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About Butterflies and Wheels
Does God Hate Women?
Extracts: Does God Hate Women?
Reviews: Does God Hate Women?
The Dictionary of Fashionable Nonsense
Why Truth Matters
Extracts: Why Truth Matters
Reviews: Why Truth Matters
« The Uses of Common Sense
Saving Child Witches: a Nigerian Perspective »
Iran: A female revolution
Aug 16th, 2009 | By Azar Majedi
What we are witnessing in Iran is not only a movement against a dictatorship and for political freedom; it is not only a movement against poverty and socio-economic injustice and for equality and prosperity; it is a movement against religious institution, hypocrisy, corruption and superstition. In this context, it is for cultural and moral emancipation as well. The political uprising in Iran has a strong anti-religious character.
30 years of religious oppression has created a generation which wants to emancipate itself from any religious domination, restriction or meddling. 30 years of imprisonment by a brutal religious state, which has interfered in the most private spheres of people’s lives, a state run by the most greedy, corrupt and dehumanized men of god, has created a society ready to de-religionise itself and ready to rid itself of religious rules and customs. Iran is on the verge of a new age of Enlightenment.
Women’s liberation movement: a revolutionary force
The women’s liberation movement is the most important player in the fight against the Islamic Republic. WLM is the antithesis of the Islamic regime. The Islamic regime promotes a misogynist ideology. Subordination and enslavement of women is its credo, the Islamic veil is its flag and gender apartheid is fundamental to its political system. WLM is not able to achieve any significant advancement without first doing away with this regime. The women’s liberation movement in Iran embodies a revolutionary liberating force.
In the struggle for women’s freedom and equality, the women’s liberation movement transfers the society as well. A society where women are free and enjoy equal status will not tolerate religious tyranny or religious rule. As Marx so brilliantly put it: “the measure of a society’s freedom is women’s freedom.” The women’s liberation movement in Iran is the epitome of this. The high status of the women’s liberation movement in the society and the resilience with which it has carried out an extremely difficult struggle validate this thesis.
Women proved to be a prominent opposition force to the Islamic regime. The first large demonstration against the regime was organised by women and for women’s rights. Khomeini’s ruling on compulsory veiling for female employees gave rise to an immediate protest on the streets of Tehran and some other large cities on 8 March 1979 followed by a week of demonstrations, mass meetings and sit-ins by thousands of women. They managed to inflict the first national defeat on the regime. This was the beginning of a thirty-year tense and hostile relationship between women and the regime.
The Islamic republic was forced to define its main character vis-à-vis the women’s liberation movement. Its ideological and moral war against women has been one of the most demanding battles it had to wage. Women’s issues never left the political scene. Ever since its inception, it had to deal with women’s demands. Many women as well as men have lost their lives or suffered immensely for challenging the misogynist order and for defying the rules of gender apartheid.
By fighting a long and hard battle against the most misogynist political system in the modern history, the women’s liberation movement in Iran has become an impressive and strong force with remarkable liberating potentials. The women’s question proved to be the Islamic regime’s Achilles heel. The irony is that those who the Islamic regime regarded as sub humans, worthy of men’s slaves, have come to the streets and are fighting it tooth and nail. This movement has far-reaching potentials. It would not only liberate women in Iran but also open up a whole new door to women in the region and in societies living under the grip of Islam. The women’s liberation movement has come to haunt the Islamist movement.
Islam being challenged as never before
The political uprising in Iran has already touched the whole world. The role women are playing in it has stunned the world. The developments in Iran have challenged what we were told by the mainstream media and academia about Iranian society and its socio-political and cultural fabric. Repeatedly we have been told that Iran is an Islamic society; people are not against the Islamic republic or Islamic rules and customs. They only want some minor changes.
Believing this would have led us to regard the people in Iran as some masochist bunch who like to be tortured to practice “their culture and beliefs.” Otherwise, why was such a sophisticated system of oppression and torture necessary? The cases of executing people by cranes on the streets, stoning women and men for engaging in sex outside marriage, flogging women for not observing the Islamic dress code are so abundant; a large army of thugs is employed to oversee that Islam is observed. Facing these known facts about the Iranian society would discredit all these superficial assumptions by “Iran experts.” A very simple question would come to mind: If people wanted to practice Islam then why has such display of brutality become necessary?
People in Iran are freeing themselves from the rule of religion. They are rebelling against a religious tyranny and all interference of religion in their lives. People’s uprising in Iran will do to Islam what the French Revolution did to Christianity and the Church in the West. Just as the coming to power of an Islamic regime in Iran was a great boost to the Islamic movement and Islam as a religion/ideology, the overthrow of it will too be a great blow to this reactionary, misogynist and brutal movement. The political events in Iran thirty years ago transformed Islamists from a marginal political force to a major force, which came to play an important role in the regression of the societies under the grip of Islam, particularly the situation of women. The 1979-defeated revolution in Iran was a renaissance of the Islamic movement.
Islam’s renaissance as a “liberation ideology”
Islam as a religion and ideology and the Islamist movement owe their renaissance to the coming to power of an Islamic regime in Iran. The circumstances in which the Islamic regime gained power in Iran were a major factor. Coming to power as a result of a popular uprising against the most devoted ally of the Western powers, known as an American ”puppet”, gave Islam an ideological impetus, previously unknown. In order to maintain its power, the Islamic regime was forced to take on a “militant” anti-American stance. The Islamic regime’s existence has very much depended on this so-called anti-imperialist façade.
In 1979 Iran, the left was popular. The larger section of the left was populist in its character and it could therefore easily fall for any anti-American act. The Islamic regime had different factions from the beginning. The faction, which planned the occupation of the American embassy, saved the regime from the increasing leftist, workers and women’s protests and assaults. This action disarmed the populist left. Resorting to the well-known tactic of creating an external enemy to unify the masses behind it, in addition to stage-managing a fight against the USA, saved the regime in Iran and raised its profile as an anti-imperialist force regionally as well as internationally.
In the 1980s when the established anti-imperialist traditions were loosing momentum and facing ideological defeat (the collapse of state capitalism in Soviet Union and the Eastern block) the new Islamic movement presented itself as a viable substitute. Islamists as a backward trend had long opposed modernization process in the region and were against Western values and culture. The anti-Western sentiments of the Islamic movement corresponded with the nationalist, anti-colonialist tendencies of a section of the intellectuals in the region.
The process by which the Islamic Republic came to power in Iran, gave rise to a new Islamist trend, a so-called anti imperialist trend which offered its own kind of “liberation theology” to the masses of the people who lived under brutal dictatorships supported by Western powers. Furthermore, the demagogic populist propaganda used by this movement helped falsify a totally inhuman, misogynist and backward ideology as a so-called “liberation ideology.”
Indeed the international situation has helped it a great deal. Islamists have risen to a formidable position of a pole in opposition to a state terrorist pole led by the USA. These factors explain the appeal of the Islamist movement for sections of the masses and the young generation in the Middle East and North Africa who are fed up with the corrupt dictatorships under which they are forced to live, by Israel’s daily humiliation of Palestinians and the abuse of their rights, and finally by the war on Iraq.
In a void of alternatives, in a situation that any progressive and humane organisations are banned, Islamists succeeded to present themselves as a force that voices people’s grievances. In societies where poverty is rampant, living conditions are appalling and inequality, discrimination and injustice are commonplace, the complete absence of any freedom to express discontent, protest or organise for change, leaves people no choice, but to resort to the only option available, i.e. the Islamist movement. Moreover, certain so-called left-wing trends, which so readily ignore any violation of basic civil rights and economic rights of the people in order to fight America, support this brutal, reactionary and misogynist regime. For thirty years, this regime has financially, ideologically and morally supported a terrorist movement, which has terrorized, first and foremost, the people in the region. Therefore, a fight against the Islamist movement and Islamism is a political fight as well as an ideological one. The uprising in Iran is capable of leading this fight in both fields.
Iran 2009, France 1789
Islam has never experienced a challenge similar to the one Christianity faced in18th century Europe. The uprising of the people in Iran against the Islamic regime tears this perverted liberation theology to shreds. Events in Iran are not only pulling down a political system, they are also revolutionizing the mindset of the world vis-a-vis Islam and the role Islam plays in the societies under its grip. This process has been facilitated and expedited by one important factor, the fact that, thanks to new technology and the technology-savvy young generation in Iran, this uprising is unfolding in front of the eyes of the whole world. People of the world have seen live how people, particularly women in Iran have come to the streets defiant of batons, tear gas, warm ammunition, brutal torture and gang rapes to demand their freedom. It is no accident that Neda has become the icon of people’s uprising in Iran; the young woman whose tragic death on a street of Tehran was captured on a mobile phone and transmitted to the homes of millions around the world. Neda became the symbol of people’s resilience and bravery. She became the icon of a female revolution against a regime, which regards women as half-human.
Those supposedly weaker and ‘half human’ women are challenging, not only a misogynist system, but Islam as well. They are led by their great aspirations for freedom. Even if the fear of a brutal dictatorship does not allow them to express freely what they want; even if 30 years of oppression and censorship has created an involuntary defensive cap inside their minds, as a self-censorship sensor to limit their scope and aspirations; the aspiration for a total emancipation lives in them and has been awakened. Even if the invincible appearance of the regime had forced them to resign to pragmatism and balance of power for three decades, they have overcome their fear and are challenging the force of intimidation.
Women in Iran sent shivers down the spine of the Islamic fundamentals. The long struggle against the Islamic Republic and for equal rights and freedom has not spared Islam. The young generation, particularly women have repeatedly ridiculed the religious ceremonies and sanctities. In their fight against gender apartheid, they have gone as far as breaking the rules and ‘sacredness’ of the Friday prayer.
One of the most important fundamentals of Islam is gender apartheid. This principle permeates all religious dogmas and rules. Prayer, itself a pillar of Islam, must stay sexually segregated at all costs; the rationale behind this is that the sight of a woman arouse men sexually and therefore lead them to sin and spoil their precious moments with god. In Friday or mass prayers, women and men are completely separated, even though women must be veiled and covered from head to toe. What is very ironic is that women must be veiled even when they pray alone, that is, when they are alone with god. One cannot help but think that this is prescribed to save god from sinning!
But Friday July 17 was an exception in the history of Islam. On this day, a historic event took place in Tehran. On July 17, Hashemi Rafsanjani, a leading and prominent figure in the Islamic Republic, addressed the Friday prayer. Rafsanjani is an opponent of Ahmadinejad and a tacit supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi. This day arrived in a climate of great anticipation. Since it was announced that Rafsanjani was to address the Friday prayer, speculations began circulating over what he would say, whom he would side with and the aftermath of the prayer.
The state reformist tendencies begged him to “stand firm.” The international media discussed him and his family’s positions and history. “The Iran Desks” became saturated with Rafsanjani’s info. It was self evident that he would by no means discredit the Islamic regime, without which he would fall from power, and risk loosing not only his monumental wealth which he has amassed in the past thirty years, but also his freedom. He is among the top list of the Islamic regime’s leaders whom people want to bring to trial for crimes against humanity.
Rafsanjani did not say anything extraordinary. However, Friday July 17, 2009 became a historic day not only in the history of the Islamic Republic, but Islam itself. A large rally took place in Tehran. Women and men together walked towards the University of Tehran, where the Friday prayers take place. Close to the university, the crowd had to pray to justify their assembly there. On that day, the world witnessed a mixed-sex prayer in Tehran. Many women with a small veil on their heads, with makeup, along with male protestors joined the prayer ceremony. In this respect, Friday 17 July was a turning point in political developments in Iran.
In these intense political developments, Islam’s sanctity is being stripped away. People’s mockery has spared no divine laws in Islam. The clergies are the most despised section of the society. Religious institution is regarded as the most corrupt, greedy and untrustworthy social, political or ideological institution. The folklore is full of stories to discredit the clergy as hypocrites, backstabbers and thieves. Most jokes in Iran today target the clergy and Islamic system.
Once this regime is down to its knees, all signs of Islamic domination and laws will be dismantled. The society will hail its emancipation from religious dominance. Politically, secularism will be enshrined in the country’s constitution. Socially, an anti-religion trend will dominate. In culture and art an avant-garde movement for enlightenment flourishes. And all these will have far-reaching effects transcending borders. The uprising in Iran will revolutionize the socio-political climate of the region. A marginalized Islam in Iran will be a great assault to Islam and its sanctity internationally.
* Mansoor Hekmat coined the phrase ‘A female revolution’ in a seminar entitled: “Will Communism succeed in Iran?” At Marx Society, London, February 2001.
Unveil Women in Iran!
Let’s build an international secular movement!
On the Occasion of 8th March, International Women’s Day
The Regime in Iran has silenced the voice of five more activists!
The Movement Improves in Iran
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Wollestook gazette
Available issues: 18
1882 [Vol. 1, no. 1 (Sept. 1, 1882)]
1882 [Vol. 1, no. 2 (Oct. 1, 1882)]
1882 [Vol. 1, no. 3 (Nov. 1, 1882)]
1882 [Vol. 1, no. 4 (Dec. 1, 1882)]
1883 [Vol. 1, no. 5 (Jan. 1, 1883)]
1883 [Vol. 1, no. 6 (Feb. 1, 1883)]
1883 [Vol. 1, no. 7 (Mar. 1, 1883)]
1883 [Vol. 1, no. 9 (May 1883)]
1883 [Vol. 1, no. 12 (Sept. 1883)]
1884 [Vol. 2, no. 8 (June 1884)]
1884 [Vol. 2, no. 9 (July 1884)]
1884 [Vol. 2, no. 10 (Aug. 1884)]
1884 [Vol. 2, no. 12 (Oct. 1884)]
Wollestook gazette .
St. John, N.B. : Published in connection with the St. John Grammar School Debating Society, [1882-1884?]
Student newspapers and periodicals -- New Brunswick -- Saint John.
Journaux et périodiques étudiants -- Nouveau-Brunswick -- Saint-Jean.
Vol. 1, no. 1 (Sept. 1, 1882)-
Issues reproduced: Vol. 1, no. 1 (Sept. 1, 1882)-v. 2, no. 1 (Nov. 1883); v. 2, no. 7 (May 1884)-v. 2, no. 10 (Aug. 1884); v. 2, no. 12 (Oct. 1884)
v. ; 31 cm.
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2 Kings 6-7: Elisha versus the Syrians St. Paul’s letter to the Bergmans
2 Kings 8: The Expedient
Marlowe 10. 1-2 Kings, Bible, Old Testament 2 Kings, Ahab, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Benhadad, Bible, Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, Damascus, David, Edom, Edomite, Elisha, Gehazi, Hazael, Israel, Jehoram, Jehoshaphat, Jerusalem, Jezreel, Joram, Judah, Libnah, Old Testament, Omri, Philistine, Ramah, Ramoth-gilead, Syria, Syrian, Zair Leave a comment
We return to the narrative of the Shunammite woman, here identified instead by her relationship to The Boy Who Lived. Elisha is again showing her some special favour by warning her of a coming famine that would last seven years. Following his advice, she packs up her family and moves to Philistia to wait out the disaster.
At the end of the seven years, the family returns and the woman appeals to the king of Israel (still unnamed) for the restoration of her house and lands. As luck would have it (or perhaps it was orchestrated by Elisha), she happens to arrive just as Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, is telling the king of Israel all about her son’s miraculous resurrection. She is able to confirm the story and, awed, the king not only restores all her stuff, he even backdates it to the time she left Israel.
Gehazi’s leprosy (acquired in 2 Kgs 5:27) isn’t mentioned here. Commentaries mostly seem to explain this by assuming that the stories are presented out of order, and that the healing of Naaman has not yet occurred. It could also be a simple omission on the narrator’s part, or it could be that the two stories come from separate traditions (one of which does not include a leprous Gehazi).
However, I noticed that the description of Gehazi’s skin as being “white as snow” sounded familiar and, sure enough, it is the same description used of Miriam’s leprosy in Numbers 12:10. In Miriam’s case, her condition only seems to have lasted for seven days (or less). It’s possible, then, that the disease referred to was a short-lived one (perhaps infection, so that Gehazi caught it from Naaman), and that Gehazi’s skin condition had cleared up prior to this chapter. This would, however, appear to conflict with Elisha’s curse that the condition would affect Gehazi’s descendants as well, unless he simply means that they would all contract a bout of it at some point.
That said, given the possibility of different traditions or the stories simply being out of order, it’s unnecessary to look quite so far for an explanation.
Another thing I noticed about this story is that the property is described as belonging to the Shunammite woman, and the king of Israel restores it to her. In fact, her husband is not mentioned at all in this chapter. It’s possible that she is a widow by this time (her husband is described as old in 2 Kgs 4:14), though she’s never referred to as such.
Benhadad’s Illness
In 2 Kgs 1:2-4, Ahaziah, the king of Israel, was ill. Wanting to know if he would recover, he sent messengers out to Ekron to ask the god Baalzebub after his fate. Here, we get something of a reversal. It is Benhadad, the king of Syria, who is ill, and he sends out a messenger to ask YHWH if he will recover.
Ashurnasirpal II, British Museum, London
Taking advantage of the fact that Elisha is in Damascus, Benhadad sends out Hazael with gifts. Elisha predicts that Benhadad will recover from his illness, but he is still fated to die. There is a difficult passage in here where it seems that Elisha stares at Hazael until Hazael is ashamed, or perhaps Elisha and Hazael stare at each other until Elisha is ashamed, or Hazael stares at Elisha until Elisha is ashamed, or… you get the point. It’s a nice bout of the pronoun game that unnecessarily complicates the passage. At the end, Elisha begins to weep.
Hazael asks why Elisha is weeping, and the latter responds that Hazael will do some really awful things to Israel. Hazael seems confused, and asks how someone of his status could possibly manage to do that. Elisha then reveals that Hazael will become king of Syria. When Hazael returns to his king, he relates only that Benhadad will recover from his illness. The next day, however, he suffocates Benhadad in his bed and declares himself king.
There’s some question here about what’s going on: Was Hazael going to kill Benhadad all along (which would make sense of the earlier passage, if Elisha sees the future and stares at Hazael, who feels some shame at what he’d been planning), or did Elisha plant the idea in Hazael’s mind (and therefore was himself ashamed at what he was about to do)? Some commentaries argue that God wanted to punish Israel and had decided to use Hazael for that purpose (which would fit with 1 Kgs 19:14-18), yet needed Elisha to nudge Hazael to make it happen.
We also see some more of the odd conflation of Elijah and Elisha. In 1 Kgs 19:15, God commanded Elijah to anoint Hazael king of Syria – which he never did (at least not that was narrated). Yet it seems that Elisha is, if not anointing, at least announcing Hazael’s social ascent.
Interestingly, it seems that King Shalmaneser III of Assyria wrote about Hazael’s usupring of the Syrian crown, describing him as the “son of a nobody” (meaning someone outside of the dynastic line). No mention is made of the method, though.
Dynastic Details
We return to the dynastic records with Jehoram, who took the crown of Judah in the fifth year of Israel’s Joram (Joram being a variation of Jehoram, clearly employed to make this confusing chronology slightly less so). The record here seems to agree with 2 Kgs 3:1, though not with 2 Kgs 1:17 (unless, as I’ve mentioned previously, we write in a co-reign). He was 32 years and ruled for 8 years (a figure that apparently varies quite a bit between versions, like as beleaguered scribes tried to make all the dates match).
Our author has a dim view of Jehoram, largely, it seems, because of his marriage to Ahab’s daughter. Still, he stayed his hand against Judah for David’s sake.
While Jehoram’s greatest fault seems to be his marriage, it was also during his reign that Judah lost control over Edom and Libnah. It seems that King Joram of Israel tried to take advantage of the situation by going after Edom for himself (or perhaps he was trying to help Judah put down the rebellion). Unfortunately for him, he was overwhelmed by the Edomite forces. He managed to fight his way free, but by then his army had already routed.
After Jehoram came Ahaziah, ascending in the twelfth year of Joram of Israel. He was twenty-two years old, and reigned for only one year. His mother was Athaliah, listed here as the granddaughter of Omri, presumably the daughter of Ahab who married Jehoram. Our narrator wasn’t a fan of Ahaziah either, and for the same reason that he disliked his father – his close relationship with the kings of Israel (in this case by parentage rather than marriage).
The only note we get here about Ahaziah’s single year as king is that he fought against King Hazael of Syria alongside King Joram of Israel. During the conflict, Joram was injured at Ramoth-gilead, and Ahaziah went to visit him while he was recovering in Jezreel.
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American Opera
– an opera site
From the time that the first opera was performed in the United States to the present day, there have been many talented American-born opera singers, who have made their mark on history and continue to do so. William Henry Fry, born in 1815, has been considered by many, to be the father of American opera and over the years there have been many American composers following in his footsteps and as diverse as Americans are, they each have possessed their own unique style. Please browse the website for more information about the American opera tradition or for information about American instrumental music and piano music, see the archive section (currently under update). There are currently 125 opera houses in the United States. Although the five most popular venues differ in age and decor, they all are substantial in size and are located in some of the largest cities in America. Read more on the page about opera houses.
American Opera Theater
For the past 8 years AOT has been a presenter of innovative musical works that broaden the definition of opera. From a circus version of “Acis + Galatea” to a cabaret version of “Carmen”; from a staging of “Messiah” to a Kurt Weill evening with Sylvia McNair that dramatized homelessness after Katarina; from a staging of the ancient Fleury manuscript to a world premiere staging of “The Gonzales Cantata”… George Crumb and Francios Couperin in one theatrical evening, and American premiers of “La Didone” and “David et Jonathas”, “Butterfly” with gamelan consort, John Downland to explore the grief of a lost loved one, Messiaen’s epic “Harawi” as a journey to transcendence, and the list goes on.
American Opera Theater has been formative in the lives of so many young artists, and we thank audiences and supporters alike for taking time in this busy world to stop and listen. Everything has its time and place, and the future of AOT and the artists involved now comes to a new road, where we each will explore new future paths. AOT now transforms into a production company, producing new works as opportunities arise. Without the pressures of a full annual season, the company is now free to follow that magic combination of insporation and opportunity. This is not an end but a beginning – a rebirth and the reinvention that has defined AOT from its start. Stay tuned for what comes next!”
The previous version of AmericanOperaTheater.org is closed. The above text is the archived message from www.archive.org.
AOP Board Member News: Performances, Accolades, and the Passing of a Leader
It has been a busy fall for AOP. Our Composers & The Voice fellows delivered a successful “Six S [...]
AOP showcases six new operas by emerging composers and librettists
On Friday, September 28, and Saturday, September 29, audiences will get a first look at six wildly d [...]
If you had a chance to see the Dinner Party Operas recently presented by AOP, the Brooklyn Museum, a [...]
NYU Tisch, the Brooklyn Museum, and American Opera Projects to present 11 Mini-Operas based on Judy Chicago’s iconic feminist artwork The Dinner Party
The Dinner Party Operas Short operas inspired by Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party A collaboration bet [...]
AOP receives OPERA America Innovation grant to expand composer and librettist training programs
American Opera Projects is pleased to announce that it has received one of the twenty OPERA America [...]
Pianoserien
WordPress Music Blog
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Lift Up primed to rise above Belle Mahone rivals
TORONTO, September 5, 2019 – Augustin Stables’ homebred Lift Up chases her second straight added-money win, this time in Sunday’s $100,000 Belle Mahone Stakes, at Woodbine.
Trained by Michael Dickinson, the five-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper-Dynamic Cat arrives at the 1 1/16-mile main track Belle Mahone (for fillies & mares, three-year-olds and upward) off a 1 ½-length triumph in the West Virginia Senate President’s Cup Stakes on August 3.
Under Joe Bravo, Lift Up rallied to take the $75,000 event, contested at Mountaineer Racetrack, covering the one mile and 70 yards on a firm turf in 1:37.21, not far off the track record of 1:37.09 set by Caribou Club on the same day.
Lift Up is certainly no stranger to Woodbine.
The bay mare first tested out the Toronto oval in 2017, finishing third in the La Lorgnette Stakes. The following year, the Kentucky-bred was second in the Grade 3 Maple Leaf Stakes, missing out on top spot by a neck to A.A. Azula’s Arch, who will also contest the Belle Mahone.
This June, Lift Up was seventh in the Grade 2 Dance Smartly Stakes. It’s the only time she’s finished outside of the top five in her career.
In 2018, Lift Up notched her first added-money title, the Miss Liberty Stakes at Monmouth, charging down the lane to take the 1 1/16-mile turf event by 1 ¼-lengths.
“We keep giving her more and more to see how good she is,” said Dickinson after the win. “She’s a late developer and she’s going to be even better. We haven’t seen the best of her yet. She’s a stayer but she can turn it on. That’s a lethal combination.”
Heading into the Belle Mahone, Lift Up fashions a record of 6-5-1 from 16 lifetime starts. After starting her career with a pair of seconds and a fourth, she won three straight, from April 15, 2017 to September 13, 2017.
Gamble’s Ghost, bred and owned by Ivan Dalos, has won the past two runnings of the Belle Mahone.
The Belle Mahone is scheduled as race nine of 11 on Sunday’s 1:05 p.m. program.
Fans can also watch and wager on all the live action via HPIbet.com.
$100,000 BELLE MAHONE STAKES
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1 – Lift Up – Patrick Husbands – Michael Dickinson
2 – She’s the Berries – Eurico Rosa Da Silva – Mark Casse
3 – Monte Crista – Luis Contreras – Michael Trombetta
4 – Ladies Night – Kazushi Kimura – Gail Cox
5 – A. A. Azula’s Arch – Omar Moreno – Kevin Attard
6 – Lunar Garden – Rafael Hernandez – Stuart Simon
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Highlands and Islands MSP wins award for continued efforts to improve road safety
News from Brake
David Stewart, MSP for the Highlands and Islands, has been awarded the third Scottish Road Safety Parliamentarian Award by the charity Brake and Digby Brown Solicitors. The award is part of a series that recognises the contribution of MSPs to improve road safety within their constituencies and across Scotland. David Stewart’s award is in recognition of his continued campaigning to improve road safety within his constituency, Scotland and also across the United Kingdom.
Mr Stewart, who founded the road safety group NOSDAT (North of Scotland Driver Awareness Team), launched the SMART road safety campaign, focusing on reducing driver distraction during Road Safety Week 2015. Over the course of the week he looked at many aspects of road safety such as raising awareness about poor eyesight among drivers on our roads.
Another key campaign which Mr Stewart has highlighted over the past few months is that of graduated driver licensing. As well as promoting the campaign during Road Safety Week, he met Andrew Jones, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport at Westminster, and Lilian Greenwood, MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, to discuss his graduated licence proposals.
Mr Stewart also lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament recognising the work carried out by Brake throughout the year.
Brake is campaigning to free drivers from the distractions of the modern world that compete for their attention, and allow them to concentrate on safe driving. Tweet us: @Brakecharity, #driventodistraction
Gary Rae, Director of Communications and Campaigns, for Brake, the road safety charity, said: " We are delighted to recognise yet another MSP who is playing a vital role in ensuring that road safety is brought to the fore not only in Scotland but across the whole United Kingdom.
"David Stewart’s continued work in highlighting the positives around graduated driver licensing is fantastic to see, especially as he has recently taken his ideas to Westminster to put pressure on the government and the opposition. Despite being a tried and tested way of tackling the issue of young driver deaths, those in Westminster continue to stall on making the changes we need to improve the current system that we have for learner drivers.
"David’s work in other areas of road safety, such as focusing on driver distraction, has also made a huge impact across his constituency and Scotland. We are pleased to give this award to yet another dedicated and passionate road safety campaigner."
Accepting his award, David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, said: "I am delighted to have won this award, which is an award recognising not only my own efforts, but that of my team, in trying to make sure our roads are safer for all road users. Thanks must also go to the businesses here in the Highlands who have supported my team efforts, including Macrae & Dick car dealership, Stagecoach Bus, Tesco, Tesco Opticians, Mac Signs and Acorn signs, to name but a few.
"One life lost in a road collision is one too many, so we all have a role to play in road safety. Driver behaviour is key. If all drivers could drive to the conditions at the time of driving, adhere to the laws of the road and apply common sense, we would certainly be much better off.
"Finally I must thank Brake as an charitable organisation for all their devoted work in this arena."
Fraser Simpson, partner at Digby Brown Solicitors, added: “As personal injury lawyers, we see first-hand the devastating effect road traffic crashes have on victims and their families. All of us who use the roads can help make them safer and this type of leadership on local road safety issues makes an important contribution to achieving that."
Brake is a national road safety charity that exists to stop the needless deaths and serious injuries that happen on roads every day, make streets and communities safer for everyone, and care for families bereaved and injured in road crashes. Brake promotes road safety awareness, safe and sustainable road use, and effective road safety policies. We do this through national campaigns, community education, services for road safety professionals and employers, and by coordinating the UK's flagship road safety event every November, Road Safety Week. Brake is a national, government-funded provider of support to families and individuals devastated by road death and serious injury, including through a helpline and support packs.
Brake was founded in the UK in 1995, and now has domestic operations in the UK and New Zealand, and works globally to promote action on road safety.
Follow Brake on Twitter, Facebook, or The Brake Blog.
Digby Brown Solicitors
Digby Brown Solicitors are Scotland’s largest personal injury practices with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness, Kirkcaldy and Aberdeen. The firm have worked closely with Brake for a number of years, supporting their campaigns on road safety issues and sponsoring the Brake helpline in Scotland. Digby Brown won the Community Contribution Award at both the 2015 and 2014 Scottish Legal Awards in recognition of its work with a Brake and a range of charities throughout Scotland.
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Bill Murray starring in Netflix holiday special w/ Amy Poehler, Jenny Lewis & more, releasing holiday single w/ Phoenix
They don't really make star-studded holiday specials like they used to, but a little of that yuletide magic, mixed with a little modern irony, is on its way via Bill Murray's upcoming A Very Murray Christmas which will premiere on Netflix on December 4...
Category: holiday music, Music News Tags: Amy Poehler, Bill Murray, Buster Poindexter, David Johansen, George Clooney
Stephen Colbert made his ‘Late Show’ debut with help from Mavis Staples, Beirut, Alabama Shakes, Ben Folds & more
Stephen Colbert made his debut as host of CBS' The Late Show on Tuesday night (9/8) with guests George Clooney and Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush...
Category: Comedy News, Music News, TV related news Tags: Alabama Shakes, Beirut, Ben Folds, George Clooney, Jeb Bush, Mavis Staples, Stephen Colbert
Tom Waits played new song “Take One Last Look” and was interviewed on his last-ever ‘Letterman’ appearance (watch)
By BrooklynVegan Staff May 15, 2015
The Late Show with David Letterman comes to an end May 20, and he's been bringing some exciting guests on these final shows, including last night's guest, Tom Waits (his 10th time on the show)...
Category: Music News Tags: David Letterman, George Clooney, Tom Waits
Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, Wilco Regina Spektor & others on Obama wishlist
By BrooklynVegan Staff January 23, 2012
Arcade Fire @ Obama Staff Ball (more by Bao Nguyen)
A list of celebrities, reportedly created's campaign, sent out on December 5, and acquired by the Tennessean (PDF HERE), is being passed around the internet...
Category: Music News, tour dates Tags: Al Green, America Ferrera, Anne Hathaway, Arcade Fire, B.o.B, Blake Lively, Bradley Cooper, Chelsea Clinton, Chris Pine, Fergie, George Clooney, Glee, India Arie, Jack Johnson, Jamie Foxx, Janelle Monae, Jay-Z, Jessica Alba, Jewel, Jigga, Josh Groban, Kate Walsh, Laila Ali, Marc Anthony, Mila Kunis, Neil Patrick Harris, Obama, politics, Ricky Martin, Sara Bareilles, Sarah Jessica Parker, Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, Stephan Colbert, the Band Perry, The Jonas Brothers, The Roots, Tom Petty, Train, Vampire Weekend, Whoopi Goldberg, Wilco Regina Spektor, Will.i.am
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Rutherford Challenges Pellet Conviction
Posted by Editor in Featured Articles, Local News on 02 11th, 2011 | no responses
by Garet G. Sarkisian
A conservative-linked civil rights group has filed suit seeking to reverse the suspension of a Spotsylvania, Virginia high school freshman who “shot” classmates with plastic pellets blown from a toy.
Charlottesville’s own Rutherford Institute says it filed the suit as of last Wednesday in Spotsylvania County Circuit Court to stand up for the rights of 14-year-old freshman honor student at Spotsylvania High School Andrew Mikel II.
According to the Associated Press, along with being suspended in December for the rest of the school year, Mikel was charged with misdemeanor assault — a charge that was promised to be dropped as long as he completes a year-long “diversion program.”
Mikel initially was given a ten-day suspension, but the Spotsylvania County School Board later voted to punish him for the rest of the school year, citing the system’s Student Code of Conduct requirement that a student found with “any type of weapon, or object used to intimidate, threaten or harm others” be “expelled for a minimum of 365 days” unless “special circumstances exist.” The school system refused comment as to whether the toy could conceivably be used to “intimidate, threaten, or harm” anyone.
The district also sent the case to the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office, which charged Mikel with three counts of misdemeanor assault.
As result Mikel entered the “diversion program” — which includes community service and substance abuse and anger management counseling — to avoid prosecution. Mikel’s father now says his son’s damaged record has shattered his hopes of attending the U.S. Naval Academy after graduation.
The Rutherford Institute’s president, John Whitehead, said Mikel is a victim of so-called “zero-tolerance” policies in our nation’s schools that “defy common sense” and “essentially criminalize childish behavior.”
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Christian Koch
From Janis Joplin to Kurt Cobain, Stylist investigates the live fast, die young stars who have all succumbed to rock’s mysterious 27th-birthday curse…
Stylist, July 2010
Forty years ago this week, insanely-talented guitar god Jimi Hendrix left a chilling message on his friend’s answering machine. “I need help bad, man,” came the breathy cry for help. But by the time this distress signal was picked up hours later, Hendrix was dead. The trail-blazing axe-man who reinvented the way the electric guitar is played, was found dead in his girlfriend’s Notting Hill flat, having choked on his own vomit (the doctor at the scene later said he had, “drowned in a massive amount of red wine”). In doing so, Hendrix had just become an inaugural inductee of the ’27 Club’ – a mysterious cabal of influential musicians who all tragically kicked the bucket at that untimely age.
The roll-call reads like some morbid rock’n’roll Hall of Fame. One of the first members was 1930s’ bluesman Robert Johnson, who after allegedly “selling his soul to the devil” (in exchange for his guitar-playing gift), croaked his last after guzzling poison-laced whiskey. Next to sign up was The Rolling Stones’ rebel guitarist, Brian Jones, who “accidentally” drowned in his swimming pool in July 1969. He was swiftly followed by Janis Joplin and The Doors’ Jim Morrison, both surrendering to drugs overdoses. Then, some 25 years later, on 5 April 1994, Nirvana misog Kurt Cobain blasted his head off using a Remington 20-gauge shotgun. Twenty-seven years young, each and everyone.
“I told him not to join that stupid club," said Cobain’s mother, Wendy O’Connor at the time of her son’s death. But by now, that “stupid club” was gaining serious notoriety. On 1 February 1995, Manic Street Preachers’ 27-year old troubled guitarist (he was self-harming regularly), Richey Edwards walked out of London’s Embassy Hotel at 7am, never to be seen again (his Vauxhall Cavalier was found next to notorious suicide spot, the Severn Bridge, three weeks later). It’s not just musicians. See fellow 27-casualties Jade Goody (cervical cancer, 2009), poet Rupert Brooke (sepsis, 1915), Warhol-feted artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (heroin overdose, 1988), Elephant Man John Merrick (asphyxia, 1890) and many more…
But can there really be such a thing as a 27 death hoodoo? Or is it all just grisly coincidence?
There is a scientific explanation – the brain of an average late twenty-something goes through some bizarre transformations at that age.
“The prefrontal cortex of the brain [the part involved with judgement] does not finish developing until people are 25-27,” says neuroscientist and psychiatrist, Dr Daniel G. Amen, author of Magnificent Mind at Any Age. “In your 20s, a process called ‘myelination’ occurs, where nerve cells become wrapped. If you disrupt this, with drink or drugs, you’re going to be more vulnerable for depression and impulsive actions.”
“Rock stars spend a lot of time inside because they can’t go out and be recognised,” adds Amen. “This causes low Vitamin D levels, which makes them more vulnerable to depression. If you have a confluence of all this, combined with drink/drugs, then trouble is likely to brew.”
You don’t have to be a self-destructive rock behemoth who sprinkles horse tranquiliser on his/her cornflakes to realise that 27 is a funny old age. Yes, it might be when many athletes reach their peak but you’re also teetering on the edge of a weird, intermediary no-mans land between responsibility-free youth and scary adulthood. Your metabolism fades, hangovers start to viciously kick in, your young person’s railcard is no more and all around you, friends are getting mortgages, racing up the career ladder and spawning sprogs left, right and centre.
All of which has given rise to the modern malaise that is the “quarter-life crisis”. Damian Barr, author of Get It Together: A Guide to Surviving Your Quarterlife Crisis, says, “Your mid-late 20s are competitive. It’s like collecting Pokémon – you’ve got to get certain goals on top of each other – a job, house, marriage. With rock stars, you can have all this, but still be unsure about what it all means. They’re just as susceptible to quarter-life crises as everybody else…”
Dr. Amen agrees: “When we think of Hendrix or Cobain, they’d both had a lot of fame and excitement by the time they were 27. But soon, everyday pleasure such as holding your girlfriend’s hand, or playing with the dog, doesn’t work anymore because their brains have been over-stimulated and pleasure centres have burnt out. Therefore, they need ever-more higher levels of pleasure in order to feel anything at all, such as drugs…”
Or… as Barr calls it, “a hedonism escalator”. Meanwhile, occupational psychologist Kate Keenan says, “If you want to keep going, there’s nowhere else to go. The ultimate is to kill yourself; either intentionally or accidentally…”
There have been plenty of near-misses too. White Stripes’ front man, Jack White was relieved at “making it through the year of rock’n’roll death” after suffering a car crash with then-girlfriend Renée Zellweger on his 28th birthday in 2003. Russell Brand hit the pits of drug despair during his 27th year in 2002, and hasn’t touched them since. Meanwhile, the amount of times obituary writers reached for their pens when Pete Doherty was 27 doesn’t bear thinking about.
Even the most squeaky-clean pop stars have had moral crises at 27. It was the age when Cliff Richard found Christianity, Kylie started warbling murder ballads with Nick Cave and Britney finally cleaned up her act (according to biographer Ian Halperin, she “feared dying at 27”).
There’s also the notion that the 27 Club is nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophesy, with many rock stars nihilistically egging themselves on to become members. Kurt Cobain (who signed off his suicide note saying, “it’s better to burn out than to fade away”) always predicted he would die young, having bragged in high school, “I want to be rich and famous and kill myself like Jimi Hendrix.” Indeed, various studies have shown that suicides increase with media attention – it’s the reason why London Underground refrains from telling passengers about people killing themselves on the network. Could the 27 Club be weaving a similar Pavlovian spell?
“The mythology of these self-destructive icons resonates with younger people and seep through to their subconscious,” says Keenan. “Just look at Pete Doherty and the parallels with Romantic 19th Century poets.”
But maybe the Club has nothing to do with quarter-life angst or copying consumptive bards, but has actually been written in the stars all along…
“I believe many rock deaths happen at 27 because this is the Saturn Return age,” says Marion Williamson, editor of Prediction magazine. “It takes Saturn 27-29 years to return to the same part of your birth chart it occupied when you were born. It’s when you question whether you’re in the right job or relationship… it can bring on feelings of isolation, heavy burdens and feelings of stress.
“For creative types, Saturn can be seen as a wet blanket – you get writers’ block, find it hard to communicate, feel flat. It’s not a terribly inspiring time for artists…”
Faced with this inner turmoil, astrologists believe it’s why many rockers (and possibly 28-year old Heath Ledger, whose death from a suspected prescription drugs overdose aligned with his own returning personal Saturn) lose themselves in drugs and/or depression.
The number 27 is also revered by numerologists as it embodies the magical “power of three” (3 x 3 x 3 = 27). John Lennon, reportedly a keen numerologist, was deeply obsessed with the number nine and its multiples. Three of the most pivotal events in his life happened on the 9th. He was born on the 9th, The Beatles split up on the 9th, and even though he died, aged 40, on 8 December in New York, it was actually the 9th in Liverpool. Furthermore, his assassin, Mark Chapman, was carrying JD Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye when he shot the ex-Beatle. The tome has 26 chapters. Apparently it was Chapman’s wish to write Chapter 27 “in Lennon’s blood”.
Of course, the age-specific myth could be just that – a silly cock-and-bull story. After all, there have been plenty of stars who have perished tragically young, not just at 27 – James Dean (24), River Phoenix (23), Sid Vicious (21), Tupac (25). Furthermore, a 2007 LiverpoolJohnMooresUniversity found the average age rock megastars meet their makers is 42.
It’s also notable that had Cobain et al popped their clogs in a more mundane fashion, they wouldn’t be mythologised in the same way. As Keenan says, “Many rock stars find they can’t keep living life on the edge at this transitional age. It’s just a weird coincidence – nothing more.” Here’s hoping the waiting-list for the 27 Club is now closed…
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Third of law firms in England and Wales are female owned
Equality in the solicitor profession is moving closer
The Law Society of England and Wales currently estimates that more than a third of law firms in England and Wales are majority-owned by women.
Speaking on International Women’s Day (8.3.18) president Robert Bourns said:
The proportion of law firms majority-owned by women far outstrips the national estimate of women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs), reflecting the changing culture in the legal sector.
As the professional body for solicitors, we see real power in diversity and support progress for the best, regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation, so our profession reflects the population it serves.
We also know that businesses benefit from strong diversity and inclusion policies and practices that help attract both clients and the best talent.
An estimated 34% of the 9,403 law firms in England and Wales in 2015 were majority-owned by women, compared to a national estimate of women-owned SMEs of 21%
For the past 20 years, women have accounted for more than half of new entrants to the profession (61.1% in 2015), so the proportion of Practising Certificate (PC) holders who are female is set to increase for the foreseeable future
Moreover, women graduated with more first and upper second law degrees (71.1% ) than men (65.2%)
Despite the steady increase in the number of female entrants to the profession, however, they account for only 28.8% of partners. A recent survey undertaken ahead of a wider programme of work during Christina Blacklaws’ presidency of the Law Society in 2018-19 seeks to understand progress, barriers and support remedies.
Unconscious bias in the legal profession is the most commonly identified barrier to career progression for women, while flexible working is seen as a remedy by an overwhelming 91% of respondents to our survey.
Interestingly, while half of all respondents said they thought there had been progress on gender equality over the last five years, there was a significant difference in perception by gender with 74% of men reporting progress in gender equality compared to only 48% of women.
Key findings from the survey
7,781 people responded to the Law Society’s Women in the Law survey (5,758 women, 554 men and 1,469 unknown or other)
74% of men and 48% of women reported progress on gender equality in the last 5 years (overall 50%)
Main barriers to career progression perceived as:
– Unconscious bias (52%); however, only 11% said unconscious bias training is consistently carried out in their organisation
– Unacceptable work/life balance demanded to reach senior levels (49%)
– Traditional networks/routes to promotion are male orientated (46%)
– Current resistance to flexible working practices (41%)
91% of respondents said flexible working is critical to improving diversity
52% work in an organisation where flexible working is in place
60% are aware of gender pay gap in their place of work
Only 16% see visible steps taken to address gender pay gap
Filed Under: WIC News Tagged With: diversity, gender, leadership
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Arlie Hochschild and Eliza Griswold: Tales of Prosperity and Paradox
Journalist, The New Yorker
Arlie Hochschild
Professor Emerita, University of California Berkeley
Red states, blue states – when it comes to our environment, are we really two different Americas?
New Yorker writer Eliza Griswold and UC Berkeley professor Arlie Hochschild both traveled outside of their comfort zones, immersing themselves in communities that many liberals dismiss as ‘Trump country.’ But it’s time to get beyond the stereotypes, says Griswold.
“I think ‘Trump country’ is a dangerous stupid moniker we shouldn't use anymore,” she tells the Climate One audience. “It just allows us to write off wide swaths of America.”
Griswold spent time in southwestern Pennsylvania to tell the story of a family living on the front lines of the fracking boom. Hochschild traveled to rural Louisiana to escape what she calls the “bubble” of coastal thinking.
“Let me get into a bubble that is as far right as Berkeley, California is on the left -- and take my alarm system off,” Hochschild laughs.
Both writers emerged with books that paint an honest portrait of a misunderstood America.
In Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America, Griswold tells the story of Stacey Haney. When the fracking industry came to her Pennsylvania community, Haney readily signed over the rights to use her family farm – to her, it felt patriotic.
“Her father was a Vietnam combat vet,” Griswold explains, “and she really wanted to keep American troops out of harm's way, out of foreign entanglements over oil. And so she thought she was really doing her duty by signing this lease.”
What happened as a result turned her world upside-down. After her son came down with a debilitating illness, Stacey discovered that a nearby industrial waste pond was off-gassing lethal chemicals, poisoning the air, water and farmland. She and her family were forced to abandon their farm.
“She loses her house, she loses her way of life, she's living in a trailer with her kids,” Griswold says. “They really are a different kind of climate refugee.
“As much as the story is about fracking, it’s really much more a story of the failure of the common good and what it is that binds us together.”
Hochschild spent five years reporting on the lives of Tea Party conservatives fighting for environmental justice in Bayou Corne, Louisiana. The residents lost much of their community to a sinkhole caused by industrial well drilling. But as much as they blame the salt mining company that caused the disaster, she says, they also fault the government for letting them down.
“Environmental employees are not protecting you,” Hochschild says. “So it's easy to explain why they think, ‘state government, what are these people doing? They’re not doing their job.”
Hochschild’s book, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, tells the story of a community that’s been betrayed by the promise of prosperity – and by a government that they believe has failed them. It’s what she calls “The Great Paradox.”
“At the heart of it is this question of why it would be that the states that are the most polluted are also the states with the most voters who don't believe in regulating polluters,” she says.
The Bayou Corne Sinkhole, Louisiana
Greening the Tea Party (The New Yorker)
What Should Environmental Protection Include?
Eliza Griswold on the Economic Reality of Working in Coal
Arlie Hochschild on Industry Prosperity vs. Environmental Protection
Respectful Disagreement
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The Dalai Lama remains a refugee but his people will not
Posted on February 16, 2019 in Guest Writers, News · 8,437 Views · 39 Comments
Agencies have been established to ease the process of Tibetans giving up their refugee certificates in favor of an Indian passport. But what does this mean for the Tibetan leadership?
The opinion piece below was sent to dorjeshugden.com for publication. We accept submissions from the public, please send in your articles to [email protected].
By: Alexis Trabuio
Hundreds of these signs have sprung up in Majnu-ka-tilla, the Tibetan settlement in Delhi, India. Click to enlarge.
These days, posters and signs advertising and encouraging Tibetans to give up their refugee status in order to become Indian citizens are becoming a common sight in Majnu-ka-tilla, which is the Tibetan settlement in Delhi, India. Despite the Tibetan leadership’s futile attempts to sabotage the process, it looks like there is enough interest that both Indian and Tibetan agencies are finding ways to make a quick buck from the seemingly helpless, hopeless exiled Tibetans. Such signs spell out a few eyebrow-raising conclusions, all of which points to the Central Tibetan Administration’s (CTA; Tibetan leadership in Dharamsala) failure in keeping their people together. These posters and signs are an indication that:
There is a demand for Indian passports because multiple Indian and Tibetan agencies have been set up to cater to the demand. This shows a lot of Tibetans no longer find being a refugee good for their future. Even with all the perks a Tibetan would normally receive such as subsidies, free land, being exempted from paying Indian taxes, all of these are no longer enticing enough to convince them to keep their status quo.
Once Tibetans become Indian citizens, they will no longer need to rely on the CTA for anything. They will have a passport and will be free to travel wherever they like. Everything they do will be according to Indian law. They do not need to seek permission from the CTA for anything they do.
The CTA will lose control and power over these Tibetans. Once their people hold Indian citizenship, their allegiance will be to India and not to the Tibetan administration. The CTA will no longer be able to exploit and sell the story that they are a community of “poor refugees”. Having fewer people to parade as part of their “poor refugee” narrative, will in turn mean lesser funds coming in from generous Western donors which end up being pocketed by those in power anyway.
As more Tibetans opt for an Indian passport, the more it jeopardizes the CTA’s rice bowl because they will have fewer people to collect taxes from – the CTA can no longer ask these Tibetans to pay taxes to the CTA because they are Indian citizens now. These Tibetan-Indians will be working and earning just like any other Indian, and they will naturally pay Indian taxes.
Fewer people will believe that they really wish for a free Tibet. After all, if they were really committed to Tibet, why are they not staying Tibetan refugees instead of taking up an Indian passport at the first chance they get? Furthermore, as Indian citizens, they are no longer refugees and will have access to all the rights and privileges of an Indian citizen. They no longer need the financial and moral support of foreign benefactors and activists.
There is a huge loss of confidence in the Tibetan leadership. It is a reflection of the hopelessness Tibetans feel that there will be any change in their situation. By taking on Indian citizenship, it is a direct indication that Tibetans no longer believe that the Tibetan leadership will be able to lead them back to Tibet and they truly believe the CTA is definitely incapable of making this happen.
The CTA can no longer guilt-trip these Tibetans into remaining refugees and to follow the Dalai Lama’s footsteps. Even loyalty to the Dalai Lama is no longer a powerful enough factor to incentivize these Tibetans into staying refugees, instead of opting for an Indian passport. Even the Dalai Lama’s personal dharma protector Nechung has taken trance in their official oracle and promised many times they will return to Tibet and so far it has not been fulfilled. People have quietly lost hope in Nechung as his promises regarding returning to Tibet after 60 years in exile does not come true.
So the question is why are Tibetans not in solidarity with the Tibetan cause and following their leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama who promised them that they would return to Tibet? The Dalai Lama, who is the most famous Tibetan refugee in the world, holds a Tibetan refugee certificate and not an Indian passport. How come Tibetans are being disloyal and are not following in the Dalai Lama’s example? If Tibetans are willing to risk being called anti-Dalai Lama and disloyal because they opt for Indian passports, then this only emphasizes how much exiled Tibetans have lost hope that the Dalai Lama can return to Tibet and that they will be able to return their homeland with him. Tibetans say they are loyal to the Dalai Lama and believe in him, yet their actions show they do not have hope in returning to Tibet with the Dalai Lama at all after 60 years of waiting in exile. They have quietly lost trust in the Dalai Lama’s promises. The ageing Dalai Lama has not fulfilled his promise of bringing his exiles back to Tibet. Tibetans in India wonder what will happen to them when the Dalai Lama is no more? Hence they are preparing for that by taking Indian citizenship and not waiting for the Dalai Lama’s promise of returning to Tibet anymore.
Therefore, if there is no hope in returning to Tibet, then what is the point of the CTA existing especially when more Tibetans are becoming Indian citizens? Do the CTA need to exist when they will have no one to administrate? These Tibetan-Indians’ allegiance will be towards India and as time goes by and a new generation of Tibetans are born in exile holding Indian passports, they will slowly identify more with India than with Tibet. Just look at Ladakh and Tawang in Northern India, the Tibetans who moved there hundreds of years ago who, though ethnically Tibetan, no longer identify or think of themselves as Tibetan. It will definitely happen.
So fighting for the Tibetan cause? That will quickly become a thing of the past as more Tibetans become Indian because with time, there will no longer be anything to fight for. By opting for Indian passports over Tibetan refugee status, the message is clear – Tibetans have lost hope and no longer believe that the Tibetan leadership, and even His Holiness the Dalai Lama, will bring them home to Tibet.
The location of Majnu-ka-tilla in India. It is the Tibetan settlement and an area of Delhi, filled with Tibetan shops, guest houses, restaurants, homes and businesses.
Hundreds of Tibetans have turned Majnu-ka-tilla into the “Little Tibet” of Delhi. But with fewer Tibetans opting to remain, and choosing instead to become Indian citizens, will this moniker continue to apply in the near future?
Majnu-ka-tilla is a bustling Tibetan settlement. As more Tibetans opt for Indian passports however, by the terms of the agreement they will not be allowed to stay in the settlements as they are no longer Tibetan. Hence over time, the settlements will dwindle and grow quieter as more Tibetans move out to become Indians.
Do Tibetans who fly the Tibetan flag REALLY believe in a free Tibet, that they are willing to tolerate the difficulties of being refugees? It seems like the answer is ‘no’ because more of them, unlike the Dalai Lama who remains a refugee, are opting to become Indian. How come they are not following in their leader’s example?
Over time, as more Tibetans become Indian and are, by law, forced to move out of the settlements, places like Majnu-ka-tilla will grow quieter. This trend of becoming Indian is now seen in Majnu-ka-tilla but it is only a matter of time before the trend spreads to the other 24 settlements in India.
US$1.5 million siphoned by Tibetan government
Is Karmapa Thaye Dorje's son the incarnation of Sharmapa Rinpoche? Next
If India wants Chinese support against terrorists, where is the Indian support against the Dalai Lama?
Tashi Pema
It is very hard to believe what the CTA says these days and it is disappointing to hear the Dalai Lama. All the things they promise us are just lies. All the money they receive from Western donors go straight to their pockets, not the people. So why should Tibetans believe in them? Why shouldn’t Tibetans become Indian citizens and live freely and not under the CTA and be dictated by them? On top of them, we have to give them money.
Since going back to Tibet is a hopeless dream, we might as well take India as our home because it has been our home for over 59 years now. I don’t see a change in CTA but I see a degeneration. Now we need to be smart and survive so we can at least do what we can to preserve our culture and history. In India, we still have a chance.
The rich Tibetans will all migrate to the West, even Lobsang Sangay himself has an American passport, so CTA can shut up and Sangay should be the last one to open his mouth to tell us we can’t become Indian citizens or that there is hope in returning to Tibet! What a bunch of BS he is good at, maybe for the foolish injis but we educated Tibetans know better.
Tibetans lose trust in Nechung protector
The Dalai Lama’s personal protector Nechung has taken trance of their official oracle in Dharamsala hundreds of times. Nechung on many occasions have promised the Dalai Lama to tell the Tibetan people they will return to Tibet. It has been 60 years of saying this in exile. Many of the older generations who came from Tibet into exile in India have died off while waiting to return to Tibet. The new generation of Tibetans born in India are more Indian than Tibetan. Many Tibetans born in foreign countries beyond India cannot speak the Tibetan language well anymore and identify with their adoptive countries more than Tibet. Clearly Nechung’s prophecies do not come true for important issues such as returning to Tibet.
Tibetans in India and around the world have lost hope in Nechung protector. Therefore the Tibetans in India are not even waiting for the Dalai Lama to die but getting Indian citizenship now while Dalai Lama is alive. How can they get Indian citizenship when Dalai Lama is still on refugee status and not an Indian citizen? Simple, Tibetans quietly lost trust in him.
Dorje S
Nechung has given so many wrong prediction in the past, of course Tibetans lost trust in him. However if we think deeper, when Tibetans say that, they are actually saying that they also started to lose trust in the Dalai Lama because how can the Dalai Lama trust a protector who always goes wrong if he is a Buddha? Doesn’t he has clairvoyance? If he can’t even differentiate which protector can be trusted, then how can we say he is Chenrezig who is supposed to be a all-knowing Buddha?
Michaela Smith
It looks like the Tibetan refugees in India have started to see their future realistically. After so many failed promise by the CTA and the Dalai Lama, and false prediction by Nechung to bring the Tibetans back to Tibet, the refugees in India finally see the reality that the CTA tried to convince them to maintain their refugee status so the CTA can continue to exploit them to ask for more money and donations from their donors.
Who wants to remain the refugees for 60 years? Japan, and Germany suffered devastating losses after World War II. 60 years later, they have become developed countries and make up for their defeat. This just shows what a backward mentality that the CTA has, and this is exactly the reason why the Tibetans are fed up and give up their refugee status.
Nechung gets more offerings than Lord Buddha
Nechung protector’s command and promise to the Dalai Lama unfulfilled. Nechung promised Dalai Lama if Dorje Shugden’s practice was banned, then the he can get Tibet back and Tibetans can return to Tibet.
It’s strange as Nechung also said to the Dalai Lama to ban Dorje Shugden back in 1996. If this is done, then Nechung will be pleased and trust will be repaired between him and the Tibetan people and Tibetans can get Tibet back. This has not happened still. Nechung on many occasions make promises to the Tibetan people but it has been unfulfilled. Tibetans lost trust in Nechung.
The ban against Shugden as requested by Nechung did not fulfill it’s purpose. Many Tibetans are questioning this now. The Tibetans say no benefits have arisen from banning Dorje Shugden’s practice. Only disharmony and disunity arose from this ban. The ban was wrong. Many Tibetans in India and abroad are quietly and secretly returning to Dorje Shugden’s practice now. Many Tibetans said they have practiced Dorje Shugden for many generations and were forced to give up the practice hoping to get Tibet back as promised by Nechung. But this has not happened.
1. Nechung protector in a painting.
2. Statue of Nechung in Nechung Monastery. Many senior Tibetan lamas question why Nechung who is a spirit originally from Persia brought to Tibet by traders get more offerings on his shrine than Lord Buddha? Why does a spirit get more offerings than Lord Buddha Himself? Dalai Lama said we should make more offerings to Buddha and not a spirit yet Nechung gets more offerings. Why does the Dalai Lama allow this as it contradicts his own advice.
3. Yet again Nechung in trance of the oracle monk and speaking to the Dalai Lama.
Tenzin Kelsang
If I am a Tibetan refugee and I have waited for 60 years to go back to Tibet, I would have lost hope by now already. The Tibetan leadership has been giving empty promises one after another and there is still no progress on the Tibet cause until now.
With the current Tibetan leadership, there is no way that they can bring the Tibetans in Exile back to Tibet. There are too busy chasing after their own fantasies and selfish agendas. They do not care about the Tibetans at all.
It is logical for the Tibetans in exile to move on and take on Indian citizenship to fight for a better future for themselves after 60 years of stagnant in being a refugee. Soon, the Tibetan leadership will not have any Tibetans in exile left to manipulate and they will eventually have to disband.
60 years of hopes and disappointments are enough to make Tibetans less patriotic. They are certainly not to be blamed for giving up on the Tibetan cause. On the contrary, these Tibetans have shown their loyalty for more than half a decade despite many lies by the their own political and spiritual leaders, even their protector has lied to them.
Now, by choosing to be Indian citizen, it’s very obvious that Tibetans don’t want to wait anymore even though the Dalai Lama has repeatedly expressed his hope of going back to Tibet. It is a strong indication that the Tibetans not only lost hope in their political leaders, they also lost hope of the Dalai Lama.
I actually rejoice for their decision. Frankly speaking, no one is going to believe the CTA will fulfill their promise of bringing their people back to Tibet. It’s enough lies after so many years. It’s time for CTA to face their own karma.
Kumar Sharma
Just like anyone else in the world, Tibetans want to be free to travel and have rights just like everyone else. Due to the situation in exile, they were not able to do so. However, getting Indian passport/citizenship is a golden opportunity for them to have all that without having to move elsewhere.
The matter of the fact is that Tibetans in India have received tremendous kindness from and living under the Indian government as their incompetent leadership in Dharamsala tries to manage a non-existent ‘government’. They should grab this opportunity so that the CTA can no longer control these Tibetans into remaining refugees. Why is it that the CTA encourages Tibetans to go to Europe and USA and become citizens there, but not encourage Tibetans to become Indian citizens in India? Smart Tibetans will have the answer and they know the leadership in Dharamsala is not looking after their welfare.
People who are enthusiastic about the Tibet cause will be those who escaped from Tibet together with the Dalai Lama in the 50s and 60s. Most of them probably are not around anymore or they are very old now. Majority of the Tibetans are the new generations who are born and raised outside Tibet. These new generations are not sentimental about Tibet.
After 60 years of waiting, there is no result from the CTA and as usual, the CTA doesn’t give a direction to the Tibetans. The Tibetans still respect the Dalai Lama but they also know the Dalai Lama is very old now and he will not be able to bring them back to Tibet. The CTA gives them empty promise year after year, no one has the confidence that the CTA will make any difference in the future.
The Tibetans also know that the CTA is only using them to make money, the CTA does not care about their future and welfare. Anyone with sense will not rely on the CTA and gamble their future away. As more Tibetans are migrating or going back to Tibet or opt for Indian citizenship, there will be fewer Tibetans for the CTA to ‘manage’ and to ask for free money from the west. Sooner or later, the CTA will have to dissolve and there is no one for them to manage and there is no more cause to fight for.
Palmo
Tibetans are generally fed up with waiting since they have been waiting for 60 years. Tibetan leadership had given them empty promises and excuses so many times. In the meantime, Tibetan leadership did all they can to get more donations from countries around the world.
The population of Tibetan in exile now is the generation that has not even set foot in Tibet now. They will not have the passion to fight for Tibet’s freedom, unlike the generation that actually fled Tibet 60 years ago. That is why it is not surprising to see the Tibetans now are slowly embracing the fact that they will not go back to Tibet.
Many of them had even fled India to western countries to fight for a better future. It is obvious that even in India, the Tibetan government are not taking good care of their own people which forces them to flee the place that they know so well again. That is why Tibetans are cleaver to have moved on and not wait for their government to bring them back to Tibet.
This whole incidence and trend shows that Tibetans not only don’t care about the Tibetan cause anymore, they also clearly show that they no longer believe their government can actually achieve anything for their future. If they dare to not follow the Dalai Lama’s footstep, no one can ever stop them from leaving the Tibetan settlements. Tibetans are just too tired being poor, underprivileged and disappointed for too many years already.
Again and again the CTA, the Central Tibetan Administration has disappointed the Tibetans with empty promises, lies, abuse of power and much more…
Of course the Tibetans will choose the option that brings them a future instead of endless disappointments…
It is about that for Tibetans to go back to Tibet under China. There is no use for them to resists and there will only be a better life waiting for them in Tibet. After 60 years of being in Tibetan settlement in India, there is obviously no chance or whatever in the for them to get back Tibet’s independence. They will have to live with the fact that Tibet is under China now.
However, it is also His Holiness’s wish to have Umaylam. Since Rangzen is not possible anymore, Umaylam is the best next thing that they can achieve. It is very important for Tibetans to return to Tibet because it is their home and only there that their identity of being a Tibetan can be preserved.
They integrate into India or a foreign country, it will be very hard for them to maintain their identity being a Tibetan. Other than that, being with China will prevent the Tibetans from being further exploited by the Tibetan government when His Holiness is not around to protect anymore.
Amber Sonam
The CTA has failed big time and they have made the Dalai Lama lose all credibilities for everything he has said to the world. All the financial support and aids from the west around the world have now proven to be poured into the sewage tank of corruptions, deceptions and crimes.
The CTA makes the Dalai Lama now living in great shame for disappointing millions of Tibetans and kind donors and supporters for the lost cause of Tibet. How will CTA explain to the world that the Dalai Lama has failed the Tibet cause and the CTA is the main culprit of it? To make things worst, the CTA cannot prove where all the donations are being distributed to and used for.
The West should stop pumping in any sum for there is no longer Tibetan refugees in India unless they wish to just support the Dalai Lama, the only Tibetan refugee in the world, whose money is handled by the CTA anyway.
Tibetans have lost total hope in the Dalai Lama and they are no longer believers of the unexisting Tibet cause. This is an undeniable fact. With more and more demand for the Indian passports, there will soon be no Tibetan refugees in India. Tibetan refugees who can afford have sought refuge in the West or return to China. So what is the function of the CTA and the Dalai Lama now?
Contemplate this:
Indian journalists sound desperate when they talk about terrorist attacks on India. As this article correctly states, there is little that India can do to address terrorism as they seem to operate from Pakistan. To deal with the terrorists, Indians will have to literally attack Pakistan which it cannot do.
Well, there is something India can do which is to stop Dharamsala’s terrorist activities against China being executed from Indian soil. The Tibetans have been attacking China for decades, yet they say they wish to return to Tibet. How do you return to a place you constantly criticize? The Dalai Lama is literally begging China to allow him to visit the Five Peaks of Manjushri pilgrimage site in China and also his birthplace in Amdo, Tibet. But if the Dalai Lama keeps criticizing China, why would they sit at the bargaining table with him? India allows for all of this to happen on Indian soil, so that would irritate China.
Yet India wants concessions from China on the terrorist issue. Meanwhile, Beijing equates Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Saeed to India supporting the Dalai Lama against China for five decades now. Furthermore, India wants China to speak up against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Masood Azhar. But India does not speak up against Dalai Lama. Whether the world thinks the Dalai Lama is the good guy or not, he is a thorn in China’s side so anyone that supports him is not supporting China. Similar to the situation, LeT’s Hafiz Saeed and JeM’s Masood Azhar are a thorn in India’s side but they do not bother China and her allies, so why should China do anything about them? If India does something on the Dalai Lama, then it would be fair to ask China to do something about their support of Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Masood Azhar. Simple equation.
These reports are really bare-faced hypocrisy. It implies one nation is helpless against terrorists because the terrorists camp out in another country. But that did not stop the US from heavily bombing Iraq on the basis that it was harboring terrorists. The US did not hesitate to overthrow the government and murder its leader Saddam Hussein.
It is also very hypocritical that the same journalists who are outraged at China’s annexation of Tibet are quiet about Israel’s annexation of Palestine.
It is interesting to note that most terrorist attacks are aimed at the US and her allies. Everyone conveniently forgets that the US has been throwing their weight around for decades and can even determine which leader they want in other countries.
Back to India – if China can convince North Korea to have détente with the US, China can similarly help India with the JeM. India simply has to give up the Tibet card. The article is also a one-sided opinion piece because India faces as many terrorist threats from Bangladesh, with just as many terrorist camps, but because Bangladesh is not China, their involvement is not mentioned.
India is a great country. China and India as friends will be able to influence the globe literally economically and, eventually, militarily. But India has to play fair. By supporting the Dalai Lama, India will get nothing and furthermore, it will be a stumbling block to China’s 1.4 billion people becoming friends with India’s 1.3 billion people.
The Dalai Lama has to be compassionate and stop speaking against China because he has to consider the difficulty he places India in as his host. Each time he criticizes and allows his refugees to protest against China and ask for western support, it makes China look bad. So if the Dalai Lama wants China and India to become closer and benefit each other economically then he has to be silent on this already.
The Diplomat’s Prarthana Basu sums it up very well by saying in the article below that “Now with another terrorist attack infuriating India’s populace, the mystery behind this Chinese silence remains unsolved. While most attribute China’s apparent silence as a favor to Pakistan, as both continue to maintain their “all-weather friendship,” others argue that China holds India responsible for granting political asylum to the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama, whom Beijing equates to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Saeed.”
Tibetans in exile are probably fed up with their refugee situation and decided to seek a better life elsewhere with a new government. It is sad to see they had lost hope in their own government who is supposed to protect, help and nurture them. Instead of doing all those things, CTA exploited their own people and show no care towards their well being.
After 60 years of struggle as a refugee in India, there is literally nothing that the Tibetans in Exile can do besides more waiting. Waiting to go back to their motherland which is occupied by the Chinese government with ease due to the failure of the previous Tibetan government. The corruption is so bad that the Chinese can just take over this vast piece of land without much resistance. Why Nepal or Bhutan who is much smaller in size manage to maintain their sovereignty? It is about the strength and capability of the government and it is very clear that the Tibetan government does not have both.
Now that India had made it easier for Tibetans to get their citizenship, it is a wake-up call for Tibetans to move on and not stick to the past. They are not going back to Tibet anytime soon with the same corrupted government. It is better for them to move overseas or integrate into Indian society because they will have more opportunities to succeed in life compared to being a refugee in India. They are smart to realize this and CTA is stupid to think that they can manipulate the Tibetans in exile to stay with them forever.
Jigme
Tibetans do not want to continue to be refugees because it is very obvious that they have nothing to do now in the Tibetan settlements in India. They have no chance to be successful and the Tibetan cause is not coming anytime soon. They are stuck there and all they can do is to wait for a miracle or do something to leave CTA behind.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is different than the rest of the Tibetans. He does not need to worry about this because he can go anywhere and everybody will accept him but not normal Tibetans. That is why Tibetans are afraid for their future and they are trying to fight for their future.
Many Tibetans that went overseas are doing well and they are able to live a life that is better than life in India. Soon the number of Tibetans in exile will drop so much that there is no need for CTA to exist anymore.
Refugees are people who are stateless, they live in another country without a travel document. For the Tibetan refugees, they can move around in India freely but they cannot travel to other countries. They also cannot buy properties or own any business. They have lost a lot of opportunities in life.
For Dalai Lama, it does not matter if he can travel to other countries or own property because he is a monk, these are not important to him and he is not supposed to have the attachment to these things anyway. But to the normal Tibetans, these are important to them.
It is not fair to ask the Tibetans to remain as refugees forever and not giving them a clear direction of what will happen next. The CTA is not giving Tibetans hope, they have not choice but to move on and plan for themselves. Tibetans are still very respectful to the Dalai Lama but when it comes to their future, they can only rely on themselves.
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Geraldine Sarie
What can the Tibetans do as they had been confined as refugees in India for more than 60 years with nothing benefit. If I were them, of course I leave. It’s pointless to stay in the community that no improvement, reckless commotion and is so vulnerable. Who would stay in such situation? Besides, the promises are broken between the leadership and their people. CTA is not doing anything to amend the bond with the Tibetans. So, the Tibetans have to see with their own eyes collapse of this so-call leadership. 👎
Belinda Mae
Go ask any of the Tibetans in-exiled if they are tired of waiting for 60 years and up to current moment they are still waiting for an unknown status whethet they will be able to go back to Tibet. I am sure many of them would have given up and lost hope on CTA who will never bring them back to their homeland. Hence, a decision need to be made by the Tibetans in-exiled to protect themselves and also to survive. Living under the administration of CTA is just hopeless and waste of them.
“Do the CTA need to exist when they will have no one to administrate?”
It’s not a question of need because the needs of the people were not fully fulfilled. So why has CTA existed until now? All because of the Dalai Lama.
The CTA are not doing their job to benefit Tibetans for the longest time. They are only interested to look good, fly abroad to procure money, threaten and bully their own people instead of helping them. They can get away with it because the Dalai Lama is around. What if the time comes when the Dalai Lama isn’t? Would sympathetic sponsors continue to donate their hard earned cash to a lost cause without the Dalai Lama at the helm? I wouldn’t.
tenzin
Cta do not care about Tibetans. They only care for themselves. All the lies and corruption they have been trying to dismiss will come back and haunt them for the rest of their lives. Karma does exist! Even if in this life they don’t see it, it will come back to them in their next. Pity their next generations. It will haunt them too.
Existent of CTA is redundant. They are so corrupt and look at what they have achieved even after 6 decades of looking for money to keep feeding their lavish spending lifestyle. Look at the people who are suffering out there. The plot of making Dorje Shugden a scapegoat in order to continue make Tibetans split is seen through and what bad karma CTA people are creating.
Richard Tamlak
What is more heartbreaking than loosing hope? Loosing hope on someone or something, means one has lost faith, doesn’t believe or doesn’t even want to look back at someone or something that one looked forward for. 60 years, for as long as 60 years CTA had used their Tibetans as puppets for them to get money from the west. And they didn’t do anything to improve Tibetans life, but to put the money into their own pocket. Honestly, they should have known even in the 10th years that CTA will not get Tibet to independent. Besides that, China didn’t say Tibetans in India cannot return to Tibet, it’s only The Dalai Lama can’t return to Tibet. A so called people leadership didn’t do anything to benefit their people, but always use their people as puppet to cheat money, encourage suicide to cheat money, what kind of leadership is this? CTA shouldn’t even exist in the 20th year even 10th year after they are unable to return the exiled Tibetans to Tibet. Why need to wait until now? CTA shouldn’t close down earlier.
Wangel
Finally Tibetan refugee accept the truth they will not able return to China as Tibetan independent. The most important thing to know the failure of tibetan leadership. Tibetan refugee reserve better offer becoming India citizenship after 60 year in exile. Those tibetan refugee are dreaming return to main land Tibet, China still accepting them return back. Leave the heartbreaking CTA alway cheating their refugee with the empty promises.
Vajra10
I think the CTA has never thought of fulfilling the promise which is to bring the exiled Tibetan back to Tibet. It’s obvious, see what they have been doing since the few decades?
Every thing they do is to benefit themselves instead as a whole for the exiled Tibetans.
The exiled Tibetans have to really consider & think more what will bring benefits for them. Instead of believing the CTA blindly.
Tianni
Tibetan in exile are in the dilemma, in one hand they does not want to be stateless , in another hand they have all hope to the Dalai Lama will bring them home~Tibet. I wonder what will be happen if Dalai Lama gone. After 60 years, we only see CTA has issue of corruption, lies and segregate the peoples, how to beleive CTA will bring Tibetan in exile back to Tibet. The current situration and the challenges not getting support from many countries because everyone will like to be friendly with China, it looks like no hope for Tibetans in exile.
CTA never take care of their people. CTA very happy to keep all of them poor and continue to be in tibetan refugees camps so that they can use this situation to raise funds and pocketed all the money. So that CTA leaders all already holding US passports but the poor and ignorance Tibetan still hoping to see victory and returning to Tibet.
Tibetan should depend on themselves and takes up Indian citizenship so that their children can have a proper life. Think for the children and grand children.
The Tibetan is in desperate already. After 60 years as refugees in India, CTA has not improve any of their welfare and looking at CTA which has no strategy at all to bring the Tibetan back to their homeland, the Tibetans may have to act on their own to work out for their future. After 60 years, Tibetans didn’t see anything beneficial to the them and in fact Tibetans are willing to take chances to explore outside India now.
The Tibetan government will forever rely on the sympathy and donations of another country to survive. That is how they survived all these years in the Tibetan settlements in India. For the past 60 years, the Tibetan government worked so hard to get donations and support from the western country in the name of Tibetan cause.
However, the Tibetan cause has not gained any significant progress despite millions of donation and from countries around the world, and they are still stuck in the same position as before. Where did all the funds and donations go? While Tibetan in exile is living in poverty, the leadership are travelling around the globe enjoying themselves.
I guess the Tibetan government has been using the donations for other purposes instead of benefiting their own people. That is why there is no improvement in the situation in the Tibetan settlements even after 60 years of receiving donations and aids. Tibetans will have to look for a new life elsewhere for them to escape from their current situation.
1st Time Dalai Lama Finally Admits His Illness Was Serious
In the past it is customary to cover up the Dalai Lama’s illnesses. It could be to not worry his flock. It could also be to not show the world he is just another vulnerable human being. Or it could be he does not want to disappoint people to show he is not a god? Whatever the reasons, the Dalai Lama and regime are well known for covering up his serious illnesses. In the past few years he had cancer of the prostate and that was covered up till the press dug it up. Now with this new video just out April 2019, Dalai Lama admits he was recently very ill. It was serious.
Unfortunately the Tibetan cause will die with the Dalai Lama when he passes. He did nothing to groom up a new leader as he is a dictator. A ruler for life. He has been in power for over 60 years. He will never groom up another person to replace him because he is touted as a god.
http://video.dorjeshugden.com/comment-videos/comment-1556343635.mp4
One of the easier ways for Tibetans in exile to get out of their situation is to join India as their citizens. There nothing left for them in the Tibetan settlements except more poverty, disappointments and lies from the Tibetan government. 60 years had passed and they should have known that their government is not capable of achieving Tibetan cause.
However, I heard that the Tibetan government is making the process of converting to Indian citizen very difficult to discourage the Tibetans from doing so. They want the Tibetans to stay with them so they can further exploit them and milk them like a cash cow. If there is no more Tibetans left in the settlements, there is no reason for the western countries to give them donations.
Tibetans leadership is a group of very selfish people who only think of themselves and their own benefits. The Tibetans in exile are very unfortunate to have them as their leadership and they are destined to suffer under their guidance. If the Tibetan can’t convert to Indian citizenship, they should look into returning to Tibet as China had recently opened their doors to them.
CTA will never work their way to be friends with China. Just look at their attitude for the past 60 years. They have been extremely arrogant towards China and they believe that whatever they are doing which is talking bad about China and playing the victim card will work forever. However, things have changed since 1959 and their tactic is no longer working.
China is one of the superpower countries in the world now and Tibetans in exile are just nobody when compared with them. China is so powerful right now that there is no way the Tibetans can “force” China to give back Tibet to them. China has invested so much into making Tibet a better place and the Tibetans are expecting China to just hand them back their country that easily?
The Tibetan government is delusional to think like that and they are fooling themselves and also the Tibetans in exile. Tibetans in India now should learn to be smart and go back to China when they actually allows it. There is no hope in the Tibetan settlements anymore.
Ngawang Jigme
Unlike 5 years ago, Tibetan leader Lobsang Sangay is not invited to Prime Minister Modi’s swearing-in ceremony this time. It is clear that PM Modi of India snubs the Tibetan leadership once again in favour of deeper ties with China. The Tibetan leadership finds itself increasingly isolated as nobody wants to offend China by lending any support to the ungrateful Tibetans.
PM Modi snubs Tibetan leadership for swearing-in ceremony
By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, May 30: The Indian Prime Minister who is fresh off of a massive win in the Indian Lok Sabha elections has done a U-turn by not inviting exile Tibetan government’s President to the swearing in ceremony due to be held later today, in a bid to not anger Beijing.
The President of the exile Tibetan government, known officially as the Central Tibetan Administration, Dr. Lobsang Sangay’s absence today at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi marks a stark contrast to 2014 when the elected Tibetan leader was seated in the former rows at the ceremony when PM Modi was sworn into office the first time around.
The invitation to Dr. Sangay in May 2014 drew strong objection from the Chinese government who lodged an official protest censuring New Delhi’s disregard for the so-called ‘One-China policy’. Many said at the time that the invite was posturing at most, of Modi’s intent to India’s neighbor and biggest rivals both in Asia and global arenas.
The New Delhi-Beijing relations post the Doklam stand off and Wuhan summit has meant that India has given a cold shoulder to the exile Tibetan set up, thereby taking a step back in using the much-touted ‘Tibet card’. The shift in policy has markedly been seen on the ground with New Delhi issuing an advisory to senior leaders to avoid His Holiness the Dalai Lama or pushing the CTA to shift the “thank you India” ceremony from New Delhi to Dharamshala last year.
The head of the Tibetan polity who extended pleasantries to PM Modi on his win, however may have anticipated the snub. Days after Modi’s historic election win, Sangay flew to the United States and is scheduled to return on June 5 to India next week.
http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=41474&article=PM+Modi+snubs+Tibetan+leadership+for+swearing-in+ceremony
In old Tibet, the Tibetans were segregated into different classes, the majority of them were slaves and were exploited by their landlords or their own government. The rich always became richer and the poor always became poorer. After they escaped from Tibet, even though they are ruled by a democratic government, they are still being exploited by their own government.
The culture of exploiting their own people and taking care only about themselves is still deep-rooted in the Tibetan leadership. Even though the Tibetans in India are ruled by a democratic government now, they are still being suppressed. They have the right to vote for their government but they don’t have the right to voice out their dissatisfaction. Whoever voices out, the Tibetan leadership will find ways to get them or encourage the Tibetans to outcast the person who voices out. One very good example is Lukar Jam Atsok whose life was in danger after he exposed the evil side of the Tibetan leadership.
With so much unfairness and promises that are not fulfilled in the past 60 years, the Tibetans know the Dalai Lama will not be able to make any differences in the situation they are in. Life as a refugee is full of uncertainty and the Tibetans, especially the younger generation does not wish to live like that anymore. They may not follow the Dalai Lama but it does not mean they don’t respect the Dalai Lama anymore. What they don’t appreciate is the selfishness of the Tibetan leadership.
Chodag
At the beginning of the escape, a lot of people follow Dalai Lama travel all the way to India. They left their homes with nothing and hold on to their faith and believe in the Tibetan leadership to bring them back home and look after their welfare during the period in India. Unfortunately after 60 years, nothing changes. CTA getting so much donation but nothing has been shared to improve the Tibetan welfare. We see the Tibetan leadership would spend the fund to come up with materials to impose ban on Dorje Shugden which doesn’t harm anyone, why not use the money to help fellow Tibetans that have been refugees for the longest time?
It’s not easy to stay for 60 years and keep hoping that one day Tibetan leadership will fulfill their promises to bring them back. Tibetan has been very patient but they can’t hold on anymore because they need to think for the future of their next generation which Tibetan leadership never wants to think about.
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Tibetan exiled government regime falling apart
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Maya Watanabe: Liminal
On show Maya Watanabe’s new video installation
by Lorenza Pignatti
Liminal is an intense journey that analyses the threshold of the recognizable and the representable, the visible and the abstraction. The video installation presents a poetic film that focuses on Peru’s internal armed conflict, perpetrated by the Peruvian state police and two guerrilla groups: Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru, and the communist organization Sendero Luminoso. The dreadful and cruel conflict that began in 1980 and ended in 2000 with the fall of the Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori brought about nearly 70,000 deaths. Today – almost 30 years after the official end of the conflict – 16,000 people are still missing and 6,000 are yet to be identified.
Maya Watanabe, Liminal (still), 2019. Produced by the Han Nefkens Foundation. Courtesy the artist
After a long process of investigation and a collaboration with the EFE – Peru’s Specialized Forensic Team – and the Peruvian General Directorate for the Search of Missing Persons, the Peruvian artist Maya Watanabe has created an artwork that exceeds politics and perhaps history itself. “I didn’t want to make an educational/essay film or a documentary based on interviews with too many explanations. I did a lot of research, I shot at mass graves, and I met with many people who were involved in the conflict, but the footage of my video is based on a close-up that conceals as much as it displays,” explained Watanabe at La Casa Encendida in Madrid, where Liminal is installed until March 31. “Even if I studied Visual Arts, I’m very interested in cinema, especially in the filmography of Theo Angelopoulos and Andrej Tarkovskij, my favourite filmmakers. I feel very close to their way of shooting, as their films were not a reflection of reality, rather like poems or dreams”, she added.
Watanabe’s way of filming is controlled and never too explicit – it involves the viewer with details and fragments, never with a full image. Time is frozen: visual fragmentation is her way to visualize the hard work of the forensic archaeologists and anthropologists who try and “restore” the victim’s identity, whose corpse has been reduced to bones. The archaeologists in the fieldwork, and later the anthropologists in the laboratory analysis, are the ones who are able to make a reliable identification, to “reinstate” a victim’s identity, and to determine their legal death. This suspended transitional legal state of “missing” person is extremely painful for the parents, as they don’t have the possibility of grieving. Enforced disappearances are a political tool, able not only to determine which lives are erasable, but also to underline who can be silenced and who cannot.
Maya Watanabe, Liminal (installationview), 2019. Produced by the Han Nefkens Foundation. Courtesy the artist
Liminal analyzes that transitional state, when the subjects’ state of legal recognition is undistinguished, at the threshold between the recognizable and the representable. After the solo show at La Casa Encendida, Liminal will be presented at the Museo de Arte de Lima – MALI in August 2019.
Maya Watanabe was born Lima in 1983, and in the past four years she presented her artwork at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Kyoto Art Center, Matadero (Madrid), and Palais de Tokyo (Paris), among others. Last year at ARCOmadrid, she won the Han Nefkens Foundation – ARCOmadrid Award, aimed to support the production of emerging artists of Peruvian origin or nationality, as Peru was chosen as country of honor.
Maya Watanabe, Liminal (installation view), 2019. Produced by the Han Nefkens Foundation. Courtesy the artist
The collaboration between the Han Nefkens Foundation and the ARCOmadrid Video Art Award will continue next year, and the winner has already been announced. Following the central theme of the fair, It’s Just a Matter of Time – suggested and inspired by the work of Felix Gonzáles-Torres – the female artist Hao Jingban was awarded $15,000 to produce a new work which will be presented next year at Matadero Madrid during and after ARCOmadrid 2020. ARCOmadrid will be the first exhibition space for Jingban’s artwork which, thanks to the vitality and networking of the Han Nefkens Foundation – that is involved in many production grants and awards – will also be presented at other art centers worldwide.
Maya Watanabe: Liminal is at La Casa Encendida in Madrid until March 31, 2019.
Lorenza Pignatti is an art writer, curator, and professor at the New Academy of Fine Arts (NABA) in Milan. She edited “Mind the Map. Mappe, diagrammi e dispositivi cartografici” (Postmedia Books). With Franco “Bifo” Berardi and Marco Magagnoli, she co-edited “Errore di sistema. Teoria e pratiche di Adbusters” (Feltrinelli Editore). She is a regular contributor for magazines and newspapers such as Il Manifesto, La Repubblica, Frieze, Art Review, and e-flux.
Tag: curatorship, film, installation
Artist: Maya Watanabe
City: Barcelona, Madrid
Venue: ARCOmadrid, Han Nefkens Foundation, La Casa Encendida, Museo de Arte de Lima – MALI
« Bulletin #17. Stressed, Blessed and Coffee Obsessed | Interview with Cally Spooner »
by Droste Effect
in Focus on Europe
#ArtissimaLive Back to the Future: 10 Years in Retrospect
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Timber and rail lines
The first report of the quality of jarrah I can find is of the repair of HMS "Success". The "Success" was originally used by Capt James Stirling to explore the Swan River area in 1827 to locate a settlement site for the colony. The "Success" was run aground and damaged in 1830 and repaired with jarrah felled from what is now Kings Park. In January 1831, "Success" was repaired and sailed for England via India, with a letter from Stirling praising jarrah. Inspection of the ship revealed the jarrah repair had not deteriorated even though green wood was used. The Admiralty ordered a consignment of jarrah and so the demand for the timber began. Jarrah was originally called "Swan River mahogany" as it was a good substitute for the Central American hardwood.
The WA timber industry relied predominantly upon the Jarrah forests of the Darling Range and the Karri forests of the Southwest. Initially, timber close to Perth and other ports was harvested first. The first sawmill in the State was operating at the foot of Mt Eliza in Kings Park by 1833. Mr J Monger was associated with this mill and also the first steam sawmill in the State, which began operations at Guildford near Midland in 1844. Sawmilling began on present day State jarrah forest in the Kalamunda area near Kelmscott in the 1860s, and in the 1870s near Serpentine Dam as well as near Bunbury and Busselton. As the timber fellers had to go further out to collect timber, more transport was required. Wooden rails were laid on sleepers, and trolleys were drawn by horses or bullocks, such as at Quindalup in the 1850's and the Mason & Bird line near Pickering Brook in the 1870's. Other early mills were Monger & Cowan (1844) in Guildford, Hancock (1844) in Belmont and Graves in Murray St in 1881.
Sawmilling began in the karri forest at Karridale (near Augusta) in the 1880s and Denmark in the 1890s.
Later, steam locomotives and steel rail became the preferred transport system. Early steam powered locos included 'Ballarat' used near Busselton from 1871 (on display in Busselton) and the 'Governor Weld' used in Jarrahdale (last seen there derelict in the 1890's). The main feature of logging railways, or timber lines, is the narrow gauge, and lightness of the locomotives compared to permanent railways (This results in a rail trail that is not as compacted as rail trails made from permanent railways, such as the Railway Heritage rail trail or Denmark Nornalup Heritage Trail). Normally the first timber timber lines to be built in an area was the one to convey the sawn timber from the mill to the nearest shipping point. Then lines were constructed leading into the bush to enable logs to be hauled to the mill. Often these lines were planned to be used only temporarily so it could be relocated when the harvesting was completed in that area. Earthworks were kept to a minimum by using timber trestles, and gullies were spanned by tall but flimsy bridges. Sleepers were laid directly on to the forest floor with only every third one dog spiked. Steep grades were scaled by using winches (such as "Polly" in Collie). Isolated milling settlements were totally dependant on the train lines for their every need. Bush locomotives remained in general usage in the jarrah forest until around 1950 when the huge cost of pulling up and re-laying lines made their operations uneconomic and trucks and tractors started to take their place. Some locomotives continued to be used by timber companies, especially in the karri forest, until about 1965. Since then, all log hauling has been by log truck. Chainsaws first replaced hand saws in the 1940's, but did not gain wide acceptance until the 1950's.
Plenty of evidence of the rail lines still exists in the bush, although unused forms can grow over, bridges can collapse and earthworks can be levelled. Some of these old train lines, or forms, were utilised to make the Munda Biddi trail. Even now, it is possible to locate old forms and find neglected bridges hidden in the scrub.
At least 260 sawmills operated throughout the south-west forests before 1930. The best model of a saw mill I have found is of the Barragup mill at the Busselton historical museum.The best full size replica of a timber mill I have found is t he Kauri Museum is in Matakohe , NZ.
The timber export industry was the biggest export industry in Western Australia until World War 1. It began with the arrival of Charles and Edwin Millar in WA. The Millars were alerted to the potential of the timber industry so in 1887 they sent a trial shipment of jarrah blocks to London for testing as street pavement in place of cobblestones. Favourable reports followed and in 1895 the first mill began operations at Yarloop. Yarloop developed and became the centre of Millars milling operations in the south west, servicing 26 mills. The workshops (these workshops began operations in 1901 and closed in 1978) manufactured rolling stock and serviced steam engines, which were essential for driving the mills. Most importantly the workshops constructed replacement parts, thus avoiding long delays in acquiring these from the United Kingdom. The patterns used for this purpose are still housed within the complex. By the 1930s Millers boasted the largest private railway in the world with eight railway systems and 25 locomotives, 100 people working at the workshop and Millars employed an additional 500 for their operations in the Yarloop area.
The below link shows tree harvesting in WA in the 1920's and 1930's. The first 10 minutes shows karri trees being felled, transported by bullock teams and whims, and then trains, to a mill, where it is processed. I think this is an early copy of "Among the Hardwood", as it is nearly identical footage without the screen text. There was no OH & S in those days - it is fascinating viewing. I can not establish where it was filmed. The rest of the video followers a sleeper hewer as he cuts down a tree and hews it into sleepers in the bush. Mat Thomas contacted me to say he is James Thomas and he is Mat's Great Grand Father. It was filmed in the Yarloop region as James was a local there. He improvises a set up so he can use a two person saw by himself. Even though he was a hard working man, he lived to be 91 years of age before he passed. The driver of the cart was a Mr Dundon who was also a Yarloop local. James Thomas also sets up camp and cooks his dinner. It is really interesting. Hewn sleepers last 10% longer than sawn sleepers because the action of cutting with an adze tends not open the pores of the timber grain and keep moisture out. Mat's family still have the saw and axe which were used in the video.
Logging of forests on Crown land in areas in DEC's Swan and Central Forest began in the 1870s or 1880s. Since then, many easily accessible areas have been harvested for logs three or more times, with two areas near Jarrahdale logged 5 times to 1989. About half of the jarrah forest on Crown land in the Swan and Central Forest Regions has been harvested twice. Access to the forests of the Southern Forest Region was much more difficult and logging did not commence until after 1900, apart from some pit-sawing near Walpole in the 1860s and logging by Millars in the Denmark area in the late 1890s. Most of the karri forest has only been logged once.
Evidence that forests were being over-exploited first emerged in 1874 when forests were considered as farmland-in-waiting. Popular opinion at the time held that trees should be cut to make way for agricultural land. Sawmillers selected the trees they wished to cut, and left behind the poorer trees. This meant that some areas of high quality forest were heavily cut while others had a very light selective cut. Sleeper hewers also operated over large areas of forest, selecting only the best trees. It wasn't until 1916 and the appointment of professional forester, Charles Lane-Poole (1885 - 1970), who pursued legislation for a 'Forests Act through which to manage and protect the State's unique timber resources. He was the Commonwealth's first Inspector-General of Forests and was appointed conservator of forests for Western Australia in 1916. He vigorously set about providing a sound forest policy and a school to train foremen and rangers. The Forests Act (1919) which he formulated was regarded as a model in professional circles, but lack of support and opposition to its implementation prompted his resignation in 1921. Lane Poole Reserve near Dwellingup is named after him. Between the early 1920s and 1940 a group selection system was employed. Areas for felling were treemarked by Forests Department foresters to create gaps for regeneration, leaving groups of immature trees intact.
The nominal cutting cycle for jarrah forest has typically been 30 to 50 years between cuts (in the higher rainfall areas and where a selection cutting system has been used). In less productive forest (such as in the eastern low rainfall sector) the cutting cycle has been longer and many areas have been harvested only once or twice since 1829. Most multiple use karri forest is intended to be managed on a rotation length of at least 100 years. A paper by Abbott and Christensen (1994) shows that the jarrah and karri forests are in ecologically good condition after up to 120 years of timber harvesting.
Jarrah block for paving the World's streets
Jarrah blocks at Fremantle’s Shipwreck Museum
Felling jarrah, Collie
Hewing sleepers from jarrah
Saw Pit - Kalamunda Heritage Village
Brockman Saw Pit near Northcliffe
Whim - Kalamunda Heritage Village
Long Gully Bridge- destroyed in 2015 fires
Timber display - Nannup
Timber Mill Display - Donnybrook
Axes - Busselton Museum
Cross cut saws- Busselton Museum
Sleeper Hewer statue, Busselton
Disused railway line near Northcliffe
Quindalup jetty relics
Old steam powered mill near Kirup
Small mill, Kirup
Small private mill, near Pinjarra
Log truck
Logged area - Stromlo Rd Map 3
Laying line in Karridale in early 1900's
Logging near Denmark in 2016
Kauri timber mill New Zealand
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A Christmas Carol is a fictional short story written by Charles Dickens in 1843. Originally written as a potboiler to enable Dickens to pay off a debt, this story has become one of the most popular and enduring Christmas stories of all time.
The story is a Victorian morality tale of an old and bitter miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, who undergoes a profound experience of redemption when he is haunted by ghosts on Christmas Eve. During the course of the night, he is visited by the spirits of "Christmas Past," "Christmas Present," and the ghost of "Christmas Yet to Come." The spirits show Scrooge moments from his life that open his eyes and make him realize that he desperately needs redemption and forgiveness from his fellow men. In the end, Scrooge changes his life and becomes a kind-hearted soul.
The story deals extensively with one of Dickens' perennial themes, that of poverty, and its causes and effects. Incidentally, the first edition of A Christmas Carol was illustrated by John Leech a politically radical artist who in the cartoon Substance and Shadow printed earlier in 1843, had explicitly criticised artists who failed to address social issues.
A Christmas Carol has been adapted to movies and TV countless times. According to the Internet Movie Database, various movie adaptations of the story were filmed as early as 1910. On December 25, 1939 it was read before a CBS radio audience and this marked the first time this story was transmitted over radio. The story has also been used by successive generations of movie-makers and television directors to make their own points. In particular, many sitcoms have had episodes adapting or spoofing the story.
According to critics, the most popular and most enduring motion picture adaptation of the story was made in England in 1951. Originally titled Scrooge (and renamed to A Christmas Carol for its American theatrical release), it starred Alastair Sim as Scrooge, and was directed by Brian Desmond-Hurst.
Other noteworthy adaptations of the story include
Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962): featuring the UPA animated characters.
Scrooge (1970): starring Albert Finney and Alec Guinness in a musical version of the story (there is also a stage version).
Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983): featuring the various Disney animated characters.
A 1984 TV movie of the story starring George C. Scott as Scrooge
Scrooged (1988): a remake in a contemporary setting with Bill Murray being a misanthropic TV producer who is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas. Directed by Richard Donner.
Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988):A parody where philanthropist Ebenezer Blackadder becomes a bad guy after a visit by the Spirit of Christmas.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992): featuring the various Muppet characters, with Michael Caine as Scrooge.
A Chrstmas Carol (1999), starring Patrick Stewart
A Diva's Christmas Carol (2000), humorous adaptation staring Vanessa Williams as a bitchy diva who is transformed into a kind-hearted soul
Steve Nallon's Christmas Carol (2003) theatrical adaptation starring the noted impressionist, as a number of famous people.
See also Tiny Tim.
Full text available in multiple formats
A Christmas Carol - searchable, indexed e-text.
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Ethos - School Mission Statement and Aims
Exemption from the learning and development requirements in the EYFS
Moving on - senior school destinations
Prep School of the Year 2013-14
Rules: Regulations & Policies
Sisters of the Holy Cross
The Holy Cross Way
Trustees & Advisory Body
Our School Environment
Set in 8 picturesque acres, on the private Coombe Estate, within travelling distance from Kingston, Wimbledon, Surbiton, Putney, Twickenham and beyond; the girls have all the space they need to explore, learn, reflect, play and participate as they grow within our school community.
The main red-brick, listed Coombe Ridge House, dates from 1870 when author John Galsworthy purchased the land and built here; a number of high-ceilinged, Junior-classrooms, administrative offices and the Library, comfortably occupies this building. Young John Galsworthy did much of his writing whilst the family lived here, beginning with ‘Man of Property’ and ‘The Forsyte Saga’. A purpose built Infant wing was added, along with the spectacular Coombe Ridge Performing Arts & Sports Hall in 2009.
Of further historical note is our Ivy Conduit - an ancient monument, part of an elaborate underground water system built in 1516 to supply Cardinal Wolsey’s Hampton Court Palace. Although damaged by a WW2 bomb, the school has worked with English Heritage to repair and consolidate the structure which can be visited by appointment or as part of the annual Heritage Open Days programme.
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Future of Research Statement on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Report, “The Next Generation of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences Researchers: Breaking Through”
Jun 4, 2018 | Diversity in science, Ideas for change, NIH, Policy, Postdoc benefits, Postdoc population size | 0 comments
Future of Research has issued a statement on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report, “The Next Generation of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences Researchers: Breaking Through. You can find the text of the statement below, and a downloadable PDF version of the statement here.
Future of Research endorses the recommendations in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report, “The Next Generation of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences Researchers: Breaking Through,” released on April 12, 2018. This report addresses the factors influencing transitions of trainees in biomedical and behavioral sciences into independent research careers. It offers recommendations to reform systemic issues that reduce the efficiency of these transitions, and thus affect the productivity and scientific discoveries of researchers in the United States. This report, mandated by Congress under the 21st Century Cures Act, was envisioned by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Susan Collins (R-ME).
Though the issues that plague the biomedical research system have long been discussed within the scientific community, the key stakeholders (such as federal agencies, private funders, and universities) have frequently abdicated their responsibility for the system. The “Breaking Through” report addresses this issue head-on. The report argues that greater transparency, accountability and shared responsibility are needed to improve the biomedical enterprise.
Many of these suggestions have been made before, and while some changes and interventions have been made, others have not been heeded and have not resolved a key issue: that this enterprise depends on a large amount of cheap, and mostly foreign, labor in the guise of training. We recognize that no stakeholder seems willing to take responsibility for maintaining the sustainability of this system, nor does there seem to have been an appreciation of the shared responsibility and system-wide change required. The manner in which recent efforts have played out, such as the NIH proposal to cap the amount of funding to individual investigators through the Grant Support Index, illustrates the likely opposition that has frustrated efforts to reform the system in the past by those who benefit from the status quo.
Though we support all recommendations in the report, we highlight in particular:
Recommendation 3.1 – Congress should establish a Biomedical Research Enterprise Council (BREC) to address ongoing challenges confronting the Next Generation of Biomedical Researchers.
NIH is limited in its power (delegated by Congress) to actually enact most of the NASEM’s report, so either the Congress needs to be lobbied to increase NIH’s power of oversight, or another committee is needed to oversee these changes, particularly when it comes to enforcement at institutes.
We therefore particularly endorse the creation of a body that oversees the biomedical enterprise, which can provide oversight for this system and push it towards greater sustainability, to the benefit of the entire biomedical community, and the nation. We urge action on this front at the Congressional level, due to the lack of action from individual stakeholders in taking responsibility to change the system or invest in it. This intervention is in the national interest to ensure that the investment the U.S. taxpayer is making in training scientists is of benefit to the nation and the science being produced, and not creating perverse incentives. The aim should not be to reward careerism and award grants and fellowships as prizes, but rather to focus on advancing knowledge and supporting researchers working on a diverse array of problems using diverse teams and approaches.
Recommendation 3.3 – Biomedical research institutions should collect, analyze, and disseminate comprehensive data on outcomes, demographics, and career aspirations of biomedical pre- and postdoctoral researchers
While NIH is the focus of much attention for reform, institutions have also benefited from the use of graduate students and postdocs to secure intellectual property and research funding. However, most institutions are not able to count their postdocs, provide equitable benefits or use job titles in a consistent manner. Indeed, many have opposed moves such as raising salaries, long recommended for two reasons: 1) to prevent resilience to financial hardship from becoming a dominant selection factor for a career in academe, particularly for those trainees wishing to have children or who must support families; and 2)to reduce the use of trainees as temporary cheap labor. Institutions have claimed that tracking current and former trainees is an unfunded mandate, while simultaneously competing for funding using their labor. Institutions are able to collect such data on undergraduates, medical and law students to a high standard.
It is therefore encouraging to see a group of institutions, the Coalition for Next Generation Sciences, leading the effort to make sure that data on graduate students and postdocs is gathered and reported, and we encourage other institutions to join this effort. Likewise we ask institutions to recognise that they must take greater responsibility for the welfare of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. The formation of collective bargaining units and unionization efforts is a reaction to the relationship with trainees that institutions have largely abandoned, in the increasing prioritization of the university as a business rather than an educational institution.
Recommendation 4.2 – The NIH should expand existing awards or create new competitive awards to support postdoctoral researchers’ advancement of their own independent research and to support professional development toward an independent research career.
As 80% of U.S.-trained biomedical PhDs undertake postdoctoral research, the postdoc has largely become a default for deferring career decisions (Sauermann and Roach 2016). These postdocs conduct much of the work of the biomedical enterprise, reducing pressures to develop a sustainable academic workforce model. This uncontrolled growth in postdocs has been facilitated by the fact that 85% of postdocs – including nearly all of the international postdocs, who make up ⅔ of the biomedical postdoctoral population – are supported from research project grants. Postdocs offer the cheapest source of labor available (Stephan).These grants do not assess or require any kind of training or professional development outcomes.
Concerns about a large number of trainees supported on research grants are not new. In 1974, President Richard Nixon was interested in removing training in biomedicine from the federal budget on the grounds that training was not being carried out sustainably (National Research Council 2000). In response, NIH created the National Research Service Awards to assuage concerns about training a sustainable workforce. Despite these efforts, the fraction of postdocs and graduate students supported on research grants continued to rise, despite repeated calls for a reversal of these trends (National Research Council 1994).
We urge the NIH to substantially shift the postdoc population from research project grants to fellowship training mechanisms. It is important that demonstrated biases in these awards (Heggeness et al. 2018) are addressed during this transition.
Despite existing disparities in award rates between populations, it is very beneficial to underrepresented groups to receive these awards. In particular, the NIH Diversity Working Group Report has highlighted that it is potentially harmful for underrepresented populations not to be supported on such mechanisms.
We further urge the NIH to take actionable steps to support international postdocs, noting that it is NIH, and not Congress, which prevents the participation of foreign postdocs on career development awards, or K mechanisms, beyond the K99/R00.
Recommendation 4.3 – The NIH should phase in a cap (3 years suggested) on salary support for all postdoctoral researchers funded by NIH research project grants.
In discussing the Breaking Through report in a recent editorial in Science, the Chair of the National Postdoctoral Association, Dr. Tracy Costello, sums up the issue with training times for the postdoc in response to the recommendation that NIH pilot a study investigating the potential for limiting postdoctoral support on research project grants for 3 years:
“This recommendation poses a major challenge because pursuing a tenure track faculty appointment often requires high-impact publications, early career funding, and sufficient preliminary data for immediate RPG applications, which are historically difficult to achieve within 3 years.”
3 years used to be a perfectly reasonable postdoctoral tenure, when the postdoc was optional, as reflected in the first major report on the postdoc, “The Invisible University,” in 1969. What has changed is the overwhelming competition for faculty positions, and as Costello’s quote highlights, this is not determined by any need of the postdoc for training, but rather to accumulate credentials to compete against other postdocs. The postdoc therefore is not achieving a training aim, but rather providing cheap labor. Capping the time as a trainee and shifting instead to institutional support of postdocs as permanent, experienced researchers would better reflect the work that is carried out by the postdoc. In calling for a pilot considering this recommendation, before implementation, the community is asked to consider whether the length of the postdoc is necessary to produce independent researchers, or simply a result of hypercompetition for tenure-track positions.
We believe that all stakeholders should be collaborating to address the sustainability of the research enterprise. In this hypercompetitive environment, we are forgetting the privilege of being given support by the nation to solve problems, instead increasingly fixating on securing careers and institutional finances.
We understand that, relative to the implementation of these recommendations, writing the report was the easy part. Much of the change that has occurred in the training landscape has been driven by trainees themselves. For example, the formation of the National Postdoctoral Association by a group of postdocs in 2003 resulted in the creation of many institutional postdoctoral offices, and greater recognition of the contributions of postdocs. Likewise, in 2016, postdoctoral unions were critical in ensuring that proposed changes to labor law included raises in postdoctoral salaries, in the face of institutional opposition. We therefore urge all graduate students and postdocs to recognize the role they have in shaping the biomedical enterprise for themselves, and for the generations to follow us, and we look forward to leading and supporting efforts with early career researchers to effect change.
Two of the NASEM report’s authors are associated with Future of Research: President Dr. Jessica Polka and Executive Director Dr. Gary McDowell. This statement however represents the consensus opinion of the Board of Directors of Future of Research.
Heggeness, M., Ginther, D., Larenas, M. and Carter-Johnson, F. 2018. The impact of postdoctoral fellowships on a future independent career in federally funded biomedical research. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
National Research Council 2000. Addressing the nation’s changing needs for biomedical and behavioral scientists. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.
National Research Council 1994. Meeting the Nation’s Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Scientists. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US).
Sauermann, H. and Roach, M. 2016. SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE. Why pursue the postdoc path? Science 352(6286), pp. 663–664.
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Nuclear energy increasing globally despite Fukushima disaster
A new global report by the Economist Intelligence Unit shows nuclear power will expand in eight out of the world’s top 10 nuclear countries. In the case of China it is set to grow by more than 500 per cent. Before the devastating earthquake and tsunami at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan on March 11, atomic power enjoyed a return to prominence among planners. Now, a commonly held view is that the nuclear industry will see a slowdown, if not a decline.
An analysis of the nuclear power industry in the top 10 nuclear countries by the Economist Intelligence Unit, shows that governments plan to expand the use of nuclear power in all of the 10 nuclear countries, except for Japan and Germany.
"A review of our forecasts for the 10 largest nuclear power producers—accounting for some 85 per cent of global capacity—shows that, despite Japan’s crisis, the overriding global trend over the next decade will be growth," The Future of Nuclear Energy report says.
"Today, the top 10 countries have around 320 gigawatts (gw) of nuclear infrastructure between them; by 2020, this capacity will swell to 405 gw.
"But this is only part of the picture, as countries from eastern Europe to Africa are also showing an interest in going nuclear."
The report looks at the situation in the top 10 nuclear power producing countries. It says there will be slight to moderate increases in nuclear power capacity in the current number one producer, the US, as well as in France, the Ukraine, Canada and the UK.
The increase will be more significant in South Korea, currently number six in the world, with a planned 50 per cent expansion by 2020. Meanwhile Russia, currently at number four, has a planned increase of 80 per cent. By far the biggest expansion is planned by China, currently the world’s 10th biggest producer, with an expected increase in nuclear capacity by more than 500 per cent by 2020.
"In the case of fast-growing China, nuclear energy is a response to long-term trends, and hence not easily abandoned or replaced," the Economist Intelligence Unit report says.
"The need for new sources of electricity to power economic growth persists, and the promise of nuclear in bolstering energy security and reducing carbon emissions makes it an appealing option."
Less than a week after the Fukushima crisis started, the Chinese Government announced it would suspend new nuclear construction and launch a reassessment of the 27 reactors under construction. However the report does not give the announcement much credence.
"Partly, Beijing’s decision to reassess its atomic plans was a public relations exercise designed to reassure a jittery public," the report says.
"Pausing the nuclear roll-out could also give planners a premise for scaling down their ambitious 2020 capacity target of 70 gw, compared with around 10 gw in 2010, which the Economist Intelligence Unit believes is out of reach.'
As a result, the global research group has slightly revised down China’s nuclear forecast from 70 gw to 63 gw by 2020.
Only two of the top 10 nuclear countries plan to cut back on their nuclear capacity. Japan, still reeling from its traumas, said it will not build any new reactors, whereas before the natural disaster it envisioned a new fleet. Meanwhile Germany, where burgeoning support for the abandonment of nuclear recently swung elections, now plans to phase out atomic power altogether.
The report says countries to watch are Brazil, India and Pakistan. It says the Indian government has huge plans to increase nuclear capacity in order to overcome severe power shortages. However there have been violent protests near nuclear sites, and the coastal areas where India wants to put its reactors are prone to earthquakes and flooding.
The report also raises concerns about Pakistan’s plan to increase its nuclear reactors from three to five in the next decade.
"What chiefly makes it notable is the military dimension: Pakistan’s nuclear rivalry with India elicits a hunger for fissile material," the report says.
"For those who worry about safety, too, Pakistan’s nuclear ambitions tend to generate sleepless nights."
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Havasu Christian Home Educator's Bylaws
Statement of Purpose
Havasu Christian Home Educators (HCHE) has been formed to offer support to Christian home schooling families. This support is offered in the forms of information, encouragement, guidelines, resources, and most importantly, prayer and Christian fellowship. All members of HCHE are encouraged to participate in the group by either holding an office or planning an activity.
We believe the Bible to be the inspired, inherent, and infallible written word of God, and of supreme and final authority in faith and life.[1]
We believe that there is only one[2] living[3] and true God; infinite[4] and perfect in all His attributes[5], one in essence but eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.[6]
We believe in the fall of man; although originally created in the image of God, through the disobedience of Adam, man fell into a sinful and spiritually impotent state, totally unable to justify himself before God.[7]
We believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God[8] and is the express image of the invisible God[9] which is to say He is God; that He became man[10] yet without sin, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary[11]; that He died on the cross a substitution sacrifice for sin[12]; that He arose from the dead in the body in which He was crucified; that He ascended into Heaven in the that body glorified[13]; where He is now, our interceding High Priest[14], and that He will return again personally, visibly, and gloriously.[15]
We believe that salvation is wholly of God, by grace;[16] that God in love, gave His only Son to die on the cross for sin,[17] thus procuring the redemption of those who come to Him;[18] that this salvation is not merited in any way by man; that god commands men everywhere to repent of sin and believe in Christ; and that this salvation is eternal and results in good works,[19] but is not something to be earned by works. It is a gift from God.[20]
[1] 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:12
[2] Deuteronomy 4:39, Isaiah 44:8, 45:5, 6, 18, 21
[3] Romans 9:26, Mark 12:27, John 6:57
[4] Hebrews 13:8, Revelation 4:8b, 5:13b
[5] Matthew 19:17, Habakkuk 1:13
[6] John 14:16, 15:26, 17:21
[7] Genesis 3
[8] John 14:6, 1 Timothy 2:5
[9] John 1:18
[10]John 17:4,5; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 2:6-8
[11] Luke 1:35
[12] Romans 5:10, 2 Corinthians 5:21
[13] 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
[14] Hebrews 4:14-15
[15] Mark 8:38, Revelation 21
[16] Ephesians 2:8-9
[17] John 3:16
[19] James 1:22, 27, 2:14-18
[20] Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, 10:9
“In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned.” Titus 2:2-8a
Our family will strive to arrive prepared and on time for meetings and events, and when possible, stay until dismissed.
Our family understands that our children are to be supervised at all times.
Our family will respect all speakers, leaders, teachers, other parents, and students by using appropriate language, being attentive, and by not interrupting or speaking out of turn.
Our family will wear clothing that is modest and neat, knowing that we represent Christ in our appearance.
Our family will accept instructions and have a teachable spirit.
To prevent the spread of illness, if one of our children is sick we will not bring them to an HCHE activity. We understand we will be asked to leave if we arrive sick.
A. Membership
Members must be current in paying dues. Dues cover the fiscal year beginning August 1st and ending July 31st.
Membership application must be completed and signed, agreeing to our By-laws, including our Statement of Faith and Standard of Conduct.
Access to all the following “Privileges of Members”.
B. Privileges of Members
Member families may participate in activities in which HCHE acts in the capacity of an “organized” private school, for example: graduation, Pizza Hut Book-it Program, food-store register receipt program, etc.)
Participation in field trips and specialized instructional classes (i.e. P.E., foreign languages, sign language, etc.).
Informed on important matters through the use of a newsletter and/or e-mail loop.
Those in attendance at our meeting will have one vote per family on matters pertaining to the group. No proxy or absentee voting is accepted.
C. Graduation
The Graduation Committee will be comprised of a family or families who have been members of HCHE in good standing at least one year and who have graduates in sixth grade, eighth grade, or senior high school.
The Graduation committee will decide all factors of the graduation, which includes ensuring all speakers agree to share a message which glorifies Jesus Christ, and all songs included in the ceremony are from the Christian genre or are Christian worship songs.
ALL graduation families must be current, paid-up members.
D. Meetings
Meetings to be held monthly. Time and location will be announced.
Prospective members are welcome to attend one meeting per fiscal year, without their children. Prospective members may also attend a park day with their children.
Parents are responsible for their children’s behavior, as no childcare is provided.
Voting on business matters done only at meetings and only one vote per member family. No proxy or absentee voting accepted.
E. Officers
Appointment/elections of officers will be in May, with requests/nominations in April. June and July will be transition months where the previous officers will train the new officers, if needed. Duties will start immediately. All elected positions held must be a member in good standing for at least one year, or by a special vote of the board.
1. President
Duties include but are not limited to: Officiate the meetings and other functions of the group, including science fairs, seminars, graduations, and the like. Be a representative of the group at any outside function and be a general liaison between the community and the group. Respond to all public Facebook inquiries and email inquiries from non-members. When the secretary provides the president with the bio on new members, send them an invite to join ‘secret’ Facebook page and post welcome announcement on ‘secret’ Facebook page. When secretary announces website has been updated with monthly meeting highlights, create events for next meeting on both our public and ‘secret’ Facebook pages.
2. Vice President
Duties include but are not limited to: Assisting the president in the administration of the group affairs and to take over the presidential duties in the absence of the president. The Vice President is the central contact for all activities, including meetings, and field trips. The V.P. will work with the meeting host to ensure details are in place. The V.P. will also ensure that the annual financial review takes place between the May and August meeting each year, by selecting two active members in good standing.
3. Treasurer
Duties include, but are not limited to: Accounting for the funds using standard accounting practices; acquiring dues collected by the secretary and depositing the dues; acquiring fees collected by the P.E Coordinator and depositing the fees; administering funds for expenditures, ie. P.E. expenses; making monthly reports of the funds on hand and funds spent; providing the bank reconciliation report to the board members monthly (prior to the monthly meeting).
4. Secretary
Providing current copies of the bylaws and membership forms to potential members; Collecting and logging membership applications and dues; forwarding all dues to the treasurer to deposit; Maintaining the list of members and compiling a current directory every October or November* (No members should be added to the current membership list until dues have been paid); Upload the Membership List (.pdf doc) to our secret Facebook page; Maintain our secret Facebook member list by removing members that leave the group. Writing all letters from the group; Maintaining a file of agendas, minutes, press releases and newsletters, as well as any other pertinent home school documents such as copies of the current by-laws; The secretary will also maintain a file of any other useful information, such as scholarships, etc. Taking notes at the monthly meeting. (or delegate if secretary will be absent.) Create meeting minutes and email them to the board members. Update the hchegroup.com website with the meeting highlights and details for the next monthly meeting. Update website ‘Prayer Reequest’ and ‘Upcoming Events’ pages. On our secret Facebook page, post a link to the ‘Meeting Highlights’ website page for members to view.
*The membership directory may be prepared by another member who works closely with the secretary for current information.
F. Support Positions
1. Public Relations
Duties include but are not limited to: Informing the general public of regularly scheduled meetings, special events, seminars, etc., through the use of news releases, posters, announcements and other similar notices for all available media, a copy of which is to be given to the Secretary.
2. Legal Information Coordinator
Duties include but are not limited to: Keeping HCHE informed of the Arizona Compulsory School Attendance Laws and any relevant bills introduced in the state legislator or federal government, as informed via H.S.L.D.A.
3. Refreshment Coordinator
Duties include but are not limited: Coordinating refreshments for the meetings.
4. Website Administrator
Duties include ongoing maintenance of the H.C.H.E. website to reflect current information pertaining to our group, under the direction of the board.
G. Finances
All monies should be deposited in an account requiring one signature for withdrawal.
Signers on the account will be elected board members. If HCHE has a Student Leadership Group (SLG) the adviser may also be a signer. Debit cards may be issued to board members and the SLG adviser, as deemed necessary. Debit cards will be returned to the treasurer upon resignation or replacement from position.
Standard accounting practices will be followed to keep track of funds, and records will be kept current.
No funds over $30.00, other than newsletter expenses, are to be withdrawn from the account without prior vote of HCHE at a regular business meeting.
Checking account to be audited annually by two members other than signers. This should be completed after the May meeting and before the August meeting.
H. Dues
Membership dues are payable each fiscal school year beginning August 1st, or upon completed Application for Membership.
Dues will not be pro-rated if paid after August 1st, unless approved on an individual basis by the president and vice-president.
The Annual dues amount for the following school year (beginning August 1st) is to be voted on at the May meeting.
Dues are non-refundable. Moneys in the account at the close of the fiscal year in excess of $100.00 (excluding designated funds) will be disbursed by a vote of members to a Christian organization, to further the kingdom of God.
Revised May 2019
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Ethiopian Airlines ET302: The Legal Aftermath
Wheeler Joseph Uncategorized No Tags
In an article published by The Australian last week, IALPG’s Principal Joseph Wheeler writes about the multitude of legal problems Boeing may face in the aftermath of Ethiopian Airlines ET302 and Lion Air JT610. A link to the original article published by The Australian is here. A copy of the full text is below for information only. Legal nightmare for Boeing over 737 MAX 8 crashes By JOSEPH WHEELER 12:00AM MARCH 22, 2019 There has been much early technical analysis and even earlier purported conclusions about the true causes of the recent tragedies of Ethiopian Airlines ET 302 and Lion […]
Update – Angels Are Coming
This week the Australian Navigational Guide Explaining Laws for Space (ANGELS), which will provide guidance for Australia’s burgeoning space industry, met an important milestone in its evolution. Creating an essential web resource for space startups and entrepreneurs is no mean feat, even in a tech sense. Accordingly, shortlisted web developers gave pitches to the ANGELS team in Adelaide on 27 March 2019 in order to secure their chance at being involved with this novel and important project for Australia’s space and associated industries. We will announce the name of the successful developer in our next edition, but note the high […]
In The Spotlight: Wright Technologies
IALPG is proud to represent Wright Technologies Pty Ltd. The group of entrepreneurs from Adelaide won ActinSpace in 2018 which involved a challenge set by the French Space Agency to create new, innovative traceability services. The prize for winning ActinSpace was a thrilling “zero gravity” experience that the team enjoyed recently, sending us this happy snap as they “floated” on their victory. The Wright team is, among other things, working on “Seraph” a tamper proof system for drone registration with real time tracking. Proof of their sensational talents and potential as entrepreneurs is that on 18 March they won the South Australia […]
IALPG and Chicago firm join forces to assist victims of 737 MAX accidents
In light of aviation safety regulators worldwide taking unprecedented unilateral action to ground the fleet of Boeing 737 Max aircraft (until more is known about the two recent and high-profile accidents involving this type), IALPG is joining forces with international lawyers including an experienced firm based in Chicago, Illinois, PMJ PLC (https://pmjpllc.com/) where it will also have visiting offices, to investigate and advise passengers’ families on their rights in respect of a variety of the potential claims that may arise. Overnight, both the US FAA and Transport Canada joined in temporarily suspending flying privileges for the new Boeing aircraft, and […]
Ethiopian Airlines ET 302 – Boeing 737
Updated 20 April 2019 The Team at IALPG working on ET302 IALPG has teamed up with PMJ PLLC, a Chicago, Illinois firm of aviation law experts, to investigate and pursue claims on behalf of families touched by the Et302 disaster, to prevent such accidents recurring, and maximise the legal entitlements of all those affected. A summary of the Team’s profile and background is available here: ET302 IALPG PMJ Team Profile Updates and latest news Our Team will be in Nairobi, Kenya from 22 April until 29 April and available to meet with families who have already reached out to us or indicated […]
Recent aviation law cases of interest
Two recent cases provide equally important judicial insights into how certain important aspects of aviation regulation and the policies underpinning them are to be treated – albeit in two very different circumstances, and disparate jurisdictions. Work Health Authority v Outback Ballooning Pty Ltd & Anor [2019] HCA 2 First, and perhaps of greatest import for Australian aviation purposes, is the High Court of Australia decision in Work Health Authority v Outback Ballooning Pty Ltd & Anor [2019] HCA 2, which was published on 6 February 2019. In this case the High Court, by majority, allowing an appeal from the Court of Appeal of the Supreme […]
Civil Aviation Amendment Bill 2019
On the last Parliamentary sitting day for several weeks (21 February 2019), a bipartisan Bill was introduced into Federal Parliament amending the Civil Aviation Act 1988 which, if adopted, will require CASA to “consider the economic and cost impact on individuals, businesses and community… and take into account the differing risks associated with different industry sectors” in the making of aviation safety standards. If incorporated, this amendment would likely represent a win for commercial operators, but is potentially an incomplete addendum to CASA prioritisation. The exceedingly short Outline to the Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill provides as follows: The purpose of […]
Consultations, activities and launches
The start of 2019 has been a busy one in respect to submissions to a variety of governmental reviews. Law Reform and Parliamentary Evidence IALPG was asked to provide its views to the Queensland Law Reform Commission’s Civil Surveillance and Privacy Review, and has in addition been invited by the Queensland Parliament Transport and Public Works Committee to give evidence at a public hearing in the Parliamentary Inquiry into Transport Technology on 25 March 2019 in Brisbane. Information about the Civil Surveillance and Privacy Review can be found here. Information about the Parliamentary Inquiry into Transport Technology and, in particular, IALPG’s submission can […]
Best wishes to Karina from the team
IALPG Lawyer Karina Galliford has headed off on Maternity leave for baby number 2! Karina has been with the firm for 2 years after starting as a law graduate and Senior Law Clerk, completing her PLT with the College of Law and was admitted to the profession at the Supreme Court of Queensland on 27 August 2018. Karina’s operational naval aviation experience and legal skill has consistently ensured positive outcomes for both clients and colleagues throughout her time with IALPG. We thank Karina for her hard work and dedicated, friendly attitude and wish her and her entire family all the best as they welcome […]
Australia’s Space Program: What’s Next?
On 6 February, 2019 the team at IALPG attended the first ever French-Australia Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FACCI) Space Conference in Brisbane. The conference focused on the development of the Australian Space Industry and key speakers included IALPG’s own Duncan Blake, Special Counsel Space Law and Advisory Council Member of the Space Industry Association of Australia, Karl Rodriguez, Executive Director at the Australian Space Agency, Thomas Pfister, Regional Sales Director for Space & New Business at Airbus Australasia, Adam Gilmour, CEO and Founder of Gilmour Space Technologies and Ben Starkey, Director and Business Manager at Ozius. A key takeaway from […]
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November 27, 1871: The execution of eight medicine students
On November 24, seeing that their Anatomy professor was late to class, the eight students decided to visit the nearby Espada Cemetery. There, they walked down its streets, picked a flower in front of the offices and rode on the wagon in which they took corpses to their anatomy class—innocent pranks of these boys whose ages ranged from 16 to 21. The vexed Spanish guard on duty that day decided to make a false denunciation saying that the boys had scratched the glass on the tomb of Spanish journalist Gonzalo Castañón. They and the rest of their class (although the latter were never even near the cemetery) were arrested and processed.
Barely three days later, on November 27, at 1:00 pm, the Council signed the sentence which stated the names of the students who were to die, and around 4:00 pm, they entered the chapel, each holding a crucifix in their tied hands. They were taken to the esplanade at La Punta where the execution would take place. On their knees and with their backs to their executioners, the innocent students were executed in pairs by firing squad. To add insult to injury, the bodies were taken to a place outside the city walls and thrown in a common grave. Their families were not allowed to claim their dead and give them a Christian burial, and their death certificates were never recorded in any church.
The other students of their class also received unjust punishments: 11 were sentenced to six years in prison, 20 to four years, and four to six months, plus their possessions were all subject to civil liability as determined by law.
This fateful event, which took place three years after the beginning of the Ten Years War for independence, was actually an exemplary lesson by Spain in face of the strength the rebels had obtained during those years. The Spanish Crown wanted to make clear how far an agonizing system was prepared to go to retain its power. Both the crime as well as the subsequent proceedings only contributed to reinforce the spirit of independence among the Cuban people.
This is why every year, medicine students and youth in general gather at the steps of the University of Havana and march down to the memorial that surrounds the wall where the eight medicine students were executed in 1871. November 2014 This article formed part of the november 2014 issue of What’s On Havana The definitive monthly travel & culture guide to Havana Download our current issue of What’s On Havana, your definitive travel, culture and entertainment guide for all things happening in Havana, Cuba’s bustling and enigmatic capital city. We include features from around Cuba written by the best international travel writers covering Cuba. Our monthly online digital magazine is also available in Spanish and French.
What’s On Havana What’s On La Habana What’s On La Havane November, 2014
English version Octubre, 2014
Versión Español Octobre, 2014
Version Francais Free Download Descarga Gratuita Telechargement Gratuit
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Posts Tagged ‘International relations’
Left compass lost.
Posted on 14:35, November 29th, 2018 by Pablo
One of the disappointing aspects of the Anne-Marie Brady affair has been the reluctance and sometimes outright refusal of people on the New Zealand Left to condemn the criminal harassment directed at her as a result of her research into Chinese influence operations in Aotearoa. I shall enumerate the general reasons justifying their stance but want to note first that it is not similar to the very real fears of the independent minded expat Chinese community in NZ, who remain silent in the face of threats against them here as well as against their families and associates back on the mainland. It behooves readers to read, watch and listen to the Mandarin-language media here in NZ (even if needing translators) because the rhetoric employed by these outlets–which Brady has pointed out are with the exception of the Falun Gong mouthpiece Epoch Times all controlled by CCP-linked United Front organisations–is hostile to the point of threatening towards all those who do not toe the Party line. To get an idea of the hostility, check out the Facebook page of a fellow by the name of Morgan Xiao, a Labour LEC member in Botany Downs and “journalist” for some local Chinese media outlets. He clearly does not like Anne Marie Brady.
Amongst the NZ Left, there seems to be 3 main reasons why people do not want to support Anne Marie Brady or the general concept of academic freedom in a liberal democracy. The first, prevalent amongst academics, is concern about losing funding or research opportunities for publicly siding with her. The concern is obvious and acute in departments and institutes that receive PRC funding directly or which receive NZ government funding related to Chinese-focused studies. All NZ universities have such connections as well as being reliant on Chinese students for a large part of their tuition income, so the dampening effect is nation-wide. Academics are also worried that public association with a “controversial” scholar may somehow diminish the research grants and opportunities made available to them even if they do not work on matters related to China. Guilt by association is alive and well in the NZ academe.
Overlapping this is concern about Professor Brady’s sources of funding and ties to US think tanks. Some believe that this skews her research in a Sinophobic direction and that she in fact parrots the opinions of her US sponsors. I can only say that, even though it might have been prudent for her to not be closely identified with the US Embassy and conservative US organisations focused on China (although she also maintains ties to reputable institutions like the Woodrow Wilson Center), she was a well known China watcher long before she published the Magic Weapons paper and NZ-based sources of funding for overseas research are few and far between. Beggars cannot be choosey and under circumstances of limited research funding in NZ in general and at her home university in particular, it is not surprising nor compromising for her to accept funding from abroad so long as she is transparent about it and conducts her studies independent of any external political agenda. From all that I have read, that is what she has done. So even if her views dovetail with those of foreign entities in places like Australia and the US, it does not mean that she is their puppet. Plus, no one has decisively refuted what she wrote in a paper that was always intended to be applied research product rather than a theoretical or conceptual scholarly breakthrough. In a word: her research is sound regardless of how it was funded.
Other academics refuse to support Brady because they personally do not like her. I do not know the woman but if irascible personalities were a disqualifying trait in higher education then there would be no universities to speak of here or elsewhere. Egos, intellectual insecurity and professional jealousy are constants of academic life, and it seems that they have percolated into the discussion about her work and its ramifications for her personal life. One can only be dismayed that some people cannot separate personal animus from defence of the principle of academic freedom (and freedom of expression in general), in this case the right of an academic to not be criminally harassed for her work.
Outside of academia the refusal of some Leftists to support Ms. Brady appears to be rooted in a form of “whataboutism” connected to strong anti-US sentiment. Although some old-school Marxists are equitable in their dislike for all imperialists, new and old, most of the “what about” relativists believe that the US and/or UK are worst imperialists than the PRC and in fact (in the eyes of some) that the PRC is a benevolent giant seeking to better international relations through its goodwill and developmental assistance. For them the whole story, from the content of Ms. Brady’s Magic Weapons paper to the subsequent burglary of her office and home and tampering with her car, are just concoctions designed to stain the image of China in NZ and elsewhere.
A sub theme of this strand is the argument that if NZ is going to have to choose a master, better that it side with trade over security. That follows the logic that we are utterly dependent on trade for our survival but we are utterly insignificant as a security target. NZ involvement in the 5 Eyes signals intelligence network and Anglophone military partners is of minor concern, both in terms of the guarantees they give to NZ security as well as the difficulties posed by trying to abandon them.
Then there is the tin foil hat crowd. Leftist conspiracy theorists share views with Rightwing nutters about the “Deep State,” chemtrails, 9/11 holograms and assorted false flag operations, including the harassment of Ms. Brady. If you believe them the same people who target anti-1080, anti-fluoride, anti-vaccination and anti-TPP activists are behind the staged assaults on the Canterbury academic. I am not sure who these puppet masters are but I somewhat doubt that Ms. Brady is wrapped up in a chemtrail conspiracy.
If we gather up all of the arguments against supporting Ms. Brady, they boil down to two main lines of thought. First, that Anne Marie Brady has staged the break-ins and vandalism in order to promote herself via sympathetic PR. Second, that the attacks on her property were done by the NZSIS with or without US connivance in order to smear the PRC.
My answer to the first is that Ms. Brady was sufficiently well known at home and abroad before the attacks, so she did not have to stage anything in order to garner attention. If she did so in order to widen public attention on Chinese wrongdoings outside of academic and policy-oriented circles, then she would have to be very crafty indeed. Although that is possible, I tend to think it not probable.
As for the false flag suspicions. Why would the SIS and/or US expend resources and run the risk of detection in such a low level operation? What would be achieved that was already not in the public domain already? Even if the spy agencies thought about doing so, would not the costs of being discovered outweigh any benefits accrued from falsely framing the PRC? So on this one, too, I say “possible but unlikely.”
Of course, there is the third explanation, which is that people acting on behalf or under the instructions of the Chinese state did the deeds. These would not have to be intelligence operatives tasked by the PRC embassy or Beijing. They could be patriotic expats, perhaps living in NZ on student visas, who took umbrage at professor Brady’s claims and the publicity surrounding them. With or without the connivance of Chinese authorities they may have wanted to make an intimidatory point much along the lines outlined in the opening paragraph of this post.
What is clear, because the NZ Police have said that the investigation has passed on to Interpol, is that the perpetrators are likely overseas and will not likely be caught and extradited. Since the investigation into the burglaries is now 10 months old, it is equally unlikely that local common criminals are suspects (especially given that nothing of value was taken in the burglaries other than phones, lap tops and flash drives). So whether the government equivocates or not the finger of suspicion rests most heavily on the criminal harassment being the work of people unhappy with Ms. Brady’s work on China, and in particular her Magic Weapons paper.
What is ironic is that the United Front-Organised “influence operations” that she expounds upon at length are not illegal. Their genius lies in that they exploit the system as given, in NZ’s case being the looseness of campaign finance and political contribution regulations. They also exploit a lack of enforcement capability in the financial and other business sectors in order to overlap legitimate and ethically questionable behaviours. But all of this is, while ethically dubious, perfectly legal.
Engaging in criminal acts against a NZ citizen on sovereign NZ soil is another thing entirely. This moves from peddling influence to, indeed, engaging in intimidation as a “hard” form of interference. It is an intrusion on academic freedom but also a breach of professor Brady’s freedom of expression. it reinforces the view that no one is untouchable should they dare to criticise the Chinese state, and that NZ is powerless to stop more of the same.
That is why the government response has been weak and the Left reluctance to fully support Anne Marie Brady so disappointing. Because the issue is as much about sovereignty, democratic civility and human rights as it is about anything she wrote or her personal and professional attributes or flaws. One may understand why the Right wants to cast a blind eye on such mischief because capitalists put profits before people’s rights, and trade with the PRC definitely brings profit to a select few. But for a Left Centre government and many Left activists to not strongly repudiate criminal harassment of a local academic for any reason, especially economic reasons, is a betrayal of the basic principles upon which the democratic Left is founded upon.
Shame, then, on those who proclaim to be of the Left but on this matter clearly are on the Right side of the Chinese.
Tags: Anne Marie Brady, Authoritarianism, China, Democracy, Foreign policy/affairs, International relations, Labour, Representation, Security
Posted in Authoritarianism, comparative politics, Democracy, governance, Intelligence and Security, International relations, Politics, Uncategorized | 26 Comments | Read More »
A bridge too far.
Posted on 07:28, November 21st, 2018 by Pablo
The Labour-led government in New Zealand has settled on a new mantra when it comes to addressing the US-China rivalry. It claims that New Zealand is ideally situated to become a bridge between the two great powers and an honest broker when it comes to their interaction with the Southwest Pacific. This follows the long-held multi-party consensus that New Zealand’s foreign policy is independent and autonomous, and based on respect for international norms and multinational institutions.
The problem is that the new foreign policy line is a misleading illusion. It ignores historical precedent, the transitional nature of the current international context, the character and strategic objectives of the US and the PRC and the fact that New Zealand is neither independent or autonomous in its foreign affairs.
The historical precedent is that in times of conflict between great powers, small states find it hard to remain neutral and certainly do not serve as bridges between them. The dilemma is exemplified by the island of Melos during the Peloponnesian Wars, when Melos expressed neutrality between warring Athens and Sparta. Although Sparta accepted its position Athens did not and Melos was subjugated by the Athenians.
In stable world times small states may exercise disproportionate influence in global affairs because the geopolitical status quo is set and systemic changes are incremental and occur within the normative framework and around the margins of the system as given. When international systems are unstable and in transition, small states are relegated to the sidelines while great powers hash out the contours of the emerging world order—often via conflict. Such is the case now, which has seen the unipolar system dominated by the US that followed the bi-polar Cold War now being replaced by an emerging multi-polar system aggregating new and resurgent powers, some of which are hostile to the West.
In this transitional moment the US is in relative decline and has turned inward under a Trump administration that is polarizing at home and abroad. It is still a formidable economic and military power but it is showing signs of internal weakness and external exhaustion that have made it more reactive and defensive in its approach to global affairs. China is a rising great power with global ambition and long-term strategic plans, particularly when it comes to power projection in the Western Pacific Rim. It sees itself as the new regional power in Asia, replacing the US, and has extended its influence world-wide.That includes involvement in the domestic politics and economic matters of Pacific Island states, including Australia and New Zealand.
China’s rise and the US decline are most likely to first meet in the Western Pacific. When they do, the consequences will be far reaching. Already the US has started a trade war with the Chinese while reinforcing its armed presence in the region at a time when China cannot (as of yet) militarily challenge it. China has responded by deepening its dollar and debt diplomacy in Polynesia and Melanesia as part of the Belt and Road initiative, now paralleled by an increased naval and air presence extending from the South and East China Seas into the blue water shipping lanes of the Pacific.
There lies the rub. New Zealand is neither independent or autonomous when it confronts this emerging strategic landscape. Instead, it has dichotomized its foreign policy. On the security front, it is militarily tied to the US via the Wellington and Washington Declarations of 2010 and 2012. It is a founding member and integral component of the Anglophone 5 Eyes signal intelligence gathering network led by the US. It is deeply embedded in broader Western security networks, whose primary focus of concern, beyond terrorism, is the hostile activities of China and Russia against liberal democracies and their interests.
On trade, New Zealand has an addict-like dependency on agricultural commodity and primary good exports, particularly milk solids. Its largest trading partner and importer of those goods is China. Unlike Australia, which can leverage its export of strategic minerals that China needs for its continued economic growth and industrial ambitions under the China 2025 program, New Zealand’s exports are elastic, substitutable by those of competitors and inconsequential to China’s broader strategic planning. This makes New Zealand extremely vulnerable to Chinese economic retaliation for any perceived slight, something that the Chinese have been clear to point out when it comes to subjects such as the South China island-building dispute or Western concerns about the true nature of Chinese developmental aid to Pacific Island Forum countries.
As a general rule issue linkage is the best approach to trade and security: trading partners make for good security partners because their interests are complementary (security protects trade and trade brings with it the material prosperity upon which security is built). Absent that, separating and running trade and security relations in parallel is practicable because the former do not interfere with the latter and vice versa. But when trade and security relations are counterpoised, that is, when a country trades preferentially with one antagonist while maintaining security ties with another, then the makings of a foreign policy conundrum are made. This is exactly the situation New Zealand finds itself in, or what can be called a self-made “Melian dilemma.”
Under such circumstances it is delusional to think that New Zealand can serve as a bridge between the US and China, or as an honest broker when it comes to great power projection in the Southwest Pacific. Instead, it is diplomatically caught between a rock and a hard place even though in practice it leans more West than East.
The latter is an important point. Although a Pacific island nation, New Zealand is, by virtue of its colonial and post-colonial history, a citizen of the West. The blending of Maori and Pasifika culture gave special flavor to the Kiwi cultural mix but it never strayed from its Western orientation during its modern history. That, however, began to change with the separation of trade from security relations as of the 1980s (where New Zealand began to seek out non-Western trade partners after its loss of preferred trade status with UK markets), followed by increasingly large waves of non-European immigration during the next three decades. Kiwi culture has begun to change significantly in recent years and so with it its international orientation. Western perspectives now compete with Asian and Middle Eastern orientations in the cultural milieu, something that has crept into foreign policy debates and planning. The question is whether the new cultural mix will eventuate in a turn away from Western values and towards those of Eurasia.
The government’s spin may just be short term diplomatic nicety posing as a cover for its dichotomous foreign policy strategy. Given its soft-peddling of the extent of Chinese influence operations in the country, it appears reluctant to confront the PRC on any contentious issue because it wants to keep trade and diplomatic lines open. Likewise, its silence on Trump’s regressions on climate change, Trans-Pacific trade and support for international institutions may signal that the New Zealand government is waiting for his departure before publicly engaging the US on matters of difference. Both approaches may be prudent but are certainly not examples of bridging or brokering.
While New Zealand audiences may like it, China and the US are not fooled by the bridge and broker rhetoric. They know that should push come to shove New Zealand will have to make a choice. One involves losing trade revenues, the other involves losing security guarantees. One involves backing a traditional ally, the other breaking with tradition in order to align with a rising power. Neither choice will be pleasant and it behooves foreign policy planners to be doing cost/benefits analysis on each because the moment of decision may be closer than expected.
Tags: Democracy, Foreign policy/affairs, International relations, New Zealand, NZ Herald, PRC, Security, USA
Posted in Democracy, governance, International relations, Politics | 11 Comments | Read More »
Venezuela Agonistes.
There are two things remarkable about coverage of the Venezuelan crisis. The first is the silence of the Left in the face of it. This includes the champions of the so-called Latin American “Pink Tide” who saw in the Boliviarian Revolution an alternate developmental model that along with the left leaning regimes in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Nicaragua offered hope for a new socialist bulwark in the Western Hemisphere that, unlike the Castro regime in Cuba, was both socialist and democratic. Or at least, that was the thought in the early 2000s. Now, rather than offer robust critiques of what went wrong, those champions have gone quiet, perhaps hugging small comfort pets against their Che Guevara t-shirts while muttering into their pillows something about the sulphuric impact of “neo-imperialism” and globalised corporate control.
The second remarkable aspect of the coverage of Venezuela is the continued misrepresentation by conservative (and even mainstream media) commentators that Venezuela demonstrates (yet again) the failures of socialism in practice. Allow me to address this fallacy.
Before I do so let’s briefly note what is clearly an organic crisis of the Venezuelan state (seen, in Gramscian terms, as economy+civil society+political society). Regardless of external factors and interference (such as oil prices, Cuban security assistance and US government hostility) and the disloyal nature of most of the traditional opposition to the Boliviarian Movement, the crisis has at its core the incompetence and corruption of the Maduro government. The seeds for the decline were sown by Hugo Chavez himself with his prolifigate spending and cult of personality, but the bitter fruit of criminality, cronyism, patronage, partisanism and despotic maladministration ripened, then rotted under Maduro.
This not entirely surprising because in truth the Boliviarian experiment was always more populist than socialist. Socialism is not just about downwards redistribution of income and expansion of public goods and services via the use of tax revenues. It is not just about progressive tax reform to make the rich pay their fair share. It is not just about nationalising privately held productive assets or at least strategic economic assets. It not about state ownership of the means of production. And it definitely does not involve a self-appointed authoritarian revolutionary “vanguard” telling everyone what their best interests are, what to do in pursuit of those interests, and concentrating power in a small partisan elite in order to compel others do so.
Instead, socialism involves equality in and of production, to include worker control of decision-making on everything from occupational health and safety to production levels to distribution and reinvestment of profit. Socialism involves decentralisation and local autonomy in political decision-making, to include about the distribution of public goods, social investment and economic development. It involves not just matters of production, particularly with respect to control of productive assets, but also of decision-making behaviour within production and the attendant social relations linked to it. Socialism has cooperatives as a basic unit of social integration; national populism has paramilitary militias and neighbourhood political snitches.
There is more to socialism than what I have outlined, but the point should be pretty clear: socialism is about devolving power to the people, not concentrating it in the hands of a central government. Even if a transition period is needed after bourgeois rule, the move to socialism involves expansion of the number of decisional sites that determine the material, cultural and political fortunes of the average citizen. To do so requires dismantling of a capitalist state apparatus, which is characterised by top down managerial control of public and private policy decision-making, and its replacement with a socialist state in which policy decisions ultimately rest in the hands of immediate stakeholders and are conveyed upwards into national-level platforms. The transition between the two–from a capitalist state to a socialist state–is the hard part of any change from liberal to social democracy (even more so than in violent social revolutions where the destruction of the capitalist state runs in parallel with the elimination of capitalism and its elites), and in Venezuela’s case it was never done. Both Chavez and Maduro have relied on a capitalist state to implement and enforce their populist, and increasingly authoritarian mode of governance.
Rather than socialist and democratic, the Boliviarian revolution is a left-leaning national populist regime using a state capitalist project and corporatist forms of interest group intermediation marshalled along partisan lines in order to redistribute wealth via partisan patronage networks to its support base and to its leaders. It has uncoupled wealth redistribution from productivity and, for all the achievements in education and health made under Chavez, those gains were lost once prices for the single export commodity it relies on (oil) fell and the revenues from oil experts shrunk. Corruption and incompetence, coupled with private capital flight and the exodus of the managerial class (mostly to Florida), accelerated the downward spiral, and now Venezuela is for all purposes a failed state. Inflation is stratospheric, food scarcity is rife, there are shortages of essential medical supplies, power and potable water, petrol supplies (?!) are increasingly spotty, unemployment, under-employment and crime are at all-time highs (the murder rate is 85 per 100,100 population, one of the highest in the world). Violent street protests have become the norm, and spot curfews and other coercive and legal curtailments on freedom of movement and speech are now the most widely used tools with which the Maduro regime handles dissent. For a purportedly Leftist regime, there is no worse indictment than that.
That Chavez, Maduro and their supporters refer to the Boliviarian regime as “socialist” is offered as proof by some that it is, and that is it is therefore socialism that has failed. That is hopelessly naive. “Socialism” is the label that the Boliviarians have cloaked themselves in because they know that given its history, “populism” is not in fact very popular in Latin America. In its own way the US is finding out why that is so, but the important point to note is that there is nothing genuinely socialist about they way the Boliviarians behave.
The current reality is that the Boliviarian regime has descended from a left-leaning national populist form into an Scotch-addled kleptocracy (Venezuelans have one of the highest per capita intakes of Scotch in the world, and in recent years the regime has taken to hoarding supplies of it). In the measure that it is besieged by its own weaknesses and the rising opposition of the popular base that it ostensibly serves, it increasingly relies on coercion and criminality for its sustenance. Military and government involvement in the narcotics trade, the presence of Cuban intelligence in and out of the armed forces and security apparatus, covert links to states such as Syria and North Korea, the presence of operatives of extra-regional non-state actors such as Hezbollah in government circles–all of these factors suggest that Venezuela’s national interests are no longer foremost in the minds of the Boliviarian elite.
This has not been lost on the population, and the last year has seen over 1.5 million Venezuelans emigrate. This is on a par with Syrian and Rohinga refugee flows and amount to more than 4 million Venezuelans now living outside their motherland (with most leaving after 1999 when Chavez was first elected). The refugee crisis has impacted the relations between Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil, with their borders heavily militarised and safe passage corridors opened for migrants to proceed to countries such as Ecuador and Peru. The extent of the Venezuelan refugee crisis is now regional in nature.
Not surprisingly, there have been some moves against the Maduro regime from within the armed forces. This have failed due to basic incompetence of the plotters and the fact that the Venezuelan military is stocked with Boliviarian sycophants buttressed by Cuban intelligence agents who spend more time looking for moles and dissidents than they do improving national intelligence collection capabilities per se. The combat readiness of the Venezuelan military has been replaced by proficiency in crowd control, and the High Command is staffed by flag ranked officers who have more good conduct medals and Boliviarian revolutionary awards than they do insignia demonstrating operational proficiency in any kinetic endeavour. May the goddess help the Venezuelan armed forces should they ever pick a fight with the battle hardened Colombian military or the well-disciplined Brazilians.
For a military coup to happen, there need to be vertical and horizontal cleavages within the military and push and pull factors compelling it to act. Vertical cleavages are those between officers and the enlisted corps, including rivalries between flag, field and company ranked officers, Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and the enlisted soldiers they command. Horizontal cleavages are this between armed services–Army, Navy, Air Force, national gendarme, border patrol, interior ministry secret police, etc–and within those services (say, between armour and infantry in the land forces, or surface fleet and submariners in the Navy).
The Boliviarians and their Cuban advisors have been very good at purging non-loyalists from the officer corps. Their control over NCOs and enlisted personnel is a bit more tenuous, as evidenced by recent attempts to kill Maduro using a drone and an earlier helicopter attack on military installations. But the big cleavages needed to form a coup-making nucleus simply do not exist in the measure that is required, even if the push and pull factors are clearly present. The push factors are those internal to the military that compels it to act, for institutional reasons, against the government (such as loss of discipline, corruption, lack of effective military leadership etc. that erode the ability of the armed forces to discharge their basic defence functions against foreign counterparts ). The pull factors are the external societal conditions, to include family ties of military personnel and civilian elite pleading for the restoration of social order, that draw the uniformed corps towards intervention. So the coup “equation” is just half complete: the motives for intervention are present but the organisational or institutional conditions as of yet are not.
Not that a military coup is a panacea for Venezuela. It could well make things worse. Perhaps this is where a bit of good news has emerged. It turns out that the US was approached by military coup plotters for support and turned down the request. This, in spite of Donald Trump’s public statements about US military intervention against the Maduro regime. It seems that, even if not for all the right reasons, seasoned diplomats understood the downside of agreeing to the request and cooler heads prevailed.
It is praiseworthy that the US, or at least its foreign policy decision-makers, understand that Venezuelans need to be the sole owners of their collective destiny. This destiny might or might not include the reactionary wishful thinkers in the self-exiled community that has made Weston, Florida, a mini-Caracas (and whom have joined with the ageing Cuban exiles to form an anti-communist mafia that fund-raises in “dark” ways). Whether they join or not, the key to resolving the Venezuelan crisis involves providing Maduro and his entourage with a safe passage out of government and an incremental and negotiated restoration of the productive apparatus to a mix of interests of different political persuasions under an agreed upon caretaker regime. This will be a difficult process even with military tutelage and arbitration since the military itself will have to be reformed.
However, since the Boliviarian Revolution was never socialist and the capitalist state remains intact even if decrepit, the foundations for a rejuvenated economy are present. Likewise, many of the social gains made by the lower classes under the Boliviarians have taken enough social root so as to be non-removable if violence is to be avoided. So the foundational compromise underpinning the new democratic regime seems to involve an exchange whereby a return to private ownership of some aspects of the Venezuelan economy under broader market steerage is traded for ongoing state control of strategic assets and the extension of social guarantees involving health, education, housing and welfare. The tax regime will need reforming and the art of tax evasion by the wealthy will need to be curtailed for this to happen, so it is unsure if the majority in the opposition will accept anything other than the status quo ante the emergence of the Boliviarians.
If we remember the sclerosis of Venezuelan democracy before Chavez appeared on the scene, where the two major parties–Accion Democratic and COPEI–alternated power in a concertative arrangement where elites siphoned off the country’s wealth while buying off popular consent with oil revenue-derived subsides of public goods and services, then we can understand why the back to the future scenario will not work. It will take a sincere effort by fair-minded people on both sides, Boliviarians and Opposition, to recognise that the experiment is over and the country needs a new course that is not a repeat of the past, be it recent or distant.
And there is where I will leave with a note of optimism. Unlike many Latin American countries, Venezuela has a historical precedent of reaching consensus–or at least elite agreement–on the characteristics and contours of a new political system. The 1958 “Pacto de Punto Fijo” (roughly translated as the Full Stop Pact) defined the features of the new democratic regime after years of unstable oligarchical and often violent rule. It led to the power alternation agreement between AD and COPEI under conditions of electoral competition and state control of the oil sector in which agreed upon parameters for public revenue expenditures were respected. While it deteriorated into a lighter version of the current cabal of thieves, it lasted for forty years and only fell because it did not recognise, because of its institutional myopia, the social forces that lay at the root of the Chavez phenomenon and emergence of the Boliviarian movement.
In other words, Venezuela needs a new foundational Pact the provides peaceful exit and entrance strategies to the Boliviarians and their inevitable successors. Otherwise there will be blood whether the imperialists get involved or not.
Tags: Authoritarianism, Boliviarian revolution, Foreign policy/affairs, Hugo Chávez, International relations, Nicolás Maduro, open government, populism, Representation, Security, socialism, USA, Venezuela
Posted in An inclusive society, Authoritarianism, comparative politics, Democracy, governance, Politics, Rebuild, Uncategorized | 24 Comments | Read More »
Pick your poison.
Posted on 13:37, June 12th, 2018 by Pablo
Two decades ago New Zealand uncoupled the security and trade strands in its foreign policy. The decision stemmed from the removal of New Zealand’s preferential trade status with the UK in the early 1970s and the fallout to the embrace of a non-nuclear status in 1985, which led to the dissolution of the Australia-New Zealand-US military alliance (ANZUS). With the end of the Cold War, New Zealand foreign policy elites decided that one of the cornerstones of foreign policy in the tight bipolar world that dominated international affairs from 1945 to 1990, issue linkage between security allies who trade preferentially with each other, no longer applied to the conduct of its international relations and that placing the trade and security “eggs “of foreign policy in different baskets better ensured independence and autonomy in international affairs.
Over the next twenty years New Zealand shifted its trade orientation to non-traditional partners in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East while slowly re-establishing its security ties with its traditional Anglophone allies. The latter trend was accentuated after 9/11 but did not slow the pursuit of preferential trade agreements with new markets, China in particular. In fact, New Zealand signed the first bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between a Western democracy and the PRC in 2008, and within a few short years China has become New Zealand’s second largest trading partner (after Australia), supplanting both the EU and the US in that regard.
In parallel, New Zealand joined the US-led “war on terror” (sic) by deploying troops to Afghanistan from 2001 to the present (now in a diminished role), Iraq 2003-2013 and Iraq and Syria from 2015 to the present. It signed the bilateral Wellington (2010) and and Washington (2012) Declarations that made it a first tier defense partner of the US, and it has strengthened its intelligence ties with the Anglophone partners in the 5 Eyes signals intelligence network as well as upgraded liaison relations between its human intelligence agency, the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) and Western counterparts such as ASIO (Australia), the CIA (US), DGSE (France) and others.
The trouble with the “eggs in different baskets” approach is that it assumes that a balance of power can be maintained and ignores the possibility of conflict between major trade and security partners. The guiding principle of issue linkage was that security and trade partners trusted and did not conflict with each other. Conflict was limited to between alliance systems. Uncoupling of security and trade linkages consequently raises the possibility of conflict between competing security and trade partners, something that makes the delinked stance more akin to straddling a barbed wire fence while standing on ice blocks than balancing between competing interests.
The situation is made worse for small states trying to remain neutral between competing great powers. That situation, described by Thucydides in the History of the Peloponnesian Wars when recounting the siege of Melos and its attempts to skirt the conflict between Athens and Sparta,occurs when a small state is forced to choose between two great power rivals. Although the Spartans accepted its neutrality, Melos refused Athenian demands to swear fealty and as a result was starved, invaded, ransacked, its men killed and its women and children taken prisoner.
Mutatis mutandis, this is increasingly likely to be the dilemma posed to New Zealand as a resulted of its bifurcated foreign policy. China and the US are on a collision course across a range of strategic issues, including security and trade, as the jockey for dominance in the Western Pacific. Chinese militarisation of artificial islands in the South China Sea and its claims to sovereignty over that entire water space (and territories claimed by five neighboring states), coupled with its aggressive use of “checkbook diplomacy” to win friends in and influence the foreign policies of Pacific Island nations, added to its rapid naval expansion and power projection into the blue waters of the Western Pacific have been met with a US “pivot to Asia” and a shifting of US military assets to the Pacific theater. The Chinese have tied their military expansionism in part to the “One Belt One Road” trade initiative that seeks to extend China’s trade influence across continents (combining the old land-based Silk Road routes with a Maritime Silk Road linking Southern China and East Africa with ports in between). It also has a naval strategy—the “chain of pearls” strategy– premised on moving beyond defence of what it considers to be its inshore seas (such as the South and East Asian Seas) and into the Indian and Pacific oceans where it can self-guarantee maritime security in its sea lanes of communication.
Under Donald Trump’s presidency the US has retrenched economically, abandoning free trade pacts such as the Transpacific Partnership in favor of an economic nationalist strategy premised on protective tariffs and bilateral trade agreements. It has turned its back on much of the rules-based liberal world order crafted over the past sixty years in favor of a unilateralist diplomatic approach heavily grounded in aggressive military re-assertion in contested areas. It has also abandoned issue-linkage between trade and security with ertswhile allies except to use “national security” as an excuse to gut extant trade pacts (as the most recent G7 fiasco demonstrates).
The combination of economic nationalism and military-led diplomacy raises the possibility of open conflict with power contenders disinclined to bend to US demands. More broadly, the transition from the Cold War to the unipolar world in which the US was undisputed hegemon has now been followed by the rise of a contentious multipolar order in which rising and re-assertive powers contest US leadership in world affairs, China and Russia especially. Since conflict serves as a systems regulator during transitional international moments and because old alliance systems are under siege and new “power blocs” are being created, the likelihood that conflict will break out between ascendent and descendent powers as they jockey for supremacy in the new world order has increased markedly.
The jostling for position has many manifestations. One of them is the contest for influence in non-aligned and uncommitted states. Because of its bifurcated foreign policy New Zealand is seen as one such state by China, and recent controversies about PRC “influence operations” in Aotearoa parallel similar debates about the extent of Chinese “soft” subversion in the political and economic systems of Australia, Canada and several African and Latin American states. In fact, there is enough backlash throughout the Five Eyes network about PRC use of front organizations and other “magical weapons” (including corrupt inducements to key actors) so as to have it rated as a threat as grave over the long-term as espionage and other intelligence collection activities conducted by the Chinese. They are seen as more pernicious than Western influence activities such as educational and cultural exchanges, etc. because they are more directly focused on influencing political and economic outcomes in ways favorable to the PRC and are designed to support (and are in fact closely linked to) the authoritarian policies of the Chinese Communist Party at home and abroad.
The result is a growing ideological battle between the PRC and New Zealand’s Western allies, particularly the US and Australia, over the future direction of the country. On the one hand, the Chinese presence in New Zealand has been materially beneficial. But that has come with strings attached that are believed to compromise the integrity of New Zealand institutions. For its their part, New Zealand’s Anglophone orientation has not paid similar material dividends in recent times even though it gives it a seat at the table in security meetings with its traditional partners. And although Western influence in New Zealand has been benign due to shared values and cultural norms, the record of the the US when confronting democracies that stray from their preferred political and economic approaches demonstrates that there is a dark side to their influence as well (one only need think of US subversion of the Whitlam government in Australia and record in Latin America to get a sense of this).
New Zealand consequently finds itself caught on the horns of an impending dilemma: if push comes to shove between China and the US, which side should it choose? Even if the great power conflict is economic and diplomatic rather than military, it will be forced to choose within the next decade or so because New Zealand is too deeply tied to both countries to play the balancing game once the great power rivalry erupts into open conflict. The question is therefore not a matter of if but of when and for/against who?
There will be significant costs to whatever choice is made. Should New Zealand choose China (as a rising great power), it will lose the security umbrella and suffer the diplomatic wrath of its most traditional and closest international partners. The consequences will be felt in a loss of trade and diplomatic ostracism, but most acutely in security relations with other Western democracies. The Five Eyes listening posts in New Zealand will be dismantled and all of the highly sensitive equipment, to say nothing of archived records and stored data, will be removed under duress. This could well cause a revolt within the New Zealand intelligence community given its Anglophone orientation and when coupled with “dark” influence operations could prompt civil unrest amongst those disinclined to cast their lot with the Chinese. It could even prompt covert and overt hostile responses from the jilted partners, who will likely discontinue military relations with New Zealand, including sale and supply of equipment. There will be a moment of national crisis.
Should New Zealand opt to side with the US and its security allies in any future conflict with China, it will suffer serious economic losses as a result of Chinese retaliation. This has already been presaged by the Chinese response to New Zealand’s support for the International Court of Arbitration’s ruling in favor of the Philippines in its dispute with China over island-building in contested waters, where New Zealand goods were held up in port and CCP-controlled media editorials warned New Zealand over the consequences of siding against China in future disputes.
Given that the New Zealand economy is highly dependent on agricultural and other primary good exports to China as well as tourism and students from it, the economic costs of losing the Chinese market will not be balanced by increasing trade elsewhere or recruiting tourists and students from other countries. That includes trade with the European Union with or without Great Britain, particularly if New Zealand persists in negotiating a bilateral FTA with Russia in the face of EU sanctions against it. No other export market can compensate for the loss of China, and since New Zealand does not have enough value-added exports or a domestic service sector that can take up the slack, and because its tourism and foreign student markets have been framed around preferential treatment for Chinese (e.g. via special visa schemes), it is bound to suffer a severe economic downturn should its choice go against the PRC.
The PRC will also use its deeply embedded influence assets to sow discord within the Chinese expat community and within the power circles that it has penetrated. That could add to the general unrest caused by the turn away from such an economic powerhouse and benefactor. It will undoubtably use diplomatic as well as economic and perhaps even covert and overt hostile means to punish New Zealand and hurt its interests (say, by abandoning fishery and other conservation schemes in the South Pacific and using naval assets to protect its commercial fleet from foreign law enforcement). This list of retaliatory measures is long and the means by which they are delivered powerful.
So what could precipitate the forced choice? Consider the following scenarios which, if not exhaustive or immediate, are definitely within the realm of the plausible:
1. China continues to demand that New Zealand renounce its participation in the multinational naval conducting freedom of navigation and safe passage exercises in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. When New Zealand refuses to do so and send a ship on patrol just outside the 12 mile territorial limit claimed by the Chinese around, say, the Spratly Islands, the Chinese respond by suspending all agricultural imports from New Zealand for six months. New Zealand exporters go crazy over the loss of income and the government is pressured to give in to the Chinese demand; or, the government refuses to give in to the demand and a subsequent patrol by a New Zealand frigate is hit by an anti-ship missile fired from the Spratlys**. Several sailors are killed and the ship is crippled and towed into Chinese claimed waters and held until apologies are given for its “intrusion” and “provocation.” What then?
2. The Chinese announce the signing of a forward basing agreement with Fiji in which a deep water berthing complex, a 14,000 foot runway and facilities for a division’s worth of troops will be constructed near Suva. Soon after that the Russians announce that they have made a deal with the Chinese to rotate expeditionary forces through the base for tropical warfare training. Australia, France, the UK and US denounce the move as unacceptable. What does New Zealand do?
3. Australia and the US announce the uncovering of a Chinese espionage ring in the South Pacific. It includes several Chinese individuals, including dual nationals, in New Zealand. These are diplomats, students, business people and front agencies engaged in both intelligence gathering and subversive activities that extend into the Beehive and security bureaucracies. The allies call for the closure of Chinese diplomatic facilities and the expulsion of diplomats identified in the sweep and the arrest of those without diplomatic immunity on spying charges, including the possibility of their extradition to the US because of attempts to penetrate the Five Eyes listening posts and other sensitive sites in which the US has a presence. How does New Zealand respond?
4. The US imposes redoubled tariffs on New Zealand exports because it refuses to raise its defense spending to 2 percent of GDP and permit US pharmaceutical and IT companies to extend the lifetime of monopoly patents and proprietary intellectual property rights in New Zealand. It demands New Zealand take a more adversarial stance against China in regional and international fora and reinforces its position by restricting intelligence flows and military-to-military contacts within 5 Eyes and between the two countries, including a cut off of US Air Force resupply flights to NZ Antarctic bases from Christchurch.
Strategic planners in Wellington may not like to ponder these unpalatable scenarios and the unpleasant consequences that a forced choice entails regardless of the nature of the decision. But given the way great power rivalries are playing our at present, they need to consider the possibility that the time will come when the “eggs in different baskets” approach is proven detrimental to the national well-being and a choice between great power poisons has to be considered.
** Less readers think this scenario far-fetched, be aware that it would demonstrate Chinese resolve to defend its self-proclaimed territories knowing that New Zealand’s larger security partners will not risk war over an attack on the “weakest link,” in the multinational naval coalition, especially given New Zealand’s seeming reluctance to denounce Chinese norm violations in the region. That will force a diplomatic resolution, which itself is a victory for the PRC.
Tags: China, Foreign policy/affairs, International relations, New Zealand foreign policy, Security, USA
Posted in governance, Intelligence and Security, International relations, Politics, Uncategorized | 31 Comments | Read More »
The generous uncle.
The title of this post references a Korean saying that alludes to the fact that those with power or dominance can afford to give away some leverage, even face, in pursuit of mutual good. This is applicable to the current state of US-North Korean (DPRK) affairs, where as per usual president Trump has announced via Twitter that he is prepared to sit down and talk face to face with Kim Jung-un about restoring civility to their bilateral relations.
There are many who oppose the overture. Most of the criticism in the US is based on the argument that by agreeing to a sit-down without prior concessions on the part of the DPRK, the US is “legitimizing” the Kim regime and conceding negotiating space before the meeting happens. Trump and his PR flaks have responded by saying that Kim has agreed to “denuclearise” in exchange for the talks, something that has not been confirmed by anyone–particularly the North Koreans–and which flies in the face of the long-proclaimed objective of the DPRK to obtain a nuclear deterrent as an existential cornerstone of its national defense. In fact, the Kim regime has made achieving nuclear weapons status an integral part of its identity, so it would seem suicidal to renounce that in exchange for a bilateral meeting between Kim and Trump that is very likely to be long on symbolism and short on substance.
The South Koreans (ROK) have played an interesting role in this affair. It was the ROK chief of intelligence who initially announced, on the White House steps after a meeting with Trump, that the latter had agreed to direct talks with Kim Jung-un. It is very unusual for any intelligence chief to meet with a foreign head of state as a head of delegation, much less a South Korean intelligence official (where social hierarchies and official protocol are a serious matter). It is also unprecedented that he would announce a stunning diplomatic breakthrough from the steps of the White House–on his host’s porch, as it were–rather than leave that to the president of the Republic or other senior diplomatic or military officials commenting from Seoul. In fact, even his public appearance abroad was highly unusual. But it has been reported that he was serving as an emissary from Kim himself offering to talk directly with Trump, including about the DPRK nuclear program, so it is possible that the unusual nature of the meeting has to do with the unusual nature of and means by which the message was conveyed.
That does not discount the possibility that the ROK government also engineered the intelligence chief’s meeting with Trump in order to advance its own agenda with regard to US-DPRK relations (which involve three-way talks between the US, ROK and DPRK as equals), then cornered Trump with a unilateral announcement about a possible diplomatic breakthrough after that topic was discussed. Knowing that Trump’s vanity would make it hard for him to backtrack from taking credit for a major foreign policy achievement, it is quite possible that the ROK manipulated him to its advantage in order to advance the stalled dialogue with its northern compatriots (I use this term with regard to ethnic, not political ties).
Trump obliged, and then added the denuclearisation remark in the face of domestic criticism. It is possible that what the DPRK message really said about negotiating its nuclear weapons program got lost in translation, but whether or not it amounts to “denuclearisation” does not detract from the fact that it is willing to talk. Otherwise, the North Koreans have remained largely silent other than to say that the offer to talk is not the result of sanctions but instead comes from a position of confidence, and that they are liaising with Sweden (as the DPRK diplomatic interlocutor with the US) about logistics and agenda.
The key issues appear to be these: the North Koreans have always wanted direct talks with the US. The US has always denied them because it does not recognise the legitimacy of the DPRK regime. The 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War is not a peace treaty and is not synonymous with a permanent cessation of hostilities (in fact, episodic hostilities are a signature characteristic of the DPRK-ROK relationship). Thus the status of both the conflict as well as of the north’s governance has always been subject to US questioning.
In response, the DPRK has asked for two things: a formal cessation of hostilities and recognition of its status as the legitimate government north of the 38th parallel. The US refuses to do so on both counts and maintains that Koreans should be reunified under the ROK political system because the Korean War was a post-WW2 Chinese Communist-instigated attempted revolution that usurped the legitimate government based in Seoul. After years of siding with the US, it appears that the ROK political elite are starting to reconsider their position.
This is where the proverb about the generous uncle comes into play. The Kim regime may have been born in dubious circumstances, be objectively odious and weird in its exercise of power and the US may not like it, but withholding recognition of its status as the de facto regent of the territory and population included within its physical borders is absurd. Much like Israel, the DPRK is here to stay whether Arabs or South Koreans like it or not. The Kim regime has been in power for 65 years, has powerful allies such as China, and in terms of the brutality of its rule, is on a par with a number of despotic states, including past and present US allies (readers are welcome to draw other parallels with Israel but my point is simply pragmatic: disliking a country and wishing it away will not make it go away, and if it has strong allies and its prepared to defend itself, it cannot be destroyed and remade in some other image). So denying the DPRK’s existence by refusing to have diplomatic relations and demanding concessions before engaging in bilateral talks is a case of ignoring reality. And with nukes in play, it is a matter of cutting off the nose in order to spite the face.
Critics will say that any meeting “legitimizes” the Kim regime. So what? If it leads to a diminishing of tensions on the Korean peninsula, how is recognising the obvious–that the DPRK is not going away–a bad thing? What is wrong about agreeing to replace the armistice with a permanent cessation of hostilities and peace treaty that recognises the political division of the Korean peninsula if it can lead to a reduction of bellicosity and thereby the risk of nuclear confrontation? The South Koreans appear to understand what the proverb means for them, and with the reunification of Germany in the back of their minds, they may well believe that the formalisation of peace accords can, mutatis mutandis, eventually lead to non-hostile reunification on mutually beneficial terms.
In spite of the apparent willingness to engage in bilateral head of state talks without preconditions (depending on who in the White House is tweeting/talking), recent personnel changes in the Trump administration suggest that the desire to be generous is not part of Uncle Sam’s playbook. It remains to be seen if other actors, to include New Zealand, can offer insights to decision-makers in DC as to why that old Korean proverb has increased relevance today
Tags: DPRK, Foreign policy/affairs, International relations, Koreas, ROK, Security, USA
Posted in comparative politics, foreign policy, History, Intelligence and Security, International relations, Politics, Uncategorized, USA, War | 1 Comment | Read More »
In Iraq, the NZDF is there but not “there.”
Posted on 11:22, February 12th, 2018 by Pablo
Recently I was approached by reporters to comment on a report by Harmeet Sooden that reveals that NZDF activities in Iraq extend well beyond what has publicly been acknowledged. You can read his report here. My back and forth with the reporters eventuated in an op ed (ironic, given the content of my previous post), the gist of which is below. As readers will see, my concerns are not so much about the mission as they are about the lack of transparency on the part of the NZDF and the previous government as to what the deployment really involves.
Ethically and practically speaking, there is no real problem with what the NZDF is doing in Iraq, including the undisclosed or downplayed aspects. It is a way for the NZDF to hone its skills (to include combat skills), increase its capabilities, enhance its professional reputation and more seamlessly integrate and operate with allied forces and equipment, as well as demonstrate that NZ is willing to do its part as a good international citizen. The cause (fighting Daesh) is just, even if the context and conditions in which the war is prosecuted are prone to unintended consequences and sequels that blur the distinction between a good fight and a debacle. The issue is whether the benefits of participating in the anti-Daesh coalition outweigh the costs of being associated with foreign military intervention in a region in which NZ has traditionally been perceived as neutral and as a trustworthy independent diplomatic and trading partner. The statements of coalition partners (especially the ADF) demonstrate that they believe that the mission has been worthwhile for the reasons I noted.
Some will say that the disclosure of the NZDF “advise and assist” role in Iraq is evidence of “mission creep.’ In reality this was envisioned from the very beginning of the NZDF involvement in the anti-Daesh coalition. The training mission at Camp Taji, although a core of the NZDF participation in the coalition, also provided a convenient cover for other activities. These were generally disclosed in the months following the first deployment (TGT-1) in theatre, and it was only during TGT-5 and TGT-6 in 2016-17 that the advise and assist role was openly acknowledged. In practice, military training such as that conducted by the NZDF in Iraq does not stop after six weeks behind the barbed wire at Taji, so some advise and assist operations in live fire conditions were likely conducted before what has been publicly acknowledged (perhaps during the battles of Tikrit and Falluja or other “clearing” missions in Anbar Province).
The extended advisory role “outside the wire” is particularly true for small unit counter-insurgency operations. That was known from the start. So it is not so much a case of NZDF mission creep as it is planned mission expansion.
NZDF collection of biometric data is only troublesome because of who it is shared with. The Iraqi authorities are unreliable when it comes to using it neutrally and professionally, so sharing with them or the ISF is problematic. Biometric information shared with NZ intelligence agencies can be very useful in vetting foreign travellers to NZ, including migrants and refugees. But again, whereas the use of such data can be expected to be professional in nature when it comes to NZ and its military allies, the whole issue of biometric data sharing with any Middle Eastern regime is fraught, to say the least.
The reasons for the National government’s reluctance to be fully transparent about the true nature of the NZDF commitment in Iraq are both practical and political.
Practically speaking, denying or minimizing of NZDF involvement in combat activities, to include intelligence and other support functions, is done to keep NZ’s military operations off the jihadist radarscope and thereby diminish the chances that New Zealand interests abroad or at home are attacked in retaliation. This goes beyond operational and personal security for the units and soldiers involved as well as the “mosaic theory” justification that small disclosures can be linked by enemies into a larger picture detrimental to NZ interests. All of the other Anglophone members of the coalition (the US, UK, Australia and Canada, as well as others such as France and Spain) have suffered attacks in their homelands as a direct result of their public disclosures. NZ authorities undoubtedly see this as a reason to keep quiet about what the NZDF was actually doing in theatre, and they are prudent in doing so.
However, foreign reporting, to include reporting on military media in allied countries, has already identified NZDF participation in combat-related activities, so the desire to keep things quiet in order to avoid retaliation is undermined by these revelations. Likewise, Daesh and al-Qaeda have both denounced New Zealand as a member of the “Crusader” coalition, so NZ is not as invisible to jihadists as it may like to be. Even so, to err on the side of prudence is understandable in light of the attacks on allies who publicly disclosed the full extent of their roles in Iraq.
The other reason why the National government did not want to reveal the full extent of the NZDF role in Iraq is political. Being opaque about what the NZDF is doing allows the government (and NZDF) to avoid scrutiny of and deny participation in potential war crimes (say, a white phosphorous air strike on civilian targets in Mosul), complicity in atrocities committed by allied forces or even mistakes leading to civilian casualties in the “fog of war.” If there is no public acknowledgement and independent reporting of where the NZDF is deployed and what they are doing, then the government can assume that non-disclosure of their activities gives NZDF personnel cover in the event that they get caught up in unpleasantness that might expose them to legal jeopardy.
It is all about “plausible deniability:” if the NZDF and government say that NZ soldiers are not “there” and there is no one else to independently confirm that they are in fact “there,” then there is no case to be made against them for their behaviour while “there.”
In addition, non-disclosure or misleading official information about the NZDF mission in Iraq, particularly that which downplays the advise and assist functions and other activities (such as intelligence gathering) that bring the NZDF into direct combat-related roles, allows the government some measure of insulation from political and public questioning of the mission. NZ politicians are wary of public backlash against combat roles in far off places (excepting the SAS), particularly at the behest of the US. Although most political parties other than the Greens are prone to “going along” with whatever the NZDF says that it is doing during a foreign deployment, there is enough anti-war and pacifist public sentiment, marshaled through a network of activist groups, to pose some uncomfortable questions should the government and NZDF opt for honesty and transparency when discussing what the NZDF does abroad.
However, in liberal democracies it is expected that the public will be informed by decision-makers as to the who, how, what and why of foreign military deployments that bring soldiers into harm’s way. After all, both politicians and the military are servants of the citizenry, so we should expect that transparency would be the default setting even if it does lead to hard questioning and public debate about what is a “proper” foreign military deployment.
The bottom line as to why the NZDF and political leaders obfuscate when it comes to foreign military operations is due to what can be called a “culture of impunity.” This extends to the intelligence community as well. They engage in stonewalling practices because traditionally they have been able to get away with them. Besides public ignorance or disinterest in such matters, these affairs of state have traditionally been the province of a small circle of decision-makers who consider that they “know best” when it coms to matters of economic, security and international affairs. Their attitude is “why complicate things by involving others and engaging in public debate?” That tradition is alive and well within the current NZDF leadership and was accepted by the National government led by John Key.
It remains unclear if there will be a change in the institutional culture when it comes to disclosing military operations abroad as a result of the change in government, with most indications being that continuity rather than reform is likely to be Labour/NZ First’s preferred approach.
An earlier version of this essay appeared in The Dominion Post on February 12, 2018. (https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/101327837/advise-and-assist-in-iraq-was-always-part-of-the-plan-for-nz-defence-force).
Tags: Foreign policy/affairs, International relations, NZDF, Security, Terrorism
Posted in Democracy, foreign policy, governance, History, Intelligence and Security, International relations, NZ foreign policy, NZ Security, NZDF, Politics, Propaganda, War | 2 Comments | Read More »
Plus ca change, or, does Labour have a foreign policy?
Posted on 07:34, January 5th, 2018 by Pablo
Among the things mentioned during the 2017 election campaign, foreign policy was not one of them. This is not surprising, as domestic policy issues tend to dominate election year politics in times of peace in virtually all democracies. The syndrome is compounded in New Zealand, where matters of diplomacy, international security and trade are notable for their absence in both parliamentary debates as well as public concern, only surfacing during moments of controversy surrounding specific issues such as foreign troop deployments, NZ involvement in Anglophone spy networks or negotiating trade deals that appear lopsided in favour of other states and economic interests.
Even if foreign policy is not a central election issue, it nevertheless is an important area of governance that should in principle reflect a Party’s philosophy with regard to its thrust and substance. Given that the Labour-led coalition that formed a government in 2017 represents a departure from nine years of center-right rule, it is worth pondering what approach it has, if any, to reshaping foreign policy in the wake of its election.
It should be noted that NZ foreign policy has been relatively consistent over the last 20 years regardless of which party coalition was in government. Dating to the break up of the ANZUS defense alliance on the heels of its non-nuclear declaration in 1985, NZ has championed an “independent and autonomous” foreign policy line that, if not completely integrating it into the non-aligned movement that rose during the Cold War, granted it some latitude in how it approached its diplomatic relations and international commitments. Foremost amongst these was support for multilateral approaches to international conflict resolution, concern with ethics, rules and norms governing international behaviour, advocacy of small state interests and a self-assigned reputation as an “honest broker” in international affairs. Issues of trade, diplomacy and security were uncoupled once the Cold War ended, something that allowed NZ to navigate the diplomatic seas without the constraints imposed by binding alliance ties to larger partners.
From the mid-90s there has been a trade-centric core to NZ foreign policy, to the point that promoting “free” trade and negotiating trade deals, be they bi- or multilateral in nature, is seen to have overshadowed traditional diplomatic and security concerns such as nuclear non-proliferation, environmental protection and human rights promotion. This “trade-for-trade’s sake” approach was initiated by the Shipley government but deepened under both the 5th Labour government as well as the National-led governments headed by John Key. After 9/11 it was paralleled by a reinforcement of security ties with traditional allies such as Australia, the US and the UK, in spite of the fact that the move towards expanding trade relationships in Asia and the Middle East ran against New Zealand’s traditional advocacy of a principled foreign policy that defended human rights as well as the thrust of the geopolitics perspectives of security allies (which view NZ trade partners such as China and Iran as adversaries rather than partners).
Although both Labour and National continued to voice the “independent and autonomous” foreign policy line during the 2000s, what actually took place was the development of two separate tracks where NZ pushed trade relations without regard to security commitments and human rights, on the one hand, and on the other hand deepened its involvement in US-led security networks without regard to broader diplomatic concerns. This was formalised with the signing of the bi-lateral Wellington and Washington Declarations in 2010 and 2012. For NZ diplomats, the parallel track approach was a matter of keeping eggs in different baskets even if it violated the long-standing principle of security partners trading preferentially with each other. That is not a problem so long as NZ trading partners are not seen as hostile to or competitors of the US and its main allies. Yet NZ chose to expand its trade ties with China with the signing of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2008, something that has not only increased its trade dependency on China in the years that followed (China is now NZ’s second largest export market and third largest import market), but also put it in the unenviable position of trying to remain balanced in the face of increased US-China competition in the Western Pacific Rim. Similarly, NZ-Iranian trade ties, and the nascent talks about NZ-Russian bilateral trade, both run the risk of negatively counterpoising NZ’s economic and security interests in each case.
Following Labour’s lead, the National government doubled its efforts to reinforce its ties to the US-led security network while pushing for trade agreements regardless of domestic opposition to both. It committed troops to the battle against Daesh in Iraq and Syria and continued to maintain presence in Afghanistan after its formal commitment to the ISAF mission ended in 2013. It revamped and upgraded its commitment to the 5 Eyes signals intelligence collection partnership that includes the US, UK Australia and Canada. It loudly advocated for the TransPacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) even though the 12 country pact was largely seen as favouring US economic interests and serving as the economic component of a US containment strategy towards China in the Western Pacific.
Now it is the Labour-led coalition headed by Jacinda Ardern that holds the reins. What can we expect from it when it comes to foreign policy? Continuity when it comes to the “two-track” approach? A deepening of one track and softening of the other? An attempt to bring a third track–what might be called a humanitarian line that re-emphasises human rights, environmental protection and non-proliferation, among other rules-based policy areas–into the mix?
From what is seen in its foreign policy manifesto, Labour appears to want to have things a bit of both ways: overall continuity and commitment to an “independent” foreign policy but one in which ethical concerns are layered into trade policy and in which international security engagement is framed by UN mandates and multilateral resolutions (as well as a turn away from military combat roles and a re-emphasis on peace-keeping operations). A commitment to renewed diplomatic endeavour, particularly in international fora and within the South Pacific region, is also pledged, but the overall thrust of its foreign policy objectives remain generalised and rhetorical rather than dialed in on specifics.
A few months into its tenure, the new government has done nothing significant with regards to foreign policy. Jacinda Arden made some noises about resettling the the Manus detainees in NZ during her first official trip abroad, only to be rebuked by Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull and her own Opposition. She also made ill-advised comments about who Donald Trump may or may not thought she was, leading to skepticism as to the veracity of her story. NZ First leader Winston Peters was named foreign minister more as a matter of style (and reward) rather than in recognition of his substance when it comes to foreign affairs. Likewise, Ron Mark got the nod to be Defense Minister in what appears to be a sop thrown to an old soldier who enjoys military ceremonies but cannot get his medals rack sorted correctly. Andrew Little was apparently made Minister responsible for Intelligence and Security because he is a lawyer and a reputed tough guy who as Opposition Leader once sat on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Intelligence and Security, rather than because he has any particular experience in that field, especially with regard to its international aspects. The Greens, in the past so vociferous in their defense of human rights, pacifism, non-interventionism and anti-imperialism, have gone silent.
As for the Labour Party foreign policy experts, whoever and how many there may be (if any), the question is how do they see the world. Do they use (neo) realist, idealist, constructivist or some hybrid framework with which to frame their perspective and that of their government? Do they use international systems theory to address issue linkage in foreign policy and to join the dots amongst broader economic, social, military and political trends in world affairs as well the nature of the global community itself? Are they aware of the Melian Dilemma (in which small states are often forced to choose alliance between competing Great Powers)? iven the predominance of trade in NZ foreign policy, how do they balance notions of comparative and competitive advantage when envisioning NZ’s preferred negotiating stance? If not those mentioned, what conceptual and theoretical apparatuses do they employ? On a practical level, how do their views match up with those of the foreign affairs bureaucracy and career diplomatic corps, and what is their relationship with the latter?
Issues such as the ongoing NZDF deployments in Iraq (and likely Syria, if the NZSAS are involved) have not (yet) been reviewed in spite of early campaign promises to do so. Nor, for that matter, has Labour taken a detailed critical eye to the stalled TPPA negotiations now that the US has abandoned them, or re-examined its diplomatic approaches towards the Syrian, Ukrainian and Yemeni civil wars, South China Sea conflicts, the North Korean nuclear weapons program, post-Brexit economic relations, maritime conservation regimes and a host of other important and oft-contentious topics.
Judging from the manifesto it is hard to discern a coherent intellectual underpinning to how Labour policy makers approach international relations. It is also difficult to know how the new government’s foreign policy elite relate to the careerists charged with maintaining NZ’s international relations. So far, there is no identifiably Labour approach to foreign affairs and policy carry-over from previous governments is the norm.
That may not hold for long. The election of Donald Trump to the US presidency has changed the global environment in which NZ foreign policy is formulated and practiced because if anything, he has rejected some of the foundational principles of the NZ approach (support for the UN and multilateralism) with his “America First” philosophy and has increased global tensions with his belligerent posturing vis a vis adversaries and his bullying of allies. That combination of provocation, brinkmanship and alienation of allies brings with it high risks but also a diplomatic conundrum for NZ. Given that NZ maintains good relations with some of US adversaries as well as allies, yet is intimately tied to the US in uniquely significant ways, its ability to maintain the dichotomous approach to an independent foreign policy may now be in jeopardy.
After all, the US now demands open expressions of “loyalty” from its allies, for example, in the form of demands that security partners spend a minimum of two percent of GDP on defense (NZ spends 1.1 percent), and that trade partners give acknowledged preference to US economic interests when signing “deals” with it. In that light, and with Trump increasingly looking like he wants open conflict with one or more perceived rivals (and is on a clear collision course with China with regards to strategic preeminence in the Western Pacific), the “two-track” NZ foreign policy may now be more akin to trying to straddle a barbed wire fence while balancing on ice blocks rather than a matter of saving diplomatic eggs.
In light of this, it is time for the Labour government to stand up and be heard about where they propose to steer NZ in the international arena during what are clearly very fluid and uncertain times.
Tags: Foreign policy/affairs, International relations, Labour, NZ foreign policy, Security, USA
Posted in foreign policy, governance, History, International relations, NZ foreign policy, NZ Security, Politics, trade, Uncategorized | 19 Comments | Read More »
Media Link: Chinese influence operations, Hillary’s blame game, Trump’s incoherence and NZ’s 3rd world infrastructure.
Posted on 07:30, September 21st, 2017 by Pablo
As part of the series of radio interviews I do with Mitch Harris on RadioLive on Wed nights, this week we decided to be a bit more free ranging than usual (since the normal focus of the radio version of the “Letters from America” series tends to concentrate on matters of US politics and society). The issue of Chinese influence in NZ is getting a fair bit of attention as of late, and the pipe rupture causing shortages in aviation fuel and petrol supplies provides a basis for pondering the down side of N8 wire culture. And then there is Hillary blaming Bernie Sanders and the Russians for her loss last year while taking no responsibility for it, and Drumpf ranting incoherently at his first UN General Assembly speech. There was plenty to talk about. You can find the interview here.
Tags: Chinese influence operations, Democracy, Foreign policy/affairs, Hillary Clinton, International relations, Trump, USA
Posted in cultural difference, Democracy, foreign policy, governance, History, Intelligence and Security, International relations, NZ foreign policy, NZ Security, Politics, USA | No Comments | Read More »
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The perfect game show for these times
by Joey deVilla on November 28, 2016
Thanks to Dave Winer for the find!
Rather unexpected: Snoop Dogg making Christmas ornaments in an ad for…Michaels?
And more power to Cordozar Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus for doing so. After all, the gangsta rapper dream is to eventually get out of the ’hood, make a nice fortune, go legit, and hang with Martha Stewart.
Somebody please explain to me what’s going on in this photo
Florida of the day: Naked woman celebrates Thanksgiving by using fountain as a bidet
Don’t you just love that “deep clean” feeling?
Many housing developments in Florida — mine included — have little lakes, most of which have continuously-running fountains to keep the water moving and prevent them from being mosquito breeding areas. In Lauderhill’s Waterford Park complex, a naked woman seems to have found another use for them on Thanksgiving morning, as the photo above shows.
According to the news report:
It took a couple of Lauderhill Fire Rescue divers to remove the woman from the fountain. They also got her out of the lake at the Waterford Park complex safely.
Authorities believe she was under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
I can’t say I blame her — a little intoxication is part of Thanksgiving, and once you’ve tried one of those fancy Japanese toilets, it’s hard to go back.
Two Thanksgiving stories you’ll want to hear
Click the image to see the source.
(I don’t really get why some people are so icked-out by the word “moist”.)
It’s Thanksgiving in the U.S., so any and all posts today on the Accordion Guy blog are about being thankful. If you live in the U.S. or any of the G7 countries (it used to be the G8, but we’re giving Russia a time-out), you are so far ahead of the curve that you’ve got plenty to be thankful for, even with the news headlines as they are.
Whether or not it’s Thanksgiving where you are, take a moment and reflect on what you have, be thankful, and then work to make the world — all of it, not just your little corner — a better place. And yes, even the smallest contribution helps.
If you’re looking for some interesting listening while driving to your Thanksgiving dinner destination or preparing the meal, here’s something you might like: Snap Judgement’s Gratitude 2016 episode. Snap Judgement is a great public radio show featuring some fantastic stories and storytelling, and it’s on high rotation on my phone’s podcast apps.
The Gratitude 2016 episode features stories about being thankful and you listen to it in its entirety with the player below…
…or you can listen to one of its stories, a sweet one that starts off being about a boyfriend, but ends up being about family:
Also worth checking out is last year’s episode, Gratitude 2015, whose stand-out story is also about family, a father and a son, life and death, and a kid’s very funny idea of what “the birds and the beeds” is actually about.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
“Hail Hydra…er, I mean Trump!”
The Hydra Oath, as it appeared for the first time in Marvel Comics’ Strange Tales #135, August 1965.
For the longest time, only a comic book geek (such as myself) would’ve recognized the catchphrase “Hail Hydra!”.
It’s the battle cry of Hydra, the secret “world-wide subversive organization dedicated to global domination” headed by former Nazi Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and supported by the Red Skull. With the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the catchphrase has become mainstream, thanks to its use in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Captain America, and other movies:
Hydra comes off as pretty cartoonish in the comic books (especially the ones from the ’60s and ’70s), and while they’ve been updated to be a little less goofy in Marvel’s TV shows and movies, I always thought they were written was pretty silly and unrealistic. After all, who in the real world would be dim-witted or sociopathic enough to use “Hail [insert person or cause here]” as their battle cry?
Apparently, these guys. And the person or cause they’re hailing is the president-elect:
The photo above is a still from an excerpt from the closing speech on Saturday made by Richard Spencer, the white supremacist who coined the euphemism “alt-right” (which really means “neo-Nazi”) and who runs the deceptively benign-sounding National Policy Institute (NPI):
This speech included these quotes that wouldn’t be terribly out of place at Hydra:
“Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!”
“No one will honor us for losing gracefully. No one mourns the great crimes committed against us. For us, it is conquer or die.”
“The mainstream media — or perhaps we should refer to them in the original German — lügenpresse.”
“It’s not just that they are leftists and cucks. It’s not that many are genuinely stupid. One wonders if these people are people are all…or instead soulless golems animated by some dark power to repeat whatever talking point John Oliver stated the night before.”
“To be white is to be a striver, a crusader, an explorer, and a conqueror. We build, we produce, we go upward. And we recognize the central lie of American race relations. We don’t exploit other groups. We don’t gain anything from their presence. They need us, and not the other way around.”
“We are not meant to live in shame and weakness and disgrace. We are not meant to beg for moral validation from some of the most despicable creatures to ever populate the planet. We were meant to overcome — overcome all of this, because that is natural and normal for us!”
“America was, until this past generation, a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity. It is our creation. It is our inheritance, and it belongs to us.”
I haven’t seen any commentary on the very last parts of the video, so let me be the first: in my (admittedly and thankfully) very limited experience with neo-Nazis, I have never seen two guys as eager to make their trademark salute as these two yobs:
The problem is that unlike Hydra, these guys aren’t comic book villains, but real ones.
Mind you, the comic book villains have also evolved, from trying to take over the world with superweapons like the Cosmic Cube (which is called the Tesseract in the movies)…
…to even more frightening ones, namely rhetoric and propaganda. Here’s a Red Skull speech from the new Captain America comic book series. This issue was released in May, and although it was released a good six months before Spencer made his speech (and written before that), a lot of it sounds Spencer’s speech and some of the messaging during the election:
The Red Skull makes a familiar-sounding speech in Captain America #1 (2016 series), released in May 2016. Click the comic to see the hate at full size.
Seeing this speech, the installation of Steve Bannon as Chief Strategist, and many other signs, I’m reminded of this quote by Professor Halford E. Luccock, Professor at Yale University’s Divinity School from September 1938:
“When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labeled ‘made in Germany’; it will not be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course, ‘Americanism’.”
I’ll close with this very apt comic from Chainsawsuit:
Click the comic to see the source.
Damn right, Mr. Clemens.
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Jón Árnason 1819-1888
Map of Icelandic folk legends
Project about Icelandic folk legends
JÁ’s Collections of Legends
By Hans Peter Hansen, 1861.
Jón Árnason was born on August 17, 200 years ago. He passed away on September 4 1888. He was the Head of the National Library from 1848 to 1887, a responsibility he attended with great care and enthusiasm despite acute lack of funding. Jón was also for a while a home tutor for Sveinbjörn Egilsson teacher at the School of Bessastaðir, co-manager of the Antiquarian Collection and caretaker in the Scholae Reykjavicensis.
He is however most prominently remembered for his work on folklore. In 1845, he began to collect Icelandic folk legends in collaboration with Magnús Grímsson, later priest at Mosfell. Together they published Íslenzk æfintýri (Icelandic Fairy Tales) in 1852. Jón later began a more comprehensive collection project with resulted in the two volumes of Íslenskar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (Icelandic Folk Legends and Fairy Tales) which was published in Leipzig in 1862-1864 and was out of print well before the end of the century. The stories were re-published in 1954-1961 in six volumes, an edition which exists in many (Icelandic) homes.
These folk legend manuscripts are gathered in the manuscript collection of the National and University Library of Iceland. There are 23 manuscripts, filed under the registration numbers Lbs 528-538 4to and Lbs 414-425 8vo. The manuscripts were purchased from Jón’s estate in 1891, three years after his passing. They were put in new bindings in 2007, as the former binding had become worn. They have all been photographed and are now accessible on the web handrit.is
Jón collected the tales using various methods. Some were recorded by himself but various tales were also sent to him, which he either copied or kept in the original. He categorized all materials and filed them into the 23 volumes. The folk tale manuscripts are of varying types and quality. Whatever paper was available was used in each case. For example, some tales were written on letter envelopes and one story is written on the back of a church confirmation registry from the county of Snæfellsnes and Hnappadalur.
People of various classes and origins sent materials to Jón for his folk tale collection. Among them were sheriffs, priests, farm housewives, farmers, farmworkers and maidens. There are even examples of children who sent materials to Jón, such as the 11-year old Páll Pálsson who recorded a history from a “vagabond hag”, Guðríður Ingólfsdóttir.
Source: Landsbókasafn
For a detailed biography, see: Terry Gunnell, 2015. “Árnason, Jón”, Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe, ed. Joep Leerssen (electronic version; Amsterdam: Study Platform on Interlocking Nationalisms, www.romanticnationalism.net), article version 1.1.1.1/a, last changed 23-11-2017, consulted 25-02-2018..
See also: Jón Árnason on Wikipedia.
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Garo Antreasian
Artwork CV Collections
Garo Antreasia n was born in Indianapolis in 1922. He graduated from the Herron School of Art (now Herron School of Art and Design) in Indianapolis in 1948 with the degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts. He studied under Will Barnet and Stanley William Hayter in New York from 1948-49, and also held, during the same period, a Mary Milliken Award for travel and study. During the year 1960-61 he served as the first Master Printer of the newly formed Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Inc. in Los Angeles.
In 1964 Antreasian became Professor, and later Chair (1981-84), in the Department of Art of the University of New Mexico; a position he held until 1987. In 1970, when the Tamarind Lithography Workshop was moved to the University of New Mexico, and was renamed the Tamarind Institute at the University of New Mexico, Antreasian became its first Technical Director, holding that position until 1972.
He is co-author with Clinton Adams of The Tamarind Book of Lithography: Art and Techniques, 1970, which is considered to be the most comprehensive book ever published about lithography. Antreasian spent more than 20 years devoted to the art of lithography. His innumerable contributions amount of work and research, and making lithography one of the most important art processes of our time.
Mr. Antreasian has a very long and impressive list of national print exhibitions, including exhibitions at many of the leading museums and colleges of the United States. He has held one-man exhibitions at the University of Illinois, Little Rock Art Center, Ohio State University, Washburn University, Topeka and Sheldon Memorial Gallery, The University of Nebraska and at the Martha Jackson Gallery, New York City. Collections of his works are held by practically all of the major museums and universities in the United States.
Awards include the National Print and Drawing Exhibition, Wichita Art Association, 1966; Southwest Print and Drawing Exhibition, Dallas Museum, 1966; National Print Exhibition, Olivet College, and New Mexico Fiesta Biennial, 1967; National Print Exhibitions, Albion College, Northern Illinois University, Potsdam College and New York State University, Albany, 1968. He holds the Honorary Master Printer Certificate, which was awarded in 1969 by Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Los Angeles. In 1994, the Southern Graphics Council named Antreasian Printmaker Emeritus
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Sydney's George Street Apple Store
Sydney’s George Street Apple Store
Perched near the King Street Wharf in Sydney, Australia is the first official Apple Store to open in the southern hemisphere. This flagship store on George Street has most of the steel and glass architectural details that are hallmarks of the Apple stores around the world, and even includes the spiral glass staircase and Apple logo across the storefront.
Details of this store:
Location: 367 George Street, Sydney, NSW 2000
Date Opened: June 19, 2008
Size: 15,000 square feet
Phone Number: (02) 8083.9400
Website: www.apple.com/au/retail/sydney/
Facts of the George Street Store
Comprised of three floors, the glass and stone building is in a very popular neighbourhood of Sydney. The store is located at the corner of George and King Streets and situated among premier shopping districts and tourist destinations. The exterior of the building is clean and representative of both modern yet classic Australian architecture and incorporates the look shared by most of the Apple stores across the world. No cost was to be spared for the materials of the building so the sparkling glass was imported from Germany, while the stone was brought in from Italy. The interior walls are brushed stainless steel from Japan, and the wooden tables within are from the United States.
Only at the George Street Store
As the 215th Apple Store to open globally it is difficult to imagine that the George Street store in Sydney was also the first Apple store in the southern hemisphere. While two other stores in Australia soon opened afterwards, the George Street location holds the historical distinction of being #1 south of the equator. Of the three floors of the store, the first two are dedicated to products and sales, while the 3rd floor is home to one of the largest Genius Bars in any store.
The size, layout, and location of the George Street store also allow it to host music shows for artists and groups such as Chris Isaak and Boy and Bear. The store is a popular location for acts to release or celebrate their iTunes hits, complete with performances and after-parties.
The King Street Wharf area surrounding George Street is popular both for locals and tourists alike due to its extensive variety of internationally inspired restaurants such as Bungalow 8, La Cita, The Malaya, and Wharf Teppanyaki. The area is also home to a long list of arts and cultural events throughout the year.
Visitors to the George Street Apple Store will find a combination of recent history, modern conveniences, and entertainment all mixed throughout the different sections of the neighbourhood. George Street itself is regarded by many experts as one of the premier shopping districts in the world due to its boutiques, quaint shops, high-end fashion retailers, wine bars, bakeries, cafes, and much more. Notable neighbours to the George Street Store include Louis Vuitton, Top Shop, Peter Alexander, and the famous Queen Victoria building. Within this famous Australian building is the Strand Arcade, which opened on April 1, 1892, and which still houses a classic arcade and several shopping venues.
The neighbourhood was originally established in the 1800s and the layout of the streets and the architecture reflects this. The closest train station is located in Wynyard, which is several blocks away from the store. Those wanting to drive to the George Street Store can use the Western Distributor Freeway which has exits just a few blocks from the Apple store. Tourist transportation is not yet directly connected to the location, but a major transportation renovation project is underway and estimated to be completed in 2019. This will bring a tram line from Circular Quay to Randwick and on to Kingsford.
Want more Apple news and features? Check out the MacCasino.net News section today!
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Solidarity with the petrol workers of Las Heras (Argentina)
The heroic mobilisation of the petrol workers of Las Heras (Argentina) lasted for two weeks and has unleashed the fury of the ruling class and its agents in the government, the judiciary, the media and the police. Here we launch a petition for the support committee of these workers in order to collect signatures and solidarity messages in support of their demands. We have also issued a financial appeal for the workers’ strike fund, to help them in their struggle.
Sign the solidarity appeal and send your strike fund donation
The heroic mobilisation of the petrol workers of Las Heras (Santa Cruz province) lasted for two weeks and has unleashed the fury of the ruling class and its agents in the Government, the judiciary, the media and the police. Through direct mass action (strikes, road blockades, demonstrations) they have shown the power of collective action.
Despite the repressive situation they managed to impose, totally or partially, part of their demands: equal pay and conditions for construction sector workers that have joined the petrol industry. These workers do the same work but on lower wages and under poorer working conditions; payment of wages for days lost on strike; commitment of the government to increase in the minimum taxation exemption (currently at 1,800 pesos/month, which is the cost of basic necessities); no dismissals/layoffs as a result of the strike; option of retirement after 25 years of work in the industry, given the unhealthy working conditions and the extremely inhospitable conditions of that area of Argentina; and pensions equivalent to 82 percent of wages adjusted to inflation.
On 10th February, the workers surrounded the police station of Las Heras where Mario Navarro, a workers’ leader, was detained with the intention of leaving the strike leaderless. The police responded with savage repression using tear gas and rubber bullets. The workers denounced the actions of the bosses (the Spanish multinational Repsol). On top of this the trade union bureaucracy shamelessly sided with management and stood against the strike, ignoring the unanimous will of the petrol workers to go on struggle. As a result of all this, a policeman, Jorge Sayago, died. Now the government attributes the responsibility for his death to the workers, something which they strenuously deny.
Now the Kirchner government has sent a large contingent of the Gendarmeria Nacional (one of the most repressive police bodies in Argentina) and dozens of SIDE agents (secret service) to the region.
The workers have denounced the imposition of a state of siege in the area, where they are constantly harassed by the police with threats and coercion. They are not allowed to call meetings as the oil installations have been militarised.
The Las Heras struggle has unmasked the fraud of bourgeois democracy, a veil which hides the violence and the dictatorship of big business. Therefore, we place all the responsibility for the death of the policeman, Sayago, on those who violated the sovereign will of the workers, who demand better living and working conditions – that is the blame lies with the management, the government, the media, the police, the judiciary and the trade union bureaucracy.
We demand the immediate withdrawal of the Gendarmeria and other police forces, who have threatened and humiliated the workers and their families, from the area where a real state of siege has been imposed. Now they are arbitrarily arresting youth and workers simply for participating in the mobilisations. They do this to fulfil their need to present a trophy to their masters, the multinational group Repsol, and their local agents, the big Argentinian capitalists and the bourgeois media.
This dispute goes beyond the oil sector. They want to inflict a defeat on the Santa Cruz oil workers to teach a lesson to the whole of the Argentinean working class, who are massively mobilising to struggle for living wages and decent jobs. Above all, what makes them restless is the fact that the workers have defied the repressive state apparatus, surrounding a police station and liberating an arrested worker. The bosses and the state do not want this example to spread, and as a result they are now demanding revenge.
That is why it is so important that we gather as much international class solidarity with these workers as possible. In Buenos Aires a workers’ support committee has been set up to denounce the repression of the Gendarmeria and the state of siege that has been declared in the town. A strike fund has also been set up to help financially support these workers.
We have launched the following petition for the support committee of the oil workers in Las Heras in order to collect signatures and solidarity messages in support of their demands and against the criminalisation of their struggle. We have also issued a financial appeal for the workers’ strike fund, to help them in their struggle.
Below you will find a model solidarity letter:
SOLIDARITY WITH THE OIL WORKERS OF SANTA CRUZ
We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with the struggle of the oil workers of Santa Cruz.
We demand the immediate withdrawal of the Gendarmeria Nacional and the police from all the oil producing areas of the province. We demand an immediate end to persecution and criminalisation of the struggle of these workers.
We support their fair demands:
- The payment of wages during the strike
- Trade union recognition for the UOCRA workers (workers coming from construction sector) in the oil sector
- An increase in the mimimum taxation exemption on income
- For retirement after 25 years of work in the industry, irrespective of age and with a pension of 82 per cent of wages subject to inflation
Please send your message to the following e-mail addresses:
Please, also send a copy to the Editorial Board of El Militante:
Please send your donation to the following bank account of the Shop Stewards’ Committee (Cuerpo de Delegados) of Las Heras:
Name of the bank: Banco Nación
Name of the account: Cuerpo de Delegados de Las Heras
Account number: 011 03289300032802021441
COMMUNIQUÉ OF THE SHOP STEWARDS’ COMMITTEE OF THE OIL WORKERS
Friday, 17th February 2006
FROM LAS HERAS
We denounce as false the statement made by the national authorities about the Gendarmeria not participating in the operation of the checkpoints and searches of the oil workers on their way to the oilfields.
In Las Heras, the Crisis Committee set up by the Gendarmeria and the provincial police, not only carry out these controls jointly but also they also carry them out in the oilfields
In the last hours the Gendarmeria prevented a meeting of the workers of the factory “Argentina 2000” from taking place. This clearly exposes the fact that the presence of the Crisis Committee and the Gendarmeria is in fact to carry out an undeclared state of siege, which has been implemented together with the national and provincial governments.
Our constitutional rights to freedom of movement, right of assembly, right to strike and, even our right to a daily 15-minute assembly, as stated in the collective bargaining agreement, section 396/04, have all been suspended.
In carry out these measures the police and government show their disdain not only for the workers but for the whole population of Las Heras. The Gendarmeria and the provincial police force patrol the fields carrying firearms, something which is specifically forbidden by the safety regulations.
Today, we, the shop stewards, warn that the firearms in the oilfields might provoke explosions which could destroy half of Las Heras. How many deaths will there have to be before they listen to this warning?
We demand:
The immediate restitution of our constitutional rights.
That the security forces be prohibited from accessing the oilfields.
An immediate end to the checkpoints and the searches of the workers and the population.
Argentina: 2019 elections – prepare for the future! 8 Nov 2019
Argentina: the irreversible crisis of Macrismo – what is the role of the left? 23 Aug 2019
Argentina: a ship adrift 26 Apr 2019
Argentina paralysed by general strike as economic crisis deepens 27 Sep 2018
Argentina: peso collapse – ominous sign of the state of world economy 25 May 2018
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International Order of the Rainbow for Girls
Today in Masonic History we discuss the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls.
The International Order of the Rainbow for girls is an organization for young women ages 11 to 20.
The International Order of the Rainbow for girls, or often just Rainbow, was started by W. Mark Sexson a Freemason in Oklahoma. At the time Sexson was a member of the grand line of the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma. At a speech he gave in front of a local Order of Eastern Star chapter, which he was also a member of, he was encouraged to put together a group for young women, similar to the Order of DeMolay for boys which was then only a few years old. Sexson had become familiar with DeMolay through his work with the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma and set to work creating the Order of the Rainbow for girls.
The first initiation for the Order of the Rainbow was held at the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple in McAlester, Oklahoma. There were 171 girls in that first initiation.
Since that time the Order of the Rainbow has grown to an international organization. Like Freemasonry the organization includes Jurisdictions, in the United States the jurisdictions are largely drawn along state lines. In each Jurisdiction there are individual assemblies made up of local young women and advisors who are active in their community. There are more than 850 assemblies in the world today.
Like the seven precepts of the Order of DeMolay, the Order of the Rainbow for Girls has 7 bow stations, each representing a quality or virtue that the organization instills in it's members. The bow stations include Love, Religion, Nature, Immortality, Fidelity, Patriotism and Service. It also teaches the concepts of Faith, Hope and Charity.
Along with the bow stations, the Order of the Rainbow for Girls teaches members the importance of community and the assemblies and jurisdictions work throughout the year on community service projects. The young women are also taught about leadership and other real world skills to help them grow into successful women.
Originally membership was restricted to young women who had a father or other family member who was a mason. Now it is open to any young women from the ages of 11 to 20 and has faith in a Supreme Being, although no religious affiliation is required.
The Beacon Light
Robert Burns Passes Away
Bert Fish Passes Away
Simion Bărnuțiu is Born
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Implementing Educational Language Policy in Arizona Legal, Historical and Current Practices in SEI Edited by: M. Beatriz Arias, Christian Faltis
Paperback Hardback EPUB
This volume is a unique contribution to the study of language policy and education for English Learners because it focuses on the decade long implementation of “English Only” in Arizona. How this policy influences teacher preparation and classroom practice is the central topic of this volume. Scholars and researchers present their latest findings and concerns regarding the impact that a restrictive language policy has on critical areas for English Learners and diverse students. If a student's language is sanctioned, do they feel welcome in the classroom? If teachers are only taught about subtractive language policy, will they be able to be tolerant of linguistic diversity in their classrooms? The implications of the chapters suggest that Arizona's version of Structured English Immersion may actually limit English Learners' access to English.
This thorough and passionate book offers a critical analysis of Proposition 203, Arizona's law seeking to eliminate bilingual education, and documents the grave impact it has had. Policymakers and voters as well as anyone concerned about the education of bilingual students should be required to read this book to understand the negative effects of restrictive language policies, and specifically the mandatory “Structured English Immersion” model now being widely implemented. This book is a call to action for the promotion of expansive language education policies, which build on the home languages of all students.
- Kate Menken, Queens College & Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA
Evidence of the harmful effects of Arizona's instructional policy for English learners has mounted. This one volume, edited by Arias and Faltis, two of the nation's leading experts in the field, provides solid evidence carefully linked to theory, and compelling arguments for why the policy is blatantly discriminatory. It also provides important guidance for policymakers and the courts as they evaluate the legal basis for Arizona's misbegotten language instructional policy. Read it and be empowered to act!
- Patricia Gandara
In this timely and illuminating volume edited by Beatriz Arias and Christian Faltis, the authors concisely deconstruct the folk theory that English is, by its very existence, the sole language of instruction. The brilliance of this edited volume Implementing Educational Language Policy in Arizona, lies in the authors' rigorous deconstruction of unproven methods to teach linguistic minority students solely in English even when they are not yet proficient in the language thereby depriving them of their linguistic and cultural dignity and the opportunity to become literate in their own language. Using various data sources from empirical research in second language acquisition to historical analyses of the pervasive mis-education of Latino(a) students, the authors authoritatively provide a censorship portrayal of Arizona – a state that not only banned instruction in languages other than English, but is, increasingly, becoming ever more totalitarian in its censorship in public schools of books such as Paulo Freire's world-renowned classic, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, among other authors who advocate education for liberation. Implementing Educational Language Policy in Arizona goes beyond detailing the crisis of education in Arizona. It powerfully and painfully lays bare Arizona's current shameful crisis of democracy.
- Lilia Bartolome, University of Massachusetts, USA
Indeed what is most impressive about the book is the way in which it passionately advocates by appealing to sound research and professional knowledge that falls squarely within the purview of the authors’ expertise. Despite any minor faults, the volume is a welcome addition to the literature in the field of equity and English learner education.
- Keira Ballantyne, George Washington University, USA
M. Beatriz Arias is an Associate Professor of English Education in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University. She has edited several books and published scholarly articles on Latino students and educational policy, and has focused her research on equity issues for English Learners and Latino students and teachers. She has served as a Court Appointed Monitor for a Federal Court Judge in San Jose California; and in Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles school desegregation cases, she has participated as a Court Appointed expert.
Christian Faltis is the Dolly and David Fiddyment Chair in Teacher Education and Professor of Language, Literacy and Culture in the School of Education at University of California, Davis. He has authored numerous books and scholarly writing on bilingual education and Latino students. His most recent book is Education, immigrant students, refugee students, and English learners (2010, with Guadalupe Valdés). He is Editor of Teacher Education Quarterly, and Editor of Review of Research in Education, Vol. 37.
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Forgiveness & Mindfulness: one woman's Call to Love after three family murdered
Blog & Author's Bio
A Sample Chapter
MURDER AS A CALL TO LOVE
The young man who murders the author’s sister-in-law and her two teenage nephews hides in the garage of an affluent neighborhood. He waits until they are asleep. In the night, he bludgeons and stabs them to death, and flees. The perpetrator is the boy across the street, a family friend, 19 years old. Lost in grief, Judith falls into the welcoming arms of Zen. Five years later, through her newfound practice of daily mindfulness and meditation, she spontaneously forgives the killer. But before she can go to him and say, “I forgive you,” he hangs himself to death in his prison cell. Years later, she calls his mother. The two women cry together. Here is the intimate, revealing story of Judith’s life, and her love affair with Zen. Ironically, after being ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh, whose teachings abound in this book, she goes on to lead mindfulness practice in a medium-security prison where some of the young men know the murderer.
Here is the intimate, revealing story of Judith’s life, and her love affair with Zen. After being ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh, whose teachings abound in this book, she goes on to lead mindfulness practice in a medium-security prison where some of the young men know the murderer. Then Charles hangs himself. The killer’s suicide does not relieve the family’s grief. Toy believes it is a kind of moral regression for society to continue to legalize murder for murder. “There is no such thing as closure, only a call to love.”
This is the gripping tale of one woman walking through fire. It is an inner story of adventure, loss, torment…and in the end, forgiveness and an awakening to deep peace. This is a true tale of transformation.
This book touches not only on the practice of mindfulness, but on several perennial hot buttons. Among them are:
--Abortion
--Alcoholism and Recovery
--Organ Donation
--And Especially Forgiveness
For the video that was used to crowd-fund the book, go to
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/330205005/murder-as-a-call-to-love-the-zen-of-forgiveness-th?ref=nav_search
"I had forgiven Charles, but I was still afraid to tell him so. Then he hung himself."
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Electronics & Music Maker - May 1982 Making Notes
Making Notes (Part 5)
Making a piece in a new key
by Brenda Hayward
Most musicians start to play in the two keys of 'C' and 'F' Major and may feel that these two keys are adequate. They can be, but to the listener with a good musical ear the music can all sound the same, despite variations in the melody.
Transposition in relation to music simply means 'to change from one key of music to another'. Learning how to transpose a favourite well played tune into a new key can create new interest and a great sense of achievement.
Professional musicians can often transpose on sight but unless gifted musically this can take quite a while to achieve.
There are various ways of transposing music. One method is to establish the Tone and Semitone distances between the original Key and the new Key and move every note accordingly. For example, when transposing from the Key of 'F' Major to 'E' Major there is a One Tone distance in a downward movement. Every note on the original manuscript must be moved down by a Tone distance on the new manuscript. This can be a complicated exercise if every note has to be moved by greater Tone and Semitone distances which can occur between other Major Keys.
Find time to experiment with my simple method. The only requirements are a clean sheet of paper, a page of manuscript, a pen, 'Making Notes' article 3 (on Key Signatures) and your favourite arrangement in the Key of 'C' Major which is going to be transposed into the Key of 'G' Major. After learning a few simple rules it is possible to transpose music to and from any Major Key.
From C to G
(1) Write down and number 1 to 8 the note names of the 'C' Major Scale and underneath it write down the scale of 'G' Major:
'C' Major Scale C D E F G A B C
G' Major Scale G A B C D E F# G
(2) On the new manuscript write the Treble Clef and the new Key Signature for the Key of 'G' Major and the Time Signature of the music.
(3) Identify the melody note on the original manuscript as note numbers of the 'C' Major Scale and transpose them into the same note numbers of the 'G' Major Scale. See Figure 1.
In the first bar of Figure 1, the note of 'E' in the original Key of 'C' Major, becomes 'B' in the new Key of 'G' Major. The second note of 'G' becomes 'D' and the third note of 'E' goes back to 'B'. In the second bar the original notes of 'F', 'A' & 'C' become 'C', 'E' & 'G' in the new key. Now alter the third and fourth bars, ensuring that note values and any Rests in the music are transferred correctly to maintain the timing of the music.
The Bass Stave can now be transposed in exactly the same way, remembering to place the Key Signature and Time Signature first. See Figure 2.
Music can now be transposed into any Key of your choice. Using this method transpose the Key of 'F' Major into the Key of 'Eb' Major. The note numbers of the 'F' Major Scale will be transposed to the same note numbers of the 'Eb' Major Scale. Remember to write in the new Key Signature and the original Time Signature first (Figure 3).
If you are one of the many musicians using 'Chord Symbols', their transposition to the new 'Key' is very simple. As with the melody notes, a Chord Symbol of 'C' (note No. 1 of the 'C' Major Scale) on the original manuscript becomes a Chord Symbol of 'G' (note No. 1 of the 'G' Major Scale) on the new manuscript. The transposed Chord Symbols and Pedal Notes are included on Figures 1 and 2. Any additional chord information '7', '6', 'm' etc. must always be included with the transposed chord.
Further chords for L.H.
ADVANCED LEFT HAND CHORD FORMATION requires an understanding of Major Scale sequences. As each note of a Major Scale is numbered 1 to 8, note No. 8 is also note No. 1 in a continuing sequence of the scale. Note No. 2 is also note No. 9, note No. 3 is also note No. 10 etc., to a maximum of 13 notes. The scale sequence of the 'C' Major Scale is shown in Figure 4.
In the following chord formations the chord name appears first, then the note numbers of the Major Scale, with the 'C' Major Scale as an example, then the Chord Symbol and the notes which feature in the chord. See Figure 5.
The Root Note is not included as part of the Left Hand Chord in formations higher than major Seventh. When playing an instrument with a pedal board, the Root Note is the Bass Pedal Note, leaving the left hand to accommodate the three or four notes of the chord. The chords of 'Cmaj7', 'Cmaj9' and 'C9' need to be inverted to be played between the octave 'F' to 'F'. The Eleventh and Thirteenth chords are in their playing positions.
When the chord of Major Seventh is played as an inversion, a semitone discord occurs between the 7th and Root Note of the chord. Because the Root Note is duplicated as the pedal note it is a personal choice if the Root Note is omitted from the chord. The Major Ninth Chord consists of four notes and starts its formation upon the 3rd Note of scale 3 - 5 - 7 - 9, with the Root Note as the Pedal Note. The Ninth Chords are similar to Major Ninth Chords apart from the '7th' Note of scale which is flattened to '7b'. The Eleventh Chords start their formation upon the 5th Note of scale, the 3rd Note is omitted and the Thirteenth Chords start their formation upon the '7b' Note of scale, with the 3rd and 5th Notes omitted.
With the exception of the 'Maj9' Chords, their logical build up highlights that in any chord above 'Eighth' such as Ninth, Eleventh and Thirteenths the '7b' Note of the scale will always be included.
The musical rule is now established for the formation of some of the advanced chords, which can simply be found by writing any Major Scale Sequence (1 to 13) and using the appropriate note numbers. Create Inversions of Chords, if in their formation position they are too high or too low on the manual to be played between the notes of 'F' either side of Middle 'C'.
Thirteenth Chords are not usually played as an inversion, as a semitone discord occurs between the '7b' Note and the 13th (6th) notes in the chord. They can be played an octave lower if their formation position is too high on the manual, or to cheat a little, a 7th Chord is adequate when the 13th Note is the melody note.
When playing advanced chords, you will be using the same notes as the simple chords you have already played. For example, the 'C9' Chord (1st Inversion) G - Bb - D E played with a 'C' pedal is a 'Gm6' Chord when played with a 'G' pedal. The 'Cmaj9' Chord (1st Inversion) G - B - DE played with a 'C' pedal note becomes a 'G6' Chord when played with a 'G' pedal note. An 'Eleventh' Chord uses the same notes as a Minor Seventh Chord. A 'G11' Chord D-F-A-C is a 'Dm7' Chord when played with a 'D' pedal note. Therefore the only difference is in the pedal note which gives the chord its name. This exercise also shows that every Left Hand Chord, with the exception of 'Thirteenths', can be played between the octave 'F' to 'F' on the lower manual and advanced chords are no more difficult to play than easy ones.
Playing pedals
As this month I have included Bass Pedal Notes with the Left Hand Chord formations, a few hints on Bass Pedal techniques may be useful. It is not necessary to remove shoes when playing the pedals. Apart from being definitely anti-social, it does not really help to achieve the smooth movement of coaxing the pedal down rather than hitting them sharply. A lighter shoe or slipper may help to get the feel of the pedals initially. Try to keep the left foot hovering above the pedal notes rather than lifting the foot in the air, to create a similar technique to 'Crawling' over the melody notes on the manual.
If you are reading the Bass Stave, you will obviously be shown the pedal notes to play with each chord. If you are reading single stave music, the Chord Symbols tell you that the pedal note is the ROOT NOTE of each Left Hand Chord and also the Root Note of the Scale from which the chord was formed. I am using the Major Scales once more, (what would we do without them!) to extend the basic knowledge contained in the Chord Symbols.
Initially, one pedal beat in each bar is sufficient whether playing in 3/4 or 4/4 time (Figure 6A). When playing to a semiquaver rhythm, the single pedal note may seem inadequate and the foot will want to move in time. Sustain the Left Hand Chords while a second pedal note is played on the 3rd Beat in each Bar - the same pedal note as played on the 1st Beat in each Bar (Figure 6B). When proficient on the 'same note double beat' pedal technique, adopt a 'Root & 5th' pedal rhythm (Figure 6C). On the 1st Beat of the bar play the Root Note of the scale and on the 3rd Beat play the 5th Note of scale. For example, 'C' Chord Symbol: 'C' Pedal Note 1st Beat - 'G' Pedal Note 3rd Beat. The first and fifth notes of the 'C' Major Scale.
When the Left Hand Chord changes, the pedal notes are the Root and 5th of the scale from which the new chord was formed. In the second bar the 'F' Chord Symbol indicates the 'F' and 'C' Notes, the Root & 5th Notes from the 'F' Major Scale.
The pedal notes in Bar 3 are 'G' & 'D', the Root and 5th from the 'G' Major Scale. This rule will apply for all Root and 5th Pedal playing. The oblique lines represent the 4 Beats in each bar.
In the next Making Notes, I will be gathering together some of the information from my previous articles to begin an explanation of 'Harmony'.
A History Of Electronic Music
Electronics & Music Maker - Copyright: Music Maker Publications (UK), Future Publishing.
Electronics & Music Maker - May 1982
Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 (Viewing) | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11
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(CNA/Daniel Ibáñez)
| Apr. 8, 2016
‘Amoris Laetitia,’ the Holy Spirit and the Synod of Surprises
NEWS ANALYSIS: In 2014, Pope Francis unleashed a synodal process that, quite unexpectedly, has served to put a leash on the Pope’s own intentions when he initiated the process.
FATHER RAYMOND J. DE SOUZA
Long awaited, and prepared, after a two-year process, the very long apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis — the longest document in the entire history of the papal magisterium — invites a reading that the Holy Father suggests not be “rushed,” even as he apologizes for its length.
There will be ample time to turn to the various aspects of Amoris Laetitia, as both Robert Royal and Edward Pentin have begun to do in these pages. Yet it is now possible to evaluate the two-year process, which began in 2014. The result is as surprising as one could have expected. The same Pope Francis who threw open the Synod of Bishops to a protracted and divisive debate found himself restrained by that same synodal process in the end. As the Holy Father himself would observe, God is full of surprises.
In February 2014, Pope Francis invited Cardinal Walter Kasper to address the College of Cardinals about the possibility of admitting the divorced and civilly remarried to Eucharistic Communion, even as they continued to live in a conjugal relationship with someone other than their sacramental spouse. That was met with near-universal rejection by the assembled cardinals, but Pope Francis insisted it be on the agenda for synod 2014.
A few weeks after Cardinal Kasper’s address, a more provocative trial balloon was floated when the Holy Father, according to the woman in question, called an Argentinian parishioner and told her that she should receive Communion despite not being validly married; and if her own pastor would not permit it, she should find another parish in which to do so. The Holy See never denied that the Holy Father said such a thing, letting it stand as an indication of what the Holy Father presumably would like to do.
The synod of October 2014 included great manipulation by the managers of the synod, who presumed that they were doing what the Holy Father wanted in attempting to foist on the synod an interim report that opened the path to liberalization of Catholic doctrine. The synod fathers as a whole rejected that approach.
At the synod of October 2015, despite an intense effort by the synod managers to advance a change in pastoral practice, all the while insisting that it did not mean a change in doctrine, the synod fathers refused to endorse a change in the teaching of St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI on the question of divorce, remarriage and Communion. Out of deference to the Holy Father’s presumed preference, synod 2015 simply did not reassert that teaching, keeping silent on the most contested question. The result appeared to dismay Pope Francis, as he concluded synod 2015 with a blistering attack on the traditional party, accusing them of “throwing stones” against the suffering and afflicted.
In Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis accepted what the synodal process gave him — no change in doctrine, but a decision not to speak too loudly about those aspects of Church teaching most at odds with contemporary culture. The debates will continue, and there will be many difficulties ahead, should the Cardinal Kasper party formulate formal policies in contravention of existing teaching, in effect daring the Holy Father to stop them. Whether that will materialize remains to be seen.
So concludes a tumultuous two years. And the lesson drawn is one that Francis himself has taught, even if it became manifest in an unexpected way — the Spirit moves in the Church, upending plans and the programs. The synod was thrown open by the Holy Father to create new possibilities in the pastoral care of the family. What the synod in fact did was prevent the break with the magisterial tradition desired by many who plausibly presumed to have the Pope’s backing.
It was, as they say in aviation, a near miss. From the first pages of Amoris Laetitia to the last, the exhortation evidently yearns to declare what it never declares: that the teaching on marriage and holy Communion can change. Indeed, the most critical line on the question is buried in a footnote, almost as if the editors hoped no one would notice.
To get a sense of how strange a circumstance we are in, try to imagine the moral analysis in Amoris Laetitia being applied to any moral question not raised by the sexual revolution. If the question, for example, were whether employers who were exploiting their workers were in an impossible situation that was otherwise too difficult to change, it is unlikely that the papal magisterium would propose that the general principles of justice might not apply in these complex concrete situations.
And therein lies the second key conclusion to the two years of turbulence. For many in the Kasper party, admitting the divorced and civilly remarried to Communion was the first step in accommodating Catholic teaching to the sexual revolution. If sex could be separated from marriage without sin, then the unraveling of the teaching on contraception, any sexual activity outside of marriage and homosexual acts could follow.
Pope Francis perhaps thought that the former could be done without leading to the latter, but the synod blocked that path. Most emphatically though, Francis rejects the latter project of embracing the sexual revolution, explicitly affirming Humanae Vitae on the unitive and procreative nature of conjugal life in marriage.
There is much, much more to be written about Amoris Laetitia, much of which will be of benefit to those who are married or preparing for marriage. There will be serious challenges for theologians to reconcile this exhortation into the magisterial tradition. But what is significant today is a moment in Church history. Pope Francis unleashed a synod process and, in the end, decided to accept the synod’s leash upon himself.
is editor in chief of
Convivium magazine.
He has been appointed to serve as a
jubilee year missionary of mercy by the Holy See.
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Official Report (Hansard)/
Committee Minutes of Evidence/
Session 2007-2008/
May 2008/
Health Promotion Agency
Session: 2007/2008
COMMITTEE FOR
(Hansard)
Mrs Michelle O’Neill (Deputy Chairperson)
Dr Kieran Deeny
Mr Alex Easton
Mr Tommy Gallagher
Mr John McCallister
Dr Brian Gaffney ) Health Promotion Agency
The Deputy Chairperson (Mrs O’Neill):
In the first of today’s two evidence sessions, representatives from the Health Promotion Agency (HPA) will give evidence on the proposals to reform the health and social care system. Members have hard copies of the HPA’s submission and a briefing paper from the Assembly’s Research and Library Services.
I welcome Brian Gaffney, the chief executive of the Health Promotion Agency. I invite you to make a presentation, after which Committee members will ask questions.
Dr Brian Gaffney (Health Promotion Agency):
Thank you. I am delighted to meet the Committee. My invitation reflects the Committee’s interest in public-health issues, and it affords me the opportunity to convey my organisation’s perspective on the proposed changes to structures, which will have a wider impact on public health in Northern Ireland.
I will provide some background information on public health in general and on health improvement in particular, and I will then talk about changes to the current structures. I will focus on the proposal to establish a regional public health agency (RPHA), because that will have the greatest impact on the Health Promotion Agency. However, if required, I will also comment on the broader structural reorganisation.
Much debate on the health system rightly concerns medical care and treatment — they are the most expensive, demanding and, probably, most important aspects. Public-health issues have increasingly come to the fore over the past two decades. More evidence has been gathered, and that evidence shows that healthier communities are more socially cohesive, economically productive and, interestingly, more involved with local structures, such as local government. That is why we want to improve public health.
The Wanless Report and the Appleby Report, which dealt with economic issues that affect England and Wales and affect Northern Ireland respectively, indicated that we will no longer be able to afford such an extensive healthcare system without public-health improvement and an engaged population. Public health and health improvement should be taken very seriously.
Public health is a complex matter, but, in order to improve discussion, we divide it into three domains. The first domain is health protection, which covers protection against disease, through immunisation and other programmes, and environmental protection’s contribution to health. The second domain is service development, which deals with ways in which public-health specialists have an input into the development of other health and social care services. That input includes providing evidence, and debating how services can be improved and made more cost-effective. The third domain — in which I operate — is health improvement. When people use the term “public health”, they are usually describing health improvement or health promotion.
Since the mid-1980s, health improvement and health promotion have developed beyond the previous individual-based, medical model. That model was thought to be quite straightforward — if people were told what was good for them, they would change their behaviour and, thus, their health would improve. However, that is often not the case with public health, so any model must be more in-depth.
We now appreciate that public health — both physical and mental — is a resource that develops over a person’s lifetime. Public health concerns people’s appreciation of their capacities, knowledge, skills and behaviours, and their interaction with their social and economic environment. Health is more complex than, say, whether a person feels sick, so we must find ways in which to improve it.
The Health Promotion Agency offers programmes for individuals, because we want to develop individuals’ skills and knowledge, and help them to make healthy decisions. However, we must create environments that enable people to make those healthy decisions. That is why the issue is so important for the Committee for Health, Social Services and Public Safety, and, indeed, for other instruments of government. Consideration of environments and of how people interact requires work in many different sectors. Children and young people must be educated to enable them to make healthy decisions. People need to have a healthy workplace that helps them to make healthy decisions on their behaviours, including on smoking and nutrition.
Moreover, safe neighbourhoods are needed. The physical environment must allow people to take physical activity where they feel safe. People must be able to make healthy and affordable choices about food, and so on, and they must be provided with the skills to use those choices. That is particularly relevant to the Committee and the Government, because we realise that the legislative programme has an impact on people’s health.
That is most clearly seen in the example of smoking legislation. For many years, those of us who work in public health lobbied for smoking not to be allowed in public places or workplaces, but Government action is required to legislate on such issues in order to allow us to put programmes in place. The current debate on alcohol misuse depends on legislation that will enable people to make choices about alcohol. Changes may be reflected in licensing laws and sales restrictions.
Public health and health improvement is so complex, and involves so many people, that no one agency or organisation can be responsible. The issues require much collaboration and many partnerships. The Health Promotion Agency has partnerships at community level with various organisations, such as healthy living centres and community development programmes. We have relationships with many community and voluntary groups, such as Action Mental Health, the Ulster Cancer Foundation, the Northern Ireland Chest, Heart and Stroke Association, Age Concern, Barnardo’s and PlayBoard. All those are important partners of ours in developing public health.
The Health Promotion Agency describes its work as being an integrated approach across many areas. Those areas include research, because we need to know what we are talking about, we need to know the evidence for what works and we need to know what is effective. That research should feed into training for professionals, not only health professionals but educational professionals, and even Government professionals who work in the legislative field. We disseminate a great deal of information, to health professionals in particular but also to the public. Some of that is evidenced in many of the programmes with which the Health Promotion Agency is involved.
None of that work goes on by itself. It must be linked to what is happening locally, and it must be linked to other organisations. It must be done through many different health settings, including work with local councils, other agencies and local health structures. I hope that the current proposals will facilitate that work. In our various consultation submissions, we said that current structures do not easily facilitate those partnerships or local working. They do not facilitate a truly cohesive relationship between local work and regional work, and they do not necessarily link that work. Therefore, we are neither making best use of scarce funding nor ensuring that good programmes are sustainable.
Much good work is taking place, particularly at community level. The Health Promotion Agency and other organisations, such as local councils and other health structures, are doing work at a regional level. However, there is, as yet, no joint-planning approach or agreed funding mechanisms across the partnerships and programmes. There are no common objectives, nor is there joint accountability. There is no real, agreed process for evaluation or measurement of outcomes. It is to be hoped the current proposals will tackle and improve those areas.
We consider the current restructuring proposals to offer a major opportunity for change. To do that, much of the work that is done on health improvement regionally and locally must be linked. We hope that, by sharing evidence and by planning programmes together, we will ensure local input as well as regional commitment, and we hope that the two sides can work together. Any proposed new organisations should make public health, particularly health improvement, a priority.
Sometimes, in the public-health system, health improvement plays second fiddle to health protection and service development, which often eat up resources. It is important that the proposed RPHA focus mainly on health improvement and collaborate with local commissioning groups (LCGs) and the proposed regional health and social care board (RHSCB). The Health Promotion Agency is unsure of the RHSCB’s commissioning and providing function, and the proposals do not outline clearly the plans for other sections of the health system. For instance, our relationship with primary care and, especially, general practice must be outlined in the new structures.
We must accept that we do not want longer timescales or the difficulty in measuring health outcomes to deflect the focus from health improvement. Health improvement is essential — we want to improve individuals’ health and produce a vibrant, more productive — socially and economically — community in Northern Ireland. We need structures that will enable us to help the community. If such decisions were determined by the market, there would not be any smoking legislation or restrictions on alcohol sales, and other development programmes would not exist. Government must take the lead and establish structures that will allow public-health workers to work together with other health-system employees and local-government representatives.
Therefore, I look forward to the changes, because there are faults in the current structures. I hope that the debate on the new structures will consider health improvement a top priority.
The Deputy Chairperson:
You mentioned that adopting a partnership approach is crucial to delivering health promotion. Do you think that the review of public administration (RPA) proposals should impose a statutory requirement to compel local councils to become involved? Would such a measure strengthen health promotion? Would that enrich the council’s forthcoming local community-development plans?
Dr Gaffney:
The HPA’s work with local government is always conducted on an ad hoc basis; those sectors do not usually work together, and they do not always prioritise public health. In the history of public health, local government has, undoubtedly, played a major role. Through its traditional and regeneration roles, it can enhance public health. Local government also has a long history of community development and of working at a local-community level.
The public-health agendas of the Health Service and local government must come together. There are proposals to introduce community-planning rules and to impose a duty of well-being on local government. Local councils should have a statutory responsibility as well as a responsibility to work closely with any new health-system structures.
Dr Deeny:
I have known Brian Gaffney for a long time — longer than I care to admit — and I am interested in health reform. I am worried that the Health Reform Bill will not be passed by its target date. The intention is that it will come into operation on 1 April 2009. However, its Second Stage is scheduled for the week commencing 23 June 2008, and its Committee Stage is expected to commence at the end of June.
I am familiar with the HPA’s work. I spent this morning in Altnagelvin Area Hospital, where I saw a poster, which probably came from the HPA, that I had never seen before. I do not know whether other Committee members have seen it, but it is anti-drink-driving poster carrying a slogan along the lines of “I’m sure you wished you’d crashed at your mate’s”. Such posters convey a message effectively, as do television adverts.
I wonder just how many people will be involved in the regional public health agency. Will there be too many organisations? Will it be too complicated? I have heard other people ask whether the proposed RPHA should be incorporated in the proposed RHSCB. What are your views on that? Furthermore, if my figures are correct, even with the RPHA and the RHSCB to come into being next year, the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) will continue to employ around 400 people in the trusts. Why are those staff required?
I have another question on coterminosity. Interestingly, I have changed my tune. Initially, I would have preferred there to be five to seven LCGs, but I now think that, given the proposal to have 11 councils, there should be six LCGs — one for Belfast and one between two for each of the 10 other councils — particularly as they are involved in local councils. That would help secure councillor representation. It is right to base the number of LCGs on the number of councils. For example, a single LCG, coterminous with the trust, would not be adequate for the west. I am sure that Tommy will agree, because it would be a city-dominated LCG. The commissioning body would be in the city, as would the provider. For example, Derry has entirely different needs from the rural populations of Tyrone and Fermanagh. My view is that LCGs should be based on councils.
I agree with Brian that the whole idea of LCGs is that they will involve GPs and other health professionals in the area, as well as local councillors — we health professionals are keen to work with health promoters in future. I am sure that Brian will agree that the health and social boards, with which I have worked for well over 20 years now, have, in many cases, not been in touch with the local communities. I mean no disrespect when I say that. Local communities do not know what they are. They adopt a top-down approach, through which decisions are made. Services are commissioned by people who are not really in touch with local communities at all. The new method of health commissioning, and the other new proposals under the RPA, are supposed to have the reverse character and operate in a bottom-up fashion.
Do you agree with me on that, Brian? A very good relationship could be formed were the new RPHA to work with the LCGs, which should take over most of the commissioning in future, once the process has bedded down for a few years. Indeed, that were the original plan. Those are all my questions and comments.
There are plenty to keep you going.
I will try to cover all the points raised. I cannot really comment on the size of the organisations, because, in a sense, it is still up for debate, because the consultation has only just finished. On whether public-health agencies should be incorporated in the board, I urge that, at least, there should be a separate health improvement agency. One might think that I am bound to say that because I come from a stand-alone agency; however, the proposed RHSCB, which will contain the LCGs, will be a huge commissioning organisation. Its budget will be huge, if not the number of people that it employs. As I said earlier, health improvement in particular sometimes loses out when decisions and choices have to be made about hospital care, and waiting lists tend to dominate in those circumstances. Sometimes, health improvement and public health must have a separate focus. I am not 100% sure what the relationships will be — I think that a decision has yet to be made — nor am I sure whether the RPHA will be commissioned by the board or the Department. Therefore, I do not know what the relevant sizes will be.
However, where important public-health issues, such as alcohol misuse, require discussion, it is important that a focused body raise them. Although it does not seem difficult for an agency such as the Health Promotion Agency to raise issues around smoking, that has not always been the case. In my first ever meeting with Government, an outgoing Conservative Minister with responsibility for health did not allow us to raise the issue of smoking legislation. However, that did not stop us. My chairman at the time, the late Jimmy Hawthorne, who was outspoken on public health, did not hesitate to raise the issue.
Sometimes, an independent voice is required. Issues that are coming to the fore include obesity, which will involve the food industry, and alcohol, which will involve the drinks industry. The revenue that the Government collect in tax means that it is sometimes difficult to tell them what needs to be done. An independent body that is at arm’s length from Government could raise the difficult issues. I am not sure whether that body should incorporate the three domains of public health — health protection, service development and service improvement — because those domains must have strong, close links with services that the proposed RHSCB will develop. Therefore, whatever structures are created, it is important that those links be tight, because the body needs to influence what is commissioned. In some ways, I am glad that I do not have to answer the questions about the structures that should be created and the relationships that there should be. However, a separate, independent and health-improvement-focused public-health body is necessary for a range of reasons.
The Health Promotion Agency is a regional provider of public health and, because of the current structures, it has no formal mandate to work at a local level. Despite that, much of our work is done at a local level. Dr Deeny is correct to say that people who work at the community level often do not know the functions of their local health and social services board. Recently, we had to work with a range of local groups on mental-health issues and, because we were not 100% sure of their agenda and what they do, and vice versa, that has been a fractious relationship at times. However, the results have been positive, so such difficulties can be overcome. In future, we must ensure that whatever is created is accessible to LCGs.
As an aside, we must realise that five or six LCGs will not be local to the communities that they serve; for example, the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust is a huge organisation, with many employees. I am not saying that that trust should be smaller, but, when an organisation covers such a large population, the body that commissions from it will not be able to work with local communities day to day. A way must be found to ensure that those local communities have an input into the process. A series of proposals, such as the community commissioning associations and community development processes, has not solved the problem.
Our new local trusts must have their agenda set clearly by the commissioning process that is implemented. They must interact with local communities, because I cannot see any other way for local communities to feed into the process under the current system. It is difficult to get a grasp on local issues, and local people may sometimes, for genuine reasons, find it difficult to get a grasp on regional issues. Nevertheless, both are important and must be accommodated. There is a clear role for input from those who are involved in primary care, especially GPs, who are the top health professionals at a local level. After all, the organisation with which local people are registered is the local practice, so GPs should reflect that.
Very few local practices are concerned about coterminosity — many of their patients are from locations that are within different local-government or health-trust boundaries, yet those practices manage to work around that. We must consider every body’s boundaries, but, for me, two points stand out. We must ensure local input — be that through a system that the LCGs develop or through the trusts being told that they must obtain that input — and it must be balanced against regional provision of public-health functions. It is sometimes the case that those functions can only be delivered regionally, so they must be developed in that way. The question of how we strike that balance is difficult to answer, but it is not, and should not be, insurmountable. In a sense, it should be the main driver for creating the new structures.
Mr Gallagher:
Thank you, Brian, for your presentation. I agree with the point in the Heath Promotion Agency’s response to the consultation on proposals for health and social care reform that the proposed RPHA should have executive powers. It is obvious that the HPA is concerned about which body will have responsibility for health improvement and, if I interpret your response correctly, the HPA believes that that responsibility should remain with the local trust. Given that the trusts have badly managed health improvement, will you explain why the HPA would not want the proposed RPHA to assume responsibility for health improvement?
I do not necessarily feel that the trusts are doing that work badly. In many instances —
Sorry, that is simply my opinion.
Much of the work may be a duplication of, or it may not be linked to, other work. For example, I am working in the system and even I was surprised to find that some of our Investing for Health partnerships, even at a local level, were not really aware of the work that their local healthy-living centre was undertaking. It did not seem to be possible to co-ordinate the two, because they were funded and managed separately, and did not seem to be part of the same system. Therefore, it is not the case that the trusts are doing bad work, but it may be that they do not co-ordinate.
The HPA feels that we still need health-improvement and health-promotion staff based in trusts, because we see no other way in which local links can be established. In any part of Northern Ireland, it is possible to find examples of work going on between local community groups and local health trusts. A regional organisation would not be able to replicate that work.
Even if all health-improvement staff were relocated from trusts and based in a regional agency, at some stage they would have to return to local level and work with the local trust. Therefore, as far as I am concerned, it is a question of whether we can ensure that the work that those people do ties into a common agenda and that it is subject to a common system of accountability and a common planning process.
If the proposed RPHA is to commission health improvement, it must ensure that trusts, through their health-improvement staff, are meeting the regional agenda and that their work complements it. I see no point in reorganising the existing structures to make health-improvement staff work at a regional level, only for them to return to work at trust level subsequently. However, greater co-ordination is needed.
Mr McCallister:
We all agree that we must make huge strides to make the entire population aware of public-health issues.
I am interested in following up on questions about tying in the issue of health to the proposed new council structures. Would councils play a strategic role, using their structures as a delivery mechanism to get across the message?
There are examples of local councils taking the lead role in public-health programmes and in the work of Investing for Health partnerships, and those are good examples of what councils should do at a local level. Regionally, we have engaged with councils on issues such as workplace health, and that has been a fruitful exercise. Therefore, the public-health role of councils could be played at strategic and local implementation levels.
Councils have vast experience of working with their local communities, but some public-health workers may feel that if we encourage that partnership too much, we will hand over public health from the health system to local councils, thereby losing something. However, I regard such a partnership as a strength rather than a weakness. If we can ensure that the councils, whatever their number or size, prioritise local public-health programmes and issues, that will only enhance the process. Councils must work in close partnership with the health system, but they have slightly different perspectives and structures, so they could assume responsibility for many areas. Although we have developed a good training programme with GPs to address fuel poverty, much of the real work on tackling fuel poverty should have local-council input.
Fuel poverty is a health issue. Many people who endure fuel poverty develop ill health, and some of those people die a result of the cold weather. That is only a small example, but it is one that local councils could implement locally, by improving the housing stock and providing grants. Therefore, there is a role for strategic input at both council and local implementation levels.
I agree that councils have a huge role to play, but some are better than others at dealing with such issues. How do we ensure that the programme is delivered evenly across Northern Ireland?
Again, I would look to examples of good work elsewhere. I would not normally hold up England as being somewhere with examples of good public health. However, it has tried not only to have coterminous boundaries with its health and local government structures but to have joint planning. Therefore, local authorities there have a community-planning brief, but they work to that within existing health structures.
Some local authorities appoint a director or head of public health, who is jointly appointed with the local health trust, which, in England, is known as the local primary-care trust. The model is one that we could use, in order to ensure that community planning, for example, were done jointly by the health system and local authorities. That would guarantee accountability, with joint funding and programmes. People would try to ensure that it were evenly spread and that no inequity existed in the work done in Northern Ireland.
Mr Easton:
You touched on my question. Will the proposal to transfer public-health functions from the boards and trusts to the new RPHA lead to more effective delivery of public-health services for Northern Ireland?
We must examine more closely public-health functions in boards and trusts. Currently, the health boards are involved in commissioning and in providing some public-health and health protection programmes, and they provide some health improvement. The trusts, as the providers, are involved in all three areas. If nothing else, reorganisation should provide some clarity on who commissions and provides the different local and regional services, which may lead to better co-ordination and a more cohesive approach to public health.
Of the three public-health domains that I mentioned earlier, the Health Promotion Agency’s focus is on health improvement. I do not want whatever new system is created to allow the boards’ current public-health functions — service development and health protection — to dominate. That could mean that they take their eye off the ball when it comes to health improvement. However, bringing the functions of the health boards and trusts together in order to match them to local input will be an improvement.
Fewer Committee members than normal are present today, Brian, so that concludes the questions. Thank you for coming; it has been most helpful. The Minister is attending next week’s meeting, and you have given us some questions to put to him.
If Committee members have any further questions, I am happy for them to contact me at the agency, and I will supply information on public-health issues.
When the legislation comes before the Committee next month, we will write to you to request feedback. Thank you.
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Interview: Mike Mignola
by The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy
Published in Dec. 2012 (Issue 3) | 7247 words
Mike Mignola is an award-winning comic writer and artist, perhaps best known as the creator of Hellboy. He is also the author (with Christopher Golden) of the novels Baltimore, or the Steadfast Tin Soldier, Joe Golem and the Drowning City, and Father Gaetano’s Puppet Catechism.
This interview first appeared on Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast, which is hosted by John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley. Visit geeksguideshow.com to listen to the entire interview and the rest of the show, in which the hosts discuss various geeky topics.
How did you decide to start doing prose fiction?
Well, I had come up with an idea for a graphic novel—Baltimore, or the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire—and I just never got around to it. Hellboy was taking up more and more of my time, and the Baltimore storyline got bigger and bigger, and I realized that I was never going to be able to take a year away from Hellboy to do this thing. But I had told Christopher Golden about it, and every once and a while he’d say, “When are you going to do that vampire thing?” And eventually I just said, “What if I just give you all my notes that I have for this thing and you write it up as a novel?” And he said yes, which suddenly made me a prose writer.
Baltimore was an interesting case because I really did know eighty-five percent of the book. It just had two clear holes in it, where Chris needed to plug in his own stories. So it was almost like, “insert a short story here and insert a short story here.” Whereas with Joe Golem and the Drowning City, I thought I had the whole story, but after I actually wrote up my notes I said, “Oh, actually this thing is pretty blurry.” So that was when Chris contributed a lot of story content to tie the whole thing together, whereas with Baltimore he was almost just filling in a few holes.
Does Christopher Golden write all the actual text? How involved are you with that aspect of it?
We do a lot of phone call stuff. He’ll send me a couple chapters at a time, and I’ll comb through them and then just torture the shit out of him. We go back and forth. The good thing about working with Chris is he will defer to me on certain things, but if he feels really strongly about something he’ll argue his case. And I don’t think there are any places where we really got at cross purposes about stuff. On Joe Golem, I think because I had such a loose outline, there was a lot more discussion there about how are we going to fill in this, or how are we going to tie in this to this. So Joe Golem was probably a fifty-fifty collaboration whereas Baltimore was much more just me.
The one thing I didn’t want to do was draw actual scenes that were taking place in the book. Mostly I did portraits of the characters and did little spot illustrations that were mostly meant to provide mood and atmosphere and not spell out, “Oh, the guy’s hitting him, that means he’s standing here and he’s hitting this guy over here.” I tried not to draw the monsters. I just wanted to create a mood and not tell the reader too much. I wanted the words to inform the reader. For a guy who reads fiction, I’m not a big fan of illustrated books. I mean, I like illustration, but as a guy reading a book I don’t want an artist telling me this is how these guys look.
So how do you know Chris Golden?
Oh god, from way, way back, from early on with the Hellboy stuff. He was doing interviews for some kind of magazine, and he interviewed me and he was a big Hellboy fan, and he was the first person who suggested, “Hey, someone should write a Hellboy novel.” Meaning that he wanted to write Hellboy novels. So he wrote the first couple of Hellboy novels.
You also adapted Baltimore into a comic book series. Why did you decide to do that particular one in both formats?
I think even when we were doing the novel we were talking about doing a comic, because there’s a part of the book where the main character is pursuing this vampire and chasing him all over the world and running into any number of other things, but the novel wasn’t about that. The novel was about the beginning and then eventually catching up with the guy, so we just thought, wow, what a great opportunity to do a comic to cover that period—or other books, but as comics guys we’re thinking that this would be nice if this thing works as comic. So it wasn’t a matter of really adapting the novel as much as it was filling in a big missing chunk of the novel.
So your newest book is Father Gaetano’s Puppet Catechism. What’s that about?
It’s about a priest who decides to teach orphan boys Bible lessons using puppets that he’s made, which is a really bad idea because puppets are scary, and puppets do things when people are sleeping, and they run around and get their own ideas about things.
We were talking on the phone about something, and I was talking about puppets—because I often talk about puppets—and after maybe a minute Chris said, “You know what would be funny? Blah, blah, blah,” and we talked back and forth. Ninety-nine percent of this book is entirely Chris. I believe the only reason my name appears first on the book is because graphically it looked better to have my name up there. So it’s something I’m actually kind of uncomfortable with, because it really is Chris’s book with just a few illustrations by me.
Given the cover art, I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say that the story involves demonic forces, so between that and Hellboy, what is it about the idea of demonic forces that interests you, and have you ever believed that such things were real?
I’ve never believed that much in that stuff, but it doesn’t mean I’m that crazy about hanging out in haunted houses. So I guess I believe enough in that stuff that on the one occasion where I did stakeout a place that was supposedly haunted, I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. But for the most part my personal beliefs about that stuff don’t inform the work. I’ve just always liked monsters, since I was a little kid. It was always the thing I found interesting, it’s always what I wanted to draw, it’s always what I wanted to read, and so, yeah, I don’t know. It’s a good question for a therapist, why I like monsters. But I tend to not question it. It’s what pays the bills, so that’s kind of nice.
You’ve said that when you first told your wife you wanted to do a comic called “Hellboy,” she gave you a look like “We’re always gonna live in a studio apartment, aren’t we?”
That’s the look, that’s the one. I still remember it. I guess I’d made some noise about starting my own comic. I’d been working for Marvel and DC for ten years, had done a little bit of everything. At the time, other guys were creating their own books, and everybody was making a million dollars, and I think she thought I was going to go come up with Batman. And I’d drawn Batman, and I toyed with coming up with a Batman kind of thing, but the more I thought about it, the more I really wanted to draw just what I wanted to draw. And the only name I’d ever come up with was Hellboy. So when I came out and said, “Yeah, I’ve decided what I’m doing, I’m going to do Hellboy,” I think she was like, “Oh, that’s not ever going to be Batman.”
But she was great. She was really encouraging, and in fact when I did the first series—and it sold okay, it certainly didn’t set the world on fire—my first thought was, well then, let me run back to DC Comics and do another Batman book. You know, I’ll do my commercial books and then I’ll do Hellboy maybe between the commercial books. And she said, “No, why don’t you just do another Hellboy right away.” So as much as I’m sure she didn’t have a lot of confidence in the Hellboy idea, she did say to give it a chance.
But Hellboy has become a big commercial success. So do you think the concept actually was more commercial than you gave it credit for?
Oh, well certainly it’s been much more commercial than either of us ever imagined, I’m sure. I mean, the funniest question I get from people is, “How did you come up with this commercial franchise?” Well, first off, if you’re looking to come up with a commercial franchise, chances are you’re not going to call it “Hellboy.” You know, it does limit its potential as a Saturday morning cartoon and as a toy that can be sold in Toys-R-Us. I mean, I thought the name was cute and funny. What I guess I wasn’t prepared for is how many people would really have trouble with the word “hell.”
So yeah, it’s completely a fluke. It’s just that for whatever reason the comic was appealing to comics people. It appealed to a broader audience maybe than a lot of the regular comics I was doing. Suddenly I found out I had a lot more women reading the book. I’m not sure why. Maybe because he’s not a superhero, maybe because he’s written a little bit more with some humor and he’s a little bit more of a regular guy, so it’s just kind of funny that he looks like the devil but he talks—kind of, I hope, I think—like a regular guy. And then certainly you’ve got to give a lot of credit to the movie. I got really lucky that a very, very talented director [Guillermo del Toro] happened to be a big fan of the comic.
When the movie came out I saw that some theaters refused to screen it because they didn’t want it showing at the same time as Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ.
I have heard many people talk about going to the theater and there was The Passion of the Christ playing here and over here is the line for Hellboy. I think that’s hilarious. Yeah, I mean, I’ve heard some of those stories but it’s always second-or-third-hand. And I’ve heard that there were places where people didn’t want to sell the comic, and I’ve heard there were people protesting this or that, but I’ve never seen any of that stuff. I’ve always lived in places like northern California or New York or L.A., so it’s not like I’m living in Middle America someplace where that kind of stuff tends to go on.
So you don’t get angry letters from people or anything like that?
No, I’ve gotten the reverse. When the first Hellboy series came out, in the same batch of fan mail I got a letter from somebody from the Church of Satan and I got a letter from a minister, and they both liked it. And I thought, “What am I doing that I’m making both these guys happy?” So yeah, I just think because Hellboy is essentially a good guy, and he fights bad guys, it’s pretty cut and dried, and I think the humor element does make it go down a lot easier, and it’s not really gory and it doesn’t really wallow in Satanism or anything like that. I’ve heard with the movie a lot of people said, “Oh, I didn’t want to see it because it was called ‘Hellboy,’ and I thought it was going to be scary or violent or Satanic.” But then anybody who’s seen the movie goes, “Oh, that was cute.”
I’ve watched a number of interviews with you, and fans always want to know about your input on various film projects, and you sort of have to explain that actually you’ve had very minimal involvement in all those projects. Is that a fair assessment?
Well, I’ve had minimal involvement in some things, but on the Hellboy stuff I was heavily involved—certainly in the design stages—at least on the first film. I actually spent the same amount of time on the second film as I did on the first one, but I think the difference is that on the second film most of my involvement doesn’t show in the film, whereas in the first film there’s quite a bit that I can say, “I did this, I came up with this, I wrote that line of dialogue.” The second film was much more a del Toro picture, so a lot of my influence is still there, but it’s buried under layers of other people’s stuff.
The one I always have to say—it’s always in my bio and a lot of people pick up on it—is with Francis Coppola’s Dracula film. That’s one where I was literally involved in that film for about a day and a half. So that’s where a lot of people—certain interviews and things, or certain articles—have given me credit for a lot of stuff on that picture that I had nothing to do with.
And The Hobbit as well, right?
Yeah, I was on The Hobbit for ten days, but that was the del Toro version of The Hobbit. And to my knowledge, visually nothing of the del Toro version of The Hobbit survived into the Peter Jackson version of The Hobbit.
I was really a fan of Hellboy 2, particularly the Prince Nuada, but is that basically a del Toro character or is he drawn from the comics at all?
No, he’s not drawn from the comic at all, even though there are parallels in the second film, I think, to the last big arc I did on Hellboy. The whole war between the fairies and the regular world, that idea was in this last arc of Hellboy—which actually I’m not even sure del Toro’s ever read. But it’s similar to what was in my mind when we started working on that second picture. When we started on the second picture, the original idea was to go back and pick a story from the comic and adapt it to film. But that first film strayed so far away from its comic book roots that there was really no way to go back to the comic.
So what we had to do was come up with a sequel to the film, as opposed to another comic book adaptation. So with the prince character, that was one of those organic couple of days where del Toro and I banged around a lot of ideas. We came up with the original story together. So I don’t know who came up with the idea of this prince character originally, but certainly once he got fleshed out with the visuals and stuff, that was all del Toro.
It was interesting with that character because he’s the villain, but in a way I sympathized more with him than with Hellboy.
Well yeah, I mean, when I do villains I have to understand the villain. And I’m glad the prince came off that way, because certainly that was the way I imagined him. This idea of a guy who was completely in the right, but he was going to take it too far. And I always went back to the American Indians, and I said it’s basically, “You’ve taken our land, you’re building shopping malls all over our sacred land, and you want us to just go down quietly? No, I’m gonna fight back.” And the idea was, what if Geronimo had access to nuclear weapons? Would he use them? Or was he going to keep fighting out in the desert and getting picked off one guy at a time? So that was the basic idea—his cause is just, it’s just how far he’s gonna take it.
And yeah, I mean, the Hellboy character in that second picture is so far away from my version of Hellboy, because you had the whole love interest thing, which had morphed into this first year marriage squabbling kind of thing, which is totally alien to my character. So the Hellboy character did quite a few things in the second film that my Hellboy wouldn’t do. In fact, there was a moment in one of the meetings where I said, “Hellboy wouldn’t do that,” and del Toro said, “Your Hellboy wouldn’t, mine would.” And that was one of those real moments of, “Oh, that’s right. I’m working on a del Toro movie. I’ve gotten pretty far away from working on a regular Hellboy thing.”
What are some other big ways that the comics differ from what people see on screen?
My Hellboy is much older. Well, I guess they’re both the same age, it’s just my character matured somewhere back in the ‘50s and ‘60s. And del Toro’s Hellboy, even though they both arrived on Earth in the ‘40s, somehow del Toro’s Hellboy is still a lovesick teenager. My Hellboy is modeled on my father in some ways, a guy who’s been in the Korean War and he’s traveled and he’s done a lot of stuff, and he’s kind of got a “been there, done that” attitude. He’s also been in the world. Del Toro’s change was to have Hellboy bottled up in a room and mooning over the girl he can’t have. With my Hellboy, there were no girl problems. That element of the character was completely not in the comic.
But the one thing I’ve been really happy about is that for the most part people who are fans of the comic—despite all those big changes I just mentioned—they’re fans of the movie also. You know, del Toro didn’t think twice about making all those changes to the character for the film. It was only when the film was about to come out that he started saying, “Gee, I wonder if the fans will lynch us.” And I said, “I just hope they don’t lynch me before I can point them in your direction, because that shit wasn’t my idea.” But for the most part it went down just fine with my audience. I’ve actually only had one guy come up to me and say—which is a weird thing for somebody to say—come up to me and say, “I discovered Hellboy from the film, and then I read the comic, but I like the movie better.” I’m sure there are people who feel that way, but I’ve only had one guy come up to me and actually say it.
What are some of the craziest things that happen to Hellboy in the comics? I was reading that he travels to the bottom of the ocean and is interacting with mermaids and stuff like that?
Yeah. I love writing about the real world, but I’m not crazy about drawing the real world. So at some point I did shift Hellboy in a much more fantasy direction. He was an agent for the BPRD (the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense), and he was going all over the world, and that was all fine. Then I had him just quit, and the first thing I did was just chuck him to the bottom of the ocean. And I really thought, “Uh oh, I’ve turned a corner and am going to lose my audience. He’s not fighting Nazis, now he’s fighting mermaids.” But just for me as an artist, I wanted a lot more freedom with my environments. So yeah, that was pretty weird. And then when I stopped drawing the book and was just writing the book, that’s when he got a love interest, because I found an artist who’s much better at drawing women than I am. Then I did this giant storyline where we find out he’s actually a direct descendant of King Arthur, so he’s actually the legitimate King of England. That was weird. So yeah, once you’ve done that, the only thing left to do is kill him off, so I did that.
And then he’s in the afterlife?
Yeah, he’s in hell. So I’m drawing the book because hell is much more fun to draw than New Jersey or someplace else. Nobody’s going to write me a letter and say, “You said he was in this place, but what you drew isn’t really that place and they don’t really have a castle there.” Nobody’s going tell me, “Your hell isn’t quite right.” It’s my hell, my version of hell. I get to draw whatever I want.
As someone who works on the darker side of the comic book spectrum, do you have any recommendations for what you would consider the scariest comics?
For my money, the best comic book series ever done that was really smart and really scary—well, it’s hard to say “scary,” but it had some disturbing stuff in it—was the old Tomb of Dracula, series by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. Gene could ground stuff in the real world, but he could do mood and atmosphere and is one of the very few guys I’ve ever seen who can draw stuff that I actually find really disturbing. Without being really wildly abstract, the guy could just draw scary, disturbing images.
And he did another series for DC called Night Force, which I only dimly remember, but I do remember the image of some kind of ghost thing in there. I won’t say it scared the crap out of me, but I still remember it, and it was really disturbing. Unfortunately, so few people remember that stuff, and it’s not the kind of stuff the comic book audience wants. DC was going to collect it into a book, but they got such bad orders they couldn’t even do a book collection of it. So you’d have to round up the individual comics, which I really should do one day. But yeah, the Tomb of Dracula series has been reprinted a few times, and that is my favorite long-running horror comic.
You’ve said that you prefer Victorian literature to more contemporary stuff. What is it about that type of material that you find more appealing?
Well, a lot of it is the time period. There’s an old-fashionedness to that kind of literature. I mean, I like ghosts, I like more or less traditional vampires. I like monster stories. When you get past the pulp magazine era, I really think H.P. Lovecraft changed horror literature radically, and it kind of put the final stake in the traditional vampire, and suddenly all werewolves and things got kind of quaint, and it became much more abstract, and I like some of that stuff a lot, but I also like a simpler world. You get much past the ‘20s, ‘30s, you know, I just don’t have that much interest in the modern world. I like fog and wagon wheels and guys on horseback.
A contemporary author who it seems like might appeal to you is China Miéville. Have you ever read any of his work?
Yeah, I have read China, and yeah, I like his work a lot. A lot of it is too fantasy for me, but I have read his stuff. I illustrated a fascinating story that he wrote years ago, “Reports of Certain Events in London,” about streets that come and go. People notice that this street wasn’t here and now it is, and an expedition goes down this street—guys tethered on a rope go down this street and vanish. The illustration was some old buildings with this flapping end of a rope. And it’s such an interesting story because—having lived in New York City, having spent time in places like London—you see where a story like that comes from, because you walk down a street and go, “That wasn’t here. I swear this alley wasn’t here six months ago.”
I saw that you were reading the anthology The Weird, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, which is this massive retrospective of weird fiction. What do think of that?
I thought it was great, what little I’ve read. I bought the book, and I love it, and it’s on my shelf, but I had to then buy it on Kindle so I could actually read it, because it’s too damn big! It’s too damn big to sit in my chair and hold it on my lap. There’s another one that’s two volumes, Black Water and Black Water 2, where they’re pulling all these short stories from different cultures. Because I’m fairly well-versed in the Western writers, but you get something like Jeff and Ann’s book and this Black Water series, and you’re pulling Asian stories and Indian stories, all these different things in there, and it just gives such a great perspective on supernatural literature.
I saw that you’ve done some work adapting pulp writers like Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber. What’s it like working with those stories?
I actually wrote a Conan story, and it was a nightmare. I went through my big Robert E. Howard period when I was in high school, and I loved that Conan stuff, and I thought it would be fun to write it, and I actually wrote one based on one of his unfinished story outlines. So it had a beginning, middle, and end, and I thought, “This’ll be great. I’ll just expand it.” But the character has no sense of humor, and he actually does say things like, “By Crom,” which is just so silly to actually write. Yeah, that story was unexpectedly a nightmare to do. I think it turned out OK, but it was rough.
The Leiber stuff fortunately I didn’t have to write, and Leiber’s world was so much fun. I mean, a lot of it was city stuff, and I was living in New York City, so walking around New York—which I think was Leiber’s inspiration for his fantasy world—was exciting. I was in exactly the right place to draw that city. And a lot of the art I based on buildings in New York City. And then the stuff that didn’t take place in the city was just so wonderful and exotic. I’m much better I think—or more comfortable—drawing these kinds of fantasy worlds. I don’t actually read that kind of stuff, but I like that liberty to create a world.
And those books have a lot of humor in them, as opposed to, say, Conan.
Yeah, there’s a lot of humor, and Howard Chaykin wrote the scripts. And Howard I think is very sympathetic to the way Leiber wrote, so when Howard added stuff, it had that same kind of sarcastic humor that the Leiber stuff had. I wish I’d been a couple years further along in my career, I could have done a better job. That was my pre-Hellboy stuff. I can actually still look at those Leiber adaptations and say, “Yeah, you know, I did all right,” but I’m not a big fan of my early work.
What do you think about the way weird fiction writers like Lovecraft have been adapted to comics?
You know, I just haven’t seen it done very well. I think there are certain things about Lovecraft that are so cliché—the big tentacled monster is so cliché. So many of the comics just kind of reduce Lovecraft to the same gag of, “Oh no, the big rubber monster’s gonna show up.” I’m sure I’m missing things—I know Richard Corben has done some stuff that’s really beautiful—but so much of Lovecraft relies on mood, and if guys just focus on the big monster/cosmic universe stuff, they’re only really getting part of Lovecraft. And I just think with the mood and atmosphere of those stories, comics are not the easiest place to do that. I also don’t think it’s been done on film. So yeah, the great Lovecraft adaptation I think is still to be done. But I’m not gonna do it.
It seems like you might be perfect to do it, because Lovecraft often doesn’t describe his monsters—because it’s scarier leaving it up to the imagination—and your work is full of these shadows that keep things so mysterious.
Yeah, and the times in my stuff where I’ve dealt with these Lovecraftian-type things, certainly the fact that I can’t draw a whole figure without throwing half of it into shadow, that does help. Certainly there’s a Lovecraft influence in my stuff. But rather than do an adaptation, I’d just as soon do my own stuff and then steer people back—when they say, “Where’d you get that idea?” you go, “Oh, go read H.P. Lovecraft.” There are times where I’ve really wanted to adapt certain things, and certainly it’s nice to be able to adapt somebody who’s a really good writer, because then you’ve got all these words and you don’t have to embarrass yourself writing your own words, but at this point I’ve kind of got my hands full doing my own stuff. And the beauty of adapting the folk tales and fairy tale stuff that I’m using a lot in Hellboy is I’ve got traditional, old stories that I can pick and choose elements of, but I can also play really fast and loose, which I just wouldn’t be terribly comfortable with [if I was]adapting a piece of literature.
You also worked on a Lovecraft/Batman crossover called The Doom that Came to Gotham. What was it like doing that?
That was a weird one. It was a strange project and my memory of it is kind of blurry, but I do remember that an artist/writer came to me and he was going to do this project, and I think he wanted me to co-write it with him. And I think he started drawing the book and I’m not really sure what happened, but at some point he was no longer on this project and I inherited the project, which had been his idea. So that’s the closest I’ve come to doing Lovecraft, where I actually used The Necronomicon and names from Lovecraft and stuff like that. I always forget about this project because DC didn’t keep it in print.
Do you think that Lovecraft plus Batman is a weird combination, or is there some natural synchronicity there?
I mean, I don’t know anything about Batman and really couldn’t care less about Batman, so putting Batman in a world where there are monsters makes Batman a lot more appealing to me. I know a lot more about Lovecraft than I know about Batman, so I’m sure that Batman book had a lot more to do with Lovecraft than it had to do with Batman. I actually co-wrote one issue of Batman, before I did Hellboy. I came up with the plot, but a friend of mine came in and wrote the script, because I just didn’t know anything about Batman. And I made it just a traditional ghost/vampire kind of story, and actually that story led to me doing Hellboy, because I loved making up this story, I loved what I had done with it, and I just thought, you know, did I want to make up more stories like that and shoehorn in characters I don’t care about or understand—like Batman or Wolverine or whoever the hell it is—or if I know the kind of stories I want to do, why don’t I just make up my own guy? So that’s how Hellboy came about.
That’s funny if you don’t feel any affinity for Batman, because I thought that was the only superhero they would let you draw, with your style.
I actually drew a lot of superheroes. I think it’s just that Batman was the only superhero that the audience liked me drawing. Batman’s easy. I mean, for me, for a guy who’s all about shadows—Batman is one of those characters who looks better the less you see of him. So if Hellboy didn’t work out, that was always going to be my fallback position. At the time I knew a lot of people at DC Comics, and I figured I could get other gigs doing Batman, but for the most part Batman lacks a supernatural element. I really wanted to do ghosts and monsters and things like that, and Batman comes close with some of those characters, but yeah, I’m kind of lucky I got away with this one Batman ghost story I got to do.
Speaking of Lovecraft, I saw that Guillermo del Toro was working on a film adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness. Were you following that project at all?
Yeah. I was never involved in that, but I did read the script at one point, and I know that as long as I’ve known him that’s been one of his dream projects. And actually, the couple of days I spent with him when we were trying to come up with the story for Hellboy 2, that same couple of days he was working on Mountains of Madness, so I think fifty percent of our Hellboy 2 conversation was him and his other writing partner working on Mountains of Madness. He was kind of running into one room to work on Mountains of Madness, and then running into the other room to come in and work on Hellboy.
Did you get any sense of what kind of movie it would have been?
I mean, obviously it’s been a rough picture to get made. He wanted to be very traditional, and he wanted to set it in the proper time period, which is going to scare studios, and of all Lovecraft’s stuff it’s the least human. It’s really about guys exploring and discovering this gigantic Lovecraftian universe and then running away from it. So I’m sure he would have done a great job, but I can see studios saying, “Who’s going to go see this?” Especially if you’re going to want $150 million or $200 million or whatever it was going to be to make it. That’s a big number for a movie about Arctic explorers and giant jellyfish.
You mentioned that you don’t think Lovecraft movies have been particularly successful. Are there any that you think are kind of flawed but they’re worth checking out?
There’s one called Dagon, which even though it’s called “Dagon” is actually an adaptation of “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” where it’s a lot of guys running around in a spooky town, and what really works for that one is that the town itself is spooky. It’s got mood, it’s got tension, it’s got a lot of shadowy figures with kind of flipper arms that you don’t see too clearly. Unfortunately, I think where that movie falls apart is when you get a really good look at the monsters. Then it kind of becomes a big rubber octopus. But the stuff where you were getting these sort of mutant half-Lovecraftian guys skittering around through this godawful Spanish town in the rain, for atmosphere and everything I thought that worked really well.
I kind of wonder why they would change the name of the movie to Dagon when “Shadow Over Innsmouth” is actually an awesome title.
The more I see of the movie business, the less I understand about it. I have no idea what goes on with that stuff.
So the movie business is kind of like The Necronomicon—if you stare at it too long you just go insane?
Yeah, I guess. On the first Hellboy movie, with all the meetings where you’re trying to get it made, del Toro said, “I’m never going to have you in any of those meetings because you literally wouldn’t survive them.” Then when Chris and I were involved with trying to sell the Baltimore novel as a movie, that’s when I was in some of those meetings. And del Toro’s right, you know? It’s hard to be in the room and listen to some of these suggestions. And maybe this is lazy on my part, but I’ve got other things I could be doing. So for the most part, when we sell a book as a movie I kind of go, “Well, now it’s theirs and I hope they don’t do too horrible of a job with it, but they paid me so I’m going to take my money and go home and work on my comic, and if the director wants my involvement, that’s great.” But you can’t lose sight of the fact that at the end of the day, they’re going to do what they’re going to do.
On the first Hellboy movie, there were a lot of things that del Toro wanted to do that I talked him out of, whereas on the second Hellboy film, there were a lot of things I tried to talk him out of and I couldn’t. He knew what he wanted to make and I just kind of had to suck it up and say, “Well, okay, it’s your movie. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
Are there any other new or upcoming projects you’d like to mention?
I’m doing the Hellboy in Hell stuff, which is taking way longer than I thought. And since Hellboy in Hell isn’t a miniseries—it’s an ongoing series—I don’t even foresee other stuff. I want to find more time to just draw pictures, but the only comic book work I have planned is the Hellboy in Hell stuff.
Are you planning on doing any more collaborations with Chris Golden?
I shouldn’t say no, but we don’t have anything else in the works. We haven’t talked about anything, and I have a love-hate thing with book illustration, as I mentioned before. As a reader I’m not a big fan of illustrated books, and I think I’ve done that kind of thing as well as I know how to do. I’m kind of going through a phase where I’m looking at what I’ve done and saying, “Yeah, that was nice, but really I’m a comic book artist and there’s a lot of stuff I want to do in comics,” so I’m looking to do as few things as possible that take me away from comics.
Going through that whole movie period—suddenly you’re working on movies, you’re working on animated shows, you’re illustrating books. I spent about six, seven years there where I wasn’t drawing comics, and you do kind of go, “Yeah, I’d like to do a children’s book, and I’d like to do this, and I’d like to do that.” And there’s so many different things you can do you’ve got the connections or people you know who are at various publishers and stuff. There’s this world of possibilities, and for me anyway I kind of had to reign it in and say, “Yeah, but what do you really want to do?” I made up a comic where I could draw whatever I want with no editorial interference or parameters, and I’ve got a publisher that will let me do whatever I want, so why don’t I just go do that and create a body of work? I’ve got so much of my own stuff I want to do, I’d just kind of like to do that.
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The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction/fantasy talk show podcast. It is produced by John Joseph Adams and hosted by: David Barr Kirtley, who is the author of thirty short stories, which have appeared in magazines such as Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, and Lightspeed, in books such as Armored, The Living Dead, Other Worlds Than These, and Fantasy: The Best of the Year, and on podcasts such as Escape Pod and Pseudopod. He lives in New York.
Jan. 2020 (Issue 88)
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Party Wall Surveyors Sutton London
The party wall surveyors Act enables a building owner to undertake work within the scope of the Act and unless an adjoining owner consents to the works, the act sets out a procedure whereby the matter is referred to surveyors for determination by Award. The Party Wall Act 1996 is intended to provide a framework for preventing and resolving disputes in relation to party walls, boundary walls and excavations near neighbouring buildings.
The Act provides a fair solution to the problems that are frequently encountered when building on or adjacent boundaries or in confined areas. The Act also covers “party structures” which include walls, floors or other partitions between parts of a building in separate ownership.
Does the Act affect the ownership of a Party Wall? No, but in many cases the Act will prevent disputes arising in the first place.
The Party Wall Act provides a building owner, who wishes to carry out various sorts of work to an existing party wall, with additional rights going beyond ordinary common law rights. The Act also provides that a building owner must not cause unnecessary inconvenience. Although the Act contains no enforcement procedures, starting work without serving a notice could mean your neighbour could seek a court injunction or other legal redress. An adjoining owner cannot stop someone from exercising their rights given to them by the Act, but may be able to influence how and at what times work is undertaken. Adjoining owners should note that the primary purpose of the Act is to facilitate development.
Under the Act, notice must be served and if agreement cannot be reached, surveyors may be appointed.
If agreement cannot be reached between neighbouring parties, the process is as follows: A Surveyor or Surveyors is/are appointed to determine a fair and impartial Award, either: An ‘Agreed Surveyor’ (someone acceptable to all parties), or two surveyors representing both property owners. The two surveyors will nominate a third surveyor who would be called in only if the two surveyors cannot agree. In all cases, surveyors appointed under the dispute resolution procedure of the Act to draw up an award must behave impartially and consider the interests of both neighbours.
The surveyor (or surveyors) will prepare an “award” (also known as a “party wall award”). This is a document which: sets out the work that will be carried out, says when and how the work is to be carried out (for example, not at weekends if the buildings are domestic properties), records the condition of next door before the work begins (so that any damage can be properly attributed and made good), allows access for the surveyors to inspect the works while they are going on (to see that they are in accordance with the award). The surveyor (or surveyors) will decide who pays the fees for drawing up the award and for checking that the work has been carried out in accordance with the award.
The owner undertaking the construction is made legally responsible for putting right any damage caused by carrying out the works, even if the damage is caused by his contractor. Although minor works on a party wall are usually considered to be too trivial to come under the remit of the Act, the key point to be considered is whether any planned work will have consequences for the structural strength and support functions of the party wall.
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Board index Regional Washington
Wayne Christiansen (Rainier) retiring, moving to Arizona
A forum to discuss pole vaulting or anything else relating to the state of Washington
Moderator: Robert schmitt
Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Sat Jun 15, 2013 6:23 pm
http://www.yelmonline.com/sports/local_ ... f887a.html
Rainier track and field coach resigns after 20 years
Posted: Friday, June 14, 2013 2:27 pm | Updated: 6:46 pm, Fri Jun 14, 2013.
By Tyler Huey Assistant Editor | 0 comments
Sometimes all good things must come to an end for what’s best to occur.
After three decades of coaching and teaching throughout the Nisqually Valley — the past 20 in Rainier — Wayne Christensen is retiring. Sort of.
With 30 years under his belt, Christensen and his wife, Renee, are moving to San Tan Valley, Ariz., where he will be an assistant track and football coach at Poston Butte High School. Christensen has taught physical education at many elementary schools in town, but is leaving that type of teaching career behind.
Christensen, who graduated from Yelm High School in 1977, returned to his hometown after college when Dr. Glen Nutter, former Yelm schools superintendent, offered him a job. He initially worked two years at Rogers High School in Spokane, then coached one year at Tumwater High while teaching P.E. in Yelm. From there, Christensen coached track for the next nine years at Yelm and spent the past two decades in Rainier.
In 1983, before coming to Rainier, Christensen developed a unicycle program in Yelm. He took many students to perform in events, Renee said, such as fairs and for the former Seattle SuperSonics.
Christensen said they are moving to Arizona because he can retire after teaching for so long, and his wife has rheumatoid arthritis — warm weather helps with that disease. However, constant rays of sunshine will not burn out the lasting memories.
“Just the kids, they’re special,” Christensen said of what he’ll remember most about coaching at Rainier. “For me, I like to see kids improve and get better. I just remember the times when I was in high school and my coach helped me get better, and I appreciated that.
“Hopefully what the kids get out of it is that I gave them something back and got them better.”
He coached RHS football from 1990-98 and was the head coach starting in ’93. As an assistant defensive coordinator in the 1990-91 season, they went to the state tournament. Also, two years before that, he won Teacher of the Year in ’88, Renee said.
In 20 years at Rainier, the kids broke 96 school track records, had more than 30 state champions and numerous team awards, Christensen said. During that time, he mainly taught pole vault and javelin; however, being a 10-event decathlete in college, he was knowledgeable about everything.
“He was planning on retiring but I think he will enjoy (coaching in Arizona),” said Renee, a 1983 Rainier graduate. “His statistics are really impressive. I grew up in Rainier and Rainier never had a real track team until Wayne came along and built that program.
“That team went from having 10 or 15 kids on it to 60.”
Rob Henry joined Christensen at Rainier as a teacher and track coach in 1997. Henry believes his departure is a big loss regarding knowledge.
“He’s able to cover every area out there,” Henry said. “If you have an idea, you need an idea or a better way to teach it, he’d definitely be the go-to guy.”
Christensen said Henry and other coaches throughout that time helped lead him to such a successful career. But, in the end, while Christensen provided a lot of insight to each athlete, they also taught him something. For instance, because everyone has a different thought process, one has to find various ways to get a point across.
“You can explain to somebody how to tie shoes one way and another kid doesn’t get it,” he said, “so you might have to find … another way to do it and still get the same result. … It’s just knowing how to adapt to each kid’s personal learning style.”
For the second straight year, senior Nicole Talcott placed second in pole vault at the 1A state tournament. Christensen said that was his most memorable moment from his final year.
While practicing for state, the now valedictorian called him her “security blanket.”
“He is an amazing coach,” Talcott said last month. “My attention span is so tiny and whatever I chose to pursue — whether it was high jump, javelin, a field event or pole vault — he was always there to help me out. Just today when Henry and (coach Josh) Frunz are doing God knows what, he’s right here with me.”
Talcott is a prime example of the relationship Christensen had with his tracksters. Not only did he teach them techniques to succeed, he made jokes and had fun. Talcott said she and friend Kayla Turcott even made shirts that said, “I jump for the stache” and “I vault for the stache” — a light-hearted reference to his hairy upper lip.
“I don’t think I’ll ever have another coach like him,” Talcott said. “He’s more than just a coach. He’s someone I can talk to, and if I get frustrated he knows how to handle it with me. He knows what to say to help me focus and what’s going to motivate me.
“How close we’ve gotten over these four years, I wouldn’t want any other coach. … I didn’t choose the stache life, the stache life chose me.”
Being fun-loving is also one of the many things Henry will miss.
“Basically it’s just been a great 15 years,” Henry said. “I’ve really enjoyed — and it’s been a privilege working with him.”
Dido.
Christensen said he gets stern as a coach, but fooling around from time to time is a great stress reliever. While it’s necessary to be focused and train hard, letting one’s guard down is always welcoming.
Moving on is bittersweet, but relaxing and having fun in sunny Arizona won’t be hard to do.
“Trying to push the kids to get better, on that realm I’m pretty focused as a coach, but in the long run when it comes down to when they do better and improve, you just kind of cry inside,” he said.
“But it’s tears of joy. I kind of wear my emotions on my sleeve.”
Return to “Washington”
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Doctor's "best friend" plotted acid attack in west Delhi
The barbaric acid attack on a 30-year-old woman doctor in west Delhi was the handiwork of her "best friend" and doctor colleague, Ashok Yadav, who hired two minor boys for the job because the victim did not reciprocate his love, police said on Thursday.
Yadav, along with an aide, has been arrested. The two minors who had thrown acid on the doctor's face as she was riding to work on Tuesday morning — an act caught on CCTV — have also been detained.
The victim continues to be in hospital and doctors say there's little chance of sight being restored in her right eye.
Police said the two were friends since medical school days. While Yadav did his MBBS from Russia, she studied in neighbouring Belarus. The victim considered him her "best friend" while the accused told police that he was in love with her and was incensed over her scheduled meeting with a prospective groom on Wednesday, a day after the attack.
Ironically, Yadav was the first person she called for he…
Ward boy molests KEM doctor in hospital lift
The Bhoiwada police on Thursday arrested a ward boy for molesting a 22-year-old female resident medical officer (RMO) of the KEM hospital after stopping the lift between 2nd and 3rd floor. The incident occurred around 12.30am in the hospital building when the victim on night duty took the lift to go to a medical neurology department on the third floor.
Accused Popat Bhoware (35) also tried to grab her mouth when she screamed in the lift. Bhoware is suspended from job and the hospital sexual harassment team is probing the matter.
The accused was caught by few patients' relatives, who stayed back at night on the second floor of the hospital building, when he jumped out of the lift on reaching third floor and tried to escape through the stairway.
Bhoiwada police senior inspector Sunil Tondwalkar confirmed the incident. Bhoware has been booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections for 341 (wrongful restraint) and 354 (outraging modesty).
KEM Hospital authorities were prompt t…
India slashes health budget, already one of the world's lowest
The government has ordered a cut of nearly 20 percent in its 2014/15 healthcare budget due to fiscal strains, putting at risk key disease control initiatives in a country whose public spending on health is already among the lowest in the world. Two health ministry officials told PG Times on Tuesday that more than 60 billion rupees, or $948 million, has been slashed from their budget allocation of around $5 billion for the financial year ending on March 31. Despite rapid economic growth over the past two decades, successive governments have kept a tight rein on healthcare expenditure. India spends about 1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on public health, compared to 3 percent in China and 8.3 percent in the United States. But hopes were high that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was elected in May, would upgrade basic health infrastructure and make medical services more affordable for the poor. The United Nations estimates about one third of the world's 1.2 billion po…
Acid Attack on Woman Doctor in Delhi Market
Two men on a motorcycle threw acid on a woman doctor today in West Delhi's Rajouri Garden. The attack has been caught on CCTV cameras installed in the market.
The woman in her statement to the police said that she did not know the men or suspect anyone. In fact she also said she is surprised that anyone would want to attack her. The police are analysing the footage to identify the accused.
Half of the woman's face is burnt, and she is being treated at the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
According to the police, the woman was on her way to the hospital where she works when the bike-borne men overtook her scooter near the market in Rajouri Garden, threw acid on her and fled. The woman lives in Hari Nagar in West Delhi.
The woman shouted for help, but no one in the busy market place came to her rescue, according to the police who were later informed about the incident by a local resident.
Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejri…
No freebies for docs from Jan 1
Doling out freebies, cruise tickets, paid vacations and sponsorships to educational conferences and seminars for doctors by pharmaceutical companies has been banned from January.
The government has woken up belatedly to curb unethical marketing practices of pharma companies by spelling out a uniform code of conduct for the industry. The code will be voluntary to start with, and kicks in from January 1. It will be reviewed after six months; if not implemented "effectively", the government will "consider"' making it mandatory, sources told TOI.
At present, the pharma industry follows a "self-regulatory'' code that curbs unethical sales promotion and marketing expenses, bans personal gifts, and all-expenses paid junkets for doctors and their families, but there have been several instances where companies have violated the code, industry experts say. They say the code exists only on paper as companies try to influence prescriptions through several ways…
MGUMST Jaipur PG 2015 Notification
Exam on 18.01.2015 at Jaipur.
I thought he was a friend, but he raped me: Delhi medical student
I knew my rapist; we had met through my friends in the medical college where I was doing my MBBS. I used to think of him as an acquaintance and had helped him in his studies.
The day he raped me, it was I who invited him over to my paying-guest accommodation in South Delhi; he had been insisting that I prepare Bengali food for him. The thing is, I’m from a small town in Bihar. My father is a heart patient and I have a younger sister at a marriageable age. I thought, if I spoke out, my family and my sister’s prospects would be ruined. I told two of my close friends. “Nobody will trust you, this will be a black mark on you,” they all said. Then they told me if he wanted to marry me it would all be all right. I got confused. I thought if I just carried on with my studies and married him, it would all correct itself. For a year and a half, he kept stalling but I was so afraid that I let the relationship continue. He would come over using some excuse and rape me. He even raped me when I w…
17 new medical colleges added in the country in 2014-15
According to Shripad Yesso Naik, minister of state for health and family welfare, a total of 2373 undergraduate medical (MBBS) seats and 1184 postgraduate medical seats have been added in the country in 2014-15 as compared to the previous academic year. The number of medical colleges in the same period increased by 17 to 404 in the current academic year from 387 in the year 2013-14.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Naik said, “As per the provisions of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and regulations framed thereunder, there is provision of annual inspections of all medical colleges with regard to the availability of the infrastructure required for conduct of various medical courses. In case of deficiencies in infrastructure found by the MCI and upon failure of the concerned institution to comply with the deficiencies within the specific period, the MCI makes recommendation to the government against renewal of seats/batch/course resulting in decrease in number of seats…
Over 2,000 PHCs functioning without doctor
As per Rural Health Statistics (RHS) Bulletin 2014, a total of 2225 (8.89%) Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the country are functioning without doctor, 9825 (39.26%) PHCs without lab technician and 5739 (22.94%) PHCs without a pharmacist, Shripad Yesso Naik, minister of state for health and family welfare, informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
The minister further said that there is a shortfall of 36,346 Sub Health Centres (SHCs), 6700 Primary Health Centres (PHCs), and 2350 Community Health Centres (CHCs) in the country against the specified population norm.
Public health being a state subject, the primary responsibility to provide improved access to healthcare services is that of the state governments. However, under the National Health Mission (NHM) financial support is provided to state and union territories governments to strengthen their healthcare systems to provide better and easy access to healthcare services, Naik added.
Save doctors from becoming extinct
Armed Forces PG Notification 2015
Rajasthan govt to introduce incredible shortcut to specialization!
To deal with the acute shortage of specialist doctors in government hospitals, the state government has set the stage for the introduction of a year-long certificate course to upgrade MBBS doctors in various specialties. The decision recently announced by Health Minister Rajendra Rathore will churn out “specialist” doctors in different specialties including gynaecology and obstetrics, paediatrics, anaesthesia, orthopaedics, radiology, emergency medicine, and general surgery. The short cut formula is touted as an attempt to fill around 1,576 specialist positions long vacant in the state. The new course is expected to be introduced from December 10 in all six government-run medical colleges located at Jaipur, Kota, Ajmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Udaipur. However, the candidates willing to enrol in this course must have an experience of five years in government service and would be required to furnish a non-refundable bond of Rs 5 lakh. Doctors who have less than 10 years of service left will …
Govt yet to notify 1-year compulsory rural posting for PG medical aspirants
The government is yet to notify the MCI proposal to make one year rural posting at a public health centre (PHC) mandatory for a MBBS student to apply for admission in a postgraduate course, according to Health Minister J P Nadda. The proposal of Medical Council of India (MCI) to amend the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations, which makes one year rural posting at a Public Health Centre (PHC) mandatorily for a MBBS student to apply for admission in a PG course, is not yet notified, the minister said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Friday. In order to encourage the doctors working in remote and difficult areas, the MCI with the previous approval of the central government has amended the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000. The amendment provides 50 per cent reservation in postgraduate diploma courses for medical officers in the government service, who have served for at least three years in remote and difficult areas. It also provides incentive at the rate of 10 …
Apollo Hospitals Group to build a medical college near Kolkata
Spreading its base in the area of healthcare and medical education, Apollo Hospitals Group is building a 1000 bedded hospital and Rs 400 crore medical college in Batanagar’s Hiland Riverside near Kolkata.
The medical college is expected to be fully functional by 2020, while the first phase of infrastructure to provide education for 100 medical students with 500 beds could be finished by 2017. The 14-acre land on which Apollo Institute of Medical Sciences and Research is being constructed, is being given free of cost by the state government since the project involves providing education too. Sharing Apollo’s medical education plans, Rupali Basu, CEO, Apollo Hospitals Group (eastern region) told PG Times, “The college would offer both medical and paramedical courses. We will have a regular MBBS course and 18 other courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate level besides a facility to carry research on various branches of medicine. By 2020, it would be able to offer superspecialty cours…
Is the PMO promoting a 'killer vaccine'?
To draw the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards the spate of children’s deaths occurring after administration of Pentavalent vaccination, a group of eminent doctors and academicians have shot a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) requesting immediate intervention and total withdrawal of the vaccine in India.
While presenting a grim picture about the sad state of affair related to the safety of pentavalent vaccination the letter states, “That babies die repeatedly as reaction from a vaccine is unacceptable. Already as per RTI reply there have been 76 deaths in India till August 2014 from Pentavalent adverse events following immunization (AEFI).”
The letter further says “… since PMO has itself been involved in pronouncements of vaccine initiatives in the past few months. It is our responsibility to place these scientific facts before the PMO so that it is aware of the facts and so that urgent and appropriate action may be initiated by you.”
Dr Jacob Puliyel, head of p…
West Bengal PGMEE Eligibility Criteria Changed
Only those who are domiciled in WB are allowed to appear in WBPGMAT 2015.All India quota students from other states who studied MBBS in medical colleges of WB will not be allowed to appear in WBPGMAT 2015.Candidates who studied MBBS from other states but domiciled in WB will be allowed to appear in WBPGMAT 2015.
Bhopal gas disaster: Leak that gassed a generation
Can a state government neglect repeated Supreme Court orders for over 13 years? Can a central government petition gather dust in SC, unheard even once for nearly four years? Such bizarre episodes are just the most recent ones in the never-ending saga of Bhopal gas disaster victims and their search for justice.
After 17 years, on July 25, 2001, SC ordered that I-cards be issued to gas victims, and permanent cards given to those who need lifelong medical aid. It ordered that medical records be computerized and booklets containing medical history be given to victims.This'd ensure proper treatment to all victims. The court repeated the order on May 2, 2006, July 17, 2007, November 15, 2007 and August 9, 2012.
A court-appointed monitoring committee made the same recommendations on June 10, 2005, Oct 31, 2005, July 12, 2006, Dec 20, 2006, Aug 7, 2007 and May 27, 2008. An advisory committee said the same.
This should be sufficient pressure on the MP government to fulfill a basic respons…
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Home Rule Podcast
Ward Elections FAQ
Contact Your Councilmember
Jon Geeting
To Grow the Housing Trust Fund, Scale Up Council’s 2018 Affordable Housing Package
City Council is out with a new anti-poverty plan timed to the primary elections that you can think of as a sort of campaign platform for incumbents. There are several good ideas in there, but also some misguided ideas, particularly in the affordable housing plank, which unfortunately just reinforce an unhelpful narrative about housing that we were just starting to get away from with Council's much better affordable housing package that passed last Fall.
There's a better cost-free way to raise more Housing Trust Fund money than the "linkage fees" they propose, and one that's a win-win for everybody. And the boring reality is that it just involves scaling up the Mixed-Income Housing program that Council already passed using strategic rezonings to make thate program available in more neighborhoods.
Earlier this Fall, Council and Mayor Kenney were trying to come to an agreement on raising between $70 million and $100 million over five years for the Housing Trust Fund. Council President Darrell Clarke and several members of Council wanted to pass a new construction tax to raise most of the money, but in the end, a deal was struck to commit more general fund money to the Housing Trust Fund from the proceeds of expiring 10-year tax abatements.
They also passed Councilmember Maria Quinones-Sanchez's Mixed-Income Housing bill, which successfully revamped the zoning density bonus for below-market rate units to be more useable, and provided a promising new framework for the future of housing politics. Since that passed, there have already been three sizable projects that used the bonus.
That combined housing package would put $53 million of general fund revenue into the Housing Trust Fund over five years, and then the Mixed-Income Housing program—which allows builders to access to additional height and units for either including below-market units on-site, or paying an in-lieu fee into the Housing Trust Fund—was expected to generate another $18 million.
Jake Blumgart reports that in the Mayor's new budget draft, Mayor Kenney has actually proposed putting $80.4 million of general fund revenue into the Housing Trust Fund over 5 years, instead of the agreed-upon $53 million, because revenue from expiring abatements came in higher than expected. That, combined with the $18 million from expected Mixed-Income Housing bonus money, gets pretty close to the $100 million amount that Council President Clarke said he wanted to raise.
"In September, the Kenney administration defeated a construction tax proposed by City Council President Darrell Clarke by offering $53 million from the general fund to support affordable housing. The administration pegged the amount they would provide for housing to the amount of new revenue generated by properties that were coming off the 10-year property tax abatement, a controversial tax break that the city uses to spur new development.
But the administration is now saying that the amount the city is receiving from properties coming off the abatement is higher than previously estimated, and so, instead they will be devoting $80.4 million over five years to affordable housing. (Council President Clarke has vowed to get them to round it up to an even $100 million.)"
But because we're so far off from having the volume of below-market-rate housing units available that Philadelphia needs to serve the tens of thousands of people on the waiting list, there will probably never come a day when elected officials or housing advocates are going to be satisfied with what we're spending on the Housing Trust Fund. So assuming that the $100 million target won't suffice, where should any additional money come from, and who should pay?
The answers to those questions are nowhere, and no one. The best way to create more Housing Trust Fund revenue continues to be to print it out of thin air by making the new Mixed-Income Housing bonus widely useable in all neighborhoods, especially already-gentrifying neighborhoods, and ones in the path of growth.
Density bonuses are the best way to create new money for housing because they don't cost anything to taxpayers or builders—instead, they create brand new development rights from nothing, and capture some of the value from this to direct toward below-market rate housing. It's a win-win. There's no risk of any negative impact on new housing creation, as would be the case with a construction tax, and if it turns out to be really popular, it could raise a ton of money. A thematically similar pay-for-density program in Chicago called the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund is on track to raise over $200 million just three years after its creation.
Unfortunately, some on Council are still committed to a dead-end, zero-sum politics around this issue rather than embracing the politics of abundance. That's the biggest problem with the so-called 'linkage fee' in the new plan, which is really just the construction tax proposal all over again, and which we don't even know would raise very much money. The misguided premise is that new market-rate housing actually causes an increased need for affordable housing by depleting the supply of more affordable housing. Here's how they describe it:
Linkage fees, also known as development impact fees, attempt to compensate for the negative impact of development on housing prices by charging a fee for certain types of development that is used to build more affordable housing. Developers that engage in activities that are “linked” with the depletion of affordable housing such as construction of housing above a certain price point or the conversion of residential square footage into offices must pay to offset the deleterious effects of this activity. Funds from this fee go to replenish the city’s affordable housing supply. To implement a linkage fee, cities must first conduct a nexus study,3 which establishes a linkage between an economic activity and increased demand for and/or decreased supply of affordable housing. If a link is established, the city sets a proportionate per-square-foot fee on new developments through a change to the tax code.
The reality in most neighborhoods is that new homes are being built on empty lots or formerly industrial land, and are adding to the total supply of housing, rather than replacing older lower-cost homes. And in cases where older homes are replaced, they're often replaced with a net increase in the number of units, providing more total places to live. It's rarely zero-sum.
And while it's true that higher-priced new homes may initially raise the average value of nearby homes in a neighborhood through comps, the same is true of flips, so it's entirely possible for average housing prices to climb without a single new building being constructed in the neighborhood. And the flipside of all this is that this type of activity increases home equity for nearby properties, which probably nobody on Council would publicly claim to think is a bad thing. But they aren't proposing a special new tax to capture those capital gains for older homes; they're narrow-casting it to hit only new construction—even though a $350,000 new home and a $350,000 flipped two-story rowhouse both contribute the same upward pressure to comps.
Plus, after neighborhoods see the first bump in land prices from any initial amenities associated with gentrification, the real danger to maintaining affordability isn't building too much new housing, it's building too little. In neighborhoods that are in later stages of gentrification, like Society Hill or Logan Square, or even Northern Liberties or Passyunk Square at this point, each additional new unit of housing created is going to put downward pressure on home prices, not upward pressure, turning the logic of an "impact fee" on its head.
The housing politics we need would stop dwelling on the supposedly negative impacts of housing, and begin to look at the whole picture: that the "impact" of infill housing is a net benefit for neighborhoods and for the city as a whole. The benefit of infill housing is that it contributes places for people to live, greater residential density to support commercial corridor businesses and public transit, and greater environmental sustainability, by allowing more people to live in walkable neighborhoods where their carbon footprint is much lower than it would be in a suburban location. And while there are certainly some drawbacks too, they can mostly be fixed through policies that redistribute some of the gains from growth.
Council's Mixed-Income Housing bonus program was a great first step toward embracing that kind of politics, where rather than creating a zero-sum conflict where one needn't exist, they created a system where new development rights could be created from nothing, and sold to builders for the benefit of affordable housing. It's the closest thing to a money printer that we own at the local level, and there are similarly boundless opportunities with air rights for historic preservation.
With less than a quarter of the land within city limits zoned to be able to take advantage of the Mixed-Income Housing bonus (and with some key gentrifying areas like Passyunk Square and Fishtown inappropriately left out completely) Council right now has the dial on their money printer turned down to 1, but they could crank it up to 11 if they wanted to, and legalize their best affordable housing idea everywhere in the city through strategic rezonings and code text changes. On the more radical end of the spectrum, they could make RM-1 (for rowhouse-sized apartment buildings) the lowest-density zoning category in all neighborhoods so that the Mixed-Income Housing program can be used literally everywhere.
(Shaded areas are where the Mixed-Income Housing program can be used | Map: Aaron Bauman)
Council has already done the hard work to create an affordable housing funding machine that can scale, and create much more new money and affordable units at no additional cost to taxpayers or home builders. The key question before them now is: how much free money do they want to have?
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Formation of coal almost turned our planet into a snowball
Posted on October 10, 2017 Author Pierre JorisCategories Ecology68
Press release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
While burning coal today causes Earth to overheat, about 300 million years ago the formation of that same coal brought our planet close to global glaciation. For the first time, scientists show the massive effect in a study published in the renowned Proceedings of the US Academy of Sciences. When trees in vast forests died during a time called the Carboniferous and the Permian, the carbon dioxide (CO2) they took up from the atmosphere while growing got buried; the plants’ debris over time formed most of the coal that today is used as fossil fuel. Consequently, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere sank drastically and Earth cooled down to a degree it narrowly escaped what scientists call a ‘snowball state’.
“It is quite an irony that forming the coal that today is a major factor for dangerous global warming once almost lead to global glaciation,” says author Georg Feulner from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “However, this illustrates the enormous dimension of the coal issue. The amount of CO2 stored in Earth’s coal reserves was once big enough to push our climate out of balance. When released by burning the coal, the CO2 is again destabilizing the Earth system.”
The study examines the sensitivity of the climate in a specific period of Earth’s deep past by using a large ensemble of computer simulations. While some of the changes in temperature at that time can clearly be attributed to how our planet’s axis was tilted and the way it circled the sun, the study reveals the substantial influence of CO2concentrations. Estimates based on ancient soils and fossil leaves show that they fluctuated widely and at some point sank to about 100 parts CO2 per million parts of all gases in the atmosphere, and possibly even lower. The model simulations now reveal that global glaciation occurs below 40 parts per million.
Burning that same coal dangerously raises greenhouse gas concentration in our atmosphere
Today, CO2 levels in the atmosphere have reached more than 400 parts per million. Carbon dioxide acts as a greenhouse gas: the Sun warms Earth’s surface, but most of the heat radiated by the surface escapes into space; CO2 and other greenhouse gases hinder part of this heat from escaping, hence warming the planet.
“We should definitely keep CO2 levels in the atmosphere below 450 parts per million to keep our climate stable, and ideally much lower than that. Raising the amount of greenhouse gases beyond that limit means pushing ourselves out of the safe operating space of Earth,” says Feulner. “Earth’s past teaches us that periods of rapid warming were often associated with mass extinction events. This shows that a stable climate is something to appreciate and protect.”
Article: Feulner, G. (2017): Formation of most of our coal brought Earth close to global glaciation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) [doi:10.1073/pnas.1712062114]
Weblink to the article: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/10/03/1712062114
PIK press office
E-Mail: press@pik-potsdam.de
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Mohammed Bennis reading at PoetsHouse
Counting the true costs of climate change
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Naomi Nattrass Moses
Pronouns: they/them
— Naomi is a lawyer at JFK Law in Vancouver. Naomi is privileged and humbled to practice law on behalf of Aboriginal people, and to work towards Indigenous sovereignty and decolonization. Naomi has also practiced class action litigation, criminal law, and constitutional law, and works to meet the legal needs of LGBTQ+ people.
Naomi has worked with Pivot since 2014 as a summer law student, a volunteer, and pro bono counsel. They are now deeply honoured to serve as the Vice Chair of Pivot's Board of Directors. The work Pivot does is squarely aligned with Naomi's desire to practice law in solidarity with people who are harmed by the colonial legal system and lack access to its protections. They are also a board member at West Coast LEAF.
Naomi enjoys cycling, meditation, music, film, travel, bird-watching, and reading the New Yorker.
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Home About Kazakhstan
General information about the Republic of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is situated in Central Asia, deep in the Eurasian continent.
Its territory is as large as 2,724,900 sq km (i.e. 1,049,150 sq miles). In terms of the area it is the second largest among the CIS states. It occupies the ninth place in the world according to its square after Russia, China, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India and Australia. In fact the territory of Kazakhstan exceeds that occupied by twelve countries of the European Union.
Kazakhstan borders upon the following states: China- 1.460 km - long border; Kyrgyzstan - 980 km; Turkmenistan - 380 km; Uzbekistan - 2.300 km; the Russian Federation - 6.467 km. Total length of borders amounts to 12.187 km.
The territory of the Republic stretches on from the low reaches of the Volga in the West to the foothills of the Altai mountains in the East - for some 3,000 km ( a distance that spans two time zones), from West Siberian lowland in the North to the desert of Kyzylkum and the mountain range of Tien Shan in the South for some 2,000 km.
The northernmost point in Kazakhstan - 55'26'' NL - corresponds to the southern latitude of the central part of the East-European plain and to the southern part of the British Isles (the latitude of Moscow). As to the southernmost point - 40'56'' NL - it corresponds to latitudes of Transcaucasis and Mediterranean countries of Southern Europe (the latitude of Madrid, Istanbul and Baku).
Yet remoteness of the country from oceans and vastness of its territory determine climatic conditions.
The climate of the country is sharply continental. Average temperature in January varies within - 19° - - 4° C while average July temperature fluctuates within + 19° - + 26° C. The lowest temperature in winter may go down to - 45° C with the highest one in summer + 30° C.
The population numbers some 15,074,2 thousands people (01.01.2005). Population density is as high as 5,5 people per 1 sq km.
The capital is the city of Astana (since December 10, 1997) whose population is as large as 528,000 people.
Administratively Kazakhstan is comprised of 14 regions, 84 cities of which 39 refer to those of Republican and regional subordination, 159 districts, 241 settlements, 2,042 aul (rural) counties.
In terms of the number of the population cities of Kazakhstan may be subdivided into several categories:
- those having 300-400 thou. residents (Karagandy, Shymkent, Pavlodar, Taraz, Ust-Kamenogorsk);
- those with 200-280 thou. residents (Uralsk, Temirtau, Kostanay, Aktobe, Petropavlovsk, Semipalatinsk);
- those with 110-160 thousand residents (Zhezkazgan, Yekibastuz, Kyzylorda, Aktau, Kokshetau, Atyrau).
Most numerous are cities numbering less than 50,000 residents.
Kazakh is the official language. This notwithstanding, in State institutions and local administration bodies along with the Kazakh language they speak Russian quite officially.
Monetary unit is tenge which is equal to 100 tyins. It was introduced on November 15, 1993.
National holidays are as follows:
Day of the Republic (October,25) and
Independence Day (December,16).
There are 8,500 big and small rivers in Kazakhstan. The length of seven largest rivers exceeds 1000 km. The largest ones are the Ural and the Emba flowing into the Caspian Sea, the Syrdaria falling into the Aral Sea while the Irtysh, the Ishim and the Tobol run all across the Republic to eventually reach the Arctic Ocean.
There are 48,000 big and small lakes in Kazakhstan. The largest among them are the Aral Sea, Balkhash, Zaisan, Alakol, Tenghiz and Seletenghiz. Besides Kazakhstan shares the larger portion of the nothern and half of the eastern littoral of the Caspian Sea - the largest ever sea on the planet. The length of the coast line of the Caspian Sea (its Kazakhstani portion) is 2,340 km. Steppes occupy some 26% of the territory of Kazakhstan. 167,000,000 ha account for deserts (44%) and semi-deserts (14%) with forests occupying 21,000,000 ha.
When speaking about the flora and fauna of the Republic, we have to mention 155 species of mammals, 480 and 150 species of birds and fish respectively and about 250 species of medicinal herbs. Worth noting is that such exceedingly rare plant as santonica wormwood grows nowhere else but in the South of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan is rich with commercial minerals. In terms of chromium, vanadium, bismuth and fluorine reserves Kazakhstan knows no second in the world while in resources of iron, chromite, lead, zink, tungsten, molybdenum, phosphorite, copper, potassium and cadmium the country holds one of the leading places.
On the territory of the country they have discovered nearly 160 deposits of oil and gas. Their reserves - known to this day - are approximately equal to present day resources of the whole of the Western Europe. These oil and gas fields contain about 20,000,000,000 barrels of oil and 700,000,000 ton of gas condensate. Sum total of the cost thereof is estimated in the region of USD 4 bln. The Tenghiz field only ranks as one of the largest deposits of the world.
Coal reserves in Kazakhstan reach 160,000,000,000 ton. The Republic numbers 10 coal fields of bituminous and brown coal, 155 deposits all in all.
Iron ore resources (containing 50-60% of pure iron) in the Republic surpass those of many a country in the world.
Kazakhstan is the second richest country in the world (after Russia) with regard to phosphorite reserves while phosphorite deposits of Zhanatas and Karatau in terms of thickness and quality are second to none in the world.
Kazakhstan holds one of the first places in the world as to the production of aluminium.
The Republic harbours uncommonly superb resources of copper ore. Zhezkazgan ore deposits are second largest in the world as to their potential.
The territory of Kazakhstan affords infinite resources of salt and construction materials.
The already prospected deposits serve a fine basis for the development of mining, coal-mining, metallurgy, oil-and-gas and chemical industries.
Kazakhstan's share in world output of commercial minerals and products of procession thereof (according to estimates of the Union Bank of Switzerland) in the days of the late USSR amounted to the following: Beryllium - 24%, Zink - 7%, Tantalum - 33%, Titanium - 26%, Chromite - 27%, Copper - 3%, Barite - 7%, Molybdenum - 3%, Lead - 7%, Bauxites - 1%, Uranium -14%, Manganese - 5%, Silver - 6%, Iron ore - 2%, Tungsten - 12%, Gold - 1%.
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Samhita > Fundraising partners of Vodafone’s RRR campaign
Fundraising partners of Vodafone’s RRR campaign
Samhita was the fundraising partner of Vodafone Foundation’s Red Rickshaw Revolution campaign that took place in the 3 weeks leading up to International Women’s Day on 8th March 2013. The campaign aimed to raise funds for NGOs working to address teething issues faced by women from marginalized communities by providing them with vocational training and employment opportunities.
All donations for the campaign from Indian entities came in through Samhita’s online donation portal, owned by our parent organization, Nadathur Trust. Receipts were duly issued to all donors. We also received donations in cheques. We reached out to our database of donors to solicit donations and promoted the campaign on our social networks. At the end of the campaign, we were responsible for disbursement of the raised funds to the beneficiary NGOs. The campaign raised a total of Rs.22 lakhs for its three beneficiary NGOs.
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Comics with an Electronics Theme
March & November 1972 Popular Electronics
Here are two more tech-themed comics from vintage Popular Electronics magazines. The year was 1972, which was at the peak of NASA's Project Apollo moon manned exploration era. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to the agency at the time, it was also near the end of the era as the moon exploration portion of the program was abruptly cancelled after Apollo 17, in December of 1972. No man has set foot on the moon since then - 45 years as of this writing. One of the comics humorously depicts a situation that for many government departments would be a "situation normal" scenario, but given NASA's overwhelming success, it would not be as expected. The other comic deals with a workplace concept that, while much more "futuristic" at the time, is rapidly becoming a concern of workers today where even fast food workers are being replaced by robots.
March 1972 Popular Electronics Comic (p117)
"It's OK, but don't expect too much - it's only made of fat, jelly, and water."
November 1972 Popular Electronics Comic (p103)
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Edith Piaf - cycling champion, bird expert or singer?
From 1 July, it’s going to be harder to obtain French citizenship through naturalisation, under new rules issued by the interior ministry.
The idea is to ensure that those who are granted citizenship have a basic knowledge of French culture, society and history.
Candidates for citizenship will face a multiple choice test of 10 questions corresponding roughly to the level of knowledge expected of a French 11 year old.
Sample questions include the one above as well as “With whom do you associate the Arc de Triomphe? Napoleon, General de Gaulle and Julius Caesar are suggested as possible replies.
Or there’s Where is Mont Saint Michel? Is it a) in the Mediterranean b) On the river Seine c) In Normandy.
The questions have already been tried on an experimental basis on 2000 candidates with a success rate of 70 to 80 per cent.
The tests are in line with a trend among many countries to make citizenship harder to attain in the hope that it will be more highly-valued. Some French towns are also laying on special ceremonies when nationality papers are awarded, to highlight the importance of citizenship.
Last June the rules on language were also tightened – successful applicants for naturalisation must now demonstrate a level of oral French comparable to a French 15 year old.
The moves come against a background of concern that the French model of integration is failing, and a rise in support for the far-right National Front.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy won the votes of many National Front sympathisers when he was elected in 2007, but polls show that many are ready to switch to the far-right party in presidential elections this spring.
Front National's Marine Le Pen unable to stand in French Presidential race?
Sarkozy too busy to launch French presidential campaign as Hollande rides high
French police accused of racial profiling by human rights group
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Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
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Faculty of Management Studies, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Mihintale proudly announces that the 3rd National Research Symposium on Management of the Faculty (NRSM 2019) will be held on 02nd of April, 2020 at the Faculty premises. http://www.rjt.ac.lk/mgt/nrsm2019/index.html
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Accounting and Finance Industry Forum (AFinFo - 2019), organized by the Department of Accounting and Finance, the University of Ruhuna with the collaboration of the National Economic Council of Sri Lanka was held 25th July 2019.Five academic members of the Department of Accountancy & Finance, Faculty of Management Studies, Rajarta University of Sri Lanka participated for the event. More
Inauguration Ceremony for new entrants (2017/2018)
The Inauguration Ceremony for new entrants (2017/2018) to Faculty of Management Studies, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka was held on 18th March 2019 at Convocation Hall .Dr. B.A. Karunarathne, Vice Chancellor, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka and Dean of Faculty of Applied Sciences graced the occasion. In addition, academic staff of the Faculty of Management Studies and other officials of the university also participated the ceremony. Faculty warmly welcomed all the new entrants. The orientation program for the new students will be conducted from 19th March to 4th April 2019.
Special Repeat Examination 2019
Senate of the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka has decided to conduct a special repeat examination for the students registered in the Faculty of Management Studies in academic years 2007/2008, 2008/2009, 2009/2010, 2010/2011, 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 but did not complete the degree http://www.rjt.ac.lk/mgt/pages/ExamUnit.php
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Faculty of Management Studies, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Mihintale proudly announces that the 3rd National Research Symposium on Management of the Faculty (NRSM 2019) will be held on 02nd of April, 2020 at the Faculty premises
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An Economic View of the Environment
One Economist's Perspective on Climate and Other Policy
About Robert Stavins
Tag: distributional analysis
Cap-and-Trade: A Fly in the Ointment? Not Really
For more than two decades, environmental law and regulation was dominated by command-and-control approaches — typically either mandated pollution control technologies or inflexible discharge standards on a smokestack-by-smokestack basis. But in the 1980s, policy makers increasingly explored market-based environmental policy instruments, mechanisms that provide economic incentives for firms and individuals to carry out cost-effective pollution control. Cap-and-trade systems, in which emission permits or allowances can be traded among potential polluters, continue today to be at the center of this action.
Most recently, this has been in the context of deliberations regarding possible U.S. actions to reduced carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions linked with global climate change, as in HR 2454, the Waxman-Markey bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as in proposals developing in the Senate. (I have written a number of blog posts on this topic. If you’re interested, please see: “Opportunity for a Defining Moment” (February 6, 2009); “The Wonderful Politics of Cap-and-Trade: A Closer Look at Waxman-Markey” (May 27, 2009); “Worried About International Competitiveness? Another Look at the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade Proposal” (June 18, 2009); “National Climate Change Policy: A Quick Look Back at Waxman-Markey and the Road Ahead” (June 29, 2009). For a more detailed account, see my Hamilton Project paper, A U.S. Cap-and-Trade System to Address Global Climate Change.)
But the transition from command-and-control regulation to market-based policy instruments has not always been easy. Sometimes policy can outrun basic understanding, and the claims made for the cost-effectiveness of cap-and-trade systems can exceed what can be reasonably anticipated. Among the factors that can adversely affect the performance of such systems are transaction costs.
In general, transaction costs — those costs that arise from the exchange, not the production, of goods and services — are ubiquitous in market economies. They can arise from any exchange: after all, parties to transactions must find one another, communicate, and exchange information. It may be necessary to inspect and sometimes even measure goods to be transferred, draw up contracts, consult with lawyers or other experts, and transfer title.
In cap-and-trade markets, there are three potential sources of transaction costs. The first source, searching and information-collection, arises because it can take time for a potential buyer of a discharge permit to find a seller, though — for a fee — brokers can facilitate the process. Although less obvious, a second source of transaction costs — bargaining and deciding — is potentially as important. A firm entering into negotiations incurs real resource costs, including time and/or fees for brokerage, legal, and insurance services. Likewise, the third source — monitoring and enforcing — can be significant, although these costs are typically borne by the responsible governmental authority and not by trading partners.
The cost savings that may be realized through cap-and-trade systems depend upon active trading. But transaction costs are an impediment to trading, and such impediments thereby can limit savings. So, transaction costs reduce the overall economic benefits of allowance trading, partly by absorbing resources directly and partly by suppressing exchanges that otherwise would have been mutually (indeed socially) beneficial. But when transaction costs can be kept to a minimum, high levels of trading — and significant cost savings – are the result.
Since David Montgomery’s path-breaking work in 1972, economists have asserted that the post-trading allocation of control responsibility among sources and hence the aggregate costs of control are independent from the initial permit allocation. This is an extremely important political property, but does this still hold in the presence of transaction costs? This is a question I investigated in an article titled, “Transaction Costs and Tradable Permits,” which was published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management in 1995 (and which the publisher lists as one of the ten most cited articles in the journal’s history, going back to 1974).
The answer to this question is: “it depends.” If incremental transaction costs are independent of the size of individual transactions, the initial allocation of permits has no effect on the post-trading allocation of control responsibility and aggregate control costs. But if incremental transaction costs decrease with the size of individual trades, then the initial allocation will affect the post-trading outcome.
This is of great political importance, because it means that in the presence of transaction costs, the initial distribution of permits can matter not only in terms of distributional equity, but in terms of cost-effectiveness or efficiency. This can reduce the discretion of the Congress (or other legislature or agency) to distribute allowances as they please (in order to generate a constituency of support for the program), and may thereby reduce the political attractiveness and feasibility of a cap-and-trade system.
Empirical evidence, however, indicates that transaction costs have been minimal, indeed trivial, in enacted and implemented cap-and-trade systems, including the U.S. EPA’s leaded-gasoline phasedown in the 1980s, and the well-known SO2 allowance trading system, enacted as part of the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990.
That’s good news, surely. But nevertheless, going forward, choices between conventional, command-and-control environmental policies and market-based instruments should reflect the imperfect world in which these instruments are applied. Such choices are not simple, because no policy panacea exists.
On the one hand, even if transaction costs prevent significant levels of trade from occurring, aggregate costs of control will most likely be less than those of a conventional command-and-control approach. A trading system with no trading taking place will likely be less costly than a technology standard (because the trading system provides flexibility to firms regarding their chosen means of control) and no more costly than a uniform performance standard.
But the existence of transaction costs may make the choice between conventional approaches and cap-and-trade more difficult because of the ambiguities that are introduced. With transaction costs — as with other departures from frictionless markets — greater attention is required to the details of designing specific systems. This is the way to lessen the risk of over-selling such policy ideas and ultimately creating systems that stand the best chance of being implemented successfully.
Author Robert StavinsPosted on August 12, 2009 August 17, 2009 Categories Climate Change Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental PolicyTags acid rain, cap-and-trade, cost-effectiveness, distributional analysis, distributional equity, efficiency, environmental politics, global climate policy, market-based environmental policies, regulation, transaction costs, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, Waxman-Markey legislation7 Comments on Cap-and-Trade: A Fly in the Ointment? Not Really
Is Benefit-Cost Analysis Helpful for Environmental Regulation?
With the locus of action on Federal climate policy moving this week from the House of Representatives to the Senate, this is a convenient moment to step back from the political fray and reflect on some fundamental questions about U.S. environmental policy.
One such question is whether economic analysis – in particular, the comparison of the benefits and costs of proposed policies – plays a truly useful role in Washington, or is it little more than a distraction of attention from more important perspectives on public policy, or – worst of all – is it counter-productive, even antithetical, to the development, assessment, and implementation of sound policy in the environmental, resource, and energy realms. With an exceptionally talented group of thinkers – including scientists, lawyers, and economists – now in key environmental and energy policy positions at the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of the Treasury, this question about the usefulness of benefit-cost analysis is of particular importance.
For many years, there have been calls from some quarters for greater reliance on the use of economic analysis in the development and evaluation of environmental regulations. As I have noted in previous posts on this blog, most economists would argue that economic efficiency — measured as the difference between benefits and costs — ought to be one of the key criteria for evaluating proposed regulations. (See: “The Myths of Market Prices and Efficiency,” March 3, 2009; “What Baseball Can Teach Policymakers,” April 20, 2009; “Does Economic Analysis Shortchange the Future?” April 27, 2009) Because society has limited resources to spend on regulation, such analysis can help illuminate the trade-offs involved in making different kinds of social investments. In this sense, it would seem irresponsible not to conduct such analyses, since they can inform decisions about how scarce resources can be put to the greatest social good.
In principle, benefit-cost analysis can also help answer questions of how much regulation is enough. From an efficiency standpoint, the answer to this question is simple — regulate until the incremental benefits from regulation are just offset by the incremental costs. In practice, however, the problem is much more difficult, in large part because of inherent problems in measuring marginal benefits and costs. In addition, concerns about fairness and process may be very important economic and non-economic factors. Regulatory policies inevitably involve winners and losers, even when aggregate benefits exceed aggregate costs.
Over the years, policy makers have sent mixed signals regarding the use of benefit-cost analysis in policy evaluation. Congress has passed several statutes to protect health, safety, and the environment that effectively preclude the consideration of benefits and costs in the development of certain regulations, even though other statutes actually require the use of benefit-cost analysis. At the same time, Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush all put in place formal processes for reviewing economic implications of major environmental, health, and safety regulations. Apparently the Executive Branch, charged with designing and implementing regulations, has seen a greater need than the Congress to develop a yardstick against which regulatory proposals can be assessed. Benefit-cost analysis has been the yardstick of choice
It was in this context that ten years ago a group of economists from across the political spectrum jointly authored an article in Science magazine, asking whether there is role for benefit-cost analysis in environmental, health, and safety regulation. That diverse group consisted of Kenneth Arrow, Maureen Cropper, George Eads, Robert Hahn, Lester Lave, Roger Noll, Paul Portney, Milton Russell, Richard Schmalensee, Kerry Smith, and myself. That article and its findings are particularly timely, with President Obama considering putting in place a new Executive Order on Regulatory Review.
In the article, we suggested that benefit-cost analysis has a potentially important role to play in helping inform regulatory decision making, though it should not be the sole basis for such decision making. We offered eight principles.
First, benefit-cost analysis can be useful for comparing the favorable and unfavorable effects of policies, because it can help decision makers better understand the implications of decisions by identifying and, where appropriate, quantifying the favorable and unfavorable consequences of a proposed policy change. But, in some cases, there is too much uncertainty to use benefit-cost analysis to conclude that the benefits of a decision will exceed or fall short of its costs.
Second, decision makers should not be precluded from considering the economic costs and benefits of different policies in the development of regulations. Removing statutory prohibitions on the balancing of benefits and costs can help promote more efficient and effective regulation.
Third, benefit-cost analysis should be required for all major regulatory decisions. The scale of a benefit-cost analysis should depend on both the stakes involved and the likelihood that the resulting information will affect the ultimate decision.
Fourth, although agencies should be required to conduct benefit-cost analyses for major decisions, and to explain why they have selected actions for which reliable evidence indicates that expected benefits are significantly less than expected costs, those agencies should not be bound by strict benefit-cost tests. Factors other than aggregate economic benefits and costs may be important.
Fifth, benefits and costs of proposed policies should be quantified wherever possible. But not all impacts can be quantified, let alone monetized. Therefore, care should be taken to assure that quantitative factors do not dominate important qualitative factors in decision making. If an agency wishes to introduce a “margin of safety” into a decision, it should do so explicitly.
Sixth, the more external review that regulatory analyses receive, the better they are likely to be. Retrospective assessments should be carried out periodically.
Seventh, a consistent set of economic assumptions should be used in calculating benefits and costs. Key variables include the social discount rate, the value of reducing risks of premature death and accidents, and the values associated with other improvements in health.
Eighth, while benefit-cost analysis focuses primarily on the overall relationship between benefits and costs, a good analysis will also identify important distributional consequences for important subgroups of the population.
From these eight principles, we concluded that benefit-cost analysis can play an important role in legislative and regulatory policy debates on protecting and improving the natural environment, health, and safety. Although formal benefit-cost analysis should not be viewed as either necessary or sufficient for designing sensible public policy, it can provide an exceptionally useful framework for consistently organizing disparate information, and in this way, it can greatly improve the process and hence the outcome of policy analysis.
If properly done, benefit-cost analysis can be of great help to agencies participating in the development of environmental regulations, and it can likewise be useful in evaluating agency decision making and in shaping new laws (which brings us full-circle to the climate legislation that will be developed in the U.S. Senate over the weeks and months ahead, and which I hope to discuss in future posts).
Author Robert StavinsPosted on July 8, 2009 July 8, 2009 Categories Climate Change Policy, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resource PolicyTags benefit-cost analysis, cost-effectiveness, distributional analysis, distributional equity, economic valuation, efficiency, environmental politics, externalities, first welfare theorem, global climate policy, information problems, market failure, monetary values, Obama Administration, Office of Management and Budget, regulation, Regulatory Impact Analysis, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, uncertainty, Waxman-Markey legislation2 Comments on Is Benefit-Cost Analysis Helpful for Environmental Regulation?
The Wonderful Politics of Cap-and-Trade: A Closer Look at Waxman-Markey
The headline of this post is not meant to be ironic. Despite all the hand-wringing in the press and the blogosphere about a political “give-away” of allowances for the cap-and-trade system in the Waxman-Markey bill voted out of committee last week, the politics of cap-and-trade systems are truly quite wonderful, which is why these systems have been used, and used successfully.
The Waxman-Markey allocation of allowances has its problems, which I will get to, but before noting those problems it is exceptionally important to keep in mind what is probably the key attribute of cap-and-trade systems: the allocation of allowances – whether the allowances are auctioned or given out freely, and how they are freely allocated – has no impact on the equilibrium distribution of allowances (after trading), and therefore no impact on the allocation of emissions (or emissions abatement), the total magnitude of emissions, or the aggregate social costs. (Well, there are some relatively minor, but significant caveats – those “problems” I mentioned — about which more below.) By the way, this independence of a cap-and-trade system’s performance from the initial allowance allocation was established as far back as 1972 by David Montgomery in a path-breaking article in the Journal of Economic Theory (based upon his 1971 Harvard economics Ph.D. dissertation). It has been validated with empirical evidence repeatedly over the years.
Generally speaking, the choice between auctioning and freely allocating allowances does not influence firms’ production and emission reduction decisions. Firms face the same emissions cost regardless of the allocation method. When using an allowance, whether it was received for free or purchased, a firm loses the opportunity to sell that allowance, and thereby recognizes this “opportunity cost” in deciding whether to use the allowance. Consequently, the allocation choice will not influence a cap’s overall costs.
Manifest political pressures lead to different initial allocations of allowances, which affect distribution, but not environmental effectiveness, and not cost-effectiveness. This means that ordinary political pressures need not get in the way of developing and implementing a scientifically sound, economically rational, and politically pragmatic policy. Contrast this with what would happen when political pressures are brought to bear on a carbon tax proposal, for example. Here the result will most likely be exemptions of sectors and firms, which reduces environmental effectiveness and drives up costs (as some low-cost emission reduction opportunities are left off the table). Furthermore, the hypothetical carbon tax example is the norm, not the exception. Across the board, political pressures often reduce the effectiveness and increase the cost of well-intentioned public policies. Cap-and-trade provides natural protection from this. Distributional battles over the allowance allocation in a cap-and-trade system do not raise the overall cost of the program nor affect its environmental impacts.
In fact, the political process of states, districts, sectors, firms, and interest groups fighting for their share of the pie (free allowance allocations) serves as the mechanism whereby a political constituency in support of the system is developed, but without detrimental effects to the system’s environmental or economic performance. That’s the good news, and it should never be forgotten.
But, depending upon the specific allocation mechanisms employed, there are several ways that the choice to freely distribute allowances can affect a system’s cost. Here’s where the “caveats” and “problems” come in.
First, auction revenue may be used in ways that reduce the costs of the existing tax system or fund other socially beneficial policies. Free allocations to the private sector forego such opportunities. Below I will estimate the actual share of allowance value that accrues to the private sector.
Second, some proposals to freely allocate allowances to electric utilities may affect electricity prices, and thereby affect the extent to which reduced electricity demand contributes to limiting emissions cost-effectively. Waxman-Markey allocates allowances to local distribution companies, which are subject to cost-of-service regulation even in regions with restructured wholesale electricity markets. So, electricity prices would likely be affected by these allocations under existing state regulatory regimes. The Waxman-Markey legislation seeks to address this problem by specifying that the economic value of the allowances given to electricity and natural gas local distribution companies should be passed on to consumers through lump-sum rebates, not through a reduction in electricity rates, thereby compensating consumers for increases in electricity prices, but without reducing incentives for energy conservation.
Third, and of most concern in the context of the Waxman-Markey legislation, “output-based updating allocations” provide perverse incentives and drive up costs of achieving a cap. This merits some explanation. If allowances are freely allocated, the allocation should be on the basis of some historical measures, such as output or emissions in a (previous) base year, not on the basis of measures which firms can affect, such as output or emissions in the current year. Updating allocations, which involve periodically adjusting allocations over time to reflect changes in firms’ operations, contrast with this.
An output-based updating allocation ties the quantity of allowances that a firm receives to its output (production). Such an allocation is essentially a production subsidy. This distorts firms’ pricing and production decisions in ways that can introduce unintended consequences and may significantly increase the cost of meeting an emissions target. Updating therefore has the potential to create perverse, undesirable incentives.
In Waxman-Markey, updating allocations are used for specific sectors with high CO2 emissions intensity and unusual sensitivity to international competition, in an effort to preserve international competitiveness and reduce emissions leakage. It’s an open question whether this approach is superior to an import allowance requirement, whereby imports of a small set of specific commodities must carry with them CO2 allowances. The problem with import allowance requirements is that they can damage international trade relations. The only real solution to the competitiveness issue is to bring non-participating countries within an international climate regime in meaningful ways. (On this, please see the work of the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements.)
Also, output-based allocations are used in Waxman-Markey for merchant coal generators, thereby discouraging reductions in coal-fired electricity generation, another significant and costly distortion.
Now, let’s go back to the hand-wringing in the press and blogosphere about the so-called massive political “give-away” of allowances. Perhaps unintentionally, there has been some misleading press coverage, suggesting that up to 75% or 80% of the allowances are given away to private industry as a windfall over the life of the program, 2012-2050 (in contrast with the 100% auction originally favored by President Obama).
Given the nature of the allowance allocation in the Waxman-Markey legislation, the best way to assess its implications is not as “free allocation” versus “auction,” but rather in terms of who is the ultimate beneficiary of each element of the allocation and auction, that is, how the value of the allowances is allocated. On closer inspection, it turns out that many of the elements of the apparently free allocation accrue to consumers and public purposes, not private industry.
First of all, let’s looks at the elements which will accrue to consumers and public purposes. Next to each allocation element is the respective share of allowances over the period 2012-2050 (measured as share of the cap, after the removal – sale — of allowances to private industry from a “strategic reserve,” which functions as a cost-containment measure.):
a. Electricity and natural gas local distribution companies (22.2%), minus share (6%) that benefits industry as consumers of electricity (note: there is a consequent 3% reduction in the allocation to energy-intensive trade-exposed industries, below, which is then dedicated to broad-based consumer rebates, below), 22.2 – 6 = 16.2%
b. Home heating oil/propane, 0.9%
c. Protection for low- and moderate-income households, 15.0%
d. Worker assistance and job training, 0.8%
e. States for renewable energy, efficiency, and building codes, 5.8%
f. Clean energy innovation centers, 1.0%
g. International deforestation, clean technology, and adaptation, 8.7%
h. Domestic adaptation, 5.0%
The following elements will accrue to private industry, again with average (2012-2050) shares of allowances:
i. Merchant coal generators, 3.0%
j. Energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries (minus reduction in allocation due to EITE benefits from LDC allocation above) 8.0% – 3% = 5%
k. Carbon-capture and storage incentives, 4.1%
l. Clean vehicle technology standards, 1.0%
m. Oil refiners, 1.0%
n. Net benefits to industry as consumers of lower-priced electricity from allocation to LDCs, 6.0%
The split over the entire period from 2012 to 2050 is 53.4% for consumers and public purposes, and 20.1% for private industry. This 20% is drastically different from the suggestions that 70%, 80%, or more of the allowances will be given freely to private industry in a “massive corporate give-away.”
All categories – (a) through (n), above – sum to 73.5% of the total quantity of allowances over the period 2012-2050. The remaining allowances — 26.5% over 2012 to 2050 — are scheduled in Waxman-Markey to be used almost entirely for consumer rebates, with the share of available allowances for this purpose rising from approximately 10% in 2025 to more than 50% by 2050. Thus, the totals become 79.9% for consumers and public purposes versus 20.1% for private industry, or approximately 80% versus 20% — the opposite of the “80% free allowance corporate give-away” featured in many press and blogosphere accounts. Moreover, because some of the allocations to private industry are – for better or for worse – conditional on recipients undertaking specific costly investments, such as investments in carbon capture and storage, part of the 20% free allocation to private industry should not be viewed as a windfall.
Speaking of the conditional allocations, I should also note that some observers (who are skeptical about government programs) may reasonably question some of the dedicated public purposes of the allowance distribution, but such questioning is equivalent to questioning dedicated uses of auction revenues. The fundamental reality remains: the appropriate characterization of the Waxman-Markey allocation is that 80% of the value of allowances go to consumers and public purposes, and 20% to private industry.
Finally, it should be noted that this 80-20 split is roughly consistent with empirical economic analyses of the share that would be required – on average — to fully compensate (but no more) private industry for equity losses due to the policy’s implementation. In a series of analyses that considered the share of allowances that would be required in perpetuity for full compensation, Bovenberg and Goulder (2003) found that 13 percent would be sufficient for compensation of the fossil fuel extraction sectors, and Smith, Ross, and Montgomery (2002) found that 21 percent would be needed to compensate primary energy producers and electricity generators.
In my work for the Hamilton Project in 2007, I recommended beginning with a 50-50 auction-free-allocation split, moving to 100% auction over 25 years, because that time-path of numerical division between the share of allowances that is freely allocated to regulated firms and the share that is auctioned is equivalent (in terms of present discounted value) to perpetual allocations of 15 percent, 19 percent, and 22 percent, at real interest rates of 3, 4, and 5 percent, respectively. My recommended allocation was designed to be consistent with the principal of targeting free allocations to burdened sectors in proportion to their relative burdens, while being politically pragmatic with more generous allocations in the early years of the program.
So, the Waxman-Markey 80/20 allowance split turns out to be consistent — on average, i.e. economy-wide — with independent economic analysis of the share that would be required to fully compensate (but no more) the private sector for equity losses due to the imposition of the cap, and consistent with my Hamilton Project recommendation of a 50/50 split phased out to 100% auction over 25 years.
Going forward, many observers and participants in the policy process may continue to question the wisdom of some elements of the Waxman-Markey allowance allocation. There’s nothing wrong with that.
But let’s be clear that, first, for the most part, the allocation of allowances affects neither the environmental performance of the cap-and-trade system nor its aggregate social cost.
Second, questioning should continue about the output-based allocation elements, because of the perverse incentives they put in place.
Third, we should be honest that the legislation, for all its flaws, is by no means the “massive corporate give-away” that it has been labeled. On the contrary, 80% of the value of allowances accrue to consumers and public purposes, and some 20% accrue to covered, private industry. This split is roughly consistent with the recommendations of independent economic research.
Fourth and finally, it should not be forgotten that the much-lamented deal-making that took place in the House committee last week for shares of the allowances for various purposes was a good example of the useful, important, and fundamentally benign mechanism through which a cap-and-trade system provides the means for a political constituency of support and action to be assembled (without reducing the policy’s effectiveness or driving up its cost).
Although there has surely been some insightful press coverage and intelligent public debate (including in the blogosphere) about the pros and cons of cap-and-trade, the Waxman-Markey legislation, and many of its design elements, it is remarkable (and unfortunate) how misleading so much of the coverage has been of the issues and the numbers surrounding the proposed allowance allocation.
Author Robert StavinsPosted on May 27, 2009 January 20, 2017 Categories Climate Change Policy, Energy Policy, Environmental Economics, Environmental Policy, Positive Political EconomyTags allowance allocation, cap-and-trade, cost incidence, cost-effectiveness, distributional analysis, distributional equity, efficiency, environmental politics, global climate policy, Hamilton Project, import allowance requirement, local distribution companies, market-based environmental policies, Obama Administration, Office of Management and Budget, output-based updating allocation, regulation, Regulatory Impact Analysis, revenue-neutral taxes, Waxman-Markey legislation24 Comments on The Wonderful Politics of Cap-and-Trade: A Closer Look at Waxman-Markey
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Budget has reverse weaknesses, strengths to last year's
This is the budget of a badly rattled government that has put self-preservation ahead of economic responsibility. It will do much to restore Tony Abbott's political fortunes, but next to nothing to return the budget to surplus or hasten the economy's return to strong growth.
What it's not is "dull". Turns out, when Abbott promised a dull budget what he meant was one that was the opposite of last year's.
This budget will be incessantly compared with Joe Hockey's first attempt because that is its almost sole objective: to have the reverse effect of last year's.
Last year, the budget's overriding goal was to chart a path back to eventual budget surplus. By delaying the cuts in the deficit until after the economy was expected to have recovered, it won high marks for its management of the economy.
It was a budget designed to please the (big) Business Council.
Its big problem was that most of the measures taken to effect that objective were judged by voters to be blatantly unfair, hitting low and middle income-earners but not the well-off. And it broke a host of election promises.
This was why so much of it failed to get through the Senate.
Another problem was the crudeness of its measures. They did little to make government spending more efficient, but simply shifted a lot of the cost off onto pensioners, the unemployed, patients, university students and state governments.
Last year's budget had no giveaways. Its only "winners" were people who weren't hit. This budget will leave many low and middle-income families better off - although most of its key measures won't take effect until 2017.
Its big measures are reworkings of cuts proposed last year. The planned GP co-payment has been replaced by savings to be imposed on drug companies and chemists, with reform of overgenerous fees to doctors to follow.
The planned move to less-generous indexing of the age pension has been replaced by a tighter assets test, which will leave some pensioners better off, but prevent others from receiving a part-pension.
The promised more generous paid parental leave scheme has been abandoned, with the savings used to pay part of the cost of a reform of childcare subsidies, which leaves low and middle-income families better off. Some high-income parents will get less.
Despite some serious flaws in the parental leave and childcare arrangements, the various reworked measures are not only fairer, but of much higher quality and careful design. This is a big improvement on last year.
But the reworked measures will do a lot less to reduce the budget deficit over time. Overall, the budget's measures actually slow the return to surplus by more than $9 billion over four years..
More seriously, this budget does far too little to bolster spending on infrastructure while tightening up on recurrent spending.
Last year's timid "asset recycling initiative" has not been supplemented adequately at a time when the Reserve Bank's ever-more ineffective efforts to use cuts in interest rates to resuscitate the economy need all the help they can get.
The increased money for infrastructure in Western Australia and Northern Australia and other bits and pieces won't make a big enough difference.
The announced crackdown on profit-shifting by foreign multinational companies sounds impressive, but how much tax it actually raises remains to be seen.
If last year's budget was intended to please big business, this one purports to do wonders for small business. But its various new concessions are likely to do more to please small businesses than to transform their investment spending.
Don't be misled by all the happy talk of an improving economy and all the jobs to be created. We can always hope, but there is little reason to believe the budget will do much to improve business confidence.
From the perspective of economic management, this budget represents dereliction of duty.
And there's one respect in which nothing has changed: the tax perks of the well-off - superannuation concessions, negative gearing, discounted tax on capital gains, family trusts - remain untouched.
Labels: budgets, fiscal policy, government spending, monetary policy, tax, tax expenditures
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5 must-know financial tips if you’re planning to move abroad
If one is planning to move abroad, there are serious financial considerations to take into account if one wants to avoid nasty surprises later, cautions Theunis Ehlers, a director at Citadel Fiduciary.
“Residency for tax purposes and residency for exchange control purposes are two different matters,” explains Ehlers.
“Changing tax residency is based on a number of factors which give evidence to whether you are ‘ordinarily resident’ in SA or not.”
Furthermore, a double tax agreement with the other country may also play a role in determining tax residency.
“You may think that if you move offshore, but do not formally emigrate from SA, you will still be considered a tax resident here,” says Ehlers.
“But whether you formally emigrate or not, it means that you may have unintentionally given up your tax residency in SA by moving abroad, triggering certain tax implications.”
This could include a capital gains tax (CGT) situation on all your worldwide assets, excluding only certain assets such as a South African fixed property.
Estate planning and inheritances
Often, when children move offshore, they never emigrate formally from a financial surveillance perspective, according to Ehlers.
This means that, should you leave your estate to your children, the executor of your estate would not be able to transfer their inheritance directly offshore. Instead, your children would need to return to SA and use other mechanisms to facilitate the transfer of assets.
In his view, trusts are a key issue to be aware of as part of financial planning when moving abroad.
“Keep in mind that the jurisdiction you are moving to may treat trusts and the benefits received from them in a completely different manner from SA law,” he says.
“In the US and Australia, for instance, there may be quite large penalties, as well as interest and tax implications for the beneficiaries of offshore (South African) trusts.”
It is important to bear in mind that, while your Will may be valid in South Africa, it may not be practical or efficient to administer and execute in another jurisdiction.
“In common law countries, such as the UK, where there are similarities to certain SA legal concepts, South African Wills and assets in that jurisdiction, belonging to South Africans, tend to be easier to administer,” explains Ehlers.
“However, civil law countries are very different, as they may have rules involving forced succession, or other restrictions on inheritances and what may be addressed and dealt with in your will.”
Golden visas
Ehlers advises that he has come across cases of people who have taken up “golden visa” opportunities for Europe only to be met with some unexpected consequences.
A so-called golden visa offers permanent residency to individuals who invest – often through the purchase of property – a certain sum of money in the issuing country.
“For instance, there are instances of individuals who moved to Portugal only to realise that one of the requirements is to become proficient in Portuguese at a first-year university level within seven years,” he says.
“Before making any decisions, it is important that you obtain professional advice and research your options thoroughly.”
Compiled by Carin Smith
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St. Paul 498166961
St. Paul leaders nurture big dreams for downtown, beginning with parks, streets
Local government officials are courting startups, planning park improvements, budgeting to rebuild streets and advocating for more transit. Long term, they envision major projects — including new skyscrapers — that would transform the face of the city.
By Emma Nelson Star Tribune
October 21, 2018 — 9:03pm
Between the new apartments and restaurants of Lowertown and the busy breweries and stores of W. 7th Street, the heartbeat of downtown St. Paul remains barely audible.
Even as city leaders celebrate the growth of the past several years, they’re turning their eyes to the Central Business District, where glossy corporate offices are just steps from vacant storefronts and not much happens after 5 p.m.
“We’ve made such great strides in downtown St. Paul over the last decade,” said Joe Spencer, president of the Downtown Alliance. “We want to encourage that to continue to grow ever more strong, and grow toward the middle, which I think it is.”
It’s an ambitious undertaking, one that Mayor Melvin Carter said he hopes outlives his time at City Hall.
“I see absolutely nothing but opportunity for downtown,” the mayor said in an interview. “We want downtown to look like a place that you’re there, and you say, ‘This is where I want to plan my dream.’ ”
Those already downtown remain hopeful, but they also have seen big plans fall short.
Joe Furth moved his Eclipse Records to Wabasha Street from University Avenue in 2011. While he likes being downtown, he said, he’s worried about the lack of activity — even with new development, like the Treasure Island Center on the former Macy’s site.
“There was all this talk about how it was going to bring a ton of people downtown, but I don’t know if that’s necessarily the case,” he said. “There just really isn’t enough to drive them down here.”
City investments come first
The downtown Central Business District is home to corporate offices, including Securian Financial and Ecolab, museums, theaters and government buildings. Though its location isn’t clearly defined, it falls between Interstates 94 and 35E to the north and the Mississippi River to the south.
Under former Mayor Chris Coleman, the city spent $62 million to overhaul the Penfield apartment complex before selling the building to a real estate firm in 2016, and oversaw the renovation of the historic Palace Theatre, which reopened as a concert venue in 2017 after a decadeslong closure.
There’s more to come. The City Council will hold a public hearing Wednesday on the $1.3 million sale of the former Public Safety Annex building, which includes an overhaul of the adjacent Pedro Park. Half a mile away, renovations to Rice Park are expected to be completed next month.
In Carter’s view, city infrastructure investments are key to attracting private investment downtown. The mayor’s 2019 budget includes $3 million for rebuilding downtown streets.
Early this year, Carter and other elected officials joined local business leaders to form the Downtown Alliance, a nonprofit focused on bringing new development and jobs to the city’s core. For the first time, there will be a downtown Special Service District, which will allow the city to collect fees to pay for better lighting, landscaping and other improvements.
“It’s not like there’s a secret, like, how do downtowns get activated, and how do they get ambassador programs that show people around, and how do they get better signage and garbage cans?” said Council Member Rebecca Noecker, whose ward includes downtown. “This is how they do it.”
Noecker said she wants existing buildings filled up and new buildings constructed on vacant lots — including, she said, a “skyline-defining tower” next to the Central Station light rail stop. She’s also advocating, with other council members, for multiple downtown stops on the proposed Gold Line bus rapid transit route.
According to the Greater St. Paul Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), the number of people living downtown nearly doubled between 2010 and 2018, from 4,862 to 9,457. The group’s biannual retail survey, conducted this summer, found the number of square feet devoted to retail has grown, though the number of retailers has dropped.
Meanwhile, about 19 percent of the office space in the Central Business District is vacant, according to BOMA.
Back to the river
City leaders have recognized for years the unrealized potential of the Mississippi riverfront, which offers a dramatic overlook but is sparsely visited.
In 2016, the city unveiled a master plan for the River Balcony, a 1.5-mile overlook and walking path stretching from the Science Museum to Union Depot. Planners said construction could begin as early as 2017, but the city has since taken a step back.
“It was literally just a concept and we really need to understand, what is it, and do people support it, and then go into schematic design,” said Mary DeLaittre, manager of the city’s Great River Passage initiative, which includes the River Balcony and other projects.
DeLaittre said the group is pulling together $600,000 in public and private money for a River Balcony design.
Meanwhile, the city wants to build a new RiverCentre parking ramp with a hotel or other development attached, and Ramsey County is in talks with developers for the former West Publishing site.
One of the potential West Publishing developers, Los Angeles-based AECOM, proposed four skyscrapers — which would potentially include a hotel, multifamily residential, retail and office space — for the site.
Waiting for change
Like other downtowns across the country that have yet to recover from the death of destination department stores, downtown St. Paul is short on retail. Retailers who have opened downtown say they worry about the vacancies around them.
Sue Zumberge moved her business, Subtext Books, from Cathedral Hill to Fifth and Wabasha streets less than four years ago. In that time, she said, she’s watched fellow downtown shops close their doors.
“I would like to have more people here,” Zumberge said. “I would like to have more actual retail in downtown.”
Both Zumberge and Furth, of Eclipse Records, said they have customers who travel specifically to visit their stores. The Palace Theatre has brought business to the record store, Furth said.
Though business sometimes is slow, both store owners said they want to stay downtown as long as they can — in part because they want to see what happens in the Central Business District and along the riverfront.
“It’s like for every two steps forward, you take one step back, but I see the trend going in the right direction,” Furth said. “Some of these things take a lot longer than you want them to take.”
St. Paul reporter Emma Nelson joined the Star Tribune in 2014, and has covered local government beats from Scott and Dakota counties to Minneapolis City Hall. She has also been part of reporting teams that covered the aftermath of the Norwood Teague sexual harassment scandal and the death of Prince.
emma.nelson@startribune.com 612-673-4509 emmamarienelson
Wisconsin Gov. Evers to lay out agenda in 2nd State of State
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers will lay out his policy agenda and goals for the year in his second State of the State speech to lawmakers on Wednesday, a wish list sure to include some bipartisan measures that the Democratic governor hopes will have a chance of success in the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Since their surprise loss to President Donald Trump in 2016, Democrats have struggled with how to regain territory that long supported the party before suddenly flipping to Republicans. Their answer could lie with voters like Martie Boyd.
Former policy aide to Mayor Melvin Carter says her bosses didn't accommodate her disability.
Inmate's letter praising Carver County jail goes viral
The letter made national news after the Sheriff's Office posted it on social media.
Man found in Hwy. 169 median long after crash died of accident injuries
The sea cadet's body was found a day after collision.
Police: Man who died in downtown St. Paul tried to rob Church of Scientology employee • St. Paul
Ex-St. Paul employee alleges discrimination, files complaint against mayor's office • St. Paul
St. Paul wants to impose 1% sales tax for streets, housing, pre-K • St. Paul
Driver who was drunk when he killed St. Paul man is deported • St. Paul
Man fatally shot in St. Paul, the city's third homicide so far this year • St. Paul
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Detroit Monitor Sports
BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
Are there any lakes in Los Angeles, let alone in California?
Do people really sing much Jazz in Utah?
What makes a good rivalry? Is it when a pair of teams win for many years, an inter-city or inter-state match-up? What about when they return to their old stomping grounds?
Franchise relocation has been a part of the American Sports Scene for years. Owners take teams in Smaller Markets and move them to Major Metro Areas. They also move them to play in State Of The Art Arenas.
In recent weeks, there has been talk about Los Angeles building a stadium downtown. With Denver Broncos Owner Pat Bowlen having health issues, Stan Kroenke, who owns the St. Louis Rams, in addition to the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche, would swap franchises with Bowlen, thus allowing Bowlen to move the Rams back to Los Angeles.
Time will tell if this happens.
But today, I'm going to list some of the most interesting Franchise Moves and I welcome your feedback.
1) Los Angeles Lakers (Minneapolis Lakers) returning to the Twin Cities to face the Minnesota Timberwolves.
2) Atlanta Braves (Milwaukee Braves) return to the Beer City to face the Brewers. Former All-Time Home Run King Hank Aaron retired with the Brewers.
3) Calgary Flames (Atlanta Flames) return to Atlanta to face the Thrashers. As a kid growing up in the 1970's, I remember when the Detroit Red Wings swept the Atlanta Flames out of the 1977-78 playoffs and Bill Lochead was the hero in this series by scoring a pair of goals in a 3-2 victory at Olympia Stadium.
4) Dallas Stars (Minnesota North Stars) return to the land of 10,000 lakes and face the Wild. I once told a Wild PR Guy when he asked me if there was anything missing in his media guide to add the franchises first victory over the Stars. The following year, the result was in the book.
5) Arizona Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cardinals) returning to face the St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears.
6) Baltimore Ravens (Original Cleveland Browns) returning to Ohio to face the new Browns. Former Owner Art Modell never made this trip back to Cleveland, but in reality, to build the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame ahead of a new Browns Stadium, was a bad decision and I don't blame Modell for moving the team, which would eventually win a Super Bowl.
7) Tennessee Titans (Houston Oilers) facing the Houston Texans.
8) Atlanta Braves (Boston Braves) returning to Beantown to face the Red Sox during inter- league play.
9) Texas Rangers (Washington Senators 1961-1971) returning to the Nations Capital to face the Washington Nationals. It doesn't happen much but when it does, now that the Rangers are a good team, historians will mention it. The first manager in the history of the Rangers was Hall of Famer Ted Williams.
10) San Francisco Giants (New York Giants) last World Series title was in the Big Apple. But they return to New York to face the Mets every year and once in a great while will face the Yankees. My late Friend/Uncle Ernie Harwell called Bobby Thomson's the "Shot Heard 'Round The World" in 1951. The Giants last won a World Series in 1954. During the year Harwell dies, the Giants are champions again. Ernie must be smiling in heaven.
11) Los Angeles Dodgers (Brooklyn Dodgers) return to New York to face the Mets every year and have had some great battles with the Yankees in the World Series since there move out west. Does anybody remember the late Billy Martin versus Tom Lasorda? Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in the sixth game of the 1977 World Series on Oct 18 enabling the Yankees to win 8-4 and win the championship.
12) New Jersey Devils (Colorado Rockies) return to Denver to face the Avalanche periodically.
13) Minnesota Twins (Washington Senators 1901-1960) when they face the Washington Nationals. The Twins have three World Series Championships and their business model for a small market franchise is one many teams copy with their commitment to using their farm system. This season, they moved into a brand new outdoor stadium.
14) Oakland A's (Philadelphia A's & Kansas City A's) return to face the Phillies periodically during inter-league play and see the Royals every year.
15) Utah Jazz (New Orleans Jazz) face the New Orleans Hornets.
16) New Orleans Hornets (Charlotte Hornets) return to North Carolina once a year and face the Charlotte Bobcats.
17) Golden State Warriors (Philadelphia Warriors) return to Philadelphia to play the 76'ers every year. Hall of Fame Center Wilt Chamberlain played for the the Philadelphia Warriors and 76'ers. On March 2, 1962, Chamberlain became the only player in NBA History to score 100 points in a game with the Philadelphia Warriors, a 169-147 win over the NY Knicks. He also grabbed 25 rebounds.
18) Indianapolis Colts (Baltimore Colts) return to face the Baltimore Ravens. Thanks to late Colts Owner Robert Irsay, who moved the team in the middle of the night to Indiana, there is no love loss between these two cities. Their battles in the NFL playoffs get real emotional for the fans in Maryland.
19) Oklahoma City Thunder (Seattle Super Sonics) return to the Pacific Northwest to face the Portland Trail Blazers. Seattle may be two hours north but there are some Sonics diehards that take this commute to see their one-time championship franchise. In 1979, the Sonics were indeed Super.
20) Carolina Hurricanes (Hartford Whalers) when they return to New England and face the Boston Bruins. The Whalers were the one-time home of NHL legend and Hall of Famer Gordie Howe. These two New England teams had a nice rivalry but a new stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina sent this franchise south. Boston's last Stanley Cup Championship was in 1971-72 while the Hurricanes won their first title in 2005-2006.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can be seen at www.scottsports33.com.
Posted by Scott Morganroth at 5:32 AM No comments:
Labels: Atlanta Flames, Bill Lochead, Ernie Harwell, Gordie Howe, Hartford Whalers, Minneapolis Lakers, Olympia Stadium, Washington Senators, Wilt Chamberlain
Good Riddance Lockhart Stadium
It takes six games to become bowl eligible and in a few weeks we'll know if the FAU Owls make it to a sanctioned one this Holiday Season with the benefits being more exposure to enhance the recruiting of this 10-year old football program.
But no matter what, FAU will have played in two Unofficial Bowls.
FAU won it's rivalry game titled "The Shula Bowl" defeating Florida International University (FIU) 21-9 at Fort Lauderdale's Lockhart Stadium on Oct 30.
The next Unofficial Bowl Game will be held on Dec 4 at 2 PM when the Troy Trojans face the Owls in "The Good Riddance Bowl."
This will be the Final Game played at Lockhart Stadium, a facility which has been the home of high school football and professional soccer back in the 1970's and 1980's primarily for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. At full capacity, Lockhart Stadium holds close to 20,000 fans.
I doubt if there will be even 10,000 for the Troy contest which could determine if FAU even has a chance to become bowl eligible.
"The Good Riddance Bowl" is an event that everyone is looking forward to.
The players will no longer have to take showers and change at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. There will be no more post-game interviews by the batting cages.
The press box never had a consistent wireless connection and was too small to accommodate all members of the media and coaching staffs.
There were no TV Monitors for replays in the press box. The outside scoreboards never showed replays and were adequate for high school and soccer games but not major college football.
Access to the press box was limited to old steel stairs.
I won't miss the paltry crowds of 7-10,000 and watching Football Bowl Subdivision games in a half empty stadium.
FAU's on-campus stadium is due to open up in October of 2011 and it couldn't come soon enough!
According to Athletic Director Craig Angelos, the school will have to pay a $1 Million per-year mortgage payment to Regions Bank. That's a payment that Angelos knows he'll gladly make because the future guarantee games to bigger schools should pay out that amount and reach seven figures. If a team is going to get blown out by a BCS Conference School while developing it's own tradition, at least that institution should profit greatly.
Good exposure is priceless but now the Owls have a 30,000 seat on-campus stadium to look forward to. It will bolster recruiting and Angelos is shrewd enough that knowing him, he'll take advantage of Boca Raton's Central Location in Palm Beach County, that he'll be able to schedule concerts along with other events. Boca Raton is 20-25 minutes each way from West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale and about 45-60 from Miami Dade County depending on traffic.
More importantly, future schedules will be able to accommodate 6-7 home games instead of 4-5. The fifth game was usually played at an NFL size stadium either Joe Robbie Stadium or this year, Detroit's Ford Field against the Michigan State Spartans.
The on-campus stadium will eliminate neutral site games excluding bowl games.
In FAU's 30-17 loss to the Spartans on Sept 11 at Ford Field, the Owls cleared $500,000 and that went towards financing the stadium. Angelos was hoping that he would earn much more since there is a large alumni base in Detroit. During a Fall Game in East Lansing a couple years ago, 70,321 fans showed up on a rainy day on September 13, 2008 at Spartan Stadium to watch MSU shutout FAU 17-0.
But now there is relief that Boca Raton will finally and officially be considered a college town. The city does have a Hooters in the area and many of their road football games are shown in the restaurant, in addition to Coach Howard Schnellenberger's weekly radio show which does draw a good crowd.
In the meantime, there will be no emotional farewells when FAU faces Troy in "The Good Riddance Bowl."
I've enjoyed many good times at Lockhart Stadium dating back to the 1980's when the Fort Lauderdale Strikers played there in front of nice crowds in the old North American Soccer League. Back then, South Florida's only major sports teams were Schnellenberger's Miami Hurricanes, the Miami Dolphins and the Strikers.
There have been some exciting FAU Games at Lockhart Stadium including one against my Alma-mater USF when the Bulls brought a No. 6 National Ranking to Fort Lauderdale and escaped with a 35-23 win on October 6, 2007.
Saturday's 24-23 win over Louisiana-Lafayette saw the visitors fail on a two-point conversion which could have tied the contest late. Schnellenberger would joke around with the media afterwards that it reminded him of his Miami Hurricanes National Championship win over Nebraska in the 1984, 50th Orange Bowl Game.
Cornhuskers Coach Tom Osborne elected to go for the win but lost the 1983 National title dropping a 31-30 decision by not converting the two-point attempt.
But as "The Good Riddance Bowl" draws closer, if the wrecking ball hits Lockhart Stadium, there will be no tears, just cheers.
It will be nice to work in a First Class Facility on campus the way it's suppose to be.
Nobody will be more grateful to the change than Owls Sports Information Director Katrina McCormack, who has done a nice job under the circumstances with what she's had to work with.
Good Bye and Good Riddance Lockhart Stadium!
You won't be missed!
May the wrecking ball hit you ASAP!
Labels: Fort Lauderdale Stadium, Fort Lauderdale Strikers, Good Riddance Bowl, Hooters Boca Raton, Katrina McCormack, Lockhart Stadium, Shula Bowl, Wrecking Ball
New Pistons Owner?
What could be the Detroit Pistons answer to New Jersey Nets Owner Mikhail Prokhorov?
It's not Mike Illitch, the Red Wings & Tigers owner. As much as I admire Illitch and everything he stands for, my instincts tell me that for some reason I don't believe adding the Pistons as his third team is a good fit.
If Illitch were running for Mayor of Detroit or Governor of Michigan, there would be no reason to hold an election because he'd win in a landslide. He'd get my vote in a New York second.
His ideas of building a new stadium in Detroit for the Red Wings and Pistons are good but I'm curious as to how he'd drum up the financing to get this project done with the economy a mess.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. If he wants to reach the hearts & emotion of Metro Detroiters, he should move swiftly and build a new Olympia Stadium on the former Tiger Stadium site.
Also, are his assets and pockets deep enough to field three competitive and winning franchises? Baseball doesn't have a salary cap while hockey seems to be raising its salaries gradually without a real money making television contract. The NBA is facing labor problems in the coming year with it's collective bargaining agreement.
For years, Illitch struggled with two teams and the Tigers 43-119 mark in 2003 was the third worst team in major league history and they set the American League record for losses. They finished 47 games behind division winner Minnesota.
The Illitches originally bid in excess of $400 million, higher than expected for an NBA franchise in a season before expected labor issues in a state with a rough economy. I've heard that Illitch Holdings Incorporated lowered it's bid in recent days.
The only way I'd give my full endorsement for the Illitches to own the Pistons is if the fear existed that the team would move out of Michigan.
The Pistons play in a beautiful stadium and belong in Metro Detroit!
Now that the bidding has re-opened, the ownership group that makes the most sense is Beverly Hills billionaire and financier Tom Gores, who has a successful track record of taking unsuccessful companies, changing their business model and making them successful again. Aside from a couple tough years since Owner William Davidson died, Gores transformation shouldn't be as bad since all of the pieces are in place, namely the stadium, airplane, practice facility and venues connected with the purchase.
Gores grew up in Flint, attended Michigan State University and has been active in NBA circles for several years. Since he is a Michigan Man, loves the Pistons, it would appear to be a good fit.
What I like about Gores is the Pistons can continue to play at the Palace of Auburn Hills. There is no reason to move to a better arena. The Palace of Auburn Hills is a gem and they have found a home.
Keeping the Pistons at the Palace would allow Davidson to rest in peace, not turn over in his grave.
I've seen sporting events at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, America West Arena in Phoenix, Chicago's United Center, Milwaukee's Bradley Center, Minnesota's Target Center, Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla, St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla, Amway Arena in Orlando, Fla and the American Airlines Arena in Miami. The Palace compares favorably to these venues.
The addition of Gores would provide Detroit with a new face on the ownership scene since he's only 46-years old. His deep pockets will give the Pistons all the financial resources they will need. At least being a Pistons fan gives him the passion to move the team forward.
If Illitch wants to keep the Red Wings downtown then more power to him. With former Pistons Executive Tom Wilson in charge of getting that stadium, the deal should eventually get done. Wilson is the best hire Iliitch has made in a long time.
But two facilities in one area has worked well for years and will continue to do so.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. We can only hope that the Pistons have the answer to Prokhorov with Gores and this formula leads the Pistons back to championship status. When the Nets play the Pistons with these two men in charge, we'll call their meeting the "Billionaire Bowl."
As long as the Pistons remain in Detroit, this is all that really matters. Seeing the Pistons not a tenant in the Palace is criminal.
In Gores, We Trust? Stay tuned to see if this is another Beverly Hills/Detroit connection, referring to the hit movie sequel Beverly Hills Cop I, II & III.
Maybe the Pistons will hold a few practices at Detroit Mumford High School and comedian Eddie Murphy will have a court-side seat at the Palace with scenes from Beverly Hills Cop showing Murphy and Gil Hill on the scoreboard between timeouts.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can be seen at www.scottsports33.com
Labels: Beverly Hills Cop, Billionaire Bowl, Detroit Mumford High School, Landslide, Tiger Stadium
America's Thankless Job
There is an adage which says that you never know how good you have it until it's gone.
I'll bet Dallas Cowboys Owner/General Manager Jerry Jones could use his former Super Bowl winning coach Jimmy Johnson.
Johnson is the reason that Jones owns three Super Bowl Rings. The FOX Analyst is the mastermind who engineered the big Herschel Walker trade that landed Hall of Fame Running Back Emmitt Smith and several players.
The former Miami Hurricanes National Championship winning pilot also turned wide receiver Michael Irvin and quarterback Troy Aikman into Hall of Famers. Johnson's Dallas record of 44-36 mark may lack in winning percentage but not in accomplishments. He endured a 1989 season which saw Dallas finish 1-15, 1990 where he had a 7-9 mark and then the Cowboys fortunes began to turn.
In 1991 he was 11-5 and lost to the Detroit Lions in the playoffs. The 1992 and 1993 seasons were his final years in Dallas as 13-3 and 12-4 marks were good enough to lead the Cowboys to back-to-back Super Bowl titles against the Buffalo Bills.
Jones proceeded to run Johnson out of town and hired former Oklahoma Sooners Coach Barry Switzer. Inheriting Johnson's players, Switzer would lead the Cowboys to their fifth Super Bowl title over the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1995.
Otherwise, Johnson would have three rings.
I have a hard time understanding why a coach would be ousted after winning a pair of Super Bowl titles, only to gift wrap the last one to his successor. Johnson should have three Super Bowl rings to go along with his college national championship that he earned with the Miami Hurricanes in 1987.
But now I wonder if Johnson's phone number is on Jones speed dial list as the beleaguered owner seeks advice on how to climb out of his 1-7 mess.
As good as legendary coach Bill Parcells was, the Cowboys never made it to a Super Bowl during his regime. From 2003-2006, Parcells was 34-30 and 0-2 in the playoffs.
Then again, quarterback Tony Romo doesn't belong in the same sentence as Aikman as his personal life with Jessica Simpson overshadowed his accomplishments on the field.
His botched snaps on special teams and other untimely mistakes could never lead the Cowboys to the Super Bowl. On October 25, his broken clavicle has virtually ended his season.
I believe that Romo is the most overrated signal caller in the league and until he proves he can win in the playoffs consistently, that opinion won't change. It figures to be awhile before he gets back to the playoffs. Romo can't blame former wide receiver Terrell Owens for the Cowboys recent struggles this season.
Jones was in a giving mood when he traded multiple draft picks to the Detroit Lions for former Texas Longhorns wide receiver Roy Williams on October 14, 2008. Detroit landed tight-end Brandon Pettigrew, wide receiver Derrick Williams and running back Aaron Brown, all of whom are still with the team. Roy Williams signed a six-year contract for $54 million and $26 million guaranteed.
Now Williams is catching passes from his former Lions teammate Jon Kitna, who was on Detroit's 0-16 season team in 2008.
But the Cowboys problems go deeper than there current record. They began in the pre-season when the team finished 3-2. One of their losses was down in Houston where the Texans blasted Dallas 23-7 as the team continued to make all kinds of mistakes, the offensive line struggled and they sustained injuries and were not a shadow of the squad which made last years playoffs.
All the talk about last years playoff run, winning a playoff game, the first for Romo and now deposed Coach Wade Phillips was premature. The dreams of playing in the Super Bowl in their own stadium really ended in August.
It's hard to imagine the head coach doubling as the defensive coordinator. But Jones allowed it to happen as the Cowboys would continue to commit foolish penalties and lost five games by seven points and under then were blown out the past two weeks leading to the hiring of Jason Garrett.
Now Garrett has the most thankless audition of an interim head coaching job in America. The coach in waiting has the challenge of a lifetime. Good Luck Jason. You're the man in charge of making sure Jones $1.3 billion stadium which has a capacity of 80,000 but is expandable to seat up to 100,000, doesn't become half empty.
I've never felt sorry for an NFL head coach as much as I do for Phillips. The man has an overall record of 82-59 and 34-20 with the Cowboys. His overall playoff mark was 1-5. He handled Owens as well as anyone could by addressing him by his first name. Unlike Parcell's, who addressed Owens by referring to him as "The Player" which is a sign of disrespect.
The demise of the Dallas Cowboys squarely falls on Jerry Jones!
He runs strong football minds out of town and now he'll have the ultimate challenge of fixing this Texas size earthquake which is 10 on the Richter Scale. There is no doubt that 60-70% of the players wearing the star on the helmet will be gone after 2010.
If there is no football in 2011 because of a lockout, Cowboys fans will agonize over the 2010 season much longer!
Instead of looking at the post-season, they may end up drafting a quarterback with next years No.1 pick in the 2011 Draft, hoping to find another Aikman. That would be a good start with either Garrett or the next coach.
Johnson and Aikman worked well through the growing pains and the results speak for themselves.
There won't be another Walker trade because there isn't a team dumb enough to trade lots of draft choices and players for a marquee player. The Cowboys don't have a player a team wants to get swindled.
It's hard to believe that if the Detroit Lions don't end their record 24-game road losing streak against the Buffalo Bills today, they'll have an opportunity to do it against a 1-8 Cowboys team which is destined to lose in New York against the Giants.
But to think the Detroit Lions could end that losing streak in Dallas on November 21, is something that nobody saw coming. By then, a 25-game losing streak against a team that was predicted to reach the Super Bowl is mind boggling. Yet, it's quite possible.
On Thanksgiving, Detroit and Dallas will have such poor records that the announcers on both FOX and CBS will have to do lots of homework to explain the rise and fall of both franchises.
If Garrett doesn't get hired, who would be the best fit for "America's Thankless Job?"
Former Pittsburgh Steelers Coach Bill Cowher won't want the job because he'll want the freedom to make his moves. Should John Fox get fired from the Carolina Panthers, he could be the next Jones "Yes Man."
Fox's Brian Billick has won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens and Jones does like to go after these former championship winning coaches either at the college or pro levels with the hiring of Johnson, Switzer and Parcells.
Watching Billick the past couple years at FOX, this guy is knowledgeable and has worked with all kinds of personalities over the years. He'd handle this Texas size challenge well.
Jones could go to the UFL and snap up Las Vegas Locomotive's Coach Jim Fassel, who lost to Billick in the Super Bowl while he was the New York Giants Coach. Being a former coach in the division, Fassel should be able to have an understanding of how to prepare for those teams.
As General Manager and Head Coach, Fassel led the Locomotives to the 2009 UFL championship and has a good track record of working with quarterbacks. He'd have a lot of work to do in Dallas either with Romo or a prospect. Building any franchise from scratch looks good on a person's resume and Fassel is doing a fine job in Nevada.
Finally, Jon Gruden has worked for Al Davis and built the nucleus of a an Oakland Raiders team that he defeated with Tony Dungy's Tampa Bay Buc's players.
But Gruden has a Super Bowl ring more recently than Jones and his fiery personality would be a good fit in Dallas. He survived under Davis and now Jones is in a desperate situation.
I believe Jerry would give him space to do his job. Gruden could be the closest thing to bringing Jimmy Johnson back. If Gruden is a great salesman, he might be able to entice Irvin and Smith to join his coaching staff.
Regardless, for those who underestimate Johnson's impact and blueprint on the franchise, it's been 15 years since the Cowboys won the Super Bowl. It figures to be much longer with the team in bad shape.
Dallas mediocre pre-season is a good lesson that those games mean more than we think since a team has to work on developing chemistry together and get the mistakes out of the way early. That's why the mini camps and off-season programs are in place so these disasters get averted.
Jones should take a page from the New York Yankees and that's when the late George Steinbrenner hired General Manager Brian Cashman to run the team, the Yankees won five championships.
The right move for Jones is to hire Johnson back as General Manager, stay in his suite and let Johnson run the franchise and bring in the players. Jones can handle the business side.
At the college level, Johnson had an 81-34-3 record and won the national championship with Miami. Including his time with the Miami Dolphins, Johnson compiled an 80-64 mark and was 9-4 in the playoffs including his two titles. Time will tell if his record ever gets him elected into Pro Football's Hall of Fame, but he should be there if for no other reason, "It's Quality, Not Quantity." Johnson knows college talent and the Cowboys need him to call the shots having won at both levels.
The only thing Johnson didn't accomplish was watching Dan Marino win a title. But he's not a miracle worker trying to coach a player who is the most one-dimensional player on the planet. That's for another day.
Johnson's phrase, "How About Those Cowboys" is now the punch line of all the comedy shows and it's not funny anymore.
You never know how good you have it until it's gone and I'm sure that Johnson is classy enough to help Jones out of this jackpot. But Johnson will have to be smart enough to make sure that Jones stays out of way and make sure his meddling is in the next contract.
Otherwise, saying no to "America's Thankless Job" will be an easy decision.
Labels: Earthquake, Gift Wrap, Jackpot, Jim Fassel, Las Vegas Locomotives, Mastermind, Salesman, Speed Dial
Lions Best Friend
During the past 2 1/2 years, the Detroit Lions haven't had many good friends.
With records of 0-16, 2-14 and now 2-5, there have been blackouts at Ford Field as a result of an abundance of bad football.
Since the addition of former Georgia Bulldogs QB Matthew Stafford with the top pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, "The Motown Gunslinger" has caused plenty of aggravation for one team.
Stafford is 2-0 against the Washington Redskins and in each Lions victory, he sent shock waves back to the Nations Capital.
How embarrassing was it for Redskins Nation to lose 19-14 to Detroit on September 27, 2009 which enabled the Lions to snap a 19-game losing streak? Detroit's last win occurred on Dec 23, 2007.
It was so bad that Head Coach Jim Zorn lost his job at season's end following a 4-12 campaign. His QB Jason Campbell, who threw for 340 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, is now with the Oakland Raiders.
Stafford, "The Motown Gunslinger" threw for 241 yards, a touchdown and zero interceptions in the victory in front of 40,896 relieved fans, and the fewest to watch a Lions home game in 20 years.
On Sunday, "The Motown Gunslinger" struck again in his first game back after missing five contests with a separated right shoulder, leading Detroit to a 37-25 win in front of 46,329.
He completed 26-of-45 attempts for 212 yards and four touchdowns, three to receiver Calvin Johnson, plus one to tight-end Brandon Pettigrew.
In addition to Stafford's performance, Detroit's defense had seven sacks, two each from rookie Ndamukong Suh, and veterans Cliff Avril and Kyle Vanden Busch. Suh now has 6 1/2 sacks this season and when the Redskins benched starting QB Donovan McNabb, havoc occurred again as Vanden Busch forced a fumble on back-up QB Rex Grossman, Suh picked up the football and rambled 17-yards for a touchdown to seal the win.
The Redskins left Detroit with a 4-3 record and even though Head Coach Mike Shanahan won't have to worry about job security, he'll have another headache.
What lies ahead in his working relationship with McNabb? Time will tell.
But meanwhile, despite the fact that the Redskins lead the all-time series with the Lions 27-11 which dates back to 1932, wins No. 10 and 11 were huge for Detroit. Snapping that long losing streak and matching last years win total are building blocks and baby steps to get the team back to respectability.
At least the Lions know what franchise has become their best friend recently and the Redskins were there when they needed them. It won't erase the memories of Detroit's lone NFC Championship Game when the Redskins blasted the Lions 41-10 in 1991 at RFK Stadium leaving Detroit Super Bowl-less.
That's part of the past. It will be interesting to see what happens to the Lions the rest of this season as well as the Redskins.
But for one week, the Redskins had to get hammered by the local media for another embarrassing loss to a struggling but promising franchise led by "The Motown Gunslinger."
The flight from Detroit to Washington D.C. was a long and quiet one for the second straight year.
Labels: 1991 NFC Championship Game, Baby Steps, Building Blocks, Super Bowl-less, The Motown Gunslinger
Scott Morganroth
My Super Passion: In 40-years in the Sports Media Business, I’ve been fortunate enough to experience some Great Moments with Championship People. I look forward to any feedback you readers have. I encourage you to look at the MOTOR CITY MAD MOUTH HALL OF FAME ON August 8, 2012 because these people have made the Journey in Sports Media as fun as it's been.
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tv Wolf CNN December 26, 2016 10:00am-11:01am PST
hello. i'm jake tapper in for wolf blitzer. 1:00 p.m. here in washington, d.c. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. we start with anger from israel aimed at the united states, more specifically at president obama. at issue is that united nations security council resolution condemning the construction of israeli settlements in those disputed territories. israel wanted the u.s. to block
the resolution. the obama administration decided to about stain, meaning that the resolution could continue going forward. in response, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu summoned the u.s. ambassador to his office, and the israeli prime minister has gone so far as to accuse the united states of conspiring with palestinians to harass israel. israeli ambassador to the united nations ron dermer tried to explain israel's anger on cnn "new day" today. >> it's an old story that the united nations gangs up against israel. what is new is that the united states did not stand up and oppose that gang up and what is outrageous is that the united states was actually behind that gang up, to bring a resolution to the security council is not just something that israel opposes. it's something that barack obama opposed, in september 2011 he stood at the united nations and he said, these issues should not be handled at the u.n. security council. they should be handled through negotiations. we agree on that. we have a disagreement with the
administration over settlements. but you don't take, as the prime minister just said, you don't take your friends to the security council. as biased as the u.n. is, we are a member of the community of nations and will fight for our rights there, but i hope that the new administration will have a comprehensive review of policies at the u.n. not just towards israel also towards the united states. the u.n. is a cesspool of anti-american inch and anti-israel activity. i hope the new administration with bipartisan support in congress will look at those programs and not simply give a blank check to all of this anti-american and anti-israel hostility. >> this is the first u.n. security council resolution criticizing israel that has passed during the obama administration. one, that compares to the president george w. bush years where six passed. ronald reagan, 21 passed. obama's vicritics saying this w daf defining the settlements as
illegal, which could have ramifications. we have a panel with us. in the studio, elise labott. oren, start with you. oren lieberman before might this fight go from here? >> reporter: prime minister benjamin netanyahu hasn't backed off any language he's used. without question, hashest criticism we've seen from the netanyahu government directed right at president obama. netanyahu has made it very clear he thinks this actions, lashing out at obama was in his words measured, responsible and vigorous and he says that this won't hurt israel's standing in the long run. that country will come to respect israel for standing up to itself. what netanyahu made clear, he's done working with president obama, as ron dermer, israeli ambassador to the u.n., looking forward to president-elect trump
who promises to be much friendlier to israel. >> and evidence the u.s. was working on this resolution but have not revealed that evidence publicly kbhap a publicly. what are you hearing? >> reporter: look a palestinian delegation was here a few weeks ago talking with secretary of state john kerry. i think it has something to do with information they have about that. they've been very kind of coy what evidence they have, but, look, this administration has known about this resolution for some time. it's been in the works for about a year and secretary kerry was in new zealand, talked to the foreign minister there who voted for the resolution. they needed to know whether or not it would be able to vote for something. what the israelis are charging is that president obama, secretary kerry orchestrated this. that they were involved in kind of drafting this and pushing this along. i think somewhere in the middle is probably the truth. the administration says, oh, we didn't draft it. we didn't put it forward, but
they certainly were involved making sure it was a certain text in getting it to the security council. >> thank you. athena, is president obama sending a message to benjamin netanyahu after a very contentious eight years and no lost love between them? >> reporter: hi, jake. i think it's fair to say he is sending a message and that message is that the white house, the obama administration, agrees with much of the international community that the continued building, the continued construction of thesettlements disputed lands is not helpful to the peace process or helpful to any eventual two-state solution. the white house argues this position on this has been clear for years. this may about new low in the contentious relationship between the two leaders, another low, last year. march of 2015 when congressional republicans without consulting the white house invited the prime minister to address a joint session of congress to express his opposition to the iran nuclear deal.
he said that deal not only wouldn't work, but it could lead to the destruction of the jewish state of israel. so this has ban difficult relationship for some time. netanyahu believes that president obama is naive when it comes to issues, involving the middle east and, of course, president obama has been talking since his campaign in 2008 about his willingness to engage with iran. a lot of disagreement between these two men. this may be the latest example how difficult that relationship has been, and as you said, as we heard from oren, prime minister netanyahu very much looking forward to the next administration. jake? >> all right. athena jones, elise labott, oren lieberman, thanks very much. and bringing in the former israeli ambassador to the united states, he's now a member of the parliament in israel. the knesset and deputy minister of ddiplomacy. thank you for joining us. appreciate it. >> thank you, jake. >> talk to me about the evidence your government claims to have that the u.s. actually drafted
this resolution conspired to put it forward at the security council? what kind of evidence are we talking about? >> well, what they've received from other governments around the world who have been involved in this and i think that we're not disclosing those sources. i think that the prime minister's made it very clear that he believes that the -- that president obama's administration has been instrument until formulating this resolution and advancing it. it's a pretty serious charge. i think the overwhelming sense in the state of israel and talking from the states of jerusalem, a sense of hurt, a sense of abandonment, outrage. i'm talking to you here, where i am, about a 200 mile drive from where 400,000 syrians have been massacred. 400 miles where massacres in iraq from a civil war in sinai,
about three hours and the united states and the security council are beating up on the only democracy. it's very, very outrageous for us. >> one of the questions the obama administration would put to you is, how much longer can israel call itself a democracy if you control vast swaths of territory in which palestinians don't have the right of travel, the right to vote. are you not putting yourself with all of these settlements and without any sort of peace process actually going on, on a course to no longer be a democracy? >> we hear the question quite off. here's one answer. first of all, palestinians have a right to travel. 100,000 palestinians enter israel every day. about five minutes to cross the border in most cases. palestinians can vote. they can vote for their own leadership. their leadership decided for ten years now not to hold an election, because they know that president mahmoud abbas will be
defeated by hamas. we haven't stopped their election. we have to deal with these untruths all the time, jake, but the fact of the matter is, we have been waiting for eight years at a negotiating table for the palestinians to show up. prime minister netanyahu said it again and again he's willing to negotiate directly with the palestinian leadership without preconditions to reach a solution based and two states for two peoples and every time he has stuck out his hand in peace to president abbas it has been swatted away, and now this resolution comes, which enables the palestinians not only to overrun the peace process not to sit down at the peace table but to take israel to court and brand israel as an international criminal and sanction and boycott us and they're going to do that not to get a better two-state solution but to take us down. >> do you think that, is that why israel seems to be making a much bigger deal out of this abstention by the united states and the u.n. security council?
the one resolution, critical of israel that obama has permitteded to happen, as opposed to the six that happened during george w. bush's administration or the three during clinton or the 21 during reagan? is that the distinction? the idea that because of this resolution, now israeli soldiers will be able to be taken to, the international criminal court? >> it's not only israeli soldiers. it's 600,000 citizens of the state of israel. who live in areas which more than 50 years ago were part of jordan, which nobody even remembers where these lines are in the city of jerusalem anymore. my own kinsmen wouldn't know. it is taking the western wall, coattail, the holiest site in jerusalem and categorizing it as a legally occupied land. any jew who prays in the holiest place in judaism is going to be branded an international criminal. now, think about that. that does not -- the reagan administration denouncing us for blowing up the iraqi nuclear
reactor in 1981, by wait they thanked us for a later, but it is -- it is a resolution which can have profoundly, profoundly harmful effects to this state. and what can we say? after eight years we have had now two major blows to our security. first, iran nuclear deal and the second, this resolution, we've dealt with many blows in past but never dealt with blows that have been dealt by our number one ally in the world, by the united states of america. and that is why this state has been reacting the way it has and why it feels a sense of outrage and hurt. >> former israeli ambassador to the united states, michael oren, thank you so much. happy hanukkah. coming up, president-elect trump will shut down his charity. it's not as easy as shutting off the lights. we'll explain. and fans come to pay homage
to musician george michael. >> it's like losing our brother. >> like losing a family member. . almost there. i can't reach it. if you have alligator arms, you avoid picking up the check. what? it's what you do. i got this. thanks, dennis! if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. growwwlph. it's what you do. oh that is good crispy duck.
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the presidential inauguration is a mere 25 days away and president elebllect tr is pulling the plug on his foundation. does little to resolve conflicts of interests to say nothing about questions raised by the new york attorney general and others. the president-elect is in florida for the holidays. correspondent jessica schneider joins us particular palm beach with the latest. tell us about the complications that might affect the president-elect's decision to try to dissolve the trump foundation? >> reporter: well, jake, new york's attorney general is saying simply it won't be that easy. they're saying that the
president-elect cannot simply end the trump foundation. in particular because of the legal entanglements it's in. the spokesperson putting it succinctly in a statement saying, the trump foundation is still under investigation by this office, and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete. now, attorney general schneiderman, who was a hillary clinton supporter during the campaign actually launched this investigation in the midst of the campaign, amid allegations that donald trump had used the foundation funds to settle some of his personal business dealings. donald trump did release a statement, not referring at all to the investnvestigation, sayi would dissolve the foundation and looked to continue his philanthropy in other ways. despite the fact donald trump has not tributed since 2008 and the foundation has no employees. >> and about a much larger
issue, how he might try separate himself from his larger global business empire. when do we expect to learn more about that and what steps the president-elect is likely to take? >> reporter: jake, we're expecting an announcement, possible press conference at some point in the next few weeks telling us it will happen in january. after a postponed december 15th press conference. of course, this is all quite a cumbersome process. the general counsel for the trump organization telling cnn this weekend they're looking at ways to actually re-evaluate various transactions around the world. they're also looking at ways to comply with various conflicts laws. now, of course, donald trump has said it. he is immune from those conflicts laws and is, in fact, right, but, of course, there is that emoluments clause not 2e69ed barring public officials from accepting money from foreign governments. donald trump, of course, business dealings all over the world and it is still to be determinaled how exactly he will
deal with dissolving perhaps parts of his vast empire across the world, but we are expecting more information in the next few weeks in a january press conference. jake? >> all right, jessica schneider live from palm beach, thank you. democrats are dismissing president-elect trump's decision to shut down the foundation. dnc saying, shutting a charity is not substitute for divesting from his for-profit business and putting assets in a blind trust, the only way to guarantee separation between the trump administration and the trump business. quote/unquote. and senior editor for the federalist, and a commentator for "the new yorker" and dana dash from cnn. dana, start with you. what's your take on the news he'll try to dissolve the trump 230ugs? foundation? >> look, the fact -- you don't release something that you really think is going to be very good news without a lot of
repercussions on christmas eve, if you don't think there's going to be repercussions. that's what it is. look, it's a good first step, if, in fact, this is the beginning, as jessica was talking about, trying to separate himself from his vast for-profit holdings, but, you know, he knew and knows that he's under investigation, and it's not so easy. the other thing he said they're going to stop operations. jessica pointed out he personally hasn't donated in, since 2008. >> and the bigger issue, obviously, ryan, the trump global business empire. we still don't know what he's going to do with that. the suggestion so far seemed to be that eric and don jr., his sons, his adult sons, are going to run the family business, and he will, like, wall himself off in some sort of way. >> yes. >> that's probably not going to be enough to satisfy critics including conservatives. >> the two leading ethical
former government officials, painter from the bush administration andizeman fr izc the obama administration, laid out what's normful you're not the president, most government officials have to divest. and figuring out what the for-profit will be, why does he want to deal with the political ramifications of this that will just -- it could overwhelm his administration. every time there is a relationship, a policy statement with respect to a foreign country where he has any business, the headline is going to be, what's the ath ngle for business? how are his sons benefitting from this? even if not actually that way, but the appearance. what he may realize, politically, if he wants to be a
successful president he should put this behind him. >> and we've talked about this a great deal on "the lead" with you on. it's actually in his best interests to try to wall off as much of this as possible for his own, for the sake of his own presidency. >> it's true. but also true he gets a lot of his self-esteem from his business dealings. he enjoys running his business, the thing he enjoying more than anything else. it's hard for him to get to the step realizing the trouble involved in running these pap good first step with the foundation. fairly inconsequential but a good first step. people should try to help him, encourage transparency, accountability and come up with good solutions because it is a very complicated process. >> and can i just say you're totally right about donald trump in that this is his whole persona, ego, who he is, his businesses, but doesn't get better than being president of the united states.
so he can adopt that, and put these others aside for four to eight years. >> her diagnosis is correct. speakingdiagnoses, president obama in an interview with david aal rod talked about the challenges democrats face moving forward. this is from "the ax files." take a listen. >> if we can't find some way to break through what is a complicated history in the south and start winning races there and winning back the southern white voters without betraying our commitment to civil rights, and diversity, if we can't do those things then we can win electi electio elections, but we will see the same kinds of patterns we saw during my presidency. a progressive president, but a gridlocked congress that can't move an agenda forward. >> i'm not sure what progressive president he's talking about, but he's talking about the need
for congress to become more politically diverse than it is now. >> okay. so the -- the black republican in the senate is from south carolina and hillary clinton lost midwest states, northern states, that had been historically the place for the most, the most open to diversity. so i'm not exactly sure where he was going with that. if he was really trying to kind of paint the kind of diagnosis that he wanted to paint about the election, and about his presidency as opposed to the reality of what it looks like. >> a fascinating interview but it really confirms a lot of critics worst fears. he lives in bauble, unable to take responsibility for his actions and doesn't see criticism of himself as legitimate. in 2008 elected president, democrats controlled all three branches of government. during his time democrats lost more than 1,000 seats, lost control of congress and in large part because his agenda was
unpopular, not communicated well, also and fascinating to read this review and see him not coming to terms with the unpopularity of his pone plans, obama care. no. unpopular. massachusetts voters elected scott brown to replace ted kennedy because of how much they didn't like obama care and got more unpopular the more people lost health insurance after promises they wouldn't. nice to see a little accountability from the president who oversaw this much loss for the democratic party. >> all right. we're going to come back to you. take a quick break. stick around. back to you in a few minutes, in what has become the first family's christmas tradition. president obama and the first lady spent part of the day with troops and their families at marine corps base hawaii. the president talked about it being his last christmas there as president but promised to be back. he thanked the marines and their families for their service. >> it's impossible for us to fully repay what you've done and
the sacrifices that you make, but at least it's important to hear from us that what do you matters, and that we know about it. and that we're grateful, and that we'll stay grateful even when many of you end up being out of uniform. >> up next, our panel breaks down their top political stories of 2016, and, no, they're not all ten about donald trump. stay with us.
stunning, astonishing,
unprecedented, unpresidented, some of the words used to describe this year in politics as one administration ends and another is about to begin. here is is a cnn look at the top ten political stories of 2016. >> number ten -- conservative supreme court justice antonin scalia died suddenly in february. >> everyone is on the line. >> annan unprecedented move, republicans vowed to block any high court appointments until after the 2016 election. >> simply to turn your back before a president even names a nominee is not an option the constitution leaves open. >> reporter: judge mark garland nominated in march but never even had a hearing. number nine. >> want to give me a good sendoff? go vote. >> reporter: in the final presidential year, the obama hit the trail. >> when they go low, we go high. >> reporter: with more catch
phrases and less restraints, but a different tone after the democratic defeat. >> if you succeed, then the country succeeds. >> reporter: number eight. >> i beat everybody. i beat the hell out of them. >> reporter: donald trump won the republican nomination but struggled to win over the party. republican leaders distanced themselves. >> will you support him? >> i'm just not ready to do that. >> reporter: will the party now unify around president trump? >> we're going to hit the ground running. >> reporter: number seven, trump's unvarnished campaign attracted extremist support. >> i don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy. >> reporter: he was slow to denounce white supremacists. >> david duke endorgss me? okay. i disavow. okay? >> reporter: and controversial rhetoric on race -- >> mexican heritage, i'm building a wall. >> reporter: and targeting a judge in a fraud case. >> saying he can't do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism?
>> no. i don't think so at all. >> reporter: number six, the conventions. >> the first time that a major party has nominated a woman for president. >> reporter: hillary clinton made history in philadelphia, and a gold star family made trump an offer. >> have you even read the united states constitution? i will gladly lend you my copy. >> reporter: in cleveland, melania trump's speech was -- familiar. >> you work hard for what you want in life. >> that you work hard for what you want in life. >> reporter: and senator ted cruz refused to endorse the nominee. >> vote for conscience. >> reporter: number five, trump's past went public. there was a former miss universe feud. >> called her miss piggy. >> reporter: responding to a link to her past. >> tweets including one to check out a sex tape. >> reporter: then a crude video of trump. >> grab them by the [ bleep ]
rrnt . >> reporter: he brushed it aside. >> his hands started going towards my knee and up my skirt. >> reporter: trump denied the allegations and said he would sue. number four, senator bernie sanders built a huge movement. >> we are actually listening to the american people. not the 1%. >> reporter: but was the system rigged against outsiders? >> secretary clinton received about 450 super delegates before anybody else was in the race. >> reporter: bernie or bust protestors crowded the convention. >> you're being ridiculous. >> reporter: and refused to vote for clinton. number three -- democrats were hacked. >> they're under attack. >> reporter: stolen e-mails from the dnc revealed bias against sanders forcing the party chair to resign. >> no question to my mind the dnc was at opposition to our campaign. >> reporter: u.s. intelligence points to russian cyber attacks.
>> our goal continues to be to send a clear message to russia or others not to do this to us, because we can do stuff to you. >> reporter: number two. >> there is evidence they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive highly classified information. >> reporter: the fbi recommended no charges for clinton's use of a private e-mail server. still, the issue was gold for republicans. >> she's guilty as hell. >> lock her up! >> reporter: she tried to quell concerns. >> my e-mails are so boring. >> reporter: the fbi announced they discovered new ones just before election day. >> it's imperative the bureau explain this issue. >> reporter: the trove contained nothing new but the damage was done. number one -- >> hillary clinton has called donald trump to concede the race. >> reporter: donald trump won the white house. >> the campaign unlike anything we've seen in our lifetime. >> i love this country.
>> reporter: as protestors took to the streets, secretary clinton bowed out. >> we have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought. >> reporter: now, a cabinet of billionaires outsiders and military men will join trump for an era of, who knows what. >> let's bring back our panel and get their views on the top political stories of 2016. with us still molly hemingway, and ryan lizza, and cnn correspondent dana bash. molly, start with you. i confess, others, i want to go back and take that out, put this one in. hit me with your best shot. >> agree with some of yours. scalia's death, huge for people. galvanized to get behind trump, thought the stakes were so high. launched a strategy working to keep republicans together along the ticket. hillary clinton's e-mail scandal number two. not just because she did a bad
job answering questions but confirmed suspicions about her bad judgment, proximity in the scandal and wasn't replaced by anything else. you don't remember her talking what she would do in terms of foreign, economic policy. dominated her entire campaign. of course, trump winning is definitely the big one, and not just winning but reshaping the republican party as he did it. really brought in total different views on foreign and trade policy, reshaping conservatism. remains to be seen how much real reshape the republican party but some realignment. that's fascinating. >> and political norms violated and broken in 2016, the big story really of this year. a lot of rules went out of the window. why i put the supreme court vak saens vacancy at the top of the list. unprecedented to say we're
waiting until after election and not going to fill that spot. no doubt, once a norm is broken, the other side pockets it and will do the same in position. watch for democrats to push it further when they're in charge of the senate. two, trump's conflicts of interest. an issue i think didn't get enough attention during the campaign. frankly ball a lot of people felt trump wouldn't win and we in the media didn't focus on it as much. the fact you have a billionaire businessman who hasn't yet decided, less than a month before sworn into office, what he's going to do with his for-profit business empire, an enormous, very important story. and finally, the russian hacking and the meddling in our election, frankly, trump's own lack of outrage about it and a lot of republicans see it as a partisan issue and not condemned putin or been on the side of democrats in a united front against what russia did. i think it's a big mistake, and another norm violated and there used to be a saying, politics stopped at the water's edge,
hasn't always been true. this is a situation it should have been true. >> salve salute absolutely. dana? >> bill clinton for me, boarding loretta lynch's plane. >> absolutely. >> because it just -- a symbol of so much. number one, of bill clinton either not getting it or maybe more accurately getting it, but thinking that because he's bill clinton he can put his charm on and get on her plane and have a conversation, maybe about nothing pertaining to the investigation, but still -- you know. >> what we're told. >> what we're told. still it reminded people who remember the '90s that the clintons sometimes think they're above it and they're separate from what you're supposed to do. never mind the fact that moment also meant she had to separate herself from the investigation. >> loretta lynch, the attorney general. >> and jim comey fbi director much more in charge. that's number three. two the debates. not just because they were
must-see tv, also because looking back with hindsight, hillary clinton did so well. she seemed at the time to play him, to bait him on so many issues. she was so prepared. but she was focusing on the wrong thing. we now know. she was focusing on his temperament and character, not his policies. and number one, you and i talked about this in the break. for sure, hillary clinton's defloorables comment. >> basket of deplorables, yeah. >> baskets of deplorables. not caught on tape. >> saying it with a camera at a fund-raiser, talking about donald trump supporters accusing them of, at least half of them, they said, being -- >> irredeemable. >> and sort of apologized but not really properly, and correct me if i'm wrong. i think it was -- your interview with robby mook, campaign manager, he said that was sort of the under-reported thing that really changed their polling internally and made them realize, you know what?
it wasn't necessarily just comey. it was that issue. it made the traditional democratic base, the people who ended up going to donald trump think she really doesn't get us. >> i don't think there's any story that demonstrates the divide between the people who report on politicians and the voters, than that story. because a lot of us, our reaction was, okay, she got the number right. a lot of deplorable, racist and what a lot -- >> wrong. >> where she landed it. got the number wrong, not the fact they're deplorable and a lot of voters, you're talking about my husband. talking about my brother. >> exactly. >> where i might vote and a woman who worked for the clinton campaign, her entire job just talk to undecided voters in swing states, entire election. published something saying that was the moment they all started moving away from hillary clinton. fascinating. >> lessons, attack your opponent. the politician. don't attack the voters, no matter what. >> attack the voters. bad idea. general rule of thumb. >> yeah.
>> all right. >> shamed for supporting someone, no matter how bad they are. happy new year to one and all. still only day two of the 12 days of christmas. big issue for you, molly. >> and day three of hanukkah. >> and day three of whatever you are, ryan. >> and thank you all. he helped define a decade, both a musical and cultural icon. up next. ♪ sun going down on me imy moderate to severeng crohn's disease. i didn't think there was anything else to talk about. but then i realized there was. so, i finally broke the silence with my doctor about what i was experiencing. he said humira is for people like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms
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♪ yes, i've got to have faith, hmm, i've got to have faith ♪ because i've got-to-have faith, faith, faith ♪ i've got have faith, faith, faith ♪ millions of fans around the world are mourning the death of a pop music icon, george michael died in his home yesterday near london. the manager says the suspected cause of death was heart failure. george michael's contrary spanned 30 years, a number of huge hits and a number of personal highs and lows. many of them playing out in front of the public. cnn ian lee is in london for us today. ian, start with the fans. george michael sold tens of millions of records. how is he being remembered by fans today? >> reporter: well, jake when i was out there talking to them, a lot of them just had love in their hearts, and also deeply shocked he died at a young age of 53. he was gearing up for another album. fans were looking forward to that. and so when you talk to them,
you saw them come here, a lot of them bringing flowers, candles, personal notes, and when you read those notes, you could get a sense for what he meant to these people. you know, spanning a few decades, and coming out with a number of hits. winning two grammys. this is somewhat who lift her mark -- left his mark on society, on his fans. i talked to three sisters who had this to say. >> it was just shock. >> it's like losing our brother. >> yeah. >> it's like losing a family member. >> yeah. >> but he meant everything to us. >> we connected. >> reporter: and, jake when i was talking to people there, some of them actually knew him from the community and said he was approachable, you could go up, talk to him. he was just like an average guy on the street, and that's what a lot of people are remembering, too, right now. >> ian lee in london. thank you so much. russia declare as national day of mourning after one of its
military planes crashed into the black sea with dozens of passenger and crew onboard, all believe to have been lost. when we come back, why moscow is ruling out terrorism as the cause. rodney and his new business. he teaches lessons to stanley... and that's kind of it right now. but rodney knew just what to do...he got quickbooks. it organizes all his accounts, so he knows where he stands in an instant. ahhh...that's a profit. which gave him the idea to spend a little cash on some brilliant marketing! ha, clever. wow, look at all these new students! way to grow, rodney! know where you stand instantly. visit quickbooks.com.
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a russian military plane crashed into the black seas killing all 92 onboard. aviation officials in russia say pilot error or a technical issue may be to blame. they are rooming out tear ridrr as a possible cause. a national daying mourning remember those lost in the accident. meanwhile, russia's official news agency says divers have been able to locate a large piece of the plane's hull. roughly 90 feet deep in the black sea. cnn senior international correspondent matthew chance slis live in moscow. how were officials able to quickly rule our terrorism given they just found parts of the
plane? >> reporter: i know. that's a great question. in fact, they were ruling out terrorism in the hours after the plane was lost before they found any wreckage at all. they've been saying from the outset and the kremlin emphasized it again, this is probably not terrorism, saying. most likely not terrorism. pilot error, mechanical failure. these >> they haven't even found the black box recorders yet. divers are looking for that. they have a huge search for human remains and fuselage. it's very deep at the bottom of the black sea. you get the impression they don't want to confront the idea this could have been terrorism because this was a military plane. it was operated by the russian defense ministry. it left from a military. it was en route to syria. it was carrying on board not just ordinary russian soldiers but members of the russian choir. they were meant to give a new
year's performance, a concert to russian troops. of course, there are no survivors. this is a huge embarrassment to the russians as well as a huge tragedy nationally. it's been a day of mourning today. we're still not at a point we can say with any international what the outcome of this crash investigation is going to be. russian officials saying it's likely to be pilot error or mechanical failure but i don't think we can rule out terrorism at this point. >> matthew, you just mentioned the achoir. they were flying to syria why? they were going to perform for russian soldiers there? >> that's right. they were en route to latakia, the town where there's a big russian military base. they've been carrying out air strikes from that military base. there were lots of russian troops there, lots of pilots, support staff that are based
there. this is one of those make the troops feel good. new year is a huge celebration across russia. they celebrate new year. it's a big celebration. this was meant to be a huge, perhaps, celebration of the russian victory in syria. remember, it's only been a few days ago the russians announced an end to their operation inside aleppo and brought that back under control of bashar al assad. this was meant to be a time of celebration for the military inside syria. members of the choir, members of the orchestra as well, it's a huge blow. >> that's also one of the reasons it's so curious they would rule out terrorism so quickly because among the many groups the russians and bashar al assad's forces were fighting in aleppo, along with moderate rebels and innocent civilians and the like are some groups allied with terrorists like al nusra and the like. that's why the discounting of
terrorism seems to curious. >> i agree with that. funny enough, this has happened before. just over a year ago there was a russian civilian airliner shot down that at first the russians said no way this is terrorism. a few days later it emerged terrorism was responsible for that. >> matthew chance in moscow, thank you so much. one christian town in iraq celebrating christmas for the first time in years. we'll show you how they're marking this holiday after being liberated from isis control next. take one.
directv now. stream all your entertainment! anywhere! anytime! can we lose the 'all'. there's no cbs and we don't have a ton of sports. anywhere, any... let's lose the 'anywhere, anytime' too. you can't download on-the-go, there's no dvr, yada yada yada. stream some stuff! somewhere! sometimes! you totally nailed that buddy. simple. don't let directv now limit your entertainment. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. an illustration of the dangers of fake news, these fick tashs concocted news accounts on strange websites. pakistan's defense minister fired off a threatening tweet
aimed at israel over the weekend. quote, israeli defense minister threatens nuclear retaliation, presuming pakistan role in syria against isis. israel forgets pakistan is a nuclear state, too, unquote. a nuclear reminder. he was responding to a supposed quote from a former israeli defense minister saying israel would destroy pakistan with a nuclear attack if pakistan sent troops to syria. a standoff, it seems, with cataclysmically high stakes yet the israeli part of the story was fake, it never happened. the former defense minister never issued that threat, but another example of how this fake news phenomenon is no joke. pakistan's dwins defense minister changed his message to one of peace. happy holidays. iraq's joint military says coalition forces have killed 97 isis terrorists in areas around mosul. the militants were killed in three separate incidents. iraqi forces have been trying to
retake mosul from isis control since early november. ed in nearby christian town of bartella, residents are celebrating christmas for the first time in years. the town was liberated from isis control in october. cnn's mohammed lila was more on the celebrations. >> reporter: it's a moment that many at this historic church thought they'd never see. ♪ >> reporter: celebrating the birth of christ in a place once desecrated by isis. >> translator: even if it's isis, the lord taught us to love and forgive our enemies and to pray for them. the most important thing is for us to live in harmony and peace. >> reporter: isis overran this town more than two years ago. everyone fled. look closely. bullet holes on the walls are scars that remain. isis broke the church's glass but not its heart. >> translator: happiness and
sadness at the same time. this town used to be full of life, but now look at it, such a desolate place. we can't live here now. >> reporter: the town was recaptured by iraqi forces in october this year. thousands of isis fighters are just a few kilometers away. this is now a place of razor wire, broken buildings and the reality of war. >> translator: i could never imagine this has happened. we have lived here for more than 1,000 years. we never thought we would be displaced. our houses are destroyed. we won't be able to come back. >> reporter: in town, the green of a single plastic christmas tree breaks up the misery surrounding it. this is a place guarded by the army now, just holding this mass requires armed soldiers at the door. >> translator: we need to get international protection. there is no southeast, we cannot live in this area. today we have no dignity. we are displaced in our own country.
>> reporter: displaced but not disheartened. >> translator: we have to have hope in this life. if we don't have hope, then we are finished. >> reporter: the ancient hymns of one of the world's oldest christian communities are being sung here once again. a small act of life in a country that's seen so much death. cnn. that's it for me. the news continues next. happy holidays. i'm martd tin savidge in for bre baldwin. today israeli prime minister netanyahu defended his outrage over the friday's vote at the united nations. >> the result of the voting is as
CNN December 26, 2016 10:00am-11:01am PST
Wolf Blitzer looks at politics, breaking news and international stories.
Israel 23, Donald Trump 12, Clinton 11, Isis 10, U.n. 7, Russia 6, Obama 6, Pakistan 6, Syria 6, Trump 6, United Nations 5, Obama Administration 5, George Michael 4, Netanyahu 4, Rodney 3, Achoo 3, Jake 3, Benjamin Netanyahu 3, Jerusalem 3, Moscow 3
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Syndic No.2
Etching & Short Story by Bob Thompson
Etching by Bob Thompson
Steve, killed 9-25-66 Quang Tri Province / Mezzotint Etching
Short Story by Bob Thompson
Dog’s Out
Your ignorance is only matched by your hypocrisy. You urge Afghan citizens to pick up their guns and take their country back from the Taliban but you would leave your own citizens empty handed.
My fingers rested for a second on the keyboard as I composed my next thought.
If an intruder broke down your door, wouldn’t you want the opportunity to defend yourself? S 845 allows all citizens to carry concealed weapons. Your misguided editorial opposing this legislation dated …
I looked around my desk for the editorial that I had torn out of yesterday’s paper. Not seeing it, I got up and started to look around the small bedroom that was now my study/office. I shuffled through stacks of old Wall Street Journals, News weeks, Field and Streams and unopened solicitations that sat on the coffee table and two chairs. It wasn’t there. In the poor light away from the desk I noticed a National Geographic with a bristlecone pine tree on the cover. It’s the oldest tree in the world and they won’t even tell us where it is because some idiot might go and damage it. What has happened to this country?
I scanned the bookshelf that covered one wall but didn’t see it. Damn! Marilyn has been moving my stuff again and she wasn’t here to tell me where she put it. I’ll just finish the letter and talk to her when she returns from the gym or wherever she went.
As I sat down I glanced out the window next to my desk and saw a police car coast slowly to a stop in front of the house. A uniformed officer with short hair and dark glasses got out of the driver’s side, looked up and down the street and walked up to my front door. The urgent ring of the door bell caused me to jump slightly. As I got up, I slid the nine millimeter pistol off the stack of mail on the desk into the top drawer and closed the drawer. I watched the stack continue to slide to the floor knocking over the picture of my son and his family leaving the torn editorial uncovered on the desk. Just seeing my grandson’s picture brought a smile to my face. I crossed the carpet softly plodding to the front door.
As I opened the door, the officer identified himself as Sergeant Johnson and asked if he could come in. I led him down the short hallway to my office, moved a stack of magazines and newspapers off the sofa, and offered him a seat. As I put them down I noticed a headline: “Promising College Student Shot at Barbershop.” I said, “So have they made any progress on this?” pointing to the paper.
“They have a seventeen year old in custody.” Johnson said looking at the paper.
“Sounds like one of those gang things?”
“Actually, no, it was a case of mistaken identity. The suspect was out looking for a guy who had threatened his sister. Unfortunately he had a gun and when he found someone who looked like the guy he shot and killed an innocent kid.”
I turned my chair away toward the officer and sat down.
He leaned towards me. “Do you know why I’m here, Mr. Weeks?”
“I presume it has something to do with the dog incident the other day.” I said.
Johnson looked up from his notebook, “Yes, I’ve been told that it was your dog.”
“Who told you that?” I responded sharply.
“That’s not important. Is it true?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Why would someone tell me that?” Johnson inquired with a poker face.
“Maybe they were confused. All I did was help the Patterson’s get the dog but that’s it.”
“Tell me more about your role in getting the dog.” Johnson said.
“John told me his wife, Carol, had been asking him for weeks to get a guard dog. Every night she recounted for him another murder or assault described at length on the TV news. He tried to ignore the problem and told her not to worry. I told him that it wasn’t something to be taken lightly and having a tough dog is good protection against criminals, almost as good as having a gun.”
“Have there been problems with thefts or break-ins on this street?”
“Hmmmm, not that I know of personally, but it’s all around us.” I stated with conviction.
“I’ve patrolled this neighborhood for almost three years and the only thing I’ve heard about was a car radio stolen about two blocks from here ten weeks ago.”
“Not to argue but those are just the reported crimes. Anyway, one can never be too careful.” I responded.
“Do you have a dog, Mr. Weeks?
“No. You may have noticed the sign on my side gate – this house protected by Smith and Wesson. That’s better than any dog.” I said proudly.
“Do you have guns in your home?”
“I would be a fool if I didn’t. I had them when we lived out in the country because calling the sheriff wasn’t an option. They were at least a half-hour away. And it seemed prudent to keep them when my wife wanted to move back to the city. She said we would be so much closer to everything. She didn’t want to hear about all the crime. I bet you have guns around your house?”
“No. I saw more than enough guns and shooting in the Army. I wouldn’t have a gun if the job didn’t require it.”
“But what if someone was breaking in your house?”
“That’s what the police are for. Have you had formal weapons training?” Johnson inquired.
“Mostly self taught but I’m pretty comfortable with long guns and pistols.”
“What about Mr. Patterson and the dog?” Johnson returned to his task.
“Yes. Even after we talked he wouldn’t change his mind about a dog. He kept worrying about liability and all the things that could go wrong. I told him he worried too much. I should have known. He had similar feelings when we proposed a plan to hire armed security guards for the neighborhood. Finally, I talked to Carol and told her that I knew a contractor who had a dog that guarded his equipment yard at night.”
“So did you get the dog for Mrs. Patterson?”
“I gave Carol his number. She followed up and I drove her over to the guy’s office and helped her bring it back to her house.”
“Was the dog licensed or neutered?”
“I don’t know, that was up to the Pattersons.”
“The hospital asked me whether the dog had its shots. Do you know?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Did the dog have any training?
“Not that I knew of. The contractor might know. All he told me was that the dog ran loose in his equipment yard at night and that he hadn’t had any problems.”
“Is that what you told the Pattersons?”
“Pretty much. When we went to pick him up, he was loose and barked and jumped at the gate. But when the contractor came out, put on his leash, he calmed down.”
“Did the Pattersons ever take the dog out of the yard?”
“Yea, a couple of weeks later I saw her with the dog on a leash over at the park. She was having trouble with it.”
“How do you mean?” Johnson appeared puzzled.
“Well, it was a high spirited pit bull, full of energy. Carol was barely strong enough to keep the dog from pulling her over, jerking the leash from her hand, and running after other dogs. It was short but built like a tank, very strong. Actually, it seemed kind of foolish, her speaking to that dog in a stern tone – ‘Roman, stop pulling, sit, stop,’ all that stuff and the dog just doing what it wanted. It didn’t look like she was in charge. I told her right after that she should get someone to train the dog.”
“And did she?”
“Roman… that was the dog’s name?”
“I think so. Carol named it.”
“Could I stop you right there for a minute.” The sergeant interjected. “When did the Pattersons get the dog?”
“I think about 8 months ago.”
“Ok, tell me about last Friday.”
“Well I was right here at my computer.”
“About what time?”
“It must have been around 10:30 in the morning because I was waiting for my son’s wife and my grandson to walk over from their house. He’s just one, about two feet tall but wants to walk everywhere. That kid is really something.”
“What did you see that morning?”
“I was working on some stock trades, watching the tape to buy some big pharma company stock when the price dipped. They have a new drug in the development pipeline that reverses the effects of alcohol on your liver. No more cirrhosis after years of drinking. If you’re interested, I could get you in on it.”
“No thank you. Now about that morning?”
“I was pretty focused on the screen when I heard Carol shouting, ‘Roman, get back here.’ She was yelling at the dog. It had gotten out of their backyard and was running loose in the middle of the street. The dog paid no attention to her.”
“You had the window open?” Johnson inquired.
“Yea it was one of the few nice days. Not nice like the country but better than average. I could see her trying to run but with her stiff knees, arthritis you know, makes it hard for her to get around. She was looking down the street not where she was going, legs kind of flailing at the ground and after several steps, her feet crossed and she went down hard, face first on the pavement. Her glasses skidded a few feet as her head hit the asphalt. She lay for a minute.” I could almost see her sprawled on the street.
After the Sergeant finished writing he looked up and said, “Then what happened?”
“The dog looked briefly in her direction. But he too was focused on something or someone down the street. I got up from my chair, pulled the curtains aside, but my neighbor’s shrubs were in the way.”
“Where was Mrs. Patterson at that point?”
“Ah… she had lifted her head, kind of coughed out, ‘Roman, stop, come here.’ She looked dazed. I noticed that the dog didn’t seem to hear her but was entirely focused on something down the street.”
“Must have been the woman with her kid.”
“What woman with a kid?” I interrupted.
“I don’t know, nobody got their names. Do you remember seeing Mr. Patterson?”
“Right as Carol tripped and hit the pavement, he came running out from behind his house. He tried to help Carol to her feet but the best he could do was lift her to her knees. She kept on hollering, ‘Roman, stop, stay, sit’ or something like that.”
“And the dog?” the sergeant shifted his weight a little and then focused on me over his pad.
“He seemed very alert, taking in the entire neighborhood while remaining focused on whatever was down the street.”
“And then what happened?”
“I remember the dog started to move slowly, almost casually in the direction he was looking. By this time, Carol was getting on her feet, although unsteadily. John was helping her stay upright. Both of them were looking at the dog and then down the street.”
“And you were right here looking out that window?”
“Yea, John was trying to move Carol, who was wobbling and semi-limp, over to the curb to sit down. But Carol would have none of it and kept yelling at the dog. She lurched toward the dog and grabbed his tail, like to stop him.”
“Did the dog react?” Johnson’s eyes widened slightly.
“Oh yea. The dog stiffened and then snapped at her hand. She let go of the dog’s tail and kind of fell backward a little. But she wasn’t giving up. She regained her balance, staggered forward and tried to grab the dog’s collar.”
“How did the dog react?”
“He didn’t bark as you might expect. But when she tried to grab him again, the dog kind of growled and lunged at her knocking her down.”
“Could you point to where she was?”
“Sure, if you look out this window, it was near the curb on the other side of the street directly in front of those bushes over there.” I pointed across the street to the walkway leading up to my neighbor’s house. Thankfully the fireman cleaned up after the medics and hosed down the mess left on the street.
“I can still hear her screaming. I presume the dog was biting her because its head was lunging and shaking from side to side. Her arms were bleeding but she kept beating on its head. John tried to grab the dog’s collar but couldn’t because the dog bit his hand every time he got close enough. By then Carol had collapsed on the ground like a rag doll not moving, and the dog jumped at John and had his arm. He started yelling for help.”
“What could I have done? It happened so fast and before I knew it …..”
“Is that when the SMUD employees got involved?”
“I think so,” I said, “It was only Carol and John with the dog going crazy and… They drove by as this was happening and stopped. There were three of them in the truck and they tried to distract the dog. But that didn’t work, the dog just kept on snapping, biting, like in a feeding frenzy. One of the guys grabbed a big metal bolt or wrench from the truck and started to hit the dog with it. The other guy had on some big leather gloves and grabbed at the dog’s legs. They all were yelling at the dog.”
“Did it look like the SMUD guys may have hurt Mrs. Patterson accidentally?”
“No, I don’t think so. They were really focused on just the dog, trying to get it away from the Pattersons. The one guy kept hitting it, trying to knock it out.”
“Was Mrs. Patterson moving at all at this point?”
“I couldn’t really tell, she had rolled to the gutter while the guy with the tool kept hitting the dog and finally it fell in the street. John fell in a heap on the sidewalk, crying out in pain and then I heard the sirens.”
“What did you do next? Did you call 911?”
“No, I was so focused on the events, and it was all over before I could even think about it. It seemed like only seconds from when I heard the sirens until the fire truck and ambulance came.
“And you were here the whole time?”
“Yes, I didn’t move away from this window. The ambulance pulled up right where your car is parked and blocked my view. But I noticed that the medics didn’t jump right out, like they were checking to see if it was safe to get out of the truck. I could hear the SMUD guys yelling for them and I saw one of them finally get out. At some point I heard pounding on the front door. It was my daughter-in-law and her boy. She was very frightened and he was crying.”
“And then?”
“I was surprised it was them because normally I see them walking down the street and up to the front door. But they must have come the other way … the way …that my vision is blocked by my neighbor’s shrubs. Anyway, I let them in, closed the door, and held them both. By the time I looked out the window again, the ambulance was pulling away.”
“I think that answers all my questions. Thank you. Is there anything else you didn’t mention?” He stood.
“Not that I can think of.” I walked him back to the front door with my mind racing.
As he was half way through the open door, the Sergeant turned and asked “Have you talked to the Pattersons since the incident?”
“I didn’t want to bother them at the hospital, let them recuperate in peace.”
“He should be home soon, but I’m sorry to say that I got word this morning that Mrs. Patterson died last night.” With that, he stepped off the porch and walked to his patrol car.
I gently closed the door behind him. Returning to my desk, I picked up the picture of my son with his wife and baby, held it for a second and carefully set it on the desk. When the computer screen came back on, I highlighted the text of the letter and pressed “delete.”
Author/Artist Bios
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The Champs Voice
The Champ's Voice
Ask The Champ
Dublins EU Hopefuls
The final constituency is Dublin, the county with all the money, all the jobs, and all the benefits of the bail out. There's an argument to be made that all the MEP seats should be held in the capital and the country folk could come to the city for the day to vote. They'd have a great time shopping and using WiFi and they'd be putting a bit of money back into the economy that supports them all year round.
Mark Mullan declares on his website that he wants to break the culture of MEP`s spending five years in Brussels without anyone knowing what they're actually doing. Ironically not many people know what Mark's been up to for the last 25 years but that's no fault of his own as he's spent that time working on various humanitarian projects. Mark Mullan has an impressive CV and he also has the kind of principles you'd expect from a politician representing you in Europe. On paper he's one of the strongest candidates in the race and his election prospects are all down to how well his campaign goes.
Any left leaning individual should offer their full support to Lynn Boylan. Based on her track record in Europe she's the ideal candidate to represent Dublin. Lynn was heavily involved with the Repeal the 8th campaign, supports Catalonia and Palestine, and has been extremely critical of the Irish government watering down our neutrality through its support for PESCO. As a result of her work on the Right2Water report, Lynn has travelled to Greece, Italy, London and Catalonia to speak on the topic of the human right to water and the EU‘s privatisation agenda.
Gillian Brien & Rita Harrold are both on the campaign for Solidarity/People Before Profit which would make you wonder if the party are more interested in winning seats or raising candidate profiles. In a heavily contested constituency the liberal vote is already divided out amongst several left wing candidates and this kind of campaigning suggests that either Solidarity/PbP are incredibly ambitious or that they're putting party ahead of politics. That said both candidates are equally admirable, Rita is well known for being a Repeal activist and Gillian has over 18 years experience working within the Human Rights field, dealing with LGBT+ Young People, Travellers, Asylum & Refugees issues. She has also worked in the Youth and Community, Drugs and Homeless Sector.
Alice Mary Higgins is a daughter of Michael D Higgins and has been endorsed by Hotpress magazine as a candidate who understands the importance of culture, theatre, literature, music and art. Alice has also been a vocal critic of the "free market" politics of Fine Gael and supports the RaiseTheRoof movement.
Gary Gannon is a true blue and has been campaigning for his own emoji. Probably the strongest candidate for the social democrats this could be the kind of victory for them that set the wheels in motion for establishing a stable left wing party in Ireland. However there's a lot of work to do and more doors need to be knocked on before the SD become a household favourite.
Clare Daly is an iconic figure in Irish politics who spends her time in the Dail fighting for a secular state, one that offers everyone equal opportunity. Best known for the Shannon protest and her involvement in the Repeal campaign she already has a particular fanbase. Clare has used this election to fight for the more centre and left of centre vote that might just help get her elected MEP.
Eílis Ryan is a councillor for The Worker’s Party and a bit of a hidden gem. Eílis has worked for a range of human rights and community development organisations in Ireland, Asia and Latin America. However she remains another candidate who needs to raise her profile before gathering enough votes to win Europe and I wish her the best of luck for the future.
Ireland South
The South used to be a breeding ground for discontent, a safe house for Irish Culture, and the birthplace of political leaders that fought for equality, humanity, and justice. Now the South does what it's told, it's children are born to immigrate, and it's become a plantation of Dublin with little mind of its own.
However there are some candidates who say "No" to Dublin rulling the South. None more so than Diarmuid O’Flynn. This man would be a national hero if he lived in Iceland, one of the few people to speak out in opposition to the banking bail out and he actively organised protest against it. He also has plenty of political experience acting as parliamentary assistant for MEP Luke Ming Flanagan's. Diarmuid has also stood before the Oireachtas Finance Committee looking to establish a cross party committee to campaign against the bank debt taken on by Irish State following the ECB-IMF bailout. This fight isn't over in the eyes of those still suffering from austerity and if you want to continue looking for a better deal Diarmuid O'Flynn is the right candidate to support.
Mick Wallace could be described as an anti imperialist and it will be interesting to see how he fairs with the suits in Europe if he's elected. Still shrouded in the controversy of having an outstanding tax bill from the Celtic tiger years, he's more secretive about his dealings with the revenue than Donald Trump. However he's proven his worth in the Dail speaking up for whistleblowers, condemning military flights from Shannon, and being a strong critic of NAMA. Mick Wallace is a fighter and if he was born in the 19th century he'd be leading the pikemen of the East in a stand against the bureaucrats of the pale.
'Fight the Pipe' revolutionary Liam Minehan wants to decentralise Dublin and empower the country with the sense of fairness that's missing from the domestic arena. A pinup farmer from Tipperary he's likely to take a scalp off of the FG vote, and if he can get the IFA vote he could very well be first past the post.
Liadh Ní Riadh could have been president if she had advanced notice of being nominated as the SF candidate. A poorly run campaign resulted in a distant second place. Her love of the Irish language, her experience, and her strong connection with rural Ireland should see her having a more prosperous MEP election.
Grace O’Sullivan is a sitting senator for the green party. I hope all of Waterford get behind her because she has a great track record of fighting for and protecting the environment. In 1985 Grace joined the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, to prevent nuclear tests in the Pacific. She speaks fluent Dutch and Spanish, basically a ready made MEP waiting for your vote.
Adrienne Wallace represents Solidarity/People Before Profit and has also adopted a two front strategy by running for local council as well. Based on the overwhelming support for repeal in the South she could swing a vote but she has a lot of work to do to swing the masses. A young voice with a fresh attitude, at 28 she is one of the youngest political candidates in Ireland and it's easy to see her representing a disenfranchised generation who feel locked out of the housing market, the job market, and the political sphere.
Breda Gardner is an interesting candidate, based on her manifesto she's pro culchie and wants to put housing, health and the environment back on the agenda. She also prefers books to bombs and thinks 5G is one g too many.
Midlands North West
The media have described some runners in the European elections as alternative candidates, mostly not warranting air time or press coverage. These candidates are not alternatives, as the media impose, they are legitimate options who are representative of the desire for change in this country. Over the next three days I'm going to post some quick reviews of the European candidates who could make a difference.
Presently the state is run and controlled by two parties, both of whom have caused the Irish people endless grief for decades. Generation after generation our people have suffered, afraid to hope for something better in case we're branded traitors or radicals.
Of course we also have the vanquished Labour party who supported the austerity government. They lost the support of the people after party elites compromised the parties core principles by supporting a capitalist regime that only benefits the wealthy.
For this reason I'm not covering candidates from three parties who already have established roots and friends in the media. I also won't be covering pro life lefties who are anti immigration or confused Irexit wannabes who forget which country they live in, and for some what planet they live on.
So I begin with the Midlands North West constituency:
Luke Flanagan smashed onto the Irish political scene standing up for farmers, a job the establishment was meant to do as part of bread and butter politics. Luke has been branded Ming Flanagan for his caricature likeness to Ming the Merciless. Potentially one of the hippiest candidates in Europe, Luke topped the poll last time out in one of the most western and conservative outposts in Europe. In most countries this would be a landmark victory, reason for celebration, and courted by the press, but not in Ireland. Luke Flanagan has for most part engaged with the people he represents in person or through social media. He has reintroduced many to politics and European politics and has done so through his own channels.
Saoirse McHugh is running for the Green Party and has potential to be Ireland's AOC representing a younger generation who want to get serious about climate action. SMH is a feisty Achill Island native with all the passion and desire to represent a generation who demand real change. If you want something totally different you got to vote for someone totally new and theirs no one more on brand for change than Saoirse.
Matt Carthy currently sits as a Sinn Féin MEP but can't make up his mind about whether he's in this race or if he'll stand as a candidate for the Dail in the next election. I wish him the best of luck as a TD, perhaps that's what his party demands, but just as in sports mistakes get punished, and at the very top level they deserve to be punished. If Matt can't commit to the term he shouldn't be in the race, his presence divides the vote and reduces the opportunity to deliver a revolution in Irish politics. However the Sinn Fein faithful are likely to vote him through and he's worthy of a number two vote on the ballot paper.
Cyril Brennan might yet become the voice of the left in the West, although you might not have seen him on TV as he represents Solidarity/People Before Profit. That said there isn't a single issue Cyril isn't outspoken on and he'd liven up any old RTE debate should they care to leave the left speak. Cyril is also running in the local elections for Donegal County Council where he's more likely to cut the mustard and build a stronger profile.
Olive O’Connor is a woman on a mission, driven by personal circumstances she has become a health care advocate who wants to bring greater attention to the failings of the Irish health system, with the hope of getting enough support to fix those issues. It's worth your time listening out for Olive, whether this becomes a platform to the political arena for her or an opportunity to rally support for her cause, she's fighting for all of us.
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John Paul II Speeches 2004 February
ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II
TO THE MEMBERS
OF THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY FOR LIFE
1. I am pleased to be able to personally meet all of you, members of the Pontifical Academy for Life, on this special occasion when you are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Academy's foundation. You are commemorating all the people who contributed to its birth, with a special thought for the distinguished and meritorious Prof. Jérôme Lejeune, your first President, whose memory I cherish with gratitude and love.
I thank Prof. Juan de Dios Vial Correa, President, for his kind words, and I also greet the Vice-President, Bishop Elio Sgreccia, and the members of the Administrative Council, expressing to one and all my appreciation for the great dedication with which you support the Academy's activity.
2. You are now taking part in two "Study Days" devoted to the topic of artificial procreation. The subject is proving full of serious problems and implications which deserve careful examination. Essential values are at stake, not only for the Christian faithful but also for human beings as such.
What emerges ever more clearly in the procreation of a new creature is its indispensable bond with spousal union, by which the husband becomes a father through the conjugal union with his wife, and the wife becomes a mother through the conjugal union with her husband. The Creator's plan is engraved in the physical and spiritual nature of the man and of the woman, and as such has universal value.
The act in which the spouses become parents through the reciprocal and total gift of themselves makes them cooperators with the Creator in bringing into the world a new human being called to eternal life. An act so rich that it transcends even the life of the parents cannot be replaced by a mere technological intervention, depleted of human value and at the mercy of the determinism of technological and instrumental procedures.
3. Rather, it is the scientist's task to investigate the causes of male and female infertility, in order to prevent this situation of suffering in spouses who long to find "in their child a confirmation and completion of their reciprocal self-giving" (Donum Vitae, II, A, n. 1). Consequently, I would like to encourage scientific research that seeks a natural way to overcome the infertility of the spouses, and likewise to urge all specialists to perfect those procedures that can serve this end. I hope that the scientific community - I appeal particularly to those scientists who are believers - may advance reassuringly on the road to true prevention and authentic treatment.
4. The Pontifical Academy for Life will not fail to do everything in its power to encourage every valid initiative which aims to avoid the dangerous manipulation that is part of the processes of artificial procreation.
May the community of the faithful itself strive to support authentic research channels and, when making decisions, resist technological possibilities that replace true parenthood and is therefore harmful to the dignity of both parents and children.
In support of these wishes, I cordially impart my Blessing to you all, which I willingly extend to all your loved ones.
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Th 23.1.
Fr 24.1.
Sa 25.1.
Monuments and Memorial Sights of Prachatice
Church Square
We enter the Old Town through the massive Lower Gate (Dolní brána). The gate comes from the 16th century and is also known as Písek Gate. It was part of the city‘s former Medieval fortification system. Notice the loft merlins with pinnacles on the gates. Above the entrance, the gate is decorated with a painting of the Rožmberk Rider, with a Latin inscription added that celebrates the glorious bloom of the city during the rule of the Rožmberks. Also worth mention are the preserved capstans through which the chains of the drawbridge passed through. After passing through the vaulted inner area, you will notice that the gate is actually doubled. Look up at the ceiling of the second inner gate, actually the older one, and you will see remnants of wall paintings from the 15th century. On the left, there is also a wooden picture of the Calvary.
Entrance to the Old Town also used to be possible through a second gate, known as Pasovská (Passau). This gate was torn down in 1859. Part of its stone decorative elements can be seen today in the atrium of the Old Town Hall on the square.
To the left of the gate, our attention is immediately caught by the richly decorated house No. 29. The building‘s present appearance comes from the Renaissance reconstruction from 1557. The house is known by its original owner, Heydl, whose name is inscribed into the facade. The building features exceptionally intricate sgraffito decoration, also featuring unusual tapered block and figural and ornamental motifs. The merlons are also notable, finishing the attic gable. The historical atmosphere of the house is given its final touches by the upper part of its facade, lightly “wavy” and extending into the street.
Church of St. Jacob the Greater
From the Heydl House, your steps will naturally lead you to the massive building of the Late Gothic dean‘s church of St. Jacob the Greater, the patron of merchants and traders. The church bears a 53 meter high tower and has been the dominant feature of Prachatice for over half a millennium – it was completed after nearly two hundred years of construction, in 1500. Construction began shortly after Prachatice was founded, evidently at the beginning of the 14th century. This is the period from which we receive the presbytery, the oldest part of the church. In 2007–2009, the wall paintings in the presbytery were revealed and gradually restored. The oldest of the paintings comes from the 1440‘s. Part of the church is also the chapel, consecrated to St. John N. Neumann in 1993. The structure was originally supposed to have two towers, but only one was finally completed – this might have been intentional, so as not to block the view from one of the towers. The tower has changed its appearance several times over the centuries, and the present appearance is the result of repairs after the fire of 1832. Several changes were made to the building plans over the course of the church‘s construction, partly due to the several fires that damaged the church while it was still partially built.
Inside the church, your attention will be drawn to the net vaulting from the beginning of the 16th century, giving this massive structure a surprisingly fragile and light impression. The construction of the ceiling truss is also original, from the 15th century. It is interesting to note that this was built without using a single nail. The church‘s main altar was created in 1653 by the woodcarver Jan Webr from Kašperské Hory, and the organ from the 15th century is also valuable.
The church tower has been open to visitors since 2006, and during good weather, the ascent up the tower is well worth the effort. After conquering 157 steps, you will find yourself at a height of 40 meters to enjoy a magnificent view of the entire Prachatice Old Town and the surrounding landscape.
Behind the church, on Děkanská Ulice at house No. 33, you will see what‘s considered the most beautiful sgraffito in town. It comes from 1563 and portrays the Lord‘s Last Supper.
Prachatice Prachatice Town Town History Town sightseeing
Church Square, Church Large Square Historical center - streets Walls and surroundings
Events Tourist attractions Tourist information Tips on trips
Accommodation Gastronomy Tourist Services Culture
Photogallery Short dictionary partners
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UPDATE – The Youth Lobby’s Stance on Electric School Busses in Vermont
December 19, 2017 January 11, 2018 Matt Henchen
The Vermont Youth Lobby’s stance on the feasibility of electric school buses in Vermont.
#1 – We are asking the ANR to devote 85% of the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation funds to the creation of an electric school bus pilot program. We believe it is short-sighted to use this money to invest in more “clean” diesel technology, when we have the opportunity to invest in much cleaner electric motor technology. The purpose of these funds should be to mitigate the harm caused by Volkswagen’s “clean” diesel technology, and nothing more.
#2 – We are asking for a special committee to be established that would determine the specifics of the pilot program. However, we feel ideal candidates would be school districts that currently manage their own busing fleet. Grants made directly to these school districts would help reduce school budgets and, therefore, save VT taxpayers money. We believe preference should also be given to school districts that receive their electrical energy from sources that are at least 90% renewable, which would help maximize reductions in carbon emissions.
#3 – We acknowledge the validity of the VEIC study, and are aware that the overall costs of an electric school bus will likely be greater than the cost of a traditional diesel bus. However, we offer the following thoughts for consideration:
For people truly concerned about the economic feasibility of a large-scale electric school bus deployment, this is an amazing opportunity for us to get real data. We can use this empirical evidence to make wise decisions about where best to invest our tax money in the future.
The state will be receiving this money over the next three years and it is quite possible that diesel fuel prices could increase, or the cost of electric school busses could decrease over that length of time. The costs of electric school buses are only projected to go down, while the cost of diesel fuel is generally projected to increase. Any changes in costs would, more than likely, work in favor of increased affordability.
At least one school bus company, Lion of Quebec, has offered an additional discount on the purchase of at least 10 school buses.
It is possible that newer school bus technology could make these buses feasible beyond the 10 year life expectancy noted in the VEIC study. It may also be possible to secure some sort of warranty with one of the major school bus companies. There is at least one electric school bus company, Lion of Quebec, that claims the lifespan of their busses is longer than traditional school busses due to unique design elements such as corrosion-free polyethylene stepwalls and battery boxes, as well as corrosion-free composite bodies and doors. Detailed specs can be found on their website https://thelionelectric.com/pdfs/specifications-school-en.pdf
We believe some additional costs are actually well worth the investment, given the enormous benefits these school buses would provide, including but not limited to:
Dramatically reduced air pollution
Dramatically reduced carbon emissions
Increased public awareness of electric vehicle technology (these buses can serve as mobile billboards, done tastefully, of course)
Opportunities for students to learn more about electric vehicle technology in the classroom – students can analyze real data.
Climate, Education permalink
← We Need Your Help! Please support the Youth Lobby’s campaign for electric school buses!
Don’t Forget to Sign the Electric School Bus Petition and Contact the ANR! →
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Julianne Moore's Year For Oscar?
Julianne Moore’s Year For Oscar?
Julianne Moore is “the one” to watch this Award Season because of her critically acclaimed performance in Still Alice. This year marks Moore’s fifth Oscar nomination.
In Still Alice she portrays a professor with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Julianne Moore’s role as Alice Howland has earned her several awards already, including a Golden Globe and a Critic’s Choice Award.
Moore’s performance of a woman with Alzheimers is not an easy task to accomplish, from thoughts of suicide to forgetfulness, to someone who doesn’t recognize her own child, but Moore pulls it off in one of the most emotional performances this season.
Any time you portray a character you want to do it as accurately as possible, something Moore has gone beyond. The authentic depiction of a disease is a huge responsibility. To date there are 5 million Americans with Alzheimers. When asked about the disease Moore said, “Alzheimer’s is not a sign of aging and people think it is. It’s not, it’s a disease.”
In one scene we see Alice write down different words and then try to recall what they mean when a timer goes off, then panics when she can’t. In other scenes she forgets dinner plans with her husband and even where her own bathroom is in her house. All of these scenarios are real life struggles people with Alzheimer’s deal with on a daily basis and Moore wanted to be as accurate as possible.
According to InStyle.com Moore visited many patients who had early onset Alzheimer’s. “I spoke to women who had just been diagnosed, and was bowled over by the generosity of everyone I spoke to. If I didn’t witness it, I didn’t want to perform it.” In terms of what was hardest? “All of it. I wanted to get it right,” she said.
Moore’s performance in Still Alice has raised an almost innumerable awareness for the disease in addition to helping those facing similar problems find ways to cope. In one of the most poignant moments of the film Moore’s character Alice offers this advice, “I am not suffering. I’m struggling. Struggling to be a part of things. To stay connected to who I once was. So ‘Live in the Moment,’ I tell myself. It’s all I can really do. Live in the moment.”
Watch the Trailer Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrXrZ5iiR0o
And visit their website: http://sonyclassics.com/stillalice/
For more information about Alzheimer's Disease visit: http://www.alz.org/
ADD LINK OF INSTYLE .COM
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Industries & Practices
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Impact of Dodd-Frank Act on Community Banks in Michigan
The Dodd-Frank Act Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank Act") includes major new consumer protection provisions. Title X of the Act, known as the "Consumer Financial Protection Act," creates a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with wide ranging powers to regulate, supervise and enforce federal consumer financial protection statutes. Title XIV, known as the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act ("Mortgage Reform Act") of the imposes significant new requirements and limitations on the terms of residential mortgage loans and on mortgage loan originators, including brokers and lenders.
The provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act will usher in a new era of heightened consumer regulation and protection. The Act signals a shift in scope for consumer financial regulation. The Federal Truth in Lending Act was premised on the belief that by assuring accurate and uniform disclosures of the terms of credit, the Act could enable a consumer to compare loan offers and choose the loan that was in the consumer's best interest. The provisions of the Consumer Financial Protection Act and the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act involve the government more directly in regulating the terms of credit and other products, such as interchange fees. With the creation of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the Act establishes an independent federal agency devoted exclusively to protecting consumers in financial transactions.
Much of the Dodd-Frank Act focuses on large financial institutions that contributed to the recent financial collapse. The consumer protection provisions, while they distinguish between larger banks and community banks (bank's with assets of $10 billion or less), will have a enormous impact on all banks, large and small alike. The table below summarizes the most significant consumer protection provisions and discusses their impact on community banks. The table is just a summary. The details of the changes will be revealed over the next couple of years as new regulations are drafted and take effect.
The Financial Services Group at Warner Norross & Judd will be tracking those regulations and other developments as the Dodd-Frank Act takes effect. If you have questions about the Act, please contact a member of our Group.
What This Means to Community Banks
Creation of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act establishes the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection ("CFPB"), which has as its mission "ensuring that all consumers have access to markets for consumer financial products and services and that markets for consumer financial products and services are fair, transparent, and competitive."
The CFPB has exclusive authority to issue regulations, orders and guidance implementing "Federal Consumer Financial Law." Federal Consumer Financial Law includes the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act), plus the Truth in Lending Act, the Truth in Savings Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and numerous other consumer statutes.
The creation of the CFPB, which, though housed in the Federal Reserve will be an independent agency, focuses the attention of one federal agency on consumer financial issues and regulation.
The CFPB is established immediately, but several months will pass before a director is appointed and the CFPB's staffing and funding are in place. Then the agency will need to begin the process of drafting regulations and organizing its supervisory functions.
Supervisory authority over Federal Consumer Financial Law will not pass to the CFPB until the "Designated Transfer Date," which will be a date designated by the Secretary of the Treasury that is at least 180 days and not more than 12 months after the date the President signed the bill into law. The Secretary can extend the deadline by making a submission to Congress, but the Designated Transfer Date must occur within 18 months after enactment.
Who the CFPB Regulates
The CFPB will have primary responsibility for examining, supervising, and enforcing compliance with Federal Consumer Financial Law by depository financial institutions with assets exceeding $10 billion.
Community Banks with assets of $10 million or less will still be subject to regulations issued by the CFPB and can be required to provide reports to the CFPB. The CFPB may also participate "on a sampling basis" in an examination by a bank's prudential regulator to assess compliance with Federal Consumer Financial Law. The Act, however, gives exclusive authority to enforce Federal Consumer Financial Law with respect to banks with assets of $10 billion or less to the bank's federal bank regulator.
While the CFPB does not directly supervise community banks with assets of $10 million or less, the actions it takes in regulation larger financial institutions is likely to have a significant impact on how the Federal Reserve, FDIC and Comptroller of the Currency go about assuring compliance by community banks with Consumer Financial Law.
The CFPB will refer potential violations of Federal Consumer Financial Law to a bank's federal bank regulator with a recommended action. The act requires the bank's regulator to provide a written response to the CFPB within 60 days.
The CFPB will supervise compliance with Federal Consumer Financial Law by all nondepository covered persons, including, for example, mortgage brokers and nondepository mortgage lenders, as well as larger participants in the market for consumer financial products or services (as determined by the CFPB and the Federal Trade Commission).
CFPB will subject many nonbank competitors, such as mortgage companies, to examination and enforcement. Most notably, however, automobile dealers who sell their paper will be exempt from supervision and examination by the CFPB.
In theory, this will help level the playing field for community banks by reigning in previously unregulated players in the market, such as mortgage brokers.
Authority to Prohibit Unfair, Deceptive and Abusive Practices
In addition to its rulemaking authority under Federal Consumer Financial Law, the CFPB is authorized to issue rules and take enforcement actions to prohibit unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices in connection with a consumer of a consumer financial product.
The CFPB may only issue such rules if it has a reasonable basis to conclude that (a) the act or practice causes, or is likely to cause, substantial injury to consumers that cannot reasonably be avoided, and (b) the substantial injury to consumers is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition.
The Dodd-Frank Bill specifically requires the CFPB to engage in cost-benefit analysis, weighing the injury to consumers who the regulation is aimed at protecting against the benefit of the practice to consumers or competition. It will be interesting to see how that balance is struck.
The Designated Transfer Date
The CFPB may not declare a practice abusive unless the practice (a) "materially interferes with the ability of the consumer to understand a term or condition of a consumer financial product or service," or (b) takes unreasonable advantage of a consumer's lack understanding of the material risks, costs, or conditions of a product or service, the consumer's inability to protect his or her interests in selecting or using a consumer financial product or service, or the consumer's reasonable reliance upon the provider of the consumer financial product or service to act in the interests of the consumer.
State and federal law, such as the Michigan Consumer Protection Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act, already prohibit unfair and deceptive acts or practices. The prohibition of "abusive" practices is new.
"Abusive" is defined to include, among other things, taking unreasonable advantage of "the reasonable reliance by the consumer" that the bank will "act in the interests of the consumer." Here, and elsewhere in the Act, the Act appears to imply a duty of a financial institution to act in the best interests of the consumer rather than placing responsibility on the consumer.
Authority to Prohibit Predispute Arbitration Clauses
The CFPB is given the authority to prohibit or impose conditions and limitations on predispute arbitration clauses.
The Mortgage Reform Act also prohibits mandatory arbitration clauses in mortgage or home equity loans.
Predispute arbitration clauses are not widely used by community banks in Michigan, so this provision may have a limited impact.
180 days after the effective date of the regulation
Power to Enforce Fair Lending Laws
The Consumer Financial Protection Act creates the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Credit Opportunity within the CFPB, with oversight and power to enforce the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.
While the CFPB does not directly regulate Community Banks with assets of $10 million or less, the CFPB's focus on fair lending will likely force the banking regulators to increase their focus as well.
One year after the Designated Transfer Date
The Mortgage Reform Act requires the Federal Reserve Board to prescribe regulations that prohibit a mortgage originator from engaging in any abusive or unfair lending practice that promotes disparities based on race, ethnicity, gender or age among consumers of equal creditworthiness.
The Act appears to create a new basis, in addition to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Fair Housing Act, for a claim of discrimination. It is not clear whether, by referring to promoting "disparities" Congress meant the current theories of disparate treatment and disparate impact that serve as the basis for discrimination claims, or whether Congress created a new theory of liability.
The Consumer Financial Protection Act significantly expands the information that must be included in a mortgage lender's Home Mortgage Disclosure Act submission. Lenders will be required to collect and report detailed information about each loan, including among other things, total points and fees at origination, the value of real property pledged as collateral, the channel through which the loan was originated, the applicant's age and credit score, the term of the loan and any provisions that provide for a prepayment penalty or allow for payments that are not fully amortizing. The Act allows the CFPB to require additional disclosures as it deems appropriate.
These requirements significantly increase the amount of information that a lender must disclose in preparing its HMDA submission. This information will give the federal government significantly more information that it can use to build a case that a discrimination case that a lender discriminates against borrowers in a protected class. In the past, lenders have been able to argue that HMDA data lacked sufficient information about the applicant's creditworthiness and the terms of the loan to draw conclusions about discrimination. The new data required by the Act will allow the government and private litigants to overcome the current weakness in HMDA data and target lenders more aggressively.
The Act will require lenders to collect information regarding small business loans, including whether the business is women-owned or minority-owned. Information required to be collected and reported includes, among other information, the race, sex, and ethnicity of the principal owners of the small business, the gross annual revenue of the small business applicant, the census tract in which the business is located, and the type of action taken on the application. The CFPB may require additional information as it deems appropriate.
Over the past decade, the federal government has shown a greater interest in pursuing discrimination against small business borrowers based on race or sex. The new information that small business lenders must collect and report will give the government valuable information with which to select and prosecute targets.
Model Forms for Federal Consumer Financial Laws
The Act authorizes the CFPB to prepare model forms for the disclosures required under Federal Consumer Financial Laws. Model forms must be validated by the CFPB through consumer testing.
This will, at least initially, result in increased compliance costs as lenders implement new disclosures. The Act creates a safe harbor for using model forms.
The Act requires the CFPB to propose rules to combine disclosures under the Federal Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.
The Federal Reserve Board and HUD have been trying to do this for many years. By giving the responsibility to the CFPB, the Congress increases the likelihood that it will get done.
Within 1 year of the Designated Transfer Date
Authority to Investigate Violations and Enforce Federal Consumer Financial Law
The CFPB is given broad powers to investigate violations of Federal Consumer Financial Law by banks over $10 billion in assets and nondepository covered persons, including the power to issue subpoenas to compel testimony and require the production of documents, and the power to issue cease and desist orders. The CFPB may also initiate civil lawsuits to enforce Federal Consumer Financial Law.
Among the remedies available to the CFPB is the power to require the rescission or reformation of contracts, the refund of moneys or return of real property, the payment of damages, and the payment of civil money penalties from $5,000 to $1,000,000 per day.
The CFPB does not have the authority to file criminal charges but can make referrals to the Department of Justice. In addition, the CFPB is required to make referrals to the Internal Revenue Service of potential violations of tax laws.
Congress has provided the CFPB with the weapons to aggressively enforce compliance with Federal Consumer Financial Law.
While the CFPB will not have the authority to investigate and bring enforcement actions against community banks, the stepped-up enforcement of Federal Consumer Financial Law against other institutions will put pressure on a community bank's regulator to increase its enforcement efforts and the prosecution of other institutions by the CFPB will create precedent for bank regulators to follow in doing so.
Consumer Complaint Unit
The Act requires the CFPB to establish a unit to receive consumer complaints and to provide a timely written response to those complaints. The CFPB must establish a single toll-free telephone number, a website and a database to collect, monitor and respond to consumer complaints. The CFPB must report annually to Congress on consumer complaints.
The CFPB is expected to take a more aggressive approach to addressing consumer complaints than bank regulators currently do. Community banks should evaluate the effectiveness of the procedures for monitoring and responding to consumer complaints.
Authority of State Attorney Generals to Enforce Regulations by the CFPB
The Act allows state attorney generals to enforce regulations issued by the CFPB against state-chartered banks after consulting with the CFPB and the bank's regulator.
Michigan's Attorney General will have a new weapon in proceeding against nondepository companies, such as mortgage brokers, that provide consumer financial services. However, the Michigan Attorney General may also use that weapon in regulating state-chartered banks.
State attorney generals may bring a civil action against a national bank or a federal savings bank to enforce any regulation of the CFPB (but not the Act itself) after consulting with the CFPB and the bank's regulator. The Act expressly allows a state to bring an action against a national bank or federal thrift to enforce other "applicable" law.
National banks and federal thrifts in Michigan may now be subject to suit by the Michigan Attorney General.
Protection for Whistleblowers
The Act protects employees against retaliation for providing information to any local, state, or federal authority regarding violations of the Act or any regulation under the Act. Other conduct, such as testifying against a bank or refusing to engage in activity the employee reasonably believes would violate any law within the jurisdiction of the CFPB, is also protected. Whistleblower complaints are investigated by the Secretary of Labor.
In light of the new whistleblower protections, community banks may wish to examine their policies and procedures to ensure that employees have an effective means of bringing violations of law to the attention of management.
Limitations on Federal Preemption
The Act limits federal preemption of state law to circumstances where the state law is inconsistent with federal law. A state law that is more protective of the consumer is not inconsistent and therefore is not preempted.
The Act allows states to have laws that are more protective than Federal Consumer Financial Law. This will impose a greater burden on interstate banks, which must comply with the laws of multiple states. But it will also create more uncertainty for state banks that have to determine whether state or federal law is more protective of consumers.
The Act now provides that a state consumer financial law will be preempted from applying to national banks only if (a) the state law has a discriminatory effect on national banks as compared to the effect on state chartered banks, (b) the state law prevents or significantly interferes with the exercise by a national bank of its powers, or (c) the state law is preemption another provision of federal law.
Subsidiaries of national bank and federal thrifts will no longer benefit from the federal preemption given to their parent depository institution, but instead will be subject to state consumer financial laws to the same extent that they apply to any other person or entity subject to the law of the state.
The Comptroller of the Currency will be limited in its ability to preempt state laws affecting community banks with a national bank of federal thrift charter.
Subsidiaries of those banks, such as mortgage companies, will be not be subject to preemption and will need to comply with state licensing and lending laws.
Prohibited Payments to Mortgage Originators
The Mortgage Reform Act prohibits a lender from paying, or a mortgage originator, including a loan officer or mortgage broker, from receiving, compensation that varies based on the terms of the loan (other than the amount of the principal).
A lender may not pay, and a mortgage originator may not accept, an origination fee (other than bona fide third party charges that are not retained by the lender or the mortgage originator) if the lender knows, or has reason to know that the consumer has compensated, or will compensate, the mortgage originator.
The Mortgage Reform Act prohibits lender from paying a mortgage originator (other than its own employee) a yield spread premium on a loan.
Regulations must be prescribed in final form within 18 months after the Designated Transfer Date. The regulations must take effect not later than 12 months are the issuance of the regulations in final form.
If regulations are not issued within 18 months after the Designated Transfer Date, the section shall become effective as of that date.
Required Determination of the Consumer's Ability to Repay
Before making a mortgage loan, a creditor must make "a reasonable and good faith determination based on verified and documented information that, at the time the loan is consummated, the consumer has a reasonable ability to repay the loan, according to its terms, and all applicable taxes, insurance, and assessments."
To determine ability to pay, the lender shall consider the consumer's credit history, current income, expected income the consumer is reasonably assured of receiving, current obligations, debt-to-income ratio or the residual income the consumer will have after paying non-mortgage debt and mortgage-related debt and mortgage-related obligations, employment status, and other financial resources other than the consumer's equity in the dwelling or real property that secures the loan. The determination must be based on a payment schedule that fully amortizes the loan over the term of the loan.
The ability to repay must be based on a payment schedule that fully amortizes the loan over the term of the loan. If the property secures more than one loan, ability to repay must be based on repayment of all loan.
This obligation raises the potential for litigation over whether a lender's determination was reasonable and made in good faith.
The borrower may raise the lender's failure to accurately make the determination of ability to repay as an offset in an action by the lender to foreclose on a mortgage unless the loan was a Qualified Mortgage Loan.
Not later than 12 months after the issuance of regulations under the Mortgage Reform Act.
The Mortgage Reform Act creates a presumption of ability to repay in the case of a "Qualified Mortgage Loan." A "Qualified Mortgage Loan" is a fully amortizing loan with no balloon payment that does not provide for negative amortization at any time and on which the APR does not exceed an average prime rate offer by certain tolerances. To be a Qualified Mortgage Loan, the points and fees in connection with the loan may not exceed 3 percent of the total loan amount.
By creating a safe harbor from liability regarding the determination to repay, Congress has incented lenders to offer standard mortgages without features, such as balloon payments, that have been important products in the mortgage lending portfolio. Lenders that offer mortgages other than Qualified Mortgage Loans take on an additional level of risk.
Prohibited Steering
The Act requires the Federal Reserve Board to draft regulations that prohibit a mortgage originator, including a lender, from steering an applicant that qualifies for a Qualified Mortgage Loan to a residential mortgage loan that is not a Qualified Mortgage Loan. In addition, the regulations must prohibit a mortgage originator, including a lender, from (a) steering a consumer to a residential mortgage loan that the consumer lacks the ability to repay or that has predatory characteristics or effects (such as equity stripping, excessive fees, or abusive terms), (b) mischaracterizing a consumers credit history or the residential mortgage loans available to the consumer, (c) mischaracterizing or allowing the mischaraterization of the appraised value of a residential mortgage loan that secures a loan, and (d) if unable to offer a consumer loan that is no more expensive than the loan for which a consumer qualifies, discouraging an applicant from seeking a residential mortgage loan from another mortgage originator.
Debtor's Right of Offset
A debtor can assert an offset in any foreclosure action (judicial or otherwise) for damages if a mortgage originator or lender violates the provisions of the Mortgage Reform Act that prohibit certain payments to mortgage originators or require a determination of the borrower's ability to repay the loan. The debtor may do this even if the statute of limitations on the violation has run. If the mortgage loan is a Qualified Mortgage Loan, the borrower cannot assert ability to repay as a defense to foreclosure.
The new right of offset will make foreclosure by advertisement more difficult by permitting borrowers to allege violations of the Mortgage Reform Act.
New Appraisal Requirements for Higher-Risk Mortgages
In connection with certain higher-risk mortgages to a consumer, the Mortgage Reform Act imposes new appraisal requirements, including among others requiring the appraiser to make a physical visit to the interior of the property. The consumer is entitled to receive one free copy of the appraisal. The Mortgage Reform Act requires a second appraisal by a different appraiser if the mortgage is a subprime mortgage made to finance the purchase of a residence if the seller purchased the dwelling at a lower price within 180 days of the proposed purchase.
The Act imposes new requirements to assure the independence of appraisers.
Higher risk mortgages will become more costly because of the new appraisal requirements.
Prohibition on Financing Single Payment Credit Insurance
The Mortgage Reform Act prohibits a creditor from financing single payment credit insurance, including debt cancellation insurance, in a residential mortgage loan or any extension of credit under an open end credit plan secured by the consumer's principal dwelling.
Prohibition on Prepayment Penalties
The Mortgage Reform Act prohibits prepayment penalties except on certain Qualified Mortgage Loans. To qualify for this exception, a Qualified Mortgage Loan cannot be an adjustable rate loan or have an APR in excess of certain tolerances.
Prepayment penalties on a qualifying Qualified Mortgage Loans are capped during the first three years and prohibited in subsequent years. The prepayment penalty may not exceed 3 percent of the outstanding loan balance in the first year, 2 percent in the second year, and 1 percent in the third year.
If a creditor offers a loan with a prepayment penalty, it must also offer a loan without such a penalty.
The Mortgage Reform Act will restrict the ability of a community bank to recover its costs of making a loan in the event the loan is repaid. This could increase the initial cost of credit, as lenders seek to recover their costs in up front fees.
Additional New Disclosures
The Mortgage Reform Act requires a new disclosure in a variable rate mortgage loan with a fixed introductory period. The lender must provide advance notice when the rate is about to reset.
Lenders will need to establish new procedures to provide the required disclosures.
The Mortgage Reform Act amends Truth in Lending to provide new disclosures if an open or closed end loan secured by a dwelling or residential real property allows for negative amortization.
Before making or refinancing a residential mortgage loan, the Mortgage Reform Act requires a lender to provide notice to the consumer regarding the protections of any applicable state law that provides that a consumer is not liable for any deficiency in the foreclosure of a mortgage loan.
This requirement will not apply in Michigan. Michigan law does not provide protection against deficiencies.
Changes in Definition for HOEPA Loans
The Mortgage Reform Act lowers the pricing levels that trigger the applicability of the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act ("HOEPA"). HOEPA will apply if:
(a) the credit is secured by a first mortgage in the consumer's principal dwelling and the APR exceeds the "average prime offer rate" on comparable transactions (as reported by the Federal Reserve Board) by more than 6.5 percentage points (8.5 percentage points if the dwelling is personal property and the transaction is for less than $50,000), or
(b) the credit is secured by a junior mortgage and the APR exceeds the average prime rate offer by more than 8.5 percentage points, or
Lenders will need to implement changes to its policies and procedures to address the changes in the applicability of HOEPA.
(c) the total points and fees payable in the transaction, other than bona fide third party charges not retained by the mortgage originator or creditor exceeds 5 percent of the total transaction if the transaction is for $20,000 or more or, if the transaction is for less than $20,000, the lesser of $8 of the total transaction or $1,000, or
(d) the credit documents permit the creditor to take prepayment fees more than 36 months after the transaction closes or such fees total more than 2 percent of the amount prepaid.
The Mortgage Reform Act also expands the definition of points and fees for purposes of the HOEPA calculation.
Applicant's Right to Get Copy of Credit Score
The Dodd-Frank Act amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require a lender that takes an adverse action on an application to give the consumer the consumer's numerical credit score and the factors that affected the score if the lender relied in part on the credit score in taking the adverse action.
Expansion of Truth in Lending Coverage and Extension of Statute of Limitations
The Act increases the coverage of Truth in Lending to include credit transactions and consumer leases up to $50,000 rather than the current $25,000.
The Act amends the Truth in Lending Act to double the civil penalties under the act. It also extends from 1 year to 3 years the statute of limitations that would bar the federal government from suing for a violation of TILA.
The number of loans and leases that are subject to the requirements and penalties of Truth in Lending will increase. Many community banks in Michigan already provide Truth in Lending disclosures for loans in excess of $25,000, but now they will be subject to penalties for violation, which have been doubled.
Regulation of Interchange Fees and Payment Card Networks
The Act gives the Federal Reserve Board the authority to regulate debit card interchange fees to require them to be both "reasonable and proportional" to the costs of the debit card issuer.
Banks that, together with their affiliates, have under $10 billion in assets are exempted. But many community banks are concerned that competitive pressures will require them to adhere to the limits placed on larger institutions, reducing the revenue community banks receive from debit card interchange fees.
12 months after enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act. The Federal Reserve Board must prescribe regulations in final form within 9 months of enactment.
The Federal Reserve Board is required to write regulations that prohibit a payment card issuer or network from requiring electronic debit transactions to be processed exclusively on one network or two or more affiliated networks.
The Federal Reserve Board must prescribe regulations within 12 months of enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act.
The Act prohibits a payment card network from prohibiting a merchant from providing a discount or in-kind incentive for payment by cash, check, debit card, or credit card so long as the discount or incentive does not differentiate on the basis of the issuer or the payment card network, is offered to all prospective buyers, and is disclosed clearly and conspicuously.
The Act also prohibits a payment card network from forbidding a merchant from setting a minimum transaction of not more than $10 for accepting a credit card.
If you have questions regarding the Dodd-Frank Act and its impact on Community Banks, please contact a member of the Financial Services Group at Warner Norcross & Judd.
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Top 10 excuses police hear from drivers using cellphones -
Police in British Columbia issued more than 3,500 tickets to drivers for using electronic devices while driving during a September crackdown, according to the Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC).
“The excuses I’ve heard are incredible,” Chief Jamie Graham of Victoria Police said in a statement. “One distracted driver even tried to tell me that he wasn’t on the phone — he was just listening.”
ICBC put together a list of the top 10 excuses police heard from drivers who were caught allegedly using hand-held devices behind the wheel:
1. This is a bogus law. (B.C. has a quick response for that one: about one in four of all fatal crash deaths in the province are related to distracted driving.)
2. It was my boss on the phone — I had to answer it.
3. I wasn’t using it — I just like to hold it.
4. Sorry officer, I didn’t see you trying to pull me over because I was on my phone.
5. But it was an emergency call to my wedding planner!
6. My Bluetooth died.
7. Driver: I’m using my speakerphone. Police officer: No, you’re holding your phone in one hand and steering with the other.
8. I’m not driving; I was stopped at a red light.
9. I wasn’t talking, I was checking my messages.
10. I was just checking the time.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1068198--top-10-excuses-police-hear-from-drivers-using-cellphones?bn=1
You Know That Your City Has Become A Hellhole When…. -
All across America there are cities and towns that were once prosperous and beautiful that are being transformed into absolute hellholes. The scars left by the long-term economic decline of the United States are getting deeper and more gruesome. The tax base in many areas of the nation has been absolutely devastated as millions of jobs have left this country. Hundreds of cities are drowning in debt and are desperately trying to survive. Last year, city government revenues in the United States fell by another 2.3 percent. That was the fifth year in a row that we have seen a decline. Meanwhile, costs associated with health care, pensions and virtually everything else continue to explode. So what are cities doing to make ends meet? Well, one big trend that we are now witnessing is that many U.S. cities have been getting rid of huge numbers of employees. If you can believe it, 72 percent of all U.S. cities are laying workers off this year. Social services and essential infrastructure programs are also being savagely cut back in many areas of the country. The cold, hard truth is that most of our cities are flat broke and things are going to get even worse in the years ahead.
So how do you know if your own city has become a hellhole?
Well, a few potential "red flags" are posted below....
You know that your city has become a hellhole when most of the street lightsget repossessed because of unpaid electric bills.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it announces that it will no longer prosecute domestic violence cases in order to save money.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it simply stops sending out pension checks to retired workers.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it rips up asphalt roads and replaces them with gravel because gravel is cheaper to maintain.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it eliminates the entire public bus system.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when nearly half of all the people living there can't read.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when one out of every ten homes sells for under $10,000.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when you can literally buy a house for one dollar.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when you have hundreds of people living in the tunnels underneath your streets.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when three of your past five mayors have been sent to prison for corruption.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when nearly half of the public schools in the city get shut down because of a lack of money.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when you have dozens of young people rampaging in the streets that are thirsty for revenge and that are armed with bats, pipes and guns.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when it is considered to be one of the 10 most dangerous cities in the world.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when thieves defecate in the back seat after they have broken into your car and taken your things.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when prostitution and drug dealing are two of the only viable businesses that remain in the city.
You know that your city has become a hellhole when the police chief announces that the police department will no longer respond to calls about burglary and identity theft due to very deep budget cuts.
Many of the examples above may seem humorous at first glance, but the truth is that they reveal just how deeply tragic our economic decline really is.
This is one of the reasons why I write about our trade deficit over and over and over. Every single month, tens of billions of dollars more wealth goes out of the United States than enters it. Every single month, we are getting poorer as a nation. Every single month, we lose more jobs and businesses.
Any politician that tells you that he or she can solve our economic problems without fundamentally addressing our horrific trade imbalance is lying to you. That means that there are a whole lot of liars in both political parties.
If the number of good jobs continues to decline, the plight of the average American family is going to continue to get worse. Home sales will continue to hover around record lows. The American people will continue to become increasingly frustrated with the economy.
The signs of decline are all around us.
Quit listening to the politicians and just open up your eyes and look.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/you-know-that-your-city-has-become-a-hellhole-when
Vancouver restaurant bans Men from Peeing standing up -
A Vancouver restaurant has come up with an interesting solution to the men-can’t-aim problem: Ban men from peeing standing up.
Recently, my wife and I had brunch at the Edible Canada bistro on Granville Island. When I went to use the facilities, I was surprised to see just one unisex bathroom with about six private stalls and a communal sink area.
Even more surprising, though, was the sign above the toilet, showing a stick man tinkling into a toilet with a line through it. Yes, Edible Canada has banned men from peeing standing up.
Back in my high-school days, I had a job at a fast-food restaurant, where one of my duties was cleaning the washrooms. I was often shocked at how much dirtier the men’s washrooms were than the women’s. And as a frequent user of men’s washrooms, I can attest that men are absolutely disgusting. Not only can’t some men aim, some don’t seem to bother to raise the seat before they go.
In Edible Canada’s case, where men and women have to share toilets, I can see why they’d be interested in reducing behaviours that might make things messy.
But, still, isn’t banning stand-up peeing a little extreme? Not to mention, as far as I can tell, completely unenforceable?
Being able to pee standing up is one of the perks of being a guy, perhaps even a rite of passage.
It wasn’t long after the Older Boy learned how to sit on the potty that he wanted to “pee standing up, like Daddy”.
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/10/12/vancouver-restaurant-bans-men-from-peeing-standing-up/
Detroit Police Impound Suspected Mobile Strip Club - the "Booty Lounge" bus -
Detroit police have impounded a party bus they say operated illegally as a strip club for reveling football fans at a popular tailgating spot.
The Detroit News and WDIV-TV report that the "Booty Lounge" bus was parked Monday near Ford Field, where the Lions played the Chicago Bears. Police say it was cited for not having a state safety inspection and because the driver didn't have a commercial license.
The bus was parked earlier Monday outside a bar in the Eastern Market area. Bus operator Joe Parsons agreed to move it at the request of police and said he planned to park out of town.
Parsons has said Detroit has no ordinance against "mobile entertainment clubs."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/12/detroit-police-impound-suspected-mobile-strip-club/?test=latestnews
Study Finds Vitamin E May Increase Risk of Prostate Cancer -
Vitamin E may have cardiovascular and brain-boosting benefits, but a new study found that men who took 400 international units of the supplement every day have an increased risk of developing prostate cancer.
“The results show that men who took vitamin E alone are actually at a higher risk of developing prostate cancer by about 17 percent, compared with a placebo,” said Dr. Eric Klein, who treats prostate patients at the Cleveland Clinic and co-chaired the study.
Researchers studied the effects of vitamin E on more than 35,000 men over the course of seven years because they originally thought vitamin E – and selenium – would decrease the risk of developing prostate cancer.
The study’s results were not what the researchers expected.
Researchers said they need to determine exactly why vitamin E can increase the chances of developing prostate cancer.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/10/11/study-finds-vitamin-e-may-increase-risk-prostate-cancer/?test=latestnews
VeriSign Demands Website Takedown Powers, No Court Order Necessary -
VeriSign, which manages the database of all .com internet addresses, wants powers to shut down "non-legitimate" domain names when asked to by law enforcement.
The company said today it wants to be able to enforce the "denial, cancellation or transfer of any registration" in any of a laundry list of scenarios where a domain is deemed to be "abusive".
VeriSign should be able to shut down a .com or .net domain, and therefore its associated website and email, "to comply with any applicable court orders, laws, government rules or requirements, requests of law enforcement or other governmental or quasi-governmental agency, or any dispute resolution process", according to a document it filed today with domain name industry overseer ICANN.
The company has already helped law enforcement agencies in the US, such as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, seize domains that were allegedly being used to sell counterfeit goods or facilitate online piracy, when the agency first obtained a court order.
That seizure process has come under fire because, in at least one fringe case, a seized .com domain's website had already been ruled legal by a court in its native Spain.
Senior ICE agents are on record saying that they believe all .com addresses fall under US jurisdiction.
But the new powers would be international and, according to VeriSign's filing, could enable it to shut down a domain also when it receives "requests from law enforcement", without a court order.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/11/verisign_asks_for_web_takedown_powers/
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy planning to make it a Federal Crime to mislabel products as containing Maple Syrup -
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy says he's planning to introduce legislation to make it a federal crime for people to mislabel products as containing maple syrup.
Leahy said Tuesday the legislation is needed to protect Vermont's maple crop from fraud.
The move came in the aftermath of a recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation that found a man who had been selling fake Vermont "maple" syrup, when the product contained no syrup.
Leahy's proposal would create a new federal felony offense and increase the sentences that prosecutors can seek for people who defraud consumers and farmers by intentionally mislabeling maple products.
http://news.yahoo.com/vt-sen-leahy-seek-maple-protection-law-181422461.html
Top 10 excuses police hear from drivers using cell...
You Know That Your City Has Become A Hellhole When...
Vancouver restaurant bans Men from Peeing standing...
Detroit Police Impound Suspected Mobile Strip Club...
Study Finds Vitamin E May Increase Risk of Prostat...
VeriSign Demands Website Takedown Powers, No Court...
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy planning to make it a Fede...
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People with depression are often told to exercise. What if they can't?
Meghan Collie GlobalNews.ca
The signs of depression you should not ignore.
Cara moved with her family to a new city and a new high school when she was 16.
Soon after, she began to experience sadness, irritability, isolation and withdrawal. The teen was eventually diagnosed with depression. (Her last name as been omitted to protect her privacy).
Along with therapy and a low-dose antidepressant, her doctor recommended exercising two to three times per week for at least 30 minutes to elevate her heart rate.
Cara found the exercise component intimidating. At the time, the only physical activity she did was at school a few times a week, but her depression made it difficult to do even that.
READ MORE: Cannabis could help treat depression in people with PTSD, B.C. study finds
The notion that physical activity helps patients with depression has been well documented in medical research: in fact, a 2011 study found that “exercise compares favorably to antidepressant medications” as a way to treat mild to moderate depression. However, the motivation and energy needed to exercise are often directly at odds with the symptoms of the mood disorder.
‘Vicious cycle’
Vincent Agyapong has seen this vicious cycle in his research.
He’s a clinical professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Alberta, and he’s currently studying the impact of exercise in the treatment of depression when compared to to treatments like medication and therapy.
“We know that, when people are depressed, there’s a chemical imbalance in the brain involved with chemicals referred to as neurotransmitters,” said Agyapong. These include serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine, among others.
READ MORE: Men struggle to keep friends — and it’s hurting their mental health
“We don’t know why there’s a shortage of these chemicals in the brain, but that’s usually what brings on the symptoms of depression or anxiety.”
The good news: the act of exercising promotes the development of these chemicals, leading to more neurotransmitters in the brain. Ultimately, this can have the same effect as taking antidepressants, according to Agyapong.
However, the chemical imbalance can cause symptoms like loss of appetite, change in sleeping habits or isolation, irritability, feeling of guilt or worthlessness, losing interest in things over time and trouble concentrating — all of which are not conducive to going for a run. Cara experienced this first-hand.
“The team I was a part of at school practiced twice a week and it wasn’t intense for the whole time, but this alone seemed hard enough to handle,” she said.
“I was daunted by the thought of having to find the time or activities in my current mindset and energy level.”
Walking became Cara’s most reliable form of physical activity, because it helped clear her mind and it didn’t require much energy.
“ will be something that’s difficult for people who are depressed to do by themselves,” said Agyapong. “It’s even difficult for people who aren’t depressed. Exercise is generally very difficult.”
Deidre Olsen, who was diagnosed with depression in 2016, says her willingness to exercise fluctuates with the state of her mental health.
“I’m the kind of person who is able to exercise a lot over a few months, but then stop altogether,” she said. “This is usually because my mental health is doing well, so I’m able to motivate myself to exercise.”
READ MORE: Eating alone may not be good for your mental health: experts
When her symptoms of depression are especially bad, she focuses on managing her “basic needs” — like eating, sleeping and going to work.
“Depression means I need 10 hours of sleep to function normally because my body is so exhausted from emotional pain,” said Olsen. “I need to feel energized and motivated before I exercise.”
“I can’t pour from an empty cup.”
The diagnosis shouldn’t be the same for every patient
Olsen says she has been told several times to exercise as a way to manage her depression, but that she finds those recommendations harmful.
“I need to do things on my own time, I understand it can be beneficial for some,” she said.
“Earlier this year, I was going to spin classes … I absolutely love because feel more fun than work. In one class, I had to fight through tears to even participate because my internal struggle was so hard.”
“I routinely have self-defeating thoughts telling me I’m too inadequate to try and should just give up.”
Amiee Wilson, a registered counselling therapist in Sydney, N.S., says one person with depression can have a vastly different experience from the next person — and treatment should reflect that individuality.
“It’s a very easy thing … for doctors to say, because they know actually does help. But … it’s counter-intuitive to somebody with depression who has a hard time getting out of bed in the morning,” she said.
In her practice, Wilson’s first step is to always find out how depression is uniquely impacting the patient sitting in front of her and going from there. Instead of recommending more physical activity from the outset, she tries to determine what would work best in these specific circumstances.
“That’s why I always look at a client’s whole history and background. It’s not cookie-cutter whatsoever.”
The need for more doctor guidance
Now 23, Cara recognizes that exercise is crucial for treating her illness — but that the nature of depression can sometimes make it impossible.
“It has become increasingly clear to me that exercise should be prioritized in my treatment. This is a very, very hard thing to admit to myself, because I don’t find it easy to do,” she said. “I’m always frustrated by the reality that exercise is an effective treatment for depression, because it is in such conflict with how the disorder manifests.”
Now, Cara focuses on finding a balance between exercise and rest. “I do experience relief in the hours or days afterwards, but I also don’t force myself if I’m feeling particularly unable,” she said.
“It’s a difficult balance. Sometimes when I’m really low is when I need it the most, but sometimes that’s when I need to allow myself to rest.”
In Agyapong’s opinion, a doctor should’ve been there to help Cara with this struggle from the beginning.
“More support is needed moving forward,” he said.
Agyapong recommends not only prescribing exercise for patients with depression but helping them find a gym or a trainer or a class that works for them.
“We also find that in groups helps because some people get to know ,” he said. This has been proven to not only assist with the chemical imbalance but also offset some symptoms of depression, like isolation.
READ MORE: ‘Depression meals’: How diets connect to mental health
“For others, it would be useful to involve family members,” said Agyapong. This often holds the patient accountable and makes them more likely to participate than if they were exercising on their own.
Whatever form of physical activity works best for the patient, Agyapong says the physician should be available for guidance and assistance for the entirety of treatment — or at least until the patient is comfortable exercising on their own.
— With files from Arti Patel
If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.
The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Depression Hurts and Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868 all offer ways of getting help if you, or someone you know, may be suffering from mental health issues.
Follow @meghancollie
Meghan.Collie@globalnews.ca
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Phillies to honor Jim Thome on 400th home run anniversary
Philadelphia Phillies' Jim Thome waves to the crowd before a baseball game against the New York Mets, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The Philadelphia Phillies will honor 2018 National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Jim Thome in a pre-game ceremony.
It will take place before Thursday, June 14th 1:05 p.m. game against the Colorado Rockies.
Thome spent parts of four seasons - 2003-05, 2012 - with the Phillies. He batted .260 with 101 home runs, 281 RBI and a .925 OPS.
He was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame in 2016.
The ceremony will take place on the 14th anniversary of Thome's milestone 400th career home run. He remains the only player in major league history to hit his 300th (Cleveland Indians), 400th (Phillies), 500th (Chicago White Sox) and 600th (Minnesota Twins) home runs with different teams.
"Jim's signing ushered in a new era of Phillies baseball," said Executive Vice President David Buck. "He had an immediate connection with our fanbase and gave our franchise a renewed level of respectability. Jim's election to the Hall of Fame was always a matter of 'when' not 'if' and we are excited to be able to honor him for that historic achievement."
Thome's wife, Andrea, and their two children - Lila and Landon - will also be on hand for the celebration. Lila will be performing the National Anthem.
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← Ecclestone wants to “tear up all the contracts,” says Mallya
Perez lands seven-place grid penalty for Brazil →
Ecclestone promises to redistribute F1’s wealth
Bernie Ecclestone has taken the huge step of admitting in public that the distribution of funds among the F1 teams is not equitable – and that he is responsible.
Ecclestone insists that he will attempt to address the issue and try to save the ailing teams, although contracts make that difficult.
“I know what’s wrong, but don’t know how to fix it,” he told PA and other British media outlets. “No-one is prepared to do anything about it because they can’t. The regulations have tied us up. If we were in a position where we could help these teams in trouble, we would do it. But we are not allowed to.
“If one team is given $10,000, everyone has to have 10,000. The trouble with lots of regulations and lots of contracts is we don’t think long term.”
Regarding the specifics of the distribution of the F1 fund, he said: “It makes no difference to me how the money is shared out.
“If they sat down here with me now and said they want to share out all of the money they get in a different way, I would say, ‘Good, give me the bit of paper’.
“The problem is there is too much money being distributed badly – probably my fault – but, like lots of agreements people make, they seemed a good idea at the time.”
Ecclestone said it wouldn’t be easy to override the existing deals: “I would say to people getting a chunk of money that I would like to take a percentage of their performance-related payment. I would put that money together to divide among the three or four we know are in trouble, and then I would put in the same amount of money. But there would not be one team that would think it was a bloody good idea.
“In the old days, the people sitting around a table would be the guys who could say yes or no. They would ask me to sort it out and it would be sorted. But none of the modern guys can agree anything, even if they wanted to. They all have to report back to somebody.
“I’d take all the money, pay all the teams’ debts that should be paid so people haven’t suffered because of Formula One, and people haven’t got credit for Formula One.
“I’d then say this is what you are going to get next year, this is the amount of money we’ve got, and this is what is going to happen from now on in. It’s percentages. It’s a case that the people involved in the sport will have to want to look after the sport and be prepared to make some sacrifices.”
Filed under F1 News, Grand Prix News
Tagged as F1
5 responses to “Ecclestone promises to redistribute F1’s wealth”
Andy Gibson (@Lopek)
Empty words to make himself look & feel better.
He put all these contracts in place, he knew exactly what he was doing. I don’t believe a word of it.
The poisonous little troll makes me sick.
The usual incoherence.
Ecclestone simply does not understand how to set up systems; all he knows is the deal.
What a load of horse shit. This is Bernie trying to get a better deal for himself while laying any blame on others.
“I’d love to but I can’t, other people are stopping me. It’s the FIA’s fault. it’s the teams’ fault. I’m trying to help.”
The guy doesn’t have an altruistic bone in his shrivelled up little body. If (and it’s a big ‘if’) he really wants to sort things out then it must be because there’s an axe hanging over him. I keep reading about a minimum of 20 cars and proper management (for want of a better phrase) being in the rights agreement between him and the FIA. I hope so. I hope it all gets taken from him and the others involved, even if he has already made his billions.
Then again, maybe he wants it all to disintegrate so he can mop up afterwards. Perhaps we should expect the imminent announcement of GP1.
GeorgeK
Difficulty to believe anything Bernie is currently saying, isn’t it?
The underlying motive for him to redress any of the messed up financial is CVC’s desire to sellout. No one’s buying any part of the current financial shit show he’s created.
floodo1
really bernie? “The problem is there is too much money being distributed badly – probably my fault” PROBABLY your fault?????
I love the tiny old guy in a lot of ways, but the fact that he never made the money distribution more equal has always been ridiculous. I love Ferrari but the amount of money they get is simply unfair. The top teams are or are partnered with massive corporations that would hardly notice losing 10 million a piece, which when split between the bottom teams would have a very significant impact.
I think Toto Wolff hit the nail on the head by calling out a couple of the back teams as not actually prepared for how massive F1 is, but on the other hand there are at least 10 teams (9 + Haas) which 100% legitimately deserve to be in F1. The top teams should, for not only the sake of Formula 1 but also themselves, give up a portion of their money to the smaller teams.
RT @Motorsport: #F1 commercial boss Sean Bratches will vacate the role at the end of the month, the championship has confirmed: https://t.… 1 day ago
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Practical Theology: Where Divinity and humanity meet.
Let me know you, for you are the Creator who knows me
The following Theology(s) are my “Confessions.” Each one is a simple attempt to consider the Nature of our Creator while reflecting on personal history--allowing ancient Scripture-- to more fully align, change, or improve (my) beliefs in today’s world.
Theology of a Chaplain
Praise and Lamentation live side by side . . . If anything, greater faith only intensifies lament as our faith intersects the harsh realities of life . . . And if we are going to be honest with God, following the example of the faithful from Israel to the saints in heaven, then we need to learn how to speak a language spoken by the trailblazer of our faith as he offered prayers with cries and tears to the (Creator).
Glen Pemberton, My God, My God, Why?
In the book of Exodus, the people of God were to leave enslavement and embark on a long journey, to a strange land that had yet to be seen by any of those ancient sojourners. The route to the Promised Land was vast, forcing them to survive in a desolate, largely uninhabitable wilderness.
Without a guide, they could easily have perished. Several human guides were provided as needed, yet one stayed consistently with them until that journey to the Promised Land was reached.
Exodus 13:20–21 tells us that the very presence of the Creator was physically shown to them with fire, giving hope and direction to these people as they wandered in their desert:
And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night; the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
This scripture is prominent in reflecting upon my Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) internship at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital. I was to be both the wandering escort in search of a promised land and fuel for God’s guiding flame in the desolate, uninhabitable wilderness parents must travel when their child needs hospitalization—or dies.
Even though over 80% of the children that came into Scottish Rite Hospital would leave better than they came in, it has been the other 20% that became my ministry route while in that internship. Nights in a hospital are especially long as a chaplain on call. That is when I was called most often to a bereavement room to sit with families to help them hold their children as they died.
I was a sojourner, wandering around looking for my own promised land by completing graduate school to become a pastor. So, while I was nourished by the manna of scripture, the fellowship given freely by the other interns, the calming presence of my CPE supervisor, and wisdom from seminary, I was also being baptized by a fire that does not “depart from the people.” Though I am certainly not the fire, I humbly submit that I was attempting to be the resin which allows seasoned wood to burn, even in the heaviest storms.
Resin is the sticky substance produced by certain trees and offers protective benefits to the plant when harmed. This substance when used on firewood will allow a flame to last through rain. Plant resins have a long history, documented back to ancient Persian, Greece, and Roman societies, which used highly prized resins known as frankincense and myrrh.
Resin is collected in clumps of sap known as “tears” from trees in which the volatile oils remain sticky and opaque and are valued as the “aroma of life” in the Judaic, Christian, and Islamic faiths. The burning of this resin in these multi-faiths is used to anoint newborns and individuals considered to be moving into a new phase in their spiritual lives.
As a person of faith, being called to pastor a family in the storm of losing a child links my story with the call of “bearing one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2). My own life history, of loss and grief, formed my own tears of resin to be harvested and then used in this hospital setting. My prayers were those tears which then were able to take on a larger meaning as I was simply called to “be still” or, otherwise, be the fragrant offering space to make known the Creator as the pillar, the guide, the way out of the desert.
Before becoming a chaplain, I was a student of social sciences and international relations. This actually is what pushed me to believe that lamentations, and the faith found in them, have been pushed to the margins in our post-industrial, medically advanced, wealth driven, Western society. Are we even taught how to respond in a hospital or what to expect when we’re taking Momma to a nursing home?
We tend to forget that even “Jesus wept” when he lost a friend to death (John 11:35). All humans seem to need to be reminded with rituals and holidays that Christ was “plunged into agonizing sorrow” even before he was crucified (Matt 26:37). These emotions in Christ were not evidence of his lack of faith but of his humanity and ability to understand our pain as our “high priest” and “adoptive” brother/parent. Even “creation groans out” while we wait for the redemption of our bodies (8:23). Therefore, to think of myself as resin used in a heavenly flame brought me the ability to stand firmly, with my God and my theology of resurrection, within a room holding parents who were lost in wordless translation of unbearable pain found in the bereavement room of a children’s hospital.
The fragrant offering found in being a hospital chaplain was nothing more than being willing to be in a space of “one another” in prayer while bringing to our senses that we are not alone, ever. This “we are not alone” theology did not come to me in seminary but was shown to me by a family I was privileged to serve and hope to never forget. Their child was born premature and, due to the vast amount of complications and undeveloped internal organs, the family made the decision no parent can even fathom having to make. After struggling for two weeks, they decided to have their daughter removed from life support.
As the chaplain, when it was time, it was my role to help them transition from the crowded intensive care unit to a private bereavement room for the child. This would allow them to spend her last hours of life peacefully in their arms without the other, quiet distractions of the ICU. What made this family different from others I had served was that there were ten other family members (sisters, brothers, grandparents and cousins of the grieving parents) gathered in that small bereavement room that night.
Without anyone suggesting this to happen, one at a time, each person in the room stood or knelt beside the mother holding the child for the three hours the baby chirped her last breaths. They all spoke of their undying love for this child and the joy she had brought them in her short life. Being in the presence of this whole family reminded me that, even though death is tragic, it is not to be endured alone. Their own light of faith shone bright that night; I was but one piece of it—resin attempting to keep the light shining in that room full of tears.
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Ihaia West
16th Jan 1992 1.75m/84kg Fly Half
West made his provincial debut for Hawke's Bay in 2012. He was named as the sole First Five-Eighth in the Maori All Blacks squad for their tour to North America the following year.
At the start of 2014, West was called into the Chiefs squad as injury cover, but was never included in a matchday squad for the club. In April 2014, West joined the Blues squad, as injury replacement for Baden Kerr who was ruled out for the remainder of the 2014 Super Rugby season.
On 2 May 2014 West had his debut Super Rugby match for the Blues against the Queensland Reds at Eden Park where he scored a try.
West came on as a substitute for the Blues against the British and Irish Lions and scored a fantastic try to seal the victory for the Auckland-based side.
He made another appearance against the Lions when he come off the bench for the Moari All Blacks.
After four seasons and 44 appearances (357 points) with the Blues West signed a one-year deal to join the Hurricanes for the 2018 Super Rugby competition.
He brings a considerable amount of Super Rugby experience to the Hurricanes where he will be coached by his former New Zealand Under 20s coach Chris Boyd.
In April 2018, La Rochelle announced the signing of Ihaia for the 2018-19 season on a three-year contract until 2021.
West made 14 appearances for the Hurricanes in his final season in Super Rugby scoring 22 points, taking his appearances tally in the competition to 58 and 379 points.
JW July 18
Napier Boys High School
Fly Half
Fly Half 2014 - 2017
Maori All Blacks
NZ Barbarians
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« GT wallops Mountaineers in simulation | Main | Knobler's 12/31/06 Gator Bowl notes »
Bennett started GT as project player
Taylor Bennett came to Georgia Tech as a project player - and a long-term one at that.
He started only his senior season at Lafayette High School in suburban St. Louis. He threw for a less-than-spectacular 1,014 yards that year as the Lancers finished with a 6-4 record.
Bennett's throwing mechanics as well as his demeanor and grasp of the game led Georgia Tech's coaches to look past his inexperience.
"He doesn't think he's already there, and that makes him work harder and study more," said Nix, who admits he is harder and more demanding on Bennett than most other quarterbacks he has coached. "He doesn't take himself too serious or treat this like it's a life-and-death-type deal, but at the same time he wants to compete and wants to win. Yet he still realizes what he can and can't do."
That includes evading tacklers, something Ball does. Or break the big play like tailback Tashard Choice or wide receiver Calvin Johnson.
Bennett's mind-set is that of a set-up man - to put the Yellow Jackets' playmakers in position to succeed.
[Adam Van B rimmer, Morris News, 12/31/06]
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Girish Home
Girish Mahajan (Editor)
Im a travel junky who loves to gain knowledge coz u know knowledge is power
Canute, Oklahoma
Updated on Aug 15, 2018
County Washita
FIPS code 40-11650
Local time Wednesday 8:40 AM
Time zone Central (CST) (UTC-6)
GNIS feature ID 1090936
Area 160 ha
Population 545 (2013)
Canute is a town in Washita County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 541 at the 2010 census.
Map of Canute, OK 73626, USA
Canute Public Schools
Canute was established in the early 1900s and located on the now-defunct Rock Island Railroad. Following the advent of the automobile, Canute became a popular stop along U.S. Route 66 and a large number of tourist businesses including gasoline service stations, motels and restaurants. However, when Interstate 40 bypassed the small village to the north in May, 1970 and received only one exit from the freeway, the local economy went into a decline due to the bypass and the concurrent closure of nearby Clinton-Sherman Air Force base at Burns Flat, leading most of those businesses to shut down. Today, Canute businesses include a bank and auto repair shop on Route 66, a strip bar, along with a gas station/convenience store and a motel at the I-40 interchange.
Canute is located at 35°25′14″N 99°16′48″W (35.420440, -99.279864), elevation 1,890 feet (576 m).According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.6 square miles (1.6 km2), all land.
As of the census of 2000, there were 524 people, 214 households, and 145 families residing in the town. The population density was 854.2 people per square mile (331.7/km²). There were 242 housing units at an average density of 394.5 per square mile (153.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 88.36% White, 0.57% African American, 1.91% Native American, 0.19% Asian, 7.25% from other races, and 1.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.63% of the population.
There were 214 households out of which 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.7% were married couples living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.8% were non-families. 28.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.01.
In the town, the population was spread out with 24.2% under the age of 18, 12.2% from 18 to 24, 25.4% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.0 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $32,321, and the median income for a family was $38,036. Males had a median income of $26,406 versus $15,500 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,283. About 13.7% of families and 15.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.7% of those under age 18 and 22.5% of those age 65 or over.
Canute Elementary School is located at Third and Walk Street. The elementary is made up of classes pre-k through 6th grade with 32 students per class as the average.
Canute Junior High and High School is located at 506 Third Street. The junior high is made up of classes 7th grade through 9th grade with 34 students per class as the average. The high school is made up of classes 10th grade through 12th grade with 30 students per class as the average. (Canute has grown over the past years.)
Canute, Oklahoma Wikipedia
Lucky Man (film)
Maria Bergkvist
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Syros: the Cyclades without the crowds
Syros the gem of Aegean
When Greek islands are mentioned, Santorini sunsets and Mykonos alleyways instantly come to mind – an exalted portrait of summer perfection. But for a slice of Greek bliss without the crowds, your best bet lies in Syros, the administrative capital of the Cyclades group and one of its smallest islands.
From the moment the ferry reaches the port, Syros reveals its resplendent pastel-hued villas cascading down the Ermoupoli hill and glistening in the Aegean sun. With a rich history and culture influenced by past rulers and boasting two towns – one Orthodox, the other Catholic – the sophisticated landscape of Syros offers many surprises.
Elegant Ermoupoli
Founded as an extension to the already existing Ano Syros settlement, Ermoupoli (or Hermoupolis) came into existence during the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s with the arrival of a wave of refugees from other Greek islands such as Chios, Psara and Crete. The new dwellers transformed the town into a major trading centre connecting the east to the west, contributing with their skills to the cultural boom that followed. Schools, printing presses and museums rapidly emerged.
Thanks to the rise of the bourgeoisie and flourishing arts, the ‘City of Hermes’ (fittingly named after the Greek god of trade) grew its amphitheatrically set layout with neoclassical buildings, crayon-like mansions and striking churches. The monumental Town Hall on cafe-dotted Plateia Miaouli, the Apollo Theatre and the blue-domed Agios Nikolaos Church stand out as its most iconic sights.
Medieval Ano Syros
Ano Syros is the original settlement of Syros, stretching along the Ermoupoli hill and crowned by the Agios Georgios Cathedral. Built by the Venetians in the 13th century as a fortified citadel with narrow streets, marble steps and a circular order, Ano Syros is a maze of alleys to get delightfully lost in. All around, the friendliest felines will pose for you and steal the show (there’s even a dedicated catering to the roaming cats of Syros).
Reminiscent of the French rule, when the Catholic Greeks were under protection here against invading pirates and Turks, the culture and dialect of this district are part of the discovery amongst the whitewashed houses. Traditional Greek music aficionados should visit the Markos Vamvakaris Museum, celebrating a famous rembetika (Greek blues) musician born here. For the best sunset shots head to the summit, where panoramic views of Syros and the neighbouring islands seduce further.
Despite its relatively small size, the island boasts several sandy, unspoiled beaches, which is not always a given in Greece. Galissas Beach is perhaps the best one, its crystal blue waters nestled in a sheltered cove on the western coast of Syros. After taking a dip (the water stays warm until October), refuel with scrumptious homemade Greek food at a restaurant right on the beach.
Kini Beach is another great option – widespread, with an array of beachfront properties and arguably the island’s top restaurant. Finikas Beach is the second-largest stretch of sand on the island, also a serious contender. But for a distinct experience head to Asteria Beach in Ermoupoli, which comes with no sand (rather, an uninspiring concrete deck). Instead, you’re in for the best belvedere in all of Syros, overlooking the Agios Nikolaos Church and wealthy sea captains’ houses perched on rocks in the Vaporia district.
The Aegean cuisine
When it comes to food, Syros doesn’t disappoint – the gastronomic temptation goes on from morning till midnight. With a plethora of restaurants and traditional Greek tavernas, prepare to have some of the best meals in the Cyclades. The island entices with a bit of everything: fish comes fresh and plentiful, while delicious gyros and souvlakis are ever-present.
Syros is also a culinary destination thanks to its speciality foods. Similar to the Turkish delight that was brought over in the 19th century, Syros’ loukoumi (prepared from water, starch and sugar only) is famous thanks to the local consistency of the water; it’s still laboriously mixed by hand and boiled in copper cauldrons. There are many wild herbs that grow locally – such as fennel, thyme and sage – so fennel pie is another speciality to try. Don’t leave Syros without a sip of tsipouro, the strong raki-like spirit made from pomace (leftovers from the wine press).
Local Cycladic culture
While the relaxing beaches and quaint villages are most enjoyable during the summer, Syros thrives on culture year-round. A Cycladic pioneer for its artistic contributions and currently undergoing a creative revival, the island has much more to offer than the sun-and-sand formula.
Built in the 19th century as a smaller version of the famed La Scala in Milan, the Apollo Theatre is one of Syros’ most important landmarks and symbol of cultural prosperity, where stunning performances take place. Every year, the theatre hosts a series of events including Animasyros, a festival of animation, as well as the Festival of the Aegean, a superb classical music line-up.
Unlike most other Cyclades islands, Syros is operational year-round; it’s also more affordable than big-hitter destinations like Santorini and Mykonos. However, weather-wise, summer is still the best time to visit, even more so September. From October on, it gets windier.
To get to Syros, catch one of the daily ferries from Piraeus, the main port of Athens. It’s a three- to four-hour boat ride, and you can also take a car on the ferry. Syros is also well connected by ferry with many other islands in the Aegean Sea; Mykonos, Tinos and Paros are only an hour away.
source: https://bit.ly/2BSD7ZY
Villa Amela Syros
Aegean View Villas See Our Instagram Page
By admin|2019-02-01T21:16:03+00:00February 1st, 2019|News|
Villa Ampela, Syros – Young Love: Spellbound by Syros
Syros is the Greek Island You Must Visit This Summer – Forget Mykonos and Santorini
Villa or Hotel?
Why to choose Greece
February 1st, 2019 | 0 Comments
A beach holiday in a greek luxury villa is ideal
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All Out Guitar | Magazine Archive
Kiko Loureiro Interview at The Guitar Institute
Wed, 16/04/2008 - by Institute of Co...
Brazilian Kiko Loureiro recently played a Masterclass at London's The Institute of Contemporary Music, and the Guitar Institute's master of ‘world guitar' Tolis Zavaliaris was on hand on 11th March 2008 to ask a few pertinent questions to this exciting new guitar star. Kiko is a genuinely fresh new addition to the ranks of virtuoso metal based guitarists, bringing an eclectic mix of influences that reflect his South American heritage - and these combined with a world class command of the modern rock guitar idiom results in a genuinely cutting edge axeman.
In March 2007 Kiko was voted "Best Guitarist" by respected Japanese music publication BURRN. Quite an achievement for a young guitarist from Brazil, whose meteoric career has spawned numerous studio and live albums with ANGRA, as well as solo albums ‘No Gravity' and ‘Universo Inverso'. After witnessing Kiko live it is no surprise that he has been awarded this accolade...
Kiko delivered an exclusive two-hour performance and chat at the Institute, and he definitely didn't disappoint anyone - a dazzling player, extremely well-versed in a wide range of styles, his laid-back and friendly demeanour meant the event became a session not to be missed!
Have look here for an exclusive video of his incendiary performance:
Kiko uses Seymour Duncan pickups in his ESP signature guitar, and Seymour Duncan were kind enough to support the event by providing a prize for one of the students present. Let's hope Kiko returns to the UK sometime soon!
Welcome to the first of many interviews provided by The Guitar Institute...
When did you start playing the guitar?
Well it is a funny story! My older sister was having acoustic guitar lessons at home and she decided to quit. Because my mother had already paid the teacher in advance for a number of lessons, she asked me to take over; I've never stopped playing the guitar since! I started by learning easy traditional Brazilian tunes with few chords and rhythms.
You originally started playing the acoustic guitar, so what made you change to electric?
I remember in 1985 I watched the Rock in Rio festival on TV. I was thirteen years old and the sound of the bands amazed me so much I decided to switch in to electric guitar. Kiss, AC/DC, The Scorpions, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden and many other great rock bands performed at that festival: it was a mind blowing! However, to be honest with you my interest for the acoustic guitar and Brazilian music has never stopped.
Who's your favourite guitar player?
I really like Jeff Beck. The man is, I don't know around sixty or something, and still to my ears he sounds so fresh and modern. He always experiments with something new and he never repeats himself. He still works hard with his music and he plays whatever he likes.
‘Universo Inverso' has won much praise from the guitar press as being a genuinely new approach to the virtuoso instrumental rock album genre: what was the philosophy behind the new album?
I always like to experiment as a musician. I started my career with Angra and I got known as a technical rock guitar player, but I never forgot about, or stopped learning, Brazilian traditional music. So now I felt it was the right time for me to combine these two influences together and come up with a new and fresh album.
What motivated you to change your sound on the new album?
Playing with other musicians is very important. The experience and the inspiration you get push you to create new things and become a better musician. In this way you keep your sound and ideas fresh all the time. On the new album the musicians come from different backgrounds and cultures and some of them there are not into rock at all. That really helped the development of the compositions.
Why did you title the album "Universo Inverso"?
I have always tried to go into different types of music. I always believed that music is unique and thinking of the different types makes us realise how huge a subject it is. It really does contribute to our health wellbeing as humans. With ‘Universo Inverso' you have the metal guy from the one side and the Brazilian traditional guy from the other.
Do you consider ‘the market' before you record an album?
Not at all. I always do whatever I feel doing with my music. I like to play, to jam, to gig; I like to be around music all the time. If I believe that I have material for a new album which I am happy with, I go for it with no considerations.
What are you up for the moment?
Well I travel a lot, mainly promoting the new album, playing with Angra, doing guitar shows, clinics, workshops and many more things; all associated with music!
Tell us about your new guitar?
My new signature guitar is made by ESP. There are two different models the SE and STD, with the differences mainly in the woods and the paint job! It has two Seymour Duncan pickups, the Custom 5 on the bridge and the SHR-1 Hot Rail on the neck. They have an Ebony fretboard and twenty seven frets, which from the 12th to 27th are scalloped.
Finally, any future plans?
Many! I would say keep playing and composing music. It is my way of life!
Tolis Zavaliaris, London March 11th 2008
Artists and Bands
All content ©2012 All Out Guitar
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Research - quakes compound drought stresses in Hurunui
New research shows Hurunui’s earthquakes have exacerbated the stresses being faced by a community already struggling with the impact of three years of drought.
In April 2018 the All Right? wellbeing campaign interviewed 150 Hurunui locals to find out how they’re doing, and the issues being faced following the 2016 earthquake series.
All Right? Hurunui health promoter Leanne Bayler says the research highlights the huge ongoing impact the drought has had on the Hurunui community.
“While 15% of respondents said they were struggling to cope with the impact of the earthquakes, twice this many, or 30%, were struggling to cope with the impact of drought,” says Leanne.
“The drought remains front and centre for the community. While this winter’s rain has been greatly appreciated, people are worried about future drought and the impact this could have.”
According to the research, 85% of respondents thought their lives were either the same (66%) or had become better (19%) since the earthquakes.
Leanne says that while many people are adjusting well to life post-quake, some residents are still finding it hard to cope.
“Although many are doing well, there are pockets of our community that continue to struggle.”
Nearly one in three people said they mourned the loss of community facilities, and 29% feel a sense of loss resulting from people relocating as a result of the quakes.
Leanne says that the impact of quakes is still being felt by parents and their children.
“One in four parents say they are still seeing the effect of earthquakes on their children's wellbeing, 31% feel anxious about their children's safety, and 21% say their children are more anxious or clingy.”
Leanne says that one of the most pleasing things to emerge from the research is the focus people are putting on looking after their own wellbeing.
Ninety-five percent of respondents said they are more aware of the need to take care of their own wellbeing, 90% now appreciate the small things more, and 80% value what they have more now.
Leanne says that as we approach the calving season and drier months it’s important people continue to take the time to look after themselves.
“Wherever you’re at it’s important to remember that no matter what life throws at you, there are things we can do to help us feel and function better. Simple things like catching up with mates, getting some downtime, and helping others can make a big difference to our ability to cope,” says Leanne
Leanne says the research will help to inform what’s required when it comes to the region’s ongoing recovery.
Click here for an overview of the research
Click here or on the image for a larger version of the infographic
This campaign is all about the simple things we can do every day, to look after ourselves and others. The resources are available nationwide and come in many languages.
Taking time to take a breather
For Stu Loe, it's important to get off the farm every now and then.
Support key to moving forward
You can't give what you don't have...
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Trope, Musical Number Index, Music Tropes, List Song
List Song
- Stravinsky!
- Gretchaninoff!
- Rumshinsky!
- Rachmaninoff!
- He'd better stop because we feel we all have undergone enough!
—Lady in the Dark
A List Song is a song whose lyrics lists a bunch of things that all tie together in some way.
Not quite the same thing as a Patter Song (though a List Song can also be a Patter Song). A patter song is a song which spits out a lot of words in very little time. Lots of sixteenth notes, a moderate-to-fast tempo, and more often than not, a very limited melody. The test of patter-songitute lies in the music. An example of a patter song that isn't a list song would be "The Worst Pies in London" from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, or "Trouble" from The Music Man, or "I've Just Seen a Face" by The Beatles.
A list song is made so by the lyrics. List songs that aren't patter songs include "I'm Still Here" from Follies, and "It Might as Well Be Spring," from State Fair. Admittedly, most list songs are going to be patter songs, but they aren't interchangeable terms.
The difficulty of memorizing the lyrics of List Songs is evident when actors in live performances sometimes forget what they're supposed to be singing.
Some particularly common examples are covered by subtropes:
Listing Cities
Days of the Week Song
Song of Song Titles
McDonald's had an ad back in the '80's - the McDonald's Menu Song that was Exactly What It Says on the Tin - it came as a 45 record in the Sunday edition of major newspapers, and if your copy had the class able to sing it all the way through, you won a million dollars.
"Big Mac, McDLT, a Quarter Qounder with some cheese, Filet-O-Fish, a hamburger, a cheeseburger, a Happy Meal, McNuggets, tasty golden french fries regular and larger sizes..." Set to the tune of "Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)" by Reunion, a great list song of golden oldie singers and groups.
This goes back before them all:
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun.
"Homer? You're drooling on the mike again."
San Francisco Bay Area tropers of a certain age will undoubtedly remember the infectious jingle for Denevi Camera mentioning their store’s locations (“Dublin, Berkeley, San Lorenzo, Cupertino, San Jose”).
Australian comic duo The Scary Little Weird Guys did a couple. One was about the (highly venomous) wildlife of Australia, and the other was (supposedly) every name in the telephone book.
A Brazilian radio does pratically every day a parody of "Because I Got High" in which the lyrics are the streets on which the traffic will get jammed. And they change the names every time!
Mr. Ray, the schoolteacher in Finding Nemo, sings these to educate his students. ("Let's name the zones, the zones, the zones/Let's name the zones of the open seeeaaaaaaaaa!")
The "Galaxy Song" from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life is sort of a List Song, consisting as it does of a series of facts and figures about the universe strung together.
"A Whole Bunch of World" from the Teachers Pet movie, which lists all the states in the US in alphabetical order.
All of the songs from Tangled except "The Healing Incantation" and "I See the Light" are like this: "When Will My Life Begin" is about Rapunzel singing about all the things she will do outside the tower she's in, "Mother Knows Best" is about Mother Gothel singing about all of the things that will "hurt" Rapunzel were she was to leave the tower, and "I've Got a Dream" is about all of the Snuggly Duckling thugs singing about all of the things they wanted to do besides acting like, um... ...thugs.
Mary Poppins At the penguin restaurant, Bert sings with the Penguins about Mary:
Bert: (singing) It's true that Mavis and Sybil have ways that are winning, and Prudence and Gwendolyn set your heart spinning. Phoebe's delightful, Maude is disarming.
Penguins: Janice, Felicia, and Lydia.
Bert: (singing) Charming! Cynthia's dashing, Vivian's sweet, Stephanie's smashing, Priscilla a treat.
Penguins: Veronica, Millicent, Agnes, and Jane.
Bert: (singing) Convivial company, time and again. Dorcas and Phyllis and Glynis are sorts. I'll agree are three jolly good sports. But cream of the crop, tip of the top....
Bert and the Penguins: It's Mary Poppins, and there we stop!
"Alexei Sayle's Stuff" featured a couple of these, notably "7 Things I Wouldn't Much Like To Do", in which Alexei produces several seven-item lists of undesireable activities, including running for the European Parliament dressed as a frog, and being employed to set fire to his bottom on BBC television. The song stops dead during the third verse when he lists 'Carrying on singing this bloody stupid song.'
Monty Python's "The Philosopher's Song" is a List Song about various philosophers and their drinking habits. "There's nothing Neitzche couldn't teach ya 'bout the raising of the wrist... Socrates himself was permanently pissed..."
On the Sesame Street soundtrack, Oscar the Grouch sings "I Love Trash," a list of...well...types of trash.
On an episode of Happy Days, Potsie sings "Pumps Your Blood," a song that lists the steps in which blood circulates through the body. It was forgotten by all but devoted fans of the show until years later, when it resurfaced in an aspirin commercial.
Rockapella's song "Capital", in which they list the capitals of the 50 United States. They inadvertently left off the capital of South Dakota (Pierre), and GOT A CALL FROM THE STATE'S GOVERNOR. He left a voice mail, which they then included on subsequent releases of the "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?" soundtrack album immediately after the track in question.
The Ending Theme to Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, considered by fans to be Super Sentai's take on the Pokerap, lists all the previous 34 Super Sentai squadrons. Given how catchy the song is, it's quite an easy method to make one remember the names of every Super Sentai ever.
Prior to that, the various Kamen Rider crossovers often featured a special song listing all riders involved in the crossover. Black RX' crossover song is appropriately titled "11 Kamen Rider". Bonus points that the first two are Ichigô (one) and Nigô (two).
"That's a Woman" by Celtic Thunder.
Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire", along with its innumerable parodies, is one of the most widely-known List Songs.
"Weird Al" Yankovic does this once an album. Sometimes more than once. Examples include "White & Nerdy" (Nerdy things he does), "One More Minute" (Things he'd rather do than spend time with his ex), its converse "You Make Me" (things his love makes him do) and "Hardware Store" (Things he plans to do and buy when the eponymous store opens).
"Dare To Be Stupid" (Various phrases and stupid acts), "One Of Those Days" (Bad things that happened in the singer's day), "Fat" (Things that happen due to massive obesity), "Good Old Days" (Things that happened in the titular days)...
"Albuquerque" (Donut types that the donut shop is out of).
Weird Al's song "Virus Alert" lists all of the awful things that will happen to you if the titular virus is downloaded onto your computer.
It's gonna melt your face right off of your skull
And make your iPod only play Jethro Tull
And tell you knock-knock jokes while you're tryin' to sleep
And make you physically attracted to sheep
Steal your identity and your credit cards
Buy you a warehouse full of pink leotards
Then cause a major rift in time and space
And leave a bunch of Twinkie wrappers all over the place
The bridge from "Hardware Store", which is somehow said in one breath:
They've got allen wrenches, gerbil feeders, toilet seats, electric heaters, trash compactors, juice extractors, shower rods and water heaters, walkie-talkies, copper wires, safety goggles, radial tires, BB pellets, rubber mallets, fans and dehumidifiers, picture hangers, paper cutters, waffle irons, window shutters, paint removers, window louvers, masking tape and plastic gutters, kitchen faucets, folding tables, weather stripping, jumper cables, hooks and tackle, grout and spackle, power foggers, spoons and ladles, pesticides for fumigation, high-performance lubrication, metal roofing, water proofing, multi-purpose insulation, air compressors, brass connectors, wrecking chisels, smoke detectors, tire gauges, hamster cages, thermostats and bug deflectors, trailer hitch demagnetizers, automatic circumcisers, tennis rackets, angle brackets, Duracells and Energizers, soffit panels, circuit breakers, vacuum cleaners, coffee makers, calculators, generators, matching salt and pepper shakers.
"Bob" is a list of palindromes sung in the style of Bob Dylan.
From Al's new cd, Alpocalypse: "CNR" is a list of Charles Nelson Reilly facts. "Craigslist" is mostly a list of things one could find or do on said site. "Ringtone" has a verse listing all the sorts of people around the world who hate the titular ringtone. "If That Isn't Love" is a list of things the singing character considers to be love. "Whatever You Like" (similar to the song it's based on) is a list of things the singing character will purchase or steal for his girlfriend. "Stop Forwarding that Crap to Me" is a list of stupid e-mails the singing character has been forwarded.
Tom Lehrer's "The Elements", which is a listing of all the known elements at the time. (Its tune is taken from "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" by Gilbert and Sullivan.)
"Lobachevsky" also includes a short list segment where he describes the course news takes across Russia, listing a bunch of Russian city names.
Amateur Transplants, best known for "London Underground", have done a number of list songs:
"The Drugs Song", based on Tom Lehrer's "The Elements"
"Dorsal Horn Concerto", to the tune of Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 4
"Finals Countdown", to the tune of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire"
Extreme's "Play With Me" is a big list of children's games.
Cat Stevens, "Moonshadow" (a list of all the body parts X that if he ever loses he won't have to Y)
Barenaked Ladies: "If I Had A Million Dollars". The narrator, apparently, is willing to buy such things as a house, furniture for the house, a tree fort, a miniature fridge to go into the tree fort, a fur coat (but not a real fur coat, that's cruel), a green dress (but not a real green dress, that's cruel), the remains of John Merrick, an exotic pet (like a llama or an emu), art (maybe a Garfunkel), and his girlfriend's love.
Don't forget the pre-wrapped bacon, or the dijon ketchup for the piles of KD he'd be buying.
Or the monkey!! Haven't you always wanted a monkey!!!
Roger Waters is quite fond of making lists. A few examples off the top of my head:
"Eclipse"
"What Shall We Do Now?"
"Every Stranger's Eyes"
"What God Wants"
"Nobody Home"
"Pokerap" is a list of all 150 original Pokémon, as is the Japanese song "Pokémon Ieru Ka Na?" ("Can You Say 'Pokémon'?").
Weird Al's parody, "Polkamon", seems to attempt listing all the Pokémon but wimps out part of the way through, merely saying there's "at least 127 more". Also he used Ditto twice, thought that may be part of the joke.
The second ED of the Best Wishes series basically is a faster version showcasing the Unova Pokémon.
"Let the Drummer Kick" by Citizen Cope is a list of words that sound the same. ("Relations, creation, incarceration, determination, equation, humiliation, reincarnation, situation, elation, identification, retaliation, education, inspiration, substitution, non-inclusion, solution, conclusion.")
Radiohead's "Fitter Happier" is apparently some kind of disturbed checklist ("Fitter. Happier. More productive...").
King Crimson's "Elephant Talk" is a list of ways to say talking ("Arguments, agreements, advice, answers...").
Reverend Bizarre's "The Goddess of Doom" lists various doom metal bands.
R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
Reunion's "Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)."
The title track to Journey's "Raised on Radio" LP.
Paul Simon's Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover, although he only does 6 or 7...
Which is parodied in Rob Balder's Filk Song Fifty Ways To Leave Your Planet.
Notorious B.I.G.'s "The Ten Crack Commandments"
Tom Waits' Cemetary Polka lists the bizarre activities of all his 'uncles'.
The Rant Song from Scrubs' Musical Episode.
The Nails, "88 Lines About 44 Women".
Brunching Shuttlecocks' "88 Lines About 42 Presidents".
"88 lines about 44 Simpsons" by the great Luke Ski as well.
99 Words For Boobs, another Filk Song, performed by Robert Lund to the tune of "99 Luftballons".
The KMFDM song "Inane" manages to list the titles of every album and single they had produced up to that point, which works well as many of those titles are single common words.
"Me and My Gun" lists the names of various firearms.
The song "7 Things" by Miley Cyrus.
"Drop That Name" from Bells Are Ringing.
Mylo's "Destroy Rock & Roll" is basically a list of various artists from the history of music.
Mostly based on a sample of some hellfire preacher from the Church Universal And Triumphant.
"The Begat" from Finian's Rainbow.
While the chorus of "Bicycle Race" by Queen is just a man describing his urge to ride bikes, the verses list all of the popular things he is escaping by going on his bike rides.
Neil Diamond's "Done Too Soon" is a seemingly random list of names of celebrities and historical figures, the common thread being that they all supposedly died before their time. (Most of the people in the list did indeed die quite young, but a few of the people mentioned, such as Buster Keaton, managed to reach old age.)
Noel Coward was very famous for these.
The Divine Comedy did a couple - the best is "Gin Soaked Boy". They also covered Noel Coward ("I've Been To A Marvellous Party").
See also; The Booklovers and A Seafood Song
Jonathan Coulton has at least two of these: "The Presidents" and "Washy Ad Jeffy" (both of which are about the Presidents of the United States).
"Up My Ass" by King Missile is a list of things (and sometimes people) that are literally, well... Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Funnier than it sounds due to the intense vocals and how specific the list gets ("Encyclopedia Britannica! The Louisiana Purchase!").
Don't forget "I Wish..." (a long list of increasingly less plausible wishes the narrator makes).
"On the first day of Christmas..."
Jay Foreman played one of these at his 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Show "20 Songs For Free" which listed all the countries of the world.
Insane Clown Posse's "Fuck The World" is a Cluster F-Bomb, ending with the line "Fuck Violent J!" (spoken by himself).
Children of Eden has "The Naming" of the animals, which Stephen Schwartz has some fun with by including many extremely obscure animals, and "Generations" which is one of those big long "begetting" lists from The Bible done as a fun production number.
"Feel Good Hit Of The Summer" by Queens of the Stone Age. It's a short list, but potent.
The '40s novelty song "I'm My Own Grandpa".
Boom de ya da, boom de ya da, boom de ya da, boom de ya da...
Jim Carroll Band's "People Who Died".
In the 1960s, Lucky Starr performed a song written by George Mack called "I've Been Everywhere". It's basically several lists of Australian towns sung at lightning-fast speed. The song has since been performed by others and adapted to other geographical areas.
The best-known version in the U.S. was by Johnny Cash.
Plenty in country music:
"I Love the Way You Love Me" by John Michael Montgomery and "Love Your Love the Most" by Eric Church both feature the male narrator listing off things that he loves, obviously topping it off with what he loves the most — his woman.
"Things That Never Cross a Man's Mind" by Kellie Pickler is Exactly What It Says on the Tin: a list of things that never cross a man's mind.
"Good Time" by Alan Jackson is mostly a list of things that comprise a "good time".
"The World" and "She's Everything", both by Brad Paisley, both feature lists of what the singer thinks of his lover.
Rascal Flatts song "Backwards". A long list of people and possessions that a person gets back when they play a country song backwards.
"All My Ex's Live In Texas", by George Strait.
"What I Wouldn't Give for your Love" by Kevin Fowler; notably, it exclude the moon and the sun.
"1,000 Faces" by Randy Montana, is a list of various types of women ("There's brunettes, blonde girls, blue jeans, string of pearls / Take you on a trip around the world girls…")
Completely justified by Toby Keith's "My List". It's about how he looks at his list of things to do today, but decides that what he should really do today is on a different list: play with his kids, call his parents, etc.
"Like a Boss" by The Lonely Island lists everything a boss does on a daily basis, including sexually harassing an employee, promoting synergy, attempting suicide, auto-fellatio, having sex with a fish, and bombing the Russians.
Don't forget flying into the sun and dying.
Similarly, there's "Flags Of The World", which purports to list the flags of different nations, but of course very quickly turns into something much more ridiculous ("Yahtzee flag, ROTC flag, Neo-Nazi Potsie flag!")
Their "Threw It On the Ground",as it sounds like, is basically a list of things the titular character threw on the ground.
One segment of Dream Theater's Octavarium is a homage to The Who, Yes, The Beatles, and a bunch of other bands that influenced them in List Song form.
Die Ärzte have a song consisting of philosophers' names: Schopenhauer, Hegel, Kant, Wittgenstein, Platon, Popper, Cicero...
John Lennon's "God" is a list of things Lennon doesn't believe in (one of which is The Beatles).
Then there is "Give Peace A Chance," which isn't so much sung as shouted, interspersed with the chorus.
Similarly U2's "God Part II" a quasi sequel to Lennon's song also has the singer list the things he does not believe in.
The Beatles themselves also had a couple: "Come Together" is a list of things old flattop be and got, "I am the Walrus" is partly a list of things the singer is (including, yes, the walrus), and "Penny Lane" is a list of things found in Penny Lane
Bazooka Girl's "Cantare Ballare (Happy Eurobeat)" lists the titles of other Eurobeat songs in its lyrics.
Similarly, Time Allstars - 150 uses parts of the lyrics from various older TIME eurobeat songs, including Ding-a-Ling, Dark in the Night, and Music Fever.
Daft Punk has two list songs: "Teachers", where all of their influences and favourite musicians are listed as being "in the house", and "Technologic", describing all of the things one can do with technology.
Sabaton's "Metal Crüe" is more or less a list of all the rock and metal bands the songwriter could come fit into the lyrics.
Land of 1000 Dances by Cannibal and the Headhunters, Wilson Pickett, and various others (originally by Chris Kenner, although the "Na nana na na" part was added by Cannibal) is simply a list of dances, starting with "You've got to know how to pony".
Part of M.I.A.'s song "XR2" consists of her listing a long series of initialisms related to pop culture:
"XR2, 808, MP3, MC8, XOX the MC5, MTV has ADD, NBC and BET, BBC is OAP, REM, KLF, IQ up the ICQ, CB4, CPT, BBD in ATL, PDD had BIG, NYC had R&B, OPP, YRB, TLC, SWV, JO, DC, XXX, I heart you SL2"
Surfin' U.S.A. by the Beach Boys is a list of good surf spots in the USA, mostly in California.
Kokomo counts as this as well.
The obscure (but fun) "Apple Song" from Melody Time.
Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3 by Ian Dury and the Blockheads lists Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
The Kinks' "Village Green Preservation Society" lists things they think are worth preserving, including Donald Duck, strawberry jam, and virginity.
"Time to Think" by Kimya Dawson is entirely a List Song, first listing things she needs, then listing things she's seen. Under the 'seen' category, she pays homage to two other famous list songs:
"Close calls and inifinity, little kids who look up to me, It's the End of the World as we Know It" and "We Didn't Start the Fire" and Adam Green. I need more time to think, don't you think? I need more time to think."
The Pittsburgh-based band The Clarks have "Born Too Late," a list of historical figures that they were born too late to have known.
Wizard Rock band Riddle TM has "Beans", which lists different kinds of 'Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor Beans'. Lyrics are here.
Lemon Demon's song Ode To Crayola:
Outrageous Orange, Laser Lemon, Jungle Green
That's what I said -- Wild Watermelon, Midnight Blue, Atomic Tangerine
Radical Red, Sky Blue, Shamrock too, Gold so true it glows
I love the Razzmatazz, Purple Pizzazz, Razzle Dazzle Rose..
Word Disassociation, from the same album, is literally just a 4 minute list of totally random words with no links to each other, connected by a chorus of just the song title.
Near the end of "I'm In Love With The Girl On A Certain Manchester Megastore Checkout Desk" (by The Freshies) it turns into a list of record labels that the band were (or at least purport to have been) rejected by.
"Heartsongs" by Weezer is a list of Rivers Cuomo's musical influences.
Brazilian singer Tim Maia has two lists in a row in "Do Leme ao Pontal": Rio de Janeiro beaches, and what he'll eat ("I drink guaraná, cashew juice, Goiabada for dessert!")
The Alphabet Song, which lists the letters of the alphabet.
Jazz musician and baseball fan David Frishberg's "Van Lingle Mungo".
"These Foolish Things" is a song litsing foolish things which remind the singer of his lost love. More entertaining is Mitch Benn's "These Ghoulsih Things", a parody which does the same but with a bunch of truly disgusting or downright evil things.
A fallen crow with a broken back;
The smell of blood by a railroad track;
A mushroom cloud in a sky of blue;
These ghoulish things remind me of you.
Alanis Morissette loves these.
Many of her songs have verses where nearly every line begins with the same words, completing the phrase a different way each time. "Are You Still Mad?", "Eight Easy Steps" and "Still" fit the format particularly well.
"Joining You" inverts this format with an ever-changing chorus: "If we were our ______, I'd be joining you."
"Thank U" has two sets of lists - the "How about"s in the verses, and the "Thank you"s in the chorus.
"Hand in My Pocket" is well-known for listing pairs of contradictory statements about Alanis's identity and state of mind.
"Unsent" is a list of letters never sent to ex-lovers.
"Versions of Violence" rattles off more forms of emotional abuse than you were probably aware existed.
"21 Things I Want in a Lover" is probably her best example. By the time the final chorus winds down, she has only listed 20 of the desired characteristics, and then she crams in the 21st at literally the last second.
Pearl Jam's appropriately titled "Wish List".
Played with on Sublime's "40 oz to Freedom" album. They had their producer read their album 'thank you's' set to music.
The Swedish comedy group Galenskaparna & After Shave have a number of these:
De Fyra Klädesplaggen (The Four Garments) from En himla många fina program is a list of articles of clothing set to the music of Puttin' on the Ritz. (The B part is instead a list of things that come in fours.)
Piff puff paff! from En himla många fina program is a list of things you can do to perplex people.
S:t Sigfridsplan (Saint Sigfrid's Place) from En himla många fina program is a list of things that can be found in a particular busy Gothenburg intersection.[1]
Bragdmamma from Stinsen brinner contains long lists of the suppplies that the Doting Mother is sending to her numerous sons, daughters, and exhusbands as well as the places around the world where they live.
I'm proud of the BBC, by Mitch Benn, listing everything awesome about The BBC between choruses.
The B-52s, on their first album, have the song "52 Girls", singing of "the principal girls of the USA" but only list 23. In "Dance this Mess Around" they sing about how "they do all sixteen dances" but only list eight.
The song Rodeo from Garth Brooks has a chorus that is nothing but a list of things one would see at a rodeo.
Globus' Europa lists battles in Europe.
A good chunk of the lyrics to "The Girls Of Porn" by Mr. Bungle (essentially a glorified ode to A Date with Rosie Palms) is dedicated to listing ultra-Squicky kinks and fetishes.
Born This Way-Lady Gaga Check em out
NanowaR's "Intrue" lists metals (probably parodying "The Elements" by Tom Lehrer among other things).
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's "The Intro and the Outro," best known for having John Wayne on the saxophone and Adolf Hitler on vibes (not really).
The verses of Don Williams' "I Believe In You" list the things he doesn't believe in and the chorus list the things he does believe in.
U2's "Numb", where The Edge sings what's basically a list of "Don't"s.
The Protomen's song Due Vendetta is basically a listing of Mega Man characters.
Serbian artist Djordje Belasevic has the song Namcor about all the things he doesn't like (aside from the woman he loves and he doesn't really like that he loves her)
Steven Wilson's Index lists... ways to list things.
Hoard – Collect – File – Index
Catalog – Preserve – Amass – INDEX
The refrain to "Johnny Saucepan" by Moxy Fruvous
Swedish rock group Sator has the song "World" which lists things that... well, the chorus goes "How can we fail?/It's such a wonderful world/What could go wrong?/It's such a wonderful world". The first verse includes:
UFO's - Donald Duck - Buddha - Jesus - Michael Jackson
Santa Claus - USA - Challenger and science fiction
King Kong - Bud Light - Old McDonald's got a farm
Elvis Presley - Son of Sam - alcohol and bubblegum
Most of Luniz' seminal "I Got 5 On It" is a list of synonyms for marijuana.
Todd Snider has "Vinyl Records," a list of artists that the narrator has on vinyl:
I got Willie, Waylon, and Woody Guthrie,
Jimmy Buffett, Lyle Lovett, and Bobby Gentry,
Jerry Jeff, Bob Dylan, Donnie Fritts, The Dead and The Doors,
Patsy Cline, John Prine, and more...
"Dumpsite" by the Filipino band Pan, which lists off stuff you can find in piles of trash that are stinking up rivers -- even corpses of insects, rats, dogs, cats, and humans!
"King of Pain" by The Police is primarily a list of people, animals, and objects caught in dangerous situations, each followed by "That's my soul up there":
There's a fossil that's trapped in a high cliff wall (that's my soul up there)
There's a dead salmon frozen in a waterfall (that's my soul up there)
There's a blue whale beached by a springtime's ebb (that's my soul up there)
There's a butterfly trapped in a spider's web (that's my soul up there)
The new version of Blue Man Group's finale, "Shake It", mostly consists of (largely made-up) synonyms for the human rear end.
MC Lars' "Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock" consists mostly of a list of things Hot Topic sells that are not punk rock.
Let's not forget the traditional hymn "All Things Bright and Beautiful"...
...brilliantly parodied by Monty Python's "All Things Dull and Ugly".
Martyn Joseph's Everything in heaven comes apart. Poet Stewart Henderson, his co-writer on that song, specialises in this sort of thing.
The Church's Welcome. These are the lyrics to the song. And here is a breakdown of who all the people mentioned in the song actually are.
The White Stripes have done a couple. "Lafayette Blues" is entirely composed of a long list of all the French street names in the band's native Detroit. On their final album, the song "Rag and Bone" includes a list of locations that the song's subjects intend to buy secondhand items at.
"Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits has a List Chorus ("We got the movies..."), rattling off the working-class schlub's electronics-store inventory.
"The Seven Deadly Virtues" from Camelot.
"My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music.
Name-checked by Red Hot Chili Peppers in another list song, "Mellowship Slinky in B-Minus," where Anthony Kiedis concludes, "These are just a few of my favorite things."
Cole Porter loved this genre:
"You're The Top" from Anything Goes, whose title song also qualifies as a List Song in its original version.
Most of Kiss Me, Kate: "I Hate Men," "Were Thine That Special Face," "Always True to You (In My Fashion)," "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," "Where is The Life That Late I Led," "We Open in Venice"...and that's off the top of my head.
"But In The Morning, No" from DuBarry Was A Lady is one Double Entendre after another.
With "You're The Top," Cole Porter started a series of comparison-based love songs, including "A Picture Of Me Without You" (from Jubilee), "From Alpha To Omega" (from You'll Never Know), and the duet "Cherry Pies Ought To Be You" (from Out Of This World).
Then there are the List Songs with animal-related Double Entendres: "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)," "Where Would You Get Your Coat?", "Nobody's Chasing Me."
Stephen Sondheim also loves this genre:
"The Little Things You Do Together" and "The Ladies Who Lunch" from Company
"Remember?" from A Little Night Music
"I'm Still Here" from Follies
"A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
"Mix Tape" from Avenue Q
Gilbert and Sullivan made extensive use of this trope:
'If you want a receipt for that popular mystery' from Patience, which is filled with literary references.
One of their most famous is the "little list" song from The Mikado, about all the useless people the Lord High Executioner can kill, because they surely won't be missed!
Most famous of all, and frequently parodied: "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" from The Pirates of Penzance.
"They All Laughed" from Shall We Dance has a refrain that starts as a List Song and ends as a love song.
The song "Joseph's Coat" from the musical Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
"It was red and yellow and green and brown
And scarlet and black and ochre and peach
And ruby and olive and violet and fawn
And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve
And cream and crimson and silver and rose
And azure and lemon and russet and gray
And purple and white and pink and orange and BLUE!"
Played to the same effect in the Harry Potter filk musical Harry and the Amazing Fifty-Percent-Blooded Turncoat:
He is bad and evil and mean and snide
And snarky and dank and snaky and base
And rotten and awful and violent and rude
And wicked and foul and crooked and rank
And vile and vicious and slimy and gross
And hateful and hostile and hurtful and harsh
And wretched and damned and cold and cruel!
"Down With Everything That's Up" from Let 'Em Eat Cake.
The Catalogue Aria from Mozart's Don Giovanni, which outlines Don Giovanni's sexual history.
"La Vie Boheme" from Rent is pretty much a celebration of (and thereby list of) everything that the main characters consider bohemian.
In the musical Wicked, Galinda lists all the ways Elphaba can become more "Popular".
"Rainbow High" from Evita, which is a list of things the stylists help Eva with, including eyes, hair, lips, figure, face, voice and so on.
From Hair:
"Sodomy / Hashish" -- a list of unmentionable acts and drugs, respectively.
"Colored Spade" -- "Iiiiii'm aaaaaa...." list of pernicious African-American stereotypes.
"Ain't Got No" -- the end of the song is an insanely fast recitation of things the hippies don't need or can't afford.
"I Got Life" -- a recitation of body parts (sung on top of a table in the film)
Carmina Burana actually contains music other than "O Fortuna!" One of them, "In Taberna Quando Sumus", contains a lengthy list of everyone currently drinking: the cleric, the soldier, the quick, the slow, whites, blacks, fools, scholars, the sister, brother, mother, that guy over there, and so on. All sung in an appropriately ludicrous tempo.
"Mystery" from Vanities(5th Avenue Theater/ACT version), sung at the beginning of each act while the cast is putting on their makeup and costumes. The first act's version lists the various makeup implements, the second lists makeup brands, the third lists clothes designers, and the fourth lists signs of aging. The "I Want" Song "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" lists the things the girls want in adulthood.
"Tchaikowsky (And Other Russians)" from Lady In The Dark, a list of four dozen Russian composers Danny Kaye could rattle off in well under a minute. It was the inspiration for "The Elements."
"Things That Don't Exist" by Jason Eppink, Matt Hannon, & Alex Taite (concept based on this strip from Dinosaur Comics)
Charlie the Unicorn: Lungfish, blackfish, alligator, icefish...
Also from Film Cow, Ferrets, in which Harold the Ferret lists all the things that make him happy.
Casey and Andy has a fan-created one with all the characters (plus "the conquistador") that the author put up on the website
The Bedroom Philosopher enjoys these, most famously in the song "I'm So Postmodern". (I'm so postmodern that I stole everyone's mail, and cut them up into a ransom note and hid it in a thermos...I'm so postmodern I take all my Lego to the supermarket, and build my own shopping trolley, and only buy one nut...etc.)
Pinky and The Brain had a song listing all the parts of the brain. (It's set to the tune of "Camptown Races".)
"Brain stem! Brain stem!"
Animaniacs had one for the nations of the world, one for the states of the US and their capitals and one for all the US presidents.
Animaniacs also parodied themselves by purporting to have Yakko singing every word in the dictionary.
Yakko also sang a song listing all the planets in the Solar System, except Uranus.
There's the Family Guy version where Stewie sings about the people he hates and wants to kill.
"Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day" by Bowling for Soup (the extended version of the theme song from Phineas and Ferb) is a list of crazy things to do during summer vacation:
Crossing a tundra, or building a roller coaster
Skiing down a mountain of beans
Devising a system for remembering everything
Or synchronizing submarines
"Mom, Look!" from "Rollercoaster: The Musical" is a list of previous schemes the boys have pulled off to which Candace has tried (and failed) to alert their mother.
'Before We Die' from Total Drama Island was a song in which 12 teenagers were all saying what they wanted to do before they die, almost all at once. Then at the end of the song, they even more rapidly ask for something to save their lives as they fall out of a plane.
Some wings! A jetpack! A rift in time! Parachute?
Waterbed! A trampoline! Springy shoes! Rocket boots!
A flying squirrel! Bubble bath! I change to bubbles, too! Mama! Pizza-no! Chips and some dip will do!!
You can also count 'This Is How We Will End It,' where at the begining Alejandro is listing all the girls he used during the course of the show, and the final song 'Verses,' where the final two are listing body parts they need to get, while mocking the others. (Get me two knobby knees, and arms like logs of cheese!)
Total Drama loves this trope, huh? 'Her Real Name Isn't Blaineley' is Geoff listing all the bad things about Blaineley, including things like she buys her jeans large on purpose so you think she's lost weight, her hair is dyed, and, or course, her real name isn't Blaineley. It's Mildred!
"Hmmm, let's see who we have here... "So, there's Dumbo to the left, and Bambi to the right, and Cinderella and Cruella and Prince Charming and Snow White..."
Veggie Tales featured the song "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" which lists things that the titular pirates don't do.
Trumpton loves this trope
Used in an episode of Recess where the Ashleys give everyone "ratings", and Vince gets a nine, therefore, he has to hang out with the rest of the nines. Singer Kid, who as his name implies, always sings instead of speaks, and he starts singing one of these songs listing all the "champions" in the nines.
"First there's me, the statewide singing champ, and then there's her, the statewide spelling champ, and then there's him, the statewide chess champ, AND THAT'S NOT AAAAALL!!!"
↑ Asphalt! Asphalt! There almost everything is asphalt. Redlights! Idles! Cars in a queue, what a pleasent miljeu…
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.fandom.com/wiki/List_Song?oldid=52881"
Musical Number Index
Music Tropes
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Smithsonian Celebrates the Star-Spangled Banner Bicentennial
Kicks Off Official Events with USPS and Stamp Dedication Ceremony
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is joining with national partners to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired the national anthem. Festivities begin March 6, with a ceremony for the new Star-Spangled Banner Forever Stamp in partnership with the United States Postal Service. Continuing throughout the summer, events include the presentation of the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal to cultural icon Ralph Lauren and a naturalization ceremony; uniting the banner with Francis Scott Key’s original manuscript; a call to millions of Americans to participate in simultaneously singing the “Star-Spangled Banner”; and a cocktail program, “Raise a Glass to History,” in 15 cities.
The museum is proud to be the home of the flag that inspired lawyer Key in 1814, after the relentless but ultimately unsuccessful British bombardment of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry, to pen the lyrics to what later became the U.S. national anthem in 1931.
“Americans have used the Star-Spangled Banner, both the flag and the song, to express diverse ideas of patriotism and national identity,” said John Gray, director of the museum. “The historic events we are planning around the Star-Spangled Banner will create shared moments in our nation’s history.”
When the museum opened its doors to the public Jan. 23, 1964, as the National Museum of History and Technology, its Flag Hall was among the first 10 original galleries on view. Today, the Star-Spangled Banner remains at the center of what is now the National Museum of American History and is among the most popular objects with the museum’s 5 million annual visitors.
The March 6 First-Day-of-Issue Ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m. in the museum’s Flag Hall with Kristin Seaver, vice president, Area Operations, Capital Metro Area, U.S. Postal Service, serving as the dedicating official. Seaver will reveal the new Star-Spangled Banner Forever stamp with Gray and special guests, including Tina Cappetta, superintendent of the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine. A Key reenactor will recite the anthem and present American flags to the public.
In June, the Smithsonian will present Lauren, the youngest son of immigrant parents, with the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal in a ceremony that also welcomes 15 new Americans. The medal recognizes Lauren’s lifetime contributions to American entrepreneurship, artistry, creativity and vision. Additionally, Lauren played a leadership role in the preservation of the Star-Spangled Banner. Established in 1965 to honor the 200th anniversary of Smithson’s birth, Lauren will be the 70th recipient of the medal since 1990.
The Maryland Historical Society is loaning Key’s original manuscript for a short-term display, from Flag Day, June 14, through July 6. According to Society President Burt Kummerow, the marriage of the two national treasures is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for visitors to Washington. The manuscript will be displayed within the flag’s environmentally controlled chamber, which depicts the flag as Key saw it, at “Dawn’s Early Light,” on the morning of Sept. 14, 1814. The museum is also working with the Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission to promote the flag’s and the anthem’s anniversary, culminating in September with the Star-Spangled Spectacular in Baltimore.
Also on Flag Day, the Smithsonian will invite Americans around the globe to join Raise It Up!, a worldwide commemoration of the flag and anthem. Raise it Up! Anthem for America will be a call to millions of Americans to simultaneously sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” led by a celebrity artist on the National Mall, steps from the original flag. Groups and individuals can register their official participation and get tips on how to plan a Flag Day celebration at www.anthemforamerica.si.edu.
On June 15, the museum will kick off its “Raise a Glass to History” cocktail event, which will challenge mixologists across 15 cities to create beverages inspired by the Star-Spangled Banner.
Through incomparable collections, rigorous research and dynamic public outreach, the National Museum of American History explores the infinite richness and complexity of American history. The museum helps people understand the past in order to make sense of the present and shape a more humane future. It is currently renovating its west exhibition wing, developing galleries on business, democracy and culture. For more information, visit https://americanhistory.si.edu. The museum is located at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W., and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free.
Laura Duff
duffl@si.edu
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The 30 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs: #13, “Ballad Of A Thin Man”
If you wanted to turn someone on to Bob Dylan, you’d probably end up playing them this song sooner rather than later. Dylan’s famous cross-examination of “Mr. Jones” has a majestic power and a creepy grandeur that are not easily forgotten. It’s one of those songs where Dylan’s elastic, Mid-60s singing style makes immediate sense.
“Ballad of Hollis Brown,” “Ballad of Don White,” “Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest,” “Ballad in Plain D” — all great songs. But “Ballad of a Thin Man” might have them all beat.
“You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, “Who is that man?”
You try so hard
But you don’t understand
Just what you’ll say
When you get home
Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?”
“Ballad of a Thin Man’s” imagery is wild, chaotic, and claustrophobia-inducing, but there’s also an economy of language being employed. Each line can only hold so many syllables, so we get short little clips of genius. But Dylan can cram them all together as well — back then, nobody used words like “tax-deductible charity organizations.” Dylan composed the song on piano, and the few menacing notes he plays before each verse still provoke goose bumps. On Live 1966, Garth Hudson seemingly acts out the lyrics with his impressionistic organ fills.
People like to decode Dylan songs, but people really wanted to decode this one. “Who is Mr. Jones? News At 11.” Like Carly Simon’s “You’re so Vain,” everybody wanted to know who was being skewered. Was it a journalist? a Ward Cleaver-like square? The Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones? Was it a veiled reference to homosexuality (“the sword swallower walks up to you and he kneels”)?
Here’s Bob Dylan’s explanation:
“He’s a pinboy. He also wears suspenders. He’s a real person. You know him, but not by that name… I saw him come into the room one night and he looked like a camel. He proceeded to put his eyes in his pocket. I asked this guy who he was and he said, ‘That’s Mr. Jones.’ Then I asked this cat, ‘Doesn’t he do anything but put his eyes in his pocket?’ And he told me, ‘He puts his nose on the ground.’ It’s all there, it’s a true story.”
The song likely borrows its name from the famous 1934 film The Thin Man, a comedy-mystery featuring alcoholic detective Nick Charles, who solves mysteries “for the fun of it.” The movie inspired five sequels.
Wikipedia drops this bit of science:
Additionally, the line “There ought to be a law / Against you comin’ around” bears much resemblance to a line of poetry from “Dream Song 4” by John Berryman, which says, “There ought to be a law against Henry.” The Berryman poem was published, earlier, in 1959, and it is likely that Dylan may have had the poem in mind when he wrote this song. The Dream Song talks of Henry, who lusts after a woman he sees in a restaurant. The narrator/speaker in the poem is one “Mr. Bones.”
Whatever the origin, Dylan’s description of this hapless man in an unsafe world pervaded the cultural zeitgeist. In the Beatles “Yer Blues,” John Lennon “feels so suicidal, just like Dylan’s Mr. Jones.” The narrator in Counting Crows’ “Mr. Jones” admits he just wants to be Bob Dylan.
The song, dripping with feeling, maintains its power, forty four years later. It’s simply one of the best musical recordings, ever.
Srivatsan April 23, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Yeah! What a battering for Mr. Jones! This list is getting very interesting now.
So that discounts any of the other “ballads” in the next twelve. I guess that might have been obvious anyway.
jack April 23, 2009 at 4:15 pm
the dude certainly likes a lot of verses at times
Brad April 23, 2009 at 4:44 pm
One of his most haunting musical compositions. I find the lyrics too impressionist to hold the weight of Dylan’s very best work, but it’s still very good. I wish I could enjoy it as much as I did five years ago. The verse dealing with the sword swallower is one of his most succinct – if not one of his best.
As a side: THE DREAM SONGS serve as one of the very greatest accomplishments in all of literature and THE greatest in American literature. I predict that within 50 years the world of literature will remove its head from its ass, and Berryman will be one of the most influential poets of the past 500 years.
panoply April 27, 2009 at 12:10 am
I don’t know if Dylan was reading Berryman, but the phrase “Why there oughta be a law… ” (you didn’t even have to finish it) was some kind of popular catch-phrase, perhaps from a tv show?
Callum Macdonald June 3, 2010 at 6:29 pm
I love the opening to this song in the “No Direction Home” version. Perfectly ominous and menacing.
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A.M. TURING CENTENARY CELEBRATION WEBCAST
MORE ACM AWARDS
A.M. TURING AWARD WINNERS BY...
YEAR OF THE AWARD
Richard ("Dick") Manning Karp
United States – 1985
Short Annotated Bibliography
M. Held and R. M. Karp, "The traveling-salesman problem and minimum spanning trees," Operations Research, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 1138-1162, Nov. 1970. This paper explores new approaches to the symmetric traveling-salesman problem in which 1-trees, which are a slight variant of spanning trees, play an essential role.
J. Edmonds and R. M. Karp, "Theoretical improvements in algorithmic efficiency for network flow problems," Journal of the ACM, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 248-264, April 1972. This paper presents new algorithms for the maximum flow problem, the Hitchcock transportation problem and the general minimum-cost flow problem.
R. M. Karp, "Reducibility among combinatorial problems," in Complexity of Computer Computations: Proceedings of a Symposium on the Complexity of Computer Computations, R. E. Miller and J. W. Thatcher, Eds., The IBM Research Symposia Series, New York, NY: Plenum Press, 1972, pp. 85-103. This is the classic paper where the framework is established for proving problems NP-complete. The paper also establishes that twenty-one specific combinatorial problems are NP-complete.
J. E. Hopcroft and R. M. Karp, "An n5/2 algorithm for maximum matchings in bipartite graphs," SIAM Journal of Computing, Vol. 2, Num. 4, pp. 225-231, Dec. 1973. The paper shows how to construct a maximum matching in a bipartite graph with n vertices and m edges in a number of computation steps proportional to (m + n)/sqrt(n).
R. M. Karp, "Turing Award Lecture: Combinatorics, complexity and randomness," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 29, Num. 2, pp. 98-109, Feb. 1986. Karp presents his perspective on the development of the field that has come to be called theoretical computer science.
R. M. Karp and M. O. Rabin, "Efficient randomized pattern-matching algorithms," IBM J. Research and Development, Vol. 31, NUM. 2, pp. 249-260, March 1987. Randomized algorithms are developed to solve the string-matching problem and some generalizations. They are conceptually simple and easy to implement. The method readily generalizes to higher-dimensional pattern-matching problems.
D. E. Culler, R. M. Karp, D. A. Patterson, A. Sahay, K. E. Schauser, E. E. Santos, R. Subramonian, and T. von Eicken, "LogP: Towards a realistic model of parallel computation," in Proceedings of the. 4th ACM SIGPLAN Symposium. on Principles and Practice of Parallel Programming, New York, NY: ACM Press, 1993, pp. 1-12. This paper offers a new parallel machine model, called LogP, that reflects the critical technology trends underlying parallel computers. It is intended to serve as a basis for developing fast portable parallel algorithms and to offer guidelines to machine designers.
A. Condon and R. M. Karp, "Algorithms for graph partitioning on the planted partition model," in Randomization, Approximation, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques: Proceedings RANDOM-APPROX '99, D. Hochbaum, K. Jansen, J. D. P. Rolim, and A. Sinclair, Eds., Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 1671, Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag, 1999, pp. 221-232. The NP-hard graph bisection problem is to partition the nodes of an undirected graph into two equal-sized groups so as to minimize the number of edges that cross the partition. A simple, linear-time algorithm for the problem and extensions of it are analyzed on a random graph model.
E. P. Xing, M. Jordan, and R. M. Karp, "Feature selection for high-dimensional genomic microarray data," in Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML '01), C. E. Brodley and A. P. Danyluk, Eds., San Francisco, CA, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., 2001, pp. 601-608. This paper reports on the successful application of feature selection methods to a classification problem in molecular biology involving only 72 data points in a 7130 dimensional space.
E. Eskin, E. Halperin, and R. M. Karp, "Efficient reconstruction of haplotype structure via perfect phylogeny," Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Vol. 1, Num. 1, pp. 1-20, April 2003. This paper presents a simple and efficient polynomial-time algorithm for inferring haplotypes from the genotypes of a set of individuals assuming a perfect phylogeny. The algorithm is extended to handle constraints that apply when genotypes are available from both parents and child.
R. Sharan, S. Suthram, R. M. Kelley, T. Kuhn, S. McCuine, P. Uetz, T. Sittler, R. M. Karp, and T. Ideker, "Conserved patterns of protein interaction in multiple species," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 102, Num. 6, pp. 1974-1979, Feb. 2005. Multiple comparisons were performed on protein-protein interaction networks of three organisms, revealing 71 network regions that were conserved across all three species. This provides statistically significant support for 4,645 previously undescribed protein functions and 2,609 previously undescribed protein interactions. Many of them would not have been identified from sequence similarity alone, demonstrating that network comparisons provide essential biological information beyond what is gleaned from the genome.
Sharon Bruckner, Falk Hüffner, Richard M. Karp, Ron Shamir and Roded Sharan "Topology-Free Querying of Protein Interaction Networks”, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2009, Volume 5541/2009, pp. 74-89 This paper investigates the problem of identifying subsections of proteins from two or more different sources.
R.M Karp, “Heuristic Algorithms in Computational Molecular Biology”, Journal of Computer and System Sciences, Vol. 77, 2011, pp. 122-128. This paper develops a framework for designing and validating heuristic algorithms for NP-hard problems arising in computational biology and other application areas.
A.M. TURING
OF THE AWARD
2018 LAUREATES:
BENGIO, HINTON, LECUN
THE A.M. TURING AWARD
ACM (www.acm.org) is widely recognized as the premier organization for computing professionals, delivering a broad array of resources that advance the computing and IT disciplines, enable professional development, and promote policies and research that benefit society.
© 2019 Association for Computing Machinery. All rights reserved.
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Former ‘Sesame Street’ Writer Confirms Bert and Ernie Are Gay, Workshop Responds With Denial
Britt Hayes
Many Sesame Street viewers — including a few wise kiddos — have long suspected that puppet odd couple Bert and Ernie are more than just friends. The prolific children’s series has never really addressed Bert and Ernie’s sexual orientation, but a former writer for Sesame Street confirms what most of us felt in our hearts all along…even if the show itself continues to issue denials.
Former Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman recently spoke with LGBTQ lifestyle site Queerty (via People), where he said that he personally felt that Bert and Ernie were in a romantic relationship, which he compared to his own with partner and editor Arnold Glassman:
I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert and Ernie, they were. I didn’t have any other way to contextualize them. The other thing was, more than one person referred to Arnie and I as ‘Bert and Ernie.’
He adds that Bert and Ernie‘s relationship was definitely something that was discussed in the writers room. Saltzman specifically recalls reading an article where a little kid actually pointed this out to his mom:
I remember one time that a column from The San Francisco Chronicle, a preschooler in the city turned to mom and asked ‘Are Bert and Ernie lovers?’ That coming from a preschooler was fun, and that got passed around, and everyone had their chuckle and went back to it.
A person’s (or puppet’s) sexual orientation shouldn’t really matter — to the extent that it doesn’t define them — but visibility absolutely matters, which is why it’s disheartening to see this official statement from Sesame Street:
The Workshop released the above statement in response to Saltzman’s comments, and while I can understand their logic — basically puppets are like pets? — it’s still disappointing. Sesame Street, like Mister Rogers Neighborhood, has taught generations of children (and parents) to embrace diversity, to be practice kindness and generosity, and to not judge others for the things that make them different.
What would be the harm in saying, “Yeah, Bert and Ernie are gay”? Why not embrace the diversity in your own writing staff that led to these characters being written from a perspective that is still woefully lacking from children’s entertainment in 2018? Perhaps “lacking” isn’t the right word here; closeted seems more apt, unfortunately.
Representation is incredibly important, and arguably more so for children whose minds are still being molded by educational shows like Sesame Street. It seems counterintuitive to teach children to be accepting of those who are differently abled, or people who have grave illnesses (like Kami, the puppet with HIV), or of those who come from countries that are often the subject of intense bigotry (as with Mahboub, the Arab-Israeli puppet) — while willfully ignoring this aspect of modern family life.
It isn’t the first time that Sesame Workshop has issued a denial about Bert and Ernie’s relationship status. In 1994, Workshop boss Gary Knell said that Bert and Ernie aren’t gay, but that they aren’t straight either because “they don’t exist below the waist.” That’s fair, but what about the myriad human characters on the show? Why not introduce a gay person to Sesame Street? Or a trans person, for that matter?
In 2011, Sesame Workshop issued a Facebook statement pretty much identical to the one they issued today in response to Saltzman. Despite repeated denials, Bert and Ernie were featured in this loving image on the cover of The New Yorker in 2013, when gay marriage was legalized in the United States:
Sesame Workshop can deny it all they want, but Bert and Ernie were written as gay partners from the perspective of a gay man — and that’s not nothin’.
The MCU Will Soon Have at Least Two LGBTQ Characters
Source: Former ‘Sesame Street’ Writer Confirms Bert and Ernie Are Gay, Workshop Responds With Denial
Filed Under: sesame street
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Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, Assemblymember Jim Wood, and Senator Jerry Hill Remain Committed to Passing Comprehensive Legislation Following Governor Newsom’s Executive Action on Vaping
(SACRAMENTO, CA) - “We appreciate Governor Newsom’s engagement and look forward to working with him to go beyond these initial steps with legislation that takes the strongest action possible to stem the epidemic use by our youth of flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and other vape products. With more than 3.6 million middle and high school students using e-cigarettes, our youth are being misled to believe that these flavored tobacco products are a ‘safe tobacco alternative,’ when in fact, they harm brain and lung development and are sending our teens to the hospital. We must build a strong, comprehensive legislative package to attack this problem in California – and get to the heart of the problem: the products themselves. We fully support the Governor’s belief that these products should be banned, and we look forward to working with him to pass legislation that will bring an end to this public health crisis and protect the youth in our state.”
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Fire extinguished on platform in Gulf of Mexico
NEW ORLEANS, LA -- A pre-dawn fire has been extinguished on an oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico, and there is no sign of pollution in the area, authorities said Thursday.
The blaze was reported about 2:30 a.m. Thursday on the platform about 80 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and was extinguished nearly four hours later, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
There were no reports of injuries. Four workers aboard the platform evacuated into the water and were rescued by the crew of the 130-foot Mary Wyatt Milano, a supply vessel, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard and the Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement are investigating.
Houston-based Renaissance Offshore LLC owns the platform.
Crew members aboard the Mary Wyatt Milano and three other vessels battled the blaze. An HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane from Mobile, Alabama, also responded, said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Third Class Travis Magee.
"They're overhead and they're getting a better view of the situation," Magee said.
Clean Gulf, an oil spill response organization, was on its way to the platform early Thursday. Clean Gulf is a nonprofit oil industry cooperative that responds to spills and provides equipment to help clean them up, according to its website.
An oil platform exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, killing 11 workers. Millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf for weeks before the oil well could be capped.
The cause of the blaze was under investigation.
louisianacoast guardoil
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Microsoft PromoteIQ commerce marketing
Ad scheduling data
Device targeting data
Location targeting data
Trending queries data
Future of connectivity: Rise of TV streaming
Over the past decade, there has been a notable change in television consumer habits. While the pay television industry has experienced a continuous decline in subscriptions, there has been a significant increase in an entirely new mode of entertainment in the form of subscription video on demand or SVOD, commonly known as streaming. As the television industry struggles for its existence, streaming seems to be taking over more and more of the entertainment market.
Decline of Pay TV
With just under 80% household penetration,
at present the cable and satellite companies and their advertisers are facing a dire situation. While the rate of decline shows no sign of slowing, IBIS World predicts that current trend of -2% compound growth will continue for the next 5 years till 2023.
Along with the decline in paid subscriptions, the television industry is also experiencing a decrease in television Ad sales as a direct result of the shift in viewing habits from traditional television to online video streaming. eMarketer is estimating that the U.S. television’s share of total advertising spending will decline from 33.5% in 2018 to 29.4% in 2021
and the reallocation of dollars may move to digital channels.
% of TV Households Subscribing to a Pay TV Service
When compared with 2010, the number of TV households subscribing to Pay TV service in 2017 has reduced by 11%.
Coexistence of streaming and Pay TV
As Pay TV subscriptions dwindle, the percentage of U.S. households that use a streaming service has risen dramatically from 47% in 2014 to 64% in 2017. Despite streaming's aggressive household penetration, it appears that streaming is complementing Pay TV. Based on the study by Leichtman Research Group, 62% of Pay TV users also make use of a streaming service.
And, the 2017 data from Raymond James indicates that 55% of respondents plan to retain their cable package subscription for the next 12 months – a trend that has remained unchanged over the past three years.
Reasons for this point to bundling, video on demand, as well as certain cable specific content like sports and news. Although the Pay TV share continues to remain high, there is uncertainty about how much longer this trend will continue, especially due to the heightened competition from digital services and the convergence of technology and services within the telecommunications space.
In order to succeed in this area, advertisers must align their strategies with consumer interests – namely online video streaming. A strong video streaming user strategy is imperative to increasing the penetration and curbing subscription loss. Consumers are searching for streaming services that have become synonymous with streaming along with their specific TV shows, movies, live sporting events – areas where advertisers can capture the streamer audience. In 2016, the average number of videos on demand services per household were around 1.3, a figure that is probably slightly higher today.
With streaming penetration at 62% and roughly 51% of all streaming users subscribing to more than one service,
there may still be room for new customer penetration. After the customers reach a saturation point with their subscription services, convincing the rival service customers to switch platforms will become an immediate necessity.
Competitive strategy for Pay TV and streaming
To better understand the importance of a sound competitive strategy, advertisers must study the consumer spending and video viewing habits. Studies indicate that despite multiple media options available to consumers, the disposable income allocated to entertainment has remained around 5.5% over the past 85 years.
The only change was between 1934 and 1936 when the statistic hovered around 5.4%. Although there may still be some opportunity to penetrate households that do not use either service, those households are limited in quantity. Combined with a limited customer share of wallet, advertisers will eventually have to strongly compete for existing customers of rival services.
US Consumer Spending on Entertainment 2008-2013
When compared with 2008, U.S. household budget and consumer spending allocated to entertainment in 2013 has reduced by more than $300.
We have to keep in mind that consumers have a limited amount of video consumption capacity. In the U.S., currently, the average time spent on video is around five hours and 13 minutes per day and this is expected to remain the same in the coming years. The same consumers are beginning to spend a lot of time on streaming content. But the number of hours in a day are limited, along with the number of channels consumers actively watch. Back when cable channels were on a growth spurt and packages were incorporating more networks, Nielsen found that the average number of channels viewed remained constant between 17 and 20.
The only route to gain incremental subscribers seems to be through competitor customer acquisition.
Average time spent per day with video by U.S. adult
(hours | minutes)
When compared with 2015, the average time spent by U.S. adults on videos in 2018 has reduced by 18 minutes per day and is projected to reduce further in 2019.
The Bing Ads analytics team evaluates rich search and audience data to help advertisers tackle their business challenges. In a recent audience segmentation study, cable/satellite and streaming services were compared to the average telecommunications/entertainment options. Bing’s cable/satellite prospects are 52% more likely to click on a streaming related term than the average telecommunications/entertainment prospect.
For streaming advertisers, this means that there is an opportunity to gain more share from the cable/satellite audiences. On the other hand, one in five streaming prospects also search for cable/satellite. This means that for cable/satellite advertisers, the streaming audience is one to consider for incremental subscriptions.
Having a sound competitive strategy is not the only way to gain ground on subscription losses. Consistent messaging across all media channels catering to diverse audiences is equally important. For Internet providers, this means promoting a reason why consumers should consider faster speeds and higher bandwidths.
Advertisers and the streaming audience
As highlighted earlier, the streaming is here to stay, and advertisers need to cater to the audience that uses connected devices. The comScore chart below indicates that households with more than two individuals tend have a higher likelihood to stream than a single person household and as the household size increases, that usage also surges. More members in the family means many connected devices that consume a variety of content throughout the day, thus placing a considerable strain on a network. And because excellent video quality is utmost important for streaming services,
anything short of a positive experience could lead to major discontent with the internet service. So, marketing messaging should reason around why consumers need to buy faster speeds and better bandwidth as opposed to simply stating that those options are available. And communicating the “why” behind fast speed and high bandwidth on search and other digital mediums will help bring more consistency to what is already being communicated through television.
Streaming Index by Household Size
Bigger the household sizes means a greater increase in streaming audience.
In addition to speed and bandwidth messaging, advertisers need to customize their copy to include the issues that matter most to their consumers, namely price and content. Generally, Bing Network searchers looking for streaming services are 59% more likely to search for cable, satellite, or internet pricing and 58% are more likely to search for programming content than the average Bing telecommunications or entertainment prospect.
It is interesting to note that the consumers who stream tend to have lower incomes and are younger in age.
This price conscious audience group expects to receive the best deal and an excellent streaming experience from their internet service provider. When it comes to content, the consumers spend 30% of their time on time on streaming services discovering programming,
which isn’t much different from what is happening on the search engines.
Of the total cable/satellite Bing Network prospects, 26% search for programming content, with 13% of their searches centered around shows, movies, and live broadcast events, including sports. Of the 42% streaming Bing Network prospects who search for programming, 22% of the searches centered on movies, television shows, and broadcast events (sporting, etc.).
Many of the searches based on programming titles/episodes/seasons/networks or titles plus “streaming/online/live.” Advertisers can use this knowledge to get ahead of relevant season premiers and events to boost subscriptions.
Untapped potential in 5G and dawn of the data age
So, where are the untapped areas of potential that advertisers should consider in the near future? Despite the undeveloped infrastructure, 5G is a topic that advertisers may want to get ahead of. The 3G, 4G, and 5G are marketing terms that reference and simplify the labeling of the next generation of networks which make up of diverse technologies and standards working together. Each generation enables new services and produces new hardware desired by the masses. Let’s start with 1G which enabled voice calling with limited handoff, poor quality and poor reliability. Without 1G, the first cell phones, which were large and had low battery life, would have been useless. 2G launched in the early 90’s and enabled text messaging with clearer voice calls. Data speeds increased more than 25 times to 64kbps. The clearer voice calls were marketed heavily, and texting soon became an in thing as phones became smaller and less expensive.
At the same time as phones became smaller, there was an evolution in the internet. The internet was no longer only a resource for information or a way to pay your gas bill. It evolved into services like ecommerce and new online services began to grow. Streaming videos over the internet became a new hobby for many. However, 2G could not handle the video. Over time, the need for significant improvements was noticed, which led to the need for a next generation network. Higher speeds were needed and upgraded networks needed to grow with demand. This led to the entrance of 3G in the early 2000. With 3G, speeds increased up to 30 times and web browsing, and video were enabled. This was followed by the smartphones and applications which ushered in a new era of devices and ecosystems that took advantage of 3G. 4G made streaming easy and gave broadband gigabit speeds to all. As the network grew more complex and faster, so did the hardware. Phones became faster and more complex and more expensive.
Today the landscape is changing, and the phone original equipment manufacturers are introducing new phones each year. They are constantly innovating to keep up with each other. The more data that needs to be processed, the faster the phones need to be and the demand for data is increasing on a constant basis.
5G is much more than the next generation network that carriers are going to take advantage of. It marks the beginning of a new age of digital services and infrastructure that will impact almost all the fields including finance, pharma, autos, real estate, entertainment and manufacturing. It is the dawn of the data age. Data has the potential to become mainstream in our daily lives and in the products that we use. The combination of 5G along with the investment in artificial intelligence and cloud services is changing the world we live in. There is excitement for the future as new revenue streams and new services are born. The Bing Network platform is primed for this change and is evolving with the new Microsoft Audience Network and its targeting capabilities.
There was a time when you were not supposed to have a calculator in class because you were told you will not have a calculator in your pocket when you need it as an adult. Also, you were told not to talk to strangers, or get into a stranger’s car. Today, smartphones let us quickly access calculators and let us call on a stranger in order to get into his/her car e.g. UBER and Lyft.
Our current mobile world will continue to get more mobile per day. Generation Z, or the generation born in 1994, mostly grew up with a smart phone in their hand. They will also be the ones most influenced by 5G. It is predicted that they will be hit hard by artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, services and connected everything (Internet of Things). Now is the time to take advantage of the Bing Network audience as the buying power index based on comScore data has not been higher in the last 4 years. Don’t wait to harness the power of Bing Network, do it now.
Chris Yu
Microsoft Analytical Lead, Tech/Telco
Dar Vigil
Actionable Research on the Broadbrand, Media & Entertainment Industries, Leichtman Research Group, Q3 2017 Issue.
(https://www.leichtmanresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/LRG-Research-Notes-2017-09.pdf)
Number of Cable TV subscriptions, IBIS World Business Entrainment Profiles, August 2017.
eMarketer Lowers U.S. TV Ad Spend Estimate as Cord-Cutting Accelerates, eMarketer, September 13, 2017. (https://www.emarketer.com/Article/eMarketer-Lowers-US-TV-Ad-Spend-Estimate-Cord-Cutting-Accelerates/1016463)
The Impact of Streaming Video is Huge (and Easy to Overestimate), eMarketer, Feb 23, 2018
(https://www.emarketer.com/content/as-millennials-evade-live-tv-ads-are-likelier-to-reach-boomers)
TV & Media 2016 Presentation,” Ericsson consumerLab, November 11, 2016.
Foster, Ann C., Movies, music, and sports: U.S. entertainment spending, 2008-2013, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2015.
(https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-4/movies-music-sports-entertainment-spending.htm)
Choice Cuts: Consumers Have Nearly Unlimited Content Options, But How Many Do They Really Use?, Nielsen, Sept 26, 2016.
(http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/choice-cuts-consumers-have-nearly-unlimited-content-options-but-how-many-do-they-use.html)
Microsoft internal data, Bing Network, U.S., Feb – April November 2018.
Comscore, U.S. April 2017: “State of OTT”
Rahul Chadha, Broadcast TV Still Tops Digital Video, eMarketer, Jan 25, 2018
(https://www.emarketer.com/content/worldwide-broadcast-tv-still-tops-digital-video)
Andrew Lipsman, State of OTT, Comscore, June 22, 2017
(https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations-and-Whitepapers/2017/State-of-OTT)
Webcast hosted by ON24
Re:search with Bing - The Revolution of 5G
Microsoft Advertising helps Vincodo create success
Labelium has a passion for fashion — and SEM
Dolead enhances its new offering with Bing Ads
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University Archives Holdings Public Information Photographic Services Negative and Glass Plate File
Negative and Glass Plate File, 1868-2006 | University of Illinois Archives
Title: Negative and Glass Plate File, 1868-2006
Series Number: 39/2/22
Acquired: September 1963
numerically
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Photographic Services
On December 14, 1897, the Board of Trustees voted to establish a INT room, which would also house the University's collection of photographic equipment.1 By 1911 this room had become the Blueprinting Department,2 and in 1913 the Board of Trustees appointed a man to be the head of a Photography Laboratory.3 By August 1, 1929, the two departments had merged,4 and on March 10, 1936, the Board of Trustees voted to place the INT and Photographic Laboratory under the control of the Director of the Physical Plant Department.5 Upon its establishment in 1950,6 the Communications Division took over control of the Laboratory, but the Board of Trustees voted to return it to the Physical Plant Department on April 21, 1954.7 In 1953, the Laboratory first appeared in the budget as the "Blueprinting and Photographic Service."8 In 1957 the University Director of Public Affairs took control of the Photographic Service.9 The Photographic Service provides the staff and students of the University with photographers for public relations, instruction, and research, as well as providing portraits, passports, film strips, slides, and film processing.10
1. Board of Trustees Transactions, 19th Report, December 14, 1897, pp. 207-08.
2. Board of Trustees Transactions, 26th Report, January 17, 1911, p. 68.
3. Board of Trustees Transactions, 27th Report, February 12, 1913, p. 176.
4. Board of Trustees Transactions, 35th Report, Sept. 18, 1929, p. 352.
5. Board of Trustees Transactions, 38th Report, March 10, 1936, p. 595.
6. Board of Trustees Transactions, 45th Report, February 16, 1950, p. 1126.
7. Board of Trustees Transactions, 47th Report, April 21, 1954, p. 1323.
8. Ibid., July 25, 1953, p. 1025.
9. Board of Trustees Transactions, 49th Report, July 16, 1957, p. 754.
10. Academic Staff Handbook, February, 1976, p. 32.
Room 146 Main Library, Prior Request Preferred -0-
Room 146 Main Library, Prior Request Preferred 1-
Room 146 Main Library, Prior Request Preferred 1-30
Room 146 Main Library, Prior Request Preferred 31-72
Room 146 Main Library, Prior Request Preferred 73-105
Room 146 Main Library OS 31
Description: Negative and Glass Plate File containing negatives and glass plates of prints filed in the Photographic Subject File, RS 39/2/20 and the Bernard A. Strauch Photograph Collection, RS 26/30/2. Prints of negatives contained in this file are numbered to correspond with the number of the negative on plate.
Line Graph
Negative and Glass Plate File (Digital Surrogates)
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1963-1970 Lincoln Limousine
1966 and 1967 Lincoln Limousine
Orders for the 1966 Lehmann-Peterson limousines tripled from 1965 to 159 cars.
The 1966 and 1967 Lincoln limousine explored new territory. In 1966, Bob Peterson flew to Washington to present to the government his ideas for replacing the aging Kennedy-era presidential limousine.
Armed with his knowledge of lightweight metals and plastics, he set out to convince the government that a new car could do all that was demanded of it and still retain the strength of armor plating without as much weight. He succeeded, returning home with orders for a White House limousine and two new Secret Service security-detail convertibles.
The Secret Service cars were equipped with 11-inch-wide running boards, which extended the length of the bodysides between the wheels, plus assist handles and bars for agents to grasp. The rear doors were reworked to allow entry from the running boards while the car was in motion. This was achieved by cutting the doors in half and hinging them to allow the front portion to slide over the rear half, not unlike the way modern minivan doors operate.
In 1966, Lehmann-Peterson won approval from the U.S. government to supply a presidential limousine and two Secret Service security-detail cars.
For normal entry and exit, the rear doors opened and closed in the conventional manner. The rear bumper was hinged so that it could swing down to form a platform that was operated hydraulically so it could be adjusted to the optimum height for the men standing on it. An assist bar for them to grab could be retracted flush into the trunklid when not needed.
Convertible tops were made of transparent vinyl trimmed with black cloth. The divided front seats were altered so that a man could ride facing the rear on the portion between the seats. Front and rear seats and the convertible top were elevated three inches for better visibility. As far as security goes, the car was a rolling arsenal.
The Secret Service cars were 1967 Continental convertible sedans specially modified to the needs of the presidential bodyguards.
As the Secret Service didn't take delivery of the convertibles until October 1967, the cars were trimmed as 1968 models. That made them more unique; Lincoln had dropped ragtops from regular production after 1967 due to declining public demand. The presidential limousine would take a bit longer.
Trim on the Executive Limousine was changed a bit for 1967. A new privacy shield just behind the front doors became standard. It added to the overall lines of the limo, plus helped to break up the mass of glass seen in profile on earlier models. Inside, the companion seats could now be folded up like theater seats. Dictation equipment, high-intensity reading lamps, and a rear-seat center armrest storage compartment were new options. Sales came to 110 units.
Among the options found on this 1967 Lincoln Limousine is a two-inch raise in roof height.
By the end of the year, Lehmann had recouped his initial $600,000 investment and the company was operating in the black. Now, more than ever, his attention was focused on keeping the company on this upward swing. He also entertained thoughts of marriage in the not-too-distant future. But he began having migraine headaches, which he passed off as a consequence of work-related stress.
Being co-owner of a successful business was a big enough job, but Lehmann managed to find time for some special pet projects. He built a dune buggy and he had a Ferrari Testa Rosa reworked so that it wouldn't stall at every red light. With other adjustments, this small, brutal, blindingly fast racing machine was made street legal. He also owned and enjoyed a 1935 Packard Twelve.
Elvis Presley admires the 1967 Lincoln Executive Limousine given to him by longtime manager Colonel Tom Parker.
Meanwhile, Peterson's spare time was spent researching and developing economy ambulances based on Ford and Mercury station wagons. All were fully equipped once a prefabricated unit was installed. Plus, another company was purchased; it customized full-sized buses into motorhomes before that became a popular trend.
See the next page for information on the 1968 Lincoln limousine.
1964-1965 Lincoln Continental
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Member Open Studio
You are here: Home / The Art Loft
The Art Loft
Rockland, ME 04841 United States
207-200-7915 https://artloftrockland.org
Members Only – Open Studio
An event every week that begins at 9:00 am on Saturday, repeating indefinitely
The Art Loft, 385 Main Street
While the gardens take a rest, keep your art growing despite the dark and chill outdoors. Take advantage of our open studio hours! Need a warm, comfortable, well lit workspace for making art this winter? There are “open studio” hours mornings, afternoons, and evenings throughout the winter months. Come alone, or collect a small group and create your own “work parties.” Here’s a good place to continue your practice and perhaps meet some new friends, and on a very flexible…
Figure & Portrait Drawing Sessions
An event every week that begins at 1:30 pm on Sunday, repeating until February 23, 2020
These sessions are with a model, sometimes clothed, sometimes not. Long poses. No instruction. January and February 6 sessions: January 19, 26 / February2, 9, 16, 23 subscriptions in advance — pay on-line or at-the-door, 1st session Members: $90 save $20 Non-Members: $110 drop-ins pay at the door each session Members: $18 save $4 Non-members: $22
March 7 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
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Our Physical Address
385 Main Street Suite 9 (inside the lobby of the Thorndike Building) Rockland, ME 04841
Our Mailing Address
81 Keene Woods Road,
Damariscotta, Maine 04543
artloftrockland@gmail.com
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Trump gets a ‘Medal of Bravery’ for attacking Pakistan
Azhar Khan On Jan 16, 2018 Last updated Jan 16, 2018
KABUL: US President Donald Trump has become the unlikely recipient of a ‘Medal of Bravery’, which has been ‘awarded’ to him by a group of around 300 Afghans for his tough stance on Pakistan, said a report.
According to RadioFreeEurope Radio Liberty (RFE/RL),”This Bravery Medal is from the Afghan people to Donald Trump, president of the United States of America,” says the inscription on the medal, made with funds collected by Afghans from the Logar province, which is 60 kilometres south of Kabul.
Said Farhad Akbari, a community leader, told RFE/RL that members of the community have “waited 16 years” for someone in the US administration to make comments of the sort that Trump has made in recent weeks concerning Pakistan.
In his first tweet of 2018, the US President kept up the momentum.
“The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools,” tweeted Trump.
Pakistan rejects ‘unfounded’ allegations levelled in Trump’s foreign policy
Days after his tweet, the US announced it was suspending some $2 billion in assistance to Pakistan until it did more to fight terrorism and stopped providing safe haven to the Taliban and other terrorists.
The government in Kabul has long accused Pakistan of backing and sheltering militants who carry out attacks on their soil. Pakistan has categorically denied the claims and provided proofs of Afghan government backing to terrorists carrying out attacks in Pakistan.
Akbari added that the decision to award Trump a ‘Medal of Bravery’ was made at an informal ‘jirga’, or council of residents.
The medal is made of 15 grams of gold, crafted by hand, and costs 45,000 Afghanis, or $645. Residents in Logar contributed their money for the medal.
The medal was handed over to the US Embassy in Kabul on Saturday, according to the report. Akbari said the US Ambassador John R. Bass has promised he will soon hand over the medal to the US President.
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ASIA CONFLICT WATCH
In-depth news and analysis of conflicts across Asia
After Martial Law, Could the Islamic State Rebound in the Philippines?
December 18, 2019 December 18, 2019 Michael HartLeave a comment
President Duterte has opted not to extend Martial Law in Mindanao beyond 31 December 2019. The emergency measure had been in place for more than three years (Image Source: PCOO)
On 10 December, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced the end of martial law in Mindanao after opting against an extension, on the advice of military and police chiefs. The emergency measure, which was first imposed in the restive region in response to an ISIS-led siege of Marawi city in May 2017, had previously been extended three times and is now set to expire on 31 December. Two years after ISIS were defeated in Marawi, the jihadist threat has been reduced to a more manageable scale.
The ISIS-affiliated groups which led the siege have been pushed back and many of their leaders killed, leading Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to declare his preference for lifting martial law entirely in November. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) chiefs initially suggested extending the measure only in ‘selective areas’ where extremist groups still operate. The provinces of Maguindanao and Sulu have both experienced attacks by ISIS-affiliated groups this year.
With martial law lifted, what level of threat do ISIS’ surviving local affiliates represent in Mindanao? And despite ISIS’ declining global influence, after territorial losses in the Middle East and the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a US raid in Syria, could its followers in the Philippines rebound?
ISIS remnants in Mindanao
The Maute Group, accused of planning the assault on Marawi in an attempt to carve out a Southeast Asian ISIS caliphate, are severely depleted after AFP operations in Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur. While the group was 1,000-strong ahead of the siege, it is now thought to have fewer than 25 active members. Its founders, brothers Abdullah and Omar Maute, were killed during the final gun battles in Marawi in October 2017; while its new leader, Abu Dar, was shot dead during a military operation in Tubaran on 14 March, leaving the Mautes without a main figurehead. After Abu Dar’s killing, the AFP said the Mautes were no longer capable of launching a Marawi-style raid, yet military spokesman Col. Romeo Brawner warned that the group was still trying to recruit and remains a national security risk.
The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which played a minor supporting role in the Marawi siege, emerged relatively unscathed and posed a larger threat in its aftermath. In 2018, they regularly fought government troops and carried-out a string of bombings, maiming civilians in restaurants and shopping malls, in the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat. However, AFP airstrikes and ground operations targeting BIFF hideouts in the rural Liguasan Marsh area of central Maguindanao have dented the group’s capabilities in 2019. In April, regional military commander Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana said the three BIFF factions – the most powerful of which is led by ISIS-affiliated militant Abu Toraife – had been forced into a tactical alliance and resorted to guerrilla-style tactics to survive while under growing pressure. In recent months, the group’s remaining fighters have lain low.
A smaller ISIS-aligned group, Ansar Khalifah Philippines (AKP), also remains active further south, in the provinces of Sarangani and South Cotabato. However, since its leader Mohammad Jaafar Maguid was killed in a firefight with police in 2017, AKP has been regarded by the authorities as more of a criminal nuisance than a transnational terror threat, having engaged only in a series of small-scale gun battles.
The threat from Abu Sayyaf
The Philippines oldest known jihadi group, Abu Sayyaf, which was formed in the early-1990s, currently represent the gravest threat of all Mindanao’s ISIS affiliates. After playing a leading role in the Marawi siege alongside the Mautes, Abu Sayyaf retreated from mainland Mindanao to their former maritime hideouts on the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. After regrouping and replenishing its ranks, Abu Sayyaf has rebounded in 2019. The most extreme faction, led by ISIS supporter Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, has perpetrated a wave of high-profile suicide bombings in Sulu this year. On 27 January, two militants detonated themselves inside a crowded cathedral in Jolo, leaving 22 worshippers dead and 81 wounded. A second double suicide attack killed eight people at a military base in Indanan on 28 June, while a fifth bomber blew themselves up at an AFP camp in the same town on 8 September.
Abu Sayyaf laid siege to the city of Marawi for five months in 2017, as part of a coalition of four local militant groups with links to the Islamic State (Image Source: Mark Jhomel)
The bombings were all claimed by ISIS via official statements. Several of the suspected bombers were revealed to be Indonesian and Moroccan nationals, adding to concerns that Abu Sayyaf is harbouring foreign fighters trained in bomb-making and willing to volunteer themselves for suicide missions. Back in July, Maj. Gen. Sobejana had warned that seven foreign terrorists were training Filipino militants in IED construction while another 42 suspected foreign fighters were being monitored by the authorities. He said many of these suspects were likely ‘embedded’ with Abu Sayyaf and the BIFF. On 5 November, government soldiers shot dead two Egyptian militants at a checkpoint in Jolo, confirming these fears.
Abu Sayyaf has around 400 fighters and continues to fight the army under the command of Sawadjaan in Sulu, while another ISIS-linked faction led by Furuji Indama remains active in Basilan. Smaller cells are active in the Tawi-Tawi islands, while Abu Sayyaf activity has been reported in Malaysia’s eastern state of Sabah and along the coast of mainland Mindanao’s Zamboanga peninsula. Abu Sayyaf is also notorious for launching piracy attacks and kidnappings-at-sea, several of which have occurred in 2019.
Guarding against an ISIS resurgence
Although degraded post-Marawi, and contained to the remote southwest of the country, ISIS-aligned groups are still active and intent on forging a regional caliphate centred on the southern Philippines.
There is growing concern that the BIFF and Mautes may look to replenish their ranks by targeting the 66,000 residents still displaced from Marawi city, more than two years since the end of the siege. The government has been criticized by its opponents for the slow pace of rehabilitation, with the central Banggolo district still in ruin and needing to be cleared of unexploded ordnance before building work can begin. It is feared that young men with limited economic opportunities and their livelihoods placed on hold due to the ISIS-led siege, may ironically become prime targets for recruitment by jihadi groups. Tensions are rising, with the government’s 2021 target for rebuilding the city unlikely to be achieved.
An extension to martial law in Abu Sayyaf and BIFF strongholds would have helped the AFP maintain pressure on ISIS remnants; but the military and intelligence agencies will maintain vigilance regardless. The AFP will likely continue launching airstrikes and undertaking ground offensives in the ISIS hotspots of Sulu and Maguindanao; while also holding regular trilateral naval patrols alongside Indonesian and Malaysian forces in the Sulu Sea, to deter kidnappings and prevent the movement of foreign fighters. Guarding against the transition of Abu Sayyaf to mainland Mindanao is crucial in preventing a repeat of Marawi, when the Philippines’ four ISIS-linked groups were able to join forces to take-over the city.
Hopes are also invested in a peace deal signed between the government and an older, more moderate Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The accord, ratified in a referendum in western Mindanao earlier this year, will see former rebels govern a new Muslim autonomous region, encompassing the core territories where ISIS-linked groups remain active. If the deal brings economic development and enhances livelihoods, then ISIS – known to prey upon unstable and poverty-stricken regions to reinvigorate itself – may be denied a climate conducive to its resurgence in the Philippines.
An earlier version of this article, written before it was announced that martial law would not be extended beyond December 2019, is published on Geopolitical Monitor.
Southeast AsiaArmed Forces of the Philippines, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, Conflict, ISIS, Islamic State, Martial Law, Mindanao, News, Peace, Peace Process, Philippines, Politics, Rodrigo Duterte, Security, Southeast Asia, War
Deciphering the Jihadist Threat to the Philippines’ Moro Peace Process
June 3, 2019 June 3, 2019 Michael HartLeave a comment
The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BAR), ratified in a public vote in early-2019, lends greater autonomy to Moro Muslims in western Mindanao (Image Source: Philippine News Agency).
In the impoverished west of the Philippines’ conflict-afflicted southern island of Mindanao, residents voted earlier this year to approve a landmark peace deal which it is hoped will signal an end to one of Southeast Asia’s bloodiest and most intractable insurgencies. Since the early-1970s, separatists have waged a decades-long armed campaign against the central government in Manila in pursuit of either full independence or greater political autonomy for the region’s oppressed Moro Muslim population. After failed peace agreements and false dawns in 1976, 1989 and 1996, the past year has seen major progress.
July 2018 witnessed the signing of an historic peace accord between the government of President Rodrigo Duterte and Mindanao’s largest Muslim insurgent group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The deal – known as the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) – provided the legislation needed to create a new self-governing region to replace the flawed Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which was established in 1989. A public vote in all areas set to form part of the new political entity was held across two days in January and February, with a majority needed to ratify the BOL in each jurisdiction. Turnout exceeded 85% as residents voted overwhelmingly in favour of the proposed new region, which will be called the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
In the five existing ARMM provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, a combined total of 1.54m people voted in favour while just 198,000 voted against. After polling closed in non-ARMM areas, it emerged that Cotabato city had also voted to join the BARMM and will become its seat of government. While Isabela city voted against, more than twenty villages in North Cotabato province voted in favour to ensure the BARMM will be larger and more populous than its predecessor.
Yet despite hopes for peace rising after voters rubber-stamped the creation of the BARMM, Duterte has kept Mindanao under martial law in an attempt to tackle the lingering threat from ISIS-affiliated groups active in the provinces set to form the new region. Martial law has remained in place since the siege of Marawi erupted in May 2017, when jihadists from the Maute Group (MG), Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and Ansar Khalifah Philippines (AKP) joined forces to take-over the city. In spite of ongoing peace efforts, these radical elements have refused to relent.
Moro Muslims have been present in western Mindanao since the arrival of Arab traders in the Sulu islands in the 1300s, and have since fought uprisings against Spanish and US colonialists, and later the modern-day Philippine state. The Moros’ have long suffered cultural and political marginalization, and their communities rank among the poorest in the country, with the poverty rate in the ARMM at 59%.
The 30-000 strong MILF long-ago dropped their demand for full independence in favour of autonomy. The last few decades have seen episodes of violence despite a series of past peace agreements having been signed; none of which have managed to quell the insurgency in its entirety. There is now real optimism on both sides that the proposed Bangsamoro region may represent a genuine path to peace.
The new jurisdiction will have its own 80-member elected parliament able to enact laws, headed by a chief minister. The region will receive 75% of taxes collected within its territory, while benefiting from central government grants and improved access to natural resource revenues. Rebel leaders are also hopeful the new region will be a significant improvement on the ARMM, which has been associated with corruption and criticized for constituting autonomy in name only. The government and the MILF campaigned side-by-side for a ‘yes’ vote and have pledged to work together to implement the BOL.
The new Bangsamoro region is to be led during a three year transition period by Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim (Image Source: Philippine News Agency).
While the government and the MILF have pursued peace, several ISIS-aligned groups have remained active in Mindanao. The main protagonists of the Marawi siege, the ASG and the Mautes, are still alive despite having suffered heavy losses during the conflict. The ASG has reverted to launching attacks in its remote island lairs of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, while the Mautes are still thought to be recruiting in Lanao del Sur despite the group’s leader, Abu Dar, being killed in a recent army offensive. The BIFF is the strongest jihadi group in the region, with around 400 fighters in the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat. The AKP operates further south in Sarangani and South Cotabato.
These groups have committed a series of high-profile attacks aimed at disrupting the peace process. Just five days after the BOL was inked last July, a Moroccan suicide bomber with ties to the ASG detonated his device at an army checkpoint near Lamitan city, killing 11 people. Local police said his intended target was a school parade taking place in the city centre. BIFF bombings targeted the Sultan Kudarat town of Isulan on 28 August and 2 September, killing five and injuring 49 civilians. In mid-September a bomb planted by the AKP wounded seven people in General Santos city. A blast blamed on the BIFF struck a shopping mall in Cotabato city on 31 December, leaving another two dead and 34 injured. The post-BOL spike in IED attacks in late-2018 followed a stark warning from BIFF figurehead Abu Misri Mama: ‘we are not in favour of autonomy [and will] continue to fight for independence.’
Attacks have continued into 2019. On 27 January – timed to wreak maximum havoc between the two BOL polling days scheduled for 21 January and 6 February – twin explosions tore through a packed cathedral in Jolo, killing 22 worshippers. The attack, carried out by ISIS-aligned ASG militants, served as a reminder that jihadist groups remain intent on shattering the southern Philippines’ fragile peace.
ISIS-affiliated militants have also regularly clashed with government soldiers on the battlefield, with fighting most intense in rural areas of western Mindanao. Last year witnessed 119 clashes linked to Moro and Islamist groups on mainland Mindanao, with at least 83 involving the BIFF. While the MILF engaged only in small-scale clan disputes between rival factions at the local level, clashes between BIFF factions and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) led to the death of 173 militants and 21 government soldiers. The BIFF is most active in Maguindanao, the site of 70 clashes in 2018, and North Cotabato, which saw 24 encounters. The Mautes have engaged in sporadic fighting with the army in Lanao del Sur, while the AKP has initiated several gun battles in Sarangani and South Cotabato. At least 91,485 people were displaced last year in Mindanao as a result of clashes involving ISIS-linked groups.
The BIFF stronghold of Maguindanao also proved to be the epicentre of a rising IED threat, seeing 19 attacks, which mostly targeted military and Philippine National Police (PNP) vehicles by the roadside.
Meanwhile in its remote island hideouts of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, the ASG engaged in 63 armed clashes with the military during 2018, resulting in 161 fatalities and displacing at least 5,000 civilians.
The 30,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front has pledged to disband and disarm its insurgent force before transitioning into a political party and contesting elections (Image Source: PCOO).
These figures demonstrate that ISIS-aligned groups are still active and pose a threat to stability in the region. Sustained BIFF-AFP clashes continue to take place, while IED blasts have targeted both state security personnel and civilians. However, the threat has reduced since the militants’ attempt to take-over Marawi city was extinguished in October 2017. In the build-up to the siege, the four ISIS-affiliated groups were able to join forces and operate relatively freely in light of alleged AFP intelligence failures. The army was taken aback by the militants’ combined strength and level of co-ordination, and was vastly under-prepared for a prolonged urban siege characterized by street battles and enemy sniper fire.
Post-Marawi, the AFP’s awareness and posture has altered considerably. Remnants of the four ISIS-aligned groups have been weakened by sustained offensives under martial law, while the infiltration of foreign fighters from Indonesia and Malaysia has slowed due to trilateral naval patrols carried-out in the Sulu Sea by the Philippines and its two nearest neighbours. Mindanao’s ISIS-aligned groups are now separated geographically, and will struggle to join ranks to launch a combined assault as they did in Marawi. While a repeat can’t be ruled out, it is unlikely in the current state of heightened vigilance.
With the BARMM ratified, Duterte is now hoping to crush these groups under martial law. Yet despite the progress made in the past year, barriers to peace remain. A lengthy transition awaits as the MILF transforms into a political party ahead of elections to the new regional parliament due by 2022. The demobilisation of the MILF may also prove difficult. The MILF’s 30,000 fighters will likely find it harder to reintegrate back into society than senior MILF leaders who have joined the BARMM’s transitional administration. Political leadership itself will be an arduous task. MILF leaders have sought to prepare early by visiting former rebel chiefs in Indonesia’s Aceh province to learn about the implementation of a similar peace accord there over the past decade. In Aceh, an autonomous settlement addressing grievances of Muslim insurgent groups in exchange for disarmament has largely held firm since 2005.
Authorities hope the peace accord will dent recruitment for ISIS-affiliated groups in Mindanao, who joined forces to occupy Marawi city for five months in 2017 (Image Source: Mark Jhomel).
On Mindanao, the presence of Jihadi groups makes a replication of Aceh’s peace gains more uncertain. Military intelligence reports suggest foreign jihadists from the pre-Marawi influx are still fighting with the BIFF, while the Mautes are alleged to be recruiting in Lanao del Sur to bolster their depleted ranks. Further clashes with the AFP are likely throughout 2019, although under the strain of martial law ISIS-linked groups may further splinter, turn to guerrilla-style tactics and make greater use of explosives.
The key test for a lasting peace in Mindanao will be whether the hearts and minds of Moro Muslims can be won over by the new autonomous region, which promises to reduce poverty and spark more equitable development. Should genuine autonomy prevail and political stability take hold, the brazen attempt by ISIS to hijack the Moros’ five-decade separatist campaign may yet prove to be short-lived.
This article was first published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). The statistics in this article are sourced from the institute’s Armed Conflict Database (ACD), which collects data and analyses key trends in all active conflicts worldwide.
Southeast AsiaAbu Sayyaf, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Asia, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Conflict, Disarmament, Maute Group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Moro National Liberation Front, News, Peace Process, Philippines, Politics, Rodrigo Duterte, Security, Southeast Asia, Terrorism
Is Abu Sayyaf Making a Comeback in the Philippines?
September 13, 2018 Michael HartLeave a comment
The Philippine security forces have increased patrols in waters around Abu Sayyaf’s remote island strongholds, following a recent spike in militant activity (Image Source: US Navy)
On 27 July, firebrand Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte mooted the idea of holding peace talks with the notoriously brutal militants of Abu Sayyaf for the first time since he came to office. During a speech in Jolo – the bustling main town at the heart of the militants’ remote maritime stronghold in the Sulu archipelago – Duterte, referencing his own southern roots, declared: ‘now, you have a president with Moro blood…let’s just talk’. Duterte repeated: ‘let’s talk – or what are we going to do; kill each other?’
Four days later, a powerful bomb hidden in a van exploded at an army road checkpoint on the nearby island of Basilan, killing eleven people instantly and leaving at least seven others wounded. Military spokesperson Col. Edgard Arevalo quickly assigned blame to a local faction of Abu Sayyaf affiliated to the Islamic State. The blast – later revealed to be a suicide attack – was followed by a surge in activity by the group during August, including an attempted piracy attack and renewed clashes with the army.
The recent spike in violence indicates a shift away from signs that Abu Sayyaf had entered a steep decline since last year’s Marawi siege, when its most powerful faction – led by now-deceased militant leader Isnilon Hapilon – was wiped-out in a five-month offensive by government forces which ended last October. In the time since, the group has rarely made headlines beyond its remote island hideouts.
Abu Sayyaf is in the headlines once again. And it may be no coincidence that its re-emergence into the public consciousness comes at a time when Duterte has been focused on finalizing a years-old peace deal with the more moderate Islamist rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, based just across the water on the larger southern island of Mindanao. Do the signs of life in Abu Sayyaf indicate a co-ordinated and resurgent campaign aimed at disrupting the peace process? Or are recent attacks a desperate cry for attention as the once-powerful militant group fades into obscurity and irrelevance?
The decades-old roots of Abu Sayyaf’s violence
The modern-day motivations of Abu Sayyaf can be better interpreted through tracing the group’s long history, dating back to its founding by radical Islamist preacher Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani in the early 1990s. Janjalani – unhappy with the stalling separatist struggle for a new Muslim homeland in Mindanao, which at the time was fronted by the moderately-minded Moro National Liberation Front – set-up Abu Sayyaf as a radical splinter group with the aim of fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. The group was initially hierarchical and well-organized, while it fostered close links with Indonesia-based militant group Jemaah Islamiyah and the global Al-Qaeda network.
After Janjalani was killed during a 1998 military raid, the group splintered and during the 2000s ditched its ideological mantra to a large degree, becoming something more akin to a criminal enterprise. The group became motivated more by profit than ideology, and went on to launch a wave of kidnappings and piracy attacks through which it accrued huge wealth. Ransom payments often ran into millions of dollars. The consequences of not paying-up were stark, as Abu Sayyaf gained a gruesome reputation for beheading both western and Filipino hostages within hours of its ransom deadlines not being met. Attacks on vessels in the Sulu Sea led experts to dub Abu Sayyaf-infested waters as the ‘new Somalia’.
President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to crack down hard on Abu Sayyaf while Martial Law remains in place across all of Mindanao until 31 December 2018 (Image Source: PCOO)
By late-2014 the group had a new leader – Isnilon Hapilon – and had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. This signalled a reversion to its early ideological aim of seeking an independent Islamic state in the Philippines’ conflict-plagued south. In its isolated island bases away from the prying eyes of the military the group increased its number of recruits and used funds from piracy operations to purchase weapons and ammunition. In late-May 2017, Hapilon’s powerful Abu Sayyaf faction joined forces with Maute group jihadists on Mindanao and laid siege to the city of Marawi for five months in an attempt to forge an Islamic State-style caliphate in Southeast Asia. The militants were finally flushed-out by the army in October of last year having sustained heavy losses. More than 1,000 jihadists were killed.
The declining strength of Abu Sayyaf post-Marawi
Since being routed in the tight urban battlefields of Marawi late last year, the strength and capabilities of Abu Sayyaf have noticeably declined. Hapilon was killed during the final throes of battle, dealing a significant blow to the revived aim of the group to fight for an Islamic caliphate. Two main factions were left behind in the group’s traditional strongholds, loosely led by Furuji Indama in Basilan and Radullan Sahiron in Sulu. Further factionalization has also occurred, with sub-leaders commanding small pockets of fighters which are often structured along clan or family lines. Since the start of this year the group’s remnants have come under sustained attack from the army under Martial Law, which Duterte has extended across the entirety of Mindanao and its outlying islands until the end of 2018.
In the first six months of the year at least 63 Abu Sayyaf members have been killed by the army, while Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana recently estimated that only around 100 militants remain in Sulu and just 35 in Basilan. These numbers are hard to verify due to the group’s notoriously shadowy nature and remote areas of operation, however its lack of notable activity until recently backed-up claims that its strength was declining. The year up to July saw few attempted piracy attacks, no mass-casualty bombings and no major attacks on villages – all hallmark tactics of the group in the past. Many small groups of Abu Sayyaf fighters have recently surrendered to the military while the group’s low-profile activities have barely made headlines beyond the remote island provinces where Abu Sayyaf operates.
Abu Sayyaf displays signs of renewed life
The suicide bombing at an army checkpoint on the outskirts Lamitan city, Basilan province, on 31 July thrust the group firmly back into the spotlight. The attack – which left 11 people dead including four civilians, six soldiers and the suspected bomber – took the authorities by surprise. Abu Sayyaf was thought to no-longer possess the capability to pull-off such an attack. Unconfirmed media reports suggested a Moroccan national with links to the Islamic state was the perpetrator, raising worrying questions as to the extent of the link between Abu Sayyaf and the wider global jihadi movement, which was thought to have been severed after the defeat of Hapilon’s faction in Marawi. The suicide attack was just the first in a number of high-profile incidents linked to the group over the next month.
Abu Sayyaf joined forces with the Maute group to lay siege to Marawi in 2017. The militants were defeated by government troops after a gruelling five-month battle (Image Source: Mark Jhomel)
On 10 August, a group of around ten heavily-armed Abu Sayyaf militants boarded a Malaysian-owned tugboat off the island of Tawi-Tawi, close to the Malaysian state of Sabah. Authorities suspected the incident to be an attempted hostage-taking or kidnapping-for-ransom, however the crew managed to escape abduction by locking themselves in a secure room onboard the ship before Malaysian troops intervened, causing the militants to flee. Despite the ultimate failure of the operation, the attempted piracy attack demonstrates the willingness of Abu Sayyaf to once again launch ambitious assaults on the high seas. Towards the end of August, clashes with the military also intensified in the group’s island lairs. Several militants were killed, yet fierce battles on 23 August between more than 40 militants and an army battalion left 22 government soldiers wounded, many having sustained gunshot wounds and shrapnel-blast injuries. On 31 August, unidentified gunmen onboard a boat – identified by police as likely Abu Sayyaf members – raided a small coastal town in Zamboanga del Norte, killing four civilians and a government militiaman before taking two people hostage and fleeing back out to sea. The attack serves as just the latest indication that Abu Sayyaf may be trying to reboot their past violent campaign.
Is the threat from Abu Sayyaf really rising?
Do these incidents represent a growing threat from a resurgent Abu Sayyaf? Or are they simply last acts of resistance from a group which is becoming increasingly desperate to gain attention and remind itself of past glories when it was considered the most radical and brutal jihadi group in Southeast Asia?
Despite the spate of attacks, it is clear that Abu Sayyaf remains severely restricted in its reach. It is no longer able to dominate the waters surrounding its maritime strongholds as it once could. Joint naval patrols carried-out on a regular basis by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia in the Sulu Sea have put paid to that. Launching piracy operations on the scale it once did, would now be far more difficult. An atmosphere of increased vigilance by countries in the region has also hampered the movement of jihadi fighters in the remote maritime borderlands between the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, which served as a vital transit point for terrorists in the build-up to last year’s assault on Marawi city.
Meanwhile, the Philippine military has permanently deployed 10 battalions to Basilan and Sulu, and continues to launch co-ordinated ground and air assaults on Abu Sayyaf hideouts, aided by President Duterte’s decision to keep Martial Law in place until the end of 2018. In August, the army also set up a new outpost on the remote island of Panguan, located between Tawi-Tawi and the Malaysian state of Sabah, in what senior military spokesman Gen. Custodio Parcon described as an attempt to prevent the area from once again becoming a ‘safe haven’ from which militants could launch attacks. The lawless security environment which allowed Abu Sayyaf to flourish before Marawi now ceases to exist.
Forecast: Abu Sayyaf looking to disrupt Duterte’s peace process
It is no coincidence that the rise in Abu Sayyaf activity in recent months came just as President Duterte finalized a long-in-the-making peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Mindanao, aimed at establishing a new autonomous region in Muslim-majority areas of the region – including the island provinces which have long been home to Abu Sayyaf. The deal is expected to deal a huge blow to the recruitment efforts of jihadi groups such as Abu Sayyaf, that have long sought to lure Muslim recruits who felt marginalized and disenfranchised in the Philippines’ impoverished and war-afflicted south. The extremists are now attempting to push back and disrupt the peace process for their own survival.
The Philippine military has deployed 10 battalions to Sulu province in an effort to prevent Abu Sayyaf from relaunching its campaign of terror (Image Source: PIA)
Bombings such as the one perpetrated by Abu Sayyaf in Basilan, and two similar attacks carried-out in August by another radical group – the ISIS-aligned Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters – in Sultan Kudarat, now represent the biggest threat going forward. These radical groups may not have the manpower and resources to take the fight to the army in a conventional sense, so will now likely revert to guerrilla tactics such as suicide bombings, kidnappings and ambushes targeting government troops.
In this sense, Abu Sayyaf are attempting a comeback of sorts. Yet under the strain of Martial Law and with Duterte in the mood to crack-down after the Basilan bombing – which prompted him to order his troops to ‘destroy and kill’ the jihadists – Abu Sayyaf will struggle to resurrect its past reign of terror.
A version of this article is also published on Geopolitical Monitor.
Southeast AsiaAbu Sayyaf, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Asia, Conflict, Counter-Terrorism, Marawi, News, Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, Southeast Asia, Terrorism
Liguasan Marsh Clashes Expose the Latent Threat from ISIS in the Philippines
July 16, 2018 Michael HartLeave a comment
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has declared Martial Law in Mindanao until the end of 2018 amid the continued threat posed by IS-linked groups (Image Source: PCOO)
Shortly before dawn on 10 June, government airstrikes pounded militant hideouts in towns dotted around the edge of Liguasan Marsh. This sprawling wetland – straddling two provinces in the remote interior of the Philippines’ conflict-wracked southern island of Mindanao – has become just the latest front in the battle against the Islamic State (IS) in Southeast Asia, after militants allied to the notorious jihadi group laid siege to the city of Marawi – located 120km further north – for five months last year.
The initial aerial attack by government forces in Liguasan Marsh was followed by a ground offensive lasting several days, which resulted in the death of at least 26 militants but prompted 15,000 residents to flee their homes. The deceased militants belonged to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) – an IS-aligned group which has clashed repeatedly with the military since the turn of the year.
Meanwhile the radical Maute group – chief architects of the Marawi siege – have also risen their head in Mindanao in recent weeks after several months of inactivity. On 17 June, the Mautes – commanded by IS’ new leader in the Philippines, Abu Dar – clashed with government troops in the Lanao del Sur town of Tubaran, leaving five militants dead and 11,700 people from 2,200 families displaced. Military spokesman Col. Romeo Brawner said around 30 Maute fighters were able to flee the area unharmed.
More than a year since the uprising in Marawi, does the intensified violence witnessed in June indicate that IS-linked groups – considerably depleted after the siege – are rebounding in western Mindanao?
While the Mautes were dealt a near-knockout blow after sustaining vast losses in Marawi, only a small cohort of BIFF members participated in the siege. The BIFF fighters who did not travel to Marawi have now picked up the IS mantle. Thought to number several-hundred jihadis, the BIFF remain embedded in small pockets of rural territory across three provinces in western Mindanao: Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat. The group is split into at least three sub-factions, with Esmael Abdulmalik serving as its main figurehead and de-facto leader. Since Marawi, the BIFF have regularly clashed with the security forces, launched a wave of IED attacks and rampaged through civilian towns.
Encounters between the BIFF and the military have increased in both scale and intensity. On 11 March, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) reported it had killed 44 militants and wounded 26 during three days of intense clashes in Datu Saudi town. Fighting again erupted in mid-April, before June’s latest military onslaught targeted the group in Liguasan Marsh. Despite suffering heavy casualties, the BIFF have proven unexpectedly resilient, well-resourced and difficult to dislodge. The group have hit back by ambushing soldiers using IEDs. Bomb blasts have also targeted civilians, with an explosion outside a bar in Tacurong causing 14 casualties on New Year’s Eve. More recently, the BIFF bombed a cathedral in Koronadal city in late-April and detonated a device outside a school in Midsayap in May.
IS-linked militants laid siege to Marawi city for five months from May-October 2017. The conflict left more than 1,000 people dead, most of whom were militants (Image Source: Mark Jhomel)
The AFP have reported seeing foreign fighters from Indonesia and Malaysia fighting alongside the BIFF, providing a possible explanation for their confounding level of strength. It is thought that a number of these non-Filipino combatants managed to escape from Marawi during the siege and linked-up with the BIFF, while others are rumoured to have entered Mindanao later by crossing porous sea borders. Senior army commander Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana says the AFP is verifying reports that Indonesians and Singaporeans were among those killed recently at Liguasan Marsh, while Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has previously warned of the illicit entry of terrorists from neighbouring countries. The AFP has vowed to keep a ‘tight watch’ along Mindanao’s heavily-indented coast but policing it round-the-clock is a monumental challenge, and inevitably some are able to slip through the net undetected. Some of these new recruits are battle-hardened and trained in bomb-making skills acquired abroad.
As the BIFF has proceeded with its campaign of terror, the Maute group – destroyed as a hierarchical and organized fighting force in Marawi – has been slowly rebuilding beneath the surface. The clashes that erupted in Tubaran in June were the first involving the group since the early months of the year, when sporadic gun battles with government soldiers erupted in the towns of Masui, Pagayawan and Pantar. The latest violence indicates the Mautes are still very much alive under new leader Abu Dar.
Reports of Maute recruitment in Lanao del Sur province have emerged, with the army claiming the terrorists are using cash, gold and jewellery looted from Marawi to lure impoverished young men into their ranks in villages surrounding the ruins of the now-destroyed Islamic city on the shores of Lake Lanao. In February, the AFP’s Col. Romeo Brawner estimated the Mautes had replenished their ranks with around 200 fighters from Lanao del Sur and said the group ‘had not abandoned their objective to create a caliphate’. The military’s commanding general Rolando Bautista recently warned another Marawi-style urban siege was becoming a ‘big possibility’. Police have also arrested Maute members and sympathizers further afield in central and northern areas of the country, while Manila’s police director Oscar Albayalde has placed officers on ‘full alert’ for potential Maute attacks in the capital.
Alarmist rhetoric aside, on the surface the threat from radical Islamists appears to have reduced since the Marawi siege ended. A military crackdown facilitated by Martial Law has kept up the pressure on the jihadists, while a long-delayed peace process with the region’s larger and more moderate Muslim rebel groups is inching towards a conclusion. The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is set to be passed next month, paving the way for the creation of a new autonomously-governed region for Muslim majority areas in Mindanao. It is hoped the landmark deal will forge a lasting peace between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) – which has already laid down its arms – while at the same time reducing grievances among the Muslim population and tackling the core long-term drivers of terrorist recruitment in western Mindanao, which have sustained more radical groups for decades.
Since the Marawi siege ended, Philippine troops have been battling the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and remnants of the Maute group in Mindanao (Image Source: PIA)
Yet the current generation of extremist groups present in the region – spearheaded by the IS-aligned BIFF and the rapidly-regrouping Maute remnants – appear unlikely to give up their fight. If the peace process fails to live up to its promise of bringing greater autonomy and development, there is a danger these elements may be able to garner enough support to once again revive Mindanao’s six-decade Islamist separatist struggle – but this time entwined with the warped ideology of transnational jihad and the brutal tactics which have become the trademark of IS’ global brand. Just last month, senior BIFF spokesperson Abu Misri Mama warned the group does not recognize the BBL-led peace process and chillingly said ‘‘we are not in favour of autonomy…the BIFF will continue to fight for independence; the island will not see peace even after this BBL is passed’’. President Rodrigo Duterte has also voiced fears of such a scenario, warning earlier this year of ‘‘war in Mindanao’’ if the peace process collapses.
For as long as their flame still burns, the IS-linked jihadists of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Mautes will represent the greatest barrier to a lasting peace in the Philippines’ troubled south.
Southeast AsiaArmed Forces of the Philippines, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Conflict, Counter-Terrorism, ISIS, Maute Group, Mindanao, News, Philippines, Politics, Rodrigo Duterte, Security, Southeast Asia, Terrorism, War
What Underlies the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters’ Campaign of Terror in Western Mindanao?
March 6, 2018 March 6, 2018 Michael HartLeave a comment
Since the end of the Marawi siege in October, Philippine troops have been redeployed to take on the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (Image Source: Philippines Information Agency)
In the three months since the jihadists of the ISIS-linked Maute group were routed by Philippine troops in Marawi, another radical band of Islamists have risen from the shadows to take their place as the vanguard of ISIS in western Mindanao. Since the five-month siege of Marawi ended in late-October, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have launched a wave of IED attacks and regularly clashed with security forces, whilst their de-facto leader Esmael Abdulmalik has been touted as a possible replacement for slain Abu Sayyaf militant Isnilon Hapilon as ISIS’ new emir in Southeast Asia.
In the post-Marawi climate of heightened threat awareness, the BIFF’s recent spike in activity has garnered an increased amount of attention not only in the Philippines, but across the wider region. Yet the group has been around for almost a decade and has been involved in high-profile incidents before, notably the Mamasapano clash of January 2015 which left 44 special forces soldiers dead and sent shockwaves throughout the country. The BIFF has also claimed responsibility for bomb attacks in the past, whilst a small cohort of its fighters are thought to have taken part in last year’s Marawi siege.
What underlies the BIFF’s intensified campaign of terror? And how has this previously little-known militant group emerged from being a mere footnote in Mindanao’s long-running armed Islamist insurgency to positioning itself as the last bastion of ISIS’ ambitions to carve out a regional caliphate?
The BIFF has its roots in the decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency which has been fought on the Philippines’ conflict-plagued southern island of Mindanao since the early 1970s. In its initial stages, the insurgency was fought by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founded by Nur Misuari, and later by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) founded by Hashim Salamat, which broke-off from the MNLF in 1981. Both organizations enjoyed support from large sections of the Muslim population in the Mindanao region, which has long suffered from underdevelopment and high rates of poverty in comparison to other parts of the majority-Catholic country, leaving its residents feeling marginalized.
The MNLF and the MILF both started out fighting for a fully-independent state for the Muslim-majority Moro population in the south, leading to a protracted conflict which has caused more than 100,000 deaths. Yet in recent decades their stance has softened as both groups have turned their attention away from armed struggle and towards peace talks with the government, aimed at securing greater autonomy in the south rather than independence. This shift angered hardline elements within the separatist movement, resulting in the formation of several radical groups to revive the campaign for a fully-independent Muslim state. A breakaway faction of the MNLF – Abu Sayyaf – emerged in 1990 and went on to gain global notoriety after launching a spate of kidnappings in the region and brutally beheading several Western hostages. Twenty years later, in 2010, a second splinter group emerged this time from within the ranks of the MILF, and called itself the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
The BIFF was formed by Ameril Umbra Kato, who was educated in Saudi Arabia and espoused a more radical brand of Islam based on Salafi-Wahhabi ideology, practiced more widely in the Middle East than in Southeast Asia. Frustrated with the MILF’s decision to accept autonomy at the expense of full independence, Kato led around 300 former MILF comrades in a campaign of attacks targeting the military and civilians in rural areas across the provinces of Maguindanao and North Cotabato. The primary aim of the attacks was to disrupt the peace process between the government and the MILF.
Kato was succeeded as leader by Mohammad Ali Tambako after suffering a stroke in 2011, yet Tambako left to establish another militant group two years later. Kato died of natural causes in 2015 and the BIFF appointed Ismael Abubakar as its new figurehead, signalling a new era in which the group separated into factions and became more of a splintered guerrilla organization than a co-ordinated or hierarchical group. The BIFF remains loosely-structured today, and is not thought to have a defined leadership structure or central chain of command.
The BIFF has its roots in Mindanao’s long running Islamist separatist insurgency, but in recent years has fought under the banner of ISIS (Image Source: Keith Bacongco)
Amidst the uncertainty over its direction and leadership, the group had pledged allegiance to ISIS in late-2014. At the time, this was not viewed as a concern by the authorities and was seen as more of an attention-grabbing ploy aimed at aiding recruitment and boosting the group’s profile. This view changed suddenly when in May last year, militants from the ISIS-aligned Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups launched a brazen assault on the city of Marawi. The threat from ISIS had become visible, having materialized itself on a large scale in Southeast Asia for the first time. The Marawi crisis led the security forces in Mindanao to take pledges of allegiance to ISIS by smaller militant groups far more seriously.
The jihadists from the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf took five months to dislodge. In mid-October, the Philippine military announced the end of the siege after the deaths of militant leaders Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon in the main battle zone. More than 900 militants were killed in total, dealing a serious blow to Abu Sayyaf’s capabilities and virtually destroying the Maute group as a fighting force. Whilst a small number of the BIFF’s members were thought to be present in Marawi, many of the group’s fighters remained in its heartlands elsewhere in western Mindanao. These BIFF fighters now constitute the surviving remnants of ISIS in the southern Philippines, and have taken up the mantle vacated by the Mautes with a renewed sense of purpose and authority.
Since the end of the Marawi siege clashes between government forces and the BIFF have intensified in the provinces of Maguindanao and North Cotabato, where the group has its rural strongholds. Government airstrikes, ground offensives and gun battles resulted in the death of 28 BIFF members in the final three months of 2017, whilst two government troops were also killed. In December, the BIFF launched a series of attacks targeting the indigenous Teduray tribe whilst attempting to seize pockets of territory in rural villages in Maguindanao province, setting fire to houses and killing several tribe members whilst driving thousands more from their homes. The BIFF has also launched a spate of bomb attacks targeting police patrols, military bases and civilians. On New Year’s Eve, the militants detonated an IED outside a crowded bar in Tacurong city, killing two civilians and injuring twelve, having earlier in the day killed one and wounded five policemen in a bomb blast in Datu Hoffer town.
The BIFF remains split into at least three main factions, the largest and most active of which is led by Ismael Abdulmalik, also known by the alias Abu Turaife. In a particularly worrying development, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has reported seeing ‘foreign-looking’ gunmen fighting alongside BIFF militants in Maguindanao province, indicating that terrorist fighters from elsewhere in Southeast Asia may have joined-up with the group. It is possible that surviving Maute group members, including a number of Indonesians and Malaysians believed to have fought in Marawi, may have bolstered the BIFF’s ranks. At present, the BIFF appears to be the new group of choice for the region’s militants.
Local authorities have said they are monitoring the recruitment activities of jihadist groups in western Mindanao and are bracing themselves for another Marawi-style attack. Cotabato city has been muted as a possible second target. President Duterte has responded by extending Martial Law in Mindanao until the end of 2018 and has promised to destroy the BIFF, whilst recently-installed military chief Lt. Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero has vowed to redeploy resources from Marawi to tackle Islamist groups across the south. Mindanao’s civilian population remains on edge as its security forces maintain a heightened state of alert, having conducted several urban warfare training exercises in recent months to prepare for a repeat scenario. In Marawi last May, the authorities had been caught off guard.
Military operations against the BIFF have intensified in recent months in the group’s rural strongholds in the provinces of Maguindanao and North Cotabato (Image Source: AFP)
The rise to prominence of radical groups such as Maute, and now the BIFF, comes at a crucial stage in the southern Philippines’ drawn-out peace process with the MILF, which has laid down its weapons since a provisional peace deal with the government was signed in 2014. Currently, lawmakers are debating the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which would pave the way for a new autonomous region in the south to replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), constituting a final negotiated end to hostilities with the largest groups in the Moro rebel movement.
The bill is expected to be passed later this year. Yet after slow progress in getting even to this stage, concerns have been voiced that if the bill is delayed further, or in a worst-case scenario fails to pass through Congress, frustrations will grow and fertile ground for jihadist recruitment will be created. President Duterte and MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim have both warned of the radicalization risk. Duterte has talked repeatedly of the importance of correcting ‘historical injustices’ committed to the Moro people, whilst Ebrahim has described the BBL as being of ‘great importance for stability and security in Southeast Asia’. In a November interview with Channel News Asia, the MILF leader said ‘the longer this process takes, the more people are going to be radicalized’. Despite expressing his own frustration over the slow progress being made, Ebrahim has said the MILF remains firmly committed to the peace process and is staunchly opposed to radical groups such as the BIFF and Abu Sayyaf.
President Duterte has extended Martial Law in Mindanao until the end of 2018 to crack down on the BIFF and other militant groups active in the region (Image Source: Philippine Government)
Whilst the passage of the BBL may be an important step in quelling the long-running insurgency, it must be noted that previous peace agreements have not succeeded in ending the violence altogether. Despite the creation of the ARMM in 1989 and the signing of separate peace accords with the MNLF in 1996 and the MILF in 2014, several new groups have been spawned and the insurgency has evolved.
At present, it is the BIFF which pose the greatest concern going forward. Radical groups such as the BIFF will remain attractive to those who will never accept autonomy and maintain a desire to see a fully-independent Islamic state created in the southern Philippines. This is especially true for those living in the most impoverished areas of Mindanao, who may feel disenfranchised and excluded from the potential benefits that any political settlement may bring.
As long as the underlying conditions of instability remain present in Mindanao, transnational terror groups such as ISIS and aspiring militants from across the region will seek to take advantage of the situation. These links pose the biggest challenge to the ongoing peace process in the Philippines’ troubled south. Despite efforts on both sides to secure a lasting peace, the spread of ISIS’ global ideology to the region continues to aid recruitment, giving new meaning and impetus to the localized battles fought by formerly little-known militant groups such as the Mautes, Abu Sayyaf and now the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
Southeast AsiaArmed Forces of the Philippines, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Conflict, ISIS, Marawi, Mindanao, News, Philippines, Politics, Rodrigo Duterte, Terrorism
Philippines Communist Insurgency: Rhetoric Heats Up as Peace Negotiations Remain Stalled
October 23, 2017 November 15, 2017 Michael HartLeave a comment
President Duterte vowed when elected to pursue peace talks with the CPP-NPA, aimed at ending one of the world’s longest-running communist insurgencies (Image Source: PCOO)
This feature was first published on Asian Correspondent.
When Rodrigo Duterte was elected as president of the Philippines in May 2016, hopes were raised for a negotiated end to one of Asia’s longest-running Maoist insurgencies. On the campaign trail Duterte had vowed, if elected, to enter into ‘inclusive talks’ with rebels from the New People’s Army (NPA), the military wing of the once-outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Peace talks did indeed begin in Norway last August, and got off to a positive start with both sides declaring separate ceasefires and agreeing to further rounds of dialogue, which took place in Oslo in October and Rome in January. At the turn of the year, it appeared steady progress was being made.
Yet the peace process crashed to an abrupt halt in early February after a series of armed clashes led both parties to declare their separate ceasefires at an end. Talks were briefly revived in the Netherlands in April, before a fifth round of dialogue scheduled for May was cancelled by Duterte. Since the collapse of the peace process earlier this year, violence has spiralled and deadly attacks have become a frequent occurrence. September saw several high-profile incidents, with NPA rebels killing four government troops in an ambush in Nueva Vizcaya at the start of the month, whilst on 20 September, nine Maoist rebels were slain in a clash with the Philippine army in Carranglan.
After several attempts to restart negotiations failed, rhetoric on both sides has become increasingly heated in recent months. In August, President Duterte declared ‘war’ against the Maoists, stating ‘Let’s stop talking, start fighting’, before describing peace negotiations as a ‘waste of time’. The CPP responded by labelling Duterte’s administration as a ‘semi-colonial, anti-peasant regime’, whilst claiming ‘the people have no other recourse but to tread the path of militant struggle and collective action’. Amid the escalating war-of-words and with negotiations still stalled, this report examines the reasons why the peace talks faltered and assesses the prospects of future dialogue.
The history of the modern communist movement in the Philippines dates back to 1968 and the founding of the CPP by a former student activist, Jose Maria Sison, who still leads the organization from self-exile in the Netherlands. The party’s armed wing, the NPA, was established a year later with the aim of overthrowing the central government in Manila through a sustained campaign of armed resistance, referred to by the CPP-NPA as a ‘protracted people’s war’. The movement is rooted in Marxist-Leninist ideology and seeks to establish a political system led by the working classes, which would redistribute land to the poor and expel US influence from the Philippines.
The NPA reached the height of its powers in the early-1980s during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, when it attracted widespread public support and had more than 25,000 members. In the democratic era, the movement has declined in strength but still retains an operational presence in most provinces across the country, and now has around 4,800 active members. Clashes between NPA rebels and Philippine troops continue to occur sporadically as the insurgency approaches its sixth decade, despite repeated military crackdowns. The NPA remains especially strong in poorer rural areas where it enjoys widespread support and exercises de-facto control through the collection of ‘revolutionary taxes’; payments which Manila describes as extortion.
Peace negotiations have taken place intermittently in past decades between the National Democratic Front (NDF) – a political grouping which represents the CPP-NPA in formal talks – and successive governments led by Estrada, Arroyo and Aquino, yet to no avail. The election of Duterte last year signalled renewed hope for peace, and the first round of talks with the NDF in August 2016 produced a landmark result: the declaration of ceasefires by both sides. The commitment held and the parties convened again in Oslo two months later, before a third meeting in Rome this January. Yet at the beginning of February, months of careful diplomacy unravelled in a matter of days, whilst efforts to rekindle negotiations in the following months made little progress. Both sides blamed each other as clashes resumed between the army and rebels, leaving many wondering: why did the talks falter, and how did the ceasefire collapse so quickly?
Since the breakdown of peace negotiations earlier this year, NPA attacks against government troops have occurred more frequently (Image Source: Philippines Information Agency)
The trigger for the collapse was a result of the peace process reaching a major sticking-point over the release of political prisoners. As the dialogue moved forward, the CPP-NPA had made it clear that the release of imprisoned members was a pre-condition for the continuation of talks, whereas President Duterte maintained he would not release more prisoners until a formal joint ceasefire agreement had been signed. Tensions surrounding the issue were already boiling over before the NPA lifted its unilateral ceasefire on 1 February. Duterte followed-suit two days later after a series of NPA attacks on Philippine troops, immediately terminating the government’s ceasefire and accusing the ‘terrorist’ rebels of ‘wanting another fifty years of war’.
Whilst unsatisfied demands for a prisoner amnesty served as the trigger for the breakdown of talks earlier this year, there are several more deeply-rooted factors which contributed to the failure of dialogue and restrict the chances of ending the insurgency should talks resume.
First, the factional nature of the NPA – with armed units present in almost every province across the Philippines – and a lack of centralized operational leadership, makes it difficult for the largely symbolic figureheads of the CPP and NDF, responsible for negotiating with the government, to control the activities of their fighters. Whilst a ceasefire is imposed from above, realities on the ground make it easy for violent clashes to occur in a local context. This often leads to further attacks and retaliatory violence, dealing a hammer blow to peace talks at the national level.
Second, a lack of trust exists between both sides. This makes progress difficult to sustain as firmly opposed positions have been reinforced over five decades of conflict. For example, as soon as the talks collapsed in February, both the government and CPP-NPA quickly reverted from making careful diplomatic overtures and returned to using divisive language describing each other as the ‘enemy’. As the months have passed, heated rhetoric has replaced the co-operative tones voiced last year, indicating the fragility of progressive dialogue and the difficulty of reversing long-held suspicions.
President Duterte came to power in 2016 promising to negotiate an end to the Philippines’ long-running internal conflicts, yet conditions appear only to have deteriorated. The government is now firefighting on multiple fronts: the army is still battling ISIS-aligned militants in Marawi, whilst at the same time Congress is trying to finalize a long-awaited peace deal with Moro separatist groups. And now, a resurgent communist insurgency is threatening to inflict further bloodshed.
The only way of resolving the conflict without a peace accord being signed is to tackle the root causes of the insurgency, which would undermine recruitment and support for the NPA through improving the livelihoods of the Philippines’ rural poor. This approach alone however would take decades, and without an accompanying peace deal, may not end the violence in its entirety.
To prevent further internal strife, the government and the NPA have a strong imperative to return to the path of negotiation. Duterte is unpredictable, so his declaration that the peace process with the NPA is over does not necessarily signal the end of the road. If there is a lull in rebel attacks and conditions are deemed right, talks may be restarted in the near future.
After five decades of armed resistance, the cycle of conflict will be difficult to break; yet the revival of the peace process represents the only viable path forward. Unless momentum is regained soon, the Philippines’ long-running Maoist insurgency may prove intractable for another generation.
Southeast AsiaAsia, Communist Party of the Philippines, Conflict, International Relations, Mindanao, New People's Army, News, Peace Process, Philippines, Politics, Rodrigo Duterte, Southeast Asia, War
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Archives: Conflict Elsewhere
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Astana Architecture and City Building Management Chief Highlights Capital’s Plan for ‘Harmonious’ Architectural Development
By Kamila Zhumabayeva in Nur-Sultan on 10 December 2015
ASTANA – Head of the city’s Architecture and City Building Management Vitaliy Siletskiy recently discussed the capital’s development plans and new projects. Among those under consideration are public, residential, social and cultural objects on the west side of Khan Shatyr Mall and east of Millennium Alley, public purpose mini-areas facing Orynbor Avenue and the new Green Square project and public centre, as well as forming a classic model of a polycentric city.
Siletskiy, 41, has been working with the department since 2008. He spoke with The Astana Times about the city’s plans.
“Cultural singularity, ideas of East and West, harmoniously intertwine in the capital city’s architecture. The conceptual basis of the general plan can be described with one word – harmony,” he said. “The harmony is in the development of nature and city, in the compound of innovations and traditions, human relationships and the city environment, technology and people.”
The concept of priority district construction that forms the architectural appearance of the capital has been developed and implemented, in addition to designing and constructing specific objects. Public and residential complexes, cultural, education and health facilities, parks and squares are to be built heading east from Millennium Alley, complimented by unique objects such as Etnoaul, a cultural and tourist complex, and a new railway station.
“Public and residential complexes and objects of social and cultural infrastructure will be erected on the west side of Khan Shatyr. Engineering and transport infrastructure will be correspondingly developed,” said Siletskiy.
The concept of developing Orynbor Street, one of the entrances to the city from the airport along with Kabanbai Batyr Avenue, defined by tall buildings, was also approved and implemented.
The capital is a modern megalopolis with two centres, the old town known as Old Square and the left bank along the Nurly Zhol (formerly Water Green) Boulevard.
“The classic model of a polycentric city is gradually forming. Polycentricism is not only a device of the city; it is how the human community is constructed. The new centres are viable only if they are functional and linked between each other,” he added.
As the model of a megacity with a unified socio-economic and cultural centre has ceased to be the only possible attraction, public centres in each of the planning areas will be established.
“A public centre is a place where people will have a workplace, cultural recreation, shopping centres, park territories, active leisure and transport links with the rest of Astana,” said Siletskiy.
The city’s general development plan is focused on the EXPO 2017 international exhibition centre. The 33 kilometres on the southwest bypass of the K-1 Expressway detour road will include the Abu Dhabi Plaza multifunctional complex, Kazakh and Russian drama theatres, a trade and logistics centre and new railway station with a capacity of up to 35,000 passengers per day. Two new bus terminals with Karaganda and Kostanai destinations for 5,000 passengers per day are planned for 2030.
The development proposal also includes reconstruction of Astana International Airport by building a new terminal.
“By analysing the experience of the world’s best cities in this aspect, a broad avenue for processions and celebration of various activities was proposed for construction of the street, with an allocation of one of the main avenue nodes – the Triumphal Arch area that is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s independence,” said Siletskiy.
Seven-storey buildings with rhythmically-highlighted tall ensembles for residential and public purpose are proposed along the entire avenue. “Public purpose mini-areas with landscaping, decorated fountains, flower beds, decorative and monumental arts linking intra-square spaces, kindergartens and schools are to be located on the façade part of all squares facing Orynbor Avenue,” said Siletskiy. “The approved style of the façades is neoclassic with the national decoration. Granite, marble, travertine, metal, bronze and fibre concrete are the recommended materials for construction.”
The construction of Turan Avenue, one of the main highways of the city around which large facilities are expected to be built, will be implemented in the future.
“Among the major construction projects, it is necessary to highlight the new Green Square project initiated by the head of state and implemented as part of the EXPO 2017 preparations in Astana. The keystone to success of forming a polycentric metropolis is in creating comfortable living conditions and opportunities for work, education and recreation in every area of the city,” Siletskiy noted.
He added the city has a clear development ideology, the essence of which is to transform itself into one of the centres of international cooperation and tourism.
“The artistic image of Kazakhstan’s new capital must correspond to new directions of the 21st century architectural style and at the same time contain elements related to the cosmologies of the different cultures and ethnicities living in the country. That is to say, the city should be polyphonic in its artistic structure and reflect the symbiosis of cultures and nations of the Eurasian space,” he said.
The management is expecting to achieve breakthroughs in new levels of 21st century architectural development by engaging the world’s outstanding architects to design the city’s unique and important objects. The Palace of Peace and Harmony, constructed under a project by Lord Norman Foster, was cited as one example of this approach.
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fabulous blockbuster
The Picture: Marriage Equality Mix
“The rough idea would be that the Roberts court would be to the rights of gays and lesbians what the Warren court was on race issues.”
―David A. Strauss
There is a lot going on. Or maybe not. Where once the idea was that courts should stay out of things and let “democracy” pick and choose who gets what human and constitutional rights in the United States, many of those advocates are looking to the Supreme Court of the United States to cram the gays back into the closet. With Justice Ginsburg suggesting last month that the Supreme Court might get involved if the lower courts make a sufficient mess of things, and the Fifteenth Judicial District Court of Louisiana holding the line in terms of state courts, one might wonder about the fervor Robert Barnes noted last week for the Washington Post:
The 10th edition of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. begins work Monday with the prospect of a monumental ruling for gay rights that could serve as a surprising legacy of an otherwise increasingly conservative court.
Whether the justices will decide that the Constitution protects the right of same-sex couples to marry dominates expectations of the coming term; such a ruling would impart landmark status on a docket that so far lacks a blockbuster case.
And some say it would be a defining moment for a closely divided court that bears the chief justice’s name but is most heavily influenced by the justice in the middle: Anthony M. Kennedy, who has written the court’s most important decisions affording protection to gay Americans.
“If the court establishes a right to same-sex marriage . . . [it] will go down in history as one that was on the frontiers of establishing rights for gays and lesbians,” said David A. Strauss, a constitutional-law scholar at the University of Chicago.
Something about blockbusters, to be certain; one would hope we have enough worked out about our society that we should not necessarily be rushing for a marquée show every year. That is to say, there is plenty wrong with society, but do we really have so many fundamental civil rights questions coming to the fore? And if so, well, what the hell is wrong with Americans that we have not yet figured out how some of these very basic concepts work?
Posted in Bigotry, Christianity, Civil Rights, Congress, Conservative, Culture, Family, Feminism, Government, Justice, Law, LGBTQ, Middle America, Parenthood, People, Politics, Religion, Republicans, Supreme Court, Tea Party, The South (U.S.), US House of Representatives and tagged adoption, Amendment XIV, Angela Costanza, Article IV Section 1, Associated Press, biological parents, BLAG, blockbuster, Bourke v. Beshear, Brian Bakst, Chastity Brewer, Chief Justice Roberts, constitutional law, Costanza v. Caldwell, Dale Carpenter, David A. Strauss, Defense of Marriage Act, DoMA, Edith Windsor, Edward D. Rubin, Equal Protection Clause, fabulous, fabulous blockbuster, federal judiciary, Full Fatih and Credit Clause, House Republicans, Huffington Post, intrafamily adoption, John G. Heyburn II, John G. Roberts, Justice Ginsburg, Los Angeles Times, Louisiana, Louisiana Fifteenth Judicial District Court, Martin L.C. Feldman, Notorious RBG, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Rep. Mike Turner (R-Edmond), Parish of Lafayette, Paul D. Clement, post-Windsor, Proposition 8, Robert Barnes, Roberts Court, Robicheaux v. Caldwell, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Savage, SCOTUS, Supreme Court of the United States, unintended offspring, United States v. Windsor, University of Chicago, unplanned pregnancy, US v. Windsor, Volokh Conspiracy, Warren Court, Washington Post on 2014.10.06 by bd. Leave a comment
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Only in Jersey: 2/10/12
February 10, 2012 at 5:04 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: abortion, amc, bellini, bethenny frankel, chelsea handler, chelsea lately, Comic Book Men, e!, Fabellini Sparkling Wines, garden state, Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, Kevin Smith, livingston, montville, new jersey, OWN, Pawn Stars, Ramona Singer, real housewives of new jersey, real housewives of new york city, red bank, Rosie O'Donnell, teresa giudice, The Rosie Show
Happy Friday! Time for another edition of Only in Jersey!
If it’s filming in Jersey, takes place in Jersey, or is about celebs from Jersey, you will find it here.
Kevin Smith, center, shares his love of comic books in "Comic Book Men," which is filmed in Red Bank./Photo credit AMC
Red Bank will be front and center beginning at 10 p.m. Sunday when AMC premieres “Comic Book Men.” The one-hour unscripted series follows employees and customers of film director Kevin Smith’s comic store, Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. The network’s description – “as the team buys, sells and discovers the treasures of the comic collecting world, they share all the juicy details with Kevin through their outrageous podcast” – makes it sound like a comics-tailored version of “Pawn Stars.”
“The Real Housewives of New Jersey”: Eat, talk about Danielle, repeat
June 28, 2010 at 3:20 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: 202 italian bistro, a&s fine foods, a&s pork store, al manzo, albie manzo, alstede farms, ashley holmes, bethenny frankel, bethenny getting married?, bottagra restaurant, caldwell, caroline manzo, chakra, chateau salon, chester, christopher manzo, cresskill, danielle staub, danny, derek, dina manzo, dr. michael fiorillo, dr. ramtin kassir, elvira grau, englewood, facebook, franklin lakes, hawthorne, jacqueline laurita, joe giudice, kim d., kim g., lauren manzo, lincoln park, livingston, makeup designory, mud, new york city, new york daily news, paramus, playboy, posche boutique, positano ristorante, real housewives of orange county, ridgewood, sams, secaucus, space odyssey, squeeze lounge, suga sushi bar, teresa giudice, wayne surgical center, weehawken, west paterson, wyckoff, xist model & talent
What places have “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” – aka Jacqueline Laurita, Caroline Manzo, Teresa Giudice, Dina Manzo and yes, Danielle Staub – been visiting lately? Keep reading!
It's going to be strange not seeing Dina around anymore./Photo credit the New York Daily News
“She’s like parsley. She’s everywhere.” – Caroline on Danielle
“Larry King Live” tackles Jersey girl Chelsea Handler
April 9, 2010 at 11:06 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: chelsea chelsea bang bang, chelsea handler, chelsea lately, cnn, e!, jersey shore, kate gosselin, larry king, larry king live, livingston, new jersey, new york, pennsylvania
“Larry King Live” devoted an entire hour recently to Jersey girl Chelsea Handler, who was promoting her new book, “Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang.”
(Chelsea’s dressing down of Kate Gosselin, above, is just one of the reasons I like her.)
Not surprisingly, at least if you are familiar with the three-time author and host of E!’s late night talk show “Chelsea Lately,” her conversation with Larry turned to the Garden State and the plethora of television shows about it. Their discussion went something like this:
Larry: What do you make of this Jersey thing?
Chelsea: Well, I mean I’m from New Jersey so I’m proud to be from New Jersey. I’m from a nice part. But there are parts of New Jersey that look like the “Jersey Shore” and what’s depicted on this show. It can be pretty crazy. So when people from New Jersey get mad about the depiction, and they say “Oh, how can you say that?,” well, I’m from there and it is like that.
Larry: Do you think it’s because it’s between New York and Pennsylvania?
Chelsea: Yeah, somebody told me that the other day. It’s kinda like a middle child of those states. Maybe. I didn’t see all of New Jersey like that. But these reality shows are all ridiculous so why not get New Jersey in the mix?
Larry: Where are you from in New Jersey?
Chelsea: Livingston.
Larry: Oh ohhhh. That’s upper class.
Chelsea: Well, it was upper class. But my parents were just below middle class.
“Chelsea Lately” goes Johnny Weir and “Jerseylicious”
Tags: be good johnny weir, chelsea handler, chelsea lately, e!, garden state, green brook, jersey shore, jerseylicious, johnny weir, livingston, lyndhurst, new jersey, new jersey turnpike, style network, sundance channel, wayne
What things come immediately to mind when you think of New Jersey?
If it’s a lack of U-turns, then you have something in common with male figure skater/reality television star Johnny Weir. The Lyndhurst resident (who trains at an ice rink in Wayne) gracefully defended the Garden State during a conversation with Livingston native Chelsea Handler on her E! talk show “Chelsea Lately” Tuesday night.
Chelsea’s interview with Johnny veered onto the New Jersey Turnpike as he spoke about the rigors of practicing on ice for hours on end.
“On top of it, you have to live in New Jersey,” Chelsea pointed out.
“Well, you’re a Jersey girl, too,” Johnny replied with a laugh.
“And you know where I went when I was 19 years old?” Chelsea quipped. “Out of New Jersey!”
“I love New Jersey, though,” Johnny responded. “There’s something very special and aggressive and ‘no U-turning’ about it.”
“There’s something very special and aggressive and it’s called the ‘Jersey Shore,'” Chelsea shot back. “Have you ever met anybody from that show?”
“No,” said Johnny. “And I don’t really need to.”
This was the second time Chelsea has mentioned her home state within a week. She recently turned her critical eye toward the Style Network’s “Jerseylicious” about a “gross hair salon” in Green Brook. Take a look:
“New Jersey, would you please stop embarrassing me?” Chelsea pleads. “I know you’re New York’s chunkier, sluttier younger sister, but pull yourself together, girl.”
My very own “Dog” day afternoon
March 19, 2010 at 1:23 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: a&e, barnes & noble, beth chapman, chelsea handler, chelsea lately, clifton, dog the bounty hunter, duane "dog" chapman, garden state, livingston, new jersey, where mercy is shown mercy is given
Duane “Dog” Chapman was all about the Garden State yesterday.
Yes, Dog's tan is really as dark as person as it is in this picture./All photos by Ava Gacser
In addition to appearing on Livingston native Chelsea Handler’s late-night talk show, “Chelsea Lately” (check out the video below), the star of A&E’s series “Dog the Bounty Hunter” – along with his wife, Beth – stopped by Clifton to meet fans and sign copies of his new book, “Where Mercy is Shown, Mercy Is Given.”
I didn't realize at the time I took this picture of the arrival that I also managed to *capture* the Dog. Yay!
As you can imagine, it was pandemonium from the moment the pair walked into Barnes & Noble with an A&E cameraman in tow. Fans – who comprised wide array of ages – were told from the get-go that the event would be taped for possible use on the show. (I can only hope footage from yesterday will be shown!)
The line of fans waiting – which I heard was estimated at 500 – moved very quickly. Fans were told Dog could not pose for photos or personalize books. However, I found him more accommodating when it was my turn.
Two women directly in front of me moved aside and suddenly I was front and center. A security guard told me to go up to Dog, who was waiting, pen poised. I walked up to him, said hello and it was nice meeting him and extended my hand. He shook it.
Then he said (and I’m paraphrasing because I can’t remember it exactly), “Wow, you must be important if you got to cut the line. What’s your name?”
I told him, and he personalized my book.
And that was it; after a four-hour wait, it was over in a matter of seconds. But I don’t regret a minute of it.
After taking a few more photos of Dog, I moved over to greet Beth, who was chatting with fans and posing for photos.
I asked her to take a photo with me and she pleasantly complied. When I thanked her, she said, “It was my pleasure.”
It’s always nice to discover that people you admire on television are just as pleasant in person.
Here are two more photos I took of Dog:
more about “Dailymotion – Chelsea Lately – Dog th…“, posted with vodpod
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Finsbury UK sales up as overseas business dips
Finsbury Food Group has said it is maintaining its focus on offsetting cost increases after reporting a 2.5% rise in revenue in the last six months of 2017.
The business, which supplies licensed and own-label cake, bread and morning goods to retail and foodservice customers, announced a 3.2% increase in sales from its UK bakery division, despite carrying a slightly reduced range of Christmas products.
Meanwhile, sales from its 50%-owned overseas division fell 2.1%. This is in contrast to Finsbury’s most recent full financial year, when declining prices contributed to a 1.4% drop in UK bakery turnover, while sales in the overseas division rose 17.3% – with 15.1% of this from exchange rates.
Finsbury said its results for the six months ended 30 December demonstrated the “positive impact” of its strategic diversification, and that its performance was in line with management expectations.
The company reported it had maintained its long-term focus on providing cost competitiveness for customers by investing a £4.9m in initiatives to drive efficiency and productivity.
“Given the previously reported headwinds facing the industry, this proven strategy is focused on offsetting increases in the group's cost base,” stated the company.
Finsbury added that the business was positioned for a “solid performance” in the rest of the financial year and beyond.
“Following exceptional growth and diversification over the prior years, the business is well placed to maintain its position, despite the market conditions. As such, the board believes it is well equipped to continue to deliver growth and improved shareholder value over the coming years,” it stated.
Total group revenues including the discontinued Grain D’Or business rose 0.7% to £157.8m during the period. Last year, Finsbury confirmed it was to close premium baked goods business Grain D’Or, which employs 250 staff, as it had been “historically loss-making”.”
Recent Finsbury activity has included the launch of lower-sugar Disney cakes (pictured).
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Athlete Rights, Collegiate Sports, Remedial Law
#LetRobPlay: Explaining Rob Ricafort’s Eligibility Case Vs. the UAAP
Posted by batassportiva on October 19, 2017 October 19, 2017
by: Mickey Ingles (Photo: Jodel Cuasay/Flickr)
Rob will play after all.
Rob Ricafort has secured a preliminary injunction that allows him to suit up for the University of the Philippines Maroons for the rest of the season. The University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) had initially declared Rob ineligible to play this season for breaching the age limit of 25. (Rob is 24—he’s turning 25 this January.) This set out a firestorm of tweets supporting the UP basketball player to #LetRobPlay.
For those following the story, Rob had actually secured a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) last September 22, 2017; the TRO allowed Rob to play against defending champions De La Salle University in the first round—a game that will be fondly remembered by Peyups fans for years to come. Here’s a clip of Rob scoring for UP in his first game back:
The TRO, however, would elapse mid-season (which it did on October 12). So, the preliminary injunction is a huge legal victory for Rob and UP, as it essentially guarantees him a spot on the roster for the rest of the season.
Let’s break down and explain some of the legal issues behind #LetRobPlay.
Can the UAAP set an age limit to its players?
It can. The governing law for collegiate sports is the Student-Athlete Protection Act (the SAPA) or R.A. 10676 (which we wrote about here). The SAPA, which was enacted amidst issues on residency requirements and fears of commercialization of student-athletes, is silent on eligibility requirements in terms of age. Hence, schools and athletic associations can draft, craft, and be daft about age requirements for student-athlete participation.
This is what the UAAP did in this case. In fact, this 25-year old cap has been around for quite a while. I remember the restriction being in place when I played for Ateneo more than a decade ago. (Now, don’t be cheeky and say I was too short to play basketball. It’s true. But I didn’t play basketball!)
I’m not exactly sure if Rob’s legal team is questioning the rule itself, but it seems the bone of contention lies in its application, especially since Rob turns 25 after the basketball season concludes.
On a relevant note, the SAPA also gives athletic associations the freedom to write their own rules for foreign player eligibility.[1] Hence, the UAAP and the NCAA is on the right side of the law when it limits foreign imports on the rosters of teams.
What’s a Preliminary Injunction?
A preliminary injunction is an order granted at any stage of an action or proceeding prior to a judgment or final order, requiring a party or a court, agency, or a person to refrain from a particular act or acts.[2] Basically, it’s a court order that tells someone to stop what they’re doing and maintain the status quo. The opposite is a preliminary mandatory injunction, which requires something to be performed or done to maintain the status quo. It can only be granted after hearing with and notice to the party sought to be enjoined.[3]
News reports are a bit unclear on whether Rob secured a preliminary mandatory injunction or a preliminary injunction, but regardless of what it was, the effect is the same—a court order mandating the UAAP to maintain the status quo of keeping Rob in the UP roster.
Note the word “preliminary” and the phrase “prior to a judgment or a final order” though. A preliminary injunction is a provisional remedy; it’s applied for and given while a case is pending. It only lasts while the main case is pending. It’s not a final adjudication of matters, but for Rob, it might well be—given the basketball season will end in a month or so, and the main case unlikely to be resolved by then. (Fearless forecast aka Mickey’s wishful thinking: UP makes it to the Final Four, and Ateneo wins the championship.)
How do you get a Preliminary Injunction?
Well, you have to prove one of the following:
You are entitled to the relief demanded and the whole or part of the relief is restraining or requiring the performance of an act or acts;
The commission, continuance or non-performance of the acts will work some sort of injustice to you; or
Someone is violating your rights, and it tends to render the judgment of the main case ineffectual.[4]
Rob, it seems, was able to prove one of these three grounds.
What’s a Temporary Restraining Order?
Note that a preliminary injunction can only be granted after notice and hearing. However, in cases where great or irreparable injury would result to the applicant before the issue can be heard, a TRO may be issued to maintain the status quo.[5] Think of the TRO as something you would want when things get pretty dicey and urgent. You can’t wait for the hearing for a preliminary injunction—and you’ll be greatly injured if you do—so you go for a TRO.
There are two kinds of TRO.
If it’s a matter of extreme urgency and you’ll suffer grave injustice and irreparable injury, a 72-hour TRO may be granted by the executive judge of a multi-sala court or the presiding judge of a single sala court. That automatically expires after 72 hours.[6]
If the matter is not of extreme urgency but you’ll suffer great or irreparable injury, then a 20-day TRO may be granted by a judge after the case has been raffled to him or her. This automatically expires after 20 days. The court will determine if the TRO should be converted to a preliminary injunction.[7]
Remember that Rob was granted a 20-day TRO in September. It had elapsed before UP played its second round game vs DLSU last October 15, which explains his absence in UP’s 62-85 drubbing in the hands of the defending champs.
Fortunately for Rob, he was granted a preliminary injunction that now allows him to play for the rest of the season.
I hope he, like Alexander Hamilton, does not throw away his shot. (Had to put a Hamilton reference! Just had to!)
My question in all this is… did it have to go to court? Our courts have enough to deal with as is. Couldn’t this been have solved quicker and more efficiently through sports arbitration? I think so.
Mickey Ingles is the editor-in-chief of Batas Sportiva. He is well over the UAAP age limit.
[1] SAPA, Section 4.
[2] Rules of Court, Rule 58, Section 1.
[3] ROC, Rule 58, Section 5.
eligibilitystudent athlete protection actstudent athletesUAAPUniversity of the Philippines
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I wanna clarify that the rule states “more than 25 years old by June 30.” Rob will only be 25. The cap is 25, he’s 24. Why is he ineligible?
Is “more than 25 years old” a safe clause? No. What the rule means is that the player cannot be 26 by June 30.
That essentially means the player can be 25 by June 30, right? But, not more than 25, which is 26.
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Richard Guidry Cajun and Creole Language Fund at Community Foundation of Acadiana Grants Scholarship
Jun 08, 2012 | Filed Under: News | By: BBR Creative
(Lafayette, La.) – The Richard Guidry Cajun and Creole Language Fund, a Fund established with Community Foundation of Acadiana (CFA), recently awarded a scholarship grant to local teacher Jessica Cormier. The check presentation was held at CFA’s office, 1035 Camellia Boulevard, Suite 100, on Tuesday, June 5, 2012.
The Richard Guidry Cajun and Creole Language Fund was established in memory of the late Richard Guidry. Its mission is to support activities and projects that encourage, increase and improve the use of the multiple varieties of French languages and francophone cultures in Louisiana, especially the spoken use in public, in the arts and in education. The money granted to scholarship recipient Jessica Cormier will allow her to continue in her studies toward certification to teach French, inclusive of local parlance.
Cormier knew Richard Guidry and appreciated his gift for making people feel special. “Richard saw potential in every young person, and it was his belief in us that made us believe in ourselves,” she said. “I’m grateful for the scholarship because it will help me continue to do the kind of work that Richard cared so deeply about.”
Community Foundation of Acadiana’s core purpose is to connect all generous donors to the causes they care about. CFA is south-central Louisiana’s premier philanthropic organization that benefits our region, with a particular focus on the parishes of Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, St. Landry, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Vermilion. CFA has realized cumulative commitments exceeding $100 million and has made cumulative grants of over $40 million. Learn more atwww.cfacadiana.org.
Get the Lead Out!
Six Things Marketing Professionals Can Learn From Urban Outfitters
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Benu Networks Appoints John Valentine as VP of Finance
By Saoirse Hinksmon
John Valentine Brings 20 Years of Senior Financial Leadership Experience to Lead Financial Operations
BILLERICA, Mass. – June 14, 2019 — Benu Networks, a leading provider of innovative virtual network solutions, named John Valentine as Vice President of Finance. In his role, Valentine will be responsible for leading the finance organization, the general and administrative (G&A) function, as well as cross functional initiatives.
“We are excited to have John onboard” said Mads Lillelund, CEO of Benu Networks. “John has a strong track record of leading and optimizing efficiency within finance organizations. He brings extensive experience in M&A and operational excellence which will be invaluable to Benu Networks as we continue our growth strategy.”
Prior to joining Benu Networks, Valentine served as Chief Financial Officer of SavingStar Inc., leading provider of personalized, digital grocery rewards programs for CPGs, where he was instrumental in establishing a rigorous forecasting process, securing additional funding rounds, and contributed to the successful sale of the company. His experience includes a decade tenure with Sycamore Networks and private equity-owned Coriant, where he served as CFO of Coriant America. Valentine earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business management from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, a Certificate in Accountancy and MBA from Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts and is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA).
“I am excited to join Benu Networks, especially at such a pivotal point in time for the networking space” said John Valentine. “It’s exhilarating to be a part of a company that is looking to transform the way we are able to deliver and enjoy digital experiences.”
About Benu Networks
Benu Networks’ carrier-class Virtual Service Edge (VSE) software platform enables the rapid creation and delivery of next generation IP services over a converged infrastructure, and empowers service providers to increase revenue, expand market leadership, and meet the dynamic needs of their business, residential and mobile customers. For more information, please visit the Benu Networks’ website: www.benunetworks.com. Follow us on Twitter @benunets.
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close button ideas
Getting Started with Apple Music, Pt. 2
Ankitha Bharadwaj
In my last post, I talked about my motivations for looking into Apple Music, and my plan to suss out the positives and the negatives. I discovered some red flags that Apple may wish to address. Let’s dive into the details.
I spoke with six active digital music listeners about how they typically consume music. These six participants were then asked to look into Apple Music and provide feedback on their overall impressions of the service and its features after using it in the session.
After six one-hour sessions, here’s the most important finding:
Three of the participants (that’s half!) abandoned Apple Music during the sign up process. The remaining three intended to cancel their memberships at the end of the free trial.
This is not good news for Apple Music. Half of the participants didn’t even make it into Apple Music before deciding to jump ship. So what happened?
I believe the onboarding of new users is peppered with barriers for entry with Apple Music. Here’s why.
1. “I don’t feel confident in my understanding of Apple Music and its offerings.”
Right off the bat, all six participants weren’t totally sure what Apple Music was. Sure, it’s a streaming music service, but what makes it different from the others? What’s the incentive to bail on Spotify and switch to Apple Music? All six participants spent quite a bit of time scrolling through the Apple Music website on their laptops to find out answers to these questions.
Sean spent close to 40 minutes reading all the different sections, but still had doubts about what the service offers. Piper started getting annoyed with the website.
I want to know about Apple Music! I just want more information right here. You can have the cool photo in the background but you don’t have to have these teasers. I don’t need a ton of text to read through. I just want a brief synopsis of what Apple Music is. —Piper
Though she appreciated Apple’s flare for design, this was not the place for it.
For most of the participants, the cost of the subscription was the first question they had. This info is under the “Membership” tab, and not everyone spent enough time on the website to find this information.
Andrew wasn’t sure what exactly he would be getting if he clicked on the “Try Now” button. Would he be downloading an app? Would he be rerouted to a web-based app? Who knows! The homepage, with its full-screen pictures, and moving descriptions like “All the music you already have. And all the music you could ever want,” got everyone excited about Apple Music. But the excitement was short-lived when the website failed to provide them with concrete information about what the heck Apple Music does.
Opportunity: Apple needs to provide a quick and easily digestible rundown of Apple Music facts without requiring the user to scroll a whole bunch.
What is it? An app? A website? A device?
What do I need to get started?
Spotify’s homepage is a solid example of just what I’m talking about.
2. “I’m not sure how Apple Music connects with iTunes.”
All six participants were familiar with iTunes and had used it multiple times in the past for purchasing music, playing music, and listening to podcasts. Almost all of the participants immediately questioned how Apple Music would work with iTunes. The website does very little to address this point.
There were conceptual issues. For example, Piper and Sean weren’t sure why they would need to purchase music from the iTunes store if they had access to the entire catalogue on Apple Music. This signals confusion at the core of what Apple Music is all about. Is it inherently a part of iTunes? Is it something you have to sync with iTunes?
It’s totally ambiguous from the start what Apple Music was in conjunction with iTunes. —Sean
Let’s not forget that iTunes has had a spotty history. Remember when iTunes would only allow you to sync your iPod with one computer? And if you tried to hook your iPod into another Mac, iTunes would threaten to wipe your iPod clean? Andrew had serious trepidation about moving ahead with Apple Music because he figured it would be tied to iTunes Radio and therefore iTunes. Moreover, as a PC user, Andrew felt like he would have a subpar experience with Apple Music. His experience with iTunes on the PC forced him to take pause and wonder if the anxiety attacks were worth it.
iTunes on PC is a bit unstable and it can cause the computer to lock up. It’s not easy to run iTunes in the background. [I would not sign up for Apple Music] because of iTunes’ track record and [the fact that] I’m operating it on the PC. It’s not really the music service’s fault, but the program they’re using to deliver it. —Andrew
On the flip side, three of the six participants were fans and active users of iTunes, and saw it as a potential reason for getting into Apple Music. Let’s get into that next.
Opportunity: The messaging on the Apple Music website is very ambiguous and does not clearly communicate to potential users that it is a service that is linked to iTunes.
The site alludes to this connection with the statement “All the music you already have. And all the music you could ever want” on the “Discover” tab, but participants wanted clarity right on the main landing page without having to explore other content areas.
3. “I feel uncomfortable seeing options to buy when I’m exploring a free three-month trial.”
Here is the biggest barrier for getting into Apple Music. All six participants were immediately spooked when they saw a purchase confirmation dialogue box pop up when they selected a membership option. All along, the six participants made note of the free three-month trials that encouraged them to give Apple Music a once over.
The word ‘buy’ is a little strange to me. I’m doing a free trial and I‘m signing up for something. It’s asking me to sign in and the button says ‘buy’, not ‘sign up’ or ‘sign in’. —Tim
Participant Piper bails out of the Apple Music process at the membership dialogue box.
We’re all familiar with limited-time free trials, and we know it’s a popular and successful way to get people into a product or service. The issue here is that Apple required a payment at the very beginning instead of allowing people to get a feel for the service and decide for themselves. There was a sense of being trapped or locked into something with no way out. Here is where three of the six participants decided to quit. They did not feel confident that their credit cards won’t be charged, or they didn’t want to have to go back and haggle with Apple to get the money refunded.
All six participants found this far too cumbersome, and mentioned that they don’t feel like it was worth the effort. Kristina was completely satisfied with her Spotify Premium account and found Apple Music to be a hard sell.
But why do I need a credit card? This is where I would have dropped off. If I was home, I would not be getting my card out. —Kristina
Three participants did decide to go ahead and “buy” a membership. But they did not intend to maintain the membership.
I don’t want to choose a plan because I thought it was free! I just have to remember to cancel this. —Amy
Opportunity: Instead of scaring people off with asking for payment information in the beginning, Apple has the opportunity to get people into the app quickly, and getting them excited about the service. They’ve got a great product, and it’s a shame that 50% of my participants didn’t even get to see it.
Apple could allow people to sign up and get in quickly, then provide timely messaging as users get closer to the end of their three-month free trials. There may be opportunities to upsell continuing the membership. The idea is to give the power to the user: Allow them to maintain their membership of their own volition, instead of trapping them in from the get-go.
All things said and done, it’s obviously true that Apple Music will be a successful music service. A company that gets hundreds of people lining down and around the block for a phone doesn’t make imprudent decisions or launch half-baked products. But there is an opportunity to guarantee this service’s success by addressing these onboarding issues.
Apple has the opportunity to convert those who have approached streaming music with trepidation by making it quick and easy to get into the service and pique their interest straight away. More importantly, Apple has the opportunity to attract Mac fans and keep them in the ecosystem.
Five of the six participants were current MacBook and/or iPhone users. Four of these five felt that Apple Music would be quick and easy to get onboard with because they are already familiar with the Apple brand.
Apple Music is already in the Apple ecosystem so I wouldn’t have to learn a new system. —Tim
I have an iPhone, Apple TV, iPad. I like the Apple stuff. —Sean
This was the biggest draw for me as well. Staying part of the Apple ecosystem is pretty phenomenal: Airplay makes it easy to transfer files between my Apple devices, and iMessage lets me send those cat emojis from my iPad, iPhone, or either of my two MacBooks. This seamless connection between Apple devices and software has been a huge delighter for many who stay within the Apple ecosystem.
And it makes sense for Apple Music to connect with iTunes. The iTunes brand is strongly tied to high quality / high quantity music. So Apple is on the right track with where they are headed. Piper said it best, “iTunes is safe. It comes with the machine, it’s part of the Mac experience. You don’t have to go outside to get anything.” Yet she bailed on Apple Music even before launching it. She got overwhelmed by the lack of information about the service and the confusion about paying for a free three-month trial.
Download the full Apple Music usability testing findings table.
There’s no doubt that Apple Music will soon become a formidable player in the streaming music game, but addressing these onboarding issues will greatly ensure the success of the service. There is a huge opportunity for Apple to streamline the sign-up process to nab those people who have been on the fence about streaming music services. Making it quick and easy to get into the app and start playing around would attract those newbies while also bringing back or keeping Apple fans like Piper in the ecosystem.
I work in user research at Blink. I am a doer and a trier, and I spend my free time thinking about how we know what we know is, in fact, the truth.
Getting Started with Apple Music
GigaOm Roadmap Conference
Written by Ankitha Bharadwaj
It’s highly probable that I’m part of the last generation that remembers walking into a music store and purchasing a physical thing that plays music. Whether that’s vinyl, cassette tapes, or CDs, these tangible relationships we had with music are quickly fading away. With the days of mix tapes, burning CDs, and Napster long behind us, it’s time to accept the new digital media landscape.
One UX-er’s View of the Apple Watch
Written by Heidi Adkisson
Having purchased an Apple Watch about a month ago and worn it daily since then, I decided it was time to toss my perspective into the ring, both as a user and a UX professional.
Blink Whitepaper: Emotional Responses to Using Siri
Written by Kelly Franznick
Siri turns one today. To mark the occasion, we are releasing our research findings from a longitudinal study of iPhone 4s purchasers. This whitepaper, written by Blink’s own Nika Smith Auld, examines user perceptions and usage over the first 30 days of use.
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Irish National Labour Party Comes To Ustream
The Irish National Labour Party will be streaming their 62nd National Delegate Conference live on Ustream November 16th-Nov 18th.
Speaking at the conference and live on Ustream will be the New Party Leader Eamon Gilmore. He is not the first prominent Irishmen to stream live on Ustream. In fact the former President of Ireland Mary Robinson spoke with Ustreamers during the United Nations Stand Up For Poverty Event about a month ago.
For more information on the Irish National Labour Party, please visit:
http://www.labour.ie/
in Customer Stories
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What I would like to do on my summer vacation
Filed under: In which Lex, uncharacteristically, tries to be helpful,Odds 'n' ends,Tar Heels,There but for the grace of God ...,Y'all go read this — Lex @ 6:50 pm
Tags: anxiety, bipolar, Chapel Hill, depression, mental health, mental illness, schizophrenia, summer
The summer of 1981 should have been so much better for me than it was. But it could have been so much worse than it was, too.
As Tony, who has his own take on it, describes, he and I were sharing an apartment in Chapel Hill, trying to hold down jobs while also raising as much hell as humanly possible. At least that was the plan. Go read his post; it’s worth it, and I’ll wait.
You back? Good.
As he says, I only lasted about a month. He’s correct that being a day laborer didn’t agree with me, but I’ll add something to that: With the exception of 1980, when I got to be a full-time disc jockey in air-conditioned comfort, I’d spent every summer for the previous decade doing manual labor in the hot sun or slaving over deep fryers in fast-food joints at Carowinds that either weren’t air-conditioned or may as well not have been. Hard physical work wasn’t the issue.
Another thing he’s not telling you, because he’s such a good friend: I bailed on him. In the middle of the night, while he was at work, leaving him in the lurch rent-wise. Without, as I recall, even leaving a note. It was a dick move, no question. But I did it because at that point, I saw that as one of only two options, the other being suicide.
Depression runs in my father’s family. In hindsight I had had symptoms as early as age 12, and I’d already thought a great deal about suicide, including exactly how to go about it so as to minimize the mess I’d leave behind for whoever found me, well before graduating from high school.
Many years later, I was talking with my mother about that, and said, “Well, son, it was the ’70s, everybody was crazy, and frankly, you just didn’t stick out all that much.” She was joking, but there was more than a kernel of truth to that. Even in my fairly well-off, fairly well-adjusted neighborhood, I saw and heard things.
And in 1981, the summer before our senior year of college, I was still 15 years from being formally diagnosed (and farther still from getting on the medications that have kept me alive). And there you have it: the context in which I experienced my worst depressive episode yet, without even the words to say what was going on.
Sure, some events in my life contributed. That spring I broke up with a woman, regretted it immediately, then couldn’t walk it back. The woman I started dating after that dumped me unceremoniously within weeks. I ran for three different positions in my fraternity and lost all three. I drew dead last in the frat-house room lottery, leaving me with no place to live for my senior year. My full-time deejaying hours, which I had been counting on to allow me to graduate from college with merely manageable student-loan debt instead of the bankrupting kind, got cut back by half. I’d have been having a tough time even without chronic depression. With it, I was lucky I lived.
So, yeah, I took off in the middle of the night, leaving what was supposed to have been an idyllic summer in Chapel Hill with my best bud to try to figure out which disastrous aspect of my life I was going to try to fix first IF I didn’t kill myself. And I left Chapel Hill because I figured the closer I was to home, the less likely I was to kill myself. I can’t explain that logic, but it made sense at the time.
Long story short, I didn’t kill myself — not because I got help, but because, by luck or fluctuations in brain chemistry or the grace of God or a combination of all three, the pit I was in got a little shallower. Not a lot, but enough for me at least to climb a little farther from the darkness.
Tony also was kind enough not to mention that we didn’t speak for months after that. I think I finally called him that fall because another friend of mine nagged me into it; God knows I was too ashamed to do it on my own. Let’s just say he was way more gracious about it than I deserved.
And, slowly, bit by bit, piece by piece — and, again, with luck, fluctuations of brain chemistry, and/or the grace of God — I started pulling things back together. A couple of my frat brothers who had won a room in the house ahead of me bailed, and the alumni board offered me the double room as a single to cut their losses. The chapter treasurer bailed, and the alumni board offered me that gig, too — an executive for what’s now Bank of America made the pitch in New Orleans later that summer at my frat’s national convention; I remember I was drinking tequila when he made the offer and I about snorted it out my nose. My social life, well, it took more time and more work, but long story short, I ended up having an uneven but pretty sociable senior year. And I got enough work hours back that by the time I graduated, my student-loan debt was still manageable even for a kid with an English degree.
I tell you all of this not to justify my behavior at the time, but as a kind of public-service announcement. Behavioral disorders — things like bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and so on — often manifest in really severe ways for the first time in people who are of college age. (I noted that my depression wasn’t formally diagnosed for another 15 years. Well, my generalized anxiety disorder, which in hindsight was manifesting quite nicely even in my teens, thank you very much, wasn’t diagnosed for another 32.) If you’re a college student, you need to know that. If you’re the parent of a college student, you really need to know that. I don’t recall that this was common knowledge in 1981; certainly, I didn’t know it, and I don’t think my well-educated parents did, either. But people need to know it. They need to be aware. And, particularly if such disorders run in the family, they should be on the watch for signs and get help, or see that a loved one gets help, when those signs become evident.
The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-TALK (8255). And there are a lot of other resources on the Internet for people with these problems, or who think they might have these problems, that didn’t exist when I was 21. If you’re in the pit or think someone you care for might be, say something, do something, anything. I never believed that college is the best years of your life, but it shouldn’t be the worst, either, and God knows it shouldn’t be the end.
As for the idyllic summer month in Chapel Hill that Tony advocates, I long for it, too, and I’m fortunate to have a job now where, if he and I can get all the moving parts lined up, we might even be able to make it happen next year or the year after — to do 1981 over again and do it right this time. Or maybe that’s a pipe dream. The point is, we’re both here and in a position at least to see if it’s doable. As it is, this weekend or soon thereafter, we’ll be toasting 40 years of friendship, our wives with us and the shadows, at least for now, at bay.
Saturday, July 1, 2017 8:29 am
The best election money can steal
Filed under: Aiee! Teh stoopid! It burns!,Black-box voting,Evil,Geek-related issues,Grifters gonna grift,I want my country back.,It's Not About Race Because Nothing Is Ever About Race,More fact-based arguing, please,Reality: It works — Lex @ 8:29 am
Tags: Hans von Spakovsky, Kris Kobach, vote suppression, voter fraud, Voting
Dolt 45’s poll numbers continue to tank, and the Senate Republicans’ “health care” plan is polling down around the levels of cat poop: As of earlier this week, only 12% of Americans supported it. But Republicans don’t seem overly worried about the 2018 or 2020 elections. There are a couple of reasons for this: They’re pretty confident they can use Trump’s new election commission to steal the elections, and they may even be relying on voting-machine hacking.
When Trump signed an executive order in May to form an election commission, he said it was “to promote fair and honest elections.” It’s not. Trump himself continues to say (if not believe) that he lost the popular vote because 3 to 5 million people voted illegally. (That’s despite the fact that documented cases of voter fraud in the U.S. are vanishingly rare — law professor Justin Levitt found 135 cases of vote fraud nationally out of 1 billion ballots cast between 2000 and 2014, while the Washington Post found four cases out of 135 million ballots cast in 2016.) He clearly wants this commission to try to find evidence to back up his claim.
To do that, he named perhaps the country’s most notorious vote suppressor, Kansas Secretary of State (and gubernatorial candidate) Kris Kobach, vice chair of the commission. Kobach made headlines this week by demanding voter registration data from all 50 states; more on that below. Let’s be blunt: If you’re interested in fair and honest elections, you don’t hire Kris Kobach. If, on the other hand, you’re interested in suppressing the votes of people who might be disproportionately inclined to vote Democratic, Kobach’s your guy.
As this New York Times profile from a couple of weeks ago indicates, Kobach is basically a Klansman without the n-bombs. (Hey, in his spare time he provides legal counsel to a hate group, as one does.) He’s also a committed ideologue who has never allowed the facts to get in the way of a good delusion, on voting or anything else. (Read that profile. Kobach is the kind of scary true believer who could get us into a nuclear war if he ever got elected president.)
Since being elected Secretary of State, he has enacted four measures in Kansas to restrict voting, and the ACLU whipped his ass in court on all four. Not only that, a federal judge fined him $1,000 for lying to the court about the contents of some of his documents. (I’d’ve jailed him for contempt and referred the matter to the state bar for additional sanctions, as well.)
Moreover, Kobach was the driver of the GOP’s notorious “Crosscheck” program in the 2016 elections. Crosscheck, in place in swing states including Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina, ostensibly was intended to search voter-registration data for people who were registered to vote in multiple places and states, to ensure they voted only once. But in real life, its matching parameters were so loose — just a name and a date of birth — that the program generated roughly 200 false positives for every duplicate registration it detected.
Here’s how it worked in North Carolina:
Crosscheck has led to outrageous headlines that make double voting seem far more common than it is. In 2014, after North Carolina joined Crosscheck, the head of the state board of elections reported that in the 2012 general election, there were 35,750 voters in the state whose first and last names and dates of birth matched those of individuals who voted in the same election in a different state. Republican leaders of the North Carolina Legislature called it “alarming evidence of voter fraud,” and the conservative political strategist Dick Morris told Sean Hannity on Fox News, “It’s the most important data I’ve read in a year,” adding that it was “the first concrete evidence we’ve ever had of massive voter fraud.” But when North Carolina investigated the numbers using additional data like the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers, eight cases of potential double voting were referred to prosecutors and two people were convicted.
So, as we see, this is not a man who is disinterestedly pursuing free and fair elections. This is a man who is attempting to strike likely Democratic voters from the rolls, even when they are legally entitled to vote; indeed, as noted by former Justice official Sam Bagenstos, it appears Kobach intends for the commission to sue the states to force them to purge their voter rolls in the manner he favors. I note for the record that 18 USC 241 makes it a crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, to conspire to deny people their civil rights. And Kobach has been so wrong for so long on voting rights that it is difficult to understand his actions as anything other than intentional.
Also on the commission: Hans von Spakovsky, a former member Bush 43-era Justice Department official who also has a long history of vote suppression efforts under the guise of preventing vote fraud — indeed, Democrats successfully blocked his nomination to the Federal Election Commission in 2008 because of it. Like Kobach, von Spakovsky also has a certain morally casual attitude, as this 2006 Post article highlights:
When he was a senior lawyer in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Hans von Spakovsky played a central role in approving a controversial Georgia voter identification program over the objections of staff lawyers.
But now, after leaving Justice for the Federal Election Commission, von Spakovsky has acknowledged writing a law review article that endorsed photo identification, which was Georgia’s approach, before the state’s proposal was even submitted to Justice for review. He also took the unusual step of using a pseudonym, “Publius,” in publishing the article, which appeared in the spring 2005 issue of the Texas Review of Law & Politics.
The article and its unusual authorship prompted a letter of complaint to the Justice Department last week from the Voting Rights Project, an arm of the American Civil Liberties Union that is opposed to Georgia’s voter identification plans. The group said the article shows von Spakovsky had already made up his mind on the issue and that his attempt to hide his views may have violated Justice Department guidelines.
In addition, a link to the Publius article suddenly disappeared this week from the FEC Web site, which had featured the article among a list of von Spakovsky’s writings.
“There appears to have been an intentional desire to prevent the public and, in particular, advocates with business before the Voting Section, from knowing the views of one of the senior officials involved,” Neil Bradley, the ACLU group’s associate director, wrote in his letter to Justice.
Whether or not von Spakovsky did anything to merit discipline, this is not the behavior of someone with a disinterested desire for free and fair elections.
Earlier this week, as noted above, Kobach asked all 50 secretaries of state, who oversee voter registration in most states, for voter registration data, including not only such things as names, addresses and dates of birth but also political party, last four digits of Social Security number, and voting history since 2006.
It is hard to avoid the inference that Kobach intends to apply Crosscheck nationwide — basically doing for the country what he did for North Carolina and possibly illegally disenfranchising millions of Americans.
(Even if Kobach’s motives were above suspicion, Kobach appears to know nothing about how to transmit, store, and analyze data safely and securely — you don’t transmit sensitive data files by email, just for starters. In short, this national database, even if it weren’t being used for partisan purposes, would be an identity-theft catastrophe just waiting to happen, particularly given the unseemly closeness of others in this administration to the Russian government.)
Fortunately, close to half of the secretaries of state are resisting, and not all of them are from blue states. Mississippi’s Republican Secretary of State, Delbert Hosemann, literally invited the commission to jump into the Gulf of Mexico. Even another member of the commission, Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson, a Republican, is refusing to provide anything more than what’s already public in Indiana: a voter’s name, address, and congressional district.
It remains to be seen what, if anything, the commission will accomplish, but one thing it manifestly will not do is probe fully the question of whether our elections are truly honest.
For one thing, neither the commission nor anyone else in the Trump administration appears interested in the question of whether Russians — or anyone else — hacked voting machines in 2016. The Department of Homeland Security says it hasn’t examined a single voting machine and does not intend to. And Trump, who could insist upon it, has been silent on the issue.
To be clear, there is as yet no proof that anyone ever has successfully hacked a voting machine to alter or delete a ballot in a U.S. election. That’s a topic I’ve followed ever since editing the 2004 book “Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century,” by Bev Harris and David Allen (more on that here). But I’ve always believed it possible — the evidence that it’s doable is just too overwhelming. And that’s why you need robust election auditing, including but not limited to examining machines.
For another, an election commission truly interested in election integrity would be examining a lot of topics this commission isn’t. Some of them, as suggested by Vermont’s Secretary of State, Jim Condos, include:
Foreign interference and attacks on our voting systems;
Funding for the Election Assistance Commission, which, among many other virtues, is the only U.S. government agency currently empowered to look into voting-machine hacking.
Partisan gerrymandering
Updating election equipment
Automatic voter registration
Requiring paper ballots instead of hackable machines
Requiring election audits
Expanding early voting opportunities
Expanding voting by mail
Increasing the convenience and accessibility of voting places
Reducing long lines and wait times at the polls.
Anyone seriously interested in helping authorized voters exercise their right to vote would be working on these issues. But that ain’t what Kobach’s commission is about. And that’s why it must be resisted. Otherwise, the Republicans will steal the upcoming elections and our 240 years as a democratic republic will be over.
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Change Location × Iowa City, IA
Iowa City Events /
Creative Matters: Rosanne Cash, singer/songwriter Event Time & Tickets
Creative Matters: Rosanne Cash, singer/songwriter in Iowa City
University of Iowa - Hancher Auditorium & Strauss Hall
Iowa City, Iowa 52242
Creative Matters: Rosanne Cash, singer/songwriter
One of the country’s pre-eminent singer/songwriters, Rosanne Cash has released 15 albums of extraordinary songs that have earned four GRAMMY Awards and 11 nominations. She is also an author whose four books include the best-selling memoir Composed, which the Chicago Tribune called “one of the best accounts of an American life you’ll likely ever read.” Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, the Oxford-American, the Nation and many more publications. In addition to continual worldwide touring, Cash has partnered in programming or served as artist in residence at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, San Francisco Jazz, the Minnesota Orchestra and The Library of Congress. She was awarded the SAG/AFTRA Lifetime Achievement award for Sound Recordings in 2012 and received the 2014 Smithsonian Ingenuity Award in the Performing Arts. She was chosen as a Perspective Series artist at Carnegie Hall and hosted four concerts during their 2015/16 season, and she continues her association as Creative Partner through the 2017/18 season. In 2015, she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. On “The River and the Thread,” a collaboration with husband/co-writer/producer and arranger John Leventhal, Cash evokes a kaleidoscopic examination of the geographic, emotional, musical and historic landscape of the American South. The album garnered impressive worldwide acclaim and she received 3 Grammy Awards for it in 2015. Her latest album, “She Remembers Everything”, will be released on November 2nd. This event is free and open to the public. It will be held on Hancher's Hadley Stage. Creative Matters lecture This event is co-sponsored by Hancher and the Creative Matters lecture series. The Creative Matters series is sponsored by the UI Office of the Vice President for Research in collaboration with the UI Arts Advancement Committee. The Creative Matters lecture series, launched in Fall 2015, seeks to demonstrate that creativity and innovation are not only at the core of all research and discovery, but also central to our human experience. Our lineup of speakers includes artists, thinkers, builders, and doers who challenge conventional thinking about creativity, science, and artistic expression, and borrow from a range of influences and disciplines in their work. Cash will perform on February 8 at Hancher. Ticket information Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Leslie Revaux at leslie-revaux@uiowa.edu in advance of the event.
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Sit Your Ass Down: Brandi Sellers, Doula + Educator, Takes Us Through Lessons Learned After Three Chapters Of Birthing + Postpartum Support
Brandi Sellers is a force to be reckoned with. The musician, mom of three AND doula has shifted her energies from a life of music towards one of advocacy, education and community surrounding all things birthing and mamahood. She launched her blog, Not So Private Parts, an online platform designed to remove shame and stigma surrounding women’s issues, as well as co-founded Moms in Color, a collective for Black moms to celebrate diversity in motherhood. Now an educator with three completely different birthing and nursing experiences that span over a decade of her life, Brandi is the perfect person to share her story with our community as we work to honor National Breastfeeding Awareness Month. Here, she breaks down her journey to becoming a doula through the birth of her three sons.
Brandi gave birth to her oldest son Jaxson at 23 years old. As a young Black woman, she experienced the medical bias in the healthcare system that so many women of color confront.
“With the education I have now, I know I was being looked at as a statistic,” she says. “Before leaving the hospital, I was actually shown by the nurse how to dry out my breast milk rather than given the resources and advocacy needed to enable me to breastfeed.”
Brandi breastfed Jax for 5 days. However brief, it felt long without a support system in place. Her mom didn’t breastfeed, her grandmother didn’t breastfeed, and all she held onto was the misconception that it’s a natural process and he would just latch on magically. But she learned the hard way that it takes much more than the love between mama and baby, and she folded to the nurse’s advice. In Brandi’s words, “Breastfeeding takes work. It takes support. It takes patience and bloody nipples. It’s a lot and I just couldn’t keep up.”
Beyond the nursing itself, as a young mom, Brandi felt the pressure to get back to her then-career in music and everything else that filled her life before. The week after she had given birth to Jax, she was on a trip and playing music again. Because of such urgency, she didn’t have the level of resiliency that she would have hoped for and knows could have been possible now.
Fast forward nine years to the birth of Brandi’s second son, Jedi, now three. As a thirty-something, Brandi now had friends with kids, which allowed for solidarity within a peer-based support system. With prenatal nursing classes under her belt and a new level of encouragement from her community, she not only had what felt like a freeing birthing experience, but her breastfeeding journey with Jedi was a complete success. That being said, she was now working in the (surprisingly) male-dominated textile industry that made a nursing mama feel like a square peg in a round hole. Amidst taking pumping breaks in her car, she decided it was time for a change and that women’s work called her name. Two months later, Brandi participated in her first Black Breastfeeding Week event, which confirmed her choice and so began her journey towards working in birthing and postpartum care. “Erica Chidi Cohen was a moderator at the event and asked me, have you thought about becoming a doula? I’m doing a training …” Brandi says. “That was four years ago and here I am. It felt right, and looking back it came together perfectly.”
For her third experience breastfeeding youngest Jupiter, now almost one year old, Brandi had a level of support that she had never dreamed of. “It was the yummiest, dreamiest birth and postpartum experience ever,” she says. On this third journey, she birthed in her own dining room, surrounded by women in her life that she loved and adored, including a midwife and doula to support her.
It was also during this experience that she learned to really slow down and take the time to heal. Through that expression of self-love and time, she actually bounced back faster and felt better by three months postpartum than how she felt pre-pregnancy. “And that was with three kids all calling me ‘mommy’ at the same time,” laughs Brandi. “It’s because of intention. Intentionally focusing in on myself and telling everyone else they can take a number.” She talked with us about her plan to slow down with Jupiter here.
What Brandi has taken from her three births and breastfeeding stories, which has become a key pillar in her own practice, is to sit down. What does she mean? That you have to listen to your body, slow down and take time for yourself. Often, mamas forget that after giving birth, they’re not bleeding from a period but from a placenta-sized womb that does need to heal. They’re also expending a wild amount of energy nourishing another human being. According to Brandi, it takes work and guts and patience and support and it’s a time to be intentionally selfish. If you can’t slow down for forty days, she demands — take two weeks.
“The way I birthed and ‘postpartumed’ has so influenced how I see my own practice and how I take care of my moms,” says Brandi. “Now when I go into people’s homes, I’m like, ‘Listen, I’m not trying to tell you what to do you, but why are you rushing? You might want to go sit down.’ I can now compare each scenario and tell them how much more I felt like myself after this last time. Why? Because I intentionally sat my ass down.”
The Maya Dress
Nipple + Lip
The Julia Jumper
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OS X Yosemite will be available today from the Mac App Store
Apple is releasing OS X Yosemite today, launching what is arguably the most significant update to the Mac's operating system in years. Yosemite, which will be made available for free in the Mac App Store, includes a total visual overhaul of OS X that introduces a simple and colorful style, much like what's found on iOS.
In fact, the reason Yosemite is so significant is that it really begins to bring the Mac and the iPhone together in a meaningful way. For one, you'll be able to start answering phone calls and sending and receiving text messages from your Mac. Apple demonstrated the phone call feature at an event today by ringing up Stephen Colbert, who held a brief conversation involving a lot of code words with software chief Craig Federighi.
But the big feature here is that you'll be able to easily move your work between your Mac, iPhone, and iPad, with each device prompting you to pick up where you left off on another: for instance, you might start writing an email on your phone and then move to your Mac, where you'll be able to finish the draft.
Read our preview of OS X Yosemite
Like iOS, Apple has been moving toward delivering annual updates to OS X. That means that each update may only have a few notable features, but it's allowed the operating system to advance at a much more rapid pace. It's also helped advance Apple's goal of bringing parity between iOS and OS X, with the desktop OS' last several releases including comparable features such as apps for Notes and Reminders.
We'll have a review of Yosemite when it's released.
Check out our Apple iPad and Mac liveblog for more!
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/16/6978157/mac-os-x-yosemite-release-mac-app-store-october-16th
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Creative Tech: Digital vs. Analog? Using New School Tech to Capture Old School Vibe
Thursday, August 20th, 2015 | Author: Guest Blogger
Note: The following is part of our Creative Tech series. Creative Tech aims to educate and inform creative professionals about the ways technology can enhance their creative work experience.
There is a developing trend in audio technology. Engineers and programmers are using digital technology to model and emulate older analog circuitry. The idea of using cutting edge digital programming to imitate older vacuum tube circuitry is a bit surprising to some, but it shouldn’t be.
One area where there has been a lot of development in this is in guitar amplifier design. Among pro musicians, there is a healthy dose of skepticism about whether it can be done successfully. The initial challenge is to model individual parts of circuits such as vacuum tubes and transformers. And then there is a lot to be discovered and quantified about how these elements react to each other and behave when voltage or signal is applied. It is certainly a complex task.
A company called Positive Grid is making great progress in this design challenge. The folks at Positive Grid have several products on the market. They are all based on their modeling technology and their product called Bias Amp. They have meticulously modeled every component in many popular tube audio amplifiers. That includes many different types of power tubes, preamp tubes, power supplies, transformers, speaker cabinets and more. The user can go deep inside the circuitry of any amp model chosen and change preamp tubes, power tube types, etc. and hear what those changes sound like immediately. It is a virtual tube amp design lab. It is very entertaining, interesting and educational to experiment with the many variables involved. One can come to understand the “sound” of certain power tubes such as EL 84s, 6L6s etc. You can also try different preamp tubes such as the widely used 12AX7 or switch to a 12AT7 to see how that affects the sound of the amp.
One important factor to note is the fact that this modeling effort is affected by the end goal. The engineers are not trying to model circuits that work in perfect harmony to produce pristine audio. Rather, they are trying to recreate the idiosyncrasies and arbitrary anomalies of amplifiers designed with tech from the 1950s and 60s era and beyond. The classic amplifiers of the 50s and 60s are still very desirable specifically because of their inherent limitations and unique qualities.
Another element in the sound of a guitar amp is the speaker and speaker cabinet design and materials.
The frequency response of a guitar speaker has a lot of midrange and less bass and treble. The speaker cabinet acts, in essence, as a tone control. The virtual microphone used to pick up the sound of the virtual speaker must also be modeled.
Since guitar players often mic their amps with an industry standard Shure SM57 microphone, it had to be digitally modeled, too.
It’s certainly true that every part of the signal chain has to be quantified and modeled. An additional wrinkle is the fact that guitar amp speakers begin to distort as the volume is increased. This is considered desirable and is important to capture with modeling.
Another important part of the modeling challenge is the fact that guitar players expect to be able to add effects such as reverberation, delay, and distortion to name a few. These effects are typically small hardware boxes connected between the guitar and amp. There are dozens of popular and classic effects units that have been modeled by Positive Grid and can be applied to the guitar sound.
All of this effort is aimed at very accurately recreating the circuitry and sound of outdated and sometimes odd technology. A comparison could be made to an application such as Photoshop. In Photoshop, there are effects and features that can be applied to make a picture appear to be painted, right down to virtual brush strokes. Another affect available is the ability to make the picture look like a piece of mosaic art. Once again, it’s current tech being used to emulate an “old school” technique and method of working. In iMovie, you can apply a filter to a video to make it look like an old film, complete with scratches and small flecks of lint or dirt on the film.
It’s an interesting time for creative artists and consumers alike. The ability to apply cutting edge tech to achieve an old school result is often useful and artistically compelling.
• Roger Adler is a freelance composer/producer/performer who has played more than 4,500 live gigs from smoky bars to the Inaugural Ball for the President of the United States. He has played on more than 1,000 TV commercials as a guitarist and even played on the soundtrack for and appeared in the movie Groundhog Day. As a composer, his clients include Comic Relief on A&E, HBO, PBS (NOVA) WTTW Chicago and many more. He has received four EMMY Nominations for his music for TV and his TV show Wild Chicago won many Emmy awards. He also co-wrote and produced the debut single by Michael Lynch from THE VOICE TV show.
TAGS: Audio, BIAS AMP, Creative Tech
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From the Collection: Monumental Orientalist Vase
1 Comment on From the Collection: Monumental Orientalist Vase
Designed by Louis-Constant Sévin (French, 1821–1881) and Manufactured by Firm of F. Barbedienne (French, 1858–1955), Monumental Ormolu-Mounted Enamel Vase, 1867. Copper, gilt bronze, and cloisonné enamel. 30 1/2 × 12 in. (77.47 × 30.48 cm). Milwaukee Art Museum, Purchase, with funds from Avis Martin Heller in honor of the Fine Arts Society and the Fine Arts Society in memory of Jane and Donald Doud M2014.10. Photo credit: Photograph courtesy of H. Blairman & Sons Ltd, London.
You may have noticed that some of our past “From the Collection” posts have highlighted new acquisitions. Just in the last year we explored a pair of paintings by Alexandre Cabanel and a painting by Franz Ittenbach.
When museum curators buy new artwork for the collection, they often look for things that will make a strength of the collection stronger or fill a gap in an important story we want to tell.
One recent acquisition that does both of these things is a Monumental Ormolu-Mounted Enamel Vase created in France in 1867.
The vase, designed by Louis-Constant Sévin (French, 1821–1881), brings together different elements from what he would have considered the exotic Orient. Today this is known as the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, Greece, and Asia.
This combination of styles is indicative of an art movement known as Orientalism, which first became popular in mid-19th century France and then spread through Europe, England, and the United States.
This eclectic mix of inspiration creates a composite work drawn from a number of “exotic” influences, such as
the curving forms of ancient Greek ceramics
Hellenistic Greek, Terracotta Transport Amphora, late 3rd–mid-2nd century B.C. Terracotta. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76.
the ancient Egyptian iconography such as cats
Egyptian, Ptolemaic Period, Cat Statuette, 332–30 B.C. Leaded bronze. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1956.
the decorative patterns of Persian pottery
Iranian, Flask, late 17th century. Lustre pottery. The British Museum G.382 by © Trustees of the British Museum.
the jewel-tones of Byzantine art
Byzantine Mosaics in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, ca. 547 A.D. © Borisb17 | Dreamstime.com.
and a medieval type of enamelwork called champlevé, in which the cells are carved out from a piece of metal and then are filled with colored enamel.
Limoges, France, Chasse with the Crucifixion and Christ in Majesty, ca. 1180–90. Copper: engraved, chiseled, stippled, and gilt; champlevé enamel: dark, medium, and light blue; turquoise, dark and light green, yellow, red, and white; wood core, painted red on exterior. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 17.190.514.
Let’s take a closer look at our Monumental Vase to get a better sense of just how Sévin integrated all of these different elements.
The elongated body of the vessel pulls upward and inward to a thin neck which contrasts from the swelling bottom. The surface of the body is split up into five decorative registers, or friezes, which were popular in ancient Greek vases, like the one in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s collection shown below. Each frieze is decorated with abstract, intertwining floral patterns made possible through champlevé enamelwork.
Circle of Antimenes Painter (Greek [Attic], active ca. 530–ca. 510 BC). Hydria (Water Jar), ca. 525 BC. Black-figure terracotta. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Everett N. Carpenter to the Milwaukee Art Museum. Photo credit Larry Sanders
The belly of the vase is supported and accentuated by the curvilinear torso of three Egyptian felines, the heads of which are braced by a tall rectilinear shape that resembles an Egyptian obelisk. The torsos of the cats curve down the body of the vase and transform into three extended paws.
Sévin’s historicizing design is powerful and beautiful. But this large-scale showpiece was made possible only due to the technological prowess of the French foundry Maison Barbedienne.
Maison Barbedienne (French, 1858–1955) was a firm founded by Ferdinand Barbedienne (French, 1810-1892), a man who invented a machine that would create miniature bronze replicas of classical artworks so they could be more easily disseminated to the masses. But Barbedienne’s quest to be at the forefront of technical innovation in metalworking did not stop there.
For instance, in 1858, Barbedienne began to experiment with the champlevé enamelwork mentioned above, which had become popular during the reign of French ruler Emperor Napoleon III (1808–1873). Also, Barbedienne was an expert in the technique of ormolu, which developed in the 18th century in France. The word ormolu comes from the French term, or moulu, which translates to “ground gold”. As the term implies, ormolu employs gold gilding, leaf, or powder to cover the less visually pleasing metal parts of an object. Barbedienne moved with the times, and to create his high-quality ormolu, he adopted the 19th century technology of electroplating, which uses electricity to bond gold to the surface of metal work.
Eugène Fromentin (French, 1820–1876), Arabs (Cavaliers Arabes en observations dans la montagne), 1873. Oil on panel. Milwaukee Art Museum, Layton Art Collection, Inc., Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur N. McGeoch, Sr. L1941.7. Photo credit: John R. Glembin.
Barbedienne’s expertise in these techniques made his foundry one of the most respected in France. In fact, when he exhibited a pair of vases of the same design as ours at the London International Exhibition of 1862, it met with great critical acclaim. That particular pair of vases is now in the collection of the Musée D’Orsay in Paris. The quality of our vase is clear from the fact that the foundry wrote “Maison Barbedienne” prominently on the center band—it is essentially signed by the company.
As we stated at the beginning of this post, the Monumental Ormolu-Mounted Enamel Vase is a new acquisition. Why did we make this acquisition?
It strengthens a strength of our collection. We already had a wonderful selection of Orientalist paintings by artists such as Jean-Léon Gérôme (French, 1824–1904), Jean Joseph Benjamin Constant (French, 1845–1902), Eugène Fromentin (French, 1820–1876) (left), and Christian Adolf Schreyer (German, 1828–1899).
It fills a hole in the collection. Although the Orientalist paintings are high-quality and instructive, adding a piece of decorative arts from this important period gives the visitor a better sense of the complete aesthetic that was used to decorate whole rooms.
And it offers a bonus: the vase serves as a way to study the importance of technology during the 19th century.
Make sure you take a look the next time you visit!
–Samantha Landre, Curatorial Intern and Catherine Sawinski, Assistant Curator of Earlier European Art
Tags 19th Century Art, Decorative Arts, European art, Orientalism
By MAM Admin
← From the Collection: A Pair of Paintings by Alexandre Cabanel → MAM’s THE WORD
1 reply on “From the Collection: Monumental Orientalist Vase”
Questions of Provenance: Evening on the Seashore—Tangiers by Jean Joseph Benjamin Constant | Milwaukee Art Museum Blogsays:
[…] popular in nineteenth century Europe and provided subject matter not just for paintings, but also decorative arts and interior […]
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R. E. Ted Turner
R.E. Ted Turner
Turner Enterprises, Inc.
Ted assumed leadership of the family company (outdoor advertising) when his father committed suicide over the company's financial situation when Ted was 24. With uncanny business acumen, Ted acquired an independent UHF television station (WJRJ, Channel 17) in Atlanta in 1970. In 1976, he originated the superstation concept by transmitting the station's signal via satellite to cable systems across the country, initially using the call letters WTCG (Watch This Channel Grow). (He had to set up a separate company, Southern Satellite Systems, to lease the transponder on Satcom 1, which Ed Taylor purchased for $1.00 after all his friends turned him down.)
He diversified the company by purchasing the Major League Atlanta Braves Baseball team in 1970 and acquired a limited partnership in the Atlanta Hawks NBA Basketball team in 1971. The teams have prospered under his ownership.
He inaugurated CNN, the world's first live, in-dept, 24-hour, all-news channel. Headline News, which began in 1982, offers updated newscasts every half-hour. CNN International went on the air in 1985. CNN was initially disdained, especially by broadcasters who spend much more on their news organizations, but gained stature in the 1991 Gulf War when it was the only news source from Baghdad.
He purchased the MGM Entertainment Company with 3,300 feature films and motion picture and television businesses in 1986. He divested much of MGM and formed Turner Entertainment Co. to manage the remaining assets, mostly the library of film and television properties, which provides the base for TNT. He acquired the rights to Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, including their 3,000 episode library in 1991 and used the cartoon library of Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Scooby Doo and the Jetsons to launch the Cartoon Network in 1993. He acquired Castle Rock Entertainment in 1993, and merged with New Line Cinema in 1994. Turner Classic Movies started in 1994. He expanded the news division in 1995 with CNN-fn-the financial network.
Although the Russian Parliament is considering laws that would restrict foreign ownership of the media – a move that could shift the stakes in the battle for control of NTV – R.E. Ted Turner and his group of investors (including George Soros) have reached an agreement to buy a 30 percent stake in NTV from Vladimir Gusinsky. Gusinsky, fighting extradition from Spain on fraud charges he says are part of the clampdown on his media outlets, has tried to attract international investment in NTV. CNN quoted a source as saying Turner and Gusinsky had clinched an outline deal. Gusinsky's Media-Most holding company said it had no information. The Washington Post cited sources as saying the deal was worth $225 million. Turner is now trying to convince Gazprom, which is 38-percent owned by the Russian government, to approve the deal. The deal is independent of AOL Time Warner. Some consider this move as a part of his growing philanthropic zeal, in regards to his interests in protecting free speech, rather than another savvy business move. (As of 4/13/01) In related news, Rupert Murdoch is considering a move on NTV himself that could elbow aside Ted's plans. (4/10/01)
Turner founded the Goodwill Games in 1985 in an attempt to ease Cold War tensions by conducting an international sports competition that included teams from the US and Soviet Union in the wake of the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games and subsequent Soviet boycott of the 1984 games in Los Angeles. It was both a publicity stunt and a genuinely intended contribution to world peace.
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Written by calenhenry October 27, 2010
Thesis Reviews Abstract
My upcoming MA Thesis involves devising a new theoretical framework for analyzing video games. This work comes from the plethora of genres into which games are broken down. Game theorists get hung up on analyzing and breaking down and devising new genres. This is an attempt to sidestep genre and analyze games through categories that are present in all games, without the need for genre-like categorization.
It comprises three broad categories that are intentionally not broken down further. The ideas come from Mikhael Bakhtin’s work on the novel, as well as much more recent game studies.
Dialogic History
In Bakhtin’s essay, “The Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse”, he outlines how the novel, as a genre, is made up of older genres, saying “What was created was a new and large multi-genred genre, one which included in itself various types of dialogues, lyrical songs, letters, speeches, descriptions of countries and cities, short stories and so forth. It was an encyclopedia of genres. (Bakhtin, p. 65).
This idea works equally well for video games, at least to trace their history. A given game will be made up of aspects of other media (film, literature, comics, etc.) as well as older games. This is helpful to consider first when analyzing a game because it situates the game within the video game form.
The Chronotope
Michael Holquist, editor of the English version of Bakhtin’s book, “The Dialogic Imagination”, describes the chronotope as “a unit of analysis for studying texts according to the ratio and nature of the temporal and spatial categories represented.” (Bakhtin, p.425) This concept can be applied directly to video games. All games have representations of space and time that are related and, after the dialogic history of a game, the chronotope shapes the game for the player.
Video games are fundamentally different from other forms of media and while dialogic history and the chronotope can be supplanted from Bakhtin and used to analyze games effectively, interactivity is what sets games apart and must be considered. I’ve chosen to use “perspective” for this analysis and the perspective is the top level of interactivity, how the player sees themselves and the interactive world. Perspective is last in the three categories because it is informed both by the dialogic history and to a greater degree by the chronotope.
Bakhtin, M. (2008). The dialogic imagination : four essays (17th ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press.
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U California San Diego Boosts Sustainable Energy Research with Private Partner
MIT Holds First Clean Earth Hackathon
Eco Technology College Opens in Colorado
A new college is opening up in Aurora, CO focused entirely on renewable energy and sustainable design. Education Corp., which runs for-profit colleges, is opening Ecotech Institute. The new facility, accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, will offer applied science associate degrees in subjects such as solar energy, wind energy, and sustainable interior design.
The Institute is currently accepting applications for all of its programs. Classes will begin July 7, 2010.
Once the Colorado campus is fully established, the company expects to expand its model across the United States, to help students ride the wave of attention currently being focused on jobs in the clean energy sector.
A study released in February by Navigant Consulting found that the number of renewable energy jobs would more than double by 2025 if the nation adopted a plan to require 25 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. The study was done for the Renewable Electrical Standard Alliance for Jobs, a lobby pushing for Congressional support of the plan.
"The time has come for a higher education institution that is 100 percent focused on preparing Americans for green collar jobs, not merely a department or program inside of an institution," said Tom Moore, president and CEO of Education Corp. "Having been built by and for the renewable energy and sustainable design industries in collaboration with academic leaders, Ecotech Institute delivers practical career education that can transform people into highly skilled green collar professionals."
Although classes will begin in July 2010 in a temporary facility, the Institute is transforming an existing building in Aurora into its permanent home. The company said the renovation will bring the structure up to LEED standards. That is expected to be done in early 2011 and will hold between 700 and 1,200 students.
Preparing for Guided Pathways – A readiness assessment for colleges and universities
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