and know more about some things than I do.
But there is something very wicked at work in our country. The same justifications and attitudes which I've seen my friends used to turn against life growing inside them are starting to show up in the workplace. It terrifies me what will happen if we let that selfishness and hate take a hold in our business and economy just as we have in our social morality.
See I'd classify waterboarding as torture. Anything that is designed to make someone fear the termination of their life at the hands of someone else is torture in my mind. I think about it this way - if a criminal suspect reveals information in a situation where police have placed undue duress (no use of the bathroom for 12 hours or more, no water for hours upon hours, not providing them with an opportunity to sit down, not giving them opportunities to rest, etc... etc...) then that information is said to be coerced and is not reliable.. Regardless of citizenship, the information is either coerced or not. If it's a coercion in this situation, it's a coercion in a situation such as waterboarding and it is as equally unreliable, if not more so, because waterboarding is so much more cruel.
I'm sorry, waterboarding military personnel is not the same thing. While the actions maybe similar, the fear is missing. These are guys who are trained to put their lives into the hands of their compatriots, their fellow soldiers, they cannot possibly feel the same fear an enemy combatant being exposed to the same treatment. And the FEAR in combination with the action is what increases waterboarding to a level of torture. Not all damage is physical.
You (royal you) may not have a problem with your sons experiencing waterboarding at the hands of their superiors during training, but would you be comfortable with your sons experiencing waterboarding at the hands of an extremist terrorist group who would not care in the slightest, if your (royal you still) son "accidentally" stayed under the water a little longer than supposed to and died.
We are all fond of saying that the rights found in the Constitution come from God and are simply protected by the Constitution. If this is truly the case, then this includes the right to not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment - and if this is right from God, then it applies to EVERYONE, not just citizens of the US.
If not allowing a criminal to go to the bathroom for over 12 hours constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, waterboarding should easily be considered cruel and unusual punishment.
Anyway, that's my two cents on that.
My comment about my voting and the state, I live in Illinois. Even if 90% of living voters managed to vote for Romney the 185% of dead registered voters in Cook CO alone would see to it that Obama was reelected. That's what I mean by that. I'd love to say I'm speaking hyperbole, but dude, this is Illinois, our last two governors are in JAIL. And if he's not careful, our current one may end up there soon enough. I can't wait to get out of this backwards state.
JoAnna Wahlund September 8, 2012 at 7:28 PM
Why don't I like Sandra Fluke? Because she's a lying liar who lies, and I have no sympathy for anyone who claims she can't afford $9 per month for birth control yet flies off to vacation in Spain with her rich boyfriend. Surely he can afford the $9 per month if she can't?
Amen, JoAnna. I'm still not entirely sure how she managed to get national attention. I guess for the MSM it really is whoever has the loudest, whiniest voice gets the most attention. You know... that explains a lot!
StarFireKK, I know it is an uncomfortable discussion, and I don't like disagreeing with you. I actually hate talking about this stuff. :)
First, your employer became a jerk. Lazy and inconsiderate. I can't account for that. I know that bad behavior is not the sole domain of employers. There are many employees who are that way as well (my son couldn't believe when he joined the work force for the first time how much disrespect and backtalk was given to the manager). All that tells me is that human nature is sinful. My main question to you would be: Did he pay you a fair wage? Or, was he defrauding you of your wages? That is the "Catholic" question. If you think you were paid fairly for work done then it doesn't matter what else he decided for himself (Matt. 20:1-16). And unlike government (which we can never break from, no matter how unjust or unfair or abusive), most people do have an opportunity to find another employer if they are terribly unhappy.
You say something has gone terribly wrong. If you are talking about the uber rich conglomerates, I can't speak to that. Big business surely has much evil in its halls, for sure. But those folks, as we've said, will do well whether or not Obama taxes the hell out of them. And still the deficit will barely budge. But in the meantime, he will have crushed all the small and medium businesses. Heck, who would even want to start a business? It's scary knowing that the gov't could take away everything you've worked for, if you miss a regulation, or if your accountant messes up the taxes, or if you can't navigate bureaucratic red tape.
People who don't want to be employees should start a business. Why don't they? Because it's damn scary and a complete risk! We must applaud, not demonize the ones who are willing to risk everything! It took years and years for us to go forth with that dream. It seemed 'safer' to stay as an employee.
Then you get dropped into the real world of being a business owner. My husband not only pays income tax (of course, and no one is saying he shouldn't), but he now also has to write a check quarterly for a business tax. A big check. A check that actually could be used to pay more of our kids' college tuitions so that they don't have to take out loans. A check that could be used for my younger kids' Catholic education. A check that could be used to help me get some of these families funded to get those orphans home, or send a bigger tithe to St. Vincent de Paul, etc. He almost has a panic attack writing that check. I'm not complaining, honest, but it's frustrating to see how much good could be done with the money that is taken to be wasted by the feds. It's okay, I get it. But I don't want to see taxes going up on people who are not "rich" to begin with.
And I have to be honest. I don't see the correlation between the guy who was a loser boss to you, and Obama's speech about taxing him more. Is it a punitive thing, then? Because I'm not getting how the government taxing him more would have helped you, the employee. I admit I may be missing something.
Again, what is a 'fair share'? Is there a percentage of income that you think should be enough, or do you want to keep it open ended? Maybe it's just my personality or my sensibilities, but even when I was making $15,000 at my first job, I never once wanted to see anyone's taxes raised. Not even Oprah, not even the wealthy liberal elite. I don't think anyone should have their taxes raised. When my husband was making $26,000 a year with a wife and three kids, I was very much in favor of letting everyone, even Bill Gates for all I cared, keep as much of his money as possible. I figure people can best decide how to use their money better than the government can. I just never begrudged folks their money. It is actually totally foreign to me to think that people call for higher taxes on others. Maybe I am weird. I think we all pay a helluva lot of taxes. Again, what is a "fair share" and why do you think the top wage earners are not paying their "fair share" already (since they are paying almost 100% of all income taxes collected?
(Of course, there are more than just income taxes and business taxes. There is nothing that's not taxed today: http://whatistaxed.com/other_taxes.htm )
Bottom line for me (and again we are free to disagree on these policy issues and philosophical issues) is this:
1) Taxing the "rich" is not going to make a meaningful difference in the massive deficit, but could very well hurt the economy as the truly rich just decide to go elsewhere or not to expand, and many of the lesser "rich" (according to Obama) will eventually close their doors (or definitely not expand to that second restaurant or store, which could bring them to and above that punitive and arbitrary $250,000 "millionaire" mark).
2) Call me naive, but I have always seen business owners and entrepreneurs as heroes, doing something courageous and good for their communities and the country (not talking about my husband here; he doesn't even have any employees yet). Whatever evils are in big business (and yes, there are there, as in any human enterprise!) are dwarfed by the evils of big government. I fear a big government and what it can do to me a million times more than what a big corporation can do to me (what can it do?). Look at history. Governments are what oppress and ruin and even execute. They have absolute power and we should not be looking to give them more. We should have a very healthy fear of government control and expansion. I know that there are many people who trust government more than business, and I have never, ever understood that. If I had to choose between trusting an American businessman or an American politician, I'd pick the businessman. (And I'm privy to the inside of both worlds.)
3) I never, ever in my life have felt the need to tax people more than they already are, no matter who they are. I figure we are all taxed enough, and perhaps the government should live like the rest of us who have to live within their means. I despise pitting poor against middle class against rich. It just goes against everything in me. Class wars give me the shivers. Envy, as I've said, is just as much a deadly sin as greed.
Okay, that's it for tonight! I hope we are still friends! :)
Wait, sorry, not done yet. You said:
No, I really don't have a problem with families making less than $33,000 a year playing less taxes and families making more than $300,000 paying more.
No one said that people making $33,000 should pay the same amount as someone making $300,000. No one anywhere, ever. But that was not the question.
Just as I expect more from my nephew because his skills and natural talents make him a natural leader....I also expect more from the families who are our nation’s natural financial leaders. It is about having an expectation we are not to waste our natural talents or our resources.
We expect many things from people with great talents and abilities and gifts. But the government is not a kind uncle, and the way he "expects" something from a citizen is by confiscating it. By force. Yes, the force is legal, and yes, we all need to pay taxes. But we cannot pretend some benevolence there, or altruistic motive. The government only gets what it gets by confiscating it from citizens. Is it a necessary evil? YES. We must pay taxes. But the power of the government to tax us should not be unlimited, no matter how much Uncle Sam "expects" of us. The government does not love me and care for me (even though liberals believe that it does -- but that is a whole other subject).
You could "expect" and get a lot more from me if you let me have and spend more of my own money, rather than having the government confiscate it and spend (waste) it before I even see it. I promise you that. :)
Bethany, first of all, my condolences for living in Illinois, ha ha. Second, I will ponder your points, I will. I changed my view on the death penalty when I became a practicing Catholic so one never knows what I will end up with regarding waterboarding.
However, to say that the approval of the waterboarding of two or three heinous terrorists (at the hands of what is actually the most benevolent military on earth -- do you know how other nations routinely treat their prisoners?), does not make me disqualify Romney as a candidate, nor do I see it as a moral equivalent with the slaughter of the innocent unborn, which Obama does not only approve of, he champions, even past birth. So, I can't see a moral equivalence there at all.
JoAnna, that link you provided makes me sick. This is the poor victim that the Democrats hold up for all to see.
Leila - Please don't misunderstand me. I have no problems with people voting for Romney, the thought of having four more years of Obama brings me to tears, and if I lived in ANY other state, I'd be right there with you, especially a swing state. Mainly because I am coming to agree with other conservative principles and I can no longer vote democrat given their party platform.
Like I said, I have the luxury, given the state I live in, to vote for Ron Paul knowing full well that this state is so backwards it would go for Obama regardless of what the current populous votes for. And I do so, partly because I'm kind of with my husband, in some ways I think we need to move to a Parliamentary system, so as to allow more than two political parties to have a say in our government, rather than trying (and failing most times) to smash the entire US population in to two parties, that very few people actual buy into their platforms 100%. Consider my ineffective vote a protest vote against the failing two party system as a whole. :) I hope that makes more sense.
As far as the benevolency (why isn't this a word, it totally should be) of our military, I do not deny it. As I said, though, the Constitution which is document protecting our rights from God, states very clearly about not subjecting any citizen to cruel and unusual punishment; but if the rights do come from God, I cannot in good conscious say that waterboarding in not cruel and unusual punishment and rights that come from God apply to everyone equally. In that matter, if even 1 abortion allowed by law is too many, then even 1 POW waterboarded is, likewise, too many.
Makes total sense, yes! (If the Church ever says that waterboarding specifically is torture, i.e., is intrinsically evil, like abortion, then I am with you. I wonder if it's more like capital punishment though, and is almost never warranted, but not intrinsically evil? I don't know.)
As for parliamentary systems, I pray it never goes that way. As my husband says (who has worked in politics for almost thirty years) our votes, our ideas will be even more irrelevant and marginalized if that were to happen. The two party system is the best in the world. Have you seen any better system of government out there, other than ours? Parliamentary systems are a mess.
That is a whole other issue, ha ha! And again, one on which we can legitimately disagree. :)
**I should add, some folks say that the death penalty falls under "cruel and unusual" punishment. And still, the Church does not call it intrinsically evil, though to be avoided almost at all costs.
MaryMargaret September 9, 2012 at 11:36 AM
Cannot agree with you on water-boarding or on other "enhanced interrogation" techniques. I believe that the Church has spoken clearly about the need to treat prisoners humanely under all circumstances. She need not "make a list" of those techniques that are contravened--I think the golden rule speaks to this.
"Gaudium et Spes 27: Furthermore, whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where (people) are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are supreme dishonor to the Creator."
Your argument seems to boil down to: they are bad people, who we must treat badly. If that is the argument, then "they" can make the same argument when they capture our troops, most of whom, btw, are not trained Navy Seals, but ordinary soldiers. Furthermore, if no lasting damage is done, then is it OK to threaten our prisoners with torturing their children, if we don't really do it?
Now, this being said, I do not believe that Obama is any better on this subject that Romney. I absolutely understand why anyone can believe that Gov Romney is a better candidate than Pres Obama, based on a myriad of issues, such as Obama's hatred of the Church, his support for unfettered abortion, rejection of religious liberty, economic issues, etc etc etc.
The Church teaches that ALL human beings are to be treated with respect for their life and human dignity as creations in God's image. Jesus taught that this applies to our enemies as well as our friends.
"Your argument seems to boil down to: they are bad people, who we must treat badly."
WOW. Really??? That's how you chose to interpret my argument?? Where on earth did I say anyone MUST be treated badly?? Asinine. Please be intellectually honest. Not to mention you made a gigantic leap from waterboarding to torturing children. Come on.
See, this is what irritates me with the waterboarding issue. Opponents talk about it as though we're waterboarding every Tom, Dick and Mohammad that we capture and we just do it for the entertainment. Seriously irks me.
The reality is, it's been used 2 or 3 times and it WORKED. It seems to only be used in very rare and extreme circumstances. I would argue that it's not inhumane (painful and uncomfortable, I'm sure!), and I'm certain that during the times these enemies of the state weren't being waterboarded, they were treated like royalty...even given Korans, which they have used to recruit more enemies! But we still give them Korans because, like Leila said, we're the most benevolent military in the world.
And yeah...I get what Jesus taught about human dignity. I have just a LITTLE experience with that, but thanks for the lecture.
Like Leila, if the Church ever came out and determined that waterboarding is, in fact, a grave evil, then I will stand with the Church (and yes, she would certainly make a list, as this is a very particular, contraversial technique). But I think Leila is right in that it is probably one of those things like the death penalty - it should very rarely be used but is not inherently evil.
Bethany September 9, 2012 at 12:44 PM
Well I asked my husband, the theologian, about all of this and he's comment was that the Church does not get specific, as MaryMargaret stated, on instances of torture. It doesn't, and shouldn't, have to.
And royal treatment???? Ummm two words - Abu Gharib. Not exactly royal treatment.
As I stated before, to simply call waterboarding painful and uncomfortable is to dismiss the accompanying fear and humiliation that is wrought by it - feelings that cannot be simulated in a training. It's those feelings that move it from a "prudential judgement/death penalty-like" abstraction to torture.
If failing to provide bathroom breaks to a suspect for hours upon hours is considered cruel and unusual punishment, and waterboarding is so much worse than not being able to use the bathroom for 18 hours, then waterboarding should and is considered cruel and unusual punishment.
Simply because it doesn't inflict in lasting physical damage to a person, doesn't cease to make it torture. As MaryMargaret quoted in Gaudium et Spes, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself;
Making people fear for their life or the lives of their loved ones is torture. At least it is in my mind, and I think the Church is with me on this one.
However, I can solve this fairly easily though it will take some time. I will write a letter to CDF and ask them to clarify if waterboarding is a form of torture. I'll let you all know what I find out.
Bethany, Abu Ghraib was NOT STATE SANCTIONED and everyone involved got severely punished for their actions!!! That's another incident that irks me about arguments against waterboarding. What happened there was an isolated incident. Again, let's please be intellectually honest. From wiki:
"The United States Department of Defense removed seventeen soldiers and officers from duty, and eleven soldiers were charged with dereliction of duty, maltreatment, aggravated assault and battery. Between May 2004 and March 2006, eleven soldiers were convicted in courts martial, sentenced to military prison, and dishonorably discharged from service. Two soldiers, Specialist Charles Graner, and his former fiancée, Specialist Lynndie England, were sentenced to ten years and three years in prison, respectively, in trials ending on January 14, 2005 and September 26, 2005."
Soooo...yeah...not normal.
Let me address your "fear" argument. If "fear of death" is now considered torture, then I guess all of our military personnel are tortured on a regular basis. Not because they're waterboarded, but because they're sent to war. Let's go even further and say that policemen and firemen are also tortured. They have pretty dangerous jobs where they could fear death. I'd even go further and say that some forms of entertainment are torture. Jumping out of planes, bungee jumping, rock climbing. You might argue that people voluntarily do those things, but I would say that anyone we've waterboarded has voluntarily put himself in a position of being an enemy of the state.
Abu Ghraib was notable precisely because it was not how the U.S. military treats prisoners. There are rogue actors in all human spheres, from the military, to business, to the government, to schools, to the Church.
Bethany, I am very interested to hear what the CDF has to say on waterboarding (I'm shocked no one has formally asked them yet?). And if you could also ask: "If waterboarding is intrinsically immoral, is it also immoral for the U.S. military or any military to train soldiers to undergo waterboarding?" I think it's a legitimate question.
And I would speak to prisons themselves. I know a great Catholic apologist, Russ Ford, who just got out of a twenty-five-year stint in an Alabama prison. The conditions he endured were horrific, frankly. But what of prisons, even good ones? Are they a form of torture of mind and body? I think people could argue that they are. But are they intrinsically evil? No, they aren't. We have to have prisons, and they cannot be country clubs. So, I'm offering up more questions than answers. It's all very interesting to me and I just don't know how there are not gray areas on what constitutes torture of mind. (I am pretty sure that Al Queda knows about waterboarding and that no one in America, if they use it, will harm them or kill them bodily).
Again, just throwing out the question.
Bethany, I don't have much to add, I completely agree with what you've said. Waterboarding is described as "simulated drowning" - pouring water on someone's face so they breathe it in - and I don't think that's something to be taken lightly. It may not be torture to the same degree as cutting someone's hands off, but I would certainly consider it cruel. If it's not that big of a deal, it shouldn't be at all effective in a military situation anyway, right?
Couple of good things to take a look at:
http://waterboarding.org/firsthand (some of the other pages here are good to read too)
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808 (prior to being waterboarded - voluntarily and under controlled conditions, no less - Hitchens was a supporter of the practice)
Michelle, but you are on record - very clearly, repeatedly, and explicitly - as believing that torture is not intrinsically evil if it can save a few lives (even if it's a child who is tortured and even if that torture leads to death).
So, are you on record with being okay with waterboarding terror suspects?
I'll begin drafting the letter tomorrow. The modern 21st century side of me is a little bugged by the fact that the CDF doesn't have an official e-mail address.
As far as Abu Gharib not being state-sanctioned, you're correct, but as my husband points out, we don't mind sending POW's to countries where that type of treatment is both acceptable and legal.
Nicole, the difference between the fear our military has and the fear induced in something like waterboarding or other instances of torture are two different things. The choice one makes in becoming a soldier or a fire-fighter or a policemen or skydiver is greater than you give credit for. First you're assumption is that we NEVER make mistakes about whom we capture and then place into this situations. One mistake is one too many, just as one abortion is one too many. Secondly despite the fear engaged in those types of jobs, the choice allows them the freedom to remove themselves from the fear (albeit, some with additional consequences) if necessary, a POW can do no such thing. Third, they have colleagues, friends, family, counselors, therapists, fellow soldiers, superiors, and countless other people who can help to provide them with the courage needed to overcome their fears and do their jobs (or their recreation). Which leads me to my 4th point the entire point behind waterboarding and all torture is to MAKE someone feel fear, no one person or one group of people is MAKING a fire-fighter feel fear. He or she may feel fear for their life due to the situation they are in, but not because they are purposefully being made to feel fear.
In a waterboarding situation, someone is intentionally trying to make a person (this is important, an enemy of the state or not, they are a person) fear that they will drown if they do not reveal certain information. It's the modern day equivalent (well maybe not so modern) of the 17th century Salem witch trials, in which they dunked "the witch" until she "admitted" she was a witch. Heck, I'd admit I was a witch, or anyone else, if someone held me under water until I had to start breathing in it in before pulling me back out.
And truth be told, nearly every professional interrogator worth their price, will tell you there are better ways than any torture including waterboarding.
Leila, I will ask, but I would say there is a world of difference between a soldier voluntarily agreeing to be placed in that situation for training purposes and a POW who has no such choice.
You did make this comment:
(I am pretty sure that Al Queda knows about waterboarding and that no one in America, if they use it, will harm them or kill them bodily). First I would argue it's already harming them, that's the whole point - like we've said before, harm doesn't have to be physical. But given the fact the President Obama, this year, ordered what was essentially "a (successful) hit" on an American Citizen who was also a suspected terrorist - all I can say is, I don't even know if anyone here would kill them.
As far as prisons go. Some prisons, unfortunately, are incredibly horrific, and they do need to be changed to adequately provide for the prisoners in their care in humane ways. And many prisons do get shut down for failing to provide services or rather subjecting prisoners to cruel and unusual punishment. But in most prisons, and in most cases, the prisoners don't fear for the lives in a direct way - so no I wouldn't classify them as torture. Nazi concentrations camps, Andersonville Prison during the Civil War, they are examples of prisons that could be classified as a torture.
I realize others disagree with me, and that's fine. Like I said, I will write the CDF and ask for a clarification, it will be interesting to see what comes back.
But for me, intentionally and directly making someone fear for their life is torture and this is exactly what waterboarding does.
The Hitchens story was fascinating, and I remember reading that back when.
Bethany, I do understand your points, I think. You are saying that it's specifically fearing for one's life that makes it torture, right?
Knowing that execution is coming is torturous, then, and yet we don't call execution of heinous criminals intrinsically evil, though it should be exceedingly rare. But I definitely understand that if there are better ways to get info than waterboarding, then those are the techniques that should be used, without question!
And, I am not sure what this means: "As far as Abu Gharib not being state-sanctioned, you're correct, but as my husband points out, we don't mind sending POW's to countries where that type of treatment is both acceptable and legal."
Could you clarify?
Yes, an email address to the CDF would be nice, but then I'm guessing that they would get hundreds of thousands of inquiries a month if they went that route, ack!! I guess I'd keep to snail mail, too… ;)
"Knowing that execution is coming is torturous, then, and yet we don't call execution of heinous criminals intrinsically evil, though it should be exceedingly rare. But I definitely understand that if there are better ways to get info than waterboarding, then those are the techniques that should be used, without question!
This is essentially exactly what I would have responded. If it's true that there are other just as/more successful techniques, then I'm all for that! But seeing as how we've only waterboarded 2 or 3 people EVER, I can only imagine that it was because it was the ONLY thing that would have worked. I'm pretty sure it's only used as a very, very last resort (as it should be) in extreme circumstances. And again - it worked.
"First you're assumption is that we NEVER make mistakes about whom we capture and then place into this situations."
I'm not making that assumption. But I DO assume that since waterboarding has been used so infrequently, that we only use it when we're absolutely, 100% certain we have the right person. Seriously - please stop acting like we use it all the time!!
And I'm sorry, but I still can't concede that "making someone afraid" is torture. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Leila, that was a hypothetical situation and I've said before that it's so hypothetical that my response is basically worthless, because there's no situation where it'll ever happen. I don't consider "might get information" to be on the same level as "definitely and immediately saving lives." So, no. I don't condone torture except in (hypothetical) cases where the good end significantly outweighs the wrong of torturing and you can be absolutely certain of the result. I'm not sure I can think of a single case where you could be completely certain that you'd reach the desired end, so I struggle to think of a real-life situation where torture could be condoned. I could maybe be convinced otherwise, but my support of torture/killing is staying firmly in the realm of extreme hypothetical situations for now. Heck, I can't even in good conscience support war - real-life torture would be a huge stretch for me. Sorry to ramble, but I just wanted to make that all clear.
Anyway, even if I thought torture was a fabulous tool, my opinion on its use doesn't have any bearing on whether waterboarding is torture. To me, lasting physical damage (which waterboarding can cause) isn't necessary for something to be deemed torture. If someone, say, held me hostage and told me that at any moment they might kill me, even if they never laid a finger on me, I would consider that torture. Waterboarding, where you're made to feel like your death is imminent - they're basically all but drowning you - I would consider torture in the same regard. Physical and psychological pain don't need to be long-lasting to be traumatic.
Michelle, my question was just about applying your principles. You have a principle that nothing is intrinsically evil. Not that nothing is evil, but that nothing is intrinsically evil. I think that is logically consistent with being an atheist. I don't know why you build up all this talk around it. Just say, "Yes, torture can definitely be moral, since nothing (not even torture, not even rape, not even murder) is intrinsically evil."
That is a principle that you believe.
Our Catholic principle, to make a distinction from your principle, is that some acts are intrinsically (of their very nature) evil. Intrinsic evils can never be justified, and are never moral, even under any extreme, crazy, hypothetical circumstance.
That is for any readers who haven't come across this before. I like to teach and explain our principles and differences from a secular/atheist worldview. That is one big one!
Nicole - I'm not sure why you keep bringing up that waterboarding has only been done 2 or three times (that we know of); the frequency or infrequency is irrelevent if the action is considered intrinsically evil. Otherwise we would consider abortion in cases of rape (<.5% of abortions) just fine. I am arguing that waterboarding is indeed a form of torture and therefore intrinsically evil. Therefore the amount of times it has happened is that many times too many.
If it's true that there are other just as/more successful techniques, then I'm all for that! But seeing as how we've only waterboarded 2 or 3 people EVER, I can only imagine that it was because it was the ONLY thing that would have worked. I'm pretty sure it's only used as a very, very last resort (as it should be) in extreme circumstances. And again - it worked.
The irony with this statement is that it gives a LOT of benefit of the doubt for choosing actions that are obviously reflective of Catholic Teaching to a government that has not earned that benefit if the doubt in almost EVERY other area and one that is currently so hostile to Catholic teaching that the most of the original post was pointing this out. If the government has proven time and again that we can't trust it with economics (Social Security, federal bailouts), with families and therefore society (defense of marriage), with healthcare (do i need to cite this), with employment (unemployment rate?), with the rights of people (abortion, euthanasia) and the current administration is openly hostile to religious freedom and the Catholic Church and Catholic teaching in general... I could keep going... then WHY would we trust the government to abide by any of this, or to accurately report anything it does when it comes to these topics - and then on top of it, do you really trust the MSM to report on these things accurately, especially if there is a liberal in the White House? I'm curious.
Leila as far as those on death row feeling fear for their lives Let me ask you this, and I apologize for answering a question with a question, would it be considered cruel and unusual punishment and consequently torture, if we killed inmates on deathrow by waterboarding them to death?
I realize that we don't purposefully waterboard POW's to death, the goal is not to kill them, but the goal is to make them THINK we're going to kill them.
People on death row 2000 years ago, used to be crucified. Was that just the death penalty or was torture?
My point is that while capital punishment is a matter of prudential judgement and not intrinsically evil, certain executions (pardon the pun) of the death penalty are in fact cruel and unusual punishments and are considered forms of torture.
Haha, I'm not just going to repeat back at you what you think I should say. Things being in theory not intrinsically wrong doesn't mean that that extends to the real world. I can think of ridiculous hypothetical situations involving aliens and interplanetary wars that would make anything acceptable, but they have no bearing on what I think is acceptable for real situations that would actually happen.
I sense you have no interest in talking about whether waterboarding is torture, which is what I really hoped to discuss...too bad. In that case, I'd like to take issue with something else you and Nicole said. You both said, correct me if I'm wrong, that if the Church decided that waterboarding was torture, you'd change your positions. Does that extend to everything? Is the Church the sole decider of what you consider right and wrong? If (hypothetically) the Church officially condoned something you strongly believed to be intrinsically evil, would you also condone it?
Michelle, if you are a woman of principle, your principles don't change based on hypotheticals vs. real life. They stay the same. Because they are your principles.
It's hard to take anything you say about torture seriously when you have said that according to your principles, it would be moral for you or anyone to rape, torture, and kill a child in order to prolong the lives of fifty others.
How on earth can I have a conversation with you about the evils of torture, when that is a principle you hold? Maybe you can get someone else to have that conversation with you, but I think it folly.
And, yes, absolutely. If the Church taught something as intrinsically wrong, and I thought it was okay, I would absolutely bend my will and submit to the Church, and vice versa. Because the Church's teaching is Christ's teaching. I am not the arbiter of truth. Truth is received and accepted, and no human being is its arbiter. And anything the Church teaches as we go forth with technology (which would be the only question marks still open on the moral law), would be consistent with the moral principles that have come before. So, it wouldn't be some great surprise or switcheroo.
Bethany, I agree that there are some forms of killing that include torture as a part of the killing, which is just heinous. But what I am also saying is that "mental torture" could include walking to the execution room, or even having to ponder what is coming for a day, a week, a year. I think that is nightmarish.
I don't see how it's hard to take me seriously at all. If I said torture was good and should be used liberally, I could still have a valid opinion on whether something is or isn't torture.
But, I guess we're equal. In bizarre, ridiculous hypothetical situations, I could condone even things I consider morally reprehensible. In the bizarre, ridiculous hypothetical situation that the Church told you to, you would do the same. Our only difference is that I would think about it and have serious misgivings, and you would blindly agree with the Church at the expense of your own better judgment.
Since you've shut out any possibility of discussion on the waterboarding issue, I can leave if you want. I do hope Bethany can carry on and convince you, and that the fact that I agree with her hasn't tainted your view of what she's said.
Michelle, you can definitely have an opinion on what is torture. That is fine. But since you don't think torture is intrinsically evil, then I don't know how it applies to what Bethany and Nicole and I are talking about.
And in the case of torturing and murdering the little girl, you said it would not be morally reprehensible. You said it was the moral thing to do in that situation, and you said that NOT torturing her would be immoral.
As for the second part… There is no bizarre hypothetical that the Church told me to do. I know the basic principles of my Church and I know the virtues. Since the Church would never violate the virtues, or the moral law, there is nothing at all that would ever be reprehensible in what the Church pronounced. Unless you can think of something that makes the virtues manifest reprehensively? I can't even see it. Can you give me a hypothetical on that?
I do hope Bethany can carry on and convince you, and that the fact that I agree with her hasn't tainted your view of what she's said.
Of course it hasn't tainted me! Truth is truth no matter where its found or who is speaking it. I think you believe a lot of things that are true. Everyone believes some truth, and I've never met anyone who denies all truth.
Bethany and you might be right. Since I am not truth's arbiter, I'll reserve judgement until I hear more. Heck, I was a "fry 'em!!!" girl on the death penalty before I became a faithful Catholic. That was a hard one to let go of (even though it's not an intrinsic evil), and many atheists agree with the Church on that issue.
I see a distinction between the mental torture of knowing that you're actions have incurred the death penalty in the court of law and the torture of pouring water over the face of a POW where they can't even breathe let alone think whether or not their actions have warranted this type of treatment without a trial or a conviction.
The difference lies in being convicted of a crime and being put to death as a penalty for that crime, and being made to fear that you're are being killed. We don't call the death penalty, murder (in other words the executioner is not murdering the criminal). But if someone died while being waterboarded, they would have been murdered, albeit accidentally (negligent homicide), but it is an important distinction.
I'll ask again, 'cause I'm curious about your answer - would it be considered cruel and unusual punishment to execute criminals by waterboarding? Why or why not? (And because the military does it to their own soldiers for training is not a licit answer, because as we've already established there's a difference between volunteering to be subjected and being forced to be subjected.
Which does make me think of Nicole's comment about how POW's have "volunteered" for this treatment by becoming enemies of the state, does that mean our soldiers have "volunteered" to be tortured in POW camps by whomever they've been captured by? Of course it doesn't. The question is not whether or not they deserve torture by volunteering to fight for the "wrong" side, the question is whether or not waterboarding itself is torture. Being made to think you're drowning at the hands of someone else, an action that would warrant the full force of self-defense in any circumstance, is in my mind torture.
And Michelle, while we may not agree on many things, I am happy to agree with you on this. :)
Right. That is a hypothetical situation that would never happen. Give me a real-life situation that actually happened or a plausible hypothetical, and I'll almost definitely have a different answer for you. Even if the situation we've painfully picked over a thousand times did happen, you would have no way of absolutely knowing that killing/torturing would result in the desired end of 50 people staying alive. To me, that's a judgment call no different than the judgment call to wage war, and it's not a decision I could make easily. Actually, to me it's less grave than the judgment call to wage war, because war will always result in the deaths of innocents.
The bizarre hypothetical is that the Church would contradict your strongly held moral beliefs. If the Church made a stunning reversal and said that gay marriage was okay, you would become a supporter of gay marriage. Or rape, or murder, or whatever. It doesn't matter if the Church never would actually do this, it's just a hypothetical. Maybe this is an easier way to put it - if the Bible told you that contraception was morally good, you would be in favor of it.
Oh, you are talking about reversal of a moral teaching. In that case, if the Church REVERSED a moral teaching then I would know it's a false church and I have been utterly duped.
Bethany, I'm happy to agree too! I'm glad I waited to jump in, because you've written it all so much better than I could!
Leila, I appreciate the vote of confidence. If I had to summarize my general principle, it would be to minimize harm. I hope, on some level, we all agree that we should strive to do that, but I think it's how we propose to do that where we begin to part ways. I do believe the common ground is there, it's just very deep down.
Michelle, the reason your hypothetical is confusing is because it's not so much that the Church would never reverse tides and contradict itself, it's that it cannot. It is an impossibility. If the current Pope and/or Magisterium ever declared something in contradiction to Church teaching then they automatically cease to be the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and therefore are not actually contradicting their own teaching, but creating a new church with it's own new teachings.
If I had to summarize my general principle, it would be to minimize harm.
I know that for a lot of atheists, like Singer, it's more specifically about "minimizing suffering". Would that be more accurate?
What if the Bible said that masturbation or gay marriage or contraception or any number of other things you currently believe to be immoral were in fact moral? If the Church maintained a consistent position on it, you would agree with it, no?
I mean, if the Church had maintained a consistent position from the start on those issues, but their position on them was the opposite of what it is now.
And my principle, to do good and avoid evil (or, to serve the good, not effect the good), does not square with the priority of minimizing suffering or harm. People do evil all the time in the name of "making things better" (that is the ends justify the means principle, which is contradictory to mine).
Michelle, the Bible came from the Church. The New Testament is simply the part of Church teaching and truth (Sacred Tradition) that was written down. It does not contradict the Church's oral teaching. It's all the same. Neither the Church nor her Scriptures say that gay sex or masturbation are good, and in fact the opposite is true. So, I'm not understanding the question?
You mean, if Jesus Christ, who is God, taught that masturbation was good? Then that is what the Church would have taught for 2,000 years unbroken, and if I were a follower of Christ and His Church then that would be truth. But it's not the truth, that's not how it happened, and that is not the moral law.
It's sickening for me to even say those words, because it's NOT true and that is NOT what Christ or the Church ever taught or ever will teach. So, it's very, very weird to posit that God would have taught something we know (in reality) know is evil, as a good.
I think I get it.
The answer, Michelle, would be yes. If both God through the Bible from the beginning of time itself, and Christ himself had taught that gay-marriage was in fact a good, and the Church that Christ established taught that from the beginning then, yes, that would be a teaching of the Catholic Faith and we would be under obligation to believe it, more over the action would be reflective in natural law and would be able to be reasoned as such. HOWEVER (and that's a HUGE however) that is NOT what God nor Christ nor the Church Christ established taught or has taught since the beginning of time, it is not reflected in natural law nor can it be reasoned as a part of natural law.
If nothing else, I hope you see why I don't like my answer to a hypothetical situation being paraded around your blog, because it sickens me to think of killing and torturing people.
I guess, then, my question is what wouldn't you be willing to believe? If Jesus approved it, is anything off limits?
Here's the thing Michelle, if Jesus and consequently God, from the beginning of time, had approved something quite the contrary to what we think of today as moral, let's say our current example of torture, then torture itself would not be seen by most people, regardless of religious affiliation as acceptable and moral as well. It would be able to be reasoned to by anyone and everyone regardless of whether Jesus promoted it or not.
In other words, we all, you included most likely, would all be in favor of torture in whatever situations had been deemed appropriate. It seems unthinkable and completely bass-ackwards at this point, precisely because it wasn't declared as truth in that manner. But if it had, the world would be completely different.
In other words, it's not simply because Jesus Christ proclaimed it good, it's that it is the TRUTH. TRUTH is transcendent, it IS God. If torture was indeed Good, then it would be proclaimed as such by God, as Truth. If gay-marriage was indeed good, then it would be proclaimed as such by God, as Truth. And when I say proclaimed by God, I mean, it would not only be revealed through God and Christ (and found good in the Bible), but be reasoned to through natural law (i.e. gay-sex would result in a higher good than simply the good emotions of the partners involved, such as the procreation of the species).
Michelle, but the hypothetical I keep trotting out is based on your stated principle. I didn't put words in your mouth.
Since God is Goodness (his essence) then whatever He spoke forth or declared or designed would only be Good. So, if Goodness Himself held or created that homosexual acts were Good, then indeed they would be Good!
Of course, that is not the case.
The hostage hypothetical can operate in this world, and in concert with your principles. The hypothetical you are positing for us (God of the Hypothetical being the opposite of God as He is) cannot be operative in this world or this reality.
I guess, then, my question is what wouldn't you be willing to believe?
But there is the irony! It is not Catholicism which has beliefs that are going every which a way and which reverses and contradicts itself according to the spirit of the age. That is everyone BUT Catholicism. We are the ones who don't fall for any new "progressive" "truth" that is out there, and we have not wavered in what we believe.
Leila, of course you didn't put words in my mouth. I never once said you did. But you are trotting out something that I have said I would condone in a hypothetical that I do not think could ever happen. Just like you don't believe that the Church could ever reverse position on something.
Your principle is that you would believe whatever the Bible told you, regardless of what it said. You're twisting my hypothetical to make it sound otherwise, but if the Bible said rape was good and the rest of the world said it wasn't (forget whether or not it would actually say that, the point of a hypothetical is that it doesn't have to actually be possible), you would say rape was good. Right?
No, Michelle, no. It's not the same.
Your principle exists on earth. There are tons of folks who believe as you do that, ultimately, the end justifies the means. That there is no intrinsic evil.
That is not analogous to what you are proposing, which is, "Well, what if the moon WAS made of green cheese?" or "What if the earth WAS flat?" or "What if pigs COULD fly?" You are wanting me to operate in a hypothetical WORLD, not in a hypothetical situation grounded in THIS world.
And, the fact that you keep saying "You would believe whatever the Bible told you" still gives me a suspicious that you don't fully know the difference between a Catholic paradigm and a Protestant one. Which is okay, but it just strikes me odd to hear you use that phrase.
A man named Jesus is born of a virgin and says he's the son of God and performs miracles and preaches about morality and then dies and comes back to life. A church is founded on the basis of his teachings. Only problem: one of the things he preached was that rape was good. Everything else is perfectly logical and lines up with reason. Do you believe it or not?
Basically, what I'm asking: if you reason something to be bad, but the being dictating your morals tells you you're wrong, it's actually good, would you believe something that runs counter to your reason? I sense you're trying to avoid answering my question, but that is what hypotheticals are about - forcing you to think about a situation that doesn't necessarily need to be possible.
By "believe it" I of course mean "believe that rape is good".
Michelle, you are missing something. If God handed down the moral law and there was something that just sort of "stuck out" as being illogical in it (rape) that was utterly inconsistent with everything else that the moral law said, then either there is something very wrong with my ability to reason, or else there is something very inconsistent and incoherent about the moral law (which means it's not from God, who is perfectly coherent and perfectly consistent).
So, again, you think I'm dodging, but you haven't set up a coherent hypothetical. But if you are asking what if God had a whole different moral law, and a whole different (reversed) type of "good", and if He was in fact that different "Goodness" himself, then when He created us (and created our minds to reason), then he would have made us to see, through reason, the consistency of that (different) "good". We would not see glaring contradictions in the moral law of even this "other" God, assuming he was actually "the" God.
Let's apply principles.
I believe that God is a God of non-contradiction.
So He cannot hand down a law that is all good except for rape. The only way that could be the case is if rape were seen and known as a good by men and women, the ultimate end of which brought us to our greatest happiness. And if it were, then…. there is no problem.
Now again, that is silly, because it's a "moon made of green cheese" argument.
Actually, hypotheticals to me are about testing one's principles, and you can't test a principle on something that has no basis in truth or reality.
By the way, just to be technical: The Church was founded BY Christ, and not just on the basis of His teachings. To put a finer point on it: The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ.
And we've told you, if the Church suddenly reversed her moral teachings, then she's not the Church. Principle: The Church does not change (nor does she have authority to change) the moral law. If that were somehow to change (which it won't), she is then a fraud.
I do still think you're dodging, but I can't force you to answer.
I do want to bring it back to the idea that got me started on this tangent, though.
If the Church taught something as intrinsically wrong, and I thought it was okay, I would absolutely bend my will and submit to the Church, and vice versa.
So, if you were dead certain that waterboarding was cruel and unusual, and the Church said, no, it's totally fine to dump water on someone's face so that they inhale it and feel like they're drowning, you would change your mind? If you'd started out as anti-death penalty and the Church approved of it, you would change your mind?
Leila@LittleCatholicBubble September 10, 2012 at 6:38 AM
First, you don't understand the teaching on the death penalty, so here is this from when Pope Benedict was prefect for the CDF:
Death penalty is not intrinsically evil.
Now, for an example that might help you see this better. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Church teaches that the indiscriminate bombing of large populations is inherently evil. Do you know how many Americans, good people, think it's okay? Many. Many, including me at one time, and including my husband who still struggles with it today (if he didn't mightily struggle to submit to the Church, he would still be a strong proponent of it). That is true submission to legitimate authority, even when your instinct tells you that something is wrong. In this case (as in so many others, like contraception, for example) a soul must choose. If you know who God is, and if you know how Truth comes to us, you submit, and that is a struggle at times, but it's a joy in the end.
Is your "truth" based solely on what your opinion is? If so, then what is the difference between truth and opinion? (One atheist long ago admitted to me that for her, truth = opinion; unfortunately, that goes contrary to the words' definitions, but I can see why that is so for an atheist, and I appreciated her admission.)
If you think that answering the question from about five different angles, in every incarnation possible, is dodging, then so be it. It could be that you simply don't understand.
Meaning, the Hiroshima bombings might help you see better the subject we've been discussing. Didn't mean to make it seem like it was analogous to the death penalty (it's not).
No, you are dodging. I asked specific questions and you didn't answer them directly. But what I gather from your response: yes, you would change your mind if the Church contradicted your deeply held convictions.
I think that's wrong. I don't think of "truth" in the same way you do - I think of it as the set of all facts about the universe, plus a bit of what you're pretty sure about the universe. I wrote a post about it here that explains it better: http://existenceandessence.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/truth/ (I hate when people post links to their own blog, but I think I comment here enough that I can get away with it once!). See, for me, morality does not exist outside of us, and so moral judgments must be arrived at through reason. Not everyone is going to come to the same conclusions - a utilitarian framework is often going to give you a different conclusion than a deontological framework, for instance. My own moral judgments have led me to conclude that the death penalty and Hiroshima were wrong, and I didn't need anyone to tell me that. Once you start relying on someone else to distinguish right and wrong for you (as in the case of bending your opinion of waterboarding to the Church's), I think you can run the risk of devaluing the importance of your own better judgment.
Note the consistency of truth. It was not and is not the Church whose teaching on Hiroshima (indiscriminate bombing) is inconsistent with the "whole" of her teaching. The inconsistency is with any Catholic, including my husband, who was FOR the bombings, while being in line with the rest of the Church's teachings. It was his challenge, then, and a certain path to further holiness, to bend his will and make his will align with the Church's teachings (i.e., God's will). Humility, obedience. These are hallmarks of the saints.
Consistency on the issue of contraception, as well… Many Catholics align their wills on abortion with the Church. But they reject the Christian teaching on contraception, preferring instead the easy route, and they align themselves instead not with the consistent teaching of Christianity, but with the abrupt break from it, and instead align their beliefs with the enemy of the Church and the enemy of life and chastity: Planned Parenthood. So, you get this unnatural, abrupt and harsh break that is inconsistent. (When you tell them they are embracing Planned Parenthood values in opposition to the Church's unbroken teaching…. they cannot even respond except to continue to defend their own (and Planned Parenthood's) opinion as to why it's okay to break from the moral law as its always stood.
Anyway, consistency.
If the Church suddenly put rape as consistent with chastity, life and love, then you'd see a complete break with consistency of Truth. It won't ever happen.
Many people use their better judgement to torture and kill.
And, I did answer you. In this universe, if the "Church" suddenly said rape (or gay marriage, or contraception) was a "good", then it's a false church and I would leave.
Said that, a couple of times.
So, ???
Let me try to get at this from another angle, because I don't think my question is unreasonable.
Basically, if someone has logically and carefully thought out the answer to a moral issue where the Church has taken a strong position, and their answer disagrees with the Church, you would rather that they set aside their own reasoning and promote the Church's view, even if their reasoning tells them otherwise. If I were to tell you right now that even though I cannot for the life of me arrive at a conclusion that tells me gay marriage is wrong, I am going to believe what the Church says even though I don't believe reason points to it, would you say that that is a better decision than continuing to believe what my reason tells me?
If Jesus is God and if the Church teaches truth, then yes, you would submit to his Truth.
If there is no God, and no legitimate authority to submit to, then objective truth doesn't exist and you can believe whatever you want.
Where does reason come from?
And, if one is a Catholic, and if one has a cohesive, consistent view of human sexuality that has been beautifully been exhorted and unpacked in multiple ways and layers, and then something jarring comes in that unravels the entire philosophy and truth of human sexuality (which gay sex does, if you try to place it in the Catholic vision of sexuality), then why would one assume that the Church (who has the consistent vision) is wrong and the person (who frankly just came on the scene, with a particular cultural bias) is rightly reasoning?
I would never be so prideful to think that I could put a discordant, sour note into a completed masterpiece concerto and then tell the composer that this definitely "fits", so your piece was wrong.
Can you at least grasp the concept of what I'm trying to get across to you? Even if you don't agree?
Gay sex has no place in the Church's vision of marriage or human sexuality. It is a discordant, sour note in the concerto.
Whether you like the concerto or not, the sour note imposed there does not fit.
Nubby September 10, 2012 at 8:48 AM
If I were to tell you right now that even though I cannot for the life of me arrive at a conclusion that tells me gay marriage is wrong, I am going to believe what the Church says even though I don't believe reason points to it, would you say that that is a better decision than continuing to believe what my reason tells me?
I'd say that's some faulty reasoning on your part.
Take into account evidence, and leave emotion at the door.
1) Natural law: If gay people can't naturally, biologically reproduce then natural law goes against you. Humans are not biologically built for that. Check that off the reasoning list.
2) Moral law goes against it, too. Two strikes against your reasoning.
What other laws are you going to try to hang on to?
A what point do you just reconsider that your reasoning is incorrect? Never?
In this case, there's a lot of straight up reason going against you.
At what point do you have enough humility to say, "Hey, I might be wrong in my reasoning."
What is your reasoning, beyond your emotions, that tells you this is lawfully and objectively a-ok? Take emotions and feelings out of it, what's left? Again, without emotion, what is your lawful reasoning?
See, to me, that's arrogant. I can say that there is no god and that reason should dictate our morals with some amount of certainty, but I would never tell anyone to blindly agree with me. Sure, there are some situations where blind obedience may be good, but when it comes to making moral decisions, I think individual reason needs to trump authority.
Nubby, I'm not going to argue about gay marriage with you. It's a complete tangent, no one here has ever said a convincing thing about it, and I don't have time. Sorry, maybe another time, but not now.
JoAnna Wahlund September 10, 2012 at 10:25 AM
Looks like it's time to repost this comment from Monica way back when...
I think the sentiment you expressed is one held by many- that Catholics blindly follow the Vatican, and never use their brains.
Once a person accepts certain premises that then draws him or her to the Church, they do not cease to think for themselves. However, let's take human sexuality for an example, once I accept the premises that lead me to the Church, the Church's view of human sexuality is infinitely logical and well-reasoned. Even difficult teachings, such as those on sterilization for women who risk their lives during pregnancy, or the teaching that gays must remain celibate, fit perfectly with the tapestry of life that the Church teaches. It doesn't make them easy teachings, but their "ease" is totally unrelated to their "reasonableness" or "truthfulness".
And when those premises are accepted, and a person then hears another Catholic teaching, they don't think to themselves, "Well, that makes no sense, but I'll follow blindly." They hear it, and they think, "Yes, this fits. Another piece of the puzzle that fits perfectly." And if a member of the Catholic clergy starts spouting nonsense, well, then a thinking Catholic will call him on it. This happens regularly.
Because of the absolute consistency in Catholic teaching, it is nice to be able to look up the answers in the back of the book, so to speak. But as someone who has gone through (hopefully) a thorough catechism, a Catholic realizes they aren't answers pulled out of thin air, they are well-reasoned under the premises of Christianity. And so, when a question like the infamous "trolley car switch" comes up, we might do a quick google search on Catholic Answers and feel pretty confident with the answer and reasoning provided.
I am not a moralist or a theologian, and so I let the experts do what they are meant to do- look at situations like tubal pregnancies, euthanasia, etc, and reason it out. I am smart enough to then follow their logical explanation and agree that it's logical. In the same way, I agree to let oncologists treat a cancer, because they are the experts. But if a doc suddenly tells me I need to sleep with a quartz crystal under my pillow, I would sense a logical problem and do a bit more digging. I hope that comparison makes sense.
Leila@LittleCatholicBubble September 10, 2012 at 10:39 AM
JoAnna, that is perfect! I remember that comment from Monica, and I should keep it handy. I'm glad you did!
Nubby September 10, 2012 at 10:43 AM
Nubby, I'm not going to argue about gay marriage with you.
I'm not asking for an argument. I asked you for your lawful evidence. What law or objective law are you hanging your hat on that says, "Yes, gay marriage is reasonable according to this, that and the other."
Can you tell me without including any of the following:
1) "People deserve to be happy"
2) "People in love should be allowed to marry"
3) Any other emotionalism
Just evidence of the lawful kind, not the emotional kind.
That is a good comment, and it does make sense, JoAnna. Wasn't really what I was asking (of course, ideally someone will agree with you intellectually and not just blindly), but I get your point.
Alright. I am going to drop out now in favor of doing the large quantities of work I have waiting for me. Thanks for the discussion!
Michelle, thanks, and I hope you will come back soon!
Nubby, it's one of the head scratchers of my life: What is the source of truth for athiests? I think it was MaiZeke who claimed that ojective truth exists but has no source? (That made my brain hurt, unless she was unknowingly making the case that Objective Truth = God, and then she just ceased to be an atheist!
I can't get out of the idea that an atheist's truth is based on emotion. How else to describe it? For example, we can determine who/what is a human being based on science. Personhood? Not determined by science. It's totally subjective, metaphysical, philosophical. So, the part of the moral law that deals with abortion, at least for those who argue "personhood", is not based in science, it's based in emotion/subjective opinion. Other parts of the moral law, such as gay "marriage"? Like you said, it's arguments like "because they deserve to be happy" or "because it's not harming anyone" -- those are emotional arguments, not based in any objective truth system or lawful evidence.
Meg @ True, Good and Beautiful September 10, 2012 at 1:17 PM
I know Michelle has left and I'm late to the convo, but I have to comment on this.
It's actually the opposite of arrogance. First, no one is being asked to blindly agree with anything. So much has been written on the doctrines of the faith, including issues like abortion, contraception, homosexuality, etc. Blind? People have no excuse to be blind! The information is there, for their consumption. John Paul II gave us the entire Theology of the Body to explain to us human sexuality. It's huge. And there's great study guides for it. No blindness. We like informed decisions.
Second, we aren't asking people to agree with us, ultimately. We are asking people to be obedient and humble before GOD and the Church that He founded and He guides and protects. These aren't Leila's teachings; these are God's teachings, entrusted to the Church. And those who understand, believe and love those teachings, try to help others understand them. But ultimately, none of this is about agreeing with any individual. It's about agreeing with God. No arrogance; humility.
Lastly, you sort of have something in common with the Church when you say this: when it comes to making moral decisions, I think individual reason needs to trump authority The Church would say that people are obligated to follow their consciences, which may have a bit of a different definition than your use of the term "reason", but I think we're close here. The Church wants people to follow their consciences, but we must properly form that conscience. It is our duty. If we fail to form it thoroughly and properly, we will be held accountable. And thankfully, with the completely consistent teachings of the Church as our guide, we know when we are off base on something. It takes supreme humility to learn more and to submit to the Church, but in doing so, it does help us develop our conscience so that it will lead us in the right direction.
Steve - IJH September 11, 2012 at 12:26 PM
Meg, what a wonderful description of what obedience means in this context. I was going to make a comment relating to the issue "existenceandessence" raised about what to do if one's own reasoning conflicts with Church teaching on a moral issue, but your comment conveys the truth far better than I could have.
Your first point about Catholics having a responsibility to study and learn their faith is like a "to do" list for the rest of my life (I'm a fairly recent convert). The doctrines of the faith are truly gifts to us and we are obliged to learn them and use them.
One point I would add: when confronted with a Church position with which my own logic might initially differ, I would recommend praying....for wisdom and that God might help me understand. This is in addition to studying the ample analyses of Church teachings that have been provided for us, both recently and over the centuries.
In my own life, I've arrived at the point where I now would assume that a difference I encounter between my own logic and Church teaching is likely due to a deficiency in my understanding. I need to pursue it, but I suspect the way my inquiry will turn out.
I know enough to know that the complete picture matters -- that the Church has a consistent, cohensive view of morality that is best understood and appreciated when seen in its entirety. Understanding that entirety is a big task; happily, it's a beautiful picture, one well worth a lifetime of study.
Do I blindly follow? That's not how I would describe it -- I see it more as a realization that I don't necessarily understand everything yet, and it's my job to study until I do understand. That would be, it seems to me, one way to describe faith, something I prayed for for many years before receiving its great gift.
This entire thread has been excellent. Thank you, Leila, Meg, and others.
Leila@LittleCatholicBubble September 11, 2012 at 11:03 PM
Meg and Steve, well said! Thank you!
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Crunchy M&M's Flavor Contest 2018
8 March, 2018 by Hedy Phillips First Published: 7 March, 2018
Get your voting fingers ready, M&M's fans, because it's up to you to decide which crunchy flavor the candymaker will put out next. Starting now, you can find Crunchy Raspberry M&M's, Crunchy Espresso M&M's, and Crunchy Mint M&M's in select retailers so you can decide which one deserves your vote to be mass-produced. As a dedicated fan of M&M's, I took it upon myself to try all three of the new flavors to guide you in the right direction of how to vote.
Crunchy Raspberry
The raspberry option is very subtly fruit flavored, so if you're looking for a real burst, this isn't it. However, that's what I like about it. It has just a kick of the raspberry, which pairs nicely with the dark chocolate.
Crunchy Espresso
The espresso M&M's, on the other hand, are boldly flavored. They have a strong coffee flavor that is complemented by the chocolate and the crispy center.
Crunchy Mint
But alas, the mint M&M's are far and wide my favorite. They legitimately taste like a bite-size Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookie. The mint isn't overly strong, but it lends itself to the dark chocolate in a way that's completely reminiscent of the popular cookie. The fact that it has a crunchy center makes it even more of a twin to the Thin Mint.
While the Crunchy Mint gets our vote for sure, you don't have to choose it for yourself. To find out how to make your own selection, check out the M&M's site before May 25. The flavor with the most votes will be announced in August and will continue to be sold in stores nationwide for an 18-month period. Happy tasting!
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Hedy Phillips
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Polished Performances »
Director: David Lynch.
Screenplay: David Lynch.
Starring: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Robert Forster, Brent Briscoe, Dan Hedaya, Patrick Fischler, Michael Cooke, Michael J. Anderson, Melissa George, Jeanne Bates, Angelo Badalamenti, Mark Pellegrino, Lori Heuring, Billy Ray Cyrus, Missy Crider, Chad Everett, Monty Montgomery, Scott Coffey, Bonnie Aarons, Rebekah Del Rio.
“It’ll be just like in the movies. Pretending to be somebody else.”
A recent poll by BBC Culture surveyed the opinion of film critics, academics, and curators from 36 countries across every continent which consisted of 177 of the worlds foremost movie experts. They were tasked to compile an international list of the top 100 films released since the year 2000 and come up with the best film of this century so far. It’s no easy task but when all was said and done, the film that topped the list was David Lynch’s hallucinatory and meditative film-noir, Mulholland Drive. It came as a surprise to some but for those familiar with the film itself, it was a fitting accolade.
Plot: After a car crash leaves her with amnesia, Rita (Laura Harring) has no idea who she is or where she’s come from and wanders around the streets of Los Angeles in a daze. She eventually finds refuge in an apartment where she is found by ambitious young actress Betty (Naomi Watts). Betty and Rita then work together and investigate the mystery of Rita’s condition and seek the answers to her true identity.
It’s pretty much common knowledge now that Mulholland Drive was a failed proposal by Lynch to embark on a new television series. Originally conceived while filming Twin Peaks, it was to be a spin-off featuring the character of Audrey Horne (which was played by Sherilyn Fenn). Lynch went on to direct a 90min pilot for ABC but, in the end, the network executives rejected it. As a result, Lynch rejigged and regurgitated the material into a feature film and produced, arguably, his finest work to date.
So complex is Mulholland Drive that Lynch released 10 clues to help in deciphering the plot. It’s in my opinion that these 10 clues are largely useless. Some may provide a little guidance but Lynch notoriously doesn’t explain his work and the clues he provides only serve as a false pretence in which to view the film. He toys with our perceptions and preconceived ideas of how a film should be constructed. I’ve viewed the film many times and the clues predominantly lead to a dead end. This is a film that demands numerous viewings and yet can still come out different each time. That is the sheer genius and craftsmanship that has went into it. There’s a lot about the film that simply isn’t explained; narrative arcs and characters appear and then disappear. This could have been intentional or it could have been the result of the material being planned for a long running TV show where they would’ve been explored in more detail. Either way, it works and adds to the hallucinatory vibe that courses throughout. It could be argued that the film is just a series of scenes loosely tied together and it’s up to the viewer to interpret for themselves. Like Lost Highway, what the individual viewer brings to the experience is what they will walk away with. If you invest the time and respect to Lynch’s vision, you will be richly rewarded.
It operates on many levels and the lines between fantasy and reality are constantly blurred. Some claim it to be a parallel universe, or repurposed elements to a person’s failed past but the strongest interpretation is that it’s predominantly a disconcerting dream state involving displacement and transference and where the reality and the fantasy intertwine.
The significance of the The Cowboy and his cryptic messages, the importance of the blue key and the blue box, the uneasy encounter with the man behind Winkies and the moment at Club Silencio where we are reminded that what we see isn’t necessarily always real. All of these tie-in with the symbolic importance of dream imagery.
It can also be viewed as a cynical and scathing indictment of Hollywood culture – which could be a direct reference to the problems that Lynch has faced with studios in the past or even the issue that he faced in trying to promote this particular film as a TV show. At one point in the film, studio bigwigs try to influence a director’s decision on whom he casts in his film. This was purportedly what Lynch faced by casting unknowns Watts and Harring in the lead roles here and one of the reasons that ABC rejected it (apparently they were too old). They couldn’t have been more wrong, though, as Watts delivers masterful work. There are at least three different interpretations to her character and she nails every one of them. She showcases her extensive range which, considering the narrative of the film, ironically made her a Hollywood star overnight.
Form over structure and the combination of sight and sound has always been a major attribute to Lynch’s work and in Mulholland Drive, they are integral to the overall composition. Regular Lynch composer Angelo Badalamenti’s haunting score compliments the uneasy mood and atmosphere created by Peter Deming’s foreboding cinematography, lending the film a truly sinister and ethereal feel.
The biggest achievement though, is how much Lynch manages to respect his audience’s intelligence without compromising or diluting the overall concept. This is a visual jigsaw and putting it together is a very challenging endeavour. Many, if not all, viewers will find pieces that just don’t to fit. That aside, this is still an intoxicating mystery and even when it’s seemingly inexplicable it’s still gripping and hugely involving. Those who like their narrative spelled out for them needn’t bother but those that enjoy a challenge will be enthused throughout this fascinating piece of work.
We’ve all had those dreams where people, places and events are twisted and distorted and that’s exactly what Lynch captures. There is a running, logical narrative that courses underneath it but it’s very much delivered in dream logic. Any coherent interpretation lies within the importance of it’s symbolism.
When you consider Lynch’s filmography over the years, this feels like the film that he has been building towards. All of his usual themes are on display; the psychological duality in an individual and the juxtaposition of innocence and corruption, beauty and depravity, shattered dreams and living nightmares. Put simply, it’s an abstract masterpiece.
Trivia: For what it’s worth, here are David Lynch’s 10 Clues to Unlocking The Mystery:
* Pay particular attention in the beginning of the film: at least two clues are revealed before the credits.
* Notice appearances of the red lampshade.
* Can you hear the title of the film that Adam Kesher is auditioning actresses for? Is it mentioned again?
* An accident is a terrible event… notice the location of the accident.
* Who gives a key, and why?
* Notice the robe, the ashtray, the coffee cup.
* What is felt, realized and gathered at the club Silencio?
* Did talent alone help Camilla?
* Notice the occurrences surrounding the man behind Winkies.
* Where is Aunt Ruth?
This entry was posted on October 11, 2016 at 9:45 am and is filed under Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery with tags 2001. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
36 Responses to “Mulholland Drive”
lewispackwood Says:
Reblogged this on 101 Films You Should Have Seen and commented:
A great review of 101 Films favourite, Mulholland Drive.
Thanks man. I appreciate that! 🙂
Mr. Movie Says:
Still my favourite film of all time …
High praise, indeed, man! You’ll have no argument here though. It’s a fantastic piece of work. I reckon I’n now going to have to revise my personal top ten! 🙂
Nice review Mark. This is definitely Lynch’s most perfect and hypnotic film, although I’ve always wondered how different Mulholland Drive would have been if it had remained a TV series.
I reckon it would have been very different, Charles. I suspect the identity or events surrounding Rita would probably have been the driving narrative much like ‘who killed Laura Palmer’ was for Twin Peaks. But it does look like several supporting characters from the film would’ve be fleshed out a lot more. It’s interesting but I’m kinda glad that Lynch was refused as the film itself is just sublime.
Great work as always Mark! I am wondering if I should give this another shot sometime – I wasn’t overly taken with it the first time. Who knows?
Cheers Zoë. To be honest, I don’t think anyone understood Mulholland Drive on the first viewing. It’s a film that demands several visits. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve seen it and I still don’t proclaim to understand it all. I think that’s the beauty and the art in the film, though. It’s always worth going back to see what else you can tease from it.
Fantastic post! Loving all the Lynch posts here lately. MD is my second favorite movie of all time, absolute masterpiece
Thanks Sati. Yeah, I went on a little Lynch kick recently. Totally agreed on it being a masterpiece. It really is a sublime piece of work.
It’s your second favourite film? If I remember correctly, your first is Black Swan?
Yeah it goes Swan, MDrive and Snatch 🙂
Not too shabby. Good to see Snatch rank so highly. That’s a top quality flick as well.
Wendell Says:
I need to give this a rewatch at some point. I’ve only seen it once. It seemed so pointlessly cryptic I disliked it and never felt the need to go back. I know, I know – you’ve got to see this at least half a dozen times before it makes any damn sense. That’s a problem. Some movies that twist my brain leave me ready to return to them and figure out what I missed. This one doesn’t do it for me. Maybe I’ll change my mind about it next time. If there’s a next time.
Understandable, Dell. I can’t recommend further viewings enough, though. It definitely needs to be picked at. There’s so much to work through. I know of a few people that gave up but I really do think this is an absolute masterpiece from Lynch. There’s even some things that still baffle me but when it Lynch that baffles me, I feel privileged.
I can’t believe that this film has eluded me. Comprehensive review there Mark, sounds like it really twists and turns between reality and fantasy.
Cheers Vinnie. It certainly pickles the old brain. But in a damn good way. 🙂
Something akin to a mind workout then?
Very much so! Lynch can get you using parts of your brain that few others directors are able to do.
I like it when a director actually gets you to use your brain with their movies.
Look no further than Lynch, Vinnie. Look no further!
I have really dug what I’ve seen of his work.
A genius! Plain and simple. Definitely one of the greatest ever American filmmakers.
I can’t argue with that. His individualism makes him stand out from the crowd.
It’s pure art that makes him such an individual. Film is an art form in its own right but Lynch operates on a completely different level from most.
I love how he uses cinema like that, his work can be judged as art. On another topic, I’ve recently been covering quite a lot of horror if you’re interested.
It’s certainly the time of year where a bit of horror is always welcome. My contribution to it was actually Lynch’s films themselves. All of them are horrific in their own way. I’ll swing by 🙂
Yeah, I can see the creepy horror in a lot of his work. Hope you enjoy my horror coverage.
Five Fucking Stars! I’m completely in agreement. All this Lynch is making me want to revisit a few of his films and check out the couple I’ve never seen. I’d like to watch it again with the clues at hand.
Cheers buddy. It a fucking class act, man. We’ve spoke before but it’s definitely Lynch’s definitive work. He’s a director I always go back to from time to time and I’m never disappointed. If anything, his films just get better the more you view them.
Totally. The guy’s a bona fide genius. And I’ll respond your “fucking class act” with a “I picked up the motherfucking Lynch box-set the other day for a tenner, motherfucker!”
Bona fide genius indeed.
A fucking tenner, you say? You fuck! That’s a motherfucking bargain. I suppose I should expect your fucking write-up’s on all things Lynch very fucking soon?. 😉
I’ll watch one or two soon. And there’s no need for language like that, you fucking fuck.
Haha! Fuck you! You fucking fuck!
saintronald2010 Says:
Naomi Watts is just incredible in this film…………One of the greatest acting performances of all time! It is incredible that she has not been given enough credit for this! A wonderful piece of work!
Sorry for such a late reply, my friend. I took a break from blogging.
Can’t agree with you more on Watts, though. She was outstanding in Mulholland Dr. One of the best female performances I’ve seen from any film.
Top 10 Soviet science fiction movies Says:
[…] you feel like slowly drowning in the swamp… It’s kind of ”Donnie Darko” goes on ”Mulholland Drive” in ”The Twilight Zone” atmosphere. My full review […]
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Homestead Facility For Unaccompanied Minors Expanding, Currently Housing Over 1,500 Children
By Karli Barnett February 13, 2019 at 6:00 pm
Filed Under:Homestead, Homestead Emergency Influx Care Facility, Immigration, Karli Barnett, Local TV, Migrant Children, Unaccompanied Minors
HOMESTAED (CBSMiami) – A shelter for migrant children in Homestead is expanding.
The Homestead Emergency Influx Care Facility houses teenage children who crossed without a guardian and are considered unaccompanied minors.
CBS4’s Karli Barnett was given access to the facility to get an inside look at the day to day operations.
It initially opened in 2016 after a record number of migrant children came across the border. It closed in 2017.
Then it opened again in March last year to accommodate an influx of children. As a so-called temporary shelter, it is able to expand and contract based on need.
Currently, they house 1,575 children, they are all between ages 13-17.
75 percent are boys and 25 percent are girls.
In December, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would be expanding the number of beds at the facility from the current 1,600 to 2,350.
“It’s totally unpredictable how many children are going to cross the border unaccompanied, which is what this program deals with. Our job is to be prepared,” says Mark Weber, who is with Health and Human Services Public Affairs.
Since December, they also hired an additional 230 employees. Each has to undergo an FBI background check.
On the tour, we saw dormitories. The children are divided by age and gender. Children ages 13 to 16 are in dorms that sleep 12 to a room. 17-year-olds have a large common room with about 140 beds.
All of the children attend classes including, Math, Science, Reading, English and Spanish. Each classroom has about 36 students with one teacher and four supervisors.
They also play sports and even have talent shows.
The cafeteria serves three meals and three snacks a day. When we went, lunch included fish, rice, beans, and fruit.
A medical center is staffed 24/7 with four doctors as well as a number of physicians assistants and nurses.
The command center keeps track of the children and is focused on finding family members or a sponsor once they are brought to the facility from border patrol.
“We work quickly to identify a sponsor here in the United States. Most all of those sponsors are parents or a close relative,” Weber says.
The children spend an average of 60 days at the facility before they are able to be released.
Since last March, about 6,000 children have been placed at the site, and 4,450 have been discharged.
Homestead is now the only temporary emergency shelter after the recent closing of a shelter in Tornillo, Texas. However, no children were transferred from Tornillo to Homestead. They were all placed with sponsors.
There are also no children there as a result of the Trump Administration’s Zero Tolerance Policy, so they were not separated from their families.
Weber says April and May of 2018 they did house about 140 children brought their due to the Zero Tolerance Policy, but they have all since been placed.
We were not allowed to speak to the children for privacy reasons, but while they were walking to classes and meals they smiled, waved and said “good morning.”
Many of the children, we are told, were victims of trafficking or other hardships.
All appeared to be well taken care of.
“For those who continue to call it a detention center, this is really a residential center for children,” Weber says. “It’s a temporary shelter while we are working to find a sponsor for them.”
The cost to keep it up and running is about $750 per day, per child. Those are federal dollars.
That’s compared to $250 per day, per child at traditional shelters.
At the 100 facilities across 17 states, they are operating at a rate of about 200 children in the system and 200 children out of the system each day.
Karli Barnett
Karli joined the CBS4 Morning team in October of 2018.More from Karli Barnett
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Tag: Juliet Gardiner
Britain at War: The Home Guard
Today, I’m going to be talking about Dad’s Army . . . I mean, the Home Guard, a defence organisation made up of British men who were too old, too young or otherwise ineligible to join the regular British Army. The Home Guard (initially called the ‘Local Defence Volunteers’, or LDV) was formed in 1940, when there was a real fear that Britain was about to be invaded by Germany. By that time, the Nazis had overrun Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and France, while most of the rest of Europe was ruled by dictators who supported Hitler. The British government called for volunteers to ‘defend our island’ and was overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response.
Local Defence Volunteers in London, 1940
At its peak, the Home Guard had nearly two million members. Unfortunately, the government was struggling to provide enough uniforms and rifles to the regular army (they’d lost quite a lot of equipment in their hasty withdrawal from Dunkirk), so the Home Guard had to improvise. They made bombs out of jam jars and beer bottles filled with petrol, borrowed ancient weapons from local museums, and sharpened up their pitchforks and kitchen knives. In June 1940, Churchill ordered that “every man must have a weapon of some sort, be it only a mace or a pike”, so 250,000 ‘pikes’ (obsolete bayonets welded to long steel tubes) were dutifully ordered (although never actually distributed to the Home Guard).
The Home Guard set up watch posts in coastal towns and erected roadblocks, but some of them were a little too enthusiastic in carrying out their duties:
“. . . on the night of 2/3 June 1940, LDVs shot and killed four motorists at separate locations; on 22nd June it was reported that two motorcyclists and their passengers had been killed and wounded in the north of England and in Scotland; on 26 June an ARP [Air Raid Precautions] warden was shot dead when he ignored (or maybe didn’t hear) an LDV challenge; and in Romford in Essex a car exhaust backfiring prevented the driver hearing the command to stop: four passengers were shot dead and a fifth seriously wounded.”1
The Home Guard did even more damage to themselves, as can be seen here. Although the Germans never invaded Britain, over 1,600 Home Guardsmen were killed on duty, often by self-inflicted injuries.
Officially, women weren’t allowed to join the Home Guard because it would be “abhorrent” for a female to bear arms. “What about Boadicea?” pointed out Labour MP Edith Summerskill, but she was ignored. Eventually a Women’s Home Guard Auxiliary was formed, but women who joined were only allowed to perform traditional womanly duties such as cooking, cleaning and taking telephone messages. This did not deter Marjorie Foster and her fellow female patriots, who set up the Amazon Defence Corps and trained women in the arts of musketry, bombing and unarmed combat. Henry FitzOsborne would have approved.
Tomorrow: Bletchley Park
Juliet Gardiner, Wartime Britain 1939-1945 ↩
Posted on October 10, 2012 December 18, 2016 Categories The Montmaray Journals, WWIITags Juliet Gardiner2 Comments on Britain at War: The Home Guard
The FitzOsbornes at War, Plus My Favourite Non-Fiction About WWII Britain
The final book in the Montmaray Journals trilogy, The FitzOsbornes at War, is released in North America today. Hooray!
‘The FitzOsbornes at War’, published in North America on October 9, 2012
This edition is pretty much the same as the Australian edition (apart from the cover art and the American spelling and punctuation, of course), but one difference is that it contains a family tree for the FitzOsborne family, dated 1955. As I don’t want those who bought the Australian edition to miss out, I’ve now posted a version of that family tree on my author website. (Please note that the family tree contains plot spoilers for all three books, so it’s not a good idea to click on that link until you’ve read all three books. Unless you’re the sort of reader who always reads the last pages of a novel first – in which case, go ahead and click.)
Now that the trilogy is finished, does anyone want to ask me any questions about the Montmaray books? I could set up a separate page on this blog with a big spoiler warning. If anyone thinks that’s a good idea, leave a comment below, and I’ll start a Montmaray Q & A page. (Of course, you can continue to email me with questions, but I thought it might be more efficient if everyone could read the questions and answers, especially as people tend to ask the same questions.)
Meanwhile, if you’re interested in how I went about researching, planning and writing The FitzOsbornes at War, I wrote a series of blog posts about it earlier this year. And here are my five favourite non-fiction books about Britain during WWII:
1. Debs at War 1939-1945: How Wartime Changed Their Lives by Anne de Courcy
The privileged young British women who joined the services, drove ambulances, built aircraft in factories, nursed the wounded and worked on farms during the war tell their stories.
2. Wartime Britain 1939-1945 by Juliet Gardiner
A meticulously researched account of every aspect of life on the Home Front, from the blackout, rationing and the Blitz, to the experiences of ‘enemy aliens’ and prisoners of war in Britain.
3. Voices from the Home Front: Personal Experiences of Wartime Britain 1939-1945 by Felicity Goodall
Moving stories taken from the letters and diaries of ordinary British people living through extraordinary hardships.
4. Keep Smiling Through: The Home Front 1939-45 by Susan Briggs
A fascinating and well-organised collection of wartime photos, cartoons, advertisements, posters, pamphlets and songs.
5. Sea Dog Bamse: World War II Canine Hero by Angus Whitson and Andrew Orr
The story of Bamse, a charismatic St Bernard who was an official crew member of the minesweeper Thorodd and a mascot to the Free Norwegian Forces stationed in Scotland during the war.
Tomorrow: The Home Guard
Posted on October 9, 2012 December 18, 2016 Categories The Montmaray Journals, WWIITags Andrew Orr, Angus Whitson, Anne de Courcy, Felicity Goodall, Juliet Gardiner, Susan Briggs2 Comments on The FitzOsbornes at War, Plus My Favourite Non-Fiction About WWII Britain
Britain at War: Masters of Illusion
This week, to mark the release of the North American edition of The FitzOsbornes at War, I’m going to be blogging about Britain during the Second World War. Today, it’s all about the artists who used their skills to camouflage buildings, guns, lorries, tanks, canals – and even entire cities – to protect them from Nazi attacks. Among these artists was the surrealist painter Julian Trevelyan, who was sent on a military camouflage training course in 1940. He learned how animals camouflage themselves in the wild with protective colouring, then was sent off with his paint tins and brushes to work in Cornwall, where he disguised concrete forts as cottages, public toilets and chicken houses, and used careful countershading to render anti-tank guns invisible against hedges. He also gave lectures to soldiers, showing them slide shows of how to camouflage themselves from air attacks (making sure he included slides “of nude girls under a camouflage net to wake up the men when they had dropped off”1). He was later stationed in North Africa and Palestine, where he disguised military tanks and created a dummy army to deceive the German Afrika Korps.
A dummy inflatable tank used by the Allies during WWII
Camouflage was also an essential part of Operation Normandy, the Allied invasion of occupied France and Belgium in 1944. The Allied strategists went to great lengths to fool the Germans into thinking the Allied troops would depart from Dover and land in Calais. There were hundreds of fake plywood planes stationed on Kent airfields, as well as dummy landing craft floating on the Thames. They set up inflatable rubber tanks and lorries to make it look as though the Allies had more equipment than they actually possessed, and the 82nd Group Camouflage Company spent weeks making fake tyre marks in the grass so that it would appear that an enormous army had been practising manoeuvres. They also built a huge fake oil-storage tank in Dover, which was regularly ‘inspected’ by the King and Queen for the benefit of German spies.
One of the most famous camouflage experts of the war was magician Jasper Maskelyne, who was recruited into the British army at the same time as Julian Trevelyan. Maskelyne had been particularly bored during the animal-camouflage lectures of their training course (“a lifetime of hiding things on the stage had taught me more about the subject than rabbits and tigers will ever know”2), but he went on to disguise military equipment in the Western Desert and even claimed that he’d made the city of Alexandria temporarily ‘disappear’. He truly was a Master of Illusion.
Tomorrow: Publication day for The FitzOsbornes at War! Also, I talk about some of my favourite non-fiction books about wartime Britain.
Julian Trevelyan, Indigo Days, quoted in Juliet Gardiner’s Wartime Britain 1939-1945 ↩
Jasper Maskelyne, Magic – Top Secret, quoted in Gardiner ↩
Posted on October 8, 2012 December 18, 2016 Categories The Montmaray Journals, WWIITags Juliet GardinerLeave a comment on Britain at War: Masters of Illusion
Lots of bloggers are listing their best and worst books of the year, and I’d like to join in. I do have a few problems, though. Firstly, I don’t keep a record of what I’ve read or when I’ve read it, so I’m not entirely certain whether some of these books were read this year, or at the end of last year. Secondly, I’m not going to name any books that I’ve disliked. It is true that I’ve been disappointed by a few books I’ve read recently. In each case, I’d been expecting something great, either because I’d liked previous books by that author, or because there’d been a lot of hype about the book. However, it isn’t the authors’ fault that my expectations didn’t match their books, so I don’t think I ought to criticise them for it. Thirdly, this year has been a bit unusual for me, with respect to my reading. I spent the first few months working my way through two enormous boxes of Australian YA fiction (and some non-fiction), because I was helping to judge a literary award. Then, for the rest of the year, I was immersed in non-fiction about World War Two (with some British 1930s and wartime novels for light relief). Here, then, is a list of the books I remember enjoying (or being intrigued by) this year.
Australian YA Fiction
I loved Pamela Rushby’s When the Hipchicks Went To War, which won this year’s Ethel Turner Prize in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. It’s a moving account of a teenage girl who goes to Vietnam to entertain the troops, told in a fresh, funny and very Australian voice. I enjoyed all the books on the shortlist for this prize (which is not very surprising, because I helped select the shortlist). I also liked Blue Noise by Debra Oswald. It’s an engaging story about some high schoolers who start a band, with an ending that was hopeful without being too neat or saccharine (also, hooray for an Australian book that is not set in a country town, and a story that does not rely on a teenage girl getting murdered or killing herself). I was also fond of Keepinitreal by Don Henderson (imagine the film The Castle, but with greyhound racing) and The Visconti House by Elsbeth Edgar (an old-fashioned mystery about an intriguing house and its former owner, featuring some beautiful writing).
I must have read lots of other novels this year, but only two (well, three) remain in my thoughts. The Believers by Zoë Heller has had mixed reviews, but I thought it was terrific. I admit that the characters are extremely unlikeable, and I did find the conclusion to Rosa’s story irritating and implausible. However, I was intrigued enough by this very dysfunctional New York family that I re-read the book, and I enjoyed it even more the second time.
The other novel that stuck in my mind was The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. Really, this book deserves a blog post all of its own. Suffice to say it’s the story of four people living in London during the Blitz, linked in ways that only become apparent at the end of the book, due to the very clever structure of the narrative. This was the first Sarah Waters book I’d read, and I was so impressed by her writing that I raced out and bought The Little Stranger. Which I did not like nearly as much (see what I mean about high expectations), even though it’s a very well-plotted ghost story with a fascinating setting (a crumbling country house in post-war England).
World War Two Non-Fiction
I read a LOT of books about wartime Europe this year, but it was for research purposes – I was interested in facts, not the literary qualities of the books. However, a few of them stood out because they were not only useful, but interesting and well-written enough to appeal to (some) general readers. Firstly, The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary was a fascinating, heart-breaking (and occasionally infuriating) memoir of a young RAF pilot who was shot down and badly injured during the Battle of Britain. The book gives an unsentimental account of his medical rehabilitation (his hands and face were surgically reconstructed by the pioneering plastic surgeon, Archibald McIndoe) and it describes Hillary’s evolving views on the war. The story is made more poignant by the fact that Hillary somehow managed to talk his way back into the air force (despite having only limited movement in his hands) and then crashed his plane during re-training, dying at the age of twenty-three. For a more general overview of Britain’s fighter pilots during WWII, I recommend Patrick Bishop’s Fighter Boys, which paints a vivid portrait of the individual (and very young) men who helped prevent Britain’s invasion in 1940. I also liked The Freedom Line by Peter Eisner, about the underground resistance in Belgium and France rescuing Allied airmen who’d been shot down over Nazi-occupied territory.
The best book I read about the experiences of civilians was Wartime: Britain 1939-1945 by Juliet Gardiner. Somehow, she managed to describe every aspect of wartime life, from rationing to the Blitz to the ‘invasion’ of Britain by American servicemen, in a way that was clear, coherent and accessible. However, at eight hundred pages, this book is probably only for those with a deep interest in the subject. For others, I recommend Keep Smiling Through: The Home Front 1939-45 by Susan Briggs, an intriguing collection of photos, cartoons, advertisements and newspaper articles from the war years, with just enough comment to provide context.
Other Non-Fiction
I think I only read two non-fiction books this year that weren’t about WWII, but they were both amazing. First was Kill Khalid: Mossad’s failed hit and the rise of Hamas by Paul McGeough. It reads like a thriller, but also explains the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. By the end of the book, I had a much better understanding of Middle Eastern politics, and felt thoroughly pessimistic about peace ever being achieved in that part of the world. Secondly, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins was, as I’d expected, a clear, rational argument for atheism. What I didn’t expect was that this book would be so entertaining, inspiring and plain laugh-out-loud funny. Admittedly, I’m an atheist, but I really feel this is an important book for everyone to read, regardless of their religious beliefs.
Phew! I seem to have read a lot of Very Serious Books this year, but this really wasn’t a typical reading year for me. I’m also sure I’ve left out some wonderful books that I’ve simply forgotten (due to my brain being over-stuffed with Very Serious Thoughts). What I have decided is that, from the first of January, I’m going to write down the title of each book I read, with a very short comment. I already have some book titles for my 2011 pile, including:
India Dark by Kirsty Murray
Monster Blood Tattoo Book Three: Factotum by D. M. Cornish
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Anonymity Jones by James Roy
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
and possibly, Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist, depending on how brave I’m feeling.
Hope you’ve all had a great reading year, and that 2011 brings you lots of smart, enthralling and inspiring books!
Posted on December 19, 2010 December 19, 2016 Categories books, my favourite books, WWII, young adultTags Debra Oswald, Don Henderson, Elsbeth Edgar, Juliet Gardiner, Pamela Rushby, Paul McGeogh, Richard Dawkins, Richard Hillary, Sarah Waters, Susan Briggs, Zoë Heller1 Comment on My Favourite Books of 2010
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HomeSrebrenica mothers receive salaries for their performance : how to become a millionaire: Mothers of Srebrenica steal money
Srebrenica mothers receive salaries for their performance : how to become a millionaire: Mothers of Srebrenica steal money
July 17, 2017 March 20, 2019 Grey Carter Bosnia, Bosnian criminals, Forged history, Hollywood, NATO WAR CRIMES, Neo Ottomanism, Ottoman in Balkans, Ruder and Finn, War and Lies
The following article was written by a Bosnian Muslim blogger a few years ago, I read it then and later forgot about it. Since it was last year when I heard from several sources the same (or at least very similar) story and it brought me back to the article, so I put it in English and published it on my blog. See what that man has to say:
“ I’m completely fucked up watching the Bereaved Mothers of Srebrenica, I’m fed up with a huge amount of lies that we, naive people, are served to (keep silent and) swallow, because it is said: Do not be unjust, leave them, they had very hard times… I’m not the one who’s unjust, – but they are, and I hate injustice and lies. First of all, I thank dear Allah, that Bakir and the TV show ’60 minutes’ exist because he was the only one with the courage to crush down all their lies.
I believe that absolutely nobody else would have the guts to say something against those professional mourners as they built too strong lobby around, put the whole world around, and who’s to be brave and say something against them? First of all during the broadcast on 08.09.2008. Munira Subasic, a chairwoman of the Association of Mothers of Srebrenica publicly and without any shame and remorse acknowledges the following: – that she owns two houses in Sarajevo( one of which was from the pre-war period) and One house in Srebrenica, – but the second one and incomparably larger Sarajevo house was built recently; it has three floors and an attic (finely shown during the Show); she has even a minister as a lodger who, of course, regularly pays rent.
This rent is paid from the budget (ie our money) because I don’t know of a single minister from Sarajevo who doesn’t have a flat or a house, which means that the minister is coming from out of Sarajevo (Munira did not want to reveal his identity).
Munira Subasic, one of Srebrenica profiteers
When it came to her pay, this “saddened Srebrenica mother” laughingly said that she’s paid ”4000 marks monthly,” (about 2000 euro; almost 10 average salaries in Bosnia and Herzegovina) and then adds, “and, I spend two for life, and the rest I hold for savings .. . “ (?) – ( Srebrenica Mothers ARE paid for their WORK? What are they paid for? )
It didn’t end here, and as reporter’s questioned about her official car (jeep donated to the organization by the United Nations) this ”saddened Srebrenica mother” coldly says that “since I cannot hold the car in front of the Organisation’s office” (she didn’t say why she can’t park the donated UN vehicle in front of her office), … ” so I park it front of my house and my son drives it because I have my own car. … “ (?!?!?).
So-called Srebrenica mothers have found an easy way to make a fortune
So-called Srebrenica mothers have found an easy way to make fortune in Balkans
As for donations, she said that BH Telekom donated 300,000 KM (?), (about 120 000 eu) of which, according to her, 18,000 was spent in renewing the premises of the organization ( also donated by the government), and that “something” was spent for the functioning of the organization, and that the account still has “some money” for future work. Later appeared the fact that of these “some money” on the account, there was still about 100,000, and it turns out that ”some money” for the work of the Organization is 170 to 180,000 KM (about 100 000 eu)… How they manage to get the donation of 300,000, again, is another unclear story.
In the end, she admitted that even though a “saddened victim of Srebrenica” she has not even been in Srebrenica during the war; her husband didn’t participate in the war but worked there for someone, and of course he got away alive from Srebrenica. But what is terribly low is the fact that their daughter is on the list of orphaned Srebrenica children so she receives monthly and annual donations (aid) on that basis?!?! I know a lot of people of her kind and their lies are always alike, served in order to use the opportunity of the War at any cost. ”To some war is a good brother” – I was aware of that, but I needed an argument for the story itself, and here it is given.
The same Chairwoman of the Mothers of Srebrenica along with the rest of them each July 11 pulls and waves those rags with descriptions and names of the dead, meanwhile her son and husband live to the fullest since they are alive and richer than all of us! And I honestly know, and old people of Srebrenica confirmed that most of the Srebrenica women used the opportunity to put on the list of those killed the names of people who had died years before the war started. I also know that none of them absolutely have no intention to return to Srebrenica. And why should they? Their children are in Sarajevo, finishing their studies in the Sarajevo university ( something they could only dream about before they became the Srebrenica women)
Also, when so many of these women suffer and mourn their fallen husbands (exceptions to honest women), why I see around each of them up to four young children??
I’m sick of the fact that the bearded creature Munira as it is called, without basic education, is travelling around the world and the same illiterate women meet the greatest statesmen of the world: we do not need such a representation of the country, through the illiterate and uneducated people. I’m sick of it when we are forced to be with them in a small space, to listen to their stories that they suffered, their pain, etc…
I’m sick when 11 July approaches, and I see the same these ‘Saddened’ living nearby, watching the broadcast on television, and the children of Sarajevo schools must travel by buses to Srebrenica and pay tribute to their ‘fallen husbands and sons’.
After reading the text people will probably say, ”He’s not a Muslim, he isn’t a believer”. But, hey people, I’m on the side of truth, and if you do not believe me, see the 60 minutes tv show, and believe it; admit it at least to your own ears, without any shame and remorse. Her salary is 4000, and we are convinced that our politicians are thieves? Be on the side of justice!”
Dranny http://neboljubavi.blogger.ba/
Posted on July 14, 2013, by Grey Carter
← History revisionism in Bosnia, Honoring Nazis: The Bosnian Muslim Government Named an Elementary School After a Nazi SS Officer
The Albanian Muslim Battalion in the Bosnian Muslim Handschar Nazi SS Division: Kosovo Albanian Nazi SS tradition →
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← Michigan Lottery Players Urged to Check Tickets to See if They Have $50,000 Fantasy 5 Jackpot Winner; Prize Must Be Claimed by Monday
Detroit Educator Wins Excellence in Education Award from the Michigan Lottery →
Livingston County Woman Gets ‘Fresh Start’ after Winning $300,000 Prize Playing Wild Time Rocks
A Livingston County woman is looking forward to a “fresh start” after winning $300,000 playing the Michigan Lottery’s Wild Time Rocks instant game.
“Winning this much money playing the Lottery is mind blowing. I’ve experienced so many different emotions since winning, and I’m so thankful for the fresh start this gives me,” the player said.
The 27-year-old player, who chose to remain anonymous, bought her winning ticket at the Fowlerville Sunoco, located at 928 South Grand Street in Fowlerville.
“When I stopped at the Sunoco, I planned on buying one Wild Time Rocks ticket,” said the player. “When I found a $10 bill in my wallet, I decided to buy two tickets. The second ticket was the $300,000 winner.”
After scratching the ticket, the player called her parents and then some other family members and close friends to tell them the good news.
“Everyone I told thought I was teasing them,” said the player. “My cousin told me she wouldn’t believe me unless I sent her a picture of the ticket. When I sent her a text with the picture, I accidentally replied to a group text and sent it to about five other people. Luckily, they were all close friends and family.”
Winning a $300,000 prize couldn’t have come at a better time for the player who has experienced some personal struggles over the past several years.
“I’ve been working so hard to get my life on the right track, and I feel like things are finally coming together for me,” said the player. “This money gives me a much needed clean slate financially, and helps take so much pressure off of my shoulders.”
The lucky player visited Lottery headquarters today to claim the big prize. With her winnings, the player plans to pay off her debt, buy a newer car, finish her nursing degree, and invest in a retirement account.
Players have won more than $8.8 million playing Wild Time Rocks, which launched in September. Each $5 ticket offers players a chance to win prizes ranging from $5 up to $300,000. More than $13.7 million in prizes remain, including two $300,000 prizes, and 30 $2,000 prizes.
Lottery instant games may be purchased at 11,000 retailers across the state.
This entry was posted in Instant Games, Michigan Lottery, Winners List and tagged Anonymous, Instant Games, Michigan Lottery, Public Relations, Winner, www.michiganlottery.com. Bookmark the permalink.
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Archive for the tag “VAT Tax”
Ugandan National Development Plan II – Outtakes and Quotes from the Plan
SECOND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2015/16 – 2019/20 (NDPII):
“A Transformed Ugandan Society from a Peasant to a Modern and Prosperous Country within 30 years”.
This here piece will be the important and special words and numbers from this report that has had a release date the same as budget for financial year 2015/2016. This is important to address to show what the draft of 3rd March 2015 is saying. If the numbers has changed then the government should drop and show the world the updated NDPII. But that hasn’t surfaced anywhere. Therefore I will drop the numbers and quotes I do have. It will be a long piece. But this is a big plan with enormous sums of monies in play. So with that play you got show what the government really want to do. I have already showed the dream-piece or press release earlier this week. So this here will see if that has changed or not. The pages where the quotes are from are not direct pages because the page number is different in an pdf so the empty pages also get counted. Just to explain that.
Basic of the Plan:
“This National Development Plan (NDPII) is the second in a series of six 5-year Plans aimed at achieving Uganda Vision 2040” (…) “The Plan also seeks to leverage opportunities and honour obligations presented by emerging developments at the national, regional (East African Community (EAC), and the Africa Agenda 2063), and global levels (the Post 2015 Development Agenda)” (P: 12). “This Plan prioritizes investment in three key growth opportunities including Agriculture; Tourism; Minerals, Oil and Gas as well as two fundamentals: Infrastructure and Human Capital Development” (P: 13).
Certain information:
“The overall government budget deficit level was unstable over the three years, increasing from an overall balance including grants of 2.5 percent of GDP in 2011/12 to 3.4 percent in 2012/13 and to 5.0 percent in 2013/14” (…) “ (…) “Fiscal Deficit: The overall government budget deficit level was unstable over the three years, increasing from an overall balance including grants of 2.5 percent of GDP in 2011/12 to 3.4 percent in 2012/13 and to 5.0 percent in 2013/14.” (…) “Uganda‘s total debt stock rose from UGX11,234.9 billion in 2010/11 to UGX15,939.1 billion in 2012/13 (close to 30 percent of GDP). External debt in 2012/13 was UGX9,893.3 billion (USD3.761 billion). In 2012/13, the total stock of domestic debt stood at 10.4 percent of GDP and 15.8 percent of GDP for the total stock of External debt” (P. 30)
“The Public Debt-to-GDP ratio is currently (2013/14) at 26.14 percent and is projected to peak at about 42 percent in 2019/20, but will remain below the 2013/14 debt strategy threshold of 50 percent throughout the projection period. The debt is however still highly sensitive to non-concessional borrowing, given the current structure of external debt” (P: 32).
“Commercial Banking and Microfinance: As of April 2014, Uganda had 26 licensed commercial banks, with about 544 branches and 5.5 million accounts. The commercial banks hold about 80 percent of the total assets of the financial system and the NSSF holds almost the remaining 20 percent. Savings are still low despite measures to increase savings in the past which included: NSSF improving its return on savings; starting the financial literacy project; URBRA putting in place a framework to enable the informal sector to participate in formal saving schemes; and having SACCO‘s empowered to mobilize savings. SACCOs and MFIs are still experiencing weaknesses in regard to their sustainability, due to the low mobilization of savings from the public, partly due to the over dependence on Government through the Uganda Micro Finance Support Centre and also the fraudulent activities that are a vice to the people‘s savings” (P: 36). “Uganda‘s capital markets are characterized by under capitalization and limited investment opportunities. The Stock Market remains thin, with only 16 companies listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE). Equity markets are poorly developed and only large and well established firms can realistically raise finance on equity markets” (P: 37).
“Generally, during the NDPI period the paved road stock increased at an average rate of 123km, lower than the targeted increase of 220km per year” (P: 42). “The rail infrastructure has not changed over the last 5 years. The current rail network comprises of long meter-gauge rail lines, running from the east to the west of the country. Its operations are limited to 640 km between Kampala-Malaba, Kampala–Port Bell, Kampala-Nalukolongo and Tororo-Gulu, while the rest of the network is defunct” (P: 42).
“Currently, only 2 percent of water is used for production, with only 1 percent of potential irrigable area, where 15,000Ha out of 3,030,000Ha is under formal irrigation. Access to water for livestock at present is estimated at 48.8 percent. The country is increasingly facing a major challenge of prolonged droughts and unexpected floods due to climatic change and variability and is predicted to be water stressed by 2025” (P: 44).
“Financing Health Services: The trend in allocation of funds to the health sector shows an average increase of 20 percent per annum in absolute terms over the past four years of HSSIP. However, the allocation to health as percentage of the total Government budget has reduced from 9.6 percent in 2003/2004 (AHSPR, 2013/14) to 8.6 percent in 2014/15 of the total Government budget much lower than the Abuja Declaration target of 15 percent. This decline has taken place in the midst of rising health care demand and costs due to high population growth” (P: 48-49).
“Pre-Primary Education: The net enrollment at pre-primary level stands at 10.1percent (EMIS 2013). The provision of pre-primary education continues to be dependent on NGOs, multilateral organizations, and the private sector. This limits access with high disparities between urban and rural areas and among different socio-economical levels” (P: 50).
“Primary Education: The implementation of UPE program since 1997 resulted to increased access from 2.5 million to 8.5 million in 2013. The Pupil/Book ratio has stagnated at an average of 4:1 from 2009 to 2013. The repetition rate reduced from 11.7percent in 2009 to 10.3percent in 2013” (P: 50).
“Secondary Education Sub-sector: The Student/Classroom Ratio (SCR) improved from 68:1 in 2009 to 57:1 in 2013 (EMIS 2013). In 2013, Government owned secondary schools were 1,019 (36 percent), private schools were 1,819 (64 percent). Enrolment in Government secondary schools is 669,225 (49 percent) and it is 693,514 (51 percent) in private schools” (P: 51).
“Higher Education: Total student enrolment in higher education increased by 26percent from 183,985 in 2010 to 232,612 in 2013. Universities continue to enrol the majority (67.3 percent) of post-secondary students (156,747) as of 2013. 60 percent of these are in Public Universities. The private providers cater for the remaining 40 percent” (P: 51).
“Economic development and transformation cannot thrive if citizens and investors have no confidence in the rule of law and the justice system” (…) “Good governance provides a setting for the equitable distribution of benefits from economic growth. The Constitution requires that the State promotes balanced development for all regions of the country, between rural and urban areas. It also requires the State to take special measures to develop Uganda‘s least developed areas and to pay special attention to the problems of the marginalized” (P: 57). “The Government of Uganda has adopted the Zero Tolerance‖ to Corruption Policy (2009). The policy correctly recognizes that fighting corruption requires measures beyond legislation and sanctions against corruption. It also requires restoring public sector ethics and creating behavioural change” (P: 60). “However, international surveys, as well as nationally representative data indicate that corruption in Uganda remains a major problem. The East African Bribery Index (EABI, 2013) found that 82 percent of respondents in Uganda described the current level of corruption as high, while 10 percent perceived it to be medium (Transparency International, 2013)” (P: 61).
Oil and Minerals:
“Uganda is destined to benefit from the opportunities explored along the minerals, oil and gas development value chain by addressing a number of challenges and emerging issues involved in minerals and petroleum development” (…) “The petroleum sub-sector is challenged by: inadequate industry infrastructure to support upstream petroleum activities; excitement and high expectations from the general public; lack of skilled manpower, both in the public and the private sectors; inadequate financing; land acquisition for infrastructure development for oil prospecting; and low institutional preparedness; huge capital requirements and technical expertise needed for projects; inconsistent fuel supply leading to scarcity of petroleum products; and absence of a legal framework and associated technical capacity to regulate and minimize the attendant environmental risks” (P: 71).
Cooperatives:
“There are over 6,351 registered SACCOS with savings of over UGX 120 billion, total shareholding of over UGX 25 billion and loans of UGX 80 billion. Cooperatives have also been formed in other sectors of the economy. For example, 2 energy cooperatives are managing the distribution of energy, 10 housing cooperatives are at various stages of development” (P: 76).
Illiteracy:
“The country still faces high levels of illiteracy. According to UNHS 2009/10, 6.9 million Ugandans (5.5 million women & 1 .4 million men) aged 15 years and above are non-literate – unable to read, write and numerate with understanding” (P: 83).
Local Government:
“The financing for local governments has increased from UShs974 billion to over UShs2 trillion today” (…) “In general, LG staffing level is at 56 percent for the districts and 57 percent for the municipal councils – a state that has further constrained service delivery. Rapid urbanization characterized by an increase in urban centers from 28 in 1969 to more than 400 in 2013 (1 City, 22 Municipalities, 174 Town Councils and 207 Town Boards) has been without proper planning and facing declining resources. In addition, governance at LGs characterized by poor coordination between the technical and political leadership especially in newly created districts is hindering service delivery” (…) “This is mainly due to breakdown of social values, peoples‘ expectations of hand-outs from government and CSOs, mistrust of communities towards leaders due to persistent unfulfilled promises” (P: 84-85).
“Regional Commitments: Protocol on the establishment of the East African Community Monetary Union. Particularly; Article 2 (b) attain the macroeconomic convergence criteria in article 6 (2) and maintain the criteria for at least 3 consecutive years. The criteria include:
a) ceiling on headline inflation of 8 percent
b) a ceiling on fiscal deficit, including grants, of 3 percent of GDP
c) a ceiling on Gross Public Debt of 50 percent of GDP in Net Present Value terms; and
d) a reserve cover of 4.5 months of imports
The indicative convergence criteria are;
a) a ceiling on core inflation of percent
b) a ceiling on fiscal deficit, excluding grants, of 6 percent of GDP
c) A tax to GDP ratio of 25 percent” (P: 103).
Part III: Strategic Direction:
“The strategy highlights the key development outcomes expected under the NDPII, the interventions and resources required to achieve these outcomes. The strategy also provides a motivation for the sources of growth and the expected socio-economic outcomes” (P: 111). “The goal of this Plan is to attain middle income status by 2020” (P: 112). “Fiscal Expansion for Frontloading Infrastructure Investment: In order to realize the necessary public investment, government will harness concessional and semi-concessional financing and other development support facilities that are targeted to accelerate investment in infrastructure and human development, among others. Industrialization: To stimulate growth and employment, the country will promote value addition through agro-processing and mineral beneficiation as well as light manufacturing which have a higher multiplier effect on wealth creation. Fast Tracking Skills Development: In order to plug the current skills gap, government will establish five centers of excellence to rapidly build the necessary skills required in the key priority areas. Export Oriented Growth: Uganda‘s strategic location at the heart of East Africa makes it well placed to exploit the regional market. The region is increasingly becoming a fertile ground for small scale exporters, diversifying the export market and adding value to traditional export commodities. A Quasi-Market Approach: A Quasi-Market approach will be pursued in order to increase efficiency of the public sector and competitiveness of the private sector. With this approach Government will invest in key strategic infrastructure in order to remove the barriers of entry and increase private sector participation in the key growth areas” (P: 114).
“Harnessing the Demographic Dividend: Uganda will implement policies aimed at accelerating a rapid decline in fertility and ensure the resulting surplus labour force is well educated, skilled, healthy and economically engaged in order to reap the demographic dividend. Urbanization: Uganda will implement a tripartite strategic policy aimed at accelerating planned and controlled urbanization, while ensuring the critical link between urbanization and modernization of agriculture where the urbanizing community frees land for commercial agriculture as well as create a market for the increased output and quality of agro products. Strengthening Governance: The key development results cannot be achieved without the necessary enabling environment. Meeting good governance principles which include: constitutional democracy; protection of human rights; rule of law; free and fair political and electoral processes; transparency and accountability. Integrating Key Cross-Cutting Issues into Programmes and Projects: The key cross-cutting issues of; Gender, HIV/AIDS, environment, nutrition, climate change, human rights, social protection, child welfare among others will be mainstreamed in the relevant programmes and projects during the implementation of the Plan” (P: 115).
Agriculture NDPII:
“For this Plan period, focus is placed on investing in the following agricultural enterprises along the value chain: Cotton, Coffee, Tea, Maize, Rice, Cassava, Beans, Fish, Beef, Milk, Citrus and Bananas. These enterprises were selected for a number of reasons including, high potential for food security (maize, beans, Cassava, Bananas); high contribution to export earnings (e.g. Maize – USD 21 million in 2005; coffee -USD 388 million in FY 2007/08; fish – USD 143 million at its peak; tea – USD 56 million in 2007)” (P: 120). “During NDPII the necessary institutional changes should be made so that a clear strategy for agro-processing can be developed and implemented. This should enable proposals for locating value addition facilities in the proposed zones” (P: 121).
Tourism NDPII:
“The NDPII has prioritized investment in strategic tourism supportive infrastructure (expansion of Entebbe International Airport, construction of Kabale Airport in Hoima, upgrading of strategic airfields, construction and maintenance of strategic tourism roads, as well as, investing in water transport to support tourism activities” (P: 122).
Minerals, Oils and Gas NDPII:
“The pumping of an estimated reserve of 3.5 billion barrels of oil, expected to start by 2017/18, portends great benefits for transport, energy, road infrastructure and public revenue” (…) “In the first year of implementation of the NDPII, a mineral development master plan containing the Country Mining Vision will be developed to implement the African Mining Vision. The Vision will clearly provide the detailed strategic direction and guidance for the mining, oil and gas during the NDP period and beyond” (P: 124-125).
“Standard Gauge Railway System” (…) “A good railway system would effectively link Uganda to other countries within the East African region and to overseas. This is key to exporting, and importing for manufacturing and services at affordable/competitive rates via connections to Djibouti and Mombasa if we are to achieve the Plan targets” (P: 126). “Strategic Roads” (…)“For this Plan period, 1,500KM of gravel roads will be upgraded to tarmac, 700KM of old paved roads will be rehabilitated and 2,500KM of paved roads and 10,000KMs of unpaved roads will be maintenance” (P: 128) (…) “Energy Infrastructure: Government will invest in the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the exploitation of the abundant renewable energy sources including hydropower, geothermal, and nuclear, so as to increase power generation capacity from 825MW in 2012 to 2,500MW in 2020 and prepare for achievement of the required 41,738 Mega Watts by year 2040” (P: 130). “Oil and Gas: The pumping of this oil and gas is expected to start by 2017/18” (…) “The Government will commence construction of a 22-inch diameter, 1,300Km long oil pipeline from Hoima via Lokichar to Lamu in Kenya. This is in addition to the oil refinery that is to be constructed at Kabaale in Hoima to process petroleum and other products for the domestic and international market” (P: 131). ICT: “Over the Plan period, government will prioritize investment in the following ICT infrastructure: extension of the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) to cover most of the country so as to increase penetration of communication services; finalise the migration from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting” (P: 132). Human Capital Development: “the Plan will focus on providing early childhood survival and full cognitive development. Efforts will be geared at: reducing incidences of morbidity and mortality; scaling up critical nutrition interventions outcomes especially for children below 5-years; and implementation of Early Childhood Development (ECD)” (P: 134). “A skills development programme will be designed and tailored to the Industrial strategy, production zones and urban corridor locations that will be planned during NDPII. Provisions will be made for skills training on location at infrastructure construction sites to give unemployed young Ugandans rather than imported labour the maximum chance of personal development”(P: 135).
Overall Growth:
“The NDPII assumes that all the interventions outlined in the strategic direction will be implemented during the period 2015/16-2019/20. In particular, it is assumed that the following will be realized during the NDPII period: (i) increasing productivity of all sectors, (ii) pursuing value addition especially for the agro-processing and mineral products, (iii) creating an environment where industrialization can flourish, and; (iv) improving social delivery of services” (P: 139).
Fiscal Strategy:
“The fiscal strategy of the NDPII is underpinned by the need to maintain macroeconomic stability and a quest to competitively position Uganda to fully benefit from the East African Common Market” (P: 141). ”The focus of addressing the infrastructure deficit while consolidating the gains in human capital development remains a key priority for the NDPII. In summary, being that infrastructure has been prioritized; the fiscal deficit will mainly be driven by the additional resources required for infrastructure and human capital development” (P: 142).
Expenditure Strategy:
“The overall average spending is expected to be 21.1 percent of GDP with the peak of 22 percent of GDP expected in 2016/17, and consolidation of spending by the end of the Plan period” (P: 142).
Revenue Development:
“On the revenue outlook, the NDPII envisages that there will be some improvement in domestic revenue mobilization (excluding oil revenues). These gains will arise from minimizing the use of non-standard VAT tax exemptions which have compromised the effectiveness of tax collection. These exemptions are estimated to reduce government revenue by 1 percent of GDP” (P: 144). “Grants under the NDPII period are expected to decline due to a combination of factors including: (i) austerity measures pursued in donor countries (ii) continued positive growth perception of donors about Uganda‘s recent developments and therefore not being eligible for certain grants. As a result grants are expected to decline further to 0.5 percent by the end of 2020” (P: 145).
Monetary Policy Stance and inflation:
“The Bank of Uganda (BOU) has been implementing monetary policy under an Inflation Targeting Lite (ITL) monetary policy framework since July 2011” (…) “BOU will continue to implement a monetary policy framework that will ensure price stability and at the same time conducive in attaining economic growth over the NDPII period. The inflation outlook will be largely dependent on changes in domestic food prices, exchange rate and international commodity prices. Over the NDPII period, the objective is to keep annual inflation low and stable assuming no major shocks to the economy” (…) “The foreign exchange market: The import content of infrastructure investment in Uganda is estimated to be between 67 percent and 80 percent, but over 80 percent of the key infrastructure projects will be financed from external sources” (…) “Domestic liquidity and private sector credit: The impact of public investment on domestic liquidity will be limited due to the high import content of the infrastructure projects. Nonetheless, a higher fiscal deficit and foreign exchange purchases by BOU will create a liquidity injection that must be managed appropriately to maintain low and stable inflation and healthy levels of private sector credit” (…) “Credit rating: There is a risk that higher fiscal deficits over the medium term will reduce confidence in Uganda‘s public finances. This could lead to a downgrading of the country‘s credit rating and raise interest costs” (P: 149-150).
Concessional External loans:
“Concessional loans are defined as external loans contracted with a grant element of more than 35 percent mainly sourced from the bilateral and multilateral donors. Over the years these loans have cushioned Uganda to finance a moderate deficit. In 2014/15, concessional loans were projected to contribute up to 2.3 percent of GDP” (…) “Less than 50 percent of the financing needs will be met through concessional borrowing in 2013/14. Given this background, the NDPII relies on conservative estimates for concessional borrowing. It is expected that over the NDPII period concessional loans will remain a key source of financing in 2015/16 and 2016/17 and decline to 1 percent of GDP in fiscal year 2019/20 as the financing needs also decline” (P: 151-152).
Semi-Concessional External Loans:
“Financing from semi-concessional loans especially for large infrastructure projects including Karuma and Isimba dams and the SGR are expected to total USD 5.3 billion during the period 2015-20” (…) “Under the NDPII Government will continue to source these types of loans given their favorable terms compared to commercial loans” (P: 152).
Non-Concessional External Borrowing
“It is imperative that Government also starts exploring other options especially to finance large infrastructure projects whose economic returns may not be viable in the short run but with enormous social benefits. Uganda is currently rated at B by Fitch and Standard and Poors rating agencies” (P: 152).
Domestic Borrowing:
“Government started issuing securities for fiscal purposes in the year 2012/13 raising about UGX650bn (1.2 percent of GDP)” (…) “Given these challenges, the NDPII would attempt to limit domestic borrowing to current levels especially as the infrastructure projects get completed. The level of domestic debt would be limited to the range of 1.5-3 percent if domestic debt is to be contained within sustainable levels” (P: 153).
Public Private Partnership:
“Given the scale of investments required under NDPII, there is need to have close cooperation between the public and private sectors in form of public-private sector partnerships (PPP)” (…) “Government has already embarked on promoting and encouraging PPP in various forms for the smooth implementation of NDPII. Legislation towards formulating laws for PPPs is also in advanced stages. The forms that PPPs usually take include joint ventures between the Government and private sector entity/ies where both may contribute financial resources, Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT), Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT), Build, Own and Operate (BOO) and Concessions” (P: 153).
Financing debt:
“Under this financing strategy, all the solvency and liquidity external debt-burden indicators remained well below their policy-dependent thresholds throughout the projection period. The public gross national debt would peak at 42 percent of GDP in 2019/20 while the NPV is expected to peak at about 40 percent of GDP” (P: 154-155).
Afterthought:
This must be an eye-opener. It has already been a long article. I could have written my opinion on the matters and the whole NDPII. But I think the quotes speak for themselves. That if these don’t give you any indication on how the Government of Uganda hopes it turns out. They also told in this draft that certain aspects of the NDPI they didn’t succeed so if they don’t do it here. It shouldn’t be like a lightning strike from a clear sky. More like expected, this should be hard to achieve it’s a broad and general plan that has visions of all aspects of society from narrow industrial projects to infrastructure. That gives a lot of power and also a framework which is big. Therefore they need massive funding for this and already seen in other documents and in this that the scale of debt and loans is getting higher while the donor countries are offering less to the state coffers. Meanwhile the economy isn’t sustainably growing. While the Oil and Gas might cover for this that will still to be seen in 2017/2018 when the monies are expecting to recover. In the meanwhile the economy will drive itself on loans and hope for other funding. It’s already up to 40% of all budget concerns which is alarming. It should be, even if progression and analyzes say it can go up to 50% before the debt rate is too high. Even though that makes sense from an economic standpoint it’s still frightening to see the figures on how it has risen. And I wonder does the government have a constructive plan to pay this back to its creditors? Because that doesn’t comply here or anywhere else I have seen which is a little bit frightening. Peace.
Posted in Africa, Aid, Business, Civil Service, Climate, Development, Economic Measures, Ethics, Governance, Government, Law, Politics, Tax, Trade and tagged Africa Agenda 2063, African Mining Vision, Agriculture, agro-processing, Bananas, Bank of Uganda, Beans, Beef, Bilateral, BOO, BOOT, BOT, BOU, Budget, Build, Cassava, child welfare, Citrus, Civil Society Organization, Coffee, Commercial Banking, Concessional External loans, cooperatives, Cotton, Country Mining Vision, Credit, Credit rating, Crude Oil Pipeline Development, CSO, Debt Strategy, Djibouti, Domestic liquidity, Donors, EABI, EAC, Early Childhood Development, East African Bribery Index, East African Community, East African Community Monetary Union, East African Region, ECD, Education, Energy Infrastructure, Entebbe International Airport, Expenditure Strategy, External Debt, Finance, Financing debt, Fiscal Deficit, Fiscal Expansion, Fiscal Strategy, Fish, foreign exchange market, Gas, Gross Public Debt, H. E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, HEALTH SECTOR STRATEGIC & INVESTMENT PLAN, HIV/AIDS, Hoima, HSSIP, Human Capital Development, Human Development, Hydropower, ICT, Illiteracy, Industrialization, Inflation Targeting Lite, Infrastructure, ITL, Kabale Airport, Karuma, Kenya, Lamu, LG, Local Government, Lokichar, Maize, Malaria, MFI, Microfinance, Milk, Minerals, Mombasa, Monetary Policy Stance, Multilateral, National Backbone Infrastructure, National Development Plan II, National Resistance Movement, National Social Security Fund, NBI, NDPII, non-concessional borrowing, Non-Concessional External Borrowing, NPV, NRM, NSSF, Oil, Oil Pipeline, Operate and Transfer, Overseas, Own, Own and Operate, Post 2015 Development Agenda, PPP, Public Debt-to-GDP ratio, Public Private Partnership, Quasi-Market approach, Rail Infrastructure, Revenue Development, Rice, Road, SACCO, Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations, Semi-Concessional External Loans, Standard and Poors rating agencies, Standard Gauge Railway, Standard Gauge Railway System, Strategic Roads, Tea, the Zero Tolerance‖ to Corruption Policy, Tourism, Ugamda, Uganda Micro Finance Support Centre, Uganda Securities Exchange, Uganda Vision 2040, UGX, unemployed, UNHS, Urbanization, USE, VAT Tax, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
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Tag Archives: The Taipei Representative Office
ISRAEL ATTACKS SYRIAN AND IRANIAN TARGETS
November 21, 2019 Melvin 1 Comment
Syria’s state media released images of what they say are destroyed houses near Damascus (AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Israel says it has hit dozens of targets in Syria belonging to the government and allied Iranian forces.
The Israeli military says the “wide-scale strikes” responded to rockets fired by an Iranian unit into Israel. Syria says two civilians died and that Syrian air defenses shot down most of the missiles over Damascus. Other reports say the death toll was higher. Local reports said loud explosions were heard in the capital. Pictures on social media showed a number of fires.
PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS
“It’s easy to go about our lives and forget that in places like Nigeria, Iran and North Korea being a Christian can often lead to death.” — Vernon Brewer, founder and CEO of World Help, Fox News, November 4, 2019
“4,136 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons. On average, that’s 11 Christians killed every day for their faith.” — Open Doors, World Watch List 2019
More than 245 million Christians around the world are currently suffering from persecution. — Open Doors, World Watch List, 2019 (Gatestone 11/15/2019)
CHANGES AHEAD IF CORBYN WINS
The United Kingdom has a general election on December 12th. It is considered the most important election in 80 years. It will determine the issue of Brexit, the future direction of the British economy and even of the United Kingdom itself.
“By far the most likely casualty of a Corbyn government would be the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network, where there is a strong likelihood that other member states of the alliance will be deeply reluctant to share highly sensitive material with a British prime minister who has spent his entire political career openly associating with regimes and groups that are utterly hostile to the West and its allies.
At the heart of his hard Left approach to foreign policy lies a deep hatred for the US and its role in safeguarding the interests of the Western democracies.
Thus Mr. Corbyn’s instinct is to be more sympathetic to the views of Russia, Iran, North Korea and the Assad regime in Syria than Britain’s long-standing allies in Washington and Europe. (Con Coughlin, Gatestone, 11/16/2019)
JEREMY CORBYN’S BIG NEGATIVE EFFECT ON FOREIGN POLICY
“A Corbyn-led government would quickly lead to the biggest change in Britain’s defense posture since the second world war. Even if the country stayed in NATO, as is likely, it would be a passive member, reluctant to push back against Russian expansionism and hostile to the idea of a nuclear deterrent. Given that NATO depends on confidence that it means what it says, this would be a severe blow to its credibility. Britain’s Middle East policy would be revolutionized, with a more hostile stance toward Israel and the Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, and a friendlier one to Iran. America would almost certainly stop sharing critical intelligence with Downing Street, for fears that such secrets would find their way into Russian or Iranian hands. Given Britain’s membership of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, that would harm Europe’s ability to combat hostile states and non-state actors.
“Such a revolution would come at a sensitive time. Mr. Trump is already disrupting established security relations (for all their differences, he and Mr. Corbyn share a common hostility to the multinational institutions that have kept the peace since 1945). Brexit is straining relations with Britain’s European allies, while gobbling up the political class’s available bandwidth. The Foreign Office is demoralized by decades of cuts, and the security establishment is still tainted by the weapons-of-mass-destruction fiasco.
All this is taking place at a time when Mr. Putin is on the march and Islamic State is shifting its focus from state-building to global terror. A Dangerous world may be about to become more dangerous.” (“Security questions,” Bagehot, The Economist, 11/9,2019).
MACRON ON RUSSIA
“. . . consider Mr. Macron’s Russia policy. He has long argued that rogue powers are more dangerous when isolated. To this end, he has hosted Vladimir Putin at both Versailles, near Paris, and Bregancon, on the Mediterranean. But his call for a “rapprochement” with Russia, in order to keep it out of China’s arms, has alarmed Poland and the Baltics. “My idea is not in the least naïve,” argues Mr. Macron. He insists that any movement would be conditional on respect for the Minsk peace accords in Ukraine. He has not called for sanctions to be lifted. And he sees this as a long-term strategy, that “might take ten years.” Mr. Macron’s belief is that, eventually, Europe will need to try to find common ground with its near neighbor. Not doing so would be a “huge mistake”.” (Briefing, The Economist, 11/9/2019)
WHO WILL PAY FOR ENDLESS WARS?
“Future generations will pay for them: the wars have been funded by debt. Most Americans have had little reason to think their country is even at war. And lucky them because war is hell. But this disconnect helps explain why the country’s civil-military relations are as distant as they are. It also helps explain how America came to be locked in such long and largely unproductive conflicts in the first place. Its voters started to reckon with the rights and wrongs of the Vietnam War – then demand accountability for it – only after they felt its sting. By contrast Donald Trump, who almost alone among national politicians decries the latest conflicts, has struggled to interest voters in them – or indeed end them.
“Though mostly wrong on the details, the president raises an important question of the long wars. What have they achieved?” (Lexington, The Economist, 11/9/2019).
TEMPLE MOUNT NO LONGER
154 UN nations call Temple Mount solely by Muslim name Haram al-Sharif – EU approves text, but warns it may not do so in the future by Tovah Lazaroff, November 17, 2019
The UN gave its preliminary approval to a resolution that referred to the Temple Mount solely by its Muslim name of Haram al-Sharif.
The resolution passed at the UN’s Fourth Committee in New York 154-8, with 14 abstentions and 17 absences. It was one of eight pro-Palestinian resolutions approved on Friday, out of a slate of more than 15 such texts the committee is expected to approve. The UN General Assembly will take a final vote on the texts in December.
. . . Acting US Deputy Representative to the United Nations Cherith Norman Chalet told the Fourth Committee it opposed the “annual submission of more than a dozen resolutions biased against Israel.
. . . “As the United States has repeatedly made clear, this dynamic is unacceptable,” Chalet continued. “We see resolutions that are quick to condemn all manner of Israeli actions, but say nothing or almost nothing about terrorist attacks against innocent civilians. And so the United States will once again vote against these one-sided resolutions and encourages other nations to do so.”
(https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/154-UN-nations-call-Temple-Mount-solely-by-Muslim-name-Haram-al-Sharif-608135)
GERMAN MILITIAS
Right-wing militia groups say they patrol where police turn a blind eye. But with criminality dropping and more police than ever in Germany, analysts and politicians say their motives are more sinister. Deutsche Welle, 18/11/2019
Sebastian Niedrich is one of about 20 militiamen in Berlin with a “citizen patrol” initiative. In groups of two or three, the red-vested men patrol neighborhoods in Berlin they claim are areas where petty crime is rife. Their initiative is called “Establish Protection Zones” (“Schafft Schutzzone”). It is abbreviated as “SS,” which in Germany immediately brings to mind the notorious Nazi-era “SS” – the paramilitary “Protection Squadron” that persecuted millions and was directly responsible for genocide. Niedrich rejects any such connection. Right-wing extremist initiative: The “Establish Protection Zones” initiative, an offshoot of Germany’s extreme-right National Democratic Party (NPD), says the areas it patrols are often popular tourist areas, as well as those with growing immigrant communities.
The first subheading of the NPD’s party platform in Berlin reads “The Problem of Foreigners” and lays out ways to close Germany’s borders, bar immigrants from receiving jobs and social benefits, and preserve Germany’s national identity. The party’s website also prominently displays images of its logo-wearing patrols, superimposed with slogans like “Protect Germans!” and “Germans helping Germans!” Multiple attempts to disband or ban the party entirely have failed in courts. The extreme-right NPD in western Germany, has made it their task to protest against Islam. A study on German society’s biggest fears released earlier this year by the Berlin Social Science Center showed that one in three respondents feared “foreign infiltration” on account of too many immigrants. Over half feared criminality.
GERMANY-TAIPEI LINKS
German politician urges military links with Taipei Taipei Times, 19 Nov 2019
Germany and Taiwan should conduct military exchanges, which would be more meaningful than exchanges with China, German lawmaker Ulrich Lechte, a member of the Bundestag Committee on Foreign Affairs, said on Sunday. “The free world should stand together,” the Free Democratic Party lawmaker wrote on Facebook. The Taipei Representative Office in Germany’s Munich office shared Lechte’s post on its Facebook page, and thanked him for his continuing support of Taiwan. The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported that 62 nations, including China, are to receive training from the Bundeswehr, Germany’s military.
Amnesty International arms and human rights expert Mathias John criticized the plans to train Chinese soldiers, telling the paper that doing so was “incomprehensible” given China’s “human rights situation and the role the Chinese People’s Liberation Army plays” in human rights violations in China. John also brought up the protests in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong police’s response to them. Germany should “send a clear message and immediately cease all military cooperation with China,” he said. A spokesperson for the German Ministry of Defense told the paper that Chinese soldiers regularly participate in educational events organized by the German military, including international officer courses, as well as officer training courses offered at military schools, universities and military leadership academies. The weekly news magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday reported that the German government is planning to send warships into the South China Sea and through the Taiwan Strait as a way of “refuting Chinese territorial claims” in those areas (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2019/11/19/2003726106)
ADMIRAL HORATIO NELSON and THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR
The Battle of Trafalgar, fought 21 October 1805, was one of the most important and decisive Naval engagements of all time, decisively establishing the supremacy of the Royal Navy on the high seas. Rather than a conventional engagement between lines of battle with gunnery duels, the English made a bold attack that allowed them to gain local superiority over the enemy and raked their ships with devastating broadsides. The Franco-Spanish fleet was decisively defeated and British supremacy on the high seas was decisively established for the rest of the 19th century. Lord Nelson’s defeat of the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar allowed British trade to flourish around the world, laying the foundations for Britain’s emergence as an economic superpower. It also made possible the Greatest Century of Missions, as Protestant missionaries were able to sail to every corner of the world. The Royal Navy’s domination of the high seas brought an end to the slave trade in the 19th Century. (Reformation SA, 2019)
The Chinese Ambassador to the UK has accused both the UK and the US of interfering in Chinese domestic affairs. He is referring to British and American support for student protesters in Hong Kong. He has a point. Democracy isn’t working too well right now in the US or the UK. Perhaps we should shut up until things calm down at home!
“The escalation of the unrest in Hong Kong coincides with recent mass protests around the world. These protests – in Bolivia, Iran and elsewhere – are not connected. However, they are loosely linked thematically in that they concern inequality, political freedoms, corruption and climate change.” (“Protests catch fire,” USA Today, 11/19/2019)
Prince Andrew’s BBC interview in which he denies having had a relationship with a 17- year-old girl, courtesy of Jeffrey Epstein, has failed to convince many. Members of the royal family rarely give interviews. It’s difficult to remember one, which was advantageous to the royals. Perhaps they just haven’t had as much practice at lying as politicians! (Prince Andrew has since withdrawn from public duties, “for the foreseeable future”.)
A 55-year-old man in China’s Inner Mongolia region has been diagnosed with bubonic plague after eating wild rabbit, the third recorded case of the deadly disease in the country.
A famous person I’ve never heard of is complaining about the patriotic song “Rule Britannia,” which dates back to the days when the British Royal Navy governed the world. Is she objecting to the fact that the royal navy did more than any other institution to end the slave trade? From 1810 to 1860 the West Africa Squadron freed 250,000 slaves. (see article above on Horatio Nelson; last sentence) “Slavery was a fact of life in the sixteenth century. The African slave trade was already the largest form of commerce in the world. No one had the least qualms about it, least of all Africa’s own tribal rulers.” (“To Rule the Waves,” page 2, Arthur Herman, 2004)
“The global debt ballooned to a record high of more than $250 trillion and shows no sign of slowing down, according to a new report from the Institute of International Finance (IIF). . . . Extended low interest rates and easy money has facilitated the accumulation of a bone crushing amount of debt over the last decade or so,” Dylan Riddle, a spokesperson for the IIF told ABC News in a statement. “This debt has helped fuel global growth, however, we must focus on managing the current debt load, and deploying resources for more productive means — like fighting climate change or investing in growth.” (ABC News)
Admiral Horatio NelsonAfrican slave tradeAmnesty InternationalArthur HermanAssadBattle of TrafalgarBerlin Social Science CenterBild am SonntagBoliviaBreganconBritish Royal Navybubonic plagueBundestag Committee on Foreign AffairsBundeswehrCherith Norman ChaletChinaChinese People’s Liberation ArmyChristiansclimate changeCon CoughlinDamascusDavid RozadoDer SpiegelDonald TrumpDylan RiddleEmmanuel MacronEstablish Protection ZonesFive EyesFree Democratic PartyGerman Ministry of DefenseGermanyGreatest Century of MissionsHaram al-SharifHong KongIIFInner MongoliaInstitute of International FinanceIranislamIsraelJeffrey EpsteinJeremy CorbynMathias JohnMediterraneanMohammed DinnunhanNATONigeriaNorth KoreaNPDPrince AndrewPutinrapprochementRaymond HuaRoyal NavyRule BritanniaRussiaSaudi ArabiaSchafft SchutzzoneSebastian NiedrichSouth China SeaSSSyriaTaipeiTaiwanTaiwan StraitTemple MountThe Taipei Representative OfficeUkraineUlrich LechteUN’s Fourth CommitteeVernon BrewerVersaillesWest Africa Squadron
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Apple • 8 May 2015
Is the Apple Watch a crazy fad or the next iPad?
By Bobby Emamian
Read nextThese 50 apps let you track your life one bit at a time [infographic]
On 10 April, the Apple Watch became available for preorder and within the day, an estimated one million people purchased the tech accessory. By comparison, it took more than two months for Apple to sell one million iPhones — a product that everyone seems to own today.
Looking at the early numbers, it’s safe to say that Apple is going to redefine and take the lead in the wearables market — like it did with the computer, music, and mobile markets. The stylish wearable is set to outperform fitness trackers from Nike and Jawbone, which collectively sold 3.3-million units between April 2013 and March 2014. And preorders have already eclipsed Google Glass’ total sales. Although Google refuses to release its actual sales data, it’s estimated that just 240 000 units have sold since 2012.
Numbers aside, the Apple Watch is also said to have several key features that Android Wear equivalents don’t, including Force Touch, the ability to make NFC-based payments, and the ability to make and receive calls.
The initial excitement surrounding the Apple Watch is undeniable, but will the buzz last? Are smartwatches here to stay? Or will the Apple Watch fade into oblivion like many other trendy devices have in the past?
The answers to these questions will dictate whether it’s worth devoting resources to expanding your company’s mobile development efforts into the world of smartwatches.
I don’t blame you if you’re hesitant to jump aboard the Apple Watch train, but I think Apple is poised for great success with this new technology. The key to the longevity of smartwatches will be whether they add value to users’ lives.
The value of wearables
Google Glass is an impressive piece of hardware that’s especially appealing to tech geeks. The average consumer on the other hand, isn’t excited by the idea of wearing a computer on his face. This is simply too large of a digital leap for most people to make. At the end of the day, Glass doesn’t provide the right kind of value to its users.
In contrast, a smartwatch is a logical next step after a smartphone. The user interfaces of these two devices are quite similar, and users aren’t required to learn the alien set of voice and gesture commands that Glass requires. Although some Apple Watch features (such as Force Touch and Digital Crown) take some getting used to, after users pick up on them, they become intuitive.
Apple’s secret sauce has always been its ability to cherry-pick technologies from other companies and add value to them. The iPod, for example, wasn’t the first MP3 player on the market but the exquisite design, the friendly user interface, and the frequent updates made it the top music player. One way the Apple Watch follows this model is by offering the same health-tracking technology as the Fitbit but in a more attractive and user-friendly package.
Apps are key
Don’t let the Glass debacle scare you away from spending time and money developing apps for smartwatches. Apple’s smartwatch apps are an extension of existing iOS apps, so users can have access to their iPhones’ core functions, such as calling, texting, and emailing. This familiarity and connectivity makes the Apple Watch easier for users to adopt.
There’s also a huge window of opportunity for retailers to leverage Apple Watch in relation to the in-store experience. American retail chain Target, for example, is developing an Apple Watch app that will assist customers in creating shopping lists, locating items in the store, and finding the best deals. Apple Watch apps function by calling the iOS app, which then carries out the request and sends storyboards to the watch.
Developments such as this make the shopping experience easier for customers and allow apps to reach users at the most relevant times. A notification sent to a shopper’s phone might not be seen until it’s no longer relevant — like after the customer has left the store. Watch notifications, on the other hand, grab users’ attention in a way that no other notification can.
While the launch of the Apple Watch appears to be an early success, there’s still much to be determined. Regardless of the uncertainty, it would be advantageous for entrepreneurs, developers, and brands to get involved in what should be the next big thing.
Feature image: Yasunobu Ikeda via Flickr
Bobby Emamian
Bobby Emamian is the co-founder and CEO of Prolific Interactive, a strategy-led mobile agency headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, with offices in San Francisco. A former college athlete, Bobby’s competitive nature and mix of technical, business, strategic, and managerial skills account for Prolific’s rapid growth in the mobile industry. Bobby and his team have worked with prominent companies, including ModCloth, Threadless, Rent the Runway, Angie’s List, and David’s Bridal.
Posted in AppleTagged Apple, Apple. Watch, iPad
These 50 apps let you track your life one bit at a time [infographic]
Applications • 11 May 2015
Sony is launching a new wireless shooting grip for its latest cameras
Sony on Tuesday revealed a new wireless shooting grip aimed at helping photographers connect to their cameras more efficiently. Called the GP-VPT2BT, the grip…
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Mon 01/20/2020, 05:36:00pm GMT-03
Base reflectivity (dBZ)
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Flash flood detection
Radar HD (high-definition radar)
This data is gathered from over a hundred radar towers located across the US. This is the highest resolution radar data available which enables you to see features such as sea breeze or outflow boundaries that standard resolution radar entirely misses. There is a notable constraint to radar data though. Because the earth is round and the radar beam is flat, the farther away from the radar tower the beam (energy) travels, the farther removed from the ground becomes. To see this in action, imagine a circle (earth) with a straight line emanating from some point on the circle if you continue this line out into space, it will gradually get farther and farther from the circle. Because of this phenomenon, the radar beam will only see precipitation falling through the mid levels of the atmosphere. A lot can happen between 0 and 5,000 feet and therefore the depiction of precipitation given by radar may differ some from what’s actually happening on the ground. Use radar data with caution especially if your area of interest is far from the nearest radar location!
We currently have two types of radar data available with plans to add more soon. The first type of data currently available is reflectivity. This is your standard radar data that shows precip or other solid/liquid particles in the atmosphere. A few tips on reflectivity data:
In cold climates during the winter months, actual dBZ values rarely exceed 40. Anything larger than this is usually due to “bright banding” where the radar is seeing the part of the atmosphere where snowflakes are clumping together and melting into raindrops. This is helpful for picking out snow/mix/rain transition zones In all snow situations, dBZ values of 40 indicate 3-4”/hr snowfall rates and whiteout conditions.
Bright reflectivity returns that are stationary and appear during both calm and inclement weather are usually land-based obstructions such as mountains, trees, or especially wind farms (nothing gets electromagnetic signals confused like spinning metal blades!).
During severe weather situations, reflectivity signatures can provide valuable clues as to what threats to expect from a particular cell. Things to watch for:
Bow echoes- when a storm looks like a bow (as in bow-and-arrow), it signals a strong push of cold outflow near the surface. Watch for strong winds along the leading edge of this!
Hail cores- if you see dBZ values exceeding 60, watch for large hail. Raindrops rarely if ever exist in plentiful enough quantities to produce dBZ values >60 so the culprit is usually hail.
Hook echoes- if you see a storm moving towards you that looks like a fish hook, especially a fish hook with a barb on the end, take cover! This signature indicates the presence of a strongly rotating mesocyclone- often an immediate precursor to tornado development.
Radar can see things in the atmosphere other than precipitation. If satellite data shows clear skies but you see signatures on radar data, it could be anything from smoke from a fire to a flock of birds taking flight to dust particles collecting along a boundary. This is especially cool in the summer when sea breeze fronts show up on radar.
@meteologix
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Robert John Ardiff.
Robert John Ardiff
Arlene’s Grocery
October 15th, 2019 9PM
Robert John Ardiff, the Dublin-based singer/songwriter, is releasing his first body of work a year after his critically acclaimed debut
album Between the Bed and Room.
“Somebody to Love” is the latest release of three that was written for the
upcoming John Carney-helmed Amazon Prime series Modern Love. It represents a definite shift in the style of music he has recorded until now; where before his music was recorded in a box-room setting, Ardiff has now matured sonically with a full studio band behind him.
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Chinese tycoon who bought Grindr paying wife more than $1 billion in divorce
by Jethro Mullen and Serenitie Wang @CNNTech September 15, 2016: 2:45 AM ET
China's wealth gap shows no sign of closing
The Chinese tech tycoon who bought gay dating app Grindr is paying his wife an eye-watering $1.1 billion in a massive divorce settlement.
Zhou Yahui, the chairman of online gaming firm Beijing Kunlun Tech, has agreed to transfer hundreds of millions of shares in the firm to his wife, Li Qiong, according to a stock exchange filing this week.
The huge settlement has made headlines in Chinese state media, which have described it as one of the costliest splits in the country's history.
Earlier this year, the couple were ranked 11th in a global list of self-made billionaires under 40. Compiled by the Hurun Report, their combined wealth was estimated at $3.5 billion.
Related: Chinese tech firm buys gay dating app Grindr
But under a civil mediation agreement issued by a Beijing court, Zhou will hand over 278 million Kunlun shares to Li. The company's stock in Shenzhen closed Wednesday at 26.44 yuan, putting the value of the settlement at 7.35 billion yuan ($1.1 billion).
Zhou will remain the largest shareholder of Kunlun, which bought a majority stake in Grindr earlier this year. Kunlun declined to comment further on the settlement.
Zhou Yahui will transfer hundreds of millions of shares in his company to his wife under a court settlement.
It's unlikely to be the last megabucks split in China. The country's divorce rate has climbed steeply in recent years, according to state media. Meanwhile, new billionaires are being minted at a staggering pace despite the economic slowdown.
The settlement between Zhou and Li eclipses the $975 million that U.S. oil tycoon Harold Hamm paid his ex-wife last year.
Related: Beijing now has more billionaires than New York
But other super rich businessmen -- including media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone -- are reported to have shelled out well over a billion dollars for divorces in the past.
A Swiss court in 2014 ordered Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev to pay his former wife a record $4.5 billion, but a higher court reduced the sum last year to around $600 million.
CNNMoney (Hong Kong) First published September 15, 2016: 12:25 AM ET
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“Genius” Money Idea Helps People Outside Big Banking’s Inner Circle
Oscar Perry Abello September 29, 2016
Payday lender in San Francisco's Mission District (Photo by Oscar Perry Abello)
Sandra Carillo was 12 years old when her mother, a single parent in Zacatecas, Mexico, moved the family to San Francisco, seeking a better life.
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She now has three degrees from San Francisco State University, but when she wanted to turn a shirt screen printing hobby into a small business, a low credit score prevented her from getting a business loan. Her fashion label, Friscolitas, has a growing clientele attracted to its style and roots in the city’s Mission District, a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood fighting to remain a cultural center for the Latino community in San Francisco.
Carillo recently received a small, zero-percent interest loan from the Mission Asset Fund (MAF), located right in the neighborhood. She’s using it to build her label’s website. Even more importantly, as a result of receiving and making payments on her small loan, Carillo’s credit score is now above 800, positioning her to access larger business loans from other lenders.
Carillo is one of over 4,079 borrowers, across 17 states, that have benefited from MAF’s work so far. MAF borrowers have accessed $5 million in zero-interest loans, improved their credit scores by an average of 168 points, saved an average of $360 per loan in interest and fees, and unlocked an average three new sources of credit. Many use their loans to pay down debt, resulting in an average debt reduction of $1,000 per borrower.
In recognition of MAF’s unique lending model, and impact so far, founding CEO José A. Quiñonez was named one of this year’s MacArthur “Geniuses” last week.
“The broader context of our work is that people are hardworking, struggling, not earning enough to pay their bills or pay their rent but just because of that it doesn’t mean they’re not credit worthy,” says Quiñonez.
Rather than injecting new capital into these communities, MAF utilizes lending capital that’s already there, through a structure that is familiar to many U.S. immigrant communities: lending circles. Among Latinos, they’re often known as tandas. West Africans call them sou-sous.
The lending circle concept is simple. For example, 10 friends get together on a monthly basis, each paying $10 into a pot, and every month one of the friends gets a turn to have the pot of money to spend on whatever they might need. The expert jargon name for it is a “rotating savings and credit association,” or ROSCA. In the landmark 2009 book Portfolios of the Poor, researchers showed how ROSCAs emerged and operated organically among economically marginalized communities in India, Bangladesh and South Africa.
“When I was growing up, everybody knew about tandas,” says Quiñonez, the fifth of six children born in Durango State, Mexico. His father was murdered when he was 2, and after his mother died of cancer, he landed with extended family in San Jose, California, where Bay Area Latinos also form tandas.
“I grew up around people who are working hard not just to survive but to thrive, but their contributions to the economy or society are always ignored or downplayed or discounted,” says Quiñonez, who is now 45. “When I got into this particular job, I was able to start with that in mind, that there’s a lot more to people’s lives than we give them credit for.”
MAF was founded in 2007 with the help of $1 million from the San Francisco-based Levi Strauss Foundation, and kicked off with a survey of Mission District residents that found 44 percent of all households had no credit scores.
According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as of 2010, 26 million consumers in the United States have no credit records, representing about 11 percent of the adult population. Another 19 million consumers, or 8.3 percent of the adult population, had credit records that were treated as unscorable by a commercially available credit scoring model. Almost 45 percent of consumers in low-income neighborhoods lack credit histories or have limited credit histories. As a result, many families turn to predatory financial services like payday lenders, which have almost as many locations as McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. The Mission District today is still littered with payday lenders, pawn shops and other historically predatory financial institutions, sharing the same sidewalks with banks, credit unions and other nonprofit lenders including MAF.
“The conventional wisdom is that a lot of folks in the nonprofit world, they think with just another glossy brochure or an injection of capital we’re going to nudge people this way or that way and save them,” says Quiñonez. “We said let’s reject that, because it’s based on the idea of the deficit model of looking at people. Instead we said there’s a lot of good that’s happening in people’s lives and we don’t even recognize that, it’s not visible to us.”
Taking inspiration from Hernando de Soto’s The Mystery of Capital, Quiñonez took MAF down a less traveled path: formalizing the informal as a development strategy. Starting in his country of Peru, de Soto popularized the idea that the key to wealth creation for the poor was formalizing the informal property rights they had established among themselves, in urban slums as well as far-out rural areas. He advocated that with a formal title to their land — literally just a piece of paper — the poor would gain a bit of economic stability and also gain access to collateral for a loan. The idea has not been without its critics or shortcomings, but it has inspired a global movement to formalize the informal property of the poor as an equitable economic development strategy.
MAF’s model formalizes the lending circles that economically marginalized communities have been using all along.
“Here’s an opportunity to enact de Soto’s idea in the context of the U.S. This is really his idea embodied,” Quiñonez says.
MAF clients start by taking a brief online literacy course, then get placed into a lending circle with six to 10 other people who begin by meeting in person to decide on a loan amount. Everyone in the lending circle makes the same monthly payment, ranging from $50 to $200, funding a loan for one member of the group that month. The loan rotates each month to a different participant, until everyone in the lending circle has a shot.
After completing the program, many participants establish credit scores for the first time or improve damaged ones. About 35 percent of lending circle participants subsequently join a second lending circle, 20 percent have subsequently joined a third, and 10 percent have subsequently joined more than three lending circles.
MAF’s innovation was figuring out how to connect lending circles to the credit bureaus.
“We didn’t go to the credit bureaus and tell them ‘oh look at how these exotic brown people do this or that,’” Quiñonez explains. “What we did was create a promissory note, just like what you and I would sign when we get a loan from anywhere, a legal document that formalizes informality.”
From the credit bureau’s perspective, MAF is the entity making the loans. MAF is the lender of record on each promissory note, meaning MAF must verify identities of borrowers (using government-issued IDs, individual tax ID numbers from the IRS or social security numbers when they’re available), collect data on when repayments get made and if they’re on time, and report it to credit bureaus.
When you think about it, it’s not that far-fetched compared to what a regular bank or credit union does, pooling customers’ savings and making loans and investments out of that pool. Lending circles are essentially the same structure, scaled down to a small group of people who have a face-to-face relationship.
MAF uses its own capital to guarantee every loan that gets made using the lending circles structure. So far, they haven’t had to spend down very much of those capital reserves. MAF borrowers have a default rate of 0.7 percent (typical consumer loan default rates hover around 3 percent).
In order to scale beyond the Bay Area, rather than opening separate offices and staff, MAF partners with other nonprofits. So far, 53 other nonprofits across 17 states plus the District of Columbia partner with MAF to provide lending circles.
“If we just sat on this idea ourselves, we wouldn’t have the ability to work anywhere outside of San Francisco,” says Quiñonez. “We said let’s partner, like a franchise model, and let a thousand flowers bloom.”
Partner nonprofits originate loans by doing outreach and forming groups to go through the process, while MAF issues the promissory notes and handles the data collection and credit bureau reporting on the back end. Partners pay a fee to help with the cost of handling the data collection and reporting. (MAF won’t disclose the fees, as they are negotiated on a case-by-case basis.)
By establishing or improving credit scores, MAF’s model aims to crack the only nut that Quiñonez says can really meet all of the financial needs of marginalized communities.
“It’s a completely different strategy than saying we’re going to come up with loan capital of $2 million and lend that out. Our community needs more than $2 million, they need billions of dollars, and who has that? Banks and credit unions,” says Quiñonez.
The Equity Factor is made possible with the support of the Surdna Foundation.
Oscar is Next City's senior economics correspondent. He previously served as Next City’s editor from 2018-2019, and was a Next City Equitable Cities Fellow from 2015-2016. Since 2011, Oscar has covered community development finance, community banking, impact investing, economic development, housing and more for media outlets such as Shelterforce, B Magazine, Impact Alpha, and Fast Company.
Follow Oscar .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Tags: income inequality, poverty, immigration
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I became interested in Irish railways as a teenager growing up in East Sussex. Our library in Haywards Heath had a good selection of David & Charles railway books, which included the E M Patterson histories of the legendary narrow gauge railways and Michael H C Baker's Irish Railways since 1916. I was hooked.
Of course by the time I crossed the Irish Sea for the first time the narrow gauge was no more (apart from the peat operations of Bord na Mona) but the broad gauge operation was equally fascinating, being both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
These pictures were taken over a period of 40+ years on both CIE (now Iarnród Éireann) and NIR (now Translink) and includes both steam and diesel (and a little bit of the electric DART operation)
The Great Southern and Western, which connected Dublin with Cork, Waterford and Limerick, was Ireland's 'Premier Line'. Like all railways solely operating in the Irish Free State it was amalgamated by the government into the Great Southern Railways in 1925. CIE semaphore signals were quite unique and instantly recognisable.
irelandsignalsCork
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Nielsen BookMediaIRELAND TOP 10 ALLGuinness World Records 2020
Get ready for a new decade of record-breaking with Guinness World Records 2020. Fully updated and redesigned, GWR2020 celebrates the latest record-breaking achievements, covering topics from the classic – amazing animals, jaw-dropping geography and spectacular sporting achievements – to the cutting-edge – including viral sports and robots and AI.
Guinness World Records 2020 quantity
ISBN: 9781912286812 Category: IRELAND TOP 10 ALL
Celebrate the dawning of a new decade with the fully revised Guinness World Records 2020. To kick off the ’20s, we’ve created an electrifying new cover and curated a record-breaking edition packaged with thousands of new, updated and classic superlatives, hundreds of never-before-seen images, and a selection of eye-opening photo-composites that put a new spin on record-breaking…
A new decade means it’s time for a fresh approach, so starting with our front cover, we’ve re-booted record-breaking with an all-new design. There’s a new look inside, too, and thanks to our team of digital artists, we’ve created mind-blowing poster pages that will reveal some of our classic record holders in a whole new light.
Our ever-expanding pool of international consultants and experts help us make sense of the world around us, so join us as we explore the vast spectrum of record-breaking in 11 superlative-packed chapters. As always, we’re committed to bringing you record-breaking from the cutting edge of science, and this year we’ve produced a feature chapter on remarkable robots with the help of award-winning tech blogger Evan Ackerman. We’ve also been out on the road, adjudicating records at events as diverse as the UK National Pet Show, Skill Con in Las Vegas and BubbleFest in Wales.
Guinness World Records is nothing without its dedicated record-breakers, so we’ve also selected the best of the newly approved claims from the 50,000 applications received from the public over the past 12 months. If you want to be one of those lucky few, look out for the Do Try This At Home challenges in the VIRAL SPORTS chapter – you might even make it into next year’s edition!
Guinness Publisher Group
Encyclopedias & General Reference
â¬0.00
Ordinary Joe
Once, Twice, Three Times an Aisling
Cilka’s Journey
Schmidt Happens
Boulevard Wren and other Stories
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Archive for May 22, 2015
King Herod’s Persecution, Peter’s Miraculous Escape
May 22, 2015 gadfly1974 Leave a comment
About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.) When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him.
The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying. When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.” Meanwhile Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed. He motioned to them with his hand to be silent, and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he added, “Tell this to James and to the believers.” Then he left and went to another place.
When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there (Acts 12:1-19, NRSV).
Categories: Acts of the Apostles, herod, peter
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IL News
Home Community Websites Chicago Missing Wisconsin Girl Located in Chicago, Reunited With Family
Missing Wisconsin Girl Located in Chicago, Reunited With Family
Rachael Bouley
A worried Wisconsin family is thankful their daughter is back home with them after she went missing for over a month.
Armoni Chambers was found last Wednesday in Chicago after activists received a tip about a disturbing video circulating on Facebook showing her being assaulted at the hands of a man.
The footage was posted on Facebook just days after her determined mother, Bonnie Bruno, and Milwaukee activist Tory Lowe first went to Chicago to search for her. The 16-year-old girl was located by local activists and taken to a hospital where she was reunited with her mother.
According to Chicago Police, detectives and the human trafficking task force are investigating the video and the possibility of sex trafficking. Her mother says the teenager was lured to Chicago by a person online before being trafficked by several men in an extremely traumatic experience that had her fearing for her life.
Armoni was last seen May 17 in the area of West Van Beck Avenue and South 78th Street in Milwaukee. As the days stretched into weeks, her mother urged local police to classify her as a “critical missing” case due to her concerns surrounding her daughter’s mental health.
Milwaukee Police relented and classified her as “critical” on June 18, prompting public notification of her disappearance. With fears of sex trafficking weighing heavily on her mind, her mother was receiving tips about her possible location in an area known for prostitution and her journey on a Greyhound bus.
At some point, the teenager was able to call her father from a gas station in west Chicago, but he was at work and missed the call. When he called the number back, he was able to get an address that Bruno then passed on to detectives.
Bruno was desperate for help and answers, so she contacted Lowe, a recognizable Milwaukee activist with upwards of 50,000 followers on Facebook. He often posts about missing women when a family asks for assistance. Within a few days, the duo had teamed up and were on their way to Chicago to canvass neighborhoods in search of Armoni.
A local cashier at a Family Dollar store said they had seen the teen, and as the information spread, more tips came in.
The next day, two Chicago activists with large social media followings reached out to Lowe after seeing his online videos. The store’s surveillance video captured Armoni on camera.
When a disturbing video was posted live on Facebook, showing a lethargic and incoherent Armoni who appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, being groped by a man in a backyard, alarm bells went off even more.
Activists in Chicago were able to find her that very day, thanks to a huge push on social media and the determination of the Chicago community. Now, as her daughter begins to recover from the ordeal, Bruno is speaking out about the importance of not giving up when you have a missing child.
For more information, please visit Bruno’s Facebook page HERE.
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I am a multimedia journalist and proud graduate from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication. I am originally from Minnesota, and I love learning about my second home, Arizona, and all of it's awesome communities through my contributions to My Local News! When I was a little girl, I created my own "newspaper" for my neighborhood and spent all my time writing, printing and sending each edition to my loyal subscribers (AKA my family and neighbors!). Now, it's a dream come true to be able to write everyday and have a positive impact on communities through my reporting. In my free time, I love to travel, hike, cook and spend time with my family and friends.
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New Mega Pro
29 Desember 2016 by Admin
When You’ll Need an Asbestos Testing in Logan City
I’m sure that we’ve all heard about the dangers of asbestos by now, in some way or another. Considering it’s been an ongoing concern for a lot of years now, it’d be surprising if you haven’t, at least to some degree.
If it gets into the air, and we breathe it, we’re in for a world of hurt down the road. Unfortunately, it was a wildly popular material through much of the last century, and even earlier, meaning that it can be present in a lot of different places.
And to find these various uses for it, you’ll need to get an asbestos testing in Logan City before you start any remodelling project in an older building.
Now, as scary as asbestos can be in regards to long-term health and well-being, it only becomes a danger when the materials it’s present in are damaged in any way.
This could be due to construction, water damage, simple wear and tear or degradation of the materials, scrapes and scratches from moving accidents, even something as simple as bumping a wall with a hammer.
If the suspected materials are in good condition, and there’s no obvious danger of causing damage, you’re fine. But if you’re going to be renovating a room, installing a new water heater, redoing ductwork in a house, really anything beyond changing curtains and furniture, an asbestos testing in Logan City will go a long way towards making sure you’re safe.
It’s also not something you can do on your own in your spare time. Because of how popular asbestos was in a variety of different products and applications, this stuff could be hiding in places you’d never think of.
Used as additives in cement to lend extra strength and resistance, woven into fabrics and tapes for electrical and water pipe insulation, even applied in sprays and coatings, it’s nearly impossible to know where to look if you’re not specially trained to find it.
Even trying to find asbestos on your own can be dangerous, as it doesn’t take much to get this stuff into the air. It’s far safer to have a professional asbestos testing in Logan City, as the inspectors are well trained, both in how to find it, and how to deal with it safely once it’s found.
Regardless of the scale of your project, renovating or demolishing, if you’re dealing with an older structure, it’s definitely in your best interest to let the professionals do their job before you start yours. It’s safer for everyone involved.
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Men Aren’t The Only Victims Of Asbestos Exposure
The overwhelming majority of asbestos discussion seems to relate to exposure to male workers. However, women have also suffered immensely from exposure to dangerous asbestos materials, and should not be forgotten. One interesting study entitled “A Study of the mortality of female asbestos workers” by Muriel L. Newhouse, G. Berry, J. C. Wagner, and Mary E. Turok Br J Ind Med about a mortality of female asbestos workers. Here are the exceprts:
The study involved over 900 women employed at an asbestos factory making both textiles and insulation materials is described. all the women who started employment at the factory between 1936 and 1942 and the main analysis was of mortality up to the end of 1968.
This analysis was made in relation to job, length of exposure, and age at first exposure.
Compared with national rates there was excess overall mortality among those who worked in jobs with low to moderate exposure partly accounted for by deaths from cancer.
In the group with severe exposure, who had worked in the factory for less than two years, there was an excess of cancer of the lung and pleura.
the most marked increased mortality was in those with severe exposure who had worked for more than two years in the factory; in this group there were excess deaths from cancer of the lung and pleura, from other cancers, and from respiratory diseases.
were no significant trends of excess mortality with age at first exposure. The smoking habits of some of the deceased women were obtained and the indications were that the proportion of smokers in the cohort was higher than the national rate.
This could account for some of the excess mortality but the trend of this excess with exposure indicated the role of asbestos. Necropsy reports and/or histological material were obtained for 43% of those who had died. Three deaths registered as cancer of the pleura were identified as pleural mesothelial tumours; in all there were 11 mesotheliomas, six of pleural and five of peritoneal origin.
Another study entitled “Asbestos, dental x-rays, tobacco, and alcohol in the epidemiology of laryngeal cancer” by M. Ward Hinds, Md, David B. Thomas, Md, and H. P. O’Reilly regarding asbestos exposure. Here are the excerpts:
47 laryngeal cancers in males of three counties of Washington State was conducted.
To obtain information on smoking, alcohol use, exposure to asbestos, and other substances, and x-rays of the head and neck area, personal interviews were conducted.
risk of laryngeal cancer independently, with a clear doseresponse relationship increased by smoking and alcohol consumption.
Neither asbestos exposure nor exposure to other substances was found to significantly increase the risk of laryngeal cancer, although the relative risk with asbestos exposure was 1.75.
Lifetime history of exposure to dental x-rays on five or more occasions was associated with significantly increased risk of laryngeal cancer among heavy smokers but not among light smokers.
The importance of tobacco and alcohol in the epidemiology of laryngeal cancer was re-affirmed, the importance of asbestos exposure was brought into question, and a possible relationship of laryngeal cancer with exposure to dental x-rays among heavy smokers was demonstrated.
| Dengan kaitkata The Only Victims Of Asbestos Exposure | Tinggalkan komentar
Asbestosis Lung Cancer And Mesothelioma A Result Of Occupational Asbestos Exposure
In line with increasing people awareness about asbestos exposure to a number of deadly diseases, many research have been conducted in order to find a cure for the disease. A study which talk about the relationship between asbestos fibers exposure with victims habit to smoke has been conducted. The study is written by G K Sluis-Cremer, B N Bezuidenhout and Br J Ind Med entitled Relation between asbestosis and bronchial cancer in amphibole asbestos miners . The study analyzed 35 cases of bronchial cancer with 24 cases were associated with asbestosis. As for 11 cases related to bronchial cancer occurred in men without asbestosis, it was found that all of the patients were smokers. Standardized proportional mortality rates indicated there is no progressively raised in men with slight or moderate/severe asbestosis. The four cases made a small contribution but not significant when the variables are introduced separately into a logistic regression model. Also there is no significant contribution from other two exposure. It can be conclude that a bronchial cancer in a man exposed to asbestos is unlikely to be due to asbestos.
Another study from C Magnani and friends is trying to analyze mortality among wives of workers in the asbestos cement industry in Casale Monferrato, Italy. The study analyze that after the exclusion of women with an occupational record in the asbestos cement industry, the cohort comprised 1964 women. It is estimated that 1740 had a period of domestic exposure whereas the remaining 224 married an asbestos cement worker only after he definitely stopped his activity in the asbestos cement plant. It has been considered as unexposed. It was recorded that 1669 women were alive, 270 were dead and 25 (1.2%) were untraced. There are 4 cases od death from pleural tumours (one diagnosed as mesothelioma at necropsis) and six from lung cancer v. 0.5 and 4.0 expected respectively.
A third study is entitle Asbestosis: a marker for the increased risk of lung cancer among workers exposed to asbestos by Weiss W. Chest. The study examined the hypothesis that excess lung cancer risk in worker cohorts exposed to asbestos occurs only among those with asbestosis. It took literature support for the hypothesis. It is reported that there is a high correlation between asbestosis rates and lung cancer rates in 38 cohorts in contrast to a poor correlation between cumulative exposure data and lung cancer relative risks in eight cohorts with adequate data. The evidence showed that asbestosis is a much better predictor of excess lung cancer risk than measures of exposure.
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U-M receives $2M NSF grant to explore data equity systems
Contact: Alex Piazza apiazza@umich.edu
ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan, with a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation, plans to establish a framework for a national institute that would enable research using sensitive data, while preventing misuse and misinterpretation.
Data science is an important tool that can help researchers tackle important societal challenges ranging from mobility and health to public safety and education. But data science techniques and technologies also pose enormous potential for harm by reinforcing inequity and leaking private information. As a result, many sensitive datasets are restricted from research use, impeding progress in areas that impact society.
“Data science has proven time and time again to be an invaluable resource when addressing emerging challenges and opportunities in areas of broad potential impact,” said H.V. Jagadish, director of the Michigan Institute for Data Science. “But having access to information comes with a great deal of responsibility, so our first priority is to ensure data science is not misused to disproportionately harm underrepresented groups.”
“You would assume the usage of data to be accurate and fair, but that is not always the case.”
Margaret Levenstein
U-M researchers will partner with colleagues at New York University and the University of Washington over the next two years to deploy new techniques and technologies that enable responsible data science, while establishing an interdisciplinary community focused on the study, design, deployment and assessment of equitable data systems.
Equity is an important facet of data science that NSF aims to strengthen in the coming years, as the federal agency partners with universities such as U-M to enable new modes of data-driven discovery that will transform the frontiers of science and engineering.
The centerpiece of its ongoing effort, called Harnessing the Data Revolution at NSF, is the development of national institutes that address multidisciplinary problems in big data. U-M will help lay the groundwork for developing these institutes, which will eventually serve as a point of convergence for researchers from multiple disciplines to share expertise and address pressing challenges in data science.
“Information is being gathered about all of us, from our Google searches and online purchases to property tax records and social media activity,” said Margaret Levenstein, director of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research at U-M, which maintains the world’s oldest and largest archive of research and instructional data for the social and behavioral sciences.
“You would assume the usage of data to be accurate and fair, but that is not always the case. That is why building a framework is so important because, in order for us to harness the enormous potential of big data, we need to ensure equity and privacy.”
Jagadish is the principal investigator on this grant. Levenstein and Robert Hampshire of U-M, Bill Howe of UW and Julia Stoyanovich of NYU are co-principal investigators.
Michigan Institute for Data Science
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Level 3 Announces Receipt of Requisite Consents in Consent Solicitation with Respect to Certain Series of Notes
BROOMFIELD, Colo., Nov. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. ("Level 3") (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) announced today, together with Level 3 Financing, Inc. ("Level 3 Financing", and together with Level 3, the "Company") that, as part of its previously announced consent solicitation relating to proposed amendments to the indentures (the "Indentures") governing Level 3's 5.750% Senior Notes due 2022 (CUSIP No. 52729N BX7) and Level 3 Financing's 6.125% Senior Notes due 2021 (CUSIP No. 527298 AY9), 5.375% Senior Notes due 2022 (CUSIP Nos. 527298 BD4 and 52730G AA0), 5.625% Senior Notes due 2023 (CUSIP No. 527298 BC6), 5.125% Senior Notes due 2023 (CUSIP Nos. 527298 BF9, 527298 BE2 and U52783 AP9), 5.375% Senior Notes due 2024 (CUSIP Nos. 527298 BK8 and 527298 BJ1), 5.375% Senior Notes due 2025 (CUSIP No. 527298 BH5) and 5.25% Senior Notes due 2026 (CUSIP Nos. 527298 BL6 and U52783 AS3) (collectively, the "Notes," and each series of the Notes, a "Series"), as of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on November 21, 2016 (the "Expiration Time"), the Company had received valid consents from the holders (the "Holders") of a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding Notes of each Series (the "Requisite Consents").
As previously reported, the proposed amendments were being sought in connection with the proposed acquisition (the "CenturyLink Acquisition") of Level 3 by CenturyLink, Inc., a Louisiana corporation ("CenturyLink"), pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger dated October 31, 2016, among Level 3, CenturyLink, Wildcat Merger Sub 1 LLC and WWG Merger Sub LLC. As the proposed amendments were adopted, the CenturyLink Acquisition will not constitute a Change of Control under each Indenture, a Change of Control Triggering Event will not occur as a result of the CenturyLink Acquisition (regardless of any ratings decline) and, accordingly, the Company will not be required to make a Change of Control Offer as a result of the CenturyLink Acquisition, subject to delivery of an officer's certificate to the trustee providing the certification required by the supplemental indentures containing the amendments (the "Amendments"). In connection with the consent solicitation and the Amendments, onNovember 22, 2016 a supplemental indenture has been entered into with respect to each of the Indentures governing the Notes, containing the Amendments.
Upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the consent solicitation statement dated November 10, 2016 (as supplemented), CenturyLink will make a cash payment of $2.50 per $1,000 principal amount of Notes of each Series held by each Holder who validly delivered (and did not validly revoke) a duly executed consent prior to the Expiration Time. The cash payment will be made by CenturyLink promptly after the Expiration Time.
Copies of the Consent Solicitation Statement and related documents may be obtained from the information agent, Global Bondholder Services Corporation, by calling (866) 794-2200 or (212) 430-3774 for banks and brokers or by email at contact@gbsc-usa.com or visiting http://www.gbsc-usa.com/Level3/.
This announcement is for information purposes only and is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any Series of Notes or any other securities. This announcement is also not a solicitation of consents with respect to the Amendments or any securities. The solicitation of consents is not being made in any jurisdiction in which, or to or from any person to or from whom, it is unlawful to make such solicitation under applicable state or foreign securities or "blue sky" laws.
Except for the historical and factual information contained herein, the matters set forth in this release, including statements regarding the expected timing and benefits of the proposed transaction, such as efficiencies, cost savings, enhanced revenues, growth potential, market profile and financial strength, and the competitive ability and position of the combined company, and other statements identified by words such as "will," "estimates," "expects," "projects," "plans," "intends" and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, many of which are beyond our control. Actual events and results may differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or projected if one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect. Factors that could affect actual results include but are not limited to: the ability of the parties to timely and successfully receive the required approvals of regulatory agencies and their respective shareholders; the possibility that the anticipated benefits from the proposed transaction cannot be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; the possibility that costs or difficulties related to the integration of Level 3's operations with those of CenturyLink will be greater than expected; the ability of the combined company to retain and hire key personnel; the effects of competition from a wide variety of competitive providers, including lower demand for CenturyLink's legacy offerings; the effects of new, emerging or competing technologies, including those that could make the combined company's products less desirable or obsolete; the effects of ongoing changes in the regulation of the communications industry, including the outcome of regulatory or judicial proceedings relating to intercarrier compensation, interconnection obligations, access charges, universal service, broadband deployment, data protection and net neutrality; adverse changes in CenturyLink's or the combined company's access to credit markets on favorable terms, whether caused by changes in its financial position, lower debt credit ratings, unstable markets or otherwise; the combined company's ability to effectively adjust to changes in the communications industry, and changes in the composition of its markets and product mix; possible changes in the demand for, or pricing of, the combined company's products and services, including the combined company's ability to effectively respond to increased demand for high-speed broadband service; the combined company's ability to successfully maintain the quality and profitability of its existing product and service offerings and to introduce new offerings on a timely and cost-effective basis; the adverse impact on the combined company's business and network from possible equipment failures, service outages, security breaches or similar events impacting its network; the combined company's ability to maintain favorable relations with key business partners, suppliers, vendors, landlords and financial institutions; the ability of the combined company to utilize net operating losses in amounts projected; changes in the future cash requirements of the combined company; and other risk factors and cautionary statements as detailed from time to time in each of CenturyLink's and Level 3's reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). There can be no assurance that the proposed acquisition or any other transaction described above will in fact be consummated in the manner described or at all. You should be aware that new factors may emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to identify all such factors nor can we predict the impact of each such factor on the proposed transaction or the combined company. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this document. Unless legally required, CenturyLink and Level 3 undertake no obligation and each expressly disclaim any such obligation, to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
CenturyLink and Level 3 plan to file a joint proxy statement/prospectus with the SEC. INVESTORS ARE URGED TO READ THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE BECAUSE IT WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. You will be able to obtain the joint proxy statement/prospectus and the filings that will be incorporated by reference in the joint proxy statement/prospectus, as well as other filings containing information about CenturyLink and Level 3, free of charge, at the website maintained by the SEC atwww.sec.gov. Copies of the joint proxy statement/prospectus and the filings with the SEC that will be incorporated by reference in the joint proxy statement/prospectus can also be obtained, free of charge, by directing a request to CenturyLink, 100 CenturyLink Drive, Monroe, Louisiana 71203, Attention: Corporate Secretary, or to Level 3, 1025 Eldorado Boulevard, Broomfield, Colorado 80021, Attention: Investor Relations.
The respective directors and executive officers of CenturyLink and Level 3 and other persons may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the proposed transaction. Information regarding CenturyLink's directors and executive officers is available in its proxy statement filed with the SEC by CenturyLink on April 5, 2016, and information regarding Level 3's directors and executive officers is available in its proxy statement filed with the SEC by Level 3 on April 7, 2016. These documents can be obtained free of charge from the sources indicated above. Other information regarding the interests of the participants in the proxy solicitation will be included in the joint proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC when they become available. This communication is not intended to and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
About Level 3 Communications
Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) is a Fortune 500 company that provides local, national and global communications services to enterprise, government and carrier customers. Level 3's comprehensive portfolio of secure, managed solutions includes fiber and infrastructure solutions; IP-based voice and data communications; wide-area Ethernet services; video and content distribution; data center and cloud-based solutions. Level 3 serves customers in more than 500 markets in over 60 countries across a global services platform anchored by owned fiber networks on three continents and connected by extensive undersea facilities. For more information, please visit www.level3.com or get to know us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
© Level 3 Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Level 3, Level 3 Communications, Level (3) and the Level 3 Logo are either registered service marks or service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC and/or one of its Affiliates in the United States and elsewhere. Any other service names, product names, company names or logos included herein are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Level 3 services are provided by subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc.
D. Nikki Wheeler
Mark Stoutenberg
Nikki.wheeler@Level3.com
mark.stoutenberg@level3.com
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Level 3 Announces Consent Solicitation with Respect to Certain Series of Notes
Level 3 Announces Receipt of Requisite Consents in Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation
Sprint Announces Consent Solicitation with Respect to Certain Series of Notes
Sprint Announces the Successful Completion of its Consent Solicitation with Respect to Certain Series of Notes
Windstream announces completion of its tender offer and consent solicitation for its 7.0% senior notes due 2019
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Bangladesh children receive critical medical treatment
Chumi* is among 19 children in Bangladesh to receive medical treatment funded in part by the Kids Reaching Kids missions offerings. Before the treatment, she was unable to move her right arm properly after she accidentally burned her arm in a mud oven when she was seven years old.
“I couldn’t move my hand normally,” Chumi said. “I couldn’t do any work with my burnt hand.”
She could not play with her friends, and her community rejected her. They were repelled by the sight of her poorly healed injury.
“People didn’t want to meet my daughter,” Chumi’s mother said. “We also didn’t bring her with us when we went to our relatives’ houses to attend any social program or family event, like a religious festival or wedding. But now we can take her to any program.”
Her parents initially tried get her the medical attention she needed, but they could not afford it; they nearly lost hope of ever seeing their daughter healed.
That’s when the district Sunday School and Discipleship Ministries team listed Chumi as a potential recipient in the Kids Reaching Kids program. Eventually, Chumi was selected, and a specialist surgeon performed the procedure she needed.
Now, thanks to kids around the world who raised money for the program, Chumi and 18 other sick or disabled children in Bangladesh were chosen to receive critical medical treatment that they could not otherwise afford.
Though her recovery will take some time, Chumi can now move her hand, and the doctor taught her some exercises and gave her some medicine to help the healing process.
Chumi said that people are no longer afraid of her, and she has been accepted in her community and by her extended family.
Currently, she is in the 11th grade, and her dream is to finish her studies and get a good job. She wants to be the light in the darkness of her impoverished family. She expressed gratitude to the Church of the Nazarene and SDMI for their generosity and support for her treatment.
Besides Chumi, six other children received surgeries, including heart and cleft lip surgeries. All of the 19 chosen children have visited doctors and many are receiving medicine for diseases, with follow-up doctor visits or treatments included.
*Name changed to protect security
--Church of the Nazarene Eurasia
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Growing opposition to Cuomo's disabled reform measure
• Published on May 21, 2012 • Last modified on October 9, 2019
There’s growing opposition in the legislature to Governor Cuomo’s top end of session priority, enacting a new agency to curb abuse of the mentally and physically disabled at state run centers. Opponents, though, say the proposed new entity does not go far enough.
When Governor Cuomo introduced what he calls the Justice Center for Protection of People with Special Needs, he said it would establish the “strongest standards and practices in nation”. The new agency would employ a staff special prosecutor and inspector general to pursue allegations of abuse of the mentally and physically disabled in the care of the state. The bill would increase penalties for those convicted. It would also set up a 24 hour hotline to report suspected abuse, and create a statewide data base of workers convicted of abuse to prevent them from ever being hired again.
Cuomo said at the time that the legislation will be his number one priority for the end of the legislative session.
“This is the most important, and this is the most critical,” Cuomo said. “It effects one million people.”
The reforms are in response to a New York Times series that found widespread abuse at group homes and other state- run facilities, with offenders rarely disciplined .
Cuomo’s plan was quickly approved by the Republican led State Senate, but Democrats in the Assembly are expressing some reservations. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver says he’s concerned that the investigative process is not independent enough.
“We have concerns about it obviously it being a totally internal process,” said Silver. “And that there is no outside review.”
Silver says that those who complain about abuses they might witness while working at a state facility would have to report them to someone who also works for the Cuomo Administration.
Silver spoke just before addressing an Assembly sponsored forum on disabled rights issues. The Assembly planned to pass a package of bills, but Cuomo’s Justice Center proposal is not among them.
The Speaker says he’s talking about his concerns with the governor, and expects that some kind of compromise will eventually be reached.
Disabled rights advocate Michael Carey was also at the event. Carey’s autistic 13 year old son Jonathan was killed while in the care of a state center for the developmentally disabled. His caregiver was convicted of manslaughter for suffocating the boy in the back seat of a van while another colleague watched and did nothing.
Carey who, has advocated for systemic reform to prevent abuse of disable children, is highly critical of Cuomo’s proposal. He calls it “the fox guarding the hen house”, and says it fails to prevent the “rampant abuse of the disabled”.
This is not an independent agency and it’s not about protecting the disabled,” Carey said. “It’s the exact opposite. It’s about protecting the state against lawsuits”.
Carey says he told top Cuomo administration officials about his concerns, but his views were not heeded.
“I gave advice and almost all of it was blown off,” Carey said.
Assembly Republican Minority Leader Brian Kolb, who also attended the Assembly forum, says he too has some concerns about the governor’s bill.
“The intent of the governor’s bill is the right intent,” Kolb said. “But now we’ve got to look at the devil in the details.”
In a statement, Cuomo’s deputy secretary of Health, James Introne says the new agency will be independent and accountable. He says they’ve already begun the process to create an independent not-for-profit watchdog to monitor the system. And he says the legislation calls for incident review committees for every provider of care to the disabled. They would include representatives of families, consumers and advocates, and would be empowered to review the adequacy of investigations and propose changes to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Cuomo rescinds food stamp fingerprint requirement
Cuomo puts stamp on State Democratic Party
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The Better Contractors Bureau is a non-profit consumer protection agency established in 1974 to be of assistance to the homeowner when dealing with contractors. It mission is to "PROTECT & INFORM" the consumer and its goals are to Eliminate the unscrupulous contractors in the area and Upgrade the image of the home improvement industry.
The BCB, as it is more commonly known as has approximately 500 members who must meet rigid requirements to become a member! They must swear to abide by a strict Code of Ethics, provide proof of their liability and workmen's comp insurance, a N.Y.S. legal contract, and be in business for at least a minimum of one year or have five years experience in the trades. In addition they must provide two supplier and one past customer reference. They cannot have any outstanding unrectified complaints with the Attorney General's office. Members are recognized as "Registered Professionals" after a one year trial period.
The BCB has close to 10,000 contractors on its data base and its services include complaint processing, mediation and formal arbitration through its relationship with the Center for Dispute Settlement, gives referrals and inquiries on contractors and offers an inspection service to verify that a consumer's complaint is justified. It also gives advice on trade and materials questions.
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EAR was founded in August, 1924 "by a group of local manufacturers, jobbers, contractors, dealers and Rochester Gas & Electric Corporation officials for the specific purpose of promoting the electrical business in general in Rochester and the vicinity and also in order to develop wider use for electricity and electrical equipment". [Source: Rochester Evening Journal and The Post Express, November 10, 1933]. That mission is still true today...over 84 years later. The organization sponsors educational classes and training programs, the Construction & Maintenance Division, social events, an annual luncheon in honor of Thomas Edison, a scholarship program, a contractor referral program, group medical coverage for members and their employees, a tri-annual trade show, an industry newsletter, and a web site to keep current with all EAR has to offer.
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As a pioneer, the International Association of Electrical Inspectors plays a strong leadership role in the electrical industry and its many organizations and associations. Because of its reputation for fairness and code-compliance, the association has long been labeled the Keystone of the Electrical Industry. Like the keystone, the association plays a cohesive role among testing agencies, standards organizations, manufacturers, distributors, and contractors. Since 1928, the IAEI has brought unbiased focus to interpreting the National Electrical Code and teaching safe installation and use of electricity.
www.iaei.org
The National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) is the national trade association representing the U.S. propane industry. Our membership includes small businesses and large corporations engaged in the retail marketing of propane gas and appliances; producers and wholesalers of propane equipment; manufacturers and distributors of propane gas appliances and equipment; fabricators of propane gas cylinders and tanks; and propane transporters.
With a membership of more than 3,500 companies in all 50 states, 38 affiliated state or regional associations, and members in 28 foreign countries, NPGA represents every segment of the propane industry.
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Small groups of local business people began meeting and organizing in the early 1950’s in the Towns of Walworth, Macedon and Palmyra with the purpose of forming Chambers of Commerce. All three chambers were formalized in 1957 with Walworth also becoming incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation in New York State.
Over the succeeding years these chambers sponsored and/or spearheaded many local civic and business related opportunities including; encouraging professional services of doctors, dentists, lawyers, architects, builders, banks, retail chains, and engineering firms to locate and expand in out towns. Additionally these chambers supported political candidates who worked to bring redevelopment funds and projects to our area for the benefit of all our citizens.
In 2001 the Macedon and Palmyra Chambers joined together as a common organization and in 2009 were joined by Walworth Chamber to become an incorporated body named the Canal Connection Chambers of Commerce Inc. This new organization, has a common purpose. It’s an organization of business people and community members created; to provide a forum which fosters the exchange of ideas and information among its members; to promote and encourage the success of local businesses; and to carry forth the skills, talents and success of its members by encouraging an environment of economic and community growth.
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Screwed: .ORG gets sold to a private equity firm called Ethos Capital
Konstantinos Zournas November 14, 2019 Domain Name News, Opinions 16 Comments
I am mad so all I can say today is that we got screwed as expected. .ORG just got sold to a private equity firm called Ethos Capital. Prepare for the $200 per year .org domain.
And I blame the US for this shit show. The deep corruption in the United States society that is eroding anything in its path.
All the companies that are screwing everybody on the internet are based in the US. This is a whole scheme with ICANN, Google, Facebook, etc. trying to take over the internet from the little guy.
I am just going to receive some comments about ICANN US oversight and that. I don’t want to hear it. ICANN has a revolving door with US companies, not Russias spies or aliens. All the money from domains is flowing to US companies. Don’t even start. All this was organized 10 years ago. Do you think this just happened today? This was going to happen with US oversight or not.
And they named their company Ethos. Give me a break!
Don’t say I didn’t warn you: Wake up people! ICANN and the registries want to steal your domain names!
Read this PR bullshit below:
The Internet Society and Public Interest Registry (PIR) today announced that they have reached an agreement with Ethos Capital, under which Ethos Capital will acquire PIR and all of its assets from the Internet Society. The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of next year.
“This is an important and exciting development for both the Internet Society and Public Interest Registry,” said Andrew Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Internet Society, the organization that established Public Interest Registry. “This transaction will provide the Internet Society with an endowment of sustainable funding and the resources to advance our mission on a broader scale as we continue our work to make the Internet more open, accessible and secure – for everyone. It also aligns Public Interest Registry with Ethos Capital, a strong strategic partner that understands the intricacies of the domain industry and has the expertise, experience and shared values to further advance the goals of .ORG into the future.”
“Since the inception of Public Interest Registry, our mission has been to enable the .ORG Community to use the Internet more effectively and change the world for the better,” stated Jon Nevett, CEO of Public Interest Registry. “That will not change. We have enjoyed a long and successful relationship with the Internet Society, and are thrilled that we will be able to continue – and expand – our important work with Ethos Capital while sustaining our commitment to the .ORG Community going forward.”
Following the close of the transaction, PIR will continue to meet the highest standards of public transparency, accountability, and social performance in line with its longstanding purpose-driven mission, and will consider seeking B Corporation certification. All of PIR’s domain operations and educational initiatives will continue, and there will be no disruption of service or support to the .ORG Community or other generic top-level domains operated by the organization.
“We are excited to support PIR’s mission and build upon the incredible work it has done to promote success and positive impact for the .ORG Community,” said Erik Brooks, Founder & CEO of Ethos Capital. “As part of our commitment to setting the gold standard of registry operations, we will be establishing a Stewardship Council that will serve to uphold PIR’s core founding values and provide support through a variety of community programs.”
Mr. Brooks added: “Importantly, throughout the transition and beyond, we are committed to ensuring complete continuity of PIR’s operations and enhancing the relationships PIR has established over the years. We look forward to continuing PIR’s longstanding partnerships and vendor affiliations to ensure domain operations run smoothly and without interruption.”
Vint Cerf, former Chairman of the Board of ICANN and founding President of the Internet Society, said: “When the Internet Society won the bid to operate the .ORG registry, it enabled a productive and sustainable future for the organization. Public Interest Registry exercised its stewardship to the benefit of the registrants and the Internet Society’s mission. I am looking forward to supporting Ethos Capital and PIR in any way I can as they continue to expand the utility of the .ORG top-level domain in creative and socially responsible ways.”
PIR was established by the Internet Society in 2002 to manage and operate the .ORG domain. Since then, .ORG has risen to become the largest purpose-driven domain used by millions of organizations and others to achieve their online goals.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is serving as financial advisor to both the Internet Society and PIR. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP and Proskauer Rose LLP are serving as legal advisors to the Internet Society and PIR, respectively. Macquarie Capital is serving as financial advisor and Morrison & Foerster LLP is serving as legal advisor to Ethos Capital.
More PR BS from PIR:
Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the .ORG Community. Earlier today, the Internet Society and Public Interest Registry (PIR) announced that they have reached an agreement with Ethos Capital, an investment firm that helps transform and grow companies in today’s rapidly evolving digital economy, under which Ethos Capital will acquire PIR and all of its assets from the Internet Society.
As brief background – in 2002, the Internet Society won a competitive bidding process for the .ORG registry and established PIR to manage and operate the .ORG domain. Since that time, the Internet Society and PIR have worked to grow .ORG into the largest purpose-driven domain – used today by millions of organizations and others to achieve their online goals – and PIR’s contributions to the Internet Society have helped make the Internet more available, accessible and secure for people around the world.
This transaction aligns PIR with a strong, new strategic partner, Ethos Capital, that not only possesses a deep understanding of the intricacies of the domain industry, but also has the ideal mix of expertise, experience and shared values to further advance the goals of .ORG into the future. As a mission-driven firm focused on the guiding values and ideals that build successful organizations and communities, Ethos Capital is committed to ensuring complete continuity of PIR’s operations, to maintaining the strong community relationships PIR has established over the years, and to continuing PIR’s longstanding partnerships and vendor affiliations to ensure domain operations run smoothly, without disruption to the .ORG Community or other generic top-level domains operated by the organization.
Once the transaction is completed, PIR will continue to meet the highest standards of public transparency, accountability, and social performance in line with its longstanding purpose-driven mission, and will consider seeking B Corporation certification.
Today’s news has tremendous benefits for both the Internet Society and PIR. The transaction will help the Internet Society to secure its future through more stable, diversified and sustainable financial resources than it has at present, allowing the organization to plan for the long term and advance its vision of an Internet for everyone on an even broader scale. It will also enable PIR to continue expanding its mission and important work under new ownership — including its goal of keeping .ORG accessible and reasonably priced — while further strengthening and deepening its commitment to the .ORG Community.
PIR and Ethos Capital are looking forward to launching several new initiatives aimed at promoting and supporting the .ORG Community, including:
Establishing a Stewardship Council that will serve to uphold PIR’s core founding values and provide support through a variety of community programs;
Launching a Community Enablement Fund to support the financing of current and additional initiatives undertaken by key Internet organizations; and
Expanding a program to award .ORG prizes to promote the success and positive impact of non-profit organizations.
This announcement marks an important milestone within the domain industry – one that the Internet Society, PIR and Ethos Capital are confident will protect and enhance the interests of both the Internet and .ORG communities for years to come.
The Internet Society Erik Brooks
Ethos Capital Jon Nevett
Donuts to be acquired by private equity firm Abry Partners
Web.com is now owned by an affiliate of Siris Capital and will no longer trade on NASDAQ
Public Interest Registry Announces Sunrise Period For New Devanagari, Cyrillic and Chinese Domain Names
Your anger is understandable. I would surmise the US government’s position has evolved over time, mainly because the US military invented the Internet. It’s an American govt creation.
They opened it up to everyone, allowed a not for profit type model, and now given huge debt load moving to monetize it. The profits from these US companies is taxed and goes to US Treasury (if/when taxes are actually paid from their avoidance schemes in conjunction with European countries).
Quite simply, what was once gov not profit in best interest of users is being privatized. As an American I take it for what it is. Not happy about any of this either. Blaming America and corporate America when American taxpayers financed the invention of the Internet seems a bit extreme imo.
Not exactly accurate.
e.g. The history of the Internet has its origin in the efforts of wide area networking that originated in several computer science laboratories in the United States, United Kingdom, and France.
In the 1980s, research at CERN in Switzerland by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee resulted in the World Wide Web, linking hypertext documents into an information system, accessible from any node on the network.
Seems that is debatable. This is from LAtimes article “Lots of problems here. Cerf and Kahn did develop TCP/IP–on a government contract! And Berners-Lee doesn’t get credit for hyperlinks–that belongs to Doug Engelbart of Stanford Research Institute, who showed them off in a legendary 1968 demo you can see here. Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web–and he did so at CERN, a European government consortium.”
There is a difference between the Internet and WWW.
Again, I’m not supporting this nonsense. Just trying to help put this BS into perspective from a US gov standpoint. They believe they are inventors of internet, and apparently think entitled to exploit for profit now, regardless of how it all came to be.
Konstantinos I have never seen anyone dispute that the Internet was invented by DARPA in the US before. Then again, there is often truth out there that has been covered up, so I’m open to anything credible that may modify that.
You are, however, leaving out that the Domain Name System was also invented in the US. And we all know about the WWW.
Regarding US oversight, maybe I’m wrong and maybe you’re right that it would have happened anyway, but I honestly doubt it – a lot. It’s just not *Politically Feaasible* – and “they” know it. In fact just this morning I wrote this over at DNW:
“And despite our own national propensity toward corruption and abuse of power and overall state of general imperfection, I still say it is a virtual certainty none of this could ever have happened if people had not been duped about removing ICANN from US oversight, not even under the most pro-elite and pro-plutocracy administration on any side of the aisle possible.”
Maybe I’m mistaken, but I don’t believe even the current administration would have allowed this .org catastrophe to occur, even if they wanted to.
The WWW was invented by Tim Berners-Lee from the UK.
Anyway the internet is not under some US patent. It is for the whole world and I bet 1000s of companies would like to run the .org and of cource the .com for far less money.
Do you see anyone in the US government caring?
And I never said it was not invented by the US. I said that many countries including the US and people from all over the world helped shaped the internet.
And there is also this crucial difference, which “they” also know: if there had still been US oversight, then *many* of the real stakeholders involved would have had access to address their objections to those in power to prevent this catastrophe. Without US oversight, there was no such ability, opportunity or access.
I already said we all know about the WWW.
Let me try to make my point in a different way since you seem to think we are not on the same page or team.
Believing this could not have happened under US oversight is all about keeping the Internet for the whole world and avoiding this very type of anti-world money and power grab catastrophe that can so easily happen now apart from the original US oversight.
In case you are not aware, this is how things work in the US: actions have to be “politically feasible,” except in cases where the “powers that be” feel they can ignore that. That is why, for instance, the mainstream media is controlled and even infiltrated for propaganda in order to “manufacture (public) consent” for things like never ending wars that cause destruction, misery and death around the world and misery and death at home in the US itself by diversion of resources to bad policy – generation after generation. I’m saying that despite how crooked and corrupt our own system is, i.e. here in the US, US oversight still would almost certainly have never allowed any of this, because it simply would not have been politically feasible – not even if the current administration even wanted to allow it, which despite how pro-elite even this current administration is still is nonetheless doubtful as well.
You were not clear about the WWW. That is why I replied.
Somehow I highly doubt the US would have made anything about the .org. They haven’t really cared about it. Were was the US government in the comment period. Where are they now?
And yes they can STILL many things to stop this. They won’t. Everyone is now waiting for the European Union to save us all.
The US controls .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, etc. All the old extensions. ICANN never invited for lower bids in running these extensions.
They just bought stock then renewed the contracts and increased pricing. Or they went working for these companies after they increased pricing. Or their friends helped them. This is a never ending mess.
You don’t get more corrupt than this. This is ridiculous.
I want to see who in the ICANN in the past 10 years owned stocks or shares of domain name companies. #Front-running
im happy i.only have 2 or 3 .org’s so if worse comes.to worse i will renew for 10 years before a major increase.
.com is coming soon!!!
Read: “We’ve found an excuse to skim a crapload of .org registrant’s money to our mates in the financial sector”.
What other investments do they have? What qualified them as best candidate? Will they or do they have dozens of other failing ntld and say a $200 .org increase is necessary reason to ‘stay’ afloat?
Yes. Precedent is practically set. Case in point: Frank schilling. Has a domain portfolio valued near $1b. While starting his very own registry, and putting out a press release about personally buying more domains, he raised prices 1000% on some of his lesser performers. Absolutely screwing the little guy as you day. Complete recklessness and disregard. Now once again, lowering prices and offering 90% promos.
let your heros get away with playing games, but now it’s coming around. Sat on your hands out of hatred for ntld, now it’s all going to come around. Small guys, bend over.
2+2 = incentive to buy for 1 year but holding longer, you’re punished by the real price. The domain drops, maybe you get it, perhaps by beating huge domains.
Here’s Frank blowing a dog whistle, warning his buddies through proxies to see their .com portfolios. Looks like he’s suggesting .com and .org connect back with old prospects.
See=sell
https://uniregistry.com/blog/post/know-when-to-hold-em-know-when-to-sell-em
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ORCP 26 – REAL PARTY IN INTEREST; CAPACITY OF PARTNERSHIPS AND ASSOCIATIONS
REAL PARTY IN INTEREST; CAPACITY OF PARTNERSHIPS AND ASSOCIATIONS
A Real party in interest. Every action shall be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest. An executor, administrator, guardian, conservator, bailee, trustee of an express trust, a party with whom or in whose name a contract has been made for the benefit of another, or a party authorized by statute may sue in that party’s own name without joining the party for whose benefit the action is brought; and when a statute of this state so provides, an action for the use or benefit of another shall be brought in the name of the state. No action shall be dismissed on the ground that it is not prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest until a reasonable time has been allowed after objection for ratification of commencement of the action by, or joinder or substitution of, the real party in interest; and such ratification, joinder, or substitution shall have the same effect as if the action had been commenced in the name of the real party in interest.
B Partnerships and associations. Any partnership or other unincorporated association, whether organized for profit or not, may sue in any name which it has assumed and be sued in any name which it has assumed or by which it is known. Any member of the partnership or other unincorporated association may be joined as a party in an action against the partnership or unincorporated association.
[CCP 12/2/78; amended by CCP 12/13/80]
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News // Ecology
Russia ordered to pay € 5.4 mln in 2013 Greenpeace arrest case
19 July 2017 , 12:18Neftegaz.RU732
An international arbitration tribunal has ruled on July 18, 2017, that Russia must pay a 5.39 million euros compensation to the Netherlands for the damage to the Dutch-flagged, Greenpeace-operated Arctic Sunrise vessel, and the arrest of Greenpeace protesters in 2013.
The arbitration, launched by the Netherlands, concerns the measures taken by Russia against the Dutch-flagged ship Arctic Sunrise and the 30 Greenpeace activists who used the vessel to stage a protest on the Gazprom-run Prirazlomnaya offshore oil platform in the Pechora Sea in September 2013.
The activists were there to protest against the Arctic drilling. The protest ended by Russian forces seizing the Arctic Sunrise vessel and arresting 30 people on board, which later became famous as the Arctic 30.
After that, the Arctic 30 were detained, charged with the criminal offense of piracy, subsequently requalified as hooliganism, and remanded in custody.
They were released on bail by November 29, 2013, and were granted amnesty by Decree of the Russian State Duma in respect of the crime of hooliganism on December 18, 2013.
On June 6, 2014, the arrest of the Arctic Sunrise was lifted.
The ship departed from Murmansk on August 1, 2014 and reached Amsterdam the following week.
The Netherlands launched the legal action in 2013 claiming Russia had violated its obligations toward the Netherlands under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and customary international law.
After years of proceedings, the Tribunal on Tuesday found that Russia shall pay to the Netherlands around 5,39 million euros in compensation for the damage to the ship and the actions against the protesters, plus other reimbursements.
Russian side of the story
While Russia refused to partake in the arbitration, the country’s foreign ministry in 2015 issued a document supporting its actions against the Arctic Sunrise.
One excerpt reads: «The Arctic Sunrise delivered Greenpeace activists to Prirazlomnaya. After their action that was coordinated from the ship they returned to the Arctic Sunrise which remained in the vicinity of the platform refusing to follow the instructions of the Russian Border Guard and obstructing its activities. The vessel and its crew were clearly acting as a unit against the platform and Russian law-enforcement officials. In this situation exclusive criminal jurisdiction and in particular enforcement jurisdiction of Russia over Prirazlomnaya apparently extended to the vessel and those on board and the flag State had no exclusive jurisdiction over the vessel. Thus there was no need for the Russian authorities to seek consent of the flag State for the boarding of Arctic Sunrise and detention of the ship and its crew.»
Also in the document, it has been written Russia respects the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly exercised in accordance with international law, including when they are exercised at sea.
Russian authorities claimed they were also open to dialogue with those having concerns regarding economic activities in the Arctic, the text in the document reads.
«However, when the enjoyment of the aforementioned rights is combined with aggressive behavior of their beneficiaries (protesters), obstruction of the law-enforcement activities and infringement of the rights of others, it cannot, in accordance with international law, be qualified either as peaceful or as lawful. Definitely, there are alternative means to express views on the necessity to preserve the Arctic environment and to «protest at sea» – such that would not create prejudice to private and public rights and interests, infringe the law and put others at risk,» it has been written in the document by the Russian foreign ministry.
, arctic
, arctic sunrise
, arrest
, greenpeace
, international law
, pechora sea
, prirazlomnaya
, protesters
, russia
Russia to fund Arctic oil, economy development with $2.75 bln
Russian oil producer pushes deeper in Arctic
29 November 2016 , 10:3110060
Big growth for Russian Arctic oil
07 February 2017 , 16:21Atle Staalesen13340
Russia and India mull joint fuel exploitation in Arctic
09 March 2017 , 14:138030
SPE Workshop: Enhanced Oil Recovery will take place in Moscow on 23-23 April 2019
Bolivia's Morales to discuss gas, nuclear projects during Russia visit
Germany's Wintershall eyes Russian expansion after DEA merger
NGV fuel becoming increasingly popular in Russia
Moscow and Baku mull Russian oil to Turkey's STAR refinery
LUKOIL eyes to expand its presence in Azerbaijan
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Former Providence knife factory finds new life as housing
By onenbNovember 1, 2018Press & Events
Article published by the Providence Journal on Tuesday, October 30, 2018.
By Madeleine List
Journal Staff Writer
$22-million affordable housing project at 60 King St. is completed with 60 units
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Between 1958 and 1988, hundreds of employees worked at the Imperial Knife Factory in Olneyville, manufacturing folding pocket knives, stainless steel cutlery and tableware.
Today, that same mill building boasts 60 new apartments for families of varying income levels.
“In the coming weeks, 60 families will come home to a beautiful apartment here,” said Dan Drazen, project manager for Trinity Financial, the developer of the $22-million affordable housing project at 60 King St., where politicians and housing officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday.
Forty-seven of the 60 units will be rented to families earning 60 percent of the area median income, which is up to $43,400 for a family of three. Seven will be rented to families earning 30 percent of the area median income, or up to $21,700 for a family of three. The remaining six units will be priced at market-rate levels, and there are five Section 8 vouchers available for the building. Section 8 is a federally-funded program that subsidizes housing for qualifying tenants.
The first 15 families are scheduled to move in on Thursday, according to Reza Aghamirzadeh, head of community development at Citizens Bank, a key investor in the project.
Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony was one in a string of recent ribbon cuttings at housing complexes around the state.
Last Friday, Rhode Island Housing, the state’s housing finance agency, announced the completion of renovations for 128 affordable apartments in Providence. On Monday, the agency cut the ribbon at the Branch Blackstone Development, a group of 46 rental homes for low- and moderate-income families in Pawtucket and Central Falls.
On Thursday, Rhode Island Housing will announce the completion of 96 affordable housing units in the Pascoag neighborhood of Burrillville.
But the development at 60 King St. represents not only the addition of 60 apartments to Providence, but the ongoing transformation of one of the capital city’s most rapidly-changing neighborhoods.
In recent years, Olneyville has seen many of its abandoned mills refurbished and repurposed into apartments and artists’ lofts as well as the construction of parks, a bike path and green space along the Woonasquatucket River.
“This transformation that you’re seeing here today is part of a 20-year effort,” said Barbara Fields, executive director of Rhode Island Housing. “Today we have a reclaimed river, a park where children play and do summer programming and grow food in the garden, rental housing, home ownership, senior housing, and today we add yet another piece — 60 King St.”
In the process of improving the neighborhood, Jennifer Hawkins, executive director of ONE Neighborhood Builders, the agency that originally purchased the land at 60 King St. for development, said it’s important to make sure residents aren’t pushed out of the community.
“We really want to do it in such a way that the existing residents and existing businesses can stay here and flourish and not get kicked out,” she said.
ONE Neighborhood Builders does this by placing properties into the state’s Community Housing Land Trust, which ensures they remain affordable in perpetuity, Hawkins said. Also, when there are opportunities to lease ground floors of residential buildings for commercial use, Hawkins said her agency tries to find local businesses or nonprofits to rent to.
ONE Neighborhood Builders also has site control of land across the street from 60 King St., where Hawkins said her team is looking to develop King Street Commons, a project that will include 30 additional affordable units as well as four Head Start classrooms. Head Start is a federally-funded early education program for children of low-income families.
“We really believe that a comprehensive response to community development is the best way of going about it,” she said. ”…the success of Providence and the success of Rhode Island are inextricably linked to the success of its neighborhoods.”
— mlist@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @madeleine_list
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One Year, One Hundred Books
365 days – One hundred adventures
Did Not Finish: The Witches by Stacy Shiff
April 17, 2019 1yearonehundredbooksLeave a comment
It had to happen eventually. Over the past sixteen months, I’ve published reviews on more than one hundred and twenty novels. There’s been good books and bad books and occasionally a book that is truly great.
But The Witches: Salem, 1692, by Stacy Schiff, is the first book that I am giving up on.
I don’t have a car, so I mostly walk or use public transit to get around Toronto. While commuting to various locations, I like to use Audible because my earbuds are easy to stash in my pocket once I reach my destination.
I prefer nonfiction because if I have to tune out for a few minutes in order to cross the street or dodge the ever-present construction in the city, I can quickly pick up the thread of the narrative once more.
For more than nine hours I listened to The Witches, and today I could not tell you anything about the Salem Witch Trials that I didn’t know beforehand. This is because the book is all brain and no heart. It’s filled with facts and quoted and diary excerpts, but it fails entirely to make the historical figures into living, breathing people with motivations.
I always like to know the why of things. For example, I knew the basic facts about Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt before I read Kara Cooney’s The Woman Who Would Be King. What her book provided was the historical context of the period. Using educated guesswork and a dash of wild speculation, Cooney was able to paint a portrait of Egyptian life that allowed me to better understand Hatshepsut’s reign as a whole.
That’s what is sorely missing from Schiff’s book. She spends countless pages describing what the teenage girls of Salem were doing when they were supposedly bewitched. They tore out their hair, contorted their bodies, and screamed the invisible “spirits” tormenting them. These are facts. What I wanted to know was why. If it wasn’t witches, which it clearly wasn’t, then what on Earth would possess an entire community of teenage girls to behave as if they were, in fact, possessed?
If this book had been a little shorter, I probably would have been able to stay the course. But The Witches is more than five hundred pages. Like I said, I listened for nearly ten hours. Then I looked, and saw there were still eight hours to go. And I just couldn’t spend another eight hours in that particular version of Salem, no matter how technically accurate.
My rating: N/A
Normally I leave links here for anyone who would like to purchase the book, but given what you’ve just read, why would you?
Happy reading everyone!
nonfiction, Reading, Uncategorized, Year Twobooks, disappointing, DNF, history, nonfiction, Reading, witches
Book Review: The Only Girl in the World by Maude Julien
April 2, 2019 April 20, 2019 1yearonehundredbooksLeave a comment
Review 2.28
In the tradition of The Glass Castle and A Child Called It, this memoir by Maude Julien is filled with such heartbreaking and harrowing detail that on more than one occasion I had to put it down and walk away. How such people come to abuse their children, and how such children find the strength to survive, are questions often explored in autobiographies and memoirs. But not since Tara Westover’s Educated, which I read and reviewed last year, have I encountered two people less deserving of the word “parent”.
It is obvious from the beginning chapters of The Only Girl in the World that Maude’s father is severely mentally ill. Of course that is just a polite term for “bleeding batshit crazy”, which is closer to the actual definition of Monsieur Julien’s affliction. Years before his daughter was born, he “adopted” a five year old girl from a family that was unable to provide for her. This young girl was groomed in the worst possible sentence of the world; she was indoctrinated to believe that her purpose on Earth was to bear a daughter for her adopted father. She went on to marry Mr. Julien, and bore his child in 1952.
This was a hard read. The entire stomach-twisting saga is narrated in a matter-of-fact manner, as if such things are standard practice. Sadly, the child abuse seen in the introduction it is but the merest inkling of the horrors to come. From the time she was able to walk and speak, Maude Julien was isolated away from the rest of the world in a manor home in Northern France where she was subjected to torture, molestation, starvation, sleep-deprivation, and a childhood deprived of love and affection from any other human.
Thankfully, Maude was born with a deep sense of compassion. Her love for animals and her connection to nature offered some consolation from the rigors of daily life. The second half of the memoir, in which Maude begins engaging in defiance and plans for escape, are much easier to read than the first half. The countless scenes of a small girl being treated with such cruel neglect were often too much, especially combined the rather deadpan narrative work by Elisabeth Rodgers in the audiobook edition. As I said earlier, I often had to pause and resume the story at a later time.
One thing that remains unexplained in The Only Girl in the World is exactly who was Monsieur Julien? With enough money it is said that one is never crazy, only eccentric, and that must have been the only thing keeping him from a mental asylum. But where he was getting all of this money from is never fully explained. I would have liked a little more detail on exactly how someone comes to the belief that their urine has magical properties, but it is more likely that the author simply doesn’t know.
You can find The Only Girl in the World here on Amazon or here on Book Depository. The Audible edition is narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers and is available here.
book review, nonfiction, Reading, Uncategorized, Year Twochild abuse, daughters, family, memoir, nonfiction, rape
Book Review: The Woman Who Would Be King by Kara Cooney
March 22, 2019 April 20, 2019 1yearonehundredbooks1 Comment
An engrossing biography of the longest-reigning female pharaoh in Ancient Egypt and the story of her audacious rise to power in a man’s world.
Hatshepsut, the daughter of a general who took Egypt’s throne without status as a king’s son and a mother with ties to the previous dynasty, was born into a privileged position of the royal household. Married to her brother, she was expected to bear the sons who would legitimize the reign of her father’s family. Her failure to produce a male heir was ultimately the twist of fate that paved the way for her inconceivable rule as a cross-dressing king. At just twenty, Hatshepsut ascended to the rank of king in an elaborate coronation ceremony that set the tone for her spectacular twenty-two year reign as co-regent with Thutmose III, the infant king whose mother Hatshepsut out-maneuvered for a seat on the throne. Hatshepsut was a master strategist, cloaking her political power plays with the veil of piety and sexual expression. Just as women today face obstacles from a society that equates authority with masculinity, Hatshepsut had to shrewdly operate the levers of a patriarchal system to emerge as Egypt’s second female pharaoh. [Source]
It becomes clear quite early on in The Woman Who Would Be King that author Kara Cooney is personally outraged by the near erasure of Egyptian King Hatshepsut from the annals of history. And well she should be; the only reason that Egyptologists were able to recover any traces of Hatshepsut’s reign at all is that she built so profusely during her reign that her successors were simply incapable of finding and destroying all of her iconography.
Every book lover still mourning the loss of the Library at Alexandria can probably sympathize.
Still, precious little information has survived as to what Hatshepsut’s personal life was like, or what her motivations were for seizing the throne. Cooney explains this in the introduction, and admits that large areas of her biography on Hatshepsut’s life are based, by necessity, on conjecture. And it’s true that she resorts to using the word “perhaps” at an irritatingly frequent pace. We simply cannot know the circumstances under which Hatshepsut was crowned King. What we’re left with is speculation, which Cooney uses to fill in the gaps in the historical record as best she can.
There are a few less savory aspects of life in ancient Egypt that cannot be denied. Hatshepsut was married to her half-brother, Thutmose II, and give birth to at least one daughter. Inbreeding was standard practice within royal bloodlines at the time, and she may have been the product of inbreeding herself. Also, far from the gilded surfaces and cool stone palaces we picture from films, life in this time period was short and hard. Disease was as common as sand, and the royalty in the palace would not have been immune from lice, boils, malaria, and worms. Cooney accepts these facts as further proof of Hatshepsut’s exceptionalism and, in truth any woman who survived into adulthood and through childbirth in ancient Egypt was most definitely worthy of high praise. And Hatshepsut managed to do it all while holding a kingdom together.
After her death, all of Hatshepsut’s statues and icons were torn down, and her face was replaced in many other reliefs. The exact reason for this systematic destruction is just one of a thousand things we will never know about Hatshepsut’s reign. I enjoyed that Cooney did not take an extreme feminist slant as this stage, as she noticeably did in the introduction. While it is incredibly likely that Hatshepsut’s successors were threatened by her status as a female king, it may have had more to do with the shaky line of succession left in the new King Thutmose III, and his desire to avoid civil war that led to Hatshepsut.
I’ve always loved stories about ancient Egypt. Growing up, Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s The Egypt Game was one of my favorite childhood books. However, this biography was accessible to anyone, regardless of prior knowledge of Egyptian society. I was familiar with a lot of it, but ended up learning a ton more.
You can find The Woman Who Would Be King here on Amazon or here on Book Depository. The Audible edition is narrated by the author and can be found here.
book review, nonfiction, Uncategorized, Year Twobiography, book review, Egypt, history, nonfiction, women
Book Review: Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal (2017)
March 9, 2019 April 20, 2019 1yearonehundredbooksLeave a comment
What separates your mind from an animal’s? Maybe you think it’s your ability to design tools, your sense of self, or your grasp of past and future—all traits that have helped us define ourselves as the planet’s preeminent species. But in recent decades, these claims have eroded, or even been disproven outright, by a revolution in the study of animal cognition. Take the way octopuses use coconut shells as tools; elephants that classify humans by age, gender, and language; or Ayumu, the young male chimpanzee at Kyoto University whose flash memory puts that of humans to shame. Based on research involving crows, dolphins, parrots, sheep, wasps, bats, whales, and of course chimpanzees and bonobos, Frans de Waal explores both the scope and the depth of animal intelligence. He offers a firsthand account of how science has stood traditional behaviorism on its head by revealing how smart animals really are, and how we’ve underestimated their abilities for too long. [Source]
Last year I read Frans de Waal’s The Bonobo and the Atheist, which asked whether or not animals are capable of demonstrating selflessness and empathy towards themselves and towards us. I wasn’t a huge fan of that book, partially because anyone who has spent even a small amount of time observing the animal world will tell you that the answer is a resounding “Duh”.
I was unaware at the time that there is a surprising amount of resistance to the idea of altruism in the animal kingdom. For decades the idea of true animal awareness was laughed out of universities and scientific journals. Man, it seems, needs to maintain a moral superiority over morality itself.
In Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?, de Waal begins by lambasting his fellow scientists in a highly informative and highly enjoyable tirade against modern testing methods. He lists study after study designed to test the difference in cognitive abilities between toddlers and apes that failed, not due a fault of intelligence on behalf of the ape, but by unfair testing standards. For example, toddlers were tested while sitting on their mothers lap in a warm and comfortable environment, with scientists there to reassure them. The apes were alone in a steel cage, with no explanation of the test or comfort from the testers. Until recent years it was considered unprofessional even to give personal names to the “test subjects”.
De Waal is a passionate advocate for animal rights. After thoroughly beating his colleagues about the head in the first part of Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?, he then begins giving case study after case study of animals that not only rivaled our own intelligence, but often surpassed it.
My favorite thing about this book is that it is not ape-centric. We have long ago learned to recognize a thinking mind behind the eyes of a chimpanzee, an orangutan, or a gorilla. But what about a crow? Any pet owner will gush about how smart their dog is, but is can their intelligence be measured using any kind of objective scale that we understand? Cats, elephants, dolphins, and monkeys all get their place in this book, as well as less “traditionally” intelligent animal such as cuttlefish. I loved the section on the octopus, which is my favorite animal to show off to my science students.
in The Bonobo and the Atheist, I felt that de Waal struggled to stay on topic. He would give a few interesting anecdotes about the animal world, and then pause for a discussion on medieval art, or the rise of atheism. Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? is more tightly edited, and jumps merrily from subject to subject while maintaining the central theme that animals are capable of more than we ever thought possible.
I love animals. I love learning interesting things about animals. If you love learning interesting things about animals, you will enjoy this book.
You can find Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? here on Amazon or here on Book Depository. The Audible version is narrated by Sean Runnette and can be found here.
book review, Great Read, nonfiction, Reading, Uncategorized, Year Twoanimals, book review, nature, nonfiction, science
Book Review: Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala (2013)
March 7, 2019 March 7, 2019 1yearonehundredbooksLeave a comment
On December 26, 2004, an earthquake of record proportions struck off the coast of Indonesia, triggering a series of tsunamis that swept through the Indian Ocean, ultimately killing more than 200,000 people in fourteen countries.
Two hundred thousand people.
Our brains aren’t quite capable of making sense of it. Two hundred thousand is simply a very large number, and our minds try to view it as such. It’s difficult to imagine two hundred thousand individual voices, with hopes and families and dreams and fears, being simultaneously snuffed out by a wall of water on a cloudless day.
Wave tells one of those stories. On the day of the tsunamis, Sonali Deraniyagala lost both her parents, her husband, and both her sons to the wave. She herself was swept two miles inland after being separated from her family. In her memoir, Deraniyagala gives voice to the pain, confusion, and grief that she has felt since the wave, and asks whether or not it’s possible to truly recover from such a loss.
I will say this for the author, she is brutally, unflinching honest. The rawness of her pain was almost unbearable to listen to, and I don’t know if I would have been able to get through a print copy of the book. Wave is a swirling maelstrom of grief. Deraniyagala is frank about her contemplation of suicide, her descent into binge drinking, her wish for madness to relieve her of the continued burden of life. Given the circumstances, one could expect little different. This was a book that made me want to hug my husband a little closer at night. I paused on one occasion to call my mom. Wave works as a reminder to never take our happiness for granted.
This is not a story of grief and healing in the wake of loss, it is an outpouring of grief from a woman who has been struck by unfathomable sorrow. It’s difficult to criticize a book like this without looking like an asshole. After all, this person is baring her soul to the world, who am I to deign even to reply? That said, Deraniyagala was difficult to connect with. She is self-centered and self-absorbed. At no point does Deraniyagala ever extend her grief to include any of the other two hundred thousand people who died that day. She never bothers to thank the friends and family who rallied to support her. She doesn’t seem to recognize that not everyone who suffered that day could then take the next seven years to recover, grieve, travel, and go whale-watching.
Deraniyagala mentions that actually, at some point in Wave. The enormity of her loss is simply too great, and people react defensively when faced with such uncomprehending sadness. Listening to Wave was difficult and imperfect and gut-wrenchingly painful, and that is what makes stories like this so important.
My rating: 3.5/5
You can find Wave here on Amazon or here on Book Depository. The Audible version is narrated by Hannah Curtis and can be found here.
book review, nonfiction, Reading, Uncategorized, Year Twodeath, family, grief, memoir, mothers, nonfiction
Book Review: Lab Girl by Hope Jahren (2016)
February 28, 2019 1yearonehundredbooksLeave a comment
Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she’s studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book is a revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also so much more.
Lab Girl is a book about work, love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It is told through Jahren’s stories: about her childhood in rural Minnesota with an uncompromising mother and a father who encouraged hours of play in his classroom’s labs; about how she found a sanctuary in science, and learned to perform lab work done “with both the heart and the hands”; and about the inevitable disappointments, but also the triumphs and exhilarating discoveries, of scientific work. [Source]
If you’re lucky, outside your window you will be able to see at least one tree. What kind of tree is it? How old is it? When was the last time you really paid any attention at all to the goings on of this tree?
In LabGirl, noted biogeologist Hope Jahren asks us to take a closer look at the plants that share our Earth. In part, her memoir is a love letter to the grasses, flowers, and trees which are so necessary to life on this planet and yet are so often overlooked or disregarded. These sections, in which Jahren speaks with an enraptured voice on the many fascinating aspects of the botanical world, are what works about LabGirl.
From the introduction, Jahren makes the case that anyone who observes something interesting about the natural world is officially a scientist. Children are born scientists, exploring and cataloging their environment with every sense they possess. It’s only as we get older that science becomes an intimidating, closed-off world with its own secret rules and language. Girls in particular often feel discouraged when entering STEM fields because they are given little respect or acknowledgement. Jahren’s struggles trying to scratch out a niche for herself in the scientific community are some of the funniest and more infuriating part of this book.
What doesn’t work so well is Bill. Bill is Jahren’s closest friend, valued colleague, and general right-hand man. A large portion of the novel is given over to how important Bill is, what a good friend he is, and how Jahren just couldn’t survive without him. The problem was I just didn’t get it. I could not for the life of me figure out why she is so enamored by Bill. Far be it from me to say that two friends are mismatched, but I almost felt like Jahren forces my hand by focusing so much of her narrative on how impossibly wonderful this person is. It started to feel less like a working relationship between scientists and more like two codependent people clinging together for no other reason than that they know no other way to exist.
I’ve always loved science in a “stars are pretty” kind of way, though I readily admit that the technical aspects go right over my head. I would recommend LabGirl for anyone interested learning more about plants and the scientists who study them.
A quick note on the Audible version. The audio book for LabGirl is narrated by the author, and makes for an uneven listening experience. Jahren is obviously going to be personally moved when detailing her own past experiences, but one more than one occasion she sounds as if she is going to burst into tears. During other sections when she is waxing romantic about her relationship with her colleague, her voice takes on a soporific effect that had me nodding off. A large portion of the book deals with Jahren’s ongoing battle with bipolar disorder, so perhaps the tone was an intentional choice made by the author and publisher. Either way, I found it jarring.
You can find LabGirl here on Amazon or here on Book Depository. The Audible version is narrated by the author and can be downloaded here.
book review, nonfiction, Reading, Uncategorized, Year Twomemoir, nonfiction, plants, science, STEM, women
Book Review: The Lost City of Z by David Grann (2009)
February 20, 2019 February 25, 2019 1yearonehundredbooksLeave a comment
In 1925, British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon to find an ancient civilization, hoping to make one of the most important discoveries in history. For centuries Europeans believed the world’s largest jungle concealed the glittering kingdom of El Dorado. Thousands had died looking for it, leaving many scientists convinced that the Amazon was truly inimical to humans. But Fawcett, whose daring expeditions inspired Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, had spent years building his scientific case. Captivating the imagination of millions round the globe, Fawcett embarked with his 21-year-old son, determined to prove that this ancient civilization–which he dubbed Z–existed. Then his expedition vanished. Fawcett’s fate, & the tantalizing clues he left behind about Z, became an obsession for hundreds who followed him into the uncharted wilderness. [Source]
For centuries, the Amazon jungle has represented the some of the greatest examples of man’s hubris. Countless explorers, adventurers, cartographers, and scientists have ventured grandly into this impenetrable rainforest never to be seen again. The Lost City of Z is a biography of one such individual, a man whose obsession with finding the ruins of an advanced civilization in the Amazon consumed both his personal and professional life. In his debut novel author David Grann attempts to retrace Fawcett’s path, both historically using letters and journals and literally by flying to Brazil and embarking on a trek through the Amazonian region.
Grann’s novel will draw inevitable comparison to Douglas Preston’s The Lost City of the Monkey God, which I read and reviewed last year. The difference is that while Monkey God is the story of a region and all the countless expeditions that had failed, City of Z is the more personal story of one man and his restless desire to find a hidden culture. Both novels were highly successful in convincing this reader never to visit the Amazon rainforest. One of the phrases that I enjoyed from The Lost City of Z described the area as a “counterfeit paradise”. The lush vegetation and abundant life of the jungle conceals a surprisingly lack of food, and what wildlife there is seems specifically designed to inflict the most discomfort possible before killing you.
While there are numerous disgusting descriptions scattered through this novel, it still a straightforward biography rather than an exciting book of exploration. Grann refuses to speculate on or romanticize the fate of his subjects. The bulk of City of Z is a more or less straightforward account of Fawcett’s various expeditions into the Amazon and the efforts of his fellow explorers to find him after his disappearance. The reminder of the book is an interesting and occasionally humorous first-hand account of Grann’s preparations for jungle travel and his eventual attempt to retrace Fawcett’s last known trail.
While The Lost City of Z was not the thrilling adventure novel advertised by it’s book jacket, I nevertheless found myself intrigued by the story of Fawcett and his ill-fated adventures. Only in recent years, with remote satellite and lidar technology, are we even coming close to forming a definitive picture of the secrets hidden under the Amazonian canopy. Perhaps more evidence of this ancient civilization will be discovered with time.
You can find The Lost City of Z here on Amazon or here on Book Depository. The Audible version is narrated by Mark Deakins and can be found here.
nonfiction, Reading, Uncategorized, Year TwoAmazon, biography, explorers, lostcity, nature, nonfiction, science
Book Review: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (1994)
Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt’s sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. [Source]
The murder-mystery at the center of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil doesn’t occur until almost halfway through the book. First, author John Berendt takes his readers on a tour of Savannah, Georgia in the early 1990’s and introduces us to a cast of characters so bizarre they can only be real. Among the colorful denizens of this insular community are Joe Odom, the charismatic thief who swindles his closest friends one evening and then attends their parties the next. There’s the Lady Chablis, the outspoken transvestite drag queen who nominates Berendt as her personal chauffeur. The pampered former beauty who is a near recluse. An eccentric who claims he has a bottle of poison powerful enough to kill the entire population of Savannah. I could go on and on. These voices serve as a quirky and often hilarious backdrop to the trial of James Williams for murder.
Of course the star of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is the city of Savannah herself, and Berendt describes the small coastal city with language usually reserved for beautiful women. Savannah is sultry and mysterious, seductive and veiled with secrets. She’s wary of outsiders, but still honors the Southern tradition of hospitality. People go to church on Sunday and then hire the local voodoo woman to work charms in the graveyard the next night. I dare anyone to make it through this book without stopping at some point to look up flights to Savannah. I think I got to page fifty.
The central plot deals with the murder of a male escort by a prominent member of Savannah society, and the nearly ten-year series of trials that followed. How Berendt became privy to so many intricate details of the case is never made entirely clear, but I wonder if Williams didn’t keep Berendt well-informed as a way of ensuring that his version of events was the one people would remember. Either way, Berendt’s fly-on-the-wall perspective gives a unique insight into a case that got little national publicity, but which rocked the close-knit community of Savannah to it’s core.
Overall, I can see why Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has received so much praise from high circles. After this book was published in 1994, the city of Savannah saw a boom of tourism that continues to this day. For me, Savannah has now joined cities like Boston and New Orleans on my list of must-see places in the United States.
You can find Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil here on Amazon or here on Book Depository.
book review, nonfiction, Reading, Uncategorized, Year Twobooks, Georgia, history, murder, nonfiction, travel
Book Review: The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel (2017)
February 5, 2019 February 6, 2019 1yearonehundredbooks1 Comment
Review 2.9
Many people dream of escaping modern life, but most will never act on it. This is the remarkable true story of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years, making this dream a reality–not out of anger at the world, but simply because he preferred to live on his own. [Source]
Right from the title, something rings false about The Stranger in the Woods. Finkel (or his publisher) draws us in with the promise of the last “true hermit”, and then spends a large amount of the book’s length debating whether or not Christopher Knight was even technically a hermit at all.
This book was odd. I don’t quite know how else to describe it. Author Michael Finkel doesn’t seem to know exactly what point he is trying to make. The sections describing his interviews with Knight are juxtaposed with chapters detailing the history of hermits and the psychological need for human interaction. However, Knight’s particular case is so unusual that he shares almost nothing in common with what we often think of as a hermit. Knight did not enter the forest seeking wisdom. He wasn’t running from something or trying to hide from the government. He did not embark on a spiritual journey. There are really only two pieces of information that I took away from this book.
1. Knight was just a guy who wanted to be left alone.
2. He committed hundreds of burglaries in order to achieve that goal.
Those are essentially the only ideas that Finkel was able to convey in The Stranger in the Woods. Knight was not some noble hero; he stole every single thing that kept him alive during his decades in the forest. He made people feel insecure and ill-at-ease in their own homes. He said in court that he was deeply ashamed of his actions, but was he truly sorry for stealing or only sorry that he was finally caught? Finkel doesn’t explore any of those questions, and instead adopts an almost fanboy-esque attitude towards Knight.
One of my goals this year was to read more nonfiction, but it wasn’t until The Stranger in the Woods that I fully understood how important a role the author plays in this kind of narrative. As readers, we need to be able to trust Finkel and his motivations in order to accept his version of events as the truth. Finkel, who was fired from the New York Times in 2002 for false reporting, does not inspire that kind of trust. But even before I knew about the NYT incident, something felt off about Finkel and his attitude towards Christopher Knight.
Finkel becomes increasingly stalkerish as The Stranger in the Woods progresses. He shows up announced and uninvited to visit Knight in jail. He shows up unannounced and uninvited at Knight’s family home. He refuses to listen to Knight’s frequent pleas to “stay away” and “leave me alone”. During the course of his time spent with Knight, Finkel traveled through the dense Maine woods no fewer than eight times in order to visit Knight’s “camp”, spending the night on several occasions in a kind of pilgrimage. He asks psychiatrists who have never met or heard of Christopher Knight to talk about whether or not Knight might be autistic. It all adds up to a narrator who is unreliable, unprofessional, and potentially unethical. I felt a cringy, awkward sort of empathy for Knight as Finkel refused to leave him alone. After all, that’s all Knight ever wanted in the first place.
You can find The Stranger in the Woods here on Amazon or here on Book Depository. The Audible version is narrated by Mark Bramhall and can be found here.
book review, nonfiction, Reading, Uncategorizedaudiobook, books, Maine, nature, nonfiction, woods
Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way by Jon Krakauer (2011)
January 31, 2019 February 5, 2019 1yearonehundredbooksLeave a comment
Greg Mortenson has built a global reputation as a selfless humanitarian and children’s crusader, and he’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is also not what he appears to be. As acclaimed author Jon Krakauer discovered, Mortenson has not only fabricated substantial parts of his bestselling books Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, but has also misused millions of dollars donated by unsuspecting admirers like Krakauer himself. [Source]
Here’s the twist. I’ve never read Three Cups of Tea, the 2007 mega-bestseller coauthored by David Relin Oliver and Greg Mortenson. I saw it for years in various airport bookstores; I even picked it up once or twice and glanced at the book jacket. I never felt the urge to read the book despite the glowing praise it had received, because something about the whole premise rang false. I’ve never trusted people who feel the need to strike million dollar book deals before imparting the “wisdom” they’ve supposedly learned while traveling. Similar to the odious Eat Pray Love, I assumed Three Cups would be full of self-aggrandizing humble-bragging, complete with pithy statements about how “the children of Afghanistan taught me more than I ever taught them”.
I tend to be a bit cynical.
So when I stumbled across short e-book entitled Three Cups of Deceit, I was immediately intrigued. Written by Jon Krakauer, an author who is quickly becoming of my favorite nonfiction writers. And when the subtitle read How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way, I felt the sweet, sweet confirmation bias wash over me.
Three Cups of Deceit is a seventy-page arrow aimed directly at the heart of Greg Mortenson, coauthor of Three Cups of Tea and founder of the Central Asia Institute, a charity that ostensibly exists to build schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. By educating the children of these war-stricken regions, Mortenson claims, they are less likely to become radicalized by Islamic extremist groups.
Unfortunately, Krakauer claims, Mortenson has fabricated nearly every aspect of the narrative that surrounds his personality and his supposed charitable works. The “origin” story in Three Cups of Tea, in which Mortenson stumbles upon a remote village in the mountains of Pakistan never happened, or at least not in the village Mortenson claims. Mortenson’s eight-day kidnapping and abduction by terrorist groups was a complete lie. Many of the schools built by CAI have been abandoned due to lack of materials, funds, and teachers. Many more of the schools were simply never built at all. All the time, Mortenson was using donations from the non-profit to fund a never-ending book tour, complete with five star hotels and private planes.
Three Cups of Deceit is my third book by Krakauer, and I have never been given a reason to doubt his journalistic integrity. I was surprised then, to see how closely he toes the line here. Krakauer is clearly angry, his words nearly simmer off the page with his fury at having been duped by Mortenson (Krakauer was a financial supporter of CAI). While his anger is certainly understandable, it is obvious that he was too close to this issue to maintain a professional demeanor. This is as much personal take-down as it is journalistic expose.
You can find Three Cups of Deceit here on Amazon or here on Book Depository. The Audible version is excellently narrated by Mark Bramhall and is available here.
book review, nonfiction, Reading, Uncategorized, Year Twobookreview, charity, education, krakauer, nonfiction, Reading, school
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Song of the Siren: Chapter Five
Song of the Siren: Chapter Four
Song of the Siren: Chapter Three
Song of the Siren: Chapter Two
Song of the Siren: Chapter One
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Update: Investigating Dolphin Deaths in the Gulf of Mexico
Alexis Baldera
dolphins,
Over the past five years, unusually high numbers of dolphins have been dying in the Gulf of Mexico. The National Marine Fisheries Service declared an unusual mortality event back in December 2010. While it’s easy to assume that the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster is to blame for these sick and dying dolphins, it’s important to have the scientific evidence to hold BP accountable.
Last week a group of 16 scientists published a paper with detailed information when and where dolphins are dying across the five Gulf states. Since first reading this paper last week, I’ve been thinking about what it means that the clusters of dolphins with the highest and longest mortality rates were those in Barataria Bay following the oil disaster, and also those where oil landed in Mississippi and Alabama in 2011. The authors of the study don’t hesitate to make inferences about the connection to the oil disaster, and so neither should we.
BP has repeatedly stated that the disaster didn’t adversely impact dolphins, but we know that oil negatively affects marine mammals and that the highest incidents of strandings were in oiled areas. Sure, it’s possible that other factors may have harmed these dolphins, such as changes in water temperature and salinity. It’s also possible that some of these dolphins may have suffered from infections, but overall, this area was heavily impacted by the BP oil disaster, and it’s also possible and probably more likely that the BP oil disaster tipped the scales for many of these dolphins, making them more vulnerable to other stressors (like cold water or infections).
Throughout their paper, the authors stress the importance of more detailed research to determine the exact causes of death in each of these clusters. This highlights the importance of sustained and long-term data collection. Without historic data we wouldn’t have the context needed to understand the significance or determine the causes of the dolphin deaths in the Gulf.
Marine mammal stranding networks are vital to understanding the health of dolphins in the Gulf. These experts act as first responders when a dolphin is found stranded on a beach or in shallow water, but budget cuts limit the capacity of these stranding networks to respond. Restoration dollars, provided by the penalties paid by BP and other responsible parties, can help these stranding networks save the lives of stranded dolphins. The future of our understanding of this unprecedented event depends on our commitment to gathering the data we need to make marine restoration a reality in the Gulf of Mexico.
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/ Home / 2018 / April / 03 / How choosing fish and seafood for dinner impacts carbon emissions
How choosing fish and seafood for dinner impacts carbon emissions
Lobster fisheries pump out equivalent emissions to beef, lamb
Choosing fish over pork, beef or lamb can be a more sustainable choice as fewer greenhouse gas emissions are produced, suggests new research from the University of British Columbia and Dalhousie University in Canada, and the University of Tasmania in Australia.
“Climate change is one of the biggest challenges for the future and we’re interested in the emissions created from how we feed ourselves and, in particular, how we produce protein,” said Robert Parker, lead author and postdoctoral fellow in UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. “Overall, we found that fish are a low-impact form of protein, but it depends on what you’re eating, how it’s caught, and how those fisheries are managed.”
The researchers calculated the greenhouse gas emissions from global fishing fleets between 1990 and 2011 by compiling data on fuel use by fishing boats. The study is the first to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from fisheries at national scales to better understand how they contribute to climate change, how emissions from fisheries have changed over time and how they compare to the broader carbon footprint of food production in each country.
“Overall, we found that fish are a low-impact form of protein, but it depends on what you’re eating, how it’s caught, and how those fisheries are managed”
Globally, the fishing industry contributes just four per cent of the world’s emissions from food production, and those emissions come largely from a few countries with very large fishing industries. Researchers found that China is responsible for a large portion of the world’s fishing emissions because of the size and scale of their fishery operations. Fisheries in China contribute more emissions than all European and North American fisheries combined.
While the carbon footprint of different fisheries is highly variable, approximately half of global fisheries produce less than 20 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions per kilogram of protein. In comparison, beef produces between 45 and 640 kilograms, pork produces between 20 and 55 and chicken produces between 10 and 30 kilograms of emissions per kilogram of protein, according to an earlier study out of the Netherlands.
Small pelagic fish such as anchovies, sardines and herring are most efficient because they school in big groups, making it easy to catch lots of fish at once. In Canada, for example, the Atlantic herring fishery produces far fewer emissions than most for each kilogram of fish caught.
Small pelagic fish such as anchovies, sardines and herring are most efficient because they school in big groups, making it easy to catch lots of fish at once
“It’s a low impact fishery and a great source of nutrition because it is high in protein and healthy oils,” said Parker. “Unfortunately, it’s a fish that often doesn’t get eaten; it and other small pelagic species are used for fishmeal or as bait for lobsters and other animals. If we replaced more of the red meat in our diet with lower impact protein sources like herring, we could cut the carbon cost of our food.”
Crustaceans like shrimp and lobster now make up a bigger proportion of the global catch than they used to, but boats burn more fuel fishing for these shellfish because so few are harvested during each fishing trip, and some fisheries discard a lot of what they catch. Australia harvests large amounts of shrimps and lobsters and has one of the world’s most carbon intensive fishing industries.
“On average the Australian fishing industry emits 5.2 kilos of carbon dioxide for each kilogram of fish caught,” said Caleb Gardner, a professor with the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania and a co-author of the study. “This contrasts with the U.S., where each kilo of fish landed cost 1.6 kilos of carbon dioxide, and South America, where just one kilo of carbon dioxide is emitted for each kilo of fish due to high volumes of anchovies caught off Peru.”
The study was published this week in Nature Climate Change.
Tags: Climate change, Fishing practices, IOF postdoctoral fellows, Marine catches, Robert Parker, Sustainability
Posted in 2018, IOFNews, News Release | Tagged with Climate change, Fishing practices, IOF postdoctoral fellows, Marine catches, Robert Parker, Sustainability
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Director of an offshore firm with interests in a company that planned to operate a mine in Russia
Related to Australia
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull, a former journalist who made a fortune as a lawyer and merchant banker, entered politics in 2004. Before becoming Prime Minister in September 2015, Turnbull held several ministerial positions and led Australia’s opposition party between September 2008 and December 2009.
Turnbull was listed as a director of Star Technology Systems Limited, a British Virgin Islands company, in December 1993. The company, set up by Mossack Fonseca, was a subsidiary of Star Mining Corporation NL, an Australian-listed company of which Turnbull was a board member. Star Mining had planned to develop a Siberian gold mine as part of a joint venture, which later collapsed. Turnbull resigned as director of the BVI company in September 1995. One former director of Star Mining alleged that another director, now deceased, had paid Russian officials millions of dollars in bribes to secure Star Mining’s mining rights.
When questioned by the Australian Financial Review in May 2016 about his role in the company, Turnbull told reporters that there had been “no suggestion of any impropriety whatsoever.” AFR reported that a spokesman said Turnbull was not aware that the company had been administered by Mossack Fonseca or of any donations or payments made by the company to Russian political parties or politicians before or during his time as director.
Profile added on April 3, 2017
Register of Directors
Former prime minister of Mongolia
Sükhbaataryn Batbold
Brother in law of China President
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A Brief on The Status Of Palestinian People At The End Of 2019
Dr. Awad Presents a Brief on Palestinians at the End of 2019
H.E Dr. Ola Awad, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) President presents a brief on the status of Palestinian people at The end of 2019
More than 13 Million Palestinians in the world by the End of 2019
An increase in population of Palestinians in the world
The projected number of Palestinians in the world is 13.350 million, of whom 5.039 million are in State of Palestine, 1.597 million in 1948 Territory, 5.986 million in Arab countries and around 727 thousand in foreign countries.
More than one-third of population reside in Gaza Strip
The projected number of Palestinians living in State of Palestine at the end of 2019 is 5.039 million: Around 3.020 million reside in the West Bank and 2.019 million in Gaza Strip. Palestinian refugees make up 42% of the Palestinian population in State of Palestine: 26% of them in the West Bank and 66% in Gaza Strip.
Decline in fertility rate
The total fertility rate declined during (2011-2013) to 4.1 births (compared to 5.9 births in 1999). In Gaza Strip the rate was 4.5 births compared to 3.7 births in the West Bank during 2011-2013.
Decrease in average household size
The average household size in the State of Palestine was 5.1 persons in 2017 (compared to 6.1 in 2000): 4.8 persons in the West Bank and 5.6 persons in Gaza Strip.
Decrease in crude birth and death rates
The crude birth rate is 30.2 births for every 1000 of population in the State of Palestine 2019: 27.7 in the West Bank compared to 34.0 in Gaza Strip. The crude death rate is 3.7 deaths for every 1000 of population in State of Palestine 2019: 3.9 in the West Bank compared to 3.5 in Gaza Strip.
High fertility rate among Palestinian women in Jordan compared Palestinian women in Syria and Lebanon
The total fertility rate for the Palestinian women living in Jordan was 3.3 births in 2010 compared to 2.5 in Syria in 2010 and 2.7 for the Palestinian women in Lebanon in 2017.
The Palestinian population in 1948 Territory is a young population
The number of Palestinians living in 1948 Territory is 1.597 million at the end of 2019, of whom the percentage of individuals under 15 years was about 32.8% for males and 31.8% for females, while the percentage of individuals 65 years and above was 4.4% for males and 5.3% for females at the end of 2018.
Source: Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics
The Industrial Production Index, November, 11/2019
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Latest on Khamenei Watch
Faster, Please!
By Michael Ledeen 2009-10-18T18:12:59
Perhaps it will help put things in context by looking at the supreme leader’s recent movements. On October 5th he went from Tehran to Now Shar, where he visited a naval base and academy. Later that day he went to the city of Chaloos, preached a sermon, delivered a speech and returned to Now Shar. On the 6th he traveled by automobile to Ramsar, a very beautiful resort city, and which is graced by a palace of the late shah. Khamenei was supposed to spend three days there, but he wasn’t feeling well, and complained of difficulty in breathing. He was therefore flown from Ramsar airport to Tehran.
He was treated at home by various specialists for several days. He received oxygen to help him breathe. The collapse came on Monday the 12th, and he was taken to a special clinic–originally built for Imam Khomeini--in Tehran. Foreign specialists began to arrive on Wednesday the 14th, when he was examined by foreign doctors. They included two famous Russian professors who had been in Iran previously, by three men described as “orientals” (could be Chinese or North Koreans; I don’t know), and two other doctors who identified themselves as swiss. Throughout, the Iranian doctors kept saying “give him more oxygen.” Medicine was delivered from abroad, coming straight from the airport to the clinic.
I am told he was still in a coma late Friday afternoon, Tehran time. And he is still very sick.
He has had only one important visitor outside his immediate family and advisers: Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Lebanese Hezbollah. Nasrallah flew in, I believe on Thursday night, went to the clinic, saw Khamenei for two-three minutes, and came out of the room “in tears.”
https://pjmedia.com/michaelledeen/2009/10/18/latest-on-khamenei-watch/
What if RBG Retires During the Senate Trial?
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Posted on June 28, 2019 July 8, 2019 by Dave McMurray
Mount Pengelly, 26 June 2019
Mount Pengelly (2586m) as viewed from Mount McGladrey. Located on the Flathead Range south of the Crowsnest Pass, it is likely that Pengelly sees few, if any visitors. The only trip report that I can find is Rick Collier’s 1993 ascent via the col (pictured) with McGladrey. After examining his route on our recent trip to McGladrey, both Brad and I were convinced that it was well beyond anything safe for us to scramble. However, we did note that Pengelly’s southeast slope looked promising and we decided to come back and try it. Much to our delight (and surprise), the route ended up being little more than a steep hike up scree and solid rock. The only real scrambling we encountered was getting onto each of the twin summits, and even then, it was not difficult. The views from Pengelly are not as good as they are from McGladrey, but we found the slog to the top more enjoyable. If you are looking for an obscure but official summit, then Pengelly might fit the bill.
Three weeks ago, as Brad and I trekked to the top of Mount McGladrey, we took careful note of neighbouring, Mount Pengelly. Knowing that Rick Collier had ascended it in 1993 via its col (pictured) with McGladrey, we couldn’t help but to marvel at its towering east face while wondering for the life of us, how Collier was able to scramble up (and then back down) what looked to be a highly complex route with little margin for error. Collier himself, described the route as “varying from moderate to strenuous… many of the ledges and scree benches had to be traversed left (S) out onto the face in order to reach reasonable ascent moves; there were two fairly choice moves — made more piquant by serious exposure — up short walls. Although it was a delightful climb, in retrospect I would have preferred a rope and a partner who was willing now and again to belay.” (Source: An Autumn Odyssey: Ascents of Pengelly, McGladrey, and Darrah) In short, if the great Rick Collier found it to be sketchy, it was decidedly outside of our consideration.
That being said, on our way down and at Brad’s prompting, we gained the ridge that connects Pengelly to its small, but distinctive eastern outlier. From this vantage, we could see that a possible route might exist up Pengelly’s southeast face and that accessing it via the ridge we were standing on, did not appear difficult. We just couldn’t tell if it was feasible until we could come back and give it an honest try – which brings us to today.
Armed with an array of technical gear, Brad and I discovered that not only was the route feasible, it was little more than a steep hike up scree and solid rock. The only real scrambling we encountered, was getting onto each of Pengelly’s twin summits, which required negotiating a short but narrow ridge leading to the first summit, and then a small elevation loss followed by a short scramble up a couloir to the second peak – which my topo indicated was the true summit, though we couldn’t determine a difference in elevation.
If we were only the fourth party since 2017 to visit the summit of McGladrey, I’m sure even fewer people have visited the summit of Pengelly. Indeed, Collier’s is the only report that I can find and the absence of a cairn or registry on the summit provides a bit of a clue given that it is an official peak. While Pengelly looks more impressive than McGladery from most angles and especially on approach, it is actually smaller and offers less impressive views. The route we used however, was more enjoyable than the soul sucking slog to the summit of McGladrey. Moreover, because they share the same straightforward and scenic approach, getting to Pengelly allowed us to once again experience the serenity of the marvellous little trail that leads into the valley. If you are looking for an obscure, but official summit in a very unique part of the Castle (well, just outside of it), then Pengelly might fit the bill. On the other hand, if you are looking for the ‘wow’ factor, then you might be disappointed because the mountain is after all, named after someone’s in-laws. 😉
To get to Mount Pengelly from Lethbridge, drive west on Highway 3 until you reach the first turnoff for Blairmore (20 Ave). Drive west along 20 Ave for a short distance and then take your first left (133 St.) and cross the railroad tracks. Immediately on the other side of the tracks, take your first right (19 Ave) then your first left (132 St.). Follow 132 St. for a short distance and turn right onto 16 Ave. Follow 16 Ave as it curves south and turns into Lyons Creek Road (131 St.). From the end of the pavement on the edge of Blairmore, drive ~14 km until you come to the turnoff for Goat Creek Road. If you have a 4 x 4 or a high clearance vehicle, proceed down Goat Creek Road. If you don’t, it’s time to get out the bikes. We drove in on our McGladrey trip, but this time we biked in and to be honest, I’m not sure driving is quicker. From the junction with Lyons Creek Road, follow Goat Creek Road for ~2.6 km until you cross a small bridge and come to a fork in the road. The trail starts a short ways down the left fork, so park your vehicle here or keep on biking.
From the parking area, cross the black ATV bridge and follow the trail (keeping left at all junctions) for ~2.2 km until you come to a red ATV bridge that crosses Goat Creek. Proceed across the bridge and immediately on the other side, look for an old, vegetation-covered logging road located on the righthand side. Follow the old road keeping left at all junctions. We ended up ditching our bikes at about the ~1.5 km mark when we encountered recurring deadfall. Approximately ~2.3 km from the bridge we came to a junction that was partially hidden by deadfall just prior to a small clearing. We skirted the deadfall and followed the right fork to the creek. We crossed the creek and then crossed back again before ascending a small ridge located next to the drainage that originates in the bowl between Pengelly and McGladrey. From the base of the ridge, it was an ~800m hike to reach the slope that led up the north side of Pengelly’s eastern ridge.
Once on the ridge, it was a matter of following it until we found ourselves on Pengelly’s southeast slope. We continued in a westward direction angling upwards for ~200m or so, until we were past a series of south facing ridges. We then trended upwards (north and northwest) in a more direct line, following a gully, and then patches of vegetation until we reached the summit ridge. It was steep but did not feel exposed. Once on the ridge, we proceeded to the southwest and had the option of ascending two high points prior to reaching the first of the twin summits. Getting onto the first summit involved a short scramble along a narrow ridge and we quickly discovered that the connecting ridge to the second summit, was not worth attempting. Instead, we descended a short distance and reached it via a small couloir. My topo map indicated this was the true summit though we couldn’t see a difference. It was a ~722m elevation gain from the end of the east ridge to the summit of Pengelly over a distance of roughly 2.5 to 3 km.
We returned down the southeast face and when we arrived on the east ridge, instead of descending to the north, we used the grassy south face and then followed open slopes to the south bank of the creek before reconnecting with the small trail. From here we returned to the main trail and returned the way we came. Both Brad and I recommend using our descent route off of the east ridge for ascent.
As we biked in from Lyons Creek Road, our approach was longer in length than it was for McGladrey. Our total distance travelled was 22 km with total elevation gains of 1149m. Our total roundtrip time was 8 hours even. The time from Brad’s car to the summit was approximately 4 hours.
Our starting point at the unmarked junction between Lyons Creek Road (left) and Goat Creek Road. If you don’t have a 4×4 or a high clearance vehicle, this is where you’ll want to park and get out the bikes. On our Mount McGladrey trip three weeks ago, we drove in with my 4Runner. This time Brad drove his Matrix and so we ended up biking, though to be honest, it was probably just as fast.
Early morning sunlight highlights Mount Darrah (far left), Mount Pengelly (centre) and Mount McGladrey (right of centre). Recent rainfall had turned sections of Goat Creek Road into a soupy mess.
About ~2.6 km from the junction with Lyons Creek Road, we came to this fork immediately after crossing a small bridge. The trail continues down the left branch, or if you are driving in, this is where you want to park. Mount McGladrey is in the background.
Mount Darrah provides a scenic backdrop as we descend a ~900m section of road prior to reaching Goat Creek. On both trips, we rode our bikes back up this section and it wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t fun, but it didn’t kill us either. 😉
After a ~2.2 km ride from the black ATV bridge, we came to this red bridge. The old logging road that leads to Pengelly and McGladrey begins on the other side.
Brad pauses to flex his biceps at the junction with the old logging road (right). 😉
Once on the logging road / trail, we kept left at all junctions. The lack of any signs of ATV use was remarkable. Kudos to the off-road crowd who frequent this area for sticking to the designated trails.
Close to ~1.5 km from the red bridge, we came to a short section of deadfall strewn across the trail. This is where we ditched our bikes on our McGladrey trip, but this time we pushed on past the deadfall for a few hundred metres before eventually giving up. In hindsight, it is better to leave them here. This is the view looking down the trail a short distance beyond the deadfall. Compared to three weeks ago, the upper section of the trail had grown over considerably.
This sweet valley has quickly become one of my favourite locales in the Castle. It is one of the most peaceful places that I have ever hiked in. Mount Pengelly is on the right.
A telephoto of Pengelly and an approximation of our route. Both Brad and I would recommend using our descent route to also ascend. The drainage on the right leads to the bowl between Pengelly and Mount McGladrey.
A portion of the upper trail turns into a washout.
Approximately 2.3 km from the red bridge, we came to a junction where the right fork was partially hidden by deadfall (pictured). The left branch continues through a small clearing but the right fork is what we used. We found it easier to skirt the deadfall by going partially into the clearing before cutting back through the trees and regaining the right fork.
On the short trail that leads to the creek. (Photo by Brad Wolcott)
On the bank of the creek and looking towards Pengelly (centre). On ascent we would cross the creek and follow the opposite bank before crossing it again to reach the base of the small treed ridge in the centre. On descent, we followed the embankment on the left and avoided the creek altogether.
Brad easily crosses the creek near the base of the small ridge.
On the ridge and approaching Pengelly’s eastern outlier (right). I thought the trees made for an interesting composition.
Three weeks ago, this was a broad snow slope that gave us an awesome glissade. Today it was a carpet of rich green growth and the glissading sucked. 😉
Looking back to Brad and our route up from the ridge.
Brad hikes the steep slope next to Pengelly’s eastern outlier. We would gain the east ridge by heading up the section that can be seen at the top right.
A closer look at our route up to Pengelly’s east ridge. This is steeper than it looks and we quickly decided that it would not be great for descent. This is why we recommend using our descent route to also ascend, unless you are going to summit McGladrey first.
Brad surveys the route ahead from the top of the ridge. The peak in the background is unnamed and at 2620m, is 34m higher than Pengelly.
Heading up the east ridge. Our route would take us climber’s left of the cornice in the centre.
The view back to Pengelly’s eastern outlier. (Photo by Brad Wolcott)
The north face of Pengelly and the summit of Mount McGladrey (small bump to the right of centre) from the east ridge. From this perspective, Pengelly looks to be the more impressive objective, but in reality, McGladrey is the higher peak.
Brad (lower left) took a more direct line to Pengelly while I enjoyed the short ridge walk.
Though it had severely deteriorated, this cornice still presented as an impressive wall of snow.
Gazing back to the eastern outlier and the open slopes of our descent route.
Not knowing what to expect, we had packed an assortment of technical gear. We were more than pleased when we realized that none of it would be needed. From this point, we would continue in an upwardly westward direction towards the centre of the picture and until we were past the south facing ridges on the right.
The terrain was steep but there was always solid footing.
We would head past the snow patch at the bottom of the ridge in the centre, before taking a more direct route up the mountain. This section allowed us to take advantage of several goat tracks.
The unnamed peak (2620m) to the south of Pengelly looks to be a simple scree hike to the summit. From the BC side, there is a nice valley that leads directly to it, though it may not be accessible due to land restrictions surrounding the Corbin mine. It may be entirely possible to reach the col from Pengelly, but we did not have time to explore this option due to an approaching storm.
Heading up solid rock next to the last of the south facing ridges.
We followed this gully by sticking to climber’s right.
Closing in on the summit ridge.
Looking over to Brad (far left) as he takes a slightly different line.
We could now see the first of the twin summits (distant centre) – though we didn’t know it at the time.
We bypassed the first high point on the ridge, but would tag it on the way back. This is where Pengelly connects to the col with McGladrey.
Enjoying the ridge walk to the first summit.
Just prior to the first summit, the ridge narrows but by sticking to climber’s left, we avoided any exposure and made short work of it. On the left is the second summit.
Brad’s view back as I scramble across the ridge to the first summit. (Photo by Brad Wolcott)
On the first summit and plotting a route over to what my topo map indicated was the true summit, though we couldn’t tell the difference. We quickly discovered that the small connecting ridge was sketchy at best, so I volunteered to descend to the south and search for a way up.
Success! (Photo by Brad Wolcott)
My view back to Brad who appears to be… break dancing. 😉 Even from here I couldn’t tell if there was a difference in height between the two summits.
Brad follows my route down a scree slope…
And then up a small couloir and onto the second summit.
The views from Pengelly are not as good as the ones from McGladrey, but there is still lots to see. This is a pano to the north.
A pano to the southeast…
And a pano to the south.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Brad is one of only a handful of people who have stood on this summit.
I’m so elated that I look like I’ve downed a bag of edible cannabis… 😉 (Photo by Brad Wolcott)
The valley that leads from the Corbin mine to the unnamed peak to the south. In the background are Barnes Peak (far left) and Michel Head (far right) – two destinations that I want to get to this year.
Hillcrest Mountain (left of centre), Burmis Mountain (centre), Spades Peak (centre) and Clubs Peak are visible to the east.
There wasn’t a cairn, so I built one and called it ‘Penny’. We searched both peaks and could not find a register. I thought because Rick Collier had left so many, that one might have survived since his trip in 1993. If you visit Pengelly, maybe bring a canister and a new register – and then sign our names along with yours. 😉
As the views seemed better from the first summit, we decided to head back. In the background is the large and surprisingly unnamed peak (2761m) that sits immediately to the north of Mount McGladrey (left of centre). Why A.O. Wheeler and the Interprovincial Boundary Survey decided not to give this peak a name is baffling. Though in hindsight, perhaps this is a good thing since Wheeler and company are the reason why we have such random and generally poor naming conventions for the mountains in southwestern Alberta. As Jay Sherwood notes in, Surveying the Great Divide: The Alberta/BC Boundary Survey, 1913-1917, “Wheeler seldom consulted anyone about naming the geographical features, and he ignored the principle of naming peaks to reflect the natural or human history of the area… Unlike 19th-century scientists and explorers, Wheeler and his survey party rarely met indigenous people who could provide names for the features of the Rocky Mountains, but he made no effort to consult them when making his maps.” (157) That Pengelly is named after Wheeler’s assistant, A.J. Campbell’s wife (162) while two larger peaks remained nameless, perhaps says more about Campbell’s relation to his in-laws than anything else. 😉
Back on the first summit and looking down at the pretty tarn that sits between Pengelly and McGladrey.
A telephoto of Mount Ptolemy.
A telephoto of Chinook Peak (left), the Andy Good Plateau, and Andy Good Peak (right of centre).
One thing that Pengelly has that McGladrey doesn’t, is a view of Mount Coulthard (right).
A closer look at the aforementioned unnamed peak (2761m) and Mount McGladrey (2638m).
The view from the first summit towards the other unnamed peak (2620m) located to the south and behind it, a beclouded Mount Darrah.
A telephoto of the previous picture. Even from this angle, it looks like reaching the top of this unnamed peak is an achievable goal. It just depends on whether you can reach it from Pengelly, or if you can use the valley that leads up from the Corbin mine.
A telephoto of Tent Mountain. PLEASE NOTE: Montem Resources is considering reopening Tent Mountain as an active mine, and as such, they have recently closed off all public access.
A telephoto of the mine at Corbin. In the background is Michel Head (centre) and Mount Taylor (right).
Brad descends from the first summit. Our stay was cut short by an approaching rain storm that at this point, gave no indication that it was actually a thunderstorm.
Before we left, we had to check out the high point (right) where Pengelly connects to the col with McGladrey (left). It looks like I’m super close to the edge, but I’m a safe distance away. Rest easy family… (Photo by Brad Wolcott)
Looking down to the col with McGladrey and still wondering how Collier did this. Our ascent route up McGladrey followed the obvious gully on the right, though at the time, it was filled with snow that undoubtedly made it much more enjoyable than it would otherwise be. On a soul sucking scale, the gully with snow would be a Hoover while without it, it might be a Dyson. 😉
An even closer look at the ridge leading down to the col.
Gazing down Pengelly’s immense east face and into the bowl below.
Enjoying the scenery moments before an unexpected and intense clap of thunder would remind us that we had metal ice axes, metal poles, and various other pieces of metal climbing gear strapped to our bodies. We had heard no thunder nor had we observed any lightning up to this point.
Booking it down the mountain. Though we heard more intense thunder, there did not appear to be any lightning; however, I can now charge my cell phone by simply holding it in my hand. 😉 Actually, descending down the scree slope would’ve been quick even if we hadn’t been fleeing for our lives.
Nearing the east ridge in the rain. We had no sooner mentioned that we wanted to venture onto the small outlier on the right, when another crack of thunder made us decide otherwise.
Descending down the south slope of the east ridge. As I’ve mentioned before, I think this would be a much better ascent route.
Blue sky and a skiff of sunshine illuminate the unnamed peak to the south of Pengelly.
More blue sky! Looking back along grassy slopes to the east ridge. Even if you never wanted to climb a mountain, the two alpine bowls in the valley are very cool places to visit.
Open slopes guide us all the way back to the creek and the trail.
A pano with Pengelly to the left of centre.
Following the embankment above the creek. The bushwhacking was not too bad and we made good time, but I’m not sure what it would be like come mid-summer.
Back on the small trail that leads from the creek to the main trail.
Enjoying a peaceful walk along the main trail.
Gazing back to Pengelly. This is such a sweet place!
A mid-afternoon telephoto of Pengelly with our route clearly visible.
Arriving back at the bikes. In hindsight, we should have just left them at the deadfall where we did last time. They really aren’t much use past that section of trail.
Brad coasts by an open gate along the trail. Once on the bikes and past the deadfall, I don’t think you really need to pedal that much until you reach the red ATV bridge.
Looking back at Pengelly (centre) as we cycle out along the Goat Creek Road.
The storm that didn’t look like a thunderstorm when we were on the mountain, now looks like a thunderstorm.
Arriving back at Brad’s car after a roundtrip distance of 22 km and a time of 8 hours. The nice part about cycling in along the Goat Creek Road is that you can coast along many sections on the way back – and you only have to power wash your bike and not your vehicle. 😉 All in all, this was an incredibly satisfying day. Not only were we able to validate our theory that an ascent of Pengelly was possible via the southeast face, but we were able to once again return to what has quickly become one of my favourite locales in the Castle – even though it is technically outside of it. I think it’s reasonable to conclude that very few people visit Pengelly, which makes the novelty of an ascent a bit more gratifying. When compared to Mount McGladrey, the slog to the summit is more enjoyable though the views from the top are not as good. Pengelly is probably not the mountain that I would recommend to someone who is an occasional visitor to the area, as there are many others, such as Mount Coulthard that will give you more bang for your buck. However, if you love the obscure like Brad and I do, then Pengelly and McGladrey might be of interest.
Tagged with:Castle Wilderness, Crowsnest Pass
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Olympus Mountaineering says:
Excellent post with plenty of info and some stunning photos!
Dave McMurray says:
Thanks! It’s so cool that we can check out the mountains in each other’s backyards even though we are 1/2 a world away. I’d love to get to Greece someday!
That’s indeed very true and it’s really nice too. Like wise, I would love to visit one day “your” mountains
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College of Medicine (Hershey)
Websitehttps://med.psu.edu/physical-medicine
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Economic Rockstar
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Expansive Obama State Of The Union Speech To Touch On Patent Law, Entomology, The Films Of Robert Altman
WASHINGTON—In the hours leading up to President Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight, White House aides informed reporters that the president would most likely touch on a diverse and expansive array of topics, including U.S. patent law, the problem of relativism in contemporary epistemological discourse, and the works of American film director Robert Altman. “This is a crucial speech for the president, and that is exactly why he will use this as an opportunity to thoroughly address Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism while also discussing the often complex taxonomic specialization involved with various subspecies of moths and butterflies,” said White House aide Louis Fererra, who went on to add that Obama has also developed an in-depth PowerPoint slideshow to discuss motifs of modern alienation in the 1993 film Short Cuts and the advances in algorithmic complexity in computer programming. “While we know that some may disagree on the President’s views on franchising trends, Latina rites of passage, the pickling and preservation of foraged vegetables, taxes, and the Adventures of Tintin book series, we believe now is the time for our nation to begin seriously discussing these subjects.” At press time, representatives for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) had announced the Republican response to the speech would include strongly divergent opinions on Chinese calligraphy, aquatic mammals, and the use of noise reduction filters for audio editing.
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Reflections on things I have seen and their relation to performance
Safe standing
ponderingsonperformance #westham, Football, Performance Studies, safe standing, Uncategorized Jun 21, 2018 Jul 20, 2018 10 Minutes
Image of the Pirelli Stadium, Burton Albion, looking across to their safe standing areas
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen an Immersive Theatre performance. Its quite different from traditional forms of theatre. In traditional theatre the division between the audience and the stage is clearly defined, whereas in immersive performances the action takes place around the audience and you are often able to walk through different spaces that feel like the actual rooms in the action (effectively being immersed in the middle of the action). Something that often characterises an Immersive performance is that the audience walks around… and stands.
I recently did a survey about safe standing at football grounds. I understand entirely why the Taylor report, after Hillsborough, recommended all seater stadia and I can also see how, in many ways the spectator experience is enhanced if you have your own numbered seat, but I also think the time has come for the government to explore safe standing in football grounds.
My view of standing has undoubtably been coloured by my experiences of going to Upton Park in the early eighties. I started by standing in the North Bank, briefly tried the South Bank and then finished by standing in the West Bank. These were formative experiences. Often I couldn’t see much. I would be buffeted about when the crowd moved. Sometimes I got soaked by pints of beer being chucked in the air when there was a goal. But, it was brilliant. Exciting. Immersive. You were in the middle of things. You were part of the crowd; part of the action. When the crowd moved, you moved. When they sang, you joined in. Together, you were as one. It made that intangible, but much sought after, thing called ‘atmosphere’ something special
I know those days are gone and it’s interesting, to me, to compare my first experiences of ‘live’ football with that of my kids. They say how amazing the London Stadium is. I have taken them to a number of crumbling lower league grounds, with poor toilets and limited refreshments, but where you are so close to the players you can almost touch them. I nostalgicly enjoy these grounds, but they much prefer the London Stadium. Its comfortable, it’s impressive and its safe. There has been crowd trouble at the London Stadium, but even when things were kicking off against Burnley, we felt safe. If I thought it wasnt safe, I wouldn’t take them. However, I remember a match in the early 80s at Upton Park, when West Ham fans ran across the corner of the pitch to attack the away fans (Newcastle, I think) in their caged enclave on the South Bank. I was also once punched in the face by a Derby fan, when leaving the Baseball ground. Being an away fan was dangerous and you were treated a bit like a dangerous beast (It wasn’t fun being frog marched from the station by the police). I’m glad it is no longer like that. Its not much to ask to feel physically safe whilst you’re at a football match, is it?
Of course, you are allowed to feel angry, frustrated, let down, etc whilst at a game and to shout rude and even agressive things at the other fans. I sometimes enjoy the banter of the other fans, when they abuse us. We accept their derision, its the same we offer them, but after the game, I also enjoy speaking to and getting the perspective of an opposing fan. And, even when things go horribly wrong, and you lose 3-0 at home to Burnley, at least you have the satisfaction of saying to others “I know. I was there!” A bit of me even feels sorry for fans that have never seen their team relegated. I watch football for both the euphoria and the despair (maybe I haven’t had much choice about this, thanks to supporting the team I do). I think you know more about what it means to win, if you have experienced defeat. Watching football is an emotional experience.
Theatre makers know a thing or two about emotion too. Since the time of Aristotle, emotion has been associated with the theatre experience (catharsis). Other practitioners have sought to minimise the emotional impact and to emphasise rational thought. Brecht was concerned with the using the theatre to explore political ideas and following him was Brazilian practitioner, Augusto Boal. If you were asked to name some famous Brazilians, you might say Pele or Neymar. I would say Boal.
Any theatre maker knows that the essence of the art form is the ‘live’ experience. By chosing theatre as your art form, you are making a conscious decision to share your work in front of a ‘live’ audience. As such, it becomes an interaction or a dialogue. It also ensures that the show is constantly evolving and changing, the more it is performed. Every audience is different and hence every performance is different too. Each new audience will listen with a different intensity and respond in a different rhythm.
Boal was particularly interested in the dialogue between actor and spectator. He, like Brecht, was interested in politics, although his theatre presents problems and asks the audience to come up with solutions, rather than telling them what to think. It also has a particular and unique process. It starts with a performance that is shown to an audience, in which the main characters make mistakes. This piece is then replayed, but on this occasion the spectator can propose their own solutions by replacing an actor on stage and showing a different way of behaving (becoming neither spectator nor actor, but a hybrid spect-actor).
I have used this technique on loads of occasions and by doing so understand something about the difference between a passive and active audience. A theatre auditorium carries with it an expected set of behaviours. Over many years we have established that in the theatre you sit quietly until the end, when you clap. In order to change those expectations, and establish a new set of behaviours, you have to shift the audience out of their ‘rooted’ comfort zone. Therefore between the first (passive) performance and the second (active) performance you need to warm the audience up. I do this by getting them to wave their arms in the air, shout things out and stand up. In many ways I ask them to behave a little more like football fans.
Boal’s ideas, about empowering the spectator can only go ‘So far’ when it comes to football. I don’t imagine the referee stopping the match when someone in Row C complains about the striker who missed an open goal, and asks them to replace the striker to show how they would do it. I am not seeking a consensual football supporter. A crowd should have many different voices despite the sense of unity (although I have felt ashamed in the past when fascist idiots have been allowed to shout their garbage. Thankfully those days are gone). I guess the closest we get to the idea of a disaffected supporter replacing the ineffective striker is the kick around in the park after the game or the chance to right the wrongs on FIFA.
Even though a crowd is made up of individuals though, we do still act together. I think it is both a positive and negative aspect of human nature. It can be hard to stand out from the crowd and shout “Stop. This is wrong!” as we know only too well from the rise of fascism in Germany in the 40s. However there is something within us all that wants to be tribal; that’s wants us to be part of something; a gang or squad. Football Can give us that in a safe and understood way. Even I, as a liberal, ‘right-on’ lecturer have sung some of the less than PC songs (albeit with a strong dose of irony) at the top of my voice. I like to, sometimes, be simply part of a mass of West Ham fans.
Part of the common identity of fans is the singing. Songs are a verbal way of claiming our identity. National, sectarian and political identity is reflected as much now, through song, as ever. At West Ham we have somehow chosen an old musical number from 100 years ago, to use as our anthem. When Kendis, Brockman and Vincent first wrote their lyrics about the “pretty bubbles in the air” I bet they never imagined it could mean so much to so many people – a song of regret, stoicism and hope.
When we sing, we also stand. Our physiology dictates this. If I were to wear my Performance lecturer hat, I would point out that to project your voices out into the vastness of a stadium, you need to use your diaphragm and this is more difficult to do when you are sitting. When you stand you can breathe properly and make a better sound. Perhaps there’s a sideline for me here – voice classes for football fans!? It would be a variation of Boal’s audience warm ups. There is serious point here, though too, and that is, to create atmosphere you need a crowd that sings and to sing properly you need to stand
I talked before about expressing euphoria and despair and in a football ground there is an acceptance that fans will express these emotions. Unlike the quiet theatre auditorium (in the theatre it’s the actors that do this), in a football crowd there is an expectation that you will express / demonstrate (even perform) your feelings. Where else do we jump up and scream when something good happens? I remember my daughter and her friend almost jumping out of their skins, when I suddenly screamed and jumped around the kitchen, after Payet had scored aginst Man U in the cup. To them, my behaviour seemed out of keeping with the situation and the location. They hadn’t noticed that I was watching the TV in the corner. In football grounds, though, there is no surprise to see people jumping up to remonstrate with the assistant referee (I remember almost fainting once when I jumped up and yelled, in one movement, and all the blood drained from my head). Even if you give fans a seat and then enforce the ground regulations for no standing, there will be an acceptance that at certain moments everyone will stand up. Emotion is something we express with our bodies.
However, in contemporary grounds this can be dangerous. The act of jumping to your feet, as I suggested, can result in light headedness, but also make you feel very unbalanced. My sister was quite badly hurt when at a rugby world cup match, the large bloke sitting behind her jumped up at a try, tumbled forward and pinnioned her to the floor. Stadia seats are placed at a height that means the back of the seat in front is at knee height and dangerous to anyone losing their balance. Safe standing areas, though, contain crash barriers that prevent this imbalance.
Safe standing areas can also be strategically positioned in a ground. The traditional place for the most vociferous supporters is behind a goal (e.g. the Kop, the old clock end, the North bank). In theory it helps the attacking side to play towards their fans in the second half and be roared on. It is widely accepted that it is an advantage to play at home and be roared on by the majority of the stadium. It can, of course, also work against you if the crowd are on your backs and we have certainly seen the effect of that at the London Stadium (e.g. the Burnley game). The problems with the new stadium are various, but the perceived lack of atmosphere can in part it can be attributed to a dispersal of the singing clusters of fans and the attempts to make fans sit down (understandable, as the rke of the seats is so shallow). It has certainly meant that, for away teams, playing at West Ham is less intimidating than in the old days of the Upton Park cauldron. If you go to a West Ham away game the atmosphere is often better. There’s less insistence on sitting and all the singers are closer together. In most Premier League matches now, it is the away fans that sing more. Soon, if the away fans are quiet, we will start to turn that song on its head and sing to them “You’re supposed to be away!”.
However, it goes without saying, that home teams still want to maintain the advantage they had. Anything the club can do to create an environment that favours the home team is in their interests. Its also in the interests of the Premier League to generate atmosphere in stadia. It is part of the USP and something that helps to sell the ‘brand’ throughout the world. It is widely accepted that the best atmosphere is now found in the Bundesliga, in grounds that have safe standing. Oh, and also, safe standing takes up less room and so you can fit more supporters in the ground, which is even better news for club finances.
So, as far as I can see, the argument for safe standing is compelling. It facilitates a more engaged and emotional experience, it helps people sing and so creates atmosphere, it can enhance the Premier League brand, it allows for more bodies through the turnstile and it is what the customer wants. It is in the interests of the clubs and the Premier League to enhance the ‘live’ experience. English football is distinct, not because the quality of the football is better than anywhere else (we have all watched the other main European leagues on the TV), but because of its history, the competitive nature of the competition and importantly the atmosphere. It is these things that sells the broadcasting rights and the ‘brand’ around the world. Therefore these things need to be carefully protected.
The ‘live’ experience (in the theatre or in football) is something to be considered and developed. Many theatre makers are interested in disrupting the safe and distanced positioning of the audience; to make them more involved and immersed in the action. It is a way of emphasising the ‘liveness’ of a theatre experience, as opposed to watching the TV or going to a cinema. Similarly football needs to appreciate and enhance the difference between the ‘live’ / in stadium experience and that of watching at home. A ‘live’ football experience should be engaging, emotional and immersive. We don’t need to get the fans to walk on the pitch to do this, but we do need to support ways of enhancing the ingredients that make for a great atmosphere. If a fan wants to stand, let them, but do it in a safe standing area.
#westham #safestanding #football
Published by ponderingsonperformance
I am Head of Stage and Screen at Sheffield Hallam University, a husband and father and keen West Ham fan View all posts by ponderingsonperformance
Published Jun 21, 2018 Jul 20, 2018
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Ponderwall
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URBAN FORESTS CAN STORE ALMOST AS MUCH CARBON AS TROPICAL RAINFORESTS
Geography, Science
Urban ‘forests’ can store almost as much carbon as tropical rainforests
Shutterstock.
Mathias Disney, UCL
Most people would never think of London as a forest. Yet there are actually more trees in London than people. And now, new work by researchers at University College London shows that pockets of this urban jungle store as much carbon per hectare as tropical rainforests.
More than half of the world’s population lives in cities, and urban trees are critical to human health and well-being. Trees provide shade, mitigate floods, absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂), filter air pollution and provide habitats for birds, mammals and other plants. The ecosystem services provided by London’s trees – that is, the benefits residents gain from the environment’s natural processes – were recently valued at £130m a year.
This may equate to less than £20 a year per tree, but the real value may be much higher, given how hard it is to quantify the wider benefits of trees and how long they live. The cost of replacing a large, mature tree is many tens of thousands of pounds, and replacing it with one or more small saplings means you won’t see the equivalent net benefit for many decades after.
The trouble with measuring trees
Trees absorb CO₂ during photosynthesis, which is then metabolised and turned into organic matter that makes up nearly half of their overall mass. Urban trees are particularly effective at absorbing CO₂, because they are located so close to sources such as fossil fuel-burning transport and industrial activity.
This carbon storage potential is an extremely important aspect of their value, but is very hard to quantify. A 120-year-old London plane tree can be 30 metres tall and weigh 40 tonnes or more, and some of the carbon in its tissues will have originated from Victorian coal fires.
Superblocks: Barcelona’s car-free zones could extend lives and boost mental health
Measuring the height of a tall tree is difficult, because it’s rarely clear exactly where the topmost point is; estimating its mass is even harder. Typically, tree mass is estimated by comparing the diameter of the trunk or the height of the tree to the mass of similar trees (ideally the same species), which have been cut down and weighed in the past. This process relies on the assumption that trees of a certain species have a clear size-to-mass ratio.
But a fascinating property of trees is how variable they can be, depending on their environment. So inferring the mass of urban trees from their non-urban counterparts introduces large uncertainties.
Lidar over London
The UCL team use a combination of cutting-edge ground-based and airborne laser scanning techniques, to measure the biomass of urban trees much more accurately. Lidar (which stands for light detection and ranging) sends out hundreds of thousands of pulses of laser light every second and measures the time taken for reflected energy to return from objects up to hundreds of metres away.
When mounted on a tripod on a city street, lidar builds up a millimetre accurate 3D picture of everything it “sees”, including trees. The team are using lidar methods, which they pioneered to measure some of the world’s largest trees, and applying them to trees in the university’s local London Borough of Camden.
Point cloud of Russell Square by kungphil on Sketchfab
The UCL team used publicly available airborne lidar data collected by the UK Environment Agency, in conjunction with their ground measurements, to estimate biomass of all the 85,000 trees across Camden. These lidar measurements help to quantify the differences between urban and non-urban trees, allowing scientists to come up with a formula predicting the difference in size-to-mass ratio, and thus measuring the mass of urban trees more accurately.
The findings show that Camden has a median carbon density of around 50 tonnes of carbon per hectare (t/ha), rising to 380 t/ha in spots such as Hampstead Heath and Highgate Cemetery – that’s equivalent to values seen in temperate and tropical rainforests. Camden also has a high carbon density, compared to other cities in Europe and elsewhere. For example, Barcelona and Berlin have mean carbon densities of 7.3 and 11.2 t/ha respectively; major cities in the US have values of 7.7 t/ha and in China the equivalent figure is 21.3 t/ha.
Trees matter, to all of us. Recent protests in Sheffield, Cardiff, London and elsewhere, over policies of tree management and removal show how strongly people feel about the trees in their neighbourhood. Finding ways to value trees more effectively is critical to building more sustainable and liveable cities.
Measuring trees in new ways also helps us to see them from a new perspective. Some of these trees have incredible stories to tell. Just one example is an ash, tucked away in the grounds of St. Pancras Old Church, one of London’s (and indeed Britain’s) oldest Christian churches.
The tree has an extraordinary arrangement of gravestones around its roots, placed there when the railway was built from St Pancras in the mid-19th century. The job of rehousing the headstones was apparently given to a young Thomas Hardy, working as a railway clerk before going on to achieve literary fame. The UCL team’s 3D lidar data are helping monitor the state of this “Hardy Ash” tree in its dotage. This is just one of the ways new science is helping tell the stories of old trees.
Hardy Tree (Camden, UK) and gravestones by kungphil on Sketchfab
Mathias Disney, Reader in Remote Sensing, UCL
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The Mastery of You, by Dr. Renu Persaud
The Mastery of You is an elegant book that takes you and yourself on a ramble. It bends down with you to look at the reflection of your soul on the river. Renu Persaud whistles prose and verse, walking behind you and the mastery of you, watching you working on questions, thinking, dreaming and glaring at each other.
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Posts Tagged ‘DNA discoveries’
A Reconstructed View of Personalized Medicine
Posted in Amino acids, Anaerobic Glycolysis, Apoptosis, Autophagy, Biochemical pathways, Biological Networks, Gene Regulation and Evolution, CANCER BIOLOGY & Innovations in Cancer Therapy, Cell Biology, Signaling & Cell Circuits, Cell death pathways, Curation, Disease Biology, DNA repair, Enzymes and isoenzymes, Gene Regulation and Evolution, Genetics & Innovations in Treatment, Genetics & Pharmaceutical, Genome Biology, Genomic Expression, Human aging, Metabolism, Metabolomics, Micronutrients, Nitric Oxide in Health and Disease, Nutrition, Pharmaceutical Analytics, Pharmaceutical Discovery, Protein-energy malnutrition, Proteins, Proteomics, Pyridine nucleotides, Pyruvate Kinase, RNA Biology, Signaling, Signaling & Cell Circuits, Stress Disorders, Ubiquitinylation, Warburg effect, tagged "inhibiting" RNAs, Allosteric regulation, DNA discoveries, DNA methylation, intracellular and extracellular transport, isoenzymes, LDH isoenzymes, metabolic pathways, Personalized medicine, protein-protein interactions, signaling pathways on February 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Author: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP
There has always been Personalized Medicine if you consider the time a physician spends with a patient, which has dwindled. But the current recognition of personalized medicine refers to breakthrough advances in technological innovation in diagnostics and treatment that differentiates subclasses within diagnoses that are amenable to relapse eluding therapies. There are just a few highlights to consider:
We live in a world with other living beings that are adapting to a changing environmental stresses.
Nutritional resources that have been available and made plentiful over generations are not abundant in some climates.
Despite the huge impact that genomics has had on biological progress over the last century, there is a huge contribution not to be overlooked in epigenetics, metabolomics, and pathways analysis.
There has been much interest in ‘junk DNA’, non-coding areas of our DNA are far from being without function. DNA has two basic categories of nitrogenous bases: the purines (adenine [A] and guanine [G]), and the pyrimidines (cytosine [C], thymine [T], and no uracil [U]), while RNA contains only A, G, C, and U (no T). The Watson-Crick proposal set the path of molecular biology for decades into the 21st century, culminating in the Human Genome Project.
There is no uncertainty about the importance of “Junk DNA”. It is both an evolutionary remnant, and it has a role in cell regulation. Further, the role of histones in their relationship the oligonucleotide sequences is not understood. We now have a large output of research on noncoding RNA, including siRNA, miRNA, and others with roles other than transcription. This requires major revision of our model of cell regulatory processes. The classic model is solely transcriptional.
DNA-> RNA-> Amino Acid in a protein.
Redrawn we have
DNA-> RNA-> DNA and
DNA->RNA-> protein-> DNA.
Neverthess, there were unrelated discoveries that took on huge importance. For example, since the 1920s, the work of Warburg and Meyerhoff, followed by that of Krebs, Kaplan, Chance, and others built a solid foundation in the knowledge of enzymes, coenzymes, adenine and pyridine nucleotides, and metabolic pathways, not to mention the importance of Fe3+, Cu2+, Zn2+, and other metal cofactors. Of huge importance was the work of Jacob, Monod and Changeux, and the effects of cooperativity in allosteric systems and of repulsion in tertiary structure of proteins related to hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions, which involves the effect of one ligand on the binding or catalysis of another, demonstrated by the end-product inhibition of the enzyme, L-threonine deaminase (Changeux 1961), L-isoleucine, which differs sterically from the reactant, L-threonine whereby the former could inhibit the enzyme without competing with the latter. The current view based on a variety of measurements (e.g., NMR, FRET, and single molecule studies) is a ‘‘dynamic’’ proposal by Cooper and Dryden (1984) that the distribution around the average structure changes in allostery affects the subsequent (binding) affinity at a distant site.
What else do we have to consider? The measurement of free radicals has increased awareness of radical-induced impairment of the oxidative/antioxidative balance, essential for an understanding of disease progression. Metal-mediated formation of free radicals causes various modifications to DNA bases, enhanced lipid peroxidation, and altered calcium and sulfhydryl homeostasis. Lipid peroxides, formed by the attack of radicals on polyunsaturated fatty acid residues of phospholipids, can further react with redox metals finally producing mutagenic and carcinogenic malondialdehyde, 4-hydroxynonenal and other exocyclic DNA adducts (etheno and/or propano adducts). The unifying factor in determining toxicity and carcinogenicity for all these metals is the generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Various studies have confirmed that metals activate signaling pathways and the carcinogenic effect of metals has been related to activation of mainly redox sensitive transcription factors, involving NF-kappaB, AP-1 and p53.
I have provided mechanisms explanatory for regulation of the cell that go beyond the classic model of metabolic pathways associated with the cytoplasm, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, and lysosome, such as, the cell death pathways, expressed in apoptosis and repair. Nevertheless, there is still a missing part of this discussion that considers the time and space interactions of the cell, cellular cytoskeleton and extracellular and intracellular substrate interactions in the immediate environment.
There is heterogeneity among cancer cells of expected identical type, which would be consistent with differences in phenotypic expression, aligned with epigenetics. There is also heterogeneity in the immediate interstices between cancer cells. Integration with genome-wide profiling data identified losses of specific genes on 4p14 and 5q13 that were enriched in grade 3 tumors with high microenvironmental diversity that also substratified patients into poor prognostic groups. In the case of breast cancer, there is interaction with estrogen , and we refer to an androgen-unresponsive prostate cancer.
Finally, the interaction between enzyme and substrates may be conditionally unidirectional in defining the activity within the cell. The activity of the cell is dynamically interacting and at high rates of activity. In a study of the pyruvate kinase (PK) reaction the catalytic activity of the PK reaction was reversed to the thermodynamically unfavorable direction in a muscle preparation by a specific inhibitor. Experiments found that in there were differences in the active form of pyruvate kinase that were clearly related to the environmental condition of the assay – glycolitic or glyconeogenic. The conformational changes indicated by differential regulatory response were used to present a dynamic conformational model functioning at the active site of the enzyme. In the model, the interaction of the enzyme active site with its substrates is described concluding that induced increase in the vibrational energy levels of the active site decreases the energetic barrier for substrate induced changes at the site. Another example is the inhibition of H4 lactate dehydrogenase, but not the M4, by high concentrations of pyruvate. An investigation of the inhibition revealed that a covalent bond was formed between the nicotinamide ring of the NAD+ and the enol form of pyruvate. The isoenzymes of isocitrate dehydrogenase, IDH1 and IDH2 mutations occur in gliomas and in acute myeloid leukemias with normal karyotype. IDH1 and IDH2 mutations are remarkably specific to codons that encode conserved functionally important arginines in the active site of each enzyme. In this case, there is steric hindrance by Asp279 where the isocitrate substrate normally forms hydrogen bonds with Ser94.
Personalized medicine has been largely viewed from a lens of genomics. But genomics is only the reading frame. The living activities of cell processes are dynamic and occur at rapid rates. We have to keep in mind that personalized in reference to genotype is not complete without reconciliation of phenotype, which is the reference to expressed differences in outcomes.
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50 YEARS(current)
Our aim has always been to make kayaks that are as beautiful, unique, and everlasting as the natural wonders you’ll explore with them; sounds simple, but every kayak we build has over 50 years of experience, unstoppable innovation, and an unfaltering dedication to excellence behind it.
Founded in 1968, P&H quickly established a range of successful canoes and kayaks spanning various disciplines, with standout models such as the Phazer slalom kayak, and the MKII Surfer still being fondly remembered today.
Producing the Orinoco under licence from Pyranha in 1975 was the beginning of an enduring relationship between the companies, and several more of Pyranha’s models were produced under licence by P&H in the following years.
It was in 1979 that P&H produced its first sea kayaks (the same year that current Production Manager, Perran Shreeve joined the company), namely the ‘Umnak’ and ‘Icefloe’ designed by Derek C. Hutchinson.
In the mid-90s the Capella set the benchmark for polyethylene sea kayaks, followed by the composite Capella in 1997; a few years later in 2003 Dave Patrick retired, selling the company to Pyranha who continue P&H’s heritage to this day through world-renowned models such as the Cetus and Aries.
Here’s to another 50 years of P&H!
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TRMM satellite sees deadly tornadic thunderstorms in Southeastern US
by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
TRMM's Precipitation Radar data was used to show the line of severe thunderstorms in 3-D. The line of storms were pushing through North and South Carolina on Nov. 16, 2011. Strong updrafts had pushed precipitation within some of these storms to heights of 15km (9.3 miles). Credit: Credit: SSAI/NASA, Hal Pierce
Tornadoes are expected to accompany severe storms in the springtime in the U.S., but this time of year they also usually happen. When a line of severe thunderstorms associated with a cold front swept through the U.S. southeast on Nov. 16, TRMM collected rainfall data on the dangerous storms from space.
NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite flew over the southeastern United States on November 16, 2011 at 2310 UTC (6:10 p.m. EST) when tornadoes were occurring with a line of thunderstorms that stretched from western Florida north through North Carolina. At least six deaths were caused by one of these tornadoes that destroyed three homes near Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Typically in the fall, the transition from warm air to cooler air occurs as Canadian cold air moves down into the U.S. The combination of a strong cold front with warm, moist air in its path enables the creation of strong to severe storms at this time of year.
This analysis shows that the area of moderate to very heavy rainfall (shown in red) with this frontal system was only located in a narrow line. The red areas indicate heavy rainfall of 2 inches (50 mm) per hour. Light to moderate rainfall (green and blue) around much of the storm was falling at a rate between .78 to 1.57 inches/20 to 40 mm per hour). Credit: Credit: SSAI/NASA, Hal Pierce
TRMM data was used to create a rainfall analysis of the line of severe thunderstorms associated with the cold front. The analysis showed that the area of moderate to very heavy rainfall (falling at more than 2 inches or 50 mm per hour) with this frontal system was only located in a narrow line. In addition to heavy rain and some tornadoes, the strong cold front brought winds gusting over 30 mph, and a temperature drop of as much as 20 degrees as the front passed.
TRMM rainfall imagery is created at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. To create the images, rain rates in the center swaths are taken from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), a unique space-borne precipitation radar, while rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS) to form a complete picture of the rainfall in a storm or storm system like this one.
Data captured at the same time with TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) were used to create a three dimensional look at the line of severe storms. That 3-D image shows the vertical structure or height of the thunderstorms. The higher the cloud tops go, the stronger the storm. Strong updrafts had pushed precipitation within some of these storms to heights of 9.3 miles (15 kilometers).
According to USA Today tornadoes were reported in four states from that line of thunderstorms. Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and South Carolina all had reported tornadoes, and dozens of buildings and homes were damaged. The line of severe weather also took down trees and power lines leaving many without electricity.
TRMM Satellite sees massive thunderstorms in severe weather system
Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Citation: TRMM satellite sees deadly tornadic thunderstorms in Southeastern US (2011, November 18) retrieved 20 January 2020 from https://phys.org/news/2011-11-trmm-satellite-deadly-tornadic-thunderstorms.html
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Queen's Graduate Theses and Dissertations
The October Handshake of 1970: Making Sense of Canada's Recognition of the People's Republic of China
Li_Simon_K_200808_MA.pdf (2.863Mb)
Li, Simon Ka Ho
After two decades of a disappointing relationship between Canada and the People's Republic of China (PRC)-- seriously damaged during the Korean War and relieved by wheat sales after the Great Leap-- Pierre Trudeau's government wanted to end China's isolation. The new prime minister was determined to ensure that his country could recognize the Communist regime. Even more surprisingly, Ottawa's opening of relations with Beijing would soon be followed by Washington. Such words as "rapprochement" were therefore repeated in North America as this extraordinary diplomatic event began to unfold in the late 1960s.
In hindsight, Sino-Canadian rapprochement seems full of contradictions: at a time when Canada's closest ally was still fighting in Vietnam, and when the Chinese were shouting anti-imperialist slogans during the Cultural Revolution, how could it be possible that Ottawa and Beijing wished to become friends? The central question this thesis poses and answers is why the two governments suddenly shifted positions at such a politically sensitive moment. Offering different ways to understand this thirty-year-old question, the thesis re-examines Trudeau's and Maoist China's remarkable, but often forgotten, diplomatic breakthrough. Indeed, although Canadians were paying closer attention to the nation's "October Crisis" in 1970, the "October Handshake" in Stockholm between representatives of Canada and China in the same month was also a significant event. The success of such a diplomatic achievement could be seen in the Sino-American rapprochement that followed and in China's new place in the world community. Drawing on various historical records, including materials from the archives of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Queen's University, this study explains the agreement between Beijing and Ottawa in 1970 as the coincidence of three crucial conditions: the rapidly changing geopolitical circumstances at the time, a favourable internal political climate, and the matching mentality of the extraordinary players from both countries. Furthermore, while existing accounts of Sino-Canadian rapprochement highlight both countries' external relations, this thesis will argue that an exploration of the dynamics of domestic politics and the roles of individual leaders can expand our understanding of decision-making during the process of normalization of relations between China and Canada.
URI for this record
Department of History Graduate Theses
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If you require this document in an alternate, accessible format, please contact the Queen's Adaptive Technology Centre
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DANS MES QUATREVINGT ANS
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my life is fuller because I realize that I don’t know what I’m doing. me too, and I can laugh about it
August 18, 2019 Philip Waring Leave a comment
I’m delighted with the width of the world.
The excerpt below is from the book, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard Feynman, from Chapter 9, The Smartest Mann in the World, which was published as a 1979 interview with with Omni Magazine.
Now Richard Feynman may very well have been, during his lifetime, the smartest man in the world, and to understand his achievement in science demands a knowledge of mathematics ad physics that I, for one, am mostly without. But Feynman has a lot to say in this work, and elsewhere, that I can understand and with which I can identify. Here is a short section from the Omni Interview, no mathematics needed.
Omni: But you can trace influences the other way, say, the influence on you of Hans Bethe or John Wheeler . . .?
Feynman: Sure. But I don’t know the effect I’m having. Maybe it’s just my character: I don’t know. I’m not a psychologist or sociologist, I don’t know how to understand people, including myself.
You ask, how can this guy teach, how can he be motivated if he doesn’t know what he’s doing? As a matter of fact, I love to teach.
I like to think of new ways of looking at things as I explain them, to make them clearer–but maybe I’m not making them clearer. Probably what I’m doing is entertaining myself. I’ve learned how to live without knowing. I don’t have to be sure I’m succeeding, and as I said before about science, I think my life is fuller because I realize that I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m delighted with the width of the world!
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LAST DAY IN FORCALQUIER, HAUTE PROVENCE
This Blogger
Am retired. With my wife Josée I Iive in Tampa, and go often to Paris. There’s not yet a land bridge between the two cities so to go back and forth we fly, in the dead of night on the way over, and in the light of early and late afternoon on the way back.
Tampa, I believe, is America, the best and the worst of it, mostly the best. And Paris, well, Paris is Paris, not yet a museum, but almost.
What he does or What he thinks
“There is no human nature; man is what he does.” Jean-Paul Sartre
“A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Maria Popova, Bulgarian Writer
I live in Tampa
4200 W Santiago St.
I used to live in Paris
Rue des Fossés St. Bernard
Paris, France 75005
Rodney King Asks, Can We All Get Along? May 1, 1992 January 3, 2020
the last word on bill barr? would that it be! December 30, 2019
Quora: Why is evolution taught as fact when it is theory? Barry Goldberg, December 29, 2019
seeing what the morally unfit president is doing to our democracy December 15, 2019
Civil War in the making December 14, 2019
From Bill Barr at Notre Dame December 11, 2019
the post truth world December 7, 2019
China. a must read December 6, 2019
Maureen and Kevin together for Thanksgiving November 29, 2019
a nation of immigrants November 26, 2019
Brain Pickings, Maria Popova November 18, 2019
a must read from jeffrey goldberg, eidtor in Chief of the Atlantic November 13, 2019
“this man terrifies me” “this man is not fit for the office of the presidency” November 9, 2019
Grassley on Transparency October 28, 2019
The Democrats’ Choice October 27, 2019
Moscow Nights October 25, 2019
truth hurts October 24, 2019
“Nobody,” a Hong Kong protester, wrote to his Dad, “I worry that you will cry and feel devastated, But… October 20, 2019
A must read from today’s Times by Paul Krugman. October 15, 2019
My thoughts and internet notes regarding Trump’s brazen attempt to steal our country. October 11, 2019
Our Almost Empty Universe, Robert Piccioni October 8, 2019
Rachel Maddow’s new book, Blow0ut October 7, 2019
Albert Einstein once said —
there are only two things that might be infinite: the universe and human stupidity.
And, he confessed, he wasn’t sure about the universe.
1905 — HG Wells — The plain message physical science has for the world at large is this, that were our political and social and moral devices only as well contrived to their ends as a linotype machine, an antiseptic operating plant, or an electric tram-car, there need now at the present moment be no appreciable toil in the world, and only the smallest fraction of the pain, the fear, and the anxiety that now makes human life so doubtful in its value. There is more than enough for everyone alive. Science stands, a too competent servant, behind her wrangling underbred masters, holding out resources, devices, and remedies they are too stupid to use.
1932 — Charles Beard begins his introduction to J.B.Bury's The Idea of Progress by observing that "the world is largely ruled by ideas, true and false.'
1957 — Ludwig von Mises "The genuine history of mankind is the history of ideas. It is ideas that distinguish man from all other beings. For it is ideas, theories, and doctrines that guide human action, determine the ultimate ends men aim at, and the choice of the means employed for the attainment of these ends.
Horace Mann et al.
“There can be no greater stretch of arbitrary power than is required to seize children from their parents, teach them whatever the authorities decree they shall be taught, and expropriate from the parents the funds to pay for the procedure.”
from Isabel Paterson, author of The God of the Machine (1943)
Germany has supplied ample evidence that it is quite possible to read Rilke poems in the morning, play Beethoven at night, and shoot Jews during the day.
Roger Cohen, NYTimes, April 1, 2016
Hatred, fomented in the name of utopian illusion, returns. It is unbearable for some to accept Kant’s “crooked timber of humanity” out of which no straight thing was ever fashioned.
The essence of liberalism is acceptance of our human limits and our human differences. It is acceptance of multiple and perhaps incompatible truths.
In Europe and America, liberalism is threatened today. Anger rises. Bullies have workable material.
Aristotle says that —
"To take no part in the running of the community's affairs is to be either a beast or a god!"
Well I take no part in the community's affairs, and I'm not a god, ...
The Passion of Liu Xiaobo, Perry Link in the July ’17 NYR
Liu, born in 1955, was eleven when Mao closed the schools, but he read books anyway, wherever he could find them. With no teachers to tell him what the government wanted him to think about what he read, he began to think for himself—and he loved it. Mao had inadvertently taught him a lesson that ran directly counter to Mao’s own goal of converting children into “little red soldiers.”
But this experience only partly explains Liu’s stout independence. It also seems to have been an inborn trait. If there is a gene for bluntness, Liu likely had it. In the 1980s, while still a graduate student in Chinese literature, he was already known as a “black horse” for denouncing nearly every contemporary Chinese writer: the literary star Wang Meng was politically slippery; “roots-seeking” writers like Han Shaogong were excessively romantic about the value of China’s traditions; even speak-for-the-people heroes like Liu Binyan were too ready to pin hopes on “liberal” Communist leaders like Hu Yaobang. No one was independent enough.
“I can sum up what’s wrong with Chinese writers in one sentence,” Liu Xiaobo wrote in 1986. “They can’t write creatively themselves—they simply don’t have the ability—because their very lives don’t belong to them.”
Evolution and Our Inner Conflict
By Edward O. Wilson
Are human beings intrinsically good but corruptible by the forces of evil, or the reverse, innately sinful yet redeemable by the forces of good? Are we built to pledge our lives to a group, even to the risk of death, or the opposite, built to place ourselves and our families above all else? Scientific evidence, a good part of it accumulated during the past 20 years, suggests that we are all of these things simultaneously. Each of us is inherently complicated. We are all genetic chimeras, at once saints and sinners — not because humanity has failed to reach some foreordained religious or ideological ideal — but because of the way our species originated across millions of years of biological evolution.
Kin selection alone doesn’t adequately explain our complex natures.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not implying that we are driven by instinct in the manner of animals. Yet in order to understand the human condition, it is necessary to accept that we do have instincts, and will be wise to take into account our very distant ancestors, as far back and in as fine a detail as possible. History is not enough to reach this level of understanding. It stops at the dawn of literacy, where it turns the rest of the story over to the detective work of archaeology; in still deeper time the quest becomes paleontology. For the real human story, history makes no sense without prehistory, and prehistory makes no sense without biology.
Within biology itself, the key to the mystery is the force that lifted pre-human social behavior to the human level. The leading candidate in my judgment is multilevel selection by which hereditary social behavior improves the competitive ability not of just individuals within groups but among groups as a whole. Its consequences can be plainly seen in the caste systems of ants, termites and other social insects. Between-group selection as a force operating in addition to between-individual selection simultaneously is not a new idea in biology. Charles Darwin correctly deduced its role, first in the insects and then in human beings — respectively in “On the Origin of Species” and “The Descent of Man.”
Even so, the reader should be warned that the revival of multilevel selection as the principal force of social evolution remains a hotly contested idea. Its opponents believe the principal force to be kin selection: when individuals favor kin (other than offspring), the evolution of altruistic behavior is favored. The loss suffered by the genes of the altruist are compensated by genes in the recipient made identical by common descent of the altruist and recipient. If the altruism thus created is strong enough it can lead to advanced social behavior. This seems plausible, but in 2010 two mathematical biologists, Martin Nowak and Corina Tarnita, and I demonstrated that the mathematical foundations of the kin selection theory are unsound, and that examples from nature thought to support kin selection theory are better explained as products of multilevel selection.
A strong reaction from supporters of kin selection not surprisingly ensued, and soon afterward more than 130 of them famously signed on to protest our replacement of kin selection by multilevel selection, and most emphatically the key role given to group selection. But at no time have our mathematical and empirical arguments been refuted or even seriously challenged. Since that protest, the number of supporters of the multilevel selection approach has grown, to the extent that a similarly long list of signatories could be obtained. But such exercises are futile: science is not advanced by polling. If it were, we would still be releasing phlogiston to burn logs and navigating the sky with geocentric maps.
I am convinced after years of research on the subject that multilevel selection, with a powerful role of group-to-group competition, has forged advanced social behavior — including that of humans, as I documented in my recent book “The Social Conquest of Earth.”
In fact, it seems clear that so deeply ingrained are the evolutionary products of group selected behaviors, so completely a part of the human condition, that we are prone to regard them as fixtures of nature, like air and water. They are instead idiosyncratic traits of our species. Among them is the intense, obsessive interest of people in other people, which begins in the first days of life as infants learn particular scents and sounds of the adults around them. Research psychologists have found that all normal humans are geniuses at reading the intentions of others, whereby they evaluate, gossip, proselytize, bond, cooperate and control. Each person, working his way back and forth through his social network, almost continuously reviews past experiences while imagining the consequences of future scenarios.
A second diagnostic hereditary peculiarity of human behavior is the overpowering instinctual urge to belong to groups in the first place. To be kept in solitude is to be kept in pain, and put on the road to madness. A person’s membership in his group — his tribe — is a large part of his identity. It also confers upon him to some degree or other a sense of superiority. When psychologists selected teams at random from a population of volunteers to compete in simple games, members of each team soon came to think of members of other teams as less able and trustworthy, even when the participants knew they had been selected at random.
All things being equal (fortunately things are seldom equal, not exactly), people prefer to be with others who look like them, speak the same dialect, and hold the same beliefs An amplification of this evidently inborn predisposition leads with frightening ease to racism and religious bigotry.
It might be supposed that the human condition is so distinctive and came so late in the history of life on Earth as to suggest the hand of a divine creator. Yet in a critical sense the human achievement was not unique at all. Biologists have identified about two dozen evolutionary lines in the modern world fauna that attained advanced social life based on some degree of altruistic division of labor. Most arose in the insects. Several were independent origins, in marine shrimp, and three appeared among the mammals, that is, in two African mole rats, and us. All reached this level through the same narrow gateway: solitary individuals, or mated pairs, or small groups of individuals built nests and foraged from the nest for food with which they progressively raised their offspring to maturity.
Until about three million years ago the ancestors of Homo sapiens were mostly vegetarians, and they most likely wandered in groups from site to site where fruit, tubers, and other vegetable food could be harvested. Their brains were only slightly larger than those of modern chimpanzees. By no later than half a million years ago, however, groups of the ancestral species Homo erectus were maintaining campsites with controlled fire — the equivalent of nests — from which they foraged and returned with food, including a substantial portion of meat. Their brain size had increased to midsize, between that of chimpanzees and modern Homo sapiens. The trend appears to have begun one to two million years previously, when the earlier prehuman ancestor Homo habilis turned increasingly to meat in its diet. With groups crowded together at a single site, and an advantage added by cooperative nest building and hunting, social intelligence grew, along with the centers of memory and reasoning in the prefrontal cortex.
Probably at this point, during the habiline period, a conflict ensued between individual-level selection, with individuals competing with other individuals in the same group, versus group-level selection, with competition among groups. The latter force promoted altruism and cooperation among all the group members. It led to group-wide morality and a sense of conscience and honor. The competitor between the two forces can be succinctly expressed as follows: within groups selfish individuals beat altruistic individuals, but groups of altruists beat groups of selfish individuals. Or, risking oversimplification, individual selection promoted sin, while group selection promoted virtue.
So it appeared that humans are forever conflicted by their prehistory of multilevel selection. They are suspended in unstable and constantly changing locations between the two extreme forces that created us. We are unlikely to yield completely to either force as an ideal solution to our social and political turmoil. To yield completely to the instinctual urgings born from individual selection would dissolve society. To surrender to the urgings from group selection would turn us into angelic robots — students of insects call them ants.
The eternal conflict is not God’s test of humanity. It is not a machination of Satan. It is just the way things worked out. It might be the only way in the entire universe that human-level intelligence and social organization can evolve. We will find a way eventually to live with our inborn turmoil, and perhaps find pleasure in viewing it as a primary source of our creativity.
Liberté, Égalité, et Fraternité
A walk on the beach
Josée Delcroix, Drawing, Paris 1954
The Constitution and its Articles were adopted into the United States on September 17, 1787 during the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
The Articles of The Constitution work to establish the branches of the federal government and describe what powers they have.
Article 1 gives Congress its powers and limits. Congress is the branch of the government who can make laws for the country. Article 1 also creates the two sections of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Article 2 makes the executive branch of the government. The Executive branch has the responsibility and authority for the administration on a daily basis. In the United States, the executive branch is made up of the President and executive officer
Article 3 creates a judicial branch in the United States. The Judicial branch is the court system that interprets the law. In the United States, the judicial branch includes the Supreme Court and the lower courts which are made by Congress.
Article 4 talks about the states. Article 4 talks about what responsibilities and duties the states have along with what responsibilities the federal government has to each States.
Article 5 says that the only way the Constitution can be changed is by adding an amendment.
Article 6 says that any debts or engagements that the country had before adopting the Constitution are still valid. Article 6 also says that the Constitution is the highest law and that all officers and judges have to uphold the Constitution.
Article 7 is the final article of the Constitution. This article explains how many states need to ratify the Constitution.
The Cosmos as seen from an observatory in Hawaii.
The map shows roughly 800 million stars in the neighborhood of the Milky Way. At first, it looks like a planet: dark, snow-speckled and slashed down the center by a deep red scar. But zoom in a little closer, and you realize you’re looking at something much larger than a planet — larger even than 100 billion planets. Hidden within this mosaic image of the Milky Way (that’s the big, red smear in the middle) and its near cosmic neighborhood are the more than 800 million stars, galaxies and roving interstellar objects visible from the Pan-STARRS mountaintop observatory in Maui, Hawaii.
It is one of the most remarkable things that in all of the biological sciences there is no clue as to the necessity of death. And because everyone has always died, we live under the “death and taxes” assumption that death is inevitable. We think of aging like time—both keep moving and there’s nothing you can do to stop them. But that assumption is wrong.
If you say we want to make perpetual motion, we have discovered enough laws as we studied physics to see that it is either absolutely impossible or else the laws are wrong. But there is nothing in biology yet found that indicates the inevitability of death. This suggests to me that it is not at all inevitable and that it is only a matter of time before the biologists discover what it is that is causing us the trouble and that this terrible universal disease or temporariness of the human’s body will be cured.
The fact is, aging isn’t stuck to time. Time will continue moving, but aging doesn’t have to. If you think about it, it makes sense. All aging is is the physical materials of the body wearing down. A car wears down over time too—but is its aging inevitable? If you perfectly repaired or replaced a car’s parts whenever one of them began to wear down, the car would run forever. The human body isn’t any different—just far more complex. —Richard Feynman
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Hokusai, Japanese Artist, (1760 – 1849)
In a postscript to his work, Hokusai writes: “ From around the age of six, I had the habit of sketching from life. I became an artist, and from fifty on began producing works that won some reputation, but nothing I did before the age of seventy was worthy of attention. At seventy-three, I began to grasp the structures of birds and beasts, insects and fish, and of the way plants grow. If I go on trying, I will surely understand them still better by the time I am eighty-six, so that by ninety I will have penetrated to their essential nature. At one hundred, I may well have a positively divine understanding of them, while at one hundred and thirty, forty, or more I will have reached the stage where every dot and every stroke I paint will be alive. May Heaven, that grants long life, give me the chance to prove that this is no lie. ”
The United States, now a segregated class society.
I now believe that the United States is evolving into a segregated class society in which the remaining remnants of the original American project—limited government, free people running their own lives, communities solving their own problems—will soon have been lost altogether. Charles Murray. 10/15/2014
We’re just one among millions
There are thought to be somewhere between 5 million and 100 million species of plants and animals on Earth, of which 2 million have been identified. We're one of these.
Umberto Eco, If I were to rule the world
Men are religious animals. Dogs are not religious. It’s true they bark at the moon but it’s probably not because of religion. Humans have the tendency to search for the reason in their situations. There is a beautiful sentence attributed to GK Chesterton: “When men don’t believe in God any longer, it is not that they believe in nothing; they believe in everything.”
The ruler of the world can’t eliminate religion. You can be an atheist or a non-believer, but you have to recognise that the great majority of humans need some religious beliefs.
Prospect Magazine, December 2015
“Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi
The Earth is Weeping
They came on horses and with guns, a martial culture overrunning a more peaceful one unprepared to meet the fight. It was a stunning and successful invasion over a short period of time. The invaders treated the indigenous people as barely human. They committed unspeakable acts of brutality. Those not massacred fled from their homeland, never to return. The invaders were the Lakota, a Siouxan tribe who swept west in the 1700s, taking for themselves the most prized hunting grounds throughout the Great Plains. Or, to put it in the words of one of their chiefs, “These lands once belonged to the Kiowas and Crows, but we whipped these nations out of them, and in this we did what the white men do when they want the lands of Indians.” Peter Cozzens, NR, 1/17
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow.” Mahatma Gandhi
‘DARWIN’S THEORY IS THE SINGLE GREATEST IDEA ANY HUMAN BEING HAS CONCEIVED, Daniel Dennett
Richard Rorty, Achieving Our Country, 1998
You have to describe the country in terms of what you passionately hope it will become, as well as in terms of what you know it to be now. You have to be loyal to a dream country rather than to the one to which you wake up every morning. Unless such loyalty exists, the ideal has no chance of becoming actual.
“now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell”
“I SEEM to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
Those words, ascribed to Sir Isaac Newton, might still be spoken, with the appropriate correction for sex, by any scientist today.
The discipline of natural science that Newton helped found in the second half of the 17th century has extended humanity’s horizons to a degree he could scarcely have envisaged. Newton lived in a world that thought itself 6,000 years old, knew nothing of chemical elements or disease-causing microbes, believed living creatures could spring spontaneously from mud, hay or dirty bed-linen, and had only just stopped assuming that the sun (and everything else in the universe) revolved around the Earth.
Yet even today, deep problems and deeper mysteries remain. Science cannot yet say how life began or whether the universe is but one of many. Some things people take for granted—that time goes forwards but never backwards, say—are profoundly weird. Other mysteries, no less strange, are not even perceived. One is that 96% of the universe’s contents pass ghostlike and unnoticed through the minuscule remaining fraction, which solipsistic humans are pleased to call “ordinary matter”. Another is how, after billions of years when the Earth was inhabited only by single-celled creatures, animals suddenly popped into existence. Perhaps the deepest mystery of all is how atoms in human brains can consciously perceive the desire to ask all of these questions in the first place, and then move other atoms around to answer them.
The Economist, August 7, 2015
Anti-Intellectualism ion American Life
One of the major virtues of liberal society in the past was that it made possible such a variety of styles of intellectual life—one can find men notable for being passionate and rebellious, others for being elegant and sumptuous, or spare and astringent, clever and complex, patient and wise, and some equipped mainly to observe and endure. What matters is the openness and generosity needed to comprehend the varieties of excellence that could be found even in a single and rather parochial society. Dogmatic, apocalyptic predictions about the collapse of liberal culture or the disappearance of high culture may be right or wrong; but one thing about them seems certain: they are more likely to instill self-pity and despair than the will to resist or the confidence to make the most of one’s creative energies. It is possible, or course, that under modern conditions the avenues of choice are being closed, and that the culture of the future will be dominated by single-minded men of one persuasion or another. It is possible; but in so far as the weight of one’s will is thrown onto the scales of history, one lives in the belief that it is not to be so.
Richard Hofstadter, 1963
No Longer a Center-Right
Thomas Friedman would ask the candidates:
“Would you agree to raise the gasoline tax by 5 cents a gallon today so we can pay for our highway bill, now stalled in Congress over funding?”
Why, he asks, is this such a key question? And he answers because it cuts to the core of what is undermining the Republican Party today and, indirectly, our country: There is no longer a Republican center-right that would have no problem raising the gas tax for something as fundamental as infrastructure. Sure, there are center-right candidates — like Jeb Bush and John Kasich. But can they run, win and govern from the center-right when the base of their party and so many of its billionaire donors reflect the angry anti-science, anti-tax, anti-government, anti-minorities, anti-gay rights and anti-immigration views of the Tea Party and its media enforcer, Fox News? NYTimes, August 5, 2015
"free" public schooling
Abdennour Bidar
African and Asian elephants
age graded classrooms
Albert Scheitzer
Amur falcons
brain size
CES or the Coalition of Essential Schools
Chester Finn
Le Temps Retrouvé
NATO Dog
Robert Kaplan
Roger Cohen
Samuel Huntington
Suicide Bombers
Waring School
The process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.
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RAS-72 Sea Eagle and LUNA NG. Photo Source: Pakistan Navy
Jan 5, 2020 Bilal Khan -
Pakistan Navy Officially Inducts ATR-72 MPA and LUNA NG UAV
On 04 January 2020, the Pakistan Navy’s (PN) Director General of Public Relations announced that the PN officially inducted “marinized” ATR-72 aircraft and LUNA NG unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
Though the PN showed two ATR-72 aircraft, only one of them was configured as a maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). This aircraft was from the conversion order the PN awarded to Rheinland Air Service (RAS) in 2016 – the first of these re-configured MPAs was inducted in December 2018.
The PN’s ATR-72 MPA is also known as the RAS-72 Sea Eagle. The RAS-72 Sea Eagle is configured with the Leonardo Seaspray 7300E active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, FLIR Systems’ Star SAFIRE III electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) turret, and Elettronica’s electronic support measures (ESM) suite.
Tying these systems together is Aerodata AG’s AeroMission mission management suite. AeroMission has a sensor fusion algorithm, which offers the RAS-72 crew with situational awareness across multiple areas.
The RAS-72 is also capable of anti-submarine warfare (ASW), it can deploy lightweight ASW torpedoes.
The second newly inducted ATR-72 is not an MPA, but it will operate in a “cargo/para-drop role [that] will provide added flexibility to the (PN’s) Special Forces’ operations.”
As for the LUNA NG, its manufacturer – EMT Penzberg – terms it as a “tactical unmanned aircraft system” (TUAS). With a take-off weight of 110 kg, the LUNA NG is a lightweight UAV, but its payload options include synthetic aperture radar (SAR), signals intelligence (SIGINT), ESM, and EO/IR. It can fly for over 12 hours.
The PN said it will use the LUNA NG to monitor its creeks and coastal areas. The PN also announced that its long-term development plans include the “acquisition of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV).”
The UCAV could be in reference to the PN’s reported interest in the Turkish Aerospace Anka-S during the 2018 International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS).
For More News on the Pakistan Navy, See:
Pakistan’s MILGEM Corvettes Will Have Vertical Launch Systems
Harba: Pakistan’s Dual Land-Attack and Anti-Ship Missile
Pakistan’s Agosta 90B Submarines Will Get ELINT/ESM
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Muslims have had no-fault divorce for 1,500 years!
News provided by The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Lahore (United Kingdom) on Tuesday 9th Apr 2019
In Islam, divorce depends on the affirmative answer to a simple question
We congratulate the Justice Secretary for adopting the Islamic best practice with regard to divorce
Today the Justice Secretary announced that the UK Government is proposing legislation to allow no-fault divorces. This is welcome news. Currently, according to the law on divorce in England and Wales, with its historical roots in the Old and New Testaments, divorce cannot take place unless and until one of the parties is proven to be at fault or alternatively both parties have lived separately for two years with mutual consent. The original definition of ‘fault’ was adultery but then it was expanded to cover many other reasons.
Islamic law is based on the commandments of the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet Muhammad’s (s) interpretation of those commandments. Although the Holy Quran clearly disapproves of divorce because of the impact it has on those divorcing and their children, it allows it. Despite disapproving it, then, Islam takes a radically different approach. In Islam, divorce depends on the affirmative answer to a simple question: do both, or does even just one of the parties want to end the marriage? There need be no ‘fault’ on part of either party. There are two famous examples of this.
This first one, recorded in authentic history, involves the Holy Prophet himself. When the daughter of al-Jawn was brought in as a bride to the Messenger of Allah (s) and he came close to her, she said: “I seek refuge with Allah from you”. So, he said to her: “You have sought refuge with One Who is great; go back to your family”. Here. a woman is asking the Holy Prophet Muhammad himself for a ‘no fault’ divorce and it is granted.
The second records an episode during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (s) when he was approached by the wife of a companion of his, Thabit bin Qais. She told the Prophet that she could not find any defects in Thabit’s character or religion, but she could not bear to live with him. The Prophet asked if she was willing to return a garden Thabit had given to her as a marital gift or Mehr, upon which she replied that she was. She agreed to this and she was allowed to divorce Thabit. It is worth adding that on marriage a husband has to settle a part of his estate on his wife to make her financially independent.
This shows that ‘no fault’ divorce has been a part of Islam for 1,500 years. We welcome the Justice Secretary’s decision to adopt the Islamic best practice in this regard.
The Ahmadiyya Association for the Propagation of Islam (Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaʻat Islam) was established in Lahore in 1914 to promote the informed understanding of Islam in the West. In the UK it operated the Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking until the early 1960s. Its new headquarters is at Dar-us-Salaam, 15 Stanley Avenue, Wembley, HA0 4JQ, UK. In 1924, in Berlin, it built the first mosque in Continental Europe of the modern era. The German Government recognises the Berlin Mosque as part of the German national heritage. From its European and other centres around the world this organisation has taught that Islam promotes peace, harmony and mutual respect between all communities and nationalities.
Submissions in 2016 to UK Parliament Inquiries:
Countering Extremism
Our submission: pdf • html
Sharia Councils:
Press release distributed by Pressat on behalf of The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Lahore (United Kingdom), on Tuesday 9 April, 2019. For more information subscribe and follow https://pressat.co.uk/
No-Fault Divorce Law Islam Muslims Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Charities & non-profits Government Lifestyle & Relationships Opinion Article Public Sector & Legal
The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Lahore (United Kingdom)
info@aaiil.uk
http://www.aaiil.uk
PRESIDENT AAIIL(UK)
E-mail: President@aaiil.uk
Website: http://www.virtualmosque.co.uk
Divorce Reform Act 2019
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Islam-Peace-Tolerance-...
https://www.amazon.com/Islam-Peace-Tolerance-re...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Translation-Ho...
https://www.amazon.com/English-Translation-Holy...
* For more information regarding media usage, ownership and rights please contact The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Lahore (United Kingdom).
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Privacy Standards
Standards Development for Third Party Access to Subscriber and Registration Data
ICANN63 Workshop in Barcelona
Min. Requirements for Data Disclosure
Data Trusts: Background report
ICANN’s approach to GDPR compliance
Stephanie Perrin
Co-investigator Stephanie Perrin recently successfully defended her doctoral dissertation: The Struggle for WHOIS Privacy: Understanding the Standoff Between ICANN and the World’s Data Protection Authorities under the supervision of Professor Clement at the University of Toronto. She has been an active volunteer at ICANN for the past 5 years, participating in numerous working groups dealing with the WHOIS problem, having been recruited by ICANN to serve as a data protection expert on the Experts Working Group on Registration Data Services for generic top level domains (gTLDS) in 2013. She is now and has been for the past three years an elected Councillor on the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), the body that develops policy for ICANN, and is both a well-known figure at ICANN and well versed in the challenges for data protection. She has also been participating in the International Working Group on Data Protection in Telecommunications (IWGDPT or the Berlin group), who issued a recent paper which updated the 2000 Common Position on Directory Services at ICANN[1].Perrin had a lengthy career in the public service of Canada prior to embarking on her doctoral studies, including two years in the Office of the Privacy Commissioner as Director, Research and Policy (2005-2007), and was Director of Privacy Policy at Industry Canada responsible for the development of PIPEDA (1995-2000). She was a key figure in the establishment of the CAN/CSA-830 standards development project (1991-96), working extensively with the CSA to raise funds, find interested stakeholders, and she served on the drafting committee which produced the Model Privacy Code. She then led efforts to get the standard accepted as an ISO standard, and promoted the standards approach to privacy issues throughout the 90s at the OECD and international fora. While working for the leading Canadian privacy enhancing technology company Zero Knowledge Systems as Chief Privacy Officer, she led an initiative of the CEN/ISS to examine privacy standards in Europe as a means of achieving compliance with the EU data protection directive (the IPSE project) in 2001-2002. This effort received recognition by the Article 29 Working Party as a useful initiative to achieve privacy compliance.
Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Andrew Clement is a professor emeritus of information at the University of Toronto, where he has coordinated the Information Policy Research Program since the 1990s and co-founded the Identity Privacy and Security Institute (IPSI). With a PhD in Computer Science, he has had longstanding research and teaching interests in the social implications of information/communication technologies, community informatics, participatory design and privacy/surveillance. Among his recent research projects are: IXmaps.ca, an internet mapping tool that helps make more visible NSA mass internet surveillance activities and the routing of Canadian personal data through the U.S. and publishes privacy transparency reports on ISPs serving Canadian internet carriers serving Canadians; Seeing Through the Cloud, which examined extra-national outsourcing of eCommunications services, especially by universities; SurveillanceRights.ca, which documents (non)compliance of video surveillance installations with privacy regulations and helps citizens understand their related privacy rights; Snowden Surveillance Archives, an on-line searchable collection of all documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden subsequently published by news media; and Proportionate ID, which demonstrates through overlays for conventional ID cards and a smartphone app privacy protective alternatives to prevailing full disclosure norms. Clement was the principal investigator of the 4 year Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN) project and lead editor of its collective Connecting Canadians: Investigations in Community Informatics book. Clement was a co-investigator in the seven year major research collaboration, The New Transparency: Surveillance and Social Sorting and contributor to its Transparent Lives: Surveillance in Canada book. Currently he is a collaborator in its successor project, Big Data Surveillance.
This research project was funded by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC), under their grants and contributions program. We are grateful for the opportunity this support provided for conducting this research, and stress that the views contained in our project reporting, including on this website, are those of the researchers, and do not in any way represent the views of the OPC.
© 2020 Privacy Standards
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Collections Research Network
Heritage and Creativity Institute for Collections
‘German Fever. Beckett in Germany’: exhibition explores Beckett’s journey through Nazi Germany
8th November 2017 News, Tay Noronha
Samuel Beckett’s journey through Nazi Germany in 1936-37 is the focus of an exhibition at the ‘Literaturmuseum der Moderne’ (Museum of Modern Literature), Marbach am Neckar, Germany, featuring some of the writer’s actual diaries from the time.
Arranged in cooperation with the University of Reading, the exhibition also includes several key items from the Beckett Collection, making this one of the most prestigious international loans ever made from the University’s Special Collections. Among the items on loan is one of Beckett’s notebooks from the only time that he directed Waiting for Godot (Warten auf Godot) on the stage.
Beckett’s engagement with German art, literature and language is evident in the German Diaries he kept during his extensive journey through Hitler’s Germany from September 1936 to April 1937. They also contain his impressions of Germany during the early years of National Socialism, and show his interest in persecuted artists.
Dr Mark Nixon, co-director of the Beckett International Foundation and an academic involved in the new Samuel Beckett Research Centre at the University of Reading, is author of Samuel Beckett Diaries 1936-1937, which looks at Beckett’s diaries and how his journey through Nazi Germany influenced his development as a writer. He has also co-written the catalogue of the exhibition with Dirk Van Hulle, of the University of Antwerp.
Dr Nixon said: “Samuel Beckett was one of the last prominent artistic figures to travel through Nazi Germany before the Second World War changed the country forever. The views on German society and politics he recorded in his unpublished diaries are therefore incredible valuable and insightful to a significant period in world history.
“The ‘German Fever. Beckett in Germany’ exhibition explores his observations, and also looks at how Germany remained a subtle presence in his work for years afterwards.”
‘When it’s coming up to Xmas I get the German fever’, Samuel Beckett wrote to his friend Thomas MacGreevy in 1932. This exhibition examines Beckett’s life-long engagement with German art, literature and language. It sheds light on Beckett’s extensive reading of classical writers such as Goethe, Schiller and Hölderlin, his engagement with German visual artists from Albrecht Dürer to the Expressionists, as well as his observations on the reality within National Socialist Germany.
The exhibition also tells the story of his famous productions at the Schiller Theatre in Berlin from the 1960s to the 1980s – in particular of Waiting for Godot (1975) – and his works for television at the Süddeutscher Rundfunk in Stuttgart. Furthermore, the exhibition documents Beckett’s close relationship with his publisher Siegfried Unseld, his German translator Elmar Tophoven and the important role played by the Suhrkamp Verlag in introducing the writer’s work to German readers.
The exhibition presents 150 items, manuscripts, letters and two of his German Diaries notebooks, many of which are being shown in public for the first time.
About the Samuel Beckett Research Centre
The Samuel Beckett Research Centre launched in May 2017. It brings together academics and writers at the University of Reading to promote world-leading research, teaching and creative projects based around the University’s internationally-recognised Beckett Archive. It hosts collaborative writing, discussion and debate led by specialists from the departments of English Literature, Film, Theatre and Television, Modern Languages and Philosophy.
A key aspect of the Centre’s work is the support and funding of fellowships and scholarships with the aim of producing new creative work inspired by Beckett, such as radio and television plays, films, musical composition and visual art, alongside novels and short stories. Award-winning author Eimear McBride was announced as the centre’s inaugural Samuel Beckett Creative Fellow in October 2017.
An annual programme of public events will be held at the Centre around a theme in current affairs that links to Beckett’s work. The inaugural research themes for 2017-19 are Beckett and the Environment, and Beckett and Europe.
The activities are based around the internationally-recognised Beckett Collection hosted by the Beckett International Foundation. Amongst the latest acquisitions at the Collection, located in the University of Reading’s Special Collections, is the original Murphy manuscript, comprising six notebooks relating to Beckett’s first published novel, and the archive of the pre-eminent Beckett actress, Billie Whitelaw.
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© 2020 Heritage & Creativity Institute For Collections
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Changing Departments
Keira McTyre and Gunner Destea
Ms. Laura Brown is a seventh-grade teacher that has been working at Ramsey Junior High for 14 years. She recently changed from teaching science to teaching geography. She said that she was looking forward to the change,
“I had been teaching science for about 13 years, so the change was nice.”
And she said that it’s not too much of a change.
“There are some differences, but a lot of similarities, depending on what the topic is at that time.”
She also switched from eighth to seventh grade. She was asked about the change,
“I think 7th graders may be needier than 8th, but I do not foresee there being a huge difference.”
And she was asked about what subjects she’s teaching,
“I only teach social studies this year. I have taught just about every subject in the past at one time or another.”
Ms. Brown was asked about her past schools. She went to junior high in Greenwood and for high school,
“I graduated high school from Greenwood but grew up just a few miles south of the Ft. Smith city limits.”
Trouble in Iran
Are there too many streaming services?
New South Wales fires – the damage and how to help
Australia wildfires
Organ trafficking
The risks of alcohol
Co-Op Quiz Bowl Tournament
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POPE FRANCIS LIKENS JESUS TO ISIS, SAYS MUSLIMS MUST BREED WITH EUROPEANS
Francis claims ISIS similar to Jesus sending his disciples to all nations
BY KIT DANIELS
SEE: http://www.infowars.com/pope-francis-likens-jesus-to-isis-says-muslims-migrants-must-breed-with-europeans/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
In a shocking interview, Pope Francis likened Jesus Christ to ISIS and said Muslim migrants must breed with Europeans to counter “declining birth rates.”
“Today, I don’t think that there is a fear of Islam as such but of ISIS and its war of conquest, which is partly drawn from Islam,” he told French newspaper La Croix. “It is true that the idea of conquest is inherent in the soul of Islam, however, it is also possible to interpret the objective in Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus sends his disciples to all nations, in terms of the same idea of conquest.”
The Pope also said he “dreaded” hearing about the “Christian roots of Europe” because, to him, they take on “colonialist overtones” and he called on European nations to “integrate” Muslim migrants into the continent.
“This integration is all the more necessary today since, as a result of a selfish search for well-being, Europe is experiencing the grave problem of a declining birth rate,” he stated. “A demographic emptiness is developing.”
His opinions are stunningly similar to those of top Iman Sheikh Muhammad Ayed, who said Muslims should exploit the migrant crisis to breed with Europeans and “conquer their countries.”
“Europe has become old and decrepit and needs human reinforcement… they are not motivated by compassion for the Levant, its people and its refugees… soon, we will trample them underfoot, Allah willing,” he stated. “Throughout Europe, all the hearts are enthused with hatred toward Muslims. They wish that we were dead, but they have lost their fertility, so they look for fertility in our midst.”
“We will give them fertility! We will breed children with them, because we shall conquer their countries!”
Pope Francis also promoted socialism during the interview.
“A completely free market does not work,” he claimed. “Markets in themselves are good but they also require a fulcrum, a third party, or a state to monitor and balance them.”
“In other words, [what is needed is] a social market economy.”
It’s been estimated that in the 20th century alone, socialism and communism resulted in the deaths of at least 130 million people.
Pope Francis Likes Jesus To ISIS, Says Muslims Must Breed With Europeans
Alex Jones Discusses the new Papal orders to change Christianity and breed with Muslims, also how the new world order is uncloaking to reveal its true identity.
Pope Francis likened Jesus Christ to ISIS
http://www.infowars.com/pope-francis-...
Pope Francis: Spreading the Gospel
no different than ISIS jihad
WWW.TRUNEWS.COM
Pope Francis: Spreading the Gospel no different than ISIS jihad
(TRUNEWS) Pope Francis said in an interview with France’s La Croix that Jesus’ call to spread the Gospel was no different than the jihad being waged by radical Islamists.
As part of the discussion published Tuesday, the pope told La Croix:
“I don’t think that there is a fear of Islam as such but of ISIS and its war of conquest, which is partly drawn from Islam. It is true that the idea of conquest is inherent in the soul of Islam. However, it is also possible to interpret the objective in Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus sends his disciples to all nations, in terms of the same idea of conquest.”
Read more at http://www.trunews.com/pope-francis-s...
The Pope says that ISIS' conquest of the Middle East is just like Jesus sending out his disciples.
I must have missed that bible chapter where Jesus' disciples behead people, force them into sex slavery and make them pay a tax on pain of death if they refuse to convert.
Hugh Fitzgerald: Pope Francis: Islam and Christianity Share “the Idea of Conquest”
BY HUGH FITZGERALD
SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/05/hugh-fitzgerald-pope-francis-islam-and-christianity-share-the-idea-of-conquest; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Pope Francis continues to astonish. He has just said, in an interview with the French Catholic paper La Croix, that “the idea of conquest is inherent to the soul of Islam.” As far as his understanding of Islam goes, this is a marked improvement over his disturbing statement, back in November 2013, that the “Koran is a book of peace” and “Islam is a peaceful religion.” Now he at last recognizes – how could he not, after yet another year of Muslim bombs and bloodletting all over the place? – that Islam has something to do with “conquest,” that is, spreading Islam by conquering non-Muslim lands. He must have been doing some reading, possibly even learning more about the life and works of that prophet and warlord, Muhammad.
But then, remembering to act as advocate for Islam, he immediately supplies a preposterous Tu Quoque against Christianity (and thus against himself), claiming that “it is also possible to interpret the objective of Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus sends his disciples to all nations, in terms of the same idea of conquest.” The “same idea of conquest”? What is the similarity between peaceful missionaries armed only with the Bible, sent out to persuade the pagans, and the armed might of Muslim Arab armies waging Jihad, with a religious mandate to subdue by force the Infidels, and then to present them with a stark choice: to be killed, to be at once converted (no complicated theological discussions needed), or to endure the dismal and deliberately humiliating condition of dhimmi, with its many social, economic, and political disabilities? The sleight-of-word that would treat the two ways of spreading the respective faiths, as both involving “conquest,” is bizarre. The Pope does not say outright that the objectives are the same; with pusillanimity aforethought, he says “it is possible to interpret the objective[s] in terms of the same idea of conquest.” But the “objective” of Muslims conducting Jihad is to subjugate and impose; the “objective” of those Christian disciples sent out to spread the Gospel was to persuade.
The Pope also demonstrates a desire to rescue Islam from suspicion: “Today, I don’t think that there is a fear of Islam as such but of ISIS and its war of conquest, which is partly drawn from Islam.” On what basis does he make this claim? Pope Francis claims there is fear only of ISIS, and not of Islam “as such.” But when non-Muslims are polled in France, in Germany, in Great Britain, in Italy, in Poland, in Denmark, in Sweden, as to whether they fear Islam, or are suspicious of Muslims, the answer increasingly is Yes, despite the frantic efforts of members of the media and political elites (and now Pope Francis) to substitute ISIS for Islam. Europeans are coming to understand that ISIS is merely Islam on stilts, a version that attempts to mimic the behavior and beliefs of the earliest Muslims. And why does Pope Francis claim that ISIS’ war of conquest is “partly drawn from Islam”? It is based entirely on Islam; had there been other, non-Islamic sources for ISIS’ ideology and its acts, you can be sure the Pope would have identified them.
The Pope says nothing about where the current “conquest” by Muslims is most in evidence – Europe itself — and by what means. He fails to discuss the duty of Jihad in Islam, or how Jihad can be conducted using whatever instruments are available and effective. In Western Europe, the most effective instrument at this point is not combat, qitaal, but the seemingly inexorable growth in Muslim numbers. Conquest need not be by force of arms; demography will do. Far from expressing any alarm over this amazing Muslim invasion of Europe, the Pope repeatedly has discussed the duty he thinks Europeans have to take in more and more of these Muslim migrants. And he is careful to minimize differences (between Islam and Christianity) where they are great, and exaggerate differences (between Islam and ISIS), where they are small. Both his heart, and his rhetoric, are in the wrong place.
Then there is the Pope’s duty to not misrepresent the past. It appears that he is willing to pass over in silence the role of Christianity in Europe’s history, in order – so he must think — to win temporary favor from Muslims in the present, and attain that famous interfaith dialogue on which he keeps placing his hopes. When asked why he never refers to the “Christian roots” of Europe, Pope Francis said he “sometimes dreads the tone [of those who mention those roots], which can seem triumphalist or even vengeful.” This objection is difficult to comprehend. The Pope refuses to make a simple statement of fact, which even the most convinced atheist could not deny; indeed, the Pope does not deny the “Christian roots” of Europe. Instead, he just won’t mention it, in his tender solicitousness for Muslim sensibilities, and his worry that because some people at some time have mentioned Europe’s “Christian roots” in a tone he describes as “triumphalist or even vengeful,” then he, Pope Francis, should refrain from mentioning those “Christian roots,” because he just might, you see, remind people of those who in the past have sounded “triumphalist or even vengeful.” And then, to complete the absurdity, he alludes to the Original Sin of White Western Christianity, Colonialism. Mention of “Christian roots” takes on, he claims, “colonialist overtones.” How? The “Christian roots” of Europe antedate colonialism by some 1600 years. The Pope, in a straightforward and sober tone, should be able to acknowledge those “Christian roots” of Europe without worrying about non-existent “colonialist overtones.” Don’t expect this Pope, by the way, ever to dare to recognize that the most successful example of colonialism in world history is that of Islam itself, where the colonized are taught to despise or forget their own pre-Islamic histories.
Is it really too much for the Pope to describe the differences between conducting Jihad and spreading the Gospel? Is it beyond him to proclaim the role of Christianity in Europe’s history, without sounding “triumphalist or even vengeful” or smuggling in “colonialist overtones”? If he doesn’t feel up to it, why not cut to the chase and try another solution: hand over the Papacy to the ghost of the islamo-christian Arab Edward Said? What better way to win the trust of Muslims, so that the “dialogue” the Pope keeps hoping for can at long last begin? Or, taking a different tack, in an I-have-a-dream mode, why should Pope Francis not reverse course and ask for some history lessons from his predecessor, and put that dialogue-chasing on permanent hold?
Labels: Catholicism, Immigration, Islamic Terrorism, Muslim, New World Order/Bilderberg, Socialism, Terrorism
OBAMA DEMANDS HOSPITALS ACCOMODATE TRANSGENDERS OR LOSE FUNDING
BY HEATHER CLARK
SEE: http://christiannews.net/2016/05/19/obama-admin-demands-hospitals-accommodate-transgenders-or-lose-funding/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
WASHINGTON — On the same day that the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education threatened to revoke funding for public schools that do not allow students to use the restroom and locker room that correlates with their “gender identity,” the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also released guidelines requiring federally-funded hospitals that may require hospital systems to perform sex change operations or similarly lose funding.
The rules pertain to language in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare, and affects all hospitals that accept Medicare or Medicaid, as well as those directly funded by HHS. (Read in full here.)
The government asserts that the rules build upon the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Education Amendments of 1972, which the Obama administration has interpreted in recent months as applying to “gender identity.”
“Section 1557 builds on prior federal civil rights laws to prohibit sex discrimination in health care,” the document reads. “The final rule requires that women be treated equally with men in the health care they receive and also prohibits the denial of health care or health coverage based on an individual’s sex, including discrimination based on pregnancy, gender identity, and sex stereotyping.”
“The final rule also requires covered health programs and activities to treat individuals consistent with their gender identity,” it notes.
The department provide the examples that “a covered entity may not deny, based on an individual’s identification as a transgender male, treatment for ovarian cancer where the treatment is medically indicated” and if “an issuer or state Medicaid agency denies a claim for coverage for a hysterectomy that a patient’s provider says is medically necessary to treat gender dysphoria,” the case will be investigated.
The site Modern Healthcare also outlines that the rules could require that hospitals provide sex change operations and other treatments related to switching one’s gender identity.
“The rule does not explicitly require insurers to cover gender-transition treatments such as surgery. But insurers could face questions if they deny medically necessary services related to gender transition for a man who identifies as a woman, or a woman who identifies as a man,” it explains.
HHS says that in such cases, “[i]n evaluating whether it is discriminatory to deny or limit a request for coverage for a particular service for an individual seeking the service as part of transition-related care, … OCR will start by inquiring whether and to what extent coverage is available when the same service is not related to gender transition.”
“[T]ransgender people can now enter bathrooms or hospital wards consistent with their gender identity,” Modern Healthcare also notes. There are questions surrounding whether males who identify as females will be placed in shared rooms with female patients.
“While the final rule does not resolve whether discrimination on the basis of an individual’s sexual orientation status alone is a form of sex discrimination under Section 1557, the rule makes clear that OCR will evaluate complaints that allege sex discrimination related to an individual’s sexual orientation to determine if they involve the sorts of stereotyping that can be addressed under Section 1557,” a summary of the rules additionally explains.
“HHS supports prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination as a matter of policy and will continue to monitor legal developments on this issue,” the document outlines.
The Obama administration states that the rules do not include exemptions for religious entities, but also “does not displace existing protections for religious freedom and conscience.”
Hospitals might lose federal funding if they refuse to comply.
“Where noncompliance or threatened noncompliance cannot be corrected by informal means, available enforcement mechanisms include suspension of, termination of, or refusal to grant or continue federal financial assistance; referral to the Department of Justice with a recommendation to bring proceedings to enforce any rights of the United States; and any other means authorized by law,” the rule outlines.
A lawsuit might also be filed against the infringing entity in an effort to force compliance.
Faith-based organizations have expressed concern over being forced to provide sex change operations and other similar treatments, which they believe infringes on the rights of religious hospitals, such as Roman Catholic or Baptist hospital systems.
“This intolerant and unjust rule, in turn, threatens to force health care providers to participate in and perform services that substantially violate their consciences,” David Christensen, vice president of government affairs for the Washington-based Family Research Council, said in a statement.
“This is Orwellian,” Ken Klukowski with the First Liberty Institute also stated. “But beyond that, it is an unconstitutional assault on the First Amendment that the Obama administration is forcing their rejection of biological fact onto people whose faith teaches that ‘man’ and ‘woman’ refer to what they have meant for thousands of years, and that God purposefully created them that way.”
Labels: Free Speech/ Constitution, Gay Agenda, Medical, Obama
TRUMP LISTS JUDGE CALLING ABORTION A "RIGHT" & PROSECUTOR OF JUDGE ROY MOORE, FOR SUPREME COURT NOMINEES
Trump Lists Judge Calling Abortion a ‘Right’ & Prosecutor of ‘Ten Commandments’ Judge for SCOTUS
SEE: http://christiannews.net/2016/05/18/trump-lists-judge-calling-abortion-a-right-prosecutor-of-ten-commandments-judge-for-scotus/;
NEW YORK — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has released his complete list of potential nominees for the United States Supreme Court should he win the presidency, which includes an appeals judge who has referred to abortion as a woman’s “right,” and a judge who once prosecuted Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore while serving as attorney general.
“Today Donald J. Trump released the much-anticipated list of people he would consider as potential replacements for Justice Scalia at the United States Supreme Court,” his campaign said in a press release Wednesday afternoon. “This list was compiled, first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership.”
The list contained 11 potential nominees, including Steven Colloton, Allison Eid, Thomas Lee, William Pryor, Diane Sykes, and Don Willett.
As previously reported, Skyes wrote the majority opinion in a 2013 case that barred the state of Indiana from defunding Planned Parenthood. She was nominated to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals by then-President George W. Bush.
“The defunding law excludes Planned Parenthood from Medicaid for a reason unrelated to its fitness to provide medical services, violating its patients’ statutory right to obtain medical care from the qualified provider of their choice,” Sykes wrote.
She then stressed the court’s belief in the “right” to abortion, and advised that the state must be careful to not indirectly limit access to abortion while simultaneously withholding taxpayer funds from known abortion providers.
“It is settled law that the government’s refusal to subsidize abortion does not impermissibly burden a woman’s right to obtain an abortion,” Sykes stated. “If a ban on public funding for abortion does not directly violate the abortion right, then Indiana’s ban on other forms of public subsidy for abortion providers cannot be an unconstitutional condition that indirectly violates the right.”
Trump has stated in the past that his sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, who serves on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, would make a “phenomenal” Supreme Court justice. Barry has issued pro-abortion rulings, stating regarding a New Jersey law that “a woman’s constitutional right to obtain an abortion would be impermissibly chilled.”
“I think she’d be phenomenal,” Trump told Bloomberg in August. “I think she’d be one of the best. But frankly, we’d have to rule that out.”
Her name was not included on Wednesday’s list.
However, he did select Bill Pryor, the former attorney general of Alabama, who prosecuted Roy Moore in 2003 over his refusal to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court. Pryor’s comments to Moore during his trial focused more on Moore’s refusal to stop acknowledging God as chief justice.
“[Y]our understanding is that the federal court ordered that you could not acknowledge God; isn’t that right?” Pryor asked. “And if you resume your duties as chief justice after this proceeding, you will continue to acknowledge God as you have testified that you would today?”
“That’s right,” Moore replied.
“No matter what any other official says?” Pryor asked.
“Absolutely,” Moore stated. “Let me clarify that. Without an acknowledgment of God, I cannot do my duties. I must acknowledge God. It says so in the Constitution of Alabama. It says so in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. It says so in everything I have read.”
“The only point I am trying to clarify, Mr. Chief Justice, is not why, but only that, in fact, if you do resume your duties as chief justice, you will continue to do that without regard to what any other official says; isn’t that right?” Pryor asked.
As Moore continued to stand his ground, he was ordered by Pryor to be “removed from his position of Supreme Court justice of Alabama.” Moore was re-elected to serve as chief justice in 2012.
As previously reported, Trump had mentioned both Sykes and Pryor in February as potential nominees following the sudden death of Antonin Scalia.
“We could have a Diane Sykes or a Bill Pryor,” he said. “We have some fantastic people.”
Some have noted that Trump’s selection of Willett is also interesting as Willett has repeatedly criticized and mocked Trump on Twitter.
“Can’t wait till Trump rips off his face Mission Impossible-style & reveals a laughing Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” he wrote in August of last year.
Labels: Abortion, Christian Persecution, Politics, Supreme Court
GAY ERIC FANNING: U.S. SENATE UNANIMOUSLY CONFIRMS NATION'S FIRST OPENLY HOMOSEXUAL ARMY SECRETARY
FANNING WITH DANIEL NUGENT
AT THE GAY & LESBIAN VICTORY FUND
FROM WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Fanning
"He is the highest ranking openly gay member of the Department of Defense. He was a member of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund from 2004 to 2007. He favors the adoption by the U.S. military of a policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. He has said: "I personally like to see these things in writing and codified." He has expressed a preference for the establishment of such a policy by the Department of Defense rather than the Obama administration: "My view about government is you should always use those resources that are available to you first before you move up to the next level, so I think there are a number of things we can do inside this building for the Department of Defense". He supports allowing openly transgender persons to serve in the military as well."
ERIC FANNING, SECOND FROM RIGHT IN FRONT OF WHITE HOUSE
LIT UP WITH GAY COLORS BY OBAMA
U.S. SENATE UNANIMOUSLY CONFIRMS NATION'S FIRST OPENLY HOMOSEXUAL
ARMY SECRETARY
SEE: http://christiannews.net/2016/05/18/u-s-senate-unanimously-confirms-nations-first-openly-homosexual-army-secretary/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate has confirmed the nomination of Eric Fanning to serve as Army secretary—a move that homosexual groups note make him the nation’s first openly homosexual secretary of the Army.
“I’m honored by today’s Senate confirmation and thrilled to return to lead the total Army team,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Fanning had previously served as special assistant to Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work. He also served as the undersecretary of the Air Force from 2013 to 2015, and for a time was the acting secretary of the Air Force.
Barack Obama had nominated Fanning for the post last September, but Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts placed a hold on the matter out of concern over whether the Obama administration would move detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Ft. Leavenworth.
As he reportedly received assurances last week that the move would not occur as there was not time left to do so, a vote on Fanning moved forward.
“I believe that because of last week, in a private meeting with Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, I received the assurances I needed to hear to release my hold on Mr. Fanning,” Roberts told the Senate on Tuesday.
“I look forward to voting for Mr. Fanning, who has always had my support for this position,” he stated. “My hold was never about his courage, character or capability, but rather about our nation’s security if the detainees were moved to Ft. Leavenworth.”
The vote to confirm Fanning was unanimous, with some noting his homosexuality in praising the confirmation, such as Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who Tweeted that the approval was “an historic moment for #LGBT service members.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, also Tweeted, “Congratulations to Eric Fanning on historic appointment as the first openly gay @SECARMY.”
Homosexual advocacy groups applauded the confirmation in focusing on Fanning’s sexuality, with Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin remarking in a statement, “Eric Fanning’s historic confirmation today as Secretary of the U.S. Army is a demonstration of the continued progress towards fairness and equality in our nation’s armed forces.”
As previously reported, homosexuality was outlawed in early America as a number of states passed sodomy laws under their criminal statutes, banning sexual activity between those of the same gender due to biblical prohibitions against it.
“By 1791, when the original 13 states ratified the Bill of Rights, they all treated sodomy as a criminal offense,” chronicles on the matter state.
In 1778, General George Washington ordered Lieutenant Frederick Gotthold Enslin to be drummed out of the camp for “attempting to commit sodomy” with a male soldier.
His March 14th proclamation stated, “His Excellency, the Commander in Chief, approves the sentence, and with abhorrence and detestation of such infamous crimes, orders Lieut. Enslin to be drummed out of camp tomorrow morning by all the drummers and fifers in the Army never to return; the drummers and fifers to attend on the Grand Parade at guard mounting for that purpose.”
Eric Fanning: First Openly Gay
U.S. Military Leader Sworn In
Barack Hussein Obama Accelerates His ’Emasculation Jihad’ On The U.S. Military
Barack Obama has nominated an openly sodomite man to be Secretary of the Army.
SEE: http://freedomoutpost.com/barack-hussein-obama-accelerates-his-emasculation-jihad-on-the-u-s-military/
Labels: Gay Agenda, Military, Obama
OBAMA APPOINTS MAN WHO IDENTIFIES AS WOMAN TO FAITH BASED NEIGHBORHOOD PARTNERSHIPS COUNCIL
MR. OR MS."BARBARA SATIN"
SEE: http://christiannews.net/2016/05/17/obama-appoints-man-who-identifies-as-woman-to-faith-based-neighborhood-partnerships-council/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama has appointed a man who identifies as a woman to serve on his Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships.
The man, who goes by the name Barbara Satin, is a veteran of the United States Air Force and formerly served on the United Church of Christ’s executive council. He was behind the denomination’s decision to affirm transgendered persons in the ministry.
Satin was raised by his mother after his father died just over a year after Satin was born. He went on to marry a woman and the two had three children together.
“At age 54, Barbara took early retirement and then began to explore more fully her transgender identity,” Satin’s biography outlines. “With the support of her children and a knowledgeable therapist, Barbara came to understand that her transgender identity was how God had made her and rather than being a curse it could be a blessing in her life.”
“As a way to more fully explore her identity, she moved out of the family home to live full-time as Barbara,” it says.
He left his Roman Catholic upbringing for the United Church of Christ since Roman Catholicism does not affirm the transgender lifestyle.
Satin is now involved with a number of homosexual and transgender advocacy groups, and was invited to the White House earlier this year to speak to the Obama administration about housing issues for seniors who identify as homosexual or transgender. Currently, Satin serves as the Assistant Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force.
On Thursday, Obama announced his intent to nominate 11 individuals to various administrative posts. Satin was included in the list as a member of the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
“Given the current political climate, I believe it’s important that a voice of faith representing the transgender and gender non-conforming community—as well as a person of my years, nearly 82—be present and heard in these vital conversations,” Satin said in a statement released by the United Church of Christ.
Included in the nominations for the council were Naseem Kourosh, the human rights officer at the U.S. Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs, and Manjit Singh, the co-founder and chairman of the board of directors of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Thomas Reese, S.J., a senior analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, and Dr. John Ruskay, the executive vice president-emeritus of the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, were both appointed to serve on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
“These fine public servants bring a depth of experience and tremendous dedication to their important roles. I look forward to working with them,” Obama said in a statement.
However, not all those who have struggled with gender identity believe that it is right to support and affirm a person’s desire to live as those of the opposite sex.
As previously reported, Walt Heyer, a 75-year-old man who obtained a sex change operation in the 1980’s to live as a woman for eight years before reverting back to his biological gender, now leads a ministry in which he shares his story with the world of how Christ redeemed his life and gave him hope.
“Nobody’s ever born a transgender,” he told the Daily Mail last January. “They’re manufactured as a result of something, a developmental childhood issue that has yet to be determined for many people.”
“All of them have some level of depression, and we’re not treating them,” Heyer lamented. “We’re just cutting off body parts and giving them a new name and a new gender.”
“God designed man; He designed women,” he also said in a video recorded last year. “God will redeem the lives of people who struggle with gender identity issues just like I did. He redeemed my life, and I’ve been free from it as a result of that.”
Obama Appoints Mentally Sick Transgender Man to Lead Presidential Council
Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro Sobarkah has appointed a member of the United Church of Christ's Executive Council and a transgender leader in the denomination to server on his Faith-based Neighborhood Partnerships.
BY TIM BROWN
SEE: http://freedomoutpost.com/obama-appoints-mentally-sick-transgender-man-to-lead-presidential-council/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God. –Deuteronomy 22:5
Seventy-nine-year-old Barbara Satin (I have no idea what his real name is) is currently serving as Assistant Faith Work Director for The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and celebrating the opening of Spirit on Lake, a new, 46 unit affordable rental project for LGBT seniors in Minneapolis in which she has been a major participant.
The main problem is that Satin is a man who dresses like a woman, which is an abomination before the Creator, you know, the One who gives right to men, but not the right to commit abominations?
The White House appointed Satin, along with ten other individuals on May 12, to the advisory council.
"These fine public servants bring a depth of experience and tremendous dedication to their important roles," said Obama. "I look forward to working with them."
"Given the current political climate, I believe it's important that a voice of faith representing the transgender and gender non-conforming community—as well as a person of my years, nearly 82—be present and heard in these vital conversations," said Satin.
And America tolerates this depravity! Satin needs repentance, not an advisory position, but I don't blame Barack Obama for that. Instead, I blame the United Church of Christ for its lack of loving discipline towards Barbara. They have allowed this person to wander into sin without any loving restraints to call him to repentance and allow him to stay in good standing in the body of Christ rather than a stern and sharp rebuke of his sin towards the Creator.
Labels: Gay Agenda, Obama
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH LGBT APOSTASY
The Doctrine of LGBTQ-ee-ii-ee-ii-oo and The United Methodist Church
BY BUD AHLHEIM
SEE: http://pulpitandpen.org/2016/05/16/the-doctrine-of-lgbtq-ee-ii-ee-ii-oo-and-the-united-methodist-church/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
It’s happening already, as you know. The orthodox church, while being bombarded with anti-biblical efforts of enemy-inspired ecumenism, will continue to be challenged to succumb to cultural pressures in the name of love, tolerance, and co-existence.
In a post-modern world where relativism is the rule, where spiritualism and emotionalism are the mechanisms for a mystical relationship with the divine, and where absolute truth can, under no circumstances, be asserted, the church will be ground zero for sin-embracing hordes following the idol of tolerance. But we know that idol’s name.
Before even the dust is settled from the evil conquest of the American government’s wrongful redefinition of marriage, now closely followed by this “let me use the potty I choose” nonsense, the church remains the desired target. Don’t fail to recognize that.
States have been given the marching orders of government-dictated marriage tolerance. Schools have been given directives about how to let a 2nd-grade little boy who self-identifies as a little girl use the bathroom of choice. Churches are next, of course, because they are the ultimate goal of the enemy. He can’t challenge God’s Word in a godless culture. That’s got to happen in pews and pulpits.
For the authentic believer, for those in the true church, what’s going on in the world should not be a surprise. How can unbelievers be expected to do anything other than follow the desires of their fallen flesh? It should not go unnoticed that, when the Apostle Paul gives his list of provocations for “the wrath of God being revealed from heaven” in Romans 1, sexual immorality secures the preeminent position.
“Women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature,” and “men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another.” God “gave them up” which is His divine judgment on sin, particularly on the sin that directly challenges the fundamental institution of marriage that the Lord established long before governments came on the scene.
Far from seemingly simplistic ecclesiastic debates over women as deacons, or women as pastors, the epic battle over the LGBTQ agenda within the church is coming to the forefront. It’s one thing that the government might just seek to administer bathroom rules for your local church, but it’s quite another when churches discover the enemy working from within. And the enemy’s looking for more than mere restroom rights. He’s looking for an unfettered embrace. He’s looking for an Eve to answer again as the first one did to his question “Hath God said.”
But that’s what’s happening and is going to happen with more and more frequency, and with greater ferocity. Frankly, you can’t preach a man-centered, “its-all-about-you” gospel, offer eternal absolution on the basis of a prayer repeated or an aisle walked, and not, eventually, realize your church is stuffed to the stained-glass windows with false converts. False converts, by the way, still follow the desires of the flesh, including homosexual and transgender desires.
Consider the mission of the Reconciling Ministries Network. Their mission statement reads “Reconciling Ministries Network mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.”
Well, that sounds all kum-ba-yah-esque, doesn’t it? If you recall that little verse, “for the wages of sin is death,” you realize that when God gives folks up to their sin, it’s a death sentence of divine judgment. However, when a “ministry” bases its mission on sin, it’s evidence of a serpent in the sanctuary. It’s proof that we’re not in Eden anymore.
According to an article in Christian News, “Over 100 United Methodist clergy came out as homosexual or transgender this week in a letter publicly addressed to the denomination in an effort to draw attention to the issue ahead of the General Conference and to seek acceptance despite policies that prohibit practicing homosexuals from serving in the ministry.” The letter cited was issued by Reconciling Ministries Network which seeks nothing less than a redefinition of doctrine so that they may be reconciled, accepted, and tolerated with the church – not with God. I guess they believe He’s already adjusted His Word to accommodate their sin.
The article further states that “over 500 homosexual and transgender clergy spanning various denominations signed a separate letter expressing support for the United Methodist leaders who came out in their correspondence.” (When it comes to sin, there is no “power in numbers,” because, after all, it’s a wide path that leads to destruction. Oh yeah, and God is sovereign.)
Despite the enemy-induced, culturally-supported, and potentially soon-to-be government directed doctrine of tolerance, (You can just see it coming, can’t you?) the United Methodist Church Book of Discipline rightly states that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching,” and that “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” may not be ordained into the clergy within the denomination.
So far, the UMC seems to be sticking with their correct Biblical convictions. John Lemperis, the Director of the United Methodist Action Program of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, says, “Even liberal Biblical scholars now agree that the Old and New Testaments are very clear in their moral disapproval of homosexual practice.” “If Jesus is truly Lord,” Lemperis says, “then no area of our lives can be off-limits to Him.”
Lemperis is right, of course, but the enemy cares nothing for the nobility of Scriptural convictions. We can see something of his modus operandi by how the issue for the UMC isn’t being dictated by an over-reaching government. It’s being driven by an enemy in their midst.
These times, though, are nothing new. Just as Paul wrote in the first century, when rampant sexual immorality brought forth the wrathful judgment of our righteous God, so too in our times ought the church’s response be as Paul commanded then. “Purge the evil person from among you.” 1 Corinthians 5:13
If the government continues its overreaching tendencies into realms over which it has no authority, true believers ought not fret. We have a sovereign God and a King of Kings who still managed to build His church despite the terrorizing, hateful, and persecuting world around it. In fact, as ecclesiastic history shows, it seems He relished building it with a vigor when it seemed most unlikely to blossom. Persecution became a divine catalyst. But, then, that’s the power of the Gospel.
To be loving is to share the Gospel with these lost souls. When souls are truly saved by God through that Gospel, they too will discover how incredibly, and eternally, wonderful it is to belong to a God who is so righteously divisive, so inflexibly intolerant, … and so truly loving.
Labels: Apostasy, Gay Agenda
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Tag Archives: Borussia Dortmund
Who is Cheikhou Kouyate and can he solve Arsenal’s defensive problems?
Cheikhou Kouyate has recently been linked with a move to the Premier League and in particular Arsenal but who is he?
Can Kouyate solve Arsenal’s problems?
The Senegalese defender is currently playing in Belgium for Anderlecht and has been in impressive form and with him only be 23 will have a lot of time to develop and get better. He can also play in the holding midfielder role so his distribution is very good and not only does he stop attacks but he also starts them from the back, which means that he would certainly fit into Arsene Wenger’s style of play. Kouyate has nearly played 100 league games for Anderlecht and also has five international caps to his name and played at the London Olympics for his country in 2012.
Kouyate has already announced that he will be leaving the Belgian side in the summer and with Anzhi Makhachkala and Borussia Dortmund also said to be keen on the player, Arsenal may have to move quickly if they are to sign him. Arsenal have expressed their interest in the player a few times but that has never came to anything, however this time could be different and it seems a lot more likely that a transfer will come off.
But what does this mean for Arsenal’s other centre backs? At the minute they only really have three centre backs anyway, so it doesn’t mean that somebody has to leave. Sebastien Squillaci is still at the club but he really shouldn’t be and has been an awful signing and I fully expect him to leave this summer. On to the other three and in my opinion there isn’t much between them at all and that is because they are all as inconsistent as each other.
Firstly, Thomas Vermaelen has got quite a lot of praise for his time at Arsenal but for me he hasn’t been that great and at times looked more interested in adding to his goal tally than actually defending his own goal. He can be very good at times and got away with some poor performances in his first season because he did score eight goals but now they have dried up, fans have been more critical. In his defence though he did miss almost a full season through injury so I am possibly being a bit harsh.
Per Mertesacker is another defender that came to Arsenal with a good reputation but on the whole has been too slow and cost his team on several occasions. It is surprising that he has struggled at times because he is a German international and has a lot of caps to his name but put him in a one on one situation with basically any Premier League striker and he is struggling.
Finally, Laurent Koscielny is possibly the most frustrating to me because he looks very good for spells and then he will just have an awful game and seems to lack the required concentration to be a first choice centre back in the Premier League. All the defenders have good qualities and maybe if they weren’t in a team competing in the Champions League and expected to win trophies they would be seen as brilliant players. But to put it simply, Arsenal score enough goals to win trophies they just simply cannot defend and a lot of this is because of how poor they are in the centre of their defence.
Posted in Football, Soccer, Sport, Sports, Uncategorized | Tagged Anderlecht, Anzhi Makhachkala, Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Belgium, Borussia Dortmund, Cheikhou Kouyate, goal tally, international caps, Laurent Koscielny, London Olympics, Per Mertesacker, Sebastien Squillaci, Senegal, Thomas Vermaelen | Leave a reply
How will the English teams perform in the Champions League group stages?
The Champions League group stage has been drawn and even though English teams are usually very good at qualifying through their group it may not be as easy this team.
No doubt, Manchester City have the hardest group with Spanish giants Real Madrid, Ajax and Borussia Dortmund. Madrid may pose the biggest threat with Jose Mourinho as their manager and he will be desperate to win the trophy again. Cristiano Ronaldo is obviously one of their biggest threats but they have quality all through their side and if City want to prove they are one of the best teams in Europe they will have to top the group and show up the former Chelsea manager. But, City may not even get in the top two because Ajax have a lot of quality themselves with players like Christian Eriksen in their side and you cannot discount Dortmund as they should never have been in the bottom pot anyway and have won the German league twice in a row.
Now, neighbours Manchester United have a much easier task as they should top the group if they play to their potential and I can’t see Braga, Galatasaray or Cluj topping this group. The current Galatasaray squad contains a few former Premier League players in Milan Baros, Emmanuel Eboue and Johan Elmander so they will want to show their quality and show everyone they are good enough against English opposition. Braga are an interesting side but unfortunately for them they can never seem to take that extra step and compete right at the very top and are seen as the customary third place team in Portugal. Cluj will probably be the whipping boys of the group however it is worth noting that they have beaten Roma and drawn with Chelsea in the past so they may be dark horses.
Arsenal will face Schalke, Olympiakos and Montpellier in their group matches and they will also be hoping that they don’t have too many problems. Arsenal new boy Olivier Giroud will travel to the club he signed from a lot sooner than he probably expected and the French champions will want to show Giroud that he was wrong for leaving and should have stayed but I can’t see them posing too much of a threat. What separates Schalke from the rest in this group is they have a goal scorer that is feared all over Europe and can score all different types of goals and that man is Klaas Jan Huntelaar, he will try and show Arsene Wenger that maybe he should have tried to sign him instead of Lukas Podolski and Giroud. Olympiakos will always cause problems at home for any team so they will be relying on that and goalkeeper Roy Carroll may have a lot of work to do in the group stages.
Finally, reigning champions Chelsea will be hoping to start their campaign comfortably and they will surely progress but may not get things their own way with Shaktar Donetsk, Juventus and Nordsjaelland in their group. The standout team is Juventus but they are not the team they once were even though they were very impressive in Serie A last season. But, if Chelsea can stop Andrea Pirlo pulling the strings in midfield they will have a great chance of winning the group. Shaktar are also a decent side and have won the Ukrainian title for the last two seasons so they may put more of an effort into trying to topple some of the bigger teams in Europe this year and it is always difficult to play away in Eastern Europe so that could be difficult for Chelsea. Nordsjaelland are the current Danish champions but not a lot is known about them so everyone is expecting them to lose all of their games but this could work in their advantage and they could pull off a few shocks
Posted in Football, Soccer, Sport, Sports, Uncategorized | Tagged Ajax, Andrea Pirlo, Arsene Wenger, Borussia Dortmund, Braga, Champions League, champions league group, Christian Eriksen, Cluj, Cristiano Ronaldo, dark horses, Eastern Europe, Emmanuel Eboue, English, Europe, Galatasaray, german league, Johan Elmander, Jose Mourinho, Juventus, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Lukas Podolski, Manchester City, Milan Baros, Montpellier, Nordsjaelland, Olivier Giroud, Olympiakos, Portugal, Real Madrid, Roma, Roy Carroll, Schalke, Shaktar Donetsk, Ukraine, whipping boys | 1 Reply
Who will Dimitar Berbatov play for next season?
Dimitar Berbatov’s time at Manchester United looks like it is coming to an end this summer with him not featuring as much as he would like in the season just gone.
Berbatov has also scored 48 goals in 77 appearances
But is his time in England coming to an end? He has a really good record in England and has performed quite well for both Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. When he signed for Spurs he was well known in Germany after scoring 91 goals in 201 appearances at Bayer Leverkusen and after his first season in England he was one of the most feared strikers in the country. He scored 23 goals in both his seasons at Tottenham and formed a very good partnership with Robbie Keane. He was often criticised by fans because he was seen as lazy and not very interested but his quality was never in doubt and he showed amazing composure at times and deserved his move to a team challenging for the title in my opinion.
At Manchester United, he won two Premier League titles and even finished up as the league’s top scorer in the 2010-11 season after hitting 20 goals in 32 games. Apart from that season though he didn’t quite hit the heights and only got 56 goals in all competitions for the club. However last season it was really surprising that he wasn’t used more as he got 7 goals in 12 Premier League games, when they needed a goal in a game I don’t understand why he wasn’t given more of a chance.
It is more than likely that he will leave England and go back abroad but if he doesn’t, who would have him in the Premier League? The first team that may be interested in his services could be Liverpool as they have struggled to put away their chances these years, and he would surely add more than what Andy Carroll has. A problem could be whether Sir Alex Ferguson will sell a player to Liverpool, he basically refused to sell Gabriel Heinze to them a few years ago. Another problem could be whether the new manager would want him and also how he would get him to play alongside Luis Suarez as they are both quite similar and like to drop deep.
Newcastle United could also be interested in Berbatov and I think he would be interested in joining the Magpies as his idol was Alan Shearer and he used to sleep in a Toon shirt so I’m sure he would like to play for them at some point. They are in Europe and they may have to replace Demba Ba this summer if he leaves as all the rumours are saying. The price tag could put the club off and the fact that he is getting towards the end of his career will put Alan Pardew off. I think it would be a good signing but not likely to happen.
A return to Tottenham could be on the cards as they will be in need of a striker as they may not be able to keep hold of Emmanuel Adebayor. I don’t think his wages would be as high as the Manchester City striker either so he could be a very good option but I’m not sure he would fit into their style of play anymore as they like their main striker to be a bit more of target man.
Berbatov can still do a good job in the Premier League but he will probably go abroad to a team like PSG or even be included in a swap deal for a Borussia Dortmund as Manchester United have been linked with a few of their players like Shinji Kagawa and Robert Lewandowski so that could be very good deal for both clubs.
Posted in Football, Soccer, Sport, Sports, Uncategorized | Tagged Alan Pardew, andy carroll, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Demba Ba, Dimitar Berbatov, Emmanuel Adebayor, England, Gabriel Heinze, Germany, Liverpool, Luis Suarez, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Premier League, premier league games, PSG, Robbie Keane, Robert Lewnadowski, Shinji Kagawa, Sir Alex Ferguson, Tottenham Hotspur | Leave a reply
Who will be the next Liverpool manager?
Kenny Dalglish has left Liverpool and now the club are clearly trying to get the right man as they have reportedly talked to a number of managers.
8th place is not good enough for a team like Liverpool
With Brendan Rodgers the latest to have been linked with the role at Anfield, but he has declined to talk to the club as he feels it may be too early. This may be a good thing for both parties as Rodgers has only had one season in the Premier League and we do not yet know how Swansea will cope next season. Even though Liverpool is a massive club, they do need to re-evaluate where they are right now and make sure they are looking at the right sorts of candidates. A lot of fans have thrown around names like Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp who realistically wouldn’t be interested in the job as they were both managing Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund who unfortunately right now are a lot better than Liverpool.
So who is it going to be? Roberto Martinez is clearly the favourite at the moment and it is easy to see why. He has done a terrific job at Wigan Athletic and to keep them up playing the way they do is a real achievement, they were in trouble this year and were written off by a lot of people but he changed the tactics and formation and it worked superbly. People may argue he has only managed small clubs but he is working his way up the ladder and people questioned him when he left Swansea City for Wigan and said his style of football would get them relegated but he proved them wrong and in my opinion with better players at Liverpool, he will prove the doubters wrong again.
The question for Liverpool is, do they want some that is going into the job with confidence (Martinez) or do they want someone that is wanting to come in a prove a few people wrong? The man that could do this is Andre Villas-Boas. He was sacked by Chelsea only a few months ago but in my opinion was trying to do the right thing and clear out the older players, for the new. It is hard to argue that Chelsea’s best two players this season have been Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge who he brought into the starting 11 at the beginning of the season. He wouldn’t have as much of a problem with player power at Liverpool and could be a good fit. If he is given the time, he can build something at Liverpool and in a few years I could see them challenging for the title again if he is backed in the transfer market.
A third option for Liverpool could be giving an old manager a second chance at the club. Rafa Benitez is still available after leaving Inter Milan and he delivered the club the Champions League and almost a Premier League title so the fans love him and he still loves the club which is clear to see whenever he talks about it in interviews. Would it be a backwards step? No in my opinion, he has enough knowledge and quality to get Liverpool back into the European places and will already know a lot of the players and they in turn will also know what he wants them to do in training and in matches. But the owners may be put off by the fact they have tried this once with Kenny Dalglish.
Personally, I think if the new manager is going to be given a few years to build a squad, the best option would be AVB just simply because he deserves another chance in the Premier League and I’m sure he will be a success. Plus, he is a young manager and could even be in charge for the next 10 years if it is going well. Liverpool need someone to take them back to where they belong but it won’t be easy and it will be a long process.
Posted in Football, Soccer, Sport, Sports, Uncategorized | Tagged Andre Villas Boas, Anfield, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Brendan Rodgers, Champions League, Chelsea, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Sturridge, inter milan, Juan Mata, Jurgen Klopp, kenny dalglish, Liverpool, massive club, Pep Guardiola, Premier League, Rafa Benitez, right man, Roberto Martinez, small clubs, Swansea City, terrific job, Wigan Athletic | Leave a reply
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Tag Archives: Champions League
92 clubs favourite players – Manchester City – Sergio Aguero
Posted on November 6, 2013 by patto1992
Manchester City have a fantastic squad and will be hoping that under Manuel Pellegrini they can compete both in the Premier League and in Europe.
At home so far this season they have been very impressive on the whole but their away form has been suspect and if they are to be successful they will need to improve. All throughout the squad they have quality and it is difficult to choose my favourite player. Their captain Vincent Kompany is one of their most important players and could easily have been the one I chose and they have a number of midfielders that I love watching like Yaya Toure and David Silva but the player I like the most is Sergio Aguero.
Aguero is arguably the best and most in form out and out striker in the world right now and will always have a place in City’s fans hearts after scoring that dramatic winner against QPR in the last minute to win the title. This is probably the best moment ever in the Premier League and it could not have fallen to a better player. Jumping to this season he has already scored 13 goals in 13 games including five in four Champions League games to help lead his team into the knockout rounds of the competition which they have been desperate to achieve for years now.
When new players come into the Premier League there is always the argument that they need time to settle but not Aguero he has hit the ground running and has been pretty consistent and is a menace to opposition defences in every single game. To me he is undroppable, if Pellegrini has any sense he will put Aguero’s name first on the team sheet. This is harsh on his fellow strikers but will Edin Dzeko or Alvaro Negredo be able to score as consistently? I really like both of them but they are not in the same class as the Argentinean. You cannot argue with 43 goals in 73 league games.
What makes Aguero even more special in my opinion is that he always turns up for the big games and this is what separates him from most other players in the world, especially those that score a lot of goals because they get a lot of their goals against the ‘lesser’ teams in the league. Just look at his record against teams that are competing directly with City. While in Spain against Barcelona he scored six goals in 11 games. Against Chelsea five goals in nine games and Manchester United five goals in six games.
Looking at his international career he has scored 19 goals in 44 games which is not bad at all and he will be hoping that at the next World Cup in Brazil he, along with Lionel Messi can get the goals to win the trophy. Aguero is only 25 and will get better and better and is closing in on 200 career goals and if he stays at City he will definitely get to 100 Premier League goals in the next few seasons.
Posted in Football, Uncategorized | Tagged Alvaro Negredo, Argentina, Barcelona, Brazil, Champions League, Chelsea, David Silva, Edin Dzeko, Europe, Lionel Messi, Manchester City, Manchester United, Manuel Pellegrini, Premier League, QPR, Sergio Aguero, Spain, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure | Leave a reply
92 clubs favourite players – Liverpool – Jose Enrique
Liverpool have had a great start to the season and they will be hoping this is the year that they begin to challenge for a place in the Champions League.
They have one of the best strikeforces ever seen in the Premier League with both Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge playing some brilliant stuff and looking like a better partnership every time they play together. Add this to some exciting midfielders like Coutinho and Victor Moses they really do look like they will score goals in every game. They still have the main man in midfield Steven Gerrard who has had to change his game in recent seasons and I think he will be even more determined to do well after recent comments made by Sir Alex Ferguson.
But my favourite player for Liverpool is someone that I feel has been largely underrated and that is their left back Jose Enrique. For me he is one of the best left backs in Europe and a lot of people are saying that Leighton Baines, Patrice Evra and Ashley Cole are better than him. In my opinion this is very harsh as I believe on his day (which is most games) he is better than all of them, none of them are as strong as him and he very rarely makes a mistake or is caught out of position. Going forward Baines does have a better final ball but sometimes his gung ho tactics leave his team in danger. As well as Baines played for England it was not a surprise that with him in the team they were getting caught on the counter attack quite a lot.
Back to Enrique and I think he gained a lot of praise from a lot of football people because he could have left Newcastle United when they were relegated and went back abroad but he held his hands up and realised he wasn’t good enough and helped them get back into the Premier League. This is what made him a better player and has given him the opportunity to play for a club that will be challenging at the right end of the table and for Liverpool he has rarely put in a bad performance. Out of all the Kenny Dalglish signings he was by far the best and one that they paid a good price for and he lived up to it. But it is under Brendan Rodgers that he has improved even further sometimes playing as a left back and other times as a left wing back he was contributed eight assists in 43 games which isn’t a bad record at all.
It a shame that he has never even been given the opportunity to play at international level for Spain especially when you consider that before Jordi Alba came on the scene it was one of the few weak spots the team had. Unfortunately I do not think he will get the chance but I do not understand that at all. He has proven himself as a brilliant left back in England and could have been their number three for many years to come.
Posted in Football | Tagged Ashley Cole, Champions League, Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge, England, Jordi Alba, Jose Enrique, kenny dalglish, left back, Left wing back, Leighton Baines, Liverpool, Luis Suarez, Newcastle United, Patrice Evra, Premier League, Sir Alex Ferguson, Spain, Steven Gerrard, Victor Moses | Leave a reply
Who will win the Championship?
The Championship is always one of the most exciting leagues in the world and is always one of the hardest to predict.
The relegated teams have a good chance of going straight back if they can keep hold of their best players and as we have seen in previous seasons sometimes the teams that get promoted into the league carry on their momentum and get a second promotion on the bounce.
The favourites to win the league are Harry Redknapp’s QPR and he does have experience of leading a team to the Premier League in Portsmouth so does know what it is all about and will surely get more out of his team than he did last year. The signings he has made so far have been very good and they will definitely be committed to the cause. Richard Dunne and Danny Simpson are both good enough defenders to still be in the Premier League. Karl Henry will add steel to the midfield and Charlie Austin is a proven goal scorer at this level.
Reading only had one season in the Premier League but they have got rid of quite a few of the players that helped them to promotion the last time but they have brought in some good players themselves that have Champions League experience in the shape of Wayne Bridge and Royston Drenthe. Nigel Adkins is a good manager and I feel that he will get the team playing decent football and will be right near the top of the table come the end of the season.
Bolton Wanderers will be hoping for a better year than last year and will hope that Dougie Freedman can do what he started at Crystal Palace in the early part of the season. He has made some strange choices in my opinion letting Marvin Sordell got out on loan when he has proved his ability in the Championship before. But in his defence he has replaced him with Jermaine Beckford who will be looking to prove some of his doubters wrong. Alex Baptiste, Marc Tierney and Andre Moritz are also solid signings.
Whether you agree with what they did last season you have to give Gianfranco Zola and Watford credit for getting the team together and playing as well as they did straight away. It looks like it is a similar story this year but using a slightly different loophole to bring in the players that they want from their owners ‘parent’ clubs. But the most exciting signing they have made in my opinion is Lewis McGugan because he has a decent goalscoring record and will be hoping that he can add something to the already talented team.
The team that I personally think will win the league are Wigan Athletic. The signings new manager Owen Coyle has made are already really consistent players, they may not grab the headlines but they do everything that is asked of them. James Perch, Stephen Crainey and Chris McCann all fall into this category. Then they have brought in more attacking players that will definitely get goals in Grant Holt and Marc Antoine Fortune. Also Scott Carson will be a brilliant goalkeeper and could get the most clean sheets. The only worry I have is if their campaign in Europe takes too much out of them.
Posted in Football | Tagged Alex Baptiste, Andre Moritz, bolton wanderers, Champions League, Championship, Charlie Austin, Chris McCann, Crystal Palace, Danny Simpson, Dougie Freedman, Gianfranco Zola, goal scorer, Grant Holt, Harry Redknapp, James Perch, Jermaine Beckford, Karl Henry, leading a team, league experience, Lewsi McGugan, Marc Antoine Fortune, Marc Tierney, Marvin Sordell, Nigel Adkins, Owen Coyle, Premier League, QPR, Reading, Richard Dunne, Royston Drenthe, Scott Carson, Stephen Crainey, Watford, Wayne Bridge, Wigan Athletic, zola | Leave a reply
Who will be Manchester City’s next manager?
Manchester City are looking for a new manager after they decided Roberto Mancini had not done a good enough all round job.
In their statement they seemed happy with the work the Italian did on the pitch but his work off it was not up to standard. Mancini did not have the greatest relationship with the board or his players and this has ended up working against him. But, I think he still did a good job and even if the players didn’t like him they still performed to a high level. The question now then is, would they have played even better if they had a different manager? The City board obviously feel that they will and with no trophies this season it was time to go. I really hope this isn’t the start of things to come at the club because I thought they understood football a bit more than other foreign owners and won’t just keep sacking managers every time they have a poor season. Mancini is a good manager but even at Inter Milan he never really came close to winning the Champions League so he was always going to get sacked sooner rather than later at Man City if this didn’t change.
But who will get the job next? The clear favourite is current Malaga manager Manuel Pellegrini. Make no mistake about it Pellegrini is a fantastic manager but he is also one of the most unlucky managers in world football. If you look down his honours as a manager there isn’t a lot to see but when you actually look at the statistics it makes you realise how brilliant he is. In his one season at Real Madrid they finished with 96 points, scoring over 100 goals and somehow still failed to clinch the title. It seems like he is going to get the job and he will yet again be a success but will he get the luck at Man City?
Jose Mourinho is also being linked with the job and this seems very unlikely at the moment with everyone expecting him to join Chelsea in the summer. But if Man City really want the ‘Special One’ then I think they could convince him to join them because they have a lot of money and the board seem a little less controlling than Roman Abramovich at Chelsea so that may just sway his decision. Very unlikely at this stage though.
The next option is someone that I feel has been harshly criticised this season and that man is Rafael Benitez. In my opinion he has done very well at Chelsea and could leave the club with a European trophy and a third place finish. I understand with the team he has they should possibly be closer to the title but with a 56% win record in the Premier League he has proven that if he is given a full season then they will be right in the mix come the end of the season. He came close to winning the title with Liverpool and now with Alex Ferguson leaving Manchester United the title race will be wide open and his experience of being at the very top might just give him the advantage.
Posted in Football, Soccer, Sport, Sports, Uncategorized | Tagged Alex Ferguson, Champions League, Chelsea, good job, honours, inter milan, Italian, Jose Mourinho, Malaga, Man City, Manchester City, Manchester United, Manuel Pellegrini, Premier League, Rafael Benitez, Real Madrid, Roberto Mancini, Roman Abramovich, world football | 1 Reply
Who will be the next Reading manager?
Reading are looking for a new manager to try and keep them in the Premier League after Brian McDermott left the club.
Four successive defeats have left the club bottom of the table and four points away from safety and it would seem that they need to go in a different direction to make sure they do stay in the Premier League but personally I feel McDermott should have stayed in charge for the rest of the season. After leading the club to promotion last season they were expected to struggle and the signings they made did not give me any confidence that they were going to survive this season but they are still in there battling away and a lot of credit does have to go to the manager for that. Recent losses to Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa both at home must have been hard to take and obviously the board felt that these results were simply not good enough. In his 169 matches in charge of Reading he won 76 games, giving him a 44.97% win rate. But they need to bring someone in that can have an immediate impact, so who will be given the chance to succeed?
The current favourite is Paolo Di Canio and I would love to see him managing in the Premier League but maybe not because of his managerial ability, more to do with the entertainment factor and unpredictability he will bring. But to be fair to him he did have a good record at Swindon Town and his crazy methods seemed to be working and he probably should not be unemployed right now. If they do go down then I think the Italian can do a good job in the Championship and at least give them the opportunity to bounce straight back.
Maybe a more realistic target and a more sensible one would be Nigel Adkins. He is another manager that should not be unemployed and it looked as though he was going to keep Southampton in the Premier League before being replaced. He does not have a lot of experience in the top division but yet again looking more long term he would do a very good job in the Championship. Would he take the job? I think he would be tempted to have another go at the Premier League even if it is only for a few more games.
Another early favourite is Roberto Di Matteo and if they could convince him to join the club then it would be a fantastic appointment. He is a Champions League winner and he, yet again, maybe should not have been sacked by his former club Chelsea. He does have experience in the Premier League and should get the respect of the Reading players straight away and if he can lift their spirits a little he may just do enough to keep them up. He also got promoted with West Brom so he may even stay if they go down. I think they need to look long term and not just try and bring someone in to keep them up and change again in the summer if they fail.
Others that are linked with the job are Dick Advocaat, Steve McClaren and Alan Curbishley
Posted in Football, Soccer, Sport, Sports, Uncategorized | Tagged Alan Curbishley, Brian McDermott, Champions League, Championship, Chelsea, Dick Advocaat, entertainment factor, good job, Italian, managerial ability, Nigel Adkins, Paolo Di Canio, Premier League, Reading, Roberto Di Matteo, Southampton, Steve McClaren, Swindon Town, target | Leave a reply
Assesment of English teams in Europe this week
The English teams in Europe this week all had tough tests and it ended up being a difficult time for some.
Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United all had games this week. To start with Manchester United were at home to Real Madrid and after getting a 1-1 draw in the away leg, they may have been slight favourites to go through and when they went 1-0 up at Old Trafford they seemed to have one foot in the next round. However, Nani was sent off and the game was taken away from the quickly with goals from Luka Modric and the returning Cristiano Ronaldo ending their hopes this season. The turning point was the red card and it was dangerous play but in my opinion it should have only been a yellow card and Man United should have been in the next round.
Should Nani have been sent off?
Now, the Europa League first legs were taking place and Chelsea were playing Steaua Bucuresti and Rafa Benitez wasn’t given any help from his opponents. His time at Chelsea has been pretty close to a disaster with a lot of people unhappy with him in charge and the players not exactly playing to the best of their ability. They lost 1-0 but should go through by winning comfortably at Stamford Bridge but it is going to be more difficult than Benitez would have hoped.
Will it ever turn round for Benitez at Chelsea?
Tottenham Hotspur had possibly the best looking tie on paper and one that could have went either way against Inter Milan. But they were too strong against the team from Italy and made them look very poor. 3-0 did not flatter them and they possibly should have had more. Gareth Bale added to his growing reputation by scoring the first and Gylfi Sigurdsson and Jan Vertonghen were the other two scorers. Spurs do need to be careful and not concede early in the away leg but I feel they have done enough to get into the next round.
Will Bale become one of the best in the world?
Finally, Newcastle United had the toughest tie in the Europa League but got through it and defensively performed brilliantly against Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala. They did not offer a lot going forward but could have nicked a result had Hatem Ben Arfa went for power instead of a chip. The two centre back James Perch and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa were fantastic and neither of them have been first choice in that position so far this year (with Yanga-Mbiwa only signing in January) and with Fabricio Coloccini injured at the moment they have both staked a claim for a starting place.
Newcastle’s new Mr Consistent
So who had the best result in Europe this week? Who was the best player for an English team?
Posted in Football, Soccer, Sport, Sports, Uncategorized | Tagged Anzhi Makhachkala, Champions League, Chelsea, chelsea tottenham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Europa League, Fabricio Coloccini, Garteh Bale, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Hatem Ben Arfa, inter milan, Italy, James Perch, Jan Vertonghen, Luka Modric, Manchester United, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Nani, Newcastle United, Old Trafford, Rafa Benitez, Rafael Benitez, Real Madrid, Steaua Bucuresti, Tottenham Hotspur | Leave a reply
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Tag Archives: Emirates
Game, Team and Player of Matchday 4
Posted on September 17, 2012 by patto1992
Yet another weekend has passed and the league is now starting to take shape with the likely frontrunners being Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City. The bottom of the table is also one many expect it to be come the end of the season with Southampton propping up the table and Reading only just above them. But with Liverpool, Sunderland and Norwich still not tasting victory they are not too far away from the other teams in the league. However, Liverpool showed signs of improvement at the weekend and will not be down there at the end of the season.
Now onto team of the weekend and I would just like to say that the game at Goodison Park between Everton and Newcastle United was definitely a tale of two halves. If Everton had played the way they did in the first half for the full game they would have won the game comfortably, but then again if Newcastle had played the way they did in the second half they could have come away with all three points. But football is a 90 minute game and a team that did perform for most of the 90 was definitely Aston Villa who have been steadily improving under new manager Paul Lambert. They picked up a great point away to Newcastle and followed that up with against previously unbeaten Swansea City. It will be a morale boosting win and exactly what the club needed as a whole because a defeat would have been hard to take especially when they played so well. Along with the good result, Paul Lambert will be pleased that two of his summer signings Matthew Lowton and Christian Benteke scored their first goals for the club. But, the clear and deserved winners are Arsenal. The only disappointing thing about their game is that they conceded a goal after a mistake by Wojciech Szczesny. However, their impressive front line made easy work of Southampton and they could have had more than the six they did score. The goals came from Lukas Podolski, Gervinho and Theo Walcott and two own goals. A lot of people wrote off Arsenal and I still don’t think they will challenge for the title but they should have a great chance of finally winning a trophy. A word of warning though to Arsenal fans getting carried away, every season there is a score line like this at the Emirates and the players haven’t been able to maintain this kind of form in the bigger games.
Player of the weekend is a battle between the players that scored twice for their clubs in my opinion and they are Demba Ba, Jermain Defoe and Dimitar Berbatov. So, let’s start with the Fulham striker because when he is happy, he plays sensational football and at home in particular he will be a threat to every team. The way he took his first goal was sublime and the way he placed it was so casual that you can just tell that he does that sort of thing every day and doesn’t think anything of it. It wasn’t just his goals that was impressive, it was his movement and he just has a knack of finding space near the opponents goal. His ability has never been in doubt but he showed the Fulham fans that if they play to his strengths he will score and create chances for his teammates. Jermain Defoe is playing in a position that he is slightly unfamiliar and that is as a lone striker. Usually, a lone striker is someone that can hold up play and bring others into play but this is almost the opposite of what Defoe wants to do. As soon as he gets the ball, there is only one thing on his mind and that is to get a strike in on goal. Reading had no answer to his movement and could only watch on as he expertly finished two of his chances in their game. My player of the weekend though is Demba Ba and I know he only played 45 minutes but when a single player can change the fortunes of a team in that short space of time, he deserves a lot of praise. Within a few minutes of coming on he had got Newcastle level and they looked a completely different team and then when it looked like his team were going home with nothing he reacted brilliantly to a superb knockdown from Shola Ameobi and placed a shot underneath Tim Howard.
I think it is pretty obvious which game impressed me the most and got me the most excited but still there were some entertaining games, in particular the Arsenal game and the Tottenham games. Arsenal created chances at will and scored goals for fun and Tottenham followed suit a day later but couldn’t quite get as many goals. Both of the newly promoted teams also scored past them so that may give them confidence for the future, but they should probably put these games behind them and move on. So, my game of the weekend, Everton versus Newcastle, this game had absolutely everything, goals that should have been given and ridiculous refereeing calls, as well as goals and missed chances. The most entertaining few moments of possibly the whole season occurred during this game, Victor Anichebe got a header in on goal which goalkeeper Steve Harper tipped onto the bar with Mike Williamson clearing it, however the ball was over the line, but the referee and his assistants missed it which led to a counter attack for Newcastle which saw Hatem Ben Arfa running with the ball against one defender with Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse breaking either side of him making it a three on one situation. However, they were stopped in their tracks when the referee called the game back for a free kick on Ben Arfa even though he had regained his balance and was looking to beat the defender. Two very bad decisions in the space of about 15 seconds. A draw was probably a fair result even though both will feel they could have grabbed all three points. Plus, Everton had a goal disallowed for offside even though Marouane Fellaini was onside so they may feel slightly more annoyed by the result.
Do you agree with me? Who stood out for your team this week?
Posted in Football, Soccer, Sport, Sports, Uncategorized | Tagged Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Christian Benteke, Demba Ba, Dimitar Berbatov, Emirates, Everton, Fulham, Gervinho, Goodison Park, Hatem Ben Arfa, Jermain efoe, Liverpool, lowton, Lukas Podolski, Manchester City, Manchester United, Marouane Fellaini, Matthew Lowton, Mike Williamson, minute game, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Papiss Cisse, Paul Lambert, Premier League, Reading, Shola Ameobi, Southampton, summer signings, Sunderland, Swansea City, szczesny, Theo Walcott, Tim Howard, Tottenham Hotspur, Victor Anichebe, Wojciech Szczesny | Leave a reply
Will David Villa leave Barcelona this summer?
David Villa came back from his horrific injury recently in a friendly for Barcelona and has vowed to become a better player but will he be given the chance to shine at the club once more?
Villa has scored 265 goals in 530 games
You would imagine that they will give him the opportunity to get back to his best but with them not winning La Liga or the Champions League last year they may not want to take the risk and bring in a striker that is 100% fit and in form which means that he may get shipped out, most likely on a permanent transfer with him being 30 now. In his two full seasons at Barcelona he has scored 32 goals with 23 coming in his first season so they may look at that and see he is was already on the decline anyway. He only managed to score five goals in 15 appearances in the league last season and is that really good enough for a team like Barcelona with all the chances that they create? To me David Villa is still one of the best strikers in the world as not many can match his movement and finishing ability and should be playing for the best team in the world but if they don’t want him where should he go?
Arsenal could be very keen on the striker especially if Robin Van Persie gets his move away from the Emirates and it could potentially be a swap deal between the two as they are a similar age but I think Arsenal would be getting the better of the deal if Villa can get back to his best and adjust to the Premier League. There are a lot of ifs there but I have no doubts he would be successful in England and would be vital to Arsenal’s challenge for the title.
Manchester City have also been linked with a move for Spain international with them seemingly missing out on Van Persie (this transfer is starting to get on my nerves now, the player needs to leave and Arsenal should accept an offer around £15 million). Roberto Mancini has been linked with quite a few strikers but to me none of them are at the same level as Villa and it would be frightening strike force of Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli and David Villa. This would obviously mean that Edin Dzeko would have to leave.
Finally, Liverpool have been linked with him for a very long time, I believe since Rafael Benitez was the manager when he wanted Fernando Torres and Villa to be his front two but it didn’t ever come to be but since then no matter how Liverpool have been doing his name is always linked with Anfield. I really cannot see this happening even if he would enjoy their managers style of play, the lack of Champions League football and the fact that they aren’t genuine title contenders will put him right off the move.
Posted in Football, Soccer, Sport, Sports, Uncategorized | Tagged Anfield, Arsenal, Barcelona, Carlos Tevez, Champions League, David Villa, Edin Dzeko, Emirates, Fernando Torres, La Liga, Liverpool, Manchester City, Mario Balotelli, Premier League, Rafael Benitez, Roberto Mancini, Robin Van Persie, Sergio Aguero, Spain, striker, strikers, swap deal | Leave a reply
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Tag Archives: midfield
Who will David Beckham play for when he leaves LA Galaxy?
David Beckham has announced that he will be leaving LA Galaxy in December and this has led to a host of clubs wanting the former England captain.
Beckham, has been at the club since 2007 and has played 116 games for the club scoring 20 goals so he has been a decent servant to the American side and he did capture the attention of the public when he first went over there. It is unclear now whether it will create more interest in the sport over there, because it is not as big as in Europe and this transfer was trying to make it more of a competitor to the likes of basketball and American Football. During his time there he went on loan twice to AC Milan, so maybe the Italian team would have him back on a permanent basis, but to me, this seems unlikely and I think he may be after a completely different challenge.
PSG are the clear favourites at the moment to sign the midfielder and that is because they can offer him a wage that cannot be matched by many other clubs in the world, apart from possibly Manchester City. Which is a club I am fairly certain he will not be joining. The French club though want success and are trying to sign a lot of big names to get them to the very top and competing with the likes of Barcelona. It would be strange if he did sign for them because he is getting old now and I don’t think he is the type of player they should be looking at. They need players that can come in and improve over the next few years, although saying that Beckham’s experience around the dressing room could make all the difference.
Personally, I think he will go out and try somewhere completely different because he has accomplished a lot in Europe and has stated before that the only English club he will play for is Manchester United. There is a small chance they could sign him but they already have Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes in their midfield so it doesn’t seem likely that Alex Ferguson will sign another over 30 player.
A few players are going to China at the moment and maybe he wants to try over there and see if he can make an impact. For purely commercial reasons, he would be a success and he would probably make an impact in the leagues so this could be an option for him. But, from the early odds it looks like he may be going over to Australia with Adelaide United and Melbourne Heart strongly linked with him. Beckham, is a legend and he will be a success anywhere he goes, both on and off the pitch, so if these teams are serious about signing him then they may have to pay quite a high wage but they will surely get a lot of their money back just from shirt sales and other merchandising opportunities.
Posted in Football, Soccer, Sport, Sports, Uncategorized | Tagged AC Milan, Adelaide United, Alex Ferguson, America, American Football, Australia, Barcelona, Basketball, China, David Beckham, dressing room, England, england captain, french club, italian team, LA Galaxy, Manchester City, Manchester United, Melbourne Heart, midfield, Paul Scholes, PSG, Ryan Giggs | Leave a reply
Sheffield Wednesday sign Reading winger Michail Antonio
Sheffield Wednesday have signed 21 year old winger Michail Antonio to help get their promotion charge back on track after a miserable couple of weeks.
The winger has signed on loan from Reading until the end of the season after it was revealed that Jermaine Johnson is currently struggling with an injury which could keep him out of action and with the Sheffield Derby just round the corner, the Owls fans know they need some creativity in the midfield if they are to beat the Blades at Hillsborough and this is exactly what Antonio will give them. Megson would have loved to have been able to play both the wingers as they would have scared the life out of any defence in the division with their direct running and pace.
The young winger has played in League 1 before with both Southampton and Colchester and performed quite well, impressing in many games and looking like he could make the difference in crucial games. The fans of every club have taken to him very well even though he has only had short spells there with managers wanting to take him off Reading permanently. But the Royals have rejected any enquiries as they see him as a player with massive potential and one for the future at their club.
He is at Wednesday now and they will be hopeful that between now and the end of the season he can replicate what Ben Marshall did in the first half of the season. He does have the potential and will not be worried about playing in front of large crowds as he has already experienced these in his short career so far. This season he has played 16 games in League 1 and scored four goals which isn’t a bad record for a winger and shows that he can put away chances when he gets the opportunity and is not only in the team to provide assists.
The player and club will be hoping that the team can get themselves into the automatic promotion places by the end of the season but if they don’t and have to go through the playoffs then it could be another chance for Antonio to score on a big stage because he has already scored one goal at Wembley when playing for Southampton in the JP Trophy final in a comfortable 4-1 victory.
The Owls fans needed a lift more than anyone before the Steel City Derby and hopefully this transfer will excite them and make them more confident of victory. The last few weeks have been close to disastrous but maybe this can be the catalyst to a brilliant end to the season and dispel any rumours that Milan Mandaric is losing patience with Gary Megson.
It is getting closer and closer to the big kick off and now United have another player to worry about which they didn’t expect and may have to change their game plan so Antonio doesn’t have a debut that the Wednesday faithful will be talking about for years to come.
Posted in Football, Soccer, Sport, Sports, Uncategorized | Tagged automatic promotion, Ben Marshall, Colchester United, crucial games, Gary Megson, Hillsborough, Jermaine Johnson, JP Trophy, League 1, Michail Antonio, midfield, Milan Mandaric, Reading, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, winger, wingers | Leave a reply
Gibson is the hero for Everton and Moyes
Posted on January 31, 2012 by patto1992
So Everton somewhat unexpectedly made one of the biggest transfers on deadline day with the signing of Nikica Jelavic but another of their earlier January signings really put a smile on their faces. Darron Gibson scored the only goal of the game with a thunderous strike which took a slight deflection off Gareth Barry against Manchester City.
Gibson has probably now helped Manchester United more as an Everton player this season than he did as an actual United player. Everton deserve a lot of praise for their performance but yet again Manchester City have failed to perform when the pressure was really on. However, we should take nothing away from Everton because their defending was outstanding and the work rate throughout the who team was admirable. Also, the crowd played their part and must have surely inspired the players to keep running and keep pressurising the City players.
As a team they were brilliant because every man did the job they were asked and the two centre backs deserve the most praise as they do not play their every week. John Heitinga can play centre back and has done on a number of occasions but David Moyes has mostly employed him in a holding midfield role and he thoroughly deserved man of the match because he battled with Edin Dzeko in the air and came out on top in most cases and he had another pace about him to deal with Sergio Aguero as well as watching runners come from the midfield. He seemed to be the talker at the back and kept his partner Tony Hibbert in check. Hibbert, himself could also easily have won man of the match simply because he did not put a foot wrong in a position he has hardly played. He is usually a right back and obviously that means he does not have to deal with as many long balls and does not have to make as many headers but he looked comfortable all night and was very rarely caught out of position and you have to give credit to the manager to play these two out of position. It is a key area and if you make mistakes in there it is going to cost your team.
Every single player put everything into this performance and I think Denis Stracqualarsi deserves a mention as he battled away up front and never gave up on anything. The Argentine ran himself into the ground for the team and had nothing left to give. Mancini must wish a certain Argentine on his playing staff would do this for him instead of battling against the club for wages he does not deserve.
But, this result once again proves that David Moyes is one of the best managers in the Premier League and it is remarkable how he does it year after year with a very small budget. He knows he has to sell to bring in a player and most of the time he gets it right. If he can get Jelavic scoring goals, Everton will be challenging for a European place yet again because he has them well drilled and everyone knows their job. Everton seems like a good place to because the fans are fantastic and the manager is up there with the best and in my opinion should take over from Sir Alex Ferguson when he decides to retire.
Posted in Football, Soccer, Sport, Sports, Uncategorized | Tagged aguero, Alex Ferguson, balls, Darron Gibson, David Moyes, deflection, Denis Stracqualarsi, Edin Dzeko, Gareth Barry, gibson, John Heitinga, Manchester City, Manchester United, midfield, Nikica Jelavic, Roberto Mancini, runners, Sergio Aguero, Tony Hibbert, verton | Leave a reply
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Venkaiah Naidu
MLA Jagtap urges CM Devendra Fadnavis to include Pimpri Chinchwad in Smart Cities list
Jagtap has also asked the chief minister to reduce penalty charges on illegal constructions.TNN | September 27, 2016, 11:00 IST
PIMPRI CHINCHWAD: Chinchwad MLA Laxman Jagtap has urged chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to include Pimpri Chinchwad in the Smart City list, citing NCP's opposition to the recent inclusion of Navi Mumbai in the list.
Jagtap has also asked the chief minister to reduce penalty charges on illegal constructions.
Last year, the state government had submitted a proposal to the union urban development ministry listing ten cities including Pune, Navi Mumbai, Aurangabad, Nashik, Nagpur, Kalyan-Dombivali, Solapur, Greater Mumbai and Amravati. While Pune and Solapur were included in the Smart City mission in January, Aurangabad, Nashik, Nagpur, Kalyan Dombivli and Thane were counted in last week.
Jagtap said, "If Navi Mumbai is opposed to the proposal, another city can be included in the Smart City mission. Pimpri Chinchwad had fared well in the mission prior to the final selection of ten cities."
The Pimpri Chinchwad units of NCP and Congress have also urged the government for city's inclusion in the list. The Congress held protests in Chinchwad last week.
Last week, Sanjog Waghire, president of the Pimpri Chinchwad unit of NCP, said a large number of development projects have been implemented in the city. It received the 'Best City' award from the centre in 2011. It also stood ninth in the Swachh Bharat drive in the country, and first in the state, he said.
In September last year, a proposal was approved at the special general body meeting and was sent to the state government. In November 2015, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had urged the union urban development ministry to include Pimpri Chinchwad in the Smart Cities' mission.
Tags : Industry, smart city, Venkaiah Naidu, Pimpri Chinchwad, Devendra Fadnavis
Unitech promoters diverted money to off-shore tax havens: Audit report
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Home sales jump in ‘showstopper’ Mumbai
Blackstone, K Raheja to launch Rs 3,000 crore REIT
K Raheja, DB Realty, others seek special connectivity to Mumbai Metro for projects
Peninsula Land defaults on Rs 2.35 crore loan payment to SBI
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Microsoft Debuts Office Live Meeting 2007
By Ed Scannell
After working on it "fast and furiously" for two years, according to Roger Murff, director of marketing for Microsoft's Unified Communications Services group, the company unveiled Office Live Meeting 2007 at its annual Tech-Ed conference last month (June 4-8 in Orlando, Fla.). Not expected to be available in finished form until sometime this fall, Murff sees the upcoming service as an important piece of the company's overall Unified Communications and collaboration strategies.
Several of the new capabilities have their origins from over the past 10 years of Microsoft's experience in Web conferencing along with feedback from corporate users. Some of those new enhancements include a more simplified user interface that helps users better focus on content and a number of training and event features that give presenters the ability to offer handouts, public training sessions and advanced testing and grading.
Murff sat down with Redmond Editor Ed Scannell to discuss the strategic ramifications of the service for its Unified Communications plans and how and why it will finally make Web conferencing a more pervasive reality among larger IT shops.
Redmond: What's the strategic importance of this version of Office Live Meeting?
Murff: This is an important part of our Unified Communications vision, which is to streamline communications. It delivers, we think, on some important investment areas for users such as a significantly redesigned user interface. But to me the most exciting part of this release is a new, integrated rich media experience. Basically, [what] we're pulling together in one environment is two kinds of audio, both phone and computer audio or voice, live webcam video using Microsoft Roundtable, where you'll have 360-degree live video and support for showing rich media file formats. Last but not the least [is that] it's built on the same technology platform as the Web conferencing available in Office Communications Server 2007.
Is this the sort of product or solution we can expect to see a part of Microsoft's "Software Plus Services" (SPS) initiative over the short term?
Yes, this is a nice, clean example of what that's all about. Right now, for instance, you and I are having a Web conference looking at a PowerPoint presentation, using the same client, and we don't necessarily know whether we're using Live Meeting or Live Communications Server 2007 on the back-end. What matters is we can both have a rich client experience and that technology is being served out to us in the way that makes sense to an IT organization.
During beta testing did you get any unexpected feedback from the larger IT shops?
Some of the more interesting feedback from larger customers is around the fact [that] there's not just one kind of meeting. There are ad hoc meetings that aren't scheduled where people sitting at their desks need to have a conversation and do it through Web conferencing. There's a scheduled meeting that's slightly more structured and we're actually going to share a PowerPoint and maybe use a common whiteboard to take notes from that meeting. Then at the high end there are formal training sessions that could scale up to thousands of users. We think we're covering a lot of that with this release.
What are the short-term prospects for Web conferencing being accepted more broadly among larger shops?
The competition for Web conferencing is really planes, trains and automobiles. The market for Web conferencing is growing at a terrific rate right now, but there are a lot of people out there still not using Web conferencing. But with this more streamlined client experience we're trying to deliver, I think the chances of getting them to participate in a Web conference without having to really think about it and just doing it is better. I see more information workers getting more into Web conferencing to improve their productivity. Also, you're obviously reducing corporate costs as well as making people more productive and effective.
How much of an opportunity do you see for this product in the online training markets?
I think we've addressed the concerns of the larger customers wanting more online training and for handling events. Things we're offering here are the public event registration page, advanced testing and grading and a really cool one around rich recordings. We've had support for recordings for a while now, but now we support all these different rich media types. So now you have the ability to record all those different media types and play them back. You can play them back in a more efficient manner, and you're able to search based on a specific slide or presenter or a specific time in the meeting.
Who do you see as your major competitors?
There are some major competitors out there but this is still a fast-growing market with lots of activity. The innovation the competition is driving us and others to will only better serve users. The bottom line is we will have more people using Web conferencing and that's what I most want to see.
Ed Scannell is the editor of Redmond magazine.
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Justia Regulation Tracker Department Of Commerce International Trade Administration Notice of Extension of Deadline for the Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: Granular Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin from Japan, 52525-52526 [E6-14726]
Notice of Extension of Deadline for the Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: Granular Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin from Japan, 52525-52526 [E6-14726]
Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 172 / Wednesday, September 6, 2006 / Notices Woody Biomass Grants), or by calling the telephone number in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section, or by writing to the address in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. c. Pre-Application Delivery Pre-applications must be postmarked by November 3, 2006 and received no later than 5 p.m. Central Standard Time on November 10, 2006, by Shawn Lacina at the Forest Products Laboratory. Hand-delivered, e-mail, or fax applications will not be accepted. No exceptions allowed. Please send preapplications to the address listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. 7. Full-Application Information USDA Forest Service will request full applications only from those applicants selected in the pre-application process. a. Full-Application Submission Specific content and submission requirements for the full application are as follows: Each submittal must be composed of three paper copies (singlesided) of the full application. Paper copies of the full application must be on 8.5- by 11-inch plain white paper with a minimum font size of 11 letters per inch. Top, bottom, and side margins must be no less than three-quarters of an inch. All pages must be clearly numbered. The paper copies of the application package should be stapled with a single staple at the upper lefthand corner. Other bindings will not be accepted. rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES b. Full-Application Content Assemble information in the following order: Cover page, project summary, project narrative, statement of need, project coordinator(s) and partner(s), goals and objectives, technical approach work plan, impact on National Forest System forest restoration activities, environmental documentation, project work plan and timeline, social impacts, evaluation and monitoring plan, equipment description, budget justification narrative, budget, financial feasibility, and appendices. The project narrative should provide a clear description of the work to be performed, how it will be accomplished, and its impact on National Forest System lands. It should address the technical approach work plan under criteria 2 listed in Section 5. The project narrative is limited to a total of 10 pages excluding cover page, budget justification, budget, appendices and financial documentation. VerDate Aug<31>2005 18:44 Sep 05, 2006 Jkt 208001 c. Detailed Financial Information Detailed financial information is requested to assess the potential and the capability of the applicant. All financial information remains confidential and is not accessible under the Freedom of Information Act. If the applicant has questions about how confidential information is handled they should contact Shawn Lacina at slacina@fs.fed.us. The financial information should provide a general overview of historical and projected (pro forma) financial performance. Standard accounting principles should be used for developing the required financial information. Strong applications have benefited from the use of a certified accountant to develop this information. Applicants should refer to the Technology Marketing Unit’s Web site at http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/tmu (under Woody Biomass Grants) for the financial information requirements, as well as Web sites for standard financial templates. d. Full-Application Delivery Full applications must be postmarked by February 2, 2007, and received no later than 5 p.m. Central Standard Time on February 9, 2007, by Shawn Lacina at the Forest Products Laboratory. Handdelivered, e-mail, or fax applications will not be accepted. No exceptions allowed. Please send full-applications to the address listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. 8. Appendices The following information must be included in the appendix of the preapplication and the full-application package: a. Letter of Support and Biomass Availability From Local USDA Forest Service District Ranger or Forest Supervisor This letter must describe the status of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), acres, timeframes, available volumes, and opportunities for applicant to access these volumes. These letters should be submitted with both the pre-application and fullapplication. b. Letters of Support From Partners, Individuals, or Organizations Letters of support should be included in an appendix and are intended to display the degree of collaboration occurring between the different entities engaged in the project. These letters must include commitments of cash or in-kind services from all partners and must support the amounts listed in the PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 52525 budget. Each letter of support is limited to one page in length. c. Key Personnel Qualifications Qualifications of the project manager and key personnel should be included in an appendix. Qualifications are limited to two pages in length and should contain the following: Resume, biographical sketch, references, and demonstrated ability to manage the grant. Dated: August 30, 2006. James E. Hubbard, Deputy Chief, State and Private Forestry. [FR Doc. E6–14707 Filed 9–5–06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3410–11–P DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration A–588–707 Notice of Extension of Deadline for the Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: Granular Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin from Japan Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. EFFECTIVE DATE: September 6, 2006. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Catherine Cartsos or Richard Rimlinger, AD/CVD Operations, Office 5, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482–1757 and (202) 482–4477, respectively. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: AGENCY: Background On May 11, 2006, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published the preliminary results of the 2004–2005 administrative review of the antidumping duty order covering Asahi Glass Fluoropolymers, Ltd. See Granular Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin From Japan: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administration Review, 71 FR 27459 (May 11, 2006). The final results are currently due September 8, 2006. Extension of Time Limit for Final Results The Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), provides at section 751(a)(3)(A) that the Department will issue the final results of an administrative review of an antidumping duty order within 120 days after the date on which the E:\FR\FM\06SEN1.SGM 06SEN1 52526 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 172 / Wednesday, September 6, 2006 / Notices preliminary results were published. The Act provides further that, if the Department determines that it is not practicable to complete the review within this time period, the Department may extend the 120–day period to 180 days. Due to the complexity of the level of trade issue in this review, the Department needs additional time to conduct its analysis. Therefore, we are extending the deadline for issuing the final results of this review by an additional 45 days until October 23, 2006, pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(2). Dated: August 29, 2006. Stephen J. Claeys, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration. [FR Doc. E6–14726 Filed 9–5–06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration (A–357–812) Honey From Argentina: Extension of Time Limit for Preliminary Results of Administrative Review of Antidumping Duty Order Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. EFFECTIVE DATE: September 6, 2006. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tyler Weinhold, or Robert James, AD/ CVD Operations, Office 7, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482–1121 or (202) 482– 0649, respectively. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES AGENCY: Background On November 1, 2005, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published a notice of opportunity to request administrative review of the antidumping duty order on, inter alia, Honey from Argentina. See Notice of Opportunity to Request Administrative Review, 70 FR 65883 (November 1, 2005). On December 27, 28, and 30, 2005, the Department received timely requests to conduct an administrative review of honey from Argentina. On February 1, 2006, the Department published a notice of initiation of an antidumping duty review for the December 1, 2004, through November 30, 2005 period of review. See Initiation of Antidumping Duty Reviews, 71 FR VerDate Aug<31>2005 18:44 Sep 05, 2006 Jkt 208001 5241 (February 1, 2006). The preliminary results for this administrative review are currently due no later than September 5, 2006. Extension of Time Limits for Preliminary Results Section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Tariff Act), requires the Department to complete the preliminary results of an administrative review within 245 days after the last day of the anniversary month of an order for which a review is requested. However, if it is not practicable to complete the review within these time periods, section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Tariff Act allows the Department to extend the time limit for the preliminary results to a maximum of 365 days after the last day of the anniversary month of an order for which a review is requested. The Department has determined it is not practicable to complete this review within the statutory time limit because we require additional time to conduct a sales–below-cost investigation in this administrative review. The time needed to analyze the respondents’ cost of production data and to develop fully the record in this review makes it impracticable to complete the preliminary results of this review within the originally anticipated time limit. Accordingly, the Department is extending the time limit for completion of the preliminary results of this administrative review until no later than December 20, 2006, which is 354 days from the last day of the anniversary month of the order on honey from Argentina. We intend to issue the final results no later than 120 days after publication of the preliminary results notice. This extension is in accordance with section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Tariff Act. Dated: August 29, 2006. Stephen Claeys, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration. [FR Doc. E6–14723 Filed 9–5–06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510–DS–S DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration (A–357–812) Honey from Argentina: Notice of Partial Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review Import Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) is partially rescinding AGENCY: PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 its administrative review of the antidumping duty order on honey from Argentina for the period December 1, 2004, to November 30, 2005, with respect to two companies, Nexco S.A and HoneyMax S.A. EFFECTIVE DATE: September 6, 2006. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Cordell at (202) 482–0408 (Nexco S.A.), Tyler Weinhold at (202) 482–1121 (HoneyMax S.A), or Robert James at (202) 482–0649, AD/CVD Operations, Office 7, Import Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background On December 1, 2005, the Department published in the Federal Register its notice of opportunity to request an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on honey from Argentina. See Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or Suspended Investigation; Opportunity to Request Administrative Review, 70 FR 72109 (December 1, 2005). In response, on December 30, 2005, the American Honey Producers Association and the Sioux Honey Association (collectively, petitioners) requested an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on honey from Argentina for the period December 1, 2004, through November 30, 2005. The petitioners requested that the Department conduct an administrative review of entries of subject merchandise made by 42 Argentine producers/ exporters. In addition, the Department received requests for review from four Argentine exporters included in the petitioners’ request. On January 6, 2006, petitioners withdrew their request with respect to 23 companies listed in their original request. On February 1, 2006, the Department initiated a review on the remaining 19 companies for which an administrative review was requested. See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews and Request for Revocation in Part, 71 FR 5241 (February 1, 2006). On March 10, 2006, petitioners withdrew their requests for review of an additional twelve respondents. Accordingly, on April 10, 2006, the Department published a notice of partial rescission of review in response to petitioners’ withdrawal of their requests covering twelve companies. See Honey from Argentina: Notice of Partial Rescission of Antidumping Duty E:\FR\FM\06SEN1.SGM 06SEN1
[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 172 (Wednesday, September 6, 2006)]
Notice of Extension of Deadline for the Final Results of
Antidumping Duty Administrative Review: Granular
Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin from Japan
EFFECTIVE DATE: September 6, 2006.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Catherine Cartsos or Richard
Rimlinger, AD/CVD Operations, Office 5, Import Administration,
International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th
Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone:
(202) 482-1757 and (202) 482-4477, respectively.
On May 11, 2006, the Department of Commerce (the Department)
published the preliminary results of the 2004-2005 administrative
review of the antidumping duty order covering Asahi Glass
Fluoropolymers, Ltd. See Granular Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin From
Japan: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administration Review,
71 FR 27459 (May 11, 2006). The final results are currently due
Extension of Time Limit for Final Results
The Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), provides at section
751(a)(3)(A) that the Department will issue the final results of an
administrative review of an antidumping duty order within 120 days
after the date on which the
preliminary results were published. The Act provides further that, if
the Department determines that it is not practicable to complete the
review within this time period, the Department may extend the 120-day
period to 180 days.
Due to the complexity of the level of trade issue in this review,
the Department needs additional time to conduct its analysis.
Therefore, we are extending the deadline for issuing the final results
of this review by an additional 45 days until October 23, 2006,
pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(2).
[FR Doc. E6-14726 Filed 9-5-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
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Ron Ouellette
RE/MAX Advantage I | 508-847-7111 | [email protected]
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Holden, MA Town Information
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Holden, MA Community Info
Holden is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The town was founded in 1741, and the Town Square was donated by John Hancock, former Governor of Massachusetts.
The population was 17,346 at the 2010 census.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 36.2 square miles (94 km2), of which 35.0 square miles (91 km2) is land and 1.2 square miles (3.1 km2), or 3.40%, is water. The landscape is dominated by hills and rivers, including the Quinapoxet.
Holden is bounded on the west by Rutland, on the northwest by Princeton, on the east by Sterling and West Boylston, on the southeast by Worcester, and on the southwest by Paxton.
As of the census of 2000, there were 15,621 people, 5,715 households, and 4,423 families residing in the town. The population density was 446.4 inhabitants per square mile (172.4 /km2). There were 5,827 housing units at an average density of 166.5 per square mile (64.3 /km2). The racial makeup of the town was 97.39% White, 0.49% African American, 0.10% Native American, 0.99% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.24% from other races, and 0.79% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.96% of the population.
There were 5,715 households out of which 37.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.8% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.6% were non-families. 19.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.13.
In the town the population was spread out with 27.0% under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 93.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.7 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $64,297, and the median income for a family was $73,614. Males had a median income of $52,203 versus $36,194 for females. The per capita income for the town was $27,971. About 2.0% of families and 3.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.3% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.
Image: "Poutwater Pond, Holden MA" by John Phelan - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Ron Ouellette - REALTOR®
RE/MAX Advantage I
25 Union St 4th Floor • Worcester, MA 01608
Direct: 508-459-5537 • Cell: 508-847-7111
Vm/Pager: 508-459-5537 • Toll Free: 800-247-4200 x237
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← Telephone service begins, 1878
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‘Lawsonomy’ in Springfield
Posted on October 8, 2015 by editor
Original caption: “Headquarters of Lawsonomy, Springfield, Illinois.” This was the district headquarters of the Direct Credits Society, part of the Lawsonomy movement, at 207 N. Fifth St. in May 1938; photo by Russell Lee (Yale University database of Farm Security Administration photographs)
Lawsonomy was the general term for a system of philosophy, physics and economics created and promoted by an ex-baseball player and aircraft developer named Alfred W. Lawson (1869-1954). Lawsonomy’s political and economic offshoot was the Direct Credits Society, which, according to city directories, had its district headquarters in Springfield from 1936 until 1942 or 1943.
For all but the last year or two, the society’s headquarters was the storefront at 207 N. Fifth St. shown in the photo above.
It’s difficult to explain the principles behind all of Lawsonomy – the science and philosophy involves esoteric theories about the conflict between “suction” and “pressure.”
However, Lawson’s economic ideas, while no less unusual, appealed to some people suffering through the Great Depression. The membership card of the Direct Credits Society listed the following goals:
Gold must be abolished as money and everybody prohibited from using it to pay for anything.
Paper currency must be made the standard of exchange and issued in sufficient quantities for all purposes.
Interest and all other forms of payment for the use of money must be abolished and prohibited.
Control and supervision of money must be by the government, who will operate all banks and other financial institutions. Private banking must be prohibited.
All financial loans must be made by the government. Private loans in business transactions must be prohibited.
All credits must be issued by the government direct to everybody. Everybody must be entitled to basic equal credits given by the government.
Children, the elderly and the disabled all were to be entitled to enough “credits” to pay living expenses (and for education, in the case of children), according to the card. The full text of Lawson’s book Direct Credits for Everybody (1931) can be read here.
The popularity of Direct Credits petered out as the Depression lifted. Lawson went to found a “University of Lawsonomy” in Wisconsin, but he was forced to sell the school in the 1950s following congressional hearings over allegations that the institution had improperly profited from reselling used war surplus machinery.
The high point of Lawsonomy in Springfield probably took place on Sept. 10, 1939, when Lawson himself – styled the “commander in chief” of the Direct Credits Society – spoke to the “grand assembly” of the society at the Elks Club. According to an advance story in the Illinois State Journal, the speech was to be preceded by a parade from Bond Street and North Grand Avenue to the Elks Club.
“Uniformed officers of the society with band and drum corps in attendance will make up the parade,” the story said. It’s not clear how many participants or watchers the march attracted; there was no follow-up article.
The society’s district leader, George C. Scott (1903?-72?) and his wife Eula lived above the office. However, the most energetic local advocate of Lawson’s Direct Credits principles may have been Walter Kosbab (1894?-1955).
Walter Kosbab
Kosbab, a shoe salesman for much of his life, also was a politician with a leaning for off-center political theories. A member of the Progressive Party in 1933, he ran as a Republican for the state legislature in 1934 and again for the GOP nomination for Congress in 1936; in the latter year, however, he also led the local effort to nominate U.S. Sen. William Borah, a progressive Republican from Idaho, as the GOP candidate for president.
In his own congressional bid, Kosbab advocated a mixed bag of nostrums aimed to revive the U.S. economy from the Great Depression. The Illinois State Journal reported on his candidacy announcement in January 1936:
Kosbab, a member of the Francis E. Townsend Old Age Pension club, the Direct Credits society and the National Union for Social Justice, outlined his platform which he said offers positive remedy for permanent improvements in conditions in the country. He favors the cash payment of the soldiers bonus and would “go the Townsend plan one better” by providing for an age limit of forty-five years. Interest and taxes, he said, must be abolished and he would have doctors, nurses and attorneys paid by the government.
Kosbab’s platform carried little weight with voters. He ran a solid last in the six-man Republican primary, receiving only 87 votes, 350 behind the No. 5 candidate. The GOP nominee, Frank Ramey, collected more than 17,000 votes. (Democrat Frank Fries won the general election.)
Following Borah’s primary election defeat – Kosbab said the Borah effort got a “raw deal” from regular Republicans – Kosbab announced that a third party would field candidates in Illinois in the November 1936 elections. The new party was unnamed, but he said its symbol would be the American buffalo – which, he said, “is capable of overthrowing the elephant.”
Whether or not the buffalo was involved, the Union Progressive Party – a combination of Townsendites, acolytes of radio demagogue Rev. Charles Coughlin, disgruntled Borah supporters and others – did win a spot on the Illinois ballot in 1936. Its presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. William Lemke of North Dakota, received 1,095 votes out of 54,000 cast in Sangamon County that November.
The Lawsonomy headquarters remained on North Fifth Street until at least 1941. The 1942-43 city directory shows that district leader Scott had moved the headquarters and Scott residence to 115 N. Seventh St. Both the Direct Credits Society and the Scotts disappear from city directories in 1944.
Photo note and hat tip: The photo at the top of this entry is one of only two Depression-era photographs from Sangamon County contained in Yale’s Farm Progress Administration photo database. The other is a different view of the same Lawsonomy storefront. This entry apparently is the first time the address of the storefront has been definitively located. Thanks to Curtis Mann of Lincoln Library’s Sangamon Valley collection for his help with that identification.
This entry was posted in Buildings, Depression, Photos and photosets, Politics. Bookmark the permalink.
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The Best Thing About Capri’s Gorgeous New E-Bike Is That It Doesn’t Look Like an E-Bike
The battery is disguised as a silver water bottle.
By Bryan Hood on November 6, 2019
As the electric bicycle market grows, it’s become clear that not everyone wants their ride to be a clunky monstrosity. Because of that the market has seen a recent movement towards sleeker, subtler e-bikes—and Capri’s newest model is a striking entry into this class.
The Italian company’s e-bike is impossible to distinguish from a traditional pedal-powered bicycle. And thanks to a removable battery that looks just like a silver water bottle, no one will ever know you’re getting some help from an electric motor as you tool around town.
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The Capri bike looks just like a classic commuter bike from the 1970s, but it’s powered by a rear-hub mounted 250W motor with an intelligent controller. Combined with its removable 6.8Ah battery, the seven-speed is able to reach a pedal-assisted top speed of 15.5 mph with a range of 25 miles. While these are far from the most impressive figures for a bike of its type, they’re downright jaw-dropping when you consider that the bike weighs just 36 lbs. And because its tech is so light, it rides just like a normal bike when the juice is all used up.
While the bike’s like ultra-lightweight electric power-train set-up may grab all the attention, there are plenty of other impressive features like a clean steel frame, front and fear fenders, a metal chainguard, a leather saddle seat and grips. The leather can be swapped out for a vegan option, too.
The Capri Azur e-bike Capri
Capri’s bike comes into to variants: the Metz, which has a top tube frame, and the Azur, which has a retro-style mixte frame. It’s also available in five colors, all of which harken back to popular automotive finishes from the ‘70s: Pacific Blue, Jungle Green, Meltin Silver, Space Blue and Black.
The e-bikes are part of an ongoing IndieGoGo campaign that’s already reached—and surpassed—its original funding goal. But if you want to make sure you get your hands on one, the Metz is available for the early bird discount of $1,219 (regular price is $2,103) and the Azur for $1,419 ($2,437). Both bikes are expected to ship in April of next year.
The Capri Metz e-bike Capri
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QUEENS LAW ASSOCIATES TEEN MENTORS GO TO WASHINGTON, DC
March 20, 2018 Rockaway Primetime Leave a comment
In response to the gun violence in our schools; and our communities Lori Zeno, Director of Queens Law Associates (QLA) wants to ensure our youth have a voice that is heard. QLA will be taking a road trip to Washington, DC. See below for more details
Far Rockaway, Queens: March 24th, 2018 QLA’s Teen Mentors will join the March For Our Lives in Washington, DC. This is a long overdue youth-led movement that our youth participants believe in. Not only is this about the gun violence in schools across the country, but for Far Rockaway youth in particular, it is about the gun violence in their communities. Since the start of 2018, we have lost 2 young lives under the age of 16 to senseless gun violence.
The teens attending this March For Our Lives will take to the streets of Washington DC to demand that their lives and safety become a priority and that we end this epidemic of mass school shootings and senseless gun violence.
Being a community-based organization in Far Rockaway, QLA staff see firsthand the challenges our teens face every day. QLA hosts community outreach events, provide staff 5 days a week in our student lounge at FDA VI in Far Rockaway HS (social workers, staff attorneys and an outreach worker), Youth Justice Court in the school and the community, among other avenues of being involved in local teens’ lives. Our general mission is to provide legal services to those who cannot afford it; but for our Far Rockaway programming it is to empower our youth, teach them their rights and be a segway to a brighter future.
Director Lori Zeno called on the QLA Community Liaison, Marissa Bernowitz and said: “We must take the teens to DC.” We announced it to the youth in our programs, had them submit essays on what the march would mean for them, and planned our weekend to DC. We will be departing from Far Rockaway on Friday, March 23rd and returning Monday, March 26th.
What will we do for the weekend? First order of business is to prep for the March For Our Lives. We will make signs and t-shirts for the march. We will have open discussions on what it means to be a part of this movement. Saturday we will attend the March in Washington, DC. On Sunday we will decide which museums or national monuments to visit. We will be returning after breakfast on Monday ready to share our experiences.
Any questions or comments in regards to this can be directed to Marissa Bernowitz, QLA Community Outreach Liaison via (718)261-3047 ext. 608 or via e-mail MBernowitz@qlanyc.org
Council Member Richards Presents Nelson Mandela Technology Grant to Schools in Far Rockaway
WHO: Council Member Donovan Richards (D-Far Rockaway); Principals and students from Goldie Maple Academy, Far Rockaway High School, PS 42, PS 104, and Village Academy
WHAT: Every year, Council Member Richards’ office uses discretionary funding to provide technology upgrades to local schools in District 31 under the Nelson Mandela Technology Grant.
WHERE: Far Rockaway High School, located at 821 Bay 25th St, Far Rockaway, NY 11691
WHEN: Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at noon
7 Unusual Facts You Should Know About St.Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity’s most widely known figures. But for all of his prevalence in culture, namely the holiday held on the day of his death that bears his name, his life remains somewhat of a mystery. Many of the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are false, the products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling.
1. We Should Really Wear Blue
Saint Patrick himself would have to deal with pinching on his feast day. His color was “Saint Patrick’s blue,” a light shade. The color green only became associated with the big day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century.
2. Saint Patrick Was British
Yeah, I really just wrote that!
Although he made his mark by introducing Christianity to Ireland in the year 432, Patrick wasn’t Irish himself. He was born to Roman parents in Scotland or Wales in the late fourth century.
3. It Used to Be a Dry Holiday
For most of the 20th century, Saint Patrick’s Day was considered a strictly religious holiday in Ireland, which meant that the nation’s pubs were closed for business on March 17. In 1970, the day was converted to a national holiday, and the stout resumed flowing.
4. Cold Weather Helped Saint Patrick’s Legend
Through the Ice Age, Ireland was too cold to host any reptiles, and the surrounding seas have staved off serpentine invaders ever since. Modern scholars think the “snakes” Saint Patrick drove away were likely metaphorical.
5. There’s No Corn in that Beef
Corned beef and cabbage, a traditional Saint Patrick’s Day staple, doesn’t have anything to do with the grain corn. Instead, it’s a nod to the large grains of salt that were historically used to cure meats, which were also known as “corns.”
6. There Are No Female Leprechauns
Don’t be fooled by any holiday decorations showing lady leprechauns. In traditional Irish folk tales, there are no female leprechauns, only nattily attired little guys.
7. The Lingo Makes Sense
You can’t attend a Saint Patrick’s Day event without hearing a cry of “Erin go Bragh.” What’s the phrase mean? It’s a corruption of the Irish Éirinn go Brách, which means roughly “Ireland Forever.”
Source- History Channel
Davon Armstead Gets Full Ride to Buffalo State Football Defeating Many Battles Along The Way
March 15, 2018 Rockaway Primetime 3 Comments
Far Rockaway does it again!
Far Rockaway resident Davon Armstead is the second-high school athlete this year that obtained a full-ride scholarship to play college football on the big stage.
Armstead, Rockaway Ravens, and Abraham Lincoln High School athlete visited 6 different schools. Schools including Stoney Brook, Rutgers, Temple, Southern Connecticut State, Assumption College, and Buffalo State.
Buffalo State considered a Division 3 school by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). However, Armstead stated very clearly why he made his decision to commit to Buffalo State over the other schools with Division 1 programs.
When asked about his decision to commit to Buffalo State Armstead stated, “Felt like family when I arrived to visit.”
“I knew right away this would be a place I can make a difference.”
Armstead kicked off his High School career at Grand Street Campus on their Junior Varsity team.
During his first two years on the team, Armstead displayed his athleticism that left bystanders in awe. He recorded 22 catches for 444 yards and 6 touchdowns as a first-year student.
Sophomore year, it gets even better. Armstead cashes in 21 catches for 500 yards and 9 touchdowns.
With all that momentum leaving JV, Armstead was ready to move on to Varsity at Grand Street. Until unfortunate circumstances began to plague Armstead’s life.
Armstead mentioned the issues surrounding a scandal that fired one of his head coaches at Grand Street. It was so bad that Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) had to step in and punish the football program at Grand Street.
Grand Street Campus fired controversial head coach Bruce Eugene for letting a Long Island football player use his Brooklyn address to enroll in the school. The Department of Education requires students who are not residents of New York City to pay $7,119 a year to attend public schools, according to some sources.
Nonetheless, the school had to give up an entire season. As a result, Davon Armstead deadlocked to start his Junior year of football.
That did not stop him at all! Armstead put in a transfer to Abraham Lincoln High School for another shot at continuing his football career.
“It was a setback for me”, Armstead stated. “I had to prove myself again and work harder, and I got back on the field.”
Armstead at Grand Street recorded 5 catches for 87 yards, only playing 3 games his junior season.
If you think that was a bit much, Armstead’s toughest challenge was yet to come.
Armstead was made aware during the offseason of his junior year that his little brother Jacob Armstead was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
When asked about what was it like hearing that kind of news, Armstead replied, “It was really rough, Jacob is the strongest 14-year-old you’ll ever meet.” Furthermore he stated, “I knew I could not give up on him.”
“Jacob is what kept me going when things looked down for me.” “I knew I could not give up.”
When I asked Armstead what advice you can give the others your age that is going through the same or worst, he gave resilient advice.
“When things get rough, do not give up and do not look back.” “I worked harder and harder to get where I am.”
Davon Armstead’s senior year was nothing more than incredible, including all he has been through to get to where he is at now.
During his senior year, he recorded 16 catches for 267 yards and 1 touchdown. His team even made the semi-finals the same season of the 2018 PSAL Championship. The same year Rockaway’s own Christian Izien reached the championship at his school Erasmus Hall and is also on his way to college at Rutgers on a full-ride scholarship, despite the loss to Curtis High School.
Davon Armstead is well on his way to the big stage. There is no question if he is ready or not. The hardships, dedication, and hard work, speaks for itself.
The Rockaways is with you Davon, more importantly, your brother Jacob is here to witness your journey.
View more of Davon Armstead highlights and photos down below.
https://www.hudl.com/video/3/7763719/5a1b790abd6a7c01d02ca64d
Can also follow him on Twitter at
Tweets by MrArmstead8015
STUDENTS AT THE FAR ROCKAWAY EDUCATIONAL CAMPUS ORGANIZE DEMONSTRATION AS PART OF THE #ENOUGH NATIONAL SCHOOL WALKOUT FOR GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION
In response to our elected officials’ failure to address gun violence we, the students of the Far Rockaway Educational Campus have organized a local walkout in solidarity with the Women’s March EMPOWER to call for comprehensive gun violence prevention legislation.
Far Rockaway, Queens, NY — March 14, 2018 marks one month since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which left 14 students and 3 staff members killed and many others wounded or injured. We are calling for students, teachers, school administrators, parents and allies to take part in a #NationalSchoolWalkout for 17 minutes (in honor of the 17 lives taken in the tragedy in Parkland) at 10am across every time zone on March 14, 2018 to protest Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods.
We, the students at the Far Rockaway Educational Campus, have decided that this moment is too crucial and this issue too urgent to stand idly by. We believe that if we remain silent we agree with what is going on in our schools and community. With the recent shootings in our community we feel we should not fear coming to school. We stand united to stand up against gun violence, both in and around our school.
On March 14th at the sound of the class bell (9:52am) we will be walking out of our classes and safely to our football field. As we get to the field we will kneel in unity and have a moment of silence (at approximately 10 am) for those lost in our community and across the nation. A guest speaker will share a few words and then at 10:17am we will return to our classes.
We are walking out for ALL people who have experienced gun violence, including systemic forms of gun violence that disproportionately impact teens in Black and Brown communities. It is important that when we refer to gun violence, we do not overlook the impact of police brutality and militarized policing, or see police in schools as a solution. We also recognize the United States has exported gun violence through imperialist foreign policy to destabilize other nations.
We raise our voices for action against all these forms of gun violence. We students and our allies are organizing the school walkout to demand Congress pass legislation to protect us. WE ARE NOT SAFE at school. We are not safe in our cities and towns. We need action. It is our elected officials’ jobs to keep us safe and pass federal gun reform legislation that will address the public health crisis of gun violence. We want Congress to pay attention and take note: many of us will vote this November and many others will cast their ballots in 2020.
Over 2,545 demonstrations have been registered across the nation! This our notice to you to join us!
Any questions or comments in regards to this can be directed to the QLA Far Rockaway Peer Mentor Group via (718)261-3047 ext. 608 or the QLA Community Outreach Liaison, mbernowitz@qlanyc.org
Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato & Council Member Richards Applaud the Panel for Educational Policy’s Vote to Keep Open PS 42 & PS/MS 53
March 5, 2018 Rockaway Primetime Leave a comment
More than one hundred parents and students lined up to speak up about school closures in New York City at a meeting of the governing board for the New York City Department of Education.
The meeting began at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday evening in Lower Manhattan.
New York City Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) voted around 2:30 a.m. Thursday morning on the package of “school realignments.”
The closure of P.S./M.S. 42 and M.S. 53 in Far Rockaway was not approved. That measure was voted down by a vote of six to six with one abstention.
New York State Assemblywoman Pheffer-Amato and Councilman Donovan Richards stated the following.
“We’d like to congratulate the students and parents of PS 42 and PS/MS 53 for their successful advocacy to keep their schools open to continue learning with the friends and teachers they know and trust. Now, we must continue to invest in our existing neighborhood schools to both ensure full growth in our students and our surrounding community. These are our children and their education is worth fighting for!”
You Can Own a Home or Business – Sign up for Senator Sanders’ Financial Boot Camp
February 25, 2018 Rockaway Primetime Leave a comment
We are in the process of signing up residents for our Financial Bootcamp. You can own your own home or business! Sign up today. Call my office at 718-523-3069.
Kick your finances into gear with Senator Sanders’ FREE Financial Boot Camp. Do you want to own your own home or business but have bad credit or no credit? We can help. This once-in-a-lifetime program will give you all the tools you need to achieve your dream including learning how to repair or acquire credit, designing a budget and creating a plan for success – one that is specifically tailored to meet your needs with the help of expert one-on-one counseling. Classes will be held twice a week for four weeks. You must attend all sessions to successfully complete the training.
Call Senator Sanders’ Office to RSVP 718-523-3069
In order to qualify for the program, you must meet the following requirements:
Must Live in Senator Sanders’ District
Must Be interested in Pursuing Home / Business Ownership
Must Not Have Owned a Home in the Past
Must Not Be A Current Homeowner
*Seats are limited and qualifying applicants are chosen by lottery*
If you are not sure if you live in Senator Sanders’ District, click the link below and enter your address to determine your state elected representative.
https://www.nysenate.gov/find-my-senator
Senator James Sanders Jr. and SEQ Officials to Host JFK Community Meeting
Join us for an important community meeting and learn how you can benefit from the $10 billion investment in JFK.
State Senator James Sanders Jr. (D-Rochdale Village, Far Rockaway) will host an important meeting to inform different members of the public how they can benefit from the $10 billion investment in JFK. The groups who will be specifically addressed are community residents, business owners, clergy and youth.
Senator Sanders will be joined by Senator Leroy Comrie and Assembly Members Michele Titus, Alicia Hyndman and Clyde Vanel.
The event will be held on Thursday, February 22, 2018 from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.at August Martin High School, located at 156-10 Baisley Boulevard, Jamaica, NY 11434.
For more information, call Senator Sanders’ District Office at 718-523-3069 or email sanders@nysenate.gov
U.S. Reps. Meeks, Meng, Maloney, Velasquez, and Jeffries Meet with USPS to Discuss NYC Postal Crisis
JAMAICA, NY—This week, Congressman Gregory W. Meeks (NY-05) and Congresswomen Grace Meng (NY-06) of Queens were joined by staff of U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (NY-12), Nydia Velazquez (NY-07), and Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) in a meeting the Members requested with the United States Postal Service (USPS) about the ongoing postal crisis in Queens and Brooklyn.
“This meeting was a productive first step, though it falls far short of a full and adequate resolution of the postal service crisis in Queens and Brooklyn. In our meeting, I was very candid about the shortcomings of USPS’ service in my district. I retold my constituents’ stories about delayed and non-delivered mail, lost packages, and mailbox manipulation,” Congressman Gregory W. Meeks (NY-05) said. “Our constituents should never have to worry about the many postal service issues plaguing our boroughs. The postal service assured us it will hire additional staff—including letter carriers—to resolve delays and discrepancies in mail delivery; station USPS staff on phone lines to respond to comments and concerns from the public, and to ensure every postal matter is handled in a timely manner; and, retrofit 3,000 P.O. Boxes in Queens and Brooklyn to prevent ‘mail fishing. I’ll continue to hold USPS accountable as it attempts to fix outstanding mail issues in my district.”
“Complaints about the Postal Service in my district have reached an all-time high,” said Congresswoman Meng (NY-06). “Problems are a regular occurrence and continue to grow. Throughout my district, constituents have complained about missing mail, untimely delivery, receiving wrong mail, packages not being picked up or delivered, and poor customer service at several post office branches. These constant problems are unacceptable. Queens residents are entitled to reliable and timely mail service. During this meeting, we made our complaints loud and clear, and Postal officials clearly heard about the problems impacting our constituents. It is imperative that the agency now follow through on its commitment to resolve these issues, and we will keep the pressure on until they do. I do want to commend the Postal Service for agreeing to my request to retrofit collection boxes in order to combat mail fishing. I look forward to these upgrades occurring soon.”
“I’m pleased to work with my colleagues to address postal concerns facing Queens residents. Changes in the way people use the post office has had a major impact, with many more packages and fewer letters. What’s more, over the last decade, Western Queens and North Brooklyn has grown enormously, and the increased density has negatively impacted mail delivery service. I have written to the postal service repeatedly about the need for a new full-service post office in Dutch Kills, which would help ensure that residents and small businesses have reliable postal service, and my staff reiterated those concerns during the meeting,” Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12) said. “I’m glad that USPS committed to hiring additional staff to help resolve recurring mail delivery problems, and we need to retrofit mail boxes to prevent theft. Consumers and businesses deserve reliable delivery service, and I will continue to work with USPS to help resolve these problems in Western Queens and North Brooklyn. I thank Congressman Meeks for hosting this important meeting.”
“Mail service in America is a right. Every single one of my constituents deserves to receive mail regularly at their home, without delay. The non-delivery of mail, chronically late mail and other poor customer service issues that people may have experienced is absolutely unacceptable,” Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) stated. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in the New York Delegation and the United States Postal Service to ensure that every New Yorker receives dependable service from the USPS.”
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October 3, 2019 by Brian Delaney
LUME Drops Sophomore EP ‘Edge Of My Seat’
Hailing from Oldham UK, buzzing artist LUME has been unstoppable since the release of her debut EP, “Tip of Your Thumb”, just last year. Having left home in the north and settled into Brighton, LUME has used the move and her music as a means of self discovery. Racking up over 5M streams in the first year as a solo artist, she quickly found support from the likes of BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing, Line of Best Fit, Clash, COMPLEX and Pigeons & Planes among others.
Blending influences from nearly every genre, LUME’s sound is a melting pot of ideas and a blur of elements from Pop to Soul to Electronic and R&B. With stunning vocals, a brilliant range, a commanding presence and relatable lyrics, LUME has had no problem proving her worth as a solo artist and continues to push boundaries and develop her sound with every release. Throughout 2019, she has seen substantial growth, starting with the Math Times Joy collaboration, and title track for her new EP, “Edge of My Seat”, which quickly became her fastest growing song – racking up over a million streams in less than 3 months.
Now with the project out for the world to hear, LUME has seemingly saved one of the best tunes for last. The project focus track, “Live With It”, is an enchanting, powerful tune that puts her impressive vocals on full display. Over a minimal, electronic production, LUME hooks the listener from the intro and takes them along for a ride until the very end. The new single relies more on raw emotion and introspective lyrics than it does on complicated arrangements and over-production. The stunningly hypnotic tune is just one of four stellar tunes from the new project – but personally, may be my favorite.
About the song, LUME says, “The intro came from riffing into a mic, with Emre adding a vocoder plug-in on top, to thicken and morph the sound. We recorded this, and chopped up the best moments, using those as samples, throughout the song. The intro feels like a hypnotic mantra to me, the kind of mantra where you’re having to keep telling yourself that everything will be fine! This mantra keeps repeating in the song, with double choruses desperately repeating, ‘need to live with it. Even though the track has dark threads to it, it’s more about the need for forgiveness in a relationship and overcoming doubts in ourselves, so that we can learn to trust in others.”
This entry was posted in Music, Pop, rnb, soul and tagged Edge of my Seat, Live With It, LUME, music, UK. Bookmark the permalink.
Acclaimed Hip-Hop Producer Mr. Hudson Releases New Album “When The Machine Stops”
VVOLV Enters the ‘Portal’ on Latest Single
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3216. Robert Southey to John Murray, 4 December 1818
3216. Robert Southey to John Murray, 4 December 1818*
Keswick. 4 Dec. 1818.
You will see by the paper which I have just dispatched [1] that I have given your friend Mr Baber [2] a gentle touch, & dealt with Professor Christian according to his deserts. [3] I thought of inserting something respecting those fellows who are the disgrace & nuisance of the bookselling business, the fellows who deal in abridgements, & when they cannot steal the works of an esteemed author, steal his name, & wound his reputation in that way, your action about Lord Byron would have been a case in point. [4] Miss Edgeworth & Dr Moore (Zeluco Moore) have been used in the same manner but {&} there was no redress in their case. [5] But I left this matter untouched rather than extend the article farther.
I wrote to you about a translation of Dobrizhoffer. [6] I will tell you (in confidence) what induced me to propose it. You probably are not unacquainted with the manner in which Coleridge has left his sons to shift for themselves, & find their way in the world as they can. The younger is now acting as private tutor to some little boys & will continue in that capacity a year longer. [7] He has a strong mathematical turn, & a strong desire (in consequence) to try his fortune at Cambridge. Some help we have in view for him, & he is most laudably desirous of helping himself. Now this work of Dobrizhoffers is so good a book & so entertaining that I think there is little risque in publishing it, tho it be three octavos of about 500 pages. I have spoken of it in my Brazil as the best book which has ever been written respecting savage life. [8] My “Tale of Paraguay” is taken from this book, & will certainly attract attention to it in a considerable degree. [9] And I would review it so that the reviewal should appear close upon the publication. [10] – In the course of twelvemonths Derwent Coleridge could accomplish the translation, – & if you either paid him so much for the task, or allowed him a share of the eventual profits, it would enable him the first arrangement would enable him to look on to College with certainty, – the second with reasonable hope, – & he might thus meritoriously & honourably put himself in that way of fortune for which he is calculated, & on which his heart is fixed. – You will consider the proposal as a bookseller, – the explanation is made confidentially to a friend.
Your affidavit & some other papers upon the subject [11] are inclosed with the article to Mr Gifford. The first part of the Catacombs [12] will be dispatched in two or three days, – I laid it aside for the Copyright question. After this paper you will do without me for two or three numbers. I shall be employed more to my own advantage & to yours.
When next you send to me, – there is a stray parcel lying in Albermarle Street, which lost the last chance of conveyance.
Believe me my dear Sir
Yrs very truly
It was said some time ago in the Times (the most rascally of all newspapers) that Hazlitt xxx had instituted an action against Blackwoods Magazine. I do not believe it. He would not run the risk of having me subpœnaed upon the trial. [13]
You will tell me when you send the proof, if the statement of your affair treatment by Baber is given as you would wish it.
* Address: To/ John Murray Esqr/ Albemarle Street/ London
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 7 DE 7/ 1818
Seal: black wax; arm raising aloft cross of Lorraine
Watermark: R E & S BATH 1814
Endorsements: 1818 Dec 4 Southey, R; Murray 9/5
MS: National Library of Scotland, MS 42551. ALS; 4p.
[1] Southey’s article on the ‘Inquiry into the Copyright Act’, Quarterly Review, 21 (January 1819), 196–213. BACK
[2] Southey’s article, ‘Inquiry into the Copyright Act’ (209). Here Southey severely criticised Henry Hervey Baber (1775–1869; DNB), Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum 1812–1837, for serving a writ on Murray because his firm had been dilatory in sending to the British Museum copies of four books it had published, as the Copyright Act (1814) required. BACK
[3] One of the works reviewed by Southey in his article, ‘Inquiry into the Copyright Act’, was Edward Christian (1758–1823; DNB), Vindication of the Right of the Universities of the United Kingdom to a Copy of Every New Publication (1818). Christian was Downing Professor of the Laws of England at the University of Cambridge 1800–1823 and vigorously defended the right of eleven designated public and university libraries to receive free copies of all publications. Southey profoundly disagreed and represented this procedure as a tax on the publishing industry. BACK
[4] The legal case Lord Byron v. James Johnston (dates unknown) in 1816; in which Murray acted on Byron’s behalf to gain an injunction preventing the publication of a work that was to appear under Byron’s name, but which Byron had not written. BACK
[5] Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849; DNB), and John Moore (1729–1802; DNB), author of Zeluco: Various Views of Human Nature, Taken from Life and Manners, Foreign and Domestic (1789). BACK
[6] The account of the Jesuit missions in Paraguay by Martin Dobrizhoffer (1717–1791), Historia de Abiponibus, Equestri, Bellicosaque Paraquariae Natione (1784), no. 843 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. BACK
[7] Derwent Coleridge was living with the Hopwood family, well-connected Lancashire landowners, at Summerhill, near Ulverston 1817–1819. Robert Gregge Hopwood (1773–1854) had married in 1805 Cecilia Elizabeth Byng (1770–1854), daughter of John Byng, 5th Viscount Torrington (1743–1813). Derwent Coleridge was tutor to the Hopwoods’ sons: Edward (1807–1891); Frank (1810–1890); and Hervey (1811–1881). He entered St John’s College, Cambridge, in October 1820. BACK
[8] History of Brazil, 3 vols (London, 1810–1819), III, p. 398, described Dobrizhoffer’s work as ‘of all books relating to savage life the most curious, and in every respect the most interesting’. BACK
[9] Southey’s A Tale of Paraguay (1825). BACK
[10] Murray did publish a translation of Dobrizhoffer’s book, but by Sara, not Derwent, Coleridge, An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay (1822). It was reviewed by Southey, as he promised, in Quarterly Review, 26 (January 1822), 277–323. BACK
[11] Southey was returning papers Murray had sent him to compose his article, ‘Inquiry into the Copyright Act’, including Murray’s testimony to the House of Commons Select Committee on the Copyright Act (1818). BACK
[12] Southey’s ‘Cemeteries and Catacombs of Paris’ appeared in Quarterly Review, 21 (April 1819), 359–398. However, he did not stop regularly contributing to the Quarterly Review. BACK
[13] Hazlitt, resenting a series of personal attacks on his appearance, character and conduct in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine that culminated in ‘Hazlitt Cross Questioned’, 3 (August 1818), 550–552, did sue for libel; the magazine settled with him out of court. The case was referred to in The Times, 21 September 1818, which stated ‘Mr. Hazlitt has directed a prosecution to be commenced against the publishers of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, for an alleged libel upon him in the last number of that work. It is a book filled with private slander.’ Southey felt Hazlitt would fear that Southey might be called to give witness to Hazlitt’s conduct and would relate Hazlitt’s behaviour in Keswick in October 1803, when he fled the town after an incident with a woman in a local inn. BACK
Murray, John Samuel (1778–1843)
Coleridge, Derwent (1800–1883) (mentioned 2 times)
Gifford, William (1756–1826) (mentioned 1 time)
Byron, George Gordon, 6th Baron Byron (1788–1824) (mentioned 1 time)
Hazlitt, William (1778–1830) (mentioned 1 time)
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772–1834) (mentioned 1 time)
Coleridge, Sara (1802–1852) (mentioned 1 time)
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RIFF Magazine
In memoriam: 5 artists lost in 2016 and why we miss them
Julie Parker
L to R: Buckwheat Zydeco, Prince Buster, Phife Dawg, Jean Shepard, Don Buchla. Art: Roman Gokhman
It’s safe to say that 2016 has been something of an all-around dumpster fire, especially when it comes to the sheer volume of iconic artists we’ve lost. The list of familiar and life-changing voices who have left this mortal coil is an excruciatingly long one. David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Prince, Lemmy, George Michael, Merle Haggard, Glenn Frey of The Eagles, Jefferson Airplane’s Paul Kantner, Leon Russell and Sharon Jones—none of these larger-than-life figures will be forgotten any time soon. But what about those artists who were equally impactful but seem to have been forgotten before their time due to the massive quantity of loss? Here are a few of the other important artists we lost in this sinking ship of a year.
The country music community mourned the Sept. 25 death of Jean Shepard, the honky-tonk singer and songwriter who helped pave the way for women in the country music industry.
Ollie Imogene “Jean” Shepard was born Nov. 21, 1933, in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. She was first discovered in 1952, as a teenager playing bass in her all-girls band, the Melody Ranch Girls, by musician Hank Thompson. Shepard soon signed a record deal with Capitol Records, and in 1953 she teamed up with fellow Capitol artist Ferlin Husky to cut “A Dear John Letter.” The song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Country Music Chart and launched Shepard to stardom.
It was her solo career that set Shepard apart, though, and her first solo release, Songs of a Love Affair in 1955, produced five hit singles. At the time, women in country music were almost always part of a family or group, or referred to as a band’s “girl singer.” Her songs marked her as an independent woman who wrote, not about standing by her man, but standing up to him, with titles like, “Many Happy Hangovers to You,” “I’ll Take the Dog” and “The Root of All Evil (Is a Man.)”
In a career that spanned 24 studio albums, Jean Shepard’s success blazed the trail for later country music mavericks like Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. Shepard became one of only three women of that era to be invited to join the Grand Ole Opry, an honor she held for 60 consecutive years.
Buckwheat Zydeco
Buckwheat Zydeco, the man responsible for putting the Louisiana Creole genre of music, Zydeco, on the map, died Sept. 24 of lung cancer.
Stanley Joseph Dural, Jr., born Nov. 14, 1947, in Lafayette, Louisiana, was dubbed Buckwheat after The Little Rascals character. His father played accordion for a traditional Creole band, but Dural favored the blues, R&B and funk, and started his career as a session organist for successful bluesmen like Joe Tex and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown in his early teens.
Through his father, Dural met the godfather of Zydeco music, Clifton Chenier, and in 1976 Chenier invited Dural to play the organ for his Red Hot Louisiana Band. After falling in love with zydeco music, a blend of blues, R&B and soul characterized by its use of the accordion, the washboard and brass instruments, Dural learned the accordion and formed his own band, Buckwheat Zydeco. He quickly made a name for himself on the live circuit, and in 1987, Buckwheat Zydeco signed to Island Records.
Dural’s band became the first of the zydeco genre ever to sign to a major label. Over the course of 30 years and 25 records, he shared the stage with musicians ranging from Eric Clapton to Willie Nelson, and was nominated for two Grammys.
Fans were heartbroken to find out that Phife Dawg, of seminal rap group A Tribe Called Quest, died at his home in Contra Costa County, of complications from diabetes on March 22, just eight months before the group would release its first record in 18 years, We Got it From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service.
Born Malik Taylor on Nov. 20, 1970, Phife grew up in Queens, New York, with best friend and fellow ATCQ emcee, Q-Tip. The group would release five records before disbanding in 1998.
ATCQ gained a cult following for its creative sampling of jazz and other diverse sounds on its tracks. Contrary to the more aggressive and even violent themes of many contemporaries, ATCQ focused on positive, quirky and often sociopolitical lyrics.
Prince Buster was the king of ska, responsible for popularizing the genre, first in Jamaica and eventually worldwide. His death on Sept. 8, of complications from a 2009 stroke, has been deeply mourned by fans all over the world.
Born Cecil Bustamente Campbell on May, 24, 1938 in Kingston, Jamaica, he started his own record store and record label by the time he reached his early twenties. In his first recording session, he asked guitarist Jah Jerry to put emphasis on the afterbeat instead of the downbeat, and the “skank” sound that is so iconic in ska and reggae was born.
Prince Buster went on to produce and record thousands of songs, and his music earned acclaim in both Jamaica and England throughout the ’60s and ’70s. Campbell greatly influenced and shepherded the evolution of ska, from rocksteady to reggae and beyond.
“Buster was really the first king of Jamaican music,” wrote The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. “With the help of its second king, [he] made reggae probably the most popular music in the world.”
Don Buchla
Don Buchla, a composer and early innovator of modular sound synthesizers, died of cancer on Sept. 14. While the name Buchla may be unfamiliar to many, those who recognize it know the man as a visionary.
Born April 19, 1937, Buchla developed one of the first modular synthesizers in 1963. It became known as the Electronic Music Box, or the Buchla Box. Unbeknownst to Buchla, Robert Moog was independently developing a modular synthesizer the same year. Buchla eschewed the keyboard design used by Moog for something less traditional. This is one reason Moog became more well-known and better credited for the invention.
“When there’s not a black-and-white keyboard, you get involved in many other aspects of the music, and it’s a far more experimental way,” Buchla said about his unorthodox design. “It’s appealing to fewer people, but it’s more exciting.”
Buchla was deeply involved in the California counterculture of the ’60s. He created the sound system used by the Grateful Dead. He also collaborated sonically with iconic author Ken Kesey to develop the sound system for Kesey and his Merry Pranksters “trip” cross-country, as documented in Tom Wolfe’s book, “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.”
Follow reporter Julie Parker at Twitter.com/jpwhatsername.
Julie Parker grew up listening to Bay Area punk rock and is still holding out hope for a Jawbreaker reunion. In the meantime, she's studying journalism at San Francisco State University and thanking her lucky stars that writing about music is a real job. Parker is a Seattle native and lives in Berkeley with her two wiener dogs.
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RT.com / RT projects / Russiapedia / Prominent Russians / Cinema and theater / Mikhail Kalatozov
Prominent Russians: Mikhail Kalatozov
December 28, 1903 – March 26, 1973
Image from www.philol.msu.ru
Mikhail Kalatozov was a famous Georgian and Russian film director and a Soviet and Georgian People’s Artiste. His films were loved in the USSR as they still are today in Russia and around the world.
Mikhail Kalatozishvili was born on 28 December 1903 in Tiflis (now Tbilisi, Georgia). When Mikhail was young, he dreamed of becoming a film director. On the way toward achieving his dream, the future People’s Artiste worked as a cinema operator, a film editor, a cameraman at the Tbilisi film studio and even a simple driver.
Mikhail began working at the age of 14 when he was hired as a driver. At the age of 17 he started studying economics, but the subject did not interest him, so he soon quit and turned to what really attracted him – directing and film-making.
Kalatozov began his career in Georgian filmmaking in 1923.
While working as a writer and a cameraman he participated in the making of such films as “The Case of Tariel Mklavadze (1925), “Gulli” (1927), “Gipsy Blood” (1928), for which he was both a co-author and a camera operator, and some others. He even took a shot at acting thanks to his extraordinarily beautiful appearance.
In 1928, with the help of Nutsa Gogoberidze, a Soviet-Georgian director and scriptwriter, and some rare documentary recordings, he produced his first movie “Their Empire,” which affirmed him as a young film director.
The year 1930 marked an important moment in Mikhail’s career – he made his debut as a freestanding film director with the movie “Jim Shuante.” The film was an astounding success partly due to the talent of the young director and partly thanks to the superb ethnographic recordings (the movie was filmed in a small Svan village buried in the heart of a mountain range), the expressive montage and the highly charged political topic – the establishment of the Soviet government in the Caucasus.
The beginning of the 1930s was the beginning of a new era in cinematography – motion pictures acquired sound and the poetical aesthetic was slowly dying away. This was a tough period for Mikhail as he had tried to adapt to the transforming industry. The film he shot at the time, “Nail In The Boot” (1932), was never released.
In 1933 Kalatozov became a doctoral candidate at the Art Studies Academy in Saint Petersburg and a year later he was appointed director of the Tbilisi motion-picture studio; Mikhail occupied the post for nearly four years.
Fruitful years
In 1937 Mikhail Kalatozov finished his traineeship at the Art Studies Academy in Saint Petersburg then worked at the Tbilisi film studios for a short period of time. Here, Mikhail did his best to equip the studios with brand new technological facilities, which still function properly to this day.
But Mikhail soon quit the studio as he was accused of “implementing bourgeois ideology.” Kalatozov, however, did not stay unemployed for long - he was soon hired by the “Lenfilm” motion picture studios as a director. Mikhail immediately put his head down, creating two highly successful films about pilots one after the other – “Courage” and “Valery Chkalov.” The principal character of “Valery Chkalov,” a Soviet flying ace, was so popular with audiences that his popularity nearly surpassed that of Chapaev - a celebrated Russian soldier and Red Army commander during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922 about whom books have been written and several films shot.
At the beginning of the 1940s Mikhail’s success and the people’s affection for him made him the representative of Soviet cinema in the West, particularly in Hollywood.
In 1942, during World War II, Kalatozov, together with Vladimir Gerasimov, the well-known Soviet film director, shot a military drama about the notorious Leningrad blockade entitled “Invincible.” The blockade was the cause of the unsuccessful German military operation to capture Leningrad; it lasted 872 days and caused thousands of civilian deaths. Later another film appeared - “A Concert Dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of The Red Army” - that was co-directed with Vladimir Gerasimov and Efim Dzigan but it was not very popular with audiences.
Image from www.kino-teatr.ru
A new period in the life of Russia’s most famous film director was ushered in by the year 1943 when Kalatozov started working at the “Mosfilm” motion picture studios in Moscow. In 1944 he was appointed Head of the Central Administrative Board that dealt with film production. Mikhail held this post for two years – until 1946.
That year, Mikhail’s career reached its peak – Kalatozov was appointed Deputy Film Industry Minister of the USSR, remaining in the post until 1948.
Decline in Soviet cinematography
The end of 1940s and the beginning of 1950s was a period of decline in Soviet cinematography - few films were shot and not many directors managed to create truly great pictures.
Still, at the very beginning of 1950s, in 1951, Kalatozov was awarded the USSR State Prize for his film “The Plot of the Doomed.” The film was a political pamphlet, a movie version of a play by Nikolay Virta – a Soviet writer who developed a theory of "conflictless" drama. Apart from the prize the film received back home, it also earned an award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
Kalatozov’s true success was the film that is now quite rightly included in the collection of the world’s most loved and popular movies – the comedy “True friends.” The film won the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1954.
“The Cranes Are Flying”
Kalatozov’s principal film, “The Cranes Are Flying,” an innovatory in its form and essence drama about World War II, won the Palme d'Or at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival. The picture depicted the cruelty of the war and the pain the Soviet people went through; the film showed, and quite vividly, how the war maimed people’s mind, how universal truths got ridiculed and ignored and how the war made people face hard choices they normally would never have to make. Such an atypical approach to judging the effects of war made the story seem more personal, more real, and made the film not just a success, but a true masterpiece of cinematography.
The film represented a new and quite unusual approach to interpreting the war; it was treated not as a universal tragedy, but as the tragedy of one particular couple - their family, their love and their future. The film became the second Soviet film to win the Palme d’Or; the first was “The Turning Point,” directed by Soviet film director Fridrikh Ermler, an actor and screenwriter who was a four-time recipient of the Stalin Prize,
Image from www.kinoros.ru
Inspired by the unexpected success of “The Cranes Are Flying,” Kalatozov created another film “The Unsent Letter” (1959). The movie described a group of geologists who died tragically after setting out in search of a diamond field. But despite the hopes Kalatozov anchored on this film, it was not appreciated the way “The Cranes Are Flying” was. The film that immediately followed, the philosophical and romantic “I Am Cuba” (1964) that Kalatozov co-authored with Evgeny Evtushenko was also not very well received. Evtushenko was a many-sided man – he was a known Soviet poet, a novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, actor, editor and director of several films.
Still, Francis Ford Coppola once said that his famous “Apocalypse Now” was shot after he saw “The Unsent Letter” and that he was greatly influenced by Kalatozov’s film, which was practically unknown to Soviet audience, but much appreciated and loved in the West.
Teamplay with the West
Image from www.media.meta.ua
Despite the ill luck of the “Unsent Letter” and “I Am Cuba,” Kalatozov’s last film, “The Red Tent” (1970), a joint Italian-Russian production, was highly successful. The film was based on the story of a mission to rescue Umberto Nobile, an Italian aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer. He was primarily remembered for designing and piloting the airship “Norge,” which may have been the first aircraft to reach the North Pole, and which was indisputably the first to fly across the polar ice cap from Europe to America.
The film turned out to be one of the best and most fortunate examples of cooperation between Soviet and the foreign cineastes. The picture featured Sean Connery as Roald Amundsen, Peter Finch as Nobile and the star of the Western cinema industry Claudia Cardinale. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe 1972 as the best English-language foreign film.
Character and personal traits
In cinematographic circles Kalatozov was often called a “cinematograf” for his admitted genius and wonderful films. Kalatozov loved his profession and, having in his youth mastered the twists and turns of practically each and every cinematographic job, did true credit to it.
Kalatozov died in Moscow on 27 March 1973. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
Written by Anna Yudina, RT
Arkady Raikin Arkady Raikin was a great Russian performer, director, scriptwriter and humorist of the 20th century. Konstantin Khabensky Konstantin Khabensky is a Russian theater and movie actor and recipient of the Honored Artist of Russia title. Mikhail Piotrovsky Mikhail Piotrovsky is a Russian scientist and the Director of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. Aleksansdr Khanzhonkov Aleksansdr Khanzhonkov was a pioneer of Russian cinema, he produced the first Russian feature film and founded the first film studio. Georgy Tovstonogov Georgy Tovstonogov is a world-acclaimed theater director who devoted all his life to the Leningrad Drama Theater and bred a whole generation of outstanding actors. Andrey Konchalovsky Andrey Konchalovsky is the Russian film director, writer and producer.
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RT.com / RT projects / Russiapedia / Prominent Russians / Literature / Anna Akhmatova
Prominent Russians: Anna Akhmatova
June 23, 1889 – March 5, 1966
Anna Akhmatova in 1924,
photo by Moisey Nappelbaum
Moscow House of Photography
Anna Akhmatova’s works are Russia's finest poetry, a synthesis of femininity and manliness, displaying delicate feelings and deep thought.
Family background
Akhmatova was born in a Ukrainian village, near the city of Odessa. A year later, her family moved to Tsarskoe Selo (Tsar’s Village) near St. Petersburg, where she lived and studied until she was 16.
Akhmatova started writing poetry at the age of 11, inspired by her favourite poets: Pushkin, Racine and Evgeny Baratynsky.
Akhmatova´s style
Anna Akhmatova came into poetry as a representative of the literary movement acmeism, with her husband being one of its leaders.
It opposed itself to symbolism, with its romantic mysticism, and instead attempted to use more clear and vivid images.
Acmeism did not last for long, but Akhmatova never renounced it, although her growing literary principles were much more diverse and complicated.
First works
Anna Akhmatova with husband
Nikolay Gumilev
and son Lev in 1916
(image from akhmatova.org)
Her first collections of short lyrical poems Evening (1912) and especially Rosary (1914) brought her fame. The psychologically-acute, brief pieces are known for their classical diction, detailed elaboration and use of colour.
Akhmatova’s early poems usually centre on the relationship between a man and woman during its most-significant and sensitive moments. In these anthologies, and the last pre-revolutionary White Flock (1917), her poetic manner was defined.
The combination of understatement, which had nothing in common with symbolism’s mysticism, went together with a precise portrayal of pictures.
The first lines of the poem Song of the Last Meeting (1911) has become, to many, Akhmatova's so-called 'calling card':
a portrait by Yury Annenkov
(image from ahmatova.niv.ru)
My breast grew helplessly cold,
But my steps were light.
I pulled the glove from my left hand
Mistakenly onto my right.
An expression of the inner world though the outer, very often using contrast and resembling a psychological prose, the dotted action and the presence of characters and even small dialogues – all these characterizes Akhamatova’s poetry style.
The Queen of Neva
She did not acknowledge the word “poetess”, referring to herself and letting others speak of her only as a “poet”. Her contemporaries called her “Queen of the Neva” and “Soul of the Silver Age” (as the period is known in the history of Russian literature).
In the longest of her works, Poem without a Hero (1940-1965) (inspired by Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin), the combination of history, culture and man’s immortality are underlined.
Secret reminiscences about the First World War read as a foretelling of WW2, with all the repressions and catastrophes of the epoch (The real, not the calendar / Twentieth Century came.)
Poem without a Hero is also a deeply personal work, filled with associations, obvious and hidden quotations from the literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Akhamatova's structured cycles of poems, the well-known Requiem (1935-1940), was the product of intensely hard work. A highly-autobiographical, tragic masterpiece with a unique composition, it addresses the fate of a woman and poet working and living during the Stalinist repressions. Anna Akhamatova memorised the poems of Requiem and only dared to write them down in 1962.
Anna Akhmatova in Tashkent,
Uzbekistan (image from hrono.ru)
Not under foreign skies protection
Or saving wings of alien birth -
I was then there – with whole my nation -
There, where my nation, alas! was.
It's considered one of the great Russian poetic testaments of the 20th century, and was only published in the poet’s homeland 25 years later – in 1987.
The persecuted poet
Akhmatova became a symbol of suppressed Russian poetry, because of the strained relations with the government at the time.
Her personal life was also marred by tragedy. Her first husband and Russian poet, Nikolay Gumilev, was executed in 1921 for activities considered anti-Soviet. Her third husband, the prominent art scholar, Nikolay Punin, died in the Stalinist Gulag camps, where her only son, Lev, spent his youth.
One goes in straightforward ways,
One in a circle roams:
Waits for a girl of his gone days,
Or for returning home.
But I do go – and woe is there –
By a way nor straight, nor broad,
But into never and nowhere,
Like trains – off the railroad.
In 1922 Akhmatova was condemned as a bourgeois threat and her poetry was banned from publication for 15 years. During this time, she earned her living by translating and writing essays, including some from her favourite writer, Aleksandr Pushkin.
Many of her friends either emigrated or faced repression, and only a few in the West knew she was still alive when, in 1940, the veto on publishing her works was lifted.
During World War II, Akhamatova witnessed the nightmare of the 900-day Siege of Leningrad.
When she returned to the city following the central Asian evacuation to Tashkent, she was distressed by what she called a “terrible ghost that pretended to be my city”.
In 1946, her works were banned from publication again. Only after Stalin's death in 1953 the Soviet government admitted Akhmatova's importance among Russian poets, releasing a censored edition of her work.
She managed to reunite with some of her pre-revolutionary friends in 1965 when she was allowed to travel to Sicily and England.
Anna Akhmatova was married to the famous Russian poet Nikolay Gumilev from 1910 until 1918 with whom she had her only child, Lev, in 1912. She died in 1966 at the age of 76 in Domodedovo and was buried in St. Petersburg.
Olga Berggolts Olga Berggolts was a Soviet poet and blockade-era radio speaker, whose voice kept people alive during dark and lean days. Vissarion Belinsky Vissarion Belinsky was a Russian literary critic who made great contributions to the development of Russian literature and laid the foundation of Russian literary criticism. Gavriil Derzhavin Gavriil Derzhavin was a first-rate Russian poet of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin was a Russian satirical writer. In his writings he illustrated and ridiculed corruption, overgrown bureaucracy, and everyday absurdities. Ivan Krylov Ivan Krylov was a Russian poet, fabulist, translator and author of more than 200 fables. Evgeny Yevtushenko Evgeny Yevtushenko is a Russian "super poet," worshiped by millions, who packed soccer stadiums to hear him recite his verses.
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RT.com / RT projects / Russiapedia / Prominent Russians / Politics and society / Aleksey Navalny
Prominent Russians: Aleksey Navalny
Born June 4, 1976
Aleksey Navalny (Photo by Alexey Novikov)
A blogger and opposition activist, a lawyer and a nationalist, a businessman, husband, father and surely one of the most controversial public figures in Russia. Some people want to see him become president, some want to see him behind bars – the man can influence thousands with the click of a mouse - meet Aleksey Navalny.
Aleksey Navalny was born in 1976 in a small closed Soviet military town near Moscow. After graduating from high school he studied law at the People’s Friendship University of Russia in the capital. Navalny continued his education later by studying finance and loans at the Financial Academy with the Government of the Russian Federation, which he completed in 2001.
Nine years later he gathered enough recommendation letters, including one from chess guru and opposition activist Garry Kasparov, and completed a half-year World Fellow course at Yale University in the US. This particular part of his biography still raises many questions and controversial theories among his critics in Russia’s political circle, many of whom accuse Navalny of being a secret agent of the US State Department, trained to destabilize the political climate in Russia.
Early political career
Aleksey Navalny (Photo from http://www.navalny.ru)
In 2000, Aleksey Navalny commenced his political career by becoming a member of the Yabloko democratic party. He quickly managed to climb the career ladder, and by 2004 Navalny was already head of the party’s Moscow department. At about the same time he founded the Muscovite Protection Committee – a public movement against corruption and civil rights violations during construction in Moscow.
In 2005, Navalny along with other activists formed another movement called Da! (Yes!) - a non-party-affiliated youth organization designed to tackle problems with Russia’s social and political life. In 2007, he even hosted a political debate show called Fight Club on a Moscow TV channel and at about the same time became one of the founders of the nationalist-democratic Narod (People) movement.
Officially, this led to Navalny being expelled from Yabloko the same year, which accused him of nationalist activities. But Aleksey himself claims he was ruled out after calling for the removal of the party’s founder, Grigory Yavlinsky. At the same time Navalny never hid his nationalistic views.
Other social projects remained in force, while in 2009 Navalny also became advisor to the governor of the Kirov Region. However, it’s fair to say even though he had a lot on his plate, he remined out of the public spotlight throughout all these years, and it wasn’t until his blogging and further anti-corruption activities began that his popularity sky-rocketed.
Nationalistic views
Aleksey Navalny with Gaкry Kasparov in peaceful march For Fair Elections. St. Petersburg, February 25, 2012 (Photo from http://www.navalny.ru)
“Our society is being eaten by decay… It has to be carefully but firmly removed by means of deportation. Only those who have liquid calcium in their heads think nationalism is violent… We have the right to be Russians in Russia and we will defend it”, says “doctor” Navalny, acting as a dentist in a controversial video produced by the Narod movement.
Navalny has been presenting his nationalistic ideas in public for quite some time now. Since 2008 he’s been taking part in the so-called Russian marches, which include ultra-radical movements and illegal organizations, often known for their aggressively nationalistic views. The same year, he took part in the founding of the Russian National Movement, which united various nationalist groups and even promised the new organization would take part in the next parliamentary election, though this promise never came to be fulfilled.
His participation did make Navalny better-known in certain circles, however, many analysts say the open nationalist position actually ended up harming his image when the activist moved to the next stage of public activity – the much wider protest movement which formed after the parliamentary election in December 2011, uniting ordinary people, mostly from the middle class, also known as the creative class.
Blogging and anti-corruption efforts
Besides taking part in public rallies and other activities, Aleksey Navalny is one of the most influential bloggers in Russia. His Twitter account has over 200,000 followers, while the web itself has become a powerful instrument for his anti-corruption efforts.
In 2010, Navalny founded an internet portal called RosPil aimed at uncovering corruption schemes in the sphere of state purchases. The idea is pretty simple: the site’s users present various state tenders, usually found on official websites, to independent experts who then audit them for corrupt activity. Later the results are officially formed by lawyers and sent to the authorities. The project is financed from private donations and claims to be fully independent. By May 2011 RosPilreportedly announced it had managed to reveal various fraud schemes worth a total of around $53 million.
In May 2011, Navalny founded another internet project – RosYama, aimed at attracting more attention to the quality of roads in the country and the traffic situation in general. The project encourages drivers to take pictures of potholes they come across, take approximate measurements and send all the information to the site.
Early in 2012, plans for another project were announced – RosVybory, aimed at pointing the public eye on possible violations during elections.
Beside all his projects, Aleksey Navalny also has an official job – he’s a lawyer. In an interview to journalist and opposition activist Leonid Parfyonov, Navalny said the combined yearly budget of all his initiatives rounds up to around $300,000, which, he says, isn't only enough to keep them going, but also to support his family.
Navalny and the protest movement
Aleksey Navalny being detained while taking part in protests on Pushkinskaya square in Moscow on March 5, 2012 (Photo from http://www.navalny.ru)
There are certainly many projects and initiatives that Navalny was or is involved in. But it’s his brutal anti-government stance and fierce criticism of Vladimir Putin personally and the pro-Kremlin United Russia party that really put him in the spotlight. Once as a guest on one radio show he called it a “party of crooks and thieves” and the reference instantly turned into folklore on the internet.
Already noted for his nationalism by some and anti-corruption projects by others, Navalny’s popularity soared along with the protest movement which followed the parliamentary vote in December 2011 amid accusations of ballot fraud. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of their cities, especially in Moscow, demanding fair elections. Scores of protesters listened to Navalny’s speeches at the biggest rallies Russia’s seen since the early ’90s. Many called him a talented orator, but to some it began to seem Navalny was taking things a bit too far. Speaking at one of the first rallies he claimed he was ready to “bite through [the authorities’] necks” and demonstrated some of the tricks he may have learned at the nationalist rallies he had taken part in.
Navalny, along with several other opposition figures, was arrested and put in prison for 15 days, officially for not abiding with the orders of the police. Ironically, this ended up serving in his favor, since more people began viewing him as a modern-day hero and a true fighter against the regime. However, after a few more controversial speeches and rising criticism on the web for failing to organize the opposition, Navalny’s popularity slipped, although it still most definitely stands at a high level.
In 2011, Foreign Policy journal ranked him 24th among the one hundred best global thinkers.
Written by Egor Piskunov, RT correspondent
Yury Chayka Yury Chayka began his career as an intern and proceeded to become an investigator at one of the local prosecutor's offices in Russia's Irkutsk region. Today he is Prosecutor General. Tatyana Golikova Tatyana Golikova is the Health and Social Development Minister. Mintimer Shaimiev Mintimer Shaimiev is a Russian politician and the first President of Tatarstan Republic in 1991-2010. Sergey Mironov Sergey Mironov is a Russian politician and leader of the Russian political party Fair Russia. Yelena Baturina Yelena Baturina is a successful business woman and the richest woman in all of Russia. Mikhail Fradkov Mikhail Fradkov is the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Office, who also was the country's Prime Minister (2004-2007).
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DAISY Honorees
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Predictive Care
Algorithms, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are slowly taking the world by storm, upending traditional processes across virtually every industry, and healthcare is no different. When you pull up your Netflix account, the website will recommend certain titles based on your previous viewing habits. Meteorologists use previous weather patterns to predict future outcomes. And now doctors can look to millions of electronic health records (EHR) when diagnosing and treating their patients.
Major tech companies like Google are trying to collect as much health data as they can to create a sort of online search tool for doctors and physicians. When a doctor evaluates a patient, previous clinical outcomes and patient data will tell them what to do next, so they can move on to the next patient as quickly as possible without second-guessing themselves or compromising patient care. If you’re curious about the future of healthcare, dive into all things AI and what we mean by “predictive care”.
The Poverty of Attention
Doctors have access to large quantities of data when evaluating their patients, including the patient’s health history, similar clinical outcomes, and information regarding the latest treatment methods. However, when we’re exposed to too much information all at once, it creates what’s known as “poverty of attention”. Our minds simply can’t process and absorb this information in a meaningful way. Part of Google’s plan is to condense healthcare information as much as possible, so doctors and physicians don’t have to read through pages of data when treating their patients.
Making Decisions on the Spot
Every second counts when a patient’s life is on the line, so doctors need to work fast. Doctors are also working harder than ever before, and they need to use their time wisely if they’re going to treat all their patients effectively.
According to a 2018 survey by the Physicians Foundation, doctors on average work 51 hours a week and see 20 patients a day. Considering their workload, doctors need to be able to access meaningful insights in a matter of seconds instead of combing through a patient’s entire medical history.
At any given moment, doctors need to decide whom they’re going to treat first and how based on data from their chart. Deciding which data to focus on and how to best treat the patient isn’t always easy. With AI-assisted technology, the algorithm can start making some of these decisions on the doctor’s behalf, so they can spend more time doing the work and less time figuring out what to do next.
Aggregate Electronic Health Records
To help doctors make complex healthcare decisions on the spot, Google is in the process of collecting a wealth of healthcare information from a diverse array of sources. To comply with patient privacy laws, such as those outlined in HIPAA, hospitals have agreed to de-identify patients before releasing these records. The EHRs contain a range of important information, including medications, laboratory values, diagnoses, vital signs, and medical notes.
All these EHRs will then be converted into a single standardized data structure format, with relevant information ordered and arranged per individual patient. Google’s new invention will then use three deep learning methods to predict future clinical outcomes. The technology will also be able to quickly summarize past medical events and incidents with patients with similar conditions as they relate to the situation at hand. Using this model, doctors could see the final outcome before ever treating the patient.
The tool will be able to predict a range of important clinical information, including:
Unplanned transfers to the intensive care unit
Unplanned hospitalizations
ER visits or readmissions within 30 days after discharging the patient
Patient length of stay in the hospital
Inpatient mortality
Primary diagnosis
Atypical laboratory results that could signal a new chronic condition or health issue
Primary and secondary billing diagnoses at patient discharge
Doctors will receive an alert on their tablet or smartphone when the machine predicts future clinical events. The alert will also contain “attention mechanisms” that track how much information the machine accessed when predicting the outcome, such as the number of individual words in a note, lab measurements, medications, etc. This helps the doctor decide how much confidence they should place in the predicted outcome.
It’s important to remember that this new machine is meant to be used as a tool. Doctors will be free to use or refuse information regarding predicted outcomes as they see fit. AI algorithms will only supplement their medical knowledge and expertise, not replace it entirely. While this project is still in the early phases, Google has focused its efforts on ophthalmology and digital pathology. The more information Google collects over the years, the more comprehensive the algorithm will be.
Google isn’t the only one experimenting with predictive healthcare. Amazon is looking upload EHRs to the cloud, while researchers at the University of Nottingham recently created an AI algorithm that can predict death. Depending on the results of this initial experiment, AI and healthcare may prove to be a match made in heaven.
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female blues singer
2010: The Year of BC’s Jazz & Blues Queen, Maureen Washington!
Posted on March 18, 2011 by Scully Love Promo
Title: Here We Go Again
Artist: Daniel Cook and Maureen Washington
Stars: 4.0
Maureen Washington is a very busy woman. In 2010, she produced two new albums, worked full time as a jazz and blues singer, took 8 music classes, worked part-time as a bookkeeper and continued to raise her five children! Throughout it all she maintains a stellar smile, a sense of humour and carries herself with grace and style. She has also recently been nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year in the Vancouver Island Music Awards and is #1 on the ReverbNation Jazz Charts for Canada.
Here We Go Again is a slickly produced, “funkified urban jazz” album filled with classy, mature material presented by Victoria, BC’s accomplished guitarist Daniel Cook and the velvety smooth, clear and impassioned alto vocals of Maureen Washington. Six of the eight featured songs are written by Cook and Washington with the exception of “The Right Stuff” (Cook & Kosowick) and “Love This Life” (Cook) and all of them are about the complexities of the romantic relationship – the struggles, fears, hopes and heartbreaks that make up that rollercoaster ride known as love.
Cook and Washington’s partnership is practiced, professional and extremely comfortable which is evident not only from their collaborations on the CD but also in the cover artwork (the friends are bound together by what appears to be a white cable) which illustrates their sense of playfulness and humour. It is obvious that this pair have a great time making music together! From the opening chords of “Twisted” through to the positively uplifting gospel jazz closing number, “Love This Life”, Here We Go Again is an absolute joy to the ears!
Backed by superb musicians including Ross MacDonald (bass), Damian Graham (drums), Bryn Badel (trumpet), Jerry Cook (saxophone), Brad Hawkins (percussion), Nick La Riviere (trombone) and Chris Van Sickle (keyboards), each track is a testament to the fact that Maureen Washington not only has the right stuff and all that you need, but she’s definitely learned some lessons from her misery and bliss as well.
Perfect for a dinner party or a night of sensual dance, standouts include: “Here We Go Again” – an island calypso number with fabulous horns; “Shooting Star” which brings a reggae beat and prominent bass line to light; “Forget Me Not” – a waltz that summons memories of the finest offerings from Billie Holiday or Roberta Flack; and my favourite, “Let’s Make It Happen” which sizzles with a sexy, blues/funk reverberation (and excellent guitar solo by Cook) that will have you shaking your booty from one end of the dance floor to the other! I LOVE this album!
Title: Blues In The Night…and stories my Mama told me
Artist: Maureen Washington
Maureen took a completely different direction with Blues In The Night…and stories my Mama told me, a collection in which she pays tribute to 10 superlative blues and jazz classics and records them with stripped down production that includes only her seamless vocals and Karel Roessingh’s expert keys.
On this CD, Maureen pays homage to her mother by singing some of her all-time favourite “breaka my heart songs” including “At Last”, “You Don’t Know Me”, “Georgia On My Mind” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” Although she hits every note perfectly, most of her performances have a restrained feel to them and I was left wishing she would have let go and allowed herself to get a bit more wild and passionate.
My favourite tracks include “Peel Me A Grape”, “Blues In The Night” (which includes an excellent piano solo by Roessingh) and “A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square.” While not unpleasant by any means, most of the other songs are comprised of such a mellow tempo and quiet atmosphere that I could fall asleep listening to them. The CD ends with a sassier, growling version of “Stormy Monday” that wakes you up and does Maureen proud.
The only regrettable thing about Maureen Washington is that she lives on Vancouver Island and performs primarily in British Columbia so the rest of us in Canada are missing out on the opportunity to experience her talent and charm live and in person. However, I will keep looking forward to the day that the opportunity arises!
Maureen Washington & Karrel Roessingh perform “Blues In The Night”
A Q&A With Blues Chanteuse, Layla Zoe
Posted on March 3, 2011 by Scully Love Promo
Photos of Layla Zoe by Mark Gommer
Three weeks ago, I had the exceptionally good fortune to see Canada’s Darling of the Blues, Layla Zoe, perform in concert in Kingston, ON. I was so blown away by the amazing set of pipes and super cool stage presence possessed by this young woman that I wanted to learn all that I could about her and tell everyone about her fantastic music!
Lovely Layla graciously agreed to do a Q&A with me for Press +1 (which I am re-posting) and here’s how that conversation unfolded:
Layla, the night I saw you perform, you said that you were born to sing. I know that you’ve been singing since you were four years old, but how old were you when you realized that you had to pursue music as a career?
I guess I always had a natural drive and desire to be on stage from a very young age. I used to enjoy writing short skits and performing them for friends and family, as well as lip synching to songs I liked and dressing up in costume. I was always a very creative kid I guess. I sang in school musicals in high school, then performed in my dad’s band for a very short time at age fourteen, as well as playing around with friends who played instruments and doing a little busking on Granville Street (Vancouver). Then after moving back to Vancouver Island at age 18 I joined a cover band and played up and down Vancouver Island in local bars for 3½ years. All of these experiences helped me to grow as a singer/performer and contributed to my passion for music. But it was really when I attended the Hornby Island Blues Workshop in 2003 and met some of the best Blues artists in Canada who were teaching at the workshop, that I decided it was really time to break away from the cover band and start getting serious about my “career” in the Blues…
I can tell you now, that several of the teachers at the workshop that first year (Ellen McIlwaine, Suzie Vinnick, David Gogo, Doug Cox, etc.) said things to me which directly contributed to my decision to get serious about MY music. It always means a lot to me when my fans come up and say nice things at the shows, but I guess I have to admit that sometimes it means even more when my peers take the time to say supportive things. And many of the instructors at the workshop made a point of telling me how much they liked my voice, to keep on singing, and that I had the chance to have a career in music, if that is what I wanted. At the time, I was still quite young, and I greatly respected some of the musicians who were saying these things to me, so I guess it was the extra push/boost I needed to make some big changes/choices I had already been contemplating. I ended up leaving my cover band not long after that and began writing songs for my first album. I started going by my name and no longer a band name, and began working on my guitar and harmonica playing. The rest is history…because I have released an album every year as Layla Zoe since then, and have never looked back….
Are you a classically trained vocalist?
I have no classical training, although I did take one year of Jazz Vocal at Malaspina College in Nanaimo, BC, the same school and program where Diana Krall studied. But to be honest, life sort of got in the way of my being able to completely absorb and get the most from that year at school. I feel that I learnt more from the 3½ years I spent in my early cover band, than I did from the year at school studying Jazz Vocal. I guess for me, it was necessary that I get out there and actually see what it was like to be on stage every night in a different town, and to load the gear in and out, and sing until 3am, etc., etc…In my opinion that kind of experience cannot be taught in a classroom environment.
Do you rehearse before your live performances?
Layla with Wayne "Shakey" Dagenais
Depending on the show, of course there are rehearsals for the shows, so that everyone is comfortable with the material. But if you are asking if I warm-up before every show, then the answer is no. I probably should…But I tend to just choose the easier songs for the first set, which helps me to “warm-up” on stage. I leave the “heavier” songs for a little later in the show, so my voice is ready.
What are some of the techniques and remedies that you use to keep your voice in great shape?
Well, I smoke and drink, so not sure that I am very good to my voice sometimes, haha! But I sing every day which helps keep the juices flowing. And I use lemon, hot water, and honey, which is a very helpful remedy for when things get cruddy in the old wind pipe, haha! As a redhead, I also talk a lot, haha!! So that keeps my voice pretty warmed up.
Do you utilize a kind of ‘method acting’ to help summon strong emotions while singing or do they just come to you naturally?
I am completely unconscious of anything I am doing on stage when it comes to “pulling out the emotions”…I do not think about it, or try, it simply comes naturally. I feel that something takes over my body and I begin to “channel” the past, present and future pains I have experienced and am experiencing. It is all very difficult to describe. It’s just that the music takes me away, and sometimes it is almost hard to “come back” to earth after the shows. It takes me some time to get grounded after I perform. I give all of myself. I give my listeners my heart, on a platter…
You sure do, Layla! When you were growing up, did you listen to a steady diet of Blues music or were there also other genres in your collection?
Layla singing for the Kingston Blues Society on Feb. 12, 2011
I listened to a lot of Blues growing up because my father loved the Blues. I must thank him for introducing me to many of the musicians I still listen to and enjoy today. It was normal around my house to hear Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Billie Holiday, etc., during dinner time. But the Blues is not the only music I enjoyed at home as a child, or later on as a teenager and young adult. I have always been into MANY kinds of music. Everything from classical, to jazz, to death metal! I just love music…And at a young age I bought my first record player and spent more time with it, then with my friends. I have always been drawn most of all to the music from the 60’s/70’s period. I guess I was drawn to the lyrical content of bands from those decades and also the psychedelic/experimental nature of the music.
Who are some of your favourite artists right now?
Long list, but I will name a few here:
Frank Zappa, Muddy Waters, Roy Buchanan, Peter Green, Derek Trucks, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Eva Cassidy, Billie Holiday, Etta James, Susan Tedeschi, Kaki King, Tanya Tagaq, Paul Reddick, Harry Manx, Janis Joplin, Ry Cooder, Howlin’ Wolf, Henrik Freischlader, The Raconteurs, etc., etc…
Do you have a favourite song that you’ve written? If so, can you tell us what it’s called and a little bit about the story behind it?
Hmmm, tough question. I feel good about several of my songs because they often express and showcase how I am feeling at the time and that is always changing from year to year. But I guess some of my faves are “Someday” and “Disappearing Delta” (off the album Shades of Blue), “Black Eyes Blacker”, “I Am Free” and “Soft as a Feather” (off the album Hoochie Coochie Woman) and the whole album “The Firegirl” which was a labour of love and has some of my best songwriting on it. However, I really feel that my newest album which I just made in Germany in December, 2010, has some of the best writing I have ever done. It will be released in the fall of 2011 in Europe and then Canada, and I think it is my best album yet…
You’ve met some of the biggest names in the Blues. Do you have any interesting or funny stories that you can share about any of your contemporaries?
Well, I have some stories, but probably some of them should not be told, haha! But for example, meeting Jeff Healey was a wonderful experience. He said some very kind things to me and performing with him was a highlight of my career. As well as saying some wonderful things about my voice, Jeff also said that he hoped I would have the chance to meet and work with BB King someday before he was gone. It was sad when I thought back to this comment after Jeff died, because he left us before BB in the end…But I do hope to meet and work with BB someday and Jeff’s belief in me really put things in perspective for me back then.
How did you end up meeting Jeff Healey and playing with him?
I was connected to Jeff through a mutual friend/musician named Danny Marks. I was working with Danny in Toronto performing at a few shows and then we both performed at Jeff Healey’s bar with Jeff. It was a great night and one I won’t soon forget. I then ended up performing again with Jeff, but this time without Danny there, and that was not long before Jeff passed away.
You said that you spend your pocket money on records. What are the last three records that you bought?
Well, the last treats I bought myself were:
The Allman Brothers “Dreams” box set on vinyl, which is rare and hard to find, as well as being a little pricey, but is totally worth every penny since it has tracks off all of their albums including the early stuff. I also bought Humble Pie’s album “Rockin’ at the Fillmore”, Ry Cooder’s album “Boomer’s Story” and Traffic’s album “On the Road” which is a really great record!
What’s your favourite red wine?
I tend to buy what I can afford, haha! But I really like Yellow Dune Bin 39, Barker’s Reserve, from Australia. It is affordable and very good.
What do you like to do when you’re not performing (aside from listening to records, etc.)?
I enjoy spending time with friends and family when I can, reading, writing, watching good films, travelling and of course, getting tattooed!
Are you working on a new album at present?
I am always writing for the next album and then the next album. But I just made my “dream” album in Germany in December of 2010, so now I am just patiently waiting for its release in Germany in late 2011. But yes, I am always writing, no matter what the situation.
Do you play a lot of Blues festivals? I really hope that you can play the Limestone City Blues Festival in Kingston this August!
I love performing at festivals and have some great ones booked already in Canada and Europe this year. I would be happy to return to Kingston for some shows, so hopefully that happens. Sure was a great crowd there for me last time, and lots of support which feels great.
What are your touring plans for this year?
You can find most of my tour dates at www.myspace.com/laylazoe and I look forward to festivals in Belgium, Switzerland, Quebec, Halifax and Germany this year.
Thank you so much Layla for taking the time to talk to me and to share yourself and your love of the Blues with Press +1’s (and my blog’s) audience. I wish you much continued success with your music career and look forward to seeing you perform again soon!
The Kingston Blues Society Presents Female Blues Darling Layla Zoe!
The Kingston Blues Society, of which I am a member, presents (although she likely won’t be naked!):
LAYLA ZOE and her ALL STAR BAND
Originally from Vancouver – one of the most amazing voices – described as “The Reincarnate of Janis Joplin”
Check her out at www.layla.ca or on You Tube – she will amaze you!
Confederation Place Hotel
Doors Open 7:00 PM – Show Starts 8:00 PM
Advance Tickets for the show only – $20 KBS members $25 non members
Advance Dinner Package $50 (includes show and dinner) KBS members $55 non members
Call now to reserve your tickets 613-384-8168
Show tickets and separate show/dinner packages are now available for LAYLA ZOE – one of the best young female blues artists in the country, she has been compared to Janis Joplin and was recently up for the part in a Janis Joplin bio pic coming out in 2013 (She was the last person cut – among the actresses considered for the role of Janis Joplin were Renée Zellweger, Britney Spears, Nikka Costa, Scarlett Johansson and Lindsay Lohan).
Layla will be backed by an all star band including Drew Austin on drums and James Rasmussen on bass (both from David Rotundo’s band ).
Layla Zoe has a phenomenal voice and a stage presence that will captivate you – she has quickly become the “darling of Canadian blues” and she has appeared with nearly every great blues musician in this country.
In Europe she is in huge demand and has taken that continent by storm. Everyone who has seen her raves about her performances and she has five independently released CDs (she has released one every year).
Opening for Layla will be Belleville, ON band, TORE DOWN. The executive of the KBS saw them perform recently at the Loyal Blues Society Road to Memphis Competition and were so impressed that they asked them to open the show.
Don’t miss this perfect Valentine’s date night opportunity!
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Sharon Loeschen
Sharon Loeschen is the president of the Board. She is a licensed clinical social worker in private practice in Long Beach, California and is the author of The Satir Process, Systematic Training in the Skills of Satir, The Secrets of Satir and Enriching Your Relationship with Yourself and Others. She also co-authored the psycho-educational Enriching Program that is Satir based.
Johnny Faulkner
Johnny Faulkner is the vice-president of the Board, as well as the archivist and historian for the organization. He has his Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy, a private practice in Russellville, Arkansas and has taught as an adjunct professor in two universities. He has a passion for preserving Virginia’s and the Satir community’s legacy, for the purpose of passing along the teachings of how to become more fully human to present and future generations.
Gundolf Strehl
Gundolf Strehl is the secretary of the Board and the co-author of the The Satir Prozess, a German translation of The Satir Process. He has a Diploma of Psychology and is a master-trainer in the Enriching program and is currently studying to be an occupational therapist in Argentina.
Eileen Strider
Eileen Strider is a retired information management consultant. She began studying Virginia’s work in 1988 when she realized that many technical problems were primarily people problems. Eileen and her partner and spouse Wayne Strider used their Satir skills to help their clients recognize how they contributed to their own problems. Then they showed the clients how to change their behavior to repair relationships and address their technical issues congruently. Their work involved clients in the following industries: aerospace, higher education, biotechnology, insurance, non-profits, accounting, gaming, veterinary medicine and software development. Having seen how valuable and effective Virginia’s model was with her clients, Eileen is committed to seeing Virginia’s work continue to be taught, used and recognized. Eileen previously served as Board Treasurer for 3 years. She also has volunteered her time in numerous roles including GoFundMe campaign organizer and Satir website redesign project manager and member of the IHLRN Board.
Stephen B. Buckbee
Stephen Buckbee is a member-at-large of the Board. He is a retired from Bay de Noc Community College where he coordinated a “Human Services” program. He is a licensed in the State of Michigan as a LMSW and a Professional Counselor. He has been actively teaching about Satir and her work since 1987. He is a partner with Mike Dupont and Dan Doyle in BDD training Associates since 1988 focusing on the Process of Change in systems.
Martha Morgan
Martha Morgan is a member-at-large of the Board. She has a Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy and is a full time professor at John Brown University in Arkansas. Martha states that when she started her doctoral study, Satir became a natural fit for the way she works with clients. She chose to join the Board to serve the Satir community and to get more connected with it.
Pat Bragg
Pat Bragg is a member-at-large of the Board. She lives in Whitehorse, Yukon , Canada. She is in private practice doing Mediation, Counselling, Coaching, Training in Conflict Resolution and Virginia Satir based Change Model. Her work has taken her to eight provinces and two territories in Canada, the USA Turkey and Bahrain. She has worked extensively in First Nations and multi-cultural groups and will custom design training or counselling to meet individual or community needs.
Kim Hendren
Kim Hendren is our administrative director. She lives near Raleigh, North Carolina and has over twenty-five years of experience in finance. She loves communicating with people and anyone who has a question or concern can contact her at office@satirglobal.org
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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.1021/cg9004938
Title: Hollow nanospheres and flowers of cus from self-assembled Cu(II) coordination polymer and hydrogen-bonded complexes of N-(2-Hydroxybenzyl)-L- serine
Authors: Nagarathinam, M.
Saravanan, K.
Leong, W.L.
Balaya, P.
Vittal, J.J.
Issue Date: 7-Oct-2009
Citation: Nagarathinam, M., Saravanan, K., Leong, W.L., Balaya, P., Vittal, J.J. (2009-10-07). Hollow nanospheres and flowers of cus from self-assembled Cu(II) coordination polymer and hydrogen-bonded complexes of N-(2-Hydroxybenzyl)-L- serine. Crystal Growth and Design 9 (10) : 4461-4470. ScholarBank@NUS Repository. https://doi.org/10.1021/cg9004938
Abstract: Utilization of a novel two-dimensional coordination polymer generated from a trinuclear building block [Cu3(HSser)3(H 2O)2]-2H2O (1) as a precursor in the synthesis of copper sulfide serendipitously resulted in CuS nanospheres with hollow interiors. The formation of CuS nanocrystals with the three-dimensional hierarchical flower-like morphology from the hydrogen-bonded metal complex [Cu(H2Sser)2] • H2O (2) as a precursor may be understood from the spatial arrangement of the metal atom, and the organic ligand in the crystal, lattice plays a major role in determining the shape of the nanomaterials. Detailed investigation on the effect of experimental conditions and the packing patterns of the complexes in the crystal, lattice reveals the formation mechanism of the morphologically different CuS. The electrochemical behavior of these nanosized CuS meso-assemblies as a cathode material for lithium ion batteries reveals that the reaction proceeds through an insertion and deinsertion mechanism and the CuS with a hollow interior is more efficient and has good cyclability compared to that with a flower-like morphology. © 2009 American Chemical Society.
Source Title: Crystal Growth and Design
DOI: 10.1021/cg9004938
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Home > Journals > WMELPR > Vol. 40 (2015-2016) > Iss. 1 (2015)
William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review
Joseph Kurt
Triumph of the Space Commons: Addressing the Impending Space Debris Crisis Without an International Treaty
Joseph Kurt, Triumph of the Space Commons: Addressing the Impending Space Debris Crisis Without an International Treaty, 40 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol'y Rev. (2015), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmelpr/vol40/iss1/9
Air and Space Law Commons
All Issues Vol. 43, Iss. 3 Vol. 43, Iss. 2 Vol. 43, Iss. 1 Vol. 42, Iss. 3 Vol. 42, Iss. 2 Vol. 42, Iss. 1 Vol. 41, Iss. 3 Vol. 41, Iss. 2 Vol. 41, Iss. 1 Vol. 40, Iss. 3 Vol. 40, Iss. 2 Vol. 40, Iss. 1 Vol. 39, Iss. 3 Vol. 39, Iss. 2 Vol. 39, Iss. 1 Vol. 38, Iss. 3 Vol. 38, Iss. 2 Vol. 38, Iss. 1 Vol. 37, Iss. 3 Vol. 37, Iss. 2 Vol. 37, Iss. 1 Vol. 36, Iss. 3 Vol. 36, Iss. 2 Vol. 36, Iss. 1 Vol. 35, Iss. 3 Vol. 35, Iss. 2 Vol. 35, Iss. 1 Vol. 34, Iss. 3 Vol. 34, Iss. 2 Vol. 34, Iss. 1 Vol. 33, Iss. 3 Vol. 33, Iss. 2 Vol. 33, Iss. 1 Vol. 32, Iss. 3 Vol. 32, Iss. 2 Vol. 32, Iss. 1 Vol. 31, Iss. 3 Vol. 31, Iss. 2 Vol. 31, Iss. 1 Vol. 30, Iss. 3 Vol. 30, Iss. 2 Vol. 30, Iss. 1 Vol. 29, Iss. 3 Vol. 29, Iss. 2 Vol. 29, Iss. 1 Vol. 28, Iss. 3 Vol. 28, Iss. 2 Vol. 28, Iss. 1 Vol. 27, Iss. 3 Vol. 27, Iss. 2 Vol. 27, Iss. 1 Vol. 26, Iss. 3 Vol. 26, Iss. 2 Vol. 26, Iss. 1 Vol. 25, Iss. 3 Vol. 25, Iss. 2 Vol. 25, Iss. 1 Vol. 24, Iss. 2 Vol. 24, Iss. 1 Vol. 23, Iss. 3 Vol. 23, Iss. 2 Vol. 23, Iss. 1 Vol. 22, Iss. 2 Vol. 22, Iss. 1 Vol. 21, Iss. 3 Vol. 21, Iss. 2 Vol. 21, Iss. 1 Vol. 20, Iss. 3 Vol. 20, Iss. 2 Vol. 20, Iss. 1 Vol. 19, Iss. 2 Vol. 19, Iss. 1 Vol. 18, Iss. 2 Vol. 18, Iss. 1 Vol. 17, Iss. 2 Vol. 17, Iss. 1 Vol. 16, Iss. 2 Vol. 16, Iss. 1 Vol. 15, Iss. 2 Vol. 15, Iss. 1 Vol. 14, Iss. 2 Vol. 14, Iss. 1 Vol. 13, Iss. 1 Vol. 12, Iss. 1 Vol. 11, Iss. 1 Vol. 6, Iss. 2 Vol. 6, Iss. 1 Vol. 5, Iss. 2 Vol. 5, Iss. 1 Vol. 4, Iss. 1 Vol. 3, Iss. 2 Vol. 3, Iss. 1 Vol. 2, Iss. 3 Vol. 2, Iss. 2 Vol. 2, Iss. 1 Vol. 1, Iss. 2 Vol. 1, Iss. 1
ELPR Website
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Alexander Young Jackson
Painting by Canadian War Artist A.Y Jackson.
A copse, evening. (France 1918).
Photo credit 31.Copyright Canadian War Museum.
Alexander was born in Montreal, Canada. He studied art in Europe and America producing his own landscape artworks influence by Impressionism. In 1914 he enlisted in the Canadian army with the 60th battalion and soon crossed the ocean to continue training in England as part of the Expeditionary Force.
In June 1916 he was wounded at Maple Copse and was sent to hospital in Etaples then returned to England for further treatment. After taking on light duties at Hastings he transferred to he reserve battalion at Shoreham army Camp.
He had no happy memory of his time at Shoreham, with little food, military police everywhere and poor training officers who had never been to the Front line. He even became part of a short-lived mutiny in the camp when his company refused to go on parade due to the poor conditions. Whilst at Shoreham he was encouraged to go to London to meet Lord Beaverbrook and offer his skills as an artist to the Canadian War Records Office. Soon Alexander was to return to France this time as a War Artist and went on to produce some fantastic and poignant paintings.
After the war he returned to Canada to continue his art and is today famous for his influence on Canadian art as a founding member of the art movement the Group of Seven.
Information from A.Y. Jackson’s autobiography, ‘A Painter’s Country’.
Watch a film created by Worthing College students about A.Y. Jackson.
Visit the A. Y. Jackson Discovery Centre website
Read Jackson, A. Y. 1958 A Painter’s Country
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