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Katerina Batsiola 2 years ago
The Acropolis Museum is an archaeological museum focused on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens. The museum was built to house every artifact found on the rock and on the surrounding slopes, from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece. It also lies over the ruins of a part of Roman and early Byzantine Athens.
The museum was founded in 2003, while the Organization of the Museum was established in 2008. It opened to the public on 20 June 2009.[1] Nearly 4,000 objects are exhibited over an area of 14,000 square metres. The Organization for the Construction of the new museum is chaired by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Professor Emeritus of Archaeology, Dimitrios Pandermalis.
The monuments of the Acropolis have withstood the ravages of past centuries, both of ancient times and those of the Middle Ages. Until the 17th century, foreign travellers visiting the monuments depicted the classical buildings as being intact. This remained the case until the middle of the same century, when the Propylaia was blown up while being used as a gunpowder store. Thirty years later, the Ottoman occupiers dismantled the neighbouring Temple of Athena Nike to use its materials to strengthen the fortification of the Acropolis. The most fatal year, however, for the Acropolis, was 1687, when many of the building’s architectural members were blown into the air and fell in heaps around the Hill of the Acropolis, caused by a bomb from the Venetian forces. Foreign visitors to the Acropolis would search through the rubble and take fragments of the fallen sculptures as their souvenirs. It was in the 19th century that Lord Elgin removed intact architectural sculptures from the frieze, the metopes and the pediments of the building.
In 1833, the Turkish garrison withdrew from the Acropolis. Immediately after the founding of the Greek State, discussions about the construction of an Acropolis Museum on the Hill of the Acropolis began. In 1863, it was decided that the Museum be constructed on a site to the southeast of the Parthenon and foundations were laid on 30 December 1865.
The building program for the Museum had provided that its height not surpasses the height of the stylobate of the Parthenon. With only 800 square meters of floor space, the building was rapidly shown to be inadequate to accommodate the findings from the large excavations on the Acropolis that began in 1886. A second museum was announced in 1888, the so-called Little Museum. Final changes occurred in 1946-1947 with the second Museum being demolished and the original being sizably extended.
By the 1970s, the Museum could not cope satisfactorily with the large numbers of visitors passing through its doors. The inadequacy of the space frequently caused problems and downgraded the sense that the exhibition of the masterpieces from the Rock sought to achieve.
The Acropolis Museum was firstly conceived by Constantinos Karamanlis in September 1976. He also selected the site, upon which the Museum was finally built, decades later. With his penetrating vision, C. Karamanlis defined the need and established the means for a new Museum equipped with all technical facilities for the conservation of the invaluable Greek artifacts, where eventually the Parthenon sculptures will be reunited.
For these reasons, architectural competitions were conducted in 1976 and 1979, but without success. In 1989, Melina Mercouri, who as Minister of Culture inextricably identified her policies with the claim for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, initiated an international architectural competition. The results of this competition were annulled following the discovery of a large urban settlement on the Makriyianni site dating from Archaic to Early Christian Athens. This discovery now needed to be integrated into the New Museum that was to be built on this site.
In the year 2000, the Organization for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum announced an invitation to a new tender, which was realized in accord with the Directives of the European Union. It is this Tender that has come to fruition with the awarding of the design tender to Bernard Tschumi with Michael Photiadis and their associates and the completion of construction in 2007.
Today, the new Acropolis Museum has a total area of 25,000 square meters, with exhibition space of over 14,000 square meters, ten times more than that of the old museum on the Hill of the Acropolis. The new Museum offers all the amenities expected in an international museum of the 21st century.
source: wikipedia.org – theacropolismuseum.gr
archaeological museum Athens
Katerina Batsiola
KaterinaBatsiola is the founder of majesticgreece.com As a web designer, she has evolved many of her personal hobbies and interests into useful websites. She has a passion for Greece, nature, culture and passing on the values that can help develop great personalities with high moral values, integrity and wisdom.
National archaeological museum of Greece
El Greco – Domenicos Theotokopoulos
Small ship in Parga, taking us to the Paxos and Antipaxos islands.
The greek custom of “March”
The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander the Great
Orient Express mystery in Thessaloniki
Stories, Thessaloniki
Palaios Panteleimonas
Fragma Aliakmona, Veria
Greek Newspaper Titles
Human-curated Stuff
Katerina Batsiola January 16, 2018
Alexandra Giannopoulou April 4, 2018
Alexandra Giannopoulou January 22, 2018
Alexandra Giannopoulou March 21, 2018
It’s very nice, but it’s not Halkidiki …
Christos Zampounis April 3, 2018
Today’s Pick
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Cuban Expansionism
U.S. Relations with Cuba Today
America's Caribbean Interests
U.S. Response to Cuban Challenge
Tentative Steps Toward Reconciliation
The Carter Administration is moving rapidly to normalize relations with Cuba after 17 years of bitterness, acrimony and mutual distrust. There are too many imponderables to predict how far the process of accommodation will go, but both sides have sent unmistakable signals of their desire to improve the political climate. Early in March, Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance proposed U.S.-Cuban talks, “without preconditions,” on a variety of issues. At the same time, the State Department gave permission to a South Dakota basketball team and to a group of Minnesota businessmen to travel to Cuba. On March 18, President Carter lifted all restrictions on travel to the island. Late in the month, diplomatic representatives of the two countries held talks in New York City on fishing rights and maritime boundaries.
Then in April, a U.S. delegation headed by Terence Todman, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, flew to Havana to conclude a formal agreement on maritime matters and fisheries. On his return to Washington, Todman said that in addition to negotiating the agreement, he had discussed a broad range of issues with Cuban Foreign Minister Isidoro Malmierca and that “the chances are good” for a gradual improvement of relations. Administration sources also hinted at an exchange of diplomatic representation on a limited basis.
Cuba appears to welcome the developing reconciliation. Fidel Castro has met personally with numerous groups of visiting American journalists, legislators and businessmen. Castro's brother, Raul, the No. 2 man in the Cuban government, recently told a group of American newsmen that “the war has ended.” Businessmen have been told by Cuban officials that substantial orders are in the offing if the U.S. trade boycott is lifted.
Jun. 12, 2015 Restoring Ties With Cuba
Jul. 20, 2007 Cuba's Future
Dec. 12, 1997 Castro's Next Move
Nov. 29, 1991 Cuba in Crisis
May 20, 1977 Cuban Expansionism
Dec. 19, 1973 Cuba After 15 Years
Jul. 03, 1968 Cuba Under Castro
Apr. 06, 1960 Subversion in Latin America
Jun. 25, 1930 Cuban-American Relations
Regional Political Affairs: Latin America and the Caribbean
U.S. at War: Cold War
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Thursday, there were two comics. Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "It's The Great Bumpkin, Barry O"
sends up ObamaCare by having Kathleen Sebelius as the block head (Valerie Jarrett's Snoopy). It was a trick, ObamaCare, for him to get his treat, a second term.
I think it's a cute cartoon.
I also enjoy "Accountability."
Sebelius insisted she was taking responsibility. That's what she told Congress Wednesday.
If you missed it, she's still on the job.
So what's this nonsense about accountability?
Friday, November 1, 2013. Chaos and violence continue, Nouri and Barack go through the motions as they play tragedy as farce, World Bulletin does the impossible (for the US press) and writes about the poison apple known as The Erbil Agreement, Jalal Talabani's health is part of the farce, the most violent October since 2007 comes to an end, and much more.
The farce that is Nouri al-Maliki's visit to DC continued today. A Sunni Iraqi community member e-mails:
If they are able to pass it [Parliament pass an election law], why should I bother even to vote? I should go through five security checkpoints in [deleted] to vote? By foot because it is always vehicle curfew on election day. I should do by foot to vote only to have the President of the United States again overturn my vote? That is what he did last time [2010] and it is what he will do again. He owes us an apology for overturning our voices.
Barack does owe the Iraqi people an apology. Instead of providing that, he takes part in the farce Bully Boy Bush started and that he (Barack has continued). And he'll never be forced to even justify his actions -- let alone apologize -- as long as people like Aamer Madhani (USA Today) play the fool: "Obama hopes that a new round of elections in which the country's minority Sunni population is more active could help stem some of the violence." Madhani damn well knew that in 2010, Sunni's turned out. That's one reason Iraqiya won. But their votes were overturned by Barack Obama.
To keep thug Nouri. Human Rights Watch's Erin Evers (The Hill) notes Nouri's use of torture:
Earlier this year, interviewing prisoners in Shaaba Khamsa, Baghdad’s death row facility, I met a 52-year-old woman, one of the thousands of prisoners the U.S. turned over to Iraqi custody when American troops left nearly two years ago. She showed me the scars where security forces had burned her with cigarettes, used electric shocks and beat her so badly that she was still using crutches three years later.
Two courts had declared her innocent of the terrorism charges against her, owing in part to a medical report documenting the extensive torture that led to her confession. A third court, though, reversed these rulings and sentenced her to death late last year, on the basis of “secret evidence provided by the Americans.”
In September, she was among 42 prisoners executed in Iraq in two days.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is in Washington this week to ask President Obama for warplanes, drones, and other assistance for Iraq’s counterterrorism efforts. The president should send a clear message that the kind of assistance Maliki seeks is not possible as long as his security forces continue their widespread torture – often in the name of counterterrorism.
Torture and forced confessions take place all the time in Iraq under Nouri. They're so common, in fact, that people may forget that both are banned by Iraq's Constitution. Thursday, Nouri al-Maliki gave a ridiculous speech, overflowing with lies, at the US Institute of Peace. As we covered in yesterday's snapshot, he lied he had never, ever stepped on the Constitution. He lied, we backed that up with examples yesterday, refer to that. Today National Iraqi News Agency reports:
MP, Walid Mohammadi for Mottahidoon coalition called on the United States of America to " listen to all sides in Iraq, not to a sole side which is considered by a big percentage of Iraqis as the opponent ruling political side.
Mohammadi said in a statement today: " The statements made by Maliki currently in Washington are amazing and surprising , especially regarding the strictly application of the Constitution,as Maliki alleges, where everyone knows that the Constitution in Iraq, is not implemented but only taken paragraphs which corresponds to the interests of the government, otherwise the constitution is neglected and abused , he said.
Again, the meet-up between Barack and Nouri was a farce. Paul Danahar (BBC) predicted ahead of the meet-up today, "And he [Nouri] will no doubt be told in private he needs to rule for all his people - not just those who share his faith or point of view. He'll probably smile and agree and then ignore the advice while gladly accepting whatever aid he might get." Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi Tweeted the following yesterday:
Ayad Allawi @AyadAllawi 31 Oct
هناك تفرد في وضع الحكم بالعراق وابتعاد عن الشراكة الوطنية وهناك ازمة يجب ان تنتهي وان نؤسس #لعراق يضم كل الشركاء في هذا الوطن الواحد
There is no national partnership in #Iraq. Autocracy is governing and we must build a process that includes all Iraqis. #Democracy
The farce is much more than the notion that the US-installed prime minister is anything but a thug. It also includes the notion that there is a functioning government in Iraq. Al Rafidayn reports that Nouri's office in Iraq today announced that Nouri was filing an official request to be informed of the health status of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
Last December, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke. The incident took place late on December 17th (see the December 18th snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital. Thursday, December 20th, he was moved to Germany. He remains in Germany currently.
If still in Germany next month, Jalal will have 'served' an entire year out of the country and he's drawing a salary -- is he conducting any official presidential business? Let's drop back to the snapshot for Tuesday, September 10th:
Sunday, All Iraq News reported, Osama al-Nujaifi declared he attempted to meet with the hospitalized Jalal five months ago (that would have been around April) but was rebuffed. He states he has again asked for another meeting. He further states if Jalal is unable to resume his tasks shortly, a new president needs to be named. Monday, Dar Addustour columnist As Sheikh noted that the Constitution is very clear on what happens when the president can't perform duties but how is that determination made? (Is Jalal performing duties from the hospital in Germany? He could be. If he is, the Constitution would see him as in office.) The Constitution says nothing, Sheik notes, about how long a president can be out of the country. He reviews the rumors that Jalal has not recovered, that he is in a coma, that he has passed away, that his family is putting up a pretense that Jalal has recovered. He ends his column with a call for clarity both in terms of the governing rules and in terms of the state of Jalal's health.
In June, Going Global East Meets West noted MP Hassan Alawi asserted that Jalal was "clinically dead" as well as "that the images that appeared in Al Cardsat TV owned by the First Lady Hero Talabani were fabricated."
The photos the MP is referring to include the one below and were published in May.
You can see three of the photos released here. You'll note that people are seated to Jalal's left and right but in every photo he just stares ahead with the same 'expression' and the same body position (including hands). In other words, he doesn't move one bit although the players in the photos -- the pretenders -- they rush to lean forward, pretending they're listening to Jalal.
In real time, many scoffed, some wags dubbed it Weekend At Bernie's (two young men use the corpse of Bernie to pretend he's alive and have a wild adventure).
After denying the Speaker of Parliament a meeting in April, visits to Jalal have continued to be denied. His political party is the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and, as President of Iraq, he's the head of it. With provincial elections scheduled for the end of September in the KRG, the PUK desperately needed to speak with Jalal and contacted his people. They were rebuffed. Ekurd.net reported August 26th, "Leaders from Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by Talabani confirmed that they did not see him since he was transferred to Germany, pointing out that Talabani’s wife, Hero Ibrahim and their two sons as well as his nephew , Sheikh Genki Talabani are the only ones who have visited him, as no one from the party’s officials saw Talabani." And the PUK went on to have it worst showing in any election. Attempts to meet with him after the disastorous elections? As Ekurd.net reported October 7th:
A senior official from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has revealed that ailing Iraqi president and PUK leader Jalal Talabani’s family won’t let party members visit him at the German hospital where he is recovering after suffering a stroke.
A few days ago, a PUK official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, complained that no one from his party other than Iraqi First Lady Hero Ibrahim and Talabani’s official doctor, Kirkuk governor Najmaldin Karim, has seen the President since he fell ill late last year.
"They always says Talabani’s health is improving, but repeating those wards a few times so far has put a question mark on Talabani’s future," the official told the Pan-Arab Newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.
Are you getting why Iraqis, in ever larger numbers, are assuming their president is dead?
It doesn't help that the Talabani family originally even denied it was a stroke. CNN was the first to report the reality there. Jalal is -- or was -- grossly obese and 79-years-old. We've followed his health since 2007 when, after being released from the Mayo Clinic, he collapsed in a US bookstore and it took over six people to lift him. His stroke was never a surprise. He refused to listen to doctors' orders that he eat right and lose weight (they were only asking him to lose 60 pounds which still would have left him at over 200 pounds). For five years, he stuffed his fat face and just put on more weight as he ate greasy and sugary foods and got no exercise. His stroke was desitned.
But the last thing the Talabani family has been honest about is that he had a stroke -- and, again, their honesty on that was forced by CNN blowing their cover story. Every few weeks since December 2012, Iraqis are told that Jalal's health has improved and he'll be back in Iraq shortly. We're now in the 11th month stage. When's he coming back? And when will he address the Iraqi people? As Nermeen al-Mufti (Al-Ahram) pointed out last month, "According to the Iraqi constitution, Iraqis should elect a new president after 30 days of the presidency being vacant, for example as a result of illness."
Clearly Jalal is not recovering. Clearly he is not up to being president and this has been over ten months of fraud, lying to the Iraqi people. This is fraud if the rumor Rudaw reported in September is true, "Sources tell Rudaw that on a visit to Iran last May Talabani’s wife, Hero Ahmed, sought Tehran’s help in delaying discussion over the position of the Iraqi presidency until the end of the current presidential term. Hero reportedly told the Iranians that such a debate will weaken the PUK’s position in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. Rudaw tried to verify the authenticity of this information but none of the PUK’s senior officials were willing to comment."
As Moqtada al-Sadr has been pointing out for over a month, the Iraqi people have a right to know the status -- the real status -- of Jalal's health and whether or not he's able to handle presidential duties.
They don't know. But everyone pretends that the country Transparency International has ranked 169th most corrupt country in the world (out of a total of 176 countries) has a functioning government.
This week's farce has required so much lying. Here's "senior administration official" providing background Wednesday:
At the breakfast we just had with the Vice President and the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister had with him his core delegation, and that included his Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, his National Security Advisor Faleh Fayyadh, his Minister of Defense Saadoun Dulaimi, and the Iraqi Ambassador Luqman Fayli, and also the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff.
Can we spot the lie? Saadoun Dulaimi is not Minister of Defense.
He is Minister of Culture. That's his only legal title. Nouri nominated him for that post in December 2010 and the Parliament voted to confirm him -- that is how someone becomes the minister of a ministry in Iraq.
But there is no Minister of Defense. In January 2011, Iraqiya and its leader Ayad Allawi charged that Nouri was making a power grab by refusing to nominate people head the security ministries.
Nouri can't just nominate from his own party (Dawa) or own political slate (State of Law). Parliament won't support that -- in part because there are so many other groupings in Iraq. But whomever he nominates, if they are confirmed, Nouri can't fire them. He can't force them to quit. The only way they are forcibly removed from heading a ministry is if the Parliament votes to remove them. That's not going to happen in most cases. (Nouri tried, in 2011, to get Saleh al-Mutlaq removed as Deputy Prime Minister and to get Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi removed as well. Parliament didn't support it, both men retain their titles.)
Nouri's broken the Constitution by creating 'acting ministers.' This means Nouri picks a stooge, say Jay Carney, and Nouri says, "You are acting minister of Defense." Carney now has to do what Nouri tells him. If he doesn't, he's not 'acting minister,' Nouri just fires him. And Carney can't appeal to Parliament because Parliament never made him a minister.
It was a power grab.
Back in July of 2012, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."
In light of that, we really need to look over the whore from Barack's administration's claim -- but let's back up two sentences so we can really enjoy the lying. FYI, the official has outlined the goals for the US this week:
And then finally is to support Iraq's overall democratic development and with a key focus there on elections. They just had provincial elections over the last few months, and then they're going to -- they're scheduled to have national elections in April of 2014. And I can talk about that.
To support Iraq's overall democratic development!
Are your sides splitting yet?
Democracy in Iraq in 2010 started with the Iraqi people voting in the March parliamentary elections.
It ended there too. Per the Constitution, Ayad Allawi should have been named prime minister-designate. His Iraqiya came in first. But instead Nouri al-Maliki pissed his panties, stamped his feet and refused to step down for over eight months. Not only did the White House back his tantrum, they ordered US officials in Iraq to broker a contract, The Erbil Agreement, which went around the Iraqi people, went around their votes, circumvented the Constitution and took a dump on democracy to give Nouri a second term. This contract is what all of Iraq current crises stem from.
By going around the Constitution, Nouri didn't have to appoint a Cabinet. The way the position works is you're named prime minister-designate and you have 30 days to put together the Cabinet. If you can't do it, per the Constitution, someone else is supposed to be named prime minister-designate. The only rule is to create the Cabinet.
That's not partial. If it was only part of a Cabinet, it wouldn't be the requirement to move from prime minister-designate to prime minister.
The Erbil Agreement, the poison fruit of Barack Obama.
And yet a cowardly background briefing official wants to pretend the US supports democracy in Iraq.
And, worse, a cowardly press doesn't want to confront the lies.
That's a cowardly western press to be clear. The Iraqi press and the press in many Arab countries have shown repeat bravery and a real commitment to journalism. World Bulletin deserves applause for their reporting today:
In his second term he secured his position by sewing division between political elites and set up unofficial, alternative strongholds. When it comes to agreements made regarding the city of Irbil, either he hasn’t applied any of the conditions of the agreement or he has narrated the agreements according to his own stance. He has brought the defense, the National Security Council and the internal affairs of his nation under his control by breaching agreements regarding the appointment of deputies.
Moreover, he has breached the most important factor of the Irbil agreements by not establishing a Strategic Policy National Assembly, which was supposed to be given veto rights. In weakening independent corporate control institutes and taming the high judicial authority, he is asserting his power to intimidate the nation.
Iraq’s Sunni vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi has been forced to go on the run after being accused of supporting terrorism, for which he was given the death sentence. The former finance minister Rafi al-Isawi also finds himself in a similar position.
Tensions are also increasing between Maliki and the president of the autonomous Kurdish regional government of northern Iraq, Mesud Barzani, who has criticized Maliki for taking full control of all aspects of the country. ‘Where else in the world can you find one man who is the commander of the army, head of state, head of defense, the intelligence chief, and the head of the national security council all at the same time?’ he asked.
Maliki has already been called ‘the second Saddam’ due to the torture and abuses that take place under his American-made authoritarian regime, which threatens and carries out attacks on the press and uses the judiciary not to secure justice, but to intimidate rivals.
Barack met with Nouri today. The White House issued a lengthy statement:
In their meeting today at the White House, President Obama and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki reaffirmed the strategic partnership between the United States and the Republic of Iraq and pledged to advance common interests to support a stable, secure, and prosperous Iraq and Middle East. They also discussed their shared commitment to enhance cooperation under the Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA).
The two leaders noted that it has been nearly two years since the final American troops departed Iraq and the United States and Iraq entered a new phase of their relationship, based on mutual respect and a shared commitment to build a strategic partnership between two sovereign nations. They recalled the thousands of Americans and Iraqis who have given their lives in our common fight against terrorism and extremism in Iraq. The President and Prime Minister renewed their determination to honor the memory and sacrifice of those killed by strengthening our joint long-term strategic partnership across the fields covered by the SFA, including security, diplomacy, trade, education, energy, culture, science, and justice.
Following the President’s meeting with the Prime Minister, Vice President Biden and Prime Minister Maliki convened the Higher Coordination Committee (HCC). This was the fourth meeting of the HCC since it was established in 2008 under the SFA.
No. That's not correct and hopefully the Iraqi press will demonstrate the courage that the American press lacks. Thousands of "Iraqis who have given their lives in our common fight against terrorism and extremism in Iraq"? Many Iraqis -- Shi'ites as well as Sunnis, even Shi'ites in Nouri's State of Law -- see the lives lost from "terroism and extremism" lost to US troops. Barack can try to smooth it over all he wants, but there were no roses strewn at the feet of the US military in Iraq.
The U.S. and Iraqi delegations discussed Iraq’s position as an emerging democracy in the region, leading energy producer, and a nation representing a diversity of social customs, religions, and ethnicities. The Iraqi delegation described the challenges Iraq faces due to its geography and the legacy of the former regime after decades of wars and international isolation. In this regard, both delegations welcomed the full restoration of relations between Iraq and Kuwait, expanding energy, security, and commercial ties with Jordan, and improving relations with Turkey. Both delegations also welcomed ongoing exchanges of high-level visits with Turkey, as well as a strategic dialogue to be held later this month between the United States, Iraq, and other regional partners, with an emphasis on supporting moderates and isolating extremists in the region.
The Iraqi delegation noted that with seventeen Arab embassies open in Baghdad, the Government of Iraq recently renewed an invitation to other Arab countries to open an embassy as soon as possible. In this regard, the United States welcomed the participation of the Iraqi Security Forces in joint exercises with regional partners over the past six months, including the Eager Lion exercise in Jordan, and surface warfare and mine countermeasures exercise in Bahrain. The United States pledged its ongoing diplomatic coordination under the SFA in these and other areas.
The two delegations shared an assessment of al Qaida affiliated groups threatening Iraq, with particular emphasis on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The Iraqi delegation confirmed a comprehensive strategy to isolate ISIL and other extremist groups through coordinated security, economic, and political measures. This strategy includes security operations coordinated with local officials, and renewed efforts to empower local security structures, such as the Sons of Iraq, to mitigate extremist infiltration. Both sides emphasized – on an urgent basis – the need for additional equipment for Iraqi forces to conduct ongoing operations in remote areas where terrorist camps are located. The Iraqi delegation stressed its desire to purchase U.S. equipment as a means of strengthening long-term institutional ties with the United States, and confirmed its commitment to ensure strict compliance with U.S. laws and regulations on the use of such equipment.
Both delegations further confirmed the need for aggressive political outreach as a means to isolate and defeat ISIL and other extremist networks. They welcomed the national charter of social peace signed last month by political and religious leaders from across Iraq. Both parties welcomed calls to reject violence and sectarian incitement, and discussed the critical role of religious leaders as a force of moderation in the region.
How is Nouri supposed "to reject violence and sectarian incitement" when he's backing militias -- Shi'ite militias -- to kill Sunnis?
September 28th in print (27th online), Tim Arango (New York Times) broke the story of Nouri supporting Shi'ite militias that are killing Sunnis:
The group, which is backed by Iran and split off from the Sadrist movement several years ago and was responsible for many deadly attacks on the American military when it was here, has seen its political wing welcomed into the government by Mr. Maliki. And as the security forces have proved ineffective in stemming attacks by Sunni insurgent groups, the group’s armed unit, according to militiamen, is increasingly working in secret with the government.
“We don’t do anything until the government asks us,” said one of the group’s leaders, who gave his name as Abu Abdellah. “We have a direct connection with the leaders of the security forces.”
In supporting Asaib al-Haq, Mr. Maliki has apparently made the risky calculation that by backing some Shiite militias, even in secret, he can maintain control over the country’s restive Shiite population and, ultimately, retain power after the next national elections, which are scheduled for next year. Militiamen and residents of Shiite areas say members of Asaib al-Haq are given government badges and weapons and allowed freedom of movement by the security forces.
At the Guardian, Haifa Zangana called out the simplistic narrative that Nouri (and the press -- I'm saying "and the press" uses to portray 'terrorism' while hiding his own crimes:
The Maliki regime blames all terrorist acts (frequent car explosions, often in markets, cafes and mosques) on al-Qaida, selectively choosing not to mention the regime's own militias: Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Iraqi Hezbollah, factions of the Mahdi army, the Badr brigades and the Mokhtar army.
A common belief among Iraqis is that only agents connected to the nearly 1 million strong army and security forces, and especially to the Special Forces (inherited from the occupation, trained by the US and now attached directly to Maliki's office) could carry out such sustained and widespread campaign of terror.
Why is it that so many come to the conclusion that most atrocities blamed on al-Qaida are actually the work of the regime, its factional fighters, and regional actors with links to security services? It is because the regime is the embodiment of the sectarian divide entrenched by the occupation. Its constitution and political process, nurtured by the US and UK, has spawned a kleptocracy of warlords, charlatans, and merchants of religion. Yes, al-Qaida is a presence. But the sectarian political parties that mushroomed after the invasion are also fighting each other, killing thousands of civilians in the process. Almost 3,000 people were killed in acts of violence between July and September this year alone with three times that number wounded. Many of those wounded often die due to lack of medical services. Acts of violence are presented daily on Iraqi TV like the weather forecast in Britain. They are destroying the very fabric of society and pushing people who have been living together for centuries to speak and act about "them" and "us".
Protests continued in Iraq today -- this wave began December 21st. Iraqi Sprinc MC reports that Bahghdad saw the Association of Imams and Khateebs declare the Iraqi army was infiltrated with sectarian militias. They also stated that some of the current Iraqi soldiers are operating under sectarianism and not out of love for the country. They noted the Ministry of Defense estimates 90,000 soldiers have self-checked out.
Protests also took place in Tikrit, Rawa, Mosul, Jalawla, Samarra, Baquba, among other cities. National Iraqi News Agency reports:
Thousands of people flocked from different parts of Fallujah and Ramadi cities , to participate in the unified Fri-prayer.
Sheikh Mohammed Fayyad, one of the organizers of Anbar sit-ins ,said to NINA reporter : "The citizens participated in the prayers that held in the courtyard northern Ramadi and eastern Fallujah cities , stressing that the goal of this trickle is to send one again a message to the governing in Baghdad that our demonstrations are peaceful and backed by citizens deep conviction.
As for the White House claim of rejecting violence? January 7th, Nouri's forces assaulted four protesters in Mosul, January 24th, Nouri's forces sent two protesters (and one reporter) to the hospital, and March 8th, Nouri's force fired on protesters in Mosul killing three. All of that and more appeared to be a trial run for what was coming, the April 23rd massacre of a peaceful sit-in in Hawija which resulted from Nouri's federal forces storming in. Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk) announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault. AFP reported the death toll rose to 53 dead. UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured). Equally true, Nouri's forces attacked the Ashraf community. That actually came up in today's White House press briefing:
Q You have a noisy demonstration out front by Camp Ashraf folks. Can you tell us how hard is the President going to press the Iraqi Prime Minister on the issue of accountability for the killings that took place in September at Camp Ashraf?
MR. CARNEY: Well, as you know, the President has meetings this afternoon with — very shortly with Prime Minister Maliki. And I’m not going to give you a readout of meetings that haven’t happened yet. They’ll discuss a whole range of issues; this is I’m sure going to be one of them.
But this is an important relationship, and it’s one that in the aftermath of the ending of the Iraq war and the withdrawal of U.S. troops remains important. And our commitment remains very strong to Iraq and the assistance we provide them in dealing with their challenges from al Qaeda in Iraq, the renamed al Qaeda in Iraq, and dealing with their overall economic challenges as they continue to make progress out of the past that created so many problems for the Iraqi people.
Q What’s the current position on who was responsible for that?
MR. CARNEY: I would refer you — well, let me say this. I’m sure State Department has more on this for you, but I can tell you that we remain deeply concerned about the fate of the individuals abducted from Camp Ashraf as well as the security of the residents remaining in Iraq at Camp Hurriya. We are pursuing these matters actively and daily with UNAMI, with UNHCR, the government of Iraq and other relevant authorities, to seek information on the MEK members who went missing and to ensure as much protection as possible is provided for the residents who are at Camp Hurriya.
So I’m sure, as I said, that these are the kinds of conversations we have with our counterparts as part of a whole array of topics that will come up.
Today Afzal Afzalnia (UPI) shares why he was against Barack meeting with Nouri:
On Sept. 1 my brother was killed -- brutally murdered by masked gunmen under the command of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
I ask you, how would you feel if you lost a loved one and only two months later the person responsible for his death arrived as a guest at the White House?
That is what I am facing Friday, when Maliki is to be received by U.S. President Barack Obama in order to discuss the lasting friendship between their two countries.
I am not alone in being outraged. Indeed, hundreds, even thousands of people will look on with the same sense of revulsion and betrayal, for my brother was only one of 52 individuals killed in a merciless and unprovoked attack on Camp Ashraf in eastern Iraq.
Most of these people were shot in the head at close range. Some were wounded first and later executed while they lay bleeding. Many had their hands tied behind their backs before being shot dead.
Nouri is the new Butcher of Baghdad. Again, the whole meet-up was a farce. Back to the White House claims:
Both delegations also noted the recent resolution from the Iraqi Council of Representatives stating that national elections would be held no later than April 30, 2014. The Iraqi delegation confirmed its commitment to holding these elections on time. Both parties emphasized the importance of the Iraqi government’s determination to hold elections on time and its support to the High Electoral Commission to ensure that the elections are well prepared. The United States offered its technical support in full coordination with the Government of Iraq and the United Nations.
No, not a resolution. A statement by Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi that Iraq would hold elections April 30th. A law needs to be passed for elections. al-Nujaifi says that it doesn't need to be passed because the old election law can be used. The Kurds have rejected the use of the previous law. Might they change their minds? Possibly but they felt ripped off in 2010 and with Jalal and his collapsible spin out of commission you're left with leaders the KDP and Gorran which won the provincial elections in the KRG back in September, you really think they're going to cave on a law that they think harmed the KRG? It could happen, anything could.
Kirk Sowell (Foreign Policy) explains today:
The law is necessary for the parliamentary elections due by the end of April 2014, and since the electoral commission says it needs six months to make preparations, parliament is cutting it close. But with the Kurds and the Arab parties deadlocked, and Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani threatening to boycott the elections, Speaker Osama al-Nujayfi has repeatedly postponed the vote.
The core dispute that is holding up the law is between the Kurdistani Alliance and the Arab blocs, with the Kurds wanting a return to electoral systems used in 2005, under which they did better, and the Arabs preferring a modified form of the law used in 2010. But another amendment on which Maliki and his Sunni rivals agree is intended to suppress independent challenges to the major blocs. Maliki, in particular, is keen to avoid a repetition of this year's provincial elections, in which he (only partially with justice) blames losses by his State of Law Coalition to the system used to allocate seats.
Back to the White House statement:
The U.S. and Iraqi delegations reiterated the importance of Iraq’s future energy sector development and economic growth so all Iraqis can share equitably from its resources, as well as the valuable role that Iraq plays in providing a steady flow of energy resources to global markets. In this regard, the Iraqi side presented Iraq’s new five-year $357 billion development plan and their long-term vision for developing strategic infrastructure that provides energy system resilience and new commercial opportunities, with multiple oil export routes through the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea, and Mediterranean. The delegations welcomed the opportunity to expand cooperation on energy, including steps to advance these projects, at the next Energy Joint Coordination Committee in early 2014.
6 million Iraqis live in poverty by the Iragi's government's admission. When exactly do "all Iraqis" get to "share equitably from its resources"? And at what point does Iraq develop beyond oil? Oh, that's right, the highest official to grasp that Iraq needed to diversify its economy is Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and Nouri railroaded him out of the country (but not out of office). Back to the White House statement:
The Iraqi delegation confirmed its support for the Geneva II process and efforts to forge a diplomatic settlement to the ongoing conflict in Syria. The United States took note of the important role Iraq can play in helping to shape conditions conducive to a peaceful political settlement. The Iraqi delegation expressed its increasing concern about weapons coming into Iraq from Syria for use against the Iraqi people, emphasizing the need to take increasing measures to police its borders and airspace against the transit of weapons or cargo proscribed by applicable U.N. Security Council Resolutions, and called on all neighboring states to cooperate fully.
Nouri can't help with Syria. If you think Iraq's inflamed right now, let Nouri choose a side in the Syrian War and then watch the Green Zone really get attacked. There's no side he can pick that won't either inflame the Sunnis or the Shi'ites. As for his 'help' that he keeps promising -- I don't know that anyone will take seriously his suggestions for peace when he's only inflamed his own country.
Back to the statement:
The Iraqi delegation stressed their desire to harness the U.S. private sector to advance mutual interests in Iraq and the United States. The delegations noted the signing earlier this year of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, which will help increase American exports to Iraq and provide more economic opportunities for the Iraqi people. Both delegations welcomed the steady increase in U.S. companies doing business in Iraq – including major corporations such as Citibank, Ford, General Electric, and Boeing. The Iraqi delegation expressed hope that U.S. businesses can have a prominent role in their country’s rapidly developing energy, transportation, banking, and health sectors. In this regard, both delegations looked forward to mutual trade events to be held over the coming months.
Well, yes, that was the whole point, wasn't it? "Baghdad Year Zero" was about destroying everything to create new markets and new opportunities for big business.
The Iraqi delegation discussed their vision to strengthen their nation through education and exchange programs with an emerging generation. They noted that twenty-five percent of their population – nearly 8 million Iraqis – was born after 2003, and that the Government of Iraq is determined to give this generation educational opportunities inside Iraq and abroad, including at American colleges and universities. Both delegations agreed that the best way to honor our shared sacrifice over the past decade is to provide these young Iraqis with opportunities never enjoyed by other generations. The U.S. delegation noted that under the SFA and the educational programs established through bilateral Joint Coordinating Committees, the number of Iraqi students studying in the United States has grown to nearly 1,000 – and that a university fair last month in Baghdad attracted 30 U.S. universities and 2,000 Iraqi scholarship students.
I'm sorry, are we supposed to swallow that one to? A student exchange program means, for example, an American goes to Paris and studies and a French students comes to the US.
There's no exchange program. No US students are going to Baghdad to study.
The White House really hopes you're as stupid as their spokespeople. The statement finally winds down with:
The two delegations closed the meeting with a shared commitment to increase the numbers of Iraqis studying in the United States, in addition to strengthening other institutional ties beyond government-to-government ties, to include cultural, artistic, and scientific exchanges. Both sides again reflected on the sacrifice that has made this progress possible, while recognizing the very serious challenges that must be confronted together.
That has to be the weakest conclusion to a White House statement ever. (And we ran it in full, FYI.)
With the visit concluded, we'll note Dion Nissenbaum and Jared Favole (Wall St. Journal) observing:
But while Mr. Maliki worked to persuade American leaders to free up more U.S. military aid, leading lawmakers expressed dismay over the Iraqi leader's repeated insistence that he bore little responsibility for the sectarian violence sweeping his country.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was "extremely disappointed" by his meeting with Mr. Maliki and said the prime minister hurt his case for new U.S. arms.
"If the visit was to cement American confidence and support, he certainly didn't do it for me," Mr. Menendez said in an interview.
On Thursday's NewsHour (PBS -- link is video, text and audio), Margaret Warner reported on this topic:
MARGARET WARNER: But many critics here and in Iraq say elected Prime Minister Maliki and his Shiite-dominated government share the blame for the rising dangers to their country by monopolizing government power in a way that has rekindled Sunni resentment and anger.
Arizona Senator John McCain is among them.
JOHN MCCAIN, R-Ariz.: The major reason for the unraveling in Iraq was Maliki's failure to govern in an inclusive fashion, measures that he has taken which have alienated the Sunni population, therefore, a breeding ground, therefore, then assistance to Syria. I think the genesis was the failure of Maliki's government, and it was taken advantage of by the situation in Syria.
MARGARET WARNER: Obama administration officials don't disagree, but want to help Maliki anyway. The reason, explains Ryan Crocker, is that there's still much at stake in what happens in Iraq for the security of the U.S. and the wider region.
We've called out a lot of press this week -- and there were so many we didn't have time to call out -- but we can also offer some applause for one person: Spencer Ackerman. From his piece for the Guardian:
Intelligence sharing still carries a risk: Maliki’s closest ally is the US's regional adversary, Iran. The New Yorker reported recently that Iraq’s rejection of a residual US military force in 2011, an act that resulted in all but a handful of US troops withdrawing that December, came at the instigation of the Iranian spy chief Qassem Suleimani.
Max Boot's a conservative and a supporter of the Iraq War. I'm a leftist and began speaking out against the war to college audiences in February 2003 -- a month before the war started. I don't think Max Boots agree on much of anything. Nor do I expect us to. But he is one of the few who does cover Iraq regularly. So here's a link to his latest -- I haven't read it, even if I had, I couldn't offer critique because we don't have the room. Many things are getting edited out but because he does cover Iraq regularly, I will give him a link in this snapshot. I have not had time to listen to Patty Culhane's audio report for Al Jazeera but we'll link to it as well. Another non-text link is Ahmed Maher's BBC News report from Sadr City. Here and Now (NPR) continued their Iraq coverage today by speaking with Iraqi journalist Omar Fekeiki.
Yesterday, a very violent month for Iraq ended. As we noted last Saturday, it was the "Most violent October in Iraq since 2007." Today we have some totals. AFP's tally: "Overall, at least 743 people were killed by attacks in Iraq in October, according to the AFP tally, more than similar figures for January, February and March combined." The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq's toll is 979 dead and 1,793 injured. Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) reports, "Antiwar.com, which compiles figures using various media sources, found that 1,370 people were killed and 2,361 were wounded during the month." And Iraq Body Count notes:
OCTOBER TOTAL: 1,095 CIVILIANS KILLED. OVER 7,000 THIS YEAR.
Turning to today's violence, National Iraqi News Agency reports a Mosul armed attack left 4 police dead, an armed attack west of Samarra left 2 police dead and three more injured, a Jorfi-ssakhar roadside bombing claimed the lives of 2 Sahwa, Nouri's forces shot dead 1 suspect in Anbar while conducting mass arrests, a Falluja sniper shot dead 1 police officer and left another injured, Alsumaria adds a Kirkuk armed attack left one Iraqi soldier and one Operation Tigris Command member injured. and a Taji attack left 1 police officer dead and another injured.
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Posted by Elaine at 11:56 PM Links to this post
Barack has blood on his hands
Richard Sisk (Military.com) reports that an unnamed "senior State Department official" said that
the US will suppy Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "with a major weapons sale . . . that will include Apache attack helicopters."
Blood on Barack's hands.
Nouri is a tyrant. As C.I. has so often noted, Nouri is another Augusto Pinochet. He has repeatedly attacked the peaceful protesters in Iraq. Just today, Human Rights Watch noted:
Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned by the deepening crisis in Iraq, including the harsh crackdown on a range of government critics, which has intensifiedin the two years since Prime Minister al-Maliki’s last state visit. Immediately upon returning from Washington in 2011, al-Maliki ordered the arrests of Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi and a number of his staff, one of whom died in police custody and whose body displayed signs of torture. The arrests kicked off a year in which security forces under his direct command threatened government critics and used state institutions—some of which the US had a role in setting up, like the Integrity Commission and Inspectors General in the Interior and Defense ministries—to arrest and charge political opponents without disclosing the evidence against them. Over the past two years, the government dramatically escalated use of the death penalty despite serious flaws in the justice system, executing 65 people already this month and 140 so far in 2013. At least one of those executed in October had a court judgment declaring him innocent shortly before he was executed.
Equally disturbing is the fact that al-Maliki’s government has not implemented promised key legal reforms, such ending the use of secret informant testimony and coerced confessions as a basis for convictions. Authorities exploit vague provisions in the Anti-Terrorism Law to settle personal or political scores, while judges and investigating officers collude to prolong the time detainees are held and ignore their allegations of abuses. Suspects have little or no access to an adequate defense, and are frequently detained for months and even years without charge.
Over the last two years Iraqi security forces illegally detained and tortured scores of peaceful protesters as well as men and women living in areas in which the government believes armed groups operate. This past February Human Rights Watch viewed the physical signs of torture on more than 20 women in Baghdad’s Central Prison for Women and on death row. Court documents in the case against a woman executed earlier this month showed that two courts had dismissed charges against her due to a medical report documenting security forces had severely tortured her to induce her to confess to terrorism.In June 2013 the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) reported that large numbers of detainees, particularly those arrested under Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Law, complain that they were “subjected to a range of abuse, mistreatment and torture in order to extract confessions” during detention and interrogation.
People better start paying attention in this country. Nouri is Pinochet. Back in the day, on the left, we called out despots. Today the faux left represented by pissing her panties Katrina vanden Heuvel stay silent to protect their titty baby Barack Obama.
Millions suffer in Iraq so that little whiney asses won't have to call out The Golden Calf.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013. Chaos and violence continue, Nouri meets with Biden, Nouri's involvement in the attacks on the Ashraf community gets attention, as do his other misdeeds, his fluffer returns to fluff for him, the Pope offers a prayer for Iraqis, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee holds a hearing and Chair Bernie Sanders makes a statement that undercuts the work of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and much more.
Julian E. Barnes (Wall St. Journal) reports, "Top officials from the government of Iraq met Wednesday morning with Vice President Joe Biden over ways to address the rising levels of al Qaeda violence in the country, administration officials said. A senior administration official said Wednesday the intensifying violence is a threat to Iraq, regional stability and U.S. interests. The official said that Iraqi forces lack the capability to effectively counter al Qaeda and its camps in western Iraq." Iraq's prime minister and chief thug, Nouri al-Maliki, is in the US and Reuters notes he met with Biden today for two hours.
US President Barack Obama is set to meet with Nouri on Friday at the White House. Human Rights Watch publishes an open letter to Barack today which includes:
Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned by the deepening crisis in Iraq, including the harsh crackdown on a range of government critics, which has intensifiedin the two years since Prime Minister al-Maliki’s last state visit. Immediately upon returning from Washington in 2011, al-Maliki ordered the arrests of Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi and a number of his staff, one of whom died in police custody and whose body displayed signs of torture. The arrests kicked off a year in which security forces under his direct command threatened government critics and used state institutions—some of which the US had a role in setting up, like the Integrity Commission and Inspectors General in the Interior and Defense ministries—to arrest and charge political opponents without disclosing the evidence against them.
Over the past two years, the government dramatically escalated use of the death penalty despite serious flaws in the justice system, executing 65 people already this month and 140 so far in 2013. At least one of those executed in October had a court judgment declaring him innocent shortly before he was executed.
Iraq does face serious security threats, but the government’s failure to make urgently needed reforms and hold officials accountable for terrible abuses like torture has made Iraq less safe, not more. In fact, the government’s heavy-handed approach is contributing to greater instability and exacerbating sectarian tensions. Violence this year worsened considerably after security forces stormed a camp of peaceful protesters in Hawija in April, killing 51 people. Attacks by armed groups, which claimed over 5,740 lives already between January and September, have internally displaced another 5,000 Iraqis from Basra, Thi Qar and Baghdad, and within Diyala and Ninewa. The escalation in executions after trials in which people are convicted on the basis of coerced confessions and secret evidence—for the most part in the name of counterterrorism—have done nothing to address the crisis. On the contrary, numerous Iraqis, Shia and Sunni, have told Human Rights Watch that authorities’ failure to hold perpetrators accountable regardless of their sect has polarized Iraq’s population, particularly in Sunni areas where people see the government’s failure to hold Shia-dominated security forces accountable as confirmation that policies remain rooted in sectarianism.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has called Iraq’s border restrictionsof Syrians seeking asylum cause for “major concern.” Despite Iraq’s insistence they would continue to admit “urgent humanitarian cases” and family reunification cases, authorities severely limited the number of Syrians allowed to enter beginning in August 2012. In September, the Interior Ministry threatened to close al-Waleed camp, where 5,000 Syrians currently reside. New arrivals virtually ceased in late March, when Iraq’s Interior Ministry closed its al-Qaem border crossing, effectively violating the customary international law principle of non-refoulement. Of the over 200,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq, all but 5,000 of entered through border crossings the Kurdistan Region Government de facto controls.
Many Iraqis—civilians and government and security authorities—have told Human Rights Watch that they believe the security gains US troops and their allies made after the surge have been undermined. The US has largely turned a blind eye to the terrible abuses Prime Minister al-Maliki’s government is helping to perpetuate. Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal cited senior administration officials in reporting that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other US intelligence and security personnel were cooperating with Iraqi security forces that have allegedly committed abuses.
Nate Rawlings (Time magazine) uses the visit to note:
But Iraq’s current crisis is not purely the work of al-Qaeda and extremists slipping in from Syria—and some would argue Maliki himself is in part at fault OK?. While exacerbated by the Syrian civil war, the violence is largely the result of domestic sectarian and political rifts. The current crisis arguably began in December 2012, when the government raided the home of a prominent Sunni politician, leading to anti-government protests in the heavily Sunni Anbar Province. In the spring, government security forces clashed with Sunni gunmen, sparking a cycle of violence that has continued into the fall.
Maliki recently acknowledged that Iraq suffers from a “crisis of its entire political system,” and few would disagree. Another op-ed this week in the International New York Times, co-written by Emma Sky, a British Middle East expert who served as a political adviser top U.S. commanders in Iraq (who Petraeus lauded in his piece as “brilliant”), eviscerates Maliki and argues he triggered the current crisis, chiefly, by not integrating Sunnis into the political process.
But Sky, and her co-author Ramzy Mardini, a research analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, argued that Maliki is not the root of Iraq’s ills, and that if he were defeated in next year’s elections, “the primacy of survivalism in Iraqi political life” will continue. Maliki was an unlikely prime minister who won the post, in part, because then U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad argued he would be independent of Iran. In the years since, Maliki and his Shi’a State of Law coalition have been criticized for failing to bring Sunnis into the governing quorum and launching authoritarian crackdowns against Sunni politicians. “Mr. Obama shouldn’t mistake Iraq for a liberal democracy,” Sky and Mardini wrote. “At best, it’s a democracy without democrats.”
That's a good effort from Nate and stronger on the facts than most American reports but before we explain what's missing, let's deal with Nouri's fluffer. Patrick Cockburn (CounterPunch) is as crazy as his dead brother, the denier of global warming Alexader Cockburn. In his latest garbage Patrick Cockburn insists:
The civil war in Syria is reigniting the sectarian civil war in Iraq. A vast area of eastern Syrian and western Iraq is turning into a zone of war. Well-armed and well-organised al-Qa’ida-linked movements are launching attacks with suicide bombers from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Tigris River.
Unlike Patrick, we don't have a break from Iraq. We don't get to forget Iraq for several months as we shift to Syria or some other country. Which means we actually pay attention. And you have to do that or you will lose track of what's going on. I worry that our focus on Nouri's visit means we're not including important stories from within Iraq.
Reality, when nobody in the US media gave a damn about what was going on Iraq, we were saying here violence was increasing, pay attention to Iraq. But no one wanted to notice, everyone was too busy. The violence in Iraq has nothing to do with Syria with the possible exception that violent Iraqis -- Shi'ite and Sunni -- who want Iraq to take a side in Syria may take that anger and frustration out in Iraq. Patrick's only US media via CounterPunch and Antiwar Radio but he's focused on everything except Iraq and he's been an apologist for Nouri for seven years now.
Nate Rawlings is right about December 2012 forward but he's unaware of what happened before. For example the targeting of December 2012 echoes the targeting of December 2011 with Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi.
But how did Iraq get to this point. Unlike Patrick Cockburn, Mohammed Tawfeeq is a real reporter. Back in July of 2012, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."
Now according to the Iraqi Constitution, if you can't appoint a full Cabinet, you can't become prime minister (someone else is named prime minister designate and given 30 days to build a Cabinet). But US President Barack Obama wanted Nouri to have a second term and that required tossing aside the votes of the Iraqi people and spitting on the Iraqi Constitution to create The Erbil Agreement -- a legal contract which gave Nouri his second term. If the Constitution had applied, Nouri would not be prime minister. More importantly, if the Constitution had applied, Nouri would have had to have created a cabinet (in full).
You can't fail to name people to head the security ministries and not have problems. Nouri refused to nominate people to head the security ministries because this was a power grab. Each year, violence gets worse but Nouri's term is almost over and he will have ended it by refusing to have a Minister of Defense, etc.
The Erbil Agreement was brokered by the US government to give Nouri a second term as prime minister. To get the leaders of other political blocs to sign off, this was a power-sharing agreement which made various promises. Nouri used the contract to get his second term, stalled on delivering his end of promises and then flat out refused.
It's not December 2012 that the breakdown takes place. The Erbil Agreement is the poison apple.
By the summer of 2011, tired of being patient, the Kurds, Moqtada al-Sadr and Iraqiya are calling for The Erbil Agreement to be implemented as promised. Nouri refuses. Violence is increasing but no one notices apparently. Then people are tired of asking.
That's when the move begins to unseat Nouri.
In May of 2012, after over a month of threatening, the groups had their signatures. Enough for a vote of no-confidence. They handed them over to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani whose only job was to present the petition to the Parliament. If he had, a vote would take place. If just the MPs who signed the petition had voted no confidence, if no one else had, Nouri wouldn't be prime minister today.
The US government and Nouri applied strong pressure to Jalal and he's got no spine, he's always been worthless. So he announces that some people who signed the petition have changed their minds or there are forgeries or there are this or there are that.
Fat ass Jalal's only job was to deliver the petition.
But if he had, a vote would have been called immediately and Nouri would have been out of office.
Violence again increases.
It's not surprising.
You're an Iraqi, you went and voted. You voted for the winning party: Iraqiya. But you saw your vote didn't count. And you tried to be patient with the process. But you see MPs sign on for a no confidence vote to remove Nouri. And even though they play by the rules and even though they get the signatures required, it means nothing.
That's the message Barack Obama has sent the Iraqi people: Your vote doesn't matter, your Constitution doesn't matter.
In the face of that, of course people will resort to violence. Of course they will. This has been the same story throughout the beginning of time. That's the point Jackson Btowne makes in "Lives in the Balance:"
Or the people who finally can't take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
It is not a mystery.
Granted, there are some who will crawl across cut glass before they will ever hold Barack accountable but his actions with regards to nullifying the 2010 elections in Iraq commanded all that followed.
The increase in violence is in relation to Iraqis attempting to escape Nouri but being denied all legitimate attempts. When every available legal recourse is taken from you, violence can be seen as a viable option.
What Patrick Cockburn works to hide and conceal, a few can shine a light on. David Petraeus was once the top US commander in Iraq. During that time he oversaw the so-called 'surge' (influx of additional US troops into Iraq) and the creation of the Sahwa ("Awakenings" and "Sons Of Iraq" are two other names). At Foreign Policy, he offers:
Various actions by the Iraqi government have undermined the reconciliation initiatives of the surge that enabled the sense of Sunni Arab inclusion and contributed to the success of the venture. Moreover, those Iraqi government actions have also prompted prominent Sunnis to withdraw from the government and led the Sunni population to take to the streets in protest. As a result of all this, Iraqi politics are now mired in mistrust and dysfunction.
Let's move over to the Ashraf community. Camp Ashraf in Iraq is now empty. All remaining members of the community have been moved to Camp Hurriya (also known as Camp Liberty) as of last month. Camp Ashraf housed a group of Iranian dissidents who were welcomed to Iraq by Saddam Hussein in 1986 and he gave them Camp Ashraf and six other parcels that they could utilize. In 2003, the US invaded Iraq.The US government had the US military lead negotiations with the residents of Camp Ashraf. The US government wanted the residents to disarm and the US promised protections to the point that US actions turned the residents of Camp Ashraf into protected person under the Geneva Conventions. This is key and demands the US defend the Ashraf community in Iraq from attacks. The Bully Boy Bush administration grasped that -- they were ignorant of every other law on the books but they grasped that one. As 2008 drew to a close, the Bush administration was given assurances from the Iraqi government that they would protect the residents. Yet Nouri al-Maliki ordered the camp repeatedly attacked after Barack Obama was sworn in as US President. July 28, 2009 Nouri launched an attack (while then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was on the ground in Iraq). That's the attack Lara Logan reported on. In a report released this summer entitled "Iraqi government must respect and protect rights of Camp Ashraf residents," Amnesty International described this assault, "Barely a month later, on 28-29 July 2009, Iraqi security forces stormed into the camp; at least nine residents were killed and many more were injured. Thirty-six residents who were detained were allegedly tortured and beaten. They were eventually released on 7 October 2009; by then they were in poor health after going on hunger strike." April 8, 2011, Nouri again ordered an assault on Camp Ashraf (then-US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was again on the ground in Iraq when the assault took place). Amnesty International described the assault this way, "Earlier this year, on 8 April, Iraqi troops took up positions within the camp using excessive, including lethal, force against residents who tried to resist them. Troops used live ammunition and by the end of the operation some 36 residents, including eight women, were dead and more than 300 others had been wounded. Following international and other protests, the Iraqi government announced that it had appointed a committee to investigate the attack and the killings; however, as on other occasions when the government has announced investigations into allegations of serious human rights violations by its forces, the authorities have yet to disclose the outcome, prompting questions whether any investigation was, in fact, carried out." Those weren't the last attacks. They were the last attacks while the residents were labeled as terrorists by the US State Dept. (September 28, 2012, the designation was changed.) In spite of this labeling, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed that "since 2004, the United States has considered the residents of Camp Ashraf 'noncombatants' and 'protected persons' under the Geneva Conventions." So the US has an obligation to protect the residents. 3,300 are no longer at Camp Ashraf. They have moved to Camp Hurriyah for the most part. A tiny number has received asylum in other countries. Approximately 100 were still at Camp Ashraf when it was attacked Sunday. That was the second attack this year alone. February 9th of this year, the Ashraf residents were again attacked, this time the ones who had been relocated to Camp Hurriyah. Trend News Agency counted 10 dead and over one hundred injured. Prensa Latina reported, " A rain of self-propelled Katyusha missiles hit a provisional camp of Iraqi opposition Mujahedin-e Khalk, an organization Tehran calls terrorists, causing seven fatalities plus 50 wounded, according to an Iraqi official release." They were attacked again September 1st. Adam Schreck (AP) reported that the United Nations was able to confirm the deaths of 52 Ashraf residents.
US House Rep Ted Poe has a written about the attacks on the Ashraf community for The Hill and he notes:
In June 2011, I and other members of Congress met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Iraq to discuss U.S.-Iraqi relations. The meeting that was supposed to last 20 minutes but went for two hours came to an abrupt halt when our delegation asked to see the camp where these opposition members lived. The camp had been attacked just two months prior, resulting in the death of 36 unarmed residents. Al-Maliki’s mood immediately changed, and he said that there was no way that we were going to see the camp. Al-Maliki did not allow us to go because he had something to hide.
Two years and three attacks later, there are troubling signs of at least complicity, if not outright involvement, by the government of Iraq in this latest attack. There are more than a dozen checkpoints manned by Iraqi security forces on the road to the camp. There are also armed Iraqi guards surrounding the camp, ostensibly there to protect the residents. The idea that the assailants could get past all of the checkpoints and carry out an approximately three-hour attack on the camp without the knowledge of the government of Iraq is difficult to believe.
The State Department condemned the attack and asked the government of Iraq to investigate. Given the history of the previous attacks and the circumstances of this latest attack, that’s like asking Al Capone to run the IRS. When I was a prosecutor, the first thing you did in opening an investigation was interview the witnesses, but more than a month after this most recent attack, the Iraqi government has yet to interview any of the 42 survivors. That’s because there is no investigation. It is all a sham. The Iraqi government cannot be trusted to keep these refugees safe.
On Nov. 1, al-Maliki will come dragging the sack to collect more of our taxpayers’ money as he meets with the president. The U.S. must do a better job of holding the government of Iraq accountable; there should be real consequences for the lack of protection of these unarmed, innocent civilians.
AFP reports today:
Calling for a UN investigation into the attack, the Aachen-based Rights for Migrants group said interviews with the 42 survivors of the attack on Camp Ashraf, in central Diyala province, "unequivocally puts Iraqi forces at the scene."
It alleged Iraqi police moved blockades guarding the camp to allow access to about 120 armed attackers, who were dressed in uniforms identical to those worn by a special Iraqi forces division and spoke with Iraqi accents.
"For two hours, the attackers scoured the camp, killing 52 and destroying millions of dollars in property. Every individual killed was shot in the head or neck, and many were handcuffed before being executed," the report said.
While issues are being raised in the US press about Nouri's visit, there are also opinions being offered in the Iraqi press. All Iraq News reports MP Hussein al-Shirifi has issued a statement regarding Nouri's visit to the US:
This visit is rejected and we do not welcome it because America occupies Iraq and destroyed its infrastructure in addition to creating terrorism that kills Iraqis daily. Will the Iraqi government call for the rights of the Iraqis who were killed by the US soldiers? and will the crime of Black Water Security Company be discussed?
Hussein al-Shirifi is with Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc.
Let's take a look at violence in Iraq. AFP reports, "Three suicide bombings killed 14 Iraqi security force members overnight, officials said" Sinan Salaheddin (AP) adds, "a bomb exploded near an outdoor market in the afternoon in Baghdad's western suburbs of Abu Ghraib, killing three shoppers and wounding nine." Also overnight, Press TV notes "in a village outside the city of Mosul, situated about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, three Iraqi security forces and four civilians were killed after a bomber exploded his explosives-laden car near a checkpoint." Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports, "Attackers targeting security forces staged a coordinated assault on a police checkpoint west of Mosul, Iraq, killing at least nine people and wounding 25 others Wednesday in the latest spasm of violence in an increasingly restive country." National Iraqi News Agency reports an Abu Sayda roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left four more injured, a Falluja armed attack left 1 police officer and 1 police member dead, 2 brothers were shot dead outside their Mosul home, a Baghdad sticky bombing claimed the life of 1 Ministry of Interior employee, a Tikrit home bombing (police officer's home) left one civilian injured, a Kirkuk armed clash left three police officers injured, an Albu-Ajeel Village roadside bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer while leaving two people injured, 2 Baquba bombings left three people injured (one s a police officer) and a Muqdadiya bombing injured "a woman and her two children."
On violence, BBC News offers, "Since the beginning of 2013, there have been just 16 days in which there were no deaths from violence in Iraq, the most recent of which was 24 May, according to figures compiled by the AFP news agency." We try to be nice.
The AFP count is a good thing. It serves as a check on the official figures Nouri's ministries release each month. We had noted they were an undercount. We had noted that for years. Prashant Rao started the AFP count and suddenly reports can note the official figures are an undercount. That's great and I'm not being sarcastic. If the AFP count never accomplished anything else that's something.
For some reason, the last six weeks have seen media outlets -- such as NPR -- suddenly noticing that AFP is keeping a count. And we were kind and let them have their moment to shine. But now the BBC is using them. And fools like W.T. Whitney Jr. (CounterPunch) are rah-rah over them.
They are a reference point, they are nothing more. Iraq Body Count remains the best count. The AFP count suffered last year and this year whenever Prashant was out of Iraq because other AFP employees didn't necessarily feel the need to update.
So you need to be very careful, when using the AFP count. On May 24, 2013, there were no reported deaths. But it was a Friday which should make you cautious as well. Friday's have been the worst for reporting violence. The Friday in question? Even worse since reporters were arrested that day:
But as BBC allegedly reports on violence, they rush to insist, per AFP -- they state -- no one died on May 24, 2013.
We've said it many times before, the dead are probably the lucky ones. Being challenged or disabled is no treat anywhere but it is especially brutal in a war zone. Did violence take place on May 24th? Yes it did. From that day's snapshot:
Too bad all the fairy tales in the world won't chase away the ongoing violence. All Iraq News notes 1 person was shot dead in Mosul yesterday. Alsumaria adds that a Mosul attack today left one police officer injured and an armed attack on a Baghdad police station has left seven police officers injured. National Iraqi News Agency reports an assassination attempt in Awja on Col Akrahm Saddam Midlif which he survived but which left two of his bodyguards wounded, a Falluja attack left two people injured (drive-by shooting), a Baquba bombing left a Sahwa injured, and late last night there was an attempted assassination on Diyala Province Governor Omar Himyari in Hamrin which left one of his bodyguards injured. Through yesterday, Iraq Body Count counts 653 violent deaths so far this month.
That's 13 injured (we're not counting the attack on Omar Himyari in Hamarin which left a bodyguard injured due to it taking place Thursday night). And AFP records how many injured for that day?
Zero. Which means BBC got very lucky because AFP didn't fill out the 24th. It happens there were no deaths. But you're reporting on violence and there were 13 people left injured that day. But AFP took the 24th off and never filled in it.
You need to be very careful about citing AFP. Prashant Rao has repeatedly explained on his Twitter feed that they may miss some deaths. It's a reference. That's all it is. A stronger count will always be Iraq Body Count.
And while we're being critical of the AFP count, let's also note that that they do not include civilians as a category. If you'll deduct all their categories ("Police," "Soldiers," "Sahwa," "Kurdish Security Forces" and "Militants") from the day's total, you can have a number for civilians. That AFP did not feel civilians rated as their own category is very messed up.
Civilians do get attention and sympathy from one figure today. Catholic World News reports, "Pope Francis issued an appeal for prayers for peace in Iraq at the close of his regular weekly audience on Wednesday, October 30." Vatican Radio (link is audio and text) quotes the Pope saying, "I invite you all to pray for the dear nation of Iraq, unfortunately affected daily by tragic episodes of violence in order that Iraq might find the way that leads to reconciliation, peace, unity and stability."In Italy today, Rome Reporrs explains, "At the end of the Wednesday's General Audience, Pope Francis met with the delegates of the many religious groups that call Iraq home. He met with Christian, Shia and Sunni Muslim leaders, as well as Sabeans and Yazidis." Prensa Latina adds, "The Iraqi delegation, comprised of Shiite, Sunni, Christian and other religious representatives, participates, since Tuesday, in a meeting organized by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, headed by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran. During the meeting, both parties analyzed the situation of religious communities in Iraq and the relations among them and the possible creation of a Permanent Committee for Dialogue of Baghdad and the Vatican."
"Okay," declared US Senator Bernie Sanders this afternoon, "we've got a lot of work in front of us, let's get going." He is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Senator Richard Burr is the Ranking Member. Today was a legislative hearing where people testify about their bills. So we heard from senators. We heard from others as well -- and we shouldn't have.
Chair Bernie Sanders: Before I discuss a few of the bills I have on today's agenda, I want to briefly touch on the issue of the administration's views. Let me be kind of to the point on this one, I understand that as a result of the government shutdown and a lot of the pressure on the VA they have not gotten all their comments and views in. We also understand that in the past, they really have not been prompt in their responses to the legislation that we have proposed. So let me just say this to them, the job of this Committee and what we were elected to do is to represent the people of this country and, in particular, the veterans of this country. And if the VA is not responsive in getting their comments in, that's fine, doesn't impact us at all, we're going to forward. But clearly the VA is going to have to implement the policies developed by this Conmittee and this Congress and we want to work with them. But our job is to legislate and we're going to go forward with or without the cooperation of the VA and the administration.
There is nothing good about that statement. That statement doesn't cut and should not be made by any chair. Congress has rules. If they're going to waive them for the VA, they're going to have to waive them for everyone.
And on the House Veterans Affairs Committee? They're fighting to get statements on time, to get questions answered promptly. Sanders has no right to say, "It doesn't matter." That's embarrassing.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki is an embarrassment. Under him, the VA refuses to even turn in written testimony promptly.
Here's how you deal with that, you don't let the VA testify. I'm not noting them or their testimony because the VA's failure to do what is required means they shouldn't be allowed to testify. This is not a new problem. It began emerging just before Sanders became Chair.
And it's been noticeable throughout actually. Forget the written statements for a moment, Eric Shinseki's first obvious failure was knowing for months that the VA system would be overwhelmed in the fall of 2009 and some veterans would not get tuition checks. He refused to inform Congress. This has happened over and over.
From the House VA Committee's website:
Trials in Transparency is designed to highlight one of the committee’s top oversight challenges: getting timely information from Department of Veterans Affairs officials.
This page will be updated on a weekly basis and will keep a running record of outstanding information requests made to VA by both Democrat and Republican members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
VA is currently sitting on nearly 100 separate requests for information made by the committee, some dating back more than a year. The leisurely pace with which VA is returning requests – and in some cases not returning them – is a major impediment to the basic oversight responsibilities of the committee.
VA’s unanswered questions have created mounting frustration for committee members, and prompted Chairman Miller to take the unprecedented step of writing weekly letters to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki listing the number of outstanding information requests and asking for “accurate information in satisfaction of these requests.”
Notable Outstanding Info Requests:
July 10, 2012: Request for data on VA mental health hiring practices
September 20, 2012: Request for info on VA conference spending practices
January 2013: Request for all VA documents and emails from 2007- present regarding legionella bacteria or Legionnaires’ disease within the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
February 19, 2013: Request for a list of performance standards VA providers are required to meet when providing mental health care
June 13, 2013: Request for clarification regarding the breach of VA’s computer network
Quick Facts (As of October 28, 2013):
Number of Outstanding Requests: 11
Three Oldest Outstanding Requests: June 5, 2012; July 10, 2012; and July 23, 2012
Requests Pending since 2012: 12
» 2013-04-03 Letter to President Obama and Secretary Shinseki re Legionell .pdf
» CJM and RMM letter to SecVA re IT Security.pdf
Even if the Senate VA Committee no longer gives a damn whether VA responds or not, it is still not appropriate for Sanders to take that position when it undercuts the House VA efforts to obtain information. The two need to work together, they do not need to be at cross purposes. If Sanders is unable to help the House Committee, he should at least refrain from harming it.
From today's hearing:
Senator Bill Nelson: The first one is a no brainer. It's naming the Bay Pines Hospital in Pinellas County, Florida after the longest serving Republican member of the House of Representatives who we just lost last week, Bill Young. His record as Appropriations Chairman and as Defense Appropriations Chairman, the way he lived his life where he and his wife who literally adopted a Marine who was back from the war and have raised him as their son, and the way that he has reached out to veterans -- so much so, that the Florida delegation and I conferred last week, before his funeral -- while we were still in recess, the House was in session -- and the House took it up and has already passed it, naming the Bay Pines VA Hospital after Bill Young. That's the first piece and if you all see fit to move that legislation, it would be a timely -- a timely thing for the family. Veterans Conservation Corps. This is for post-911 veterans coming home who are unemployed. They would be employed -- not unlike the old CCC -- for up to one year with a possible one year extension. It obviously has a price tag of about a couple of million dollars. The question is: What is the value to society of employing veterans for worthwhile things in our national parks and schools? And I can go into as much detail as you want but that's the idea. And the third piece of legislation is what this Committee has already pushed: Electronic Health Records coming out of the Dept of Defense active duty as they then go into the VA health care system. And of course you know the difficulty there. And this tries to set a timeline that is achievable and tells the VA and the DoD set your goals, set your milestones, achieve them, and then have the full implementation of the electronic health records that will allow a seamless transfer which is what we all want. Those are my three pieces of legislation
Let's go to that third bill:
Servicemember's Electronic Health Records Act of 2013 - Amends the Wounded Warrior Act to require the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs, in implementing electronic health record systems that provide for the full interoperability of personal health care information between the Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to ensure that:
(1) a health data authoritative source that can be accessed by multiple providers and that standardizes the input of new medical information is created by the Departments within 180 days,
(2) the ability of patients of both Departments to download their medical records is achieved within 180 days,
(3) full interoperability of personal health care information between the Departments is achieved within one year,
(4) acceleration of the exchange of real-time data between the Departments is achieved within one year,
(5) the upgrade of the graphical user interface to display a joint common graphical user interface is achieved within one year, and
(6) current members of the Armed Forces and their dependents may elect to receive an electronic copy of their health care records beginning not later than June 30, 2015. Requires the Secretaries to assess the feasibility and advisability of establishing a secure, remote, network-accessible computer storage system (commonly referred to as cloud storage) to:
(1) provide members of the Armed Forces and veterans the ability to upload their health care records, and
(2) allow DOD and VA medical providers of the Departments to access such records.
I applaud Senator Bill Nelson for that bill. Why, though, is it necessary?
Because the VA and DoD were supposed to have done this long ago. What happened was Eric Shinseki got then DoD Secretary Robert Gates to agree on the computer system they would both use. And then Shinseki dropped the ball (intentionally, from what I'm told). Leon Panetta then becomes DoD Secretary and Shinseki starts all over. We have to pick a system! Leon is fine with whatever, his attitude is, "Let's just get it started." But Shinseki doesn't. Now Chuck Hagel is VA Secretary and Congress has some questions about the progress on this system that was supposed to have started back in 2009 and Eric LIES to Congress and pins the blame on Hagel. Hagel's so busy and they haven't been able to pick out a system. That's finally been done thanks to very few who have held Shinseki accountabile.
This is part of the VA stonewalling and not answering or informing Congress. Again, Sanders should not have made the remarks he did.
We'll close with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Murray Press Office
Wednesday, October 30th, 2013 (202) 224-2834
VETERANS: Murray Applauds Passage of Veterans Cost-Of-Living Increase
Bill will result in more money in the pockets of millions of veterans across the country
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that a bill she co-sponsored to provide a Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for America’s veterans passed the U.S. Senate Monday by unanimous consent. The COLA for veterans will match the annual increase provided to Social Security recipients which CBO estimates will be 1.5 percent. The Veterans COLA affects several important benefits, including veterans’ disability compensation and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children. It is projected that over 4.2 million veterans and survivors will receive compensation benefits in Fiscal Year 2014.
“Particularly in this difficult economy, our veterans deserve a boost in their benefits to help make ends meet,” Senator Murray said. “We have an obligation to the men and women who have sacrificed so much to serve our country and who now deserve nothing less than the full support of a grateful nation. A COLA increase will help bring us one step closer to fulfilling our nation’s promise to care for our brave veterans and their families.”
The COLA is designed to offset inflation and other factors that lead to the rising cost of living over time. The COLA rate is based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index.
Kathryn Robertson
Deputy Press Secretary
Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Senator Patty Murray's office
Senator Murray's YouTube Channel
Senator Murray's Press Office Twitter Account
RSS Feed for Senator Murray's office
the wall st. journal
julian e. barnes
sinan salaheddin
nate rawlings
Jason Ditz needs to work a little harder
No third term for Nouri
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SOFIA MY LITTLE SWEET AUSTRALIAN COUSIN
SPOKE WITH HER TODAY SHE'S SO ADORABLE...LOVE MY LITTLE GIRL
MY GRADUATION DAY
Who's really amanda knox??
Rome, October 17, 2010 - "I miss my family. I have friends who are like brothers and sisters, but I want to live ... It is here that we can not live, but not what you think you can tell." Amanda Knox, who was sentenced in first instance to 26 years imprisonment for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, speaks of herself from his prison cell in Perugia and dreams of receiving a single gift, "Freedom. All things in life are not the same - he says - not the most important thing. "
To obtain the confidence of the girl in Seattle was Rocco Girlanda, MP and president of Italy Foundation USA, which has made a book, still in print, and which was made available to the Ansa news agency. A few references to the court case is concerned, that appear in the book 'I'm coming with you - Talks in prison with Amada Knox', journal of the many interviews that the author has had with her behind bars. "
"When everything is finished - Amanda says - I want to go to my family, I miss her, but then I go back to Italy, 'cause here I've been good.''He added:" I do not have it in any way with Italy, in Italy there are many people who helped me and I have been close. I do have the conviction that I had.''
The American girl tells of receiving letters from prison in the world, alternating between positive feelings towards her and dismissive reviews. "On the one hand - says Amanda, whose story will soon become a movie for Lifetime TV - I feel grateful that there are so many who care, 'cause I will not be closed all my life for nothing, forgotten as if they were worth anything; I do not want injustice to be accepted easily. At the same time not want to be manipulated into messages of hate. " "I know I'm not alone even when I'm alone," says Amanda, quoting a song by Jovanotti.
In the book, Amanda, in several chapters, he speaks at length with Girlanda - always accompanied in the talks with the girl from Daclon Corrado Maria, founder and secretary general of Italy Foundation USA - about her past, her arrival in Italy, her dreams for future, implying, without explicitly saying so, and hope that his' free to come back soon.
"As a child - tells Amanda - I was a 'tomboy', a tomboy." Her mother gave her an indication of life that strives to put into practice: "the only thing I want you when you grow up - he said - and ' you're nice. I do not care if you're good or if you're smart, I want you to be kind. "Among the memories of adolescence, the parade as a model for artistic projects of a friend.
"I arrived in Italy in September 2007," says Amanda, to attend a course for the creative writer in Rome. My mother has always had great admiration for Italy, and I have learned from her. I have seen very little I arrived in Italy . i have already seen more when I was 14 years old and I came on the road with my parents. I was very pleased Pompeii, Pompeii had studied and then I could say that I know what I saw. "
A few months after arriving in Italy, in Perugia, the impact of the prison: "Living in prison is very special. I consider myself a pretty transparent person, but there should be a bit 'close in themselves. Here there are many people who suffer. Living here is like in a limbo, because obviously you do not want to be here: you live a little 'memories of what life was like before, in the hopes that we want for tomorrow, and trying not to feel as much as possible here . It 's so strange how one feels. "
"I - still tells Amanda - I read a lot and study languages, 'cause I want to be an interpreter, but I am also interested creative writing .. During the day I go out to walk, I write, I get letters. The other prisoners told me:' you're famous. 'I answer, but i'm not Angelina Jolie. What a bad thing to be famous for what has happened to me. It would be better for something I wrote, I realized. "
A difficult situation - she explains - "where there's only me who I am crushed. I often find myself in great difficulty, as, for example, my parents are attacked just because they say as I really am. "
And, speaking of fame, the U.S. also speaks of Fabrizio Corona, "that all tattooed." "One person told me that I should meet him, but I said no right away," says Knox again.
The plans for the future - Amanda does not say, but it suggests - are linked to a speedy return to freedom. She would soon return to his family in the U.S., and then think to realize his dreams: an interpreter or writer, marriage and the desire to adopt a child.
"If I had to decide between having a baby or adopt it - Amanda says - would prefer to adopt it. It 's weird, I know, but I think there are a lot of children in this world who have nobody. I want a husband, but if not I can find the right person, does not mean I do not want to have more children. And I'm not thoroughly convinced that there must necessarily be a family of a father and a mother, for example, I have always been very close to my father, physically close, but my house was only my mother. When I was little and I imagined myself to be great with kids, I often imagined alone. Of course the best situation is that of a father and a mother - she concludes - but I do not think that it is not possible to raise children with love in a different situation. "
''I'm not Catholic - then reveals Amanda - I have not been baptized and my parents left me free to decide. "The girl, however, participate in and put in prison chaplain, Don Saul, has a unique" prophecy ": "It 's convinced that I will become a nun. He sees that I read the prayers with sincerity, and that plays with equal sincerity. "
The book also published a response to a letter the former director of ANSA Giampiero Gramaglia about the process: "I know that I was not always understandable, and I have long been guided by a too stubborn naivete that caused confusion," writes the girl.
ROSELLA SENSI VATTENE
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL SCORES
http://it.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/index.html
STEFANIA ERI IN UN MIO SOGNO STANOTTE
ERI BELLISSIMA TI ERI APPENA SPOSATA IO TI VEDEVO USCIRE FUORI DALLA CHIESA E AVENDO I CONFETTI NON MI SEMBRAVANO ADATTI...COSI' SONO ANDATO NELL'ALIMENTARI PIU VICINO E HO COMPRATO CANDITI, TE LI HO TIRATI ADDOSSO E SEMBRAVI NO BABBA' CON LA PANNA...MAMMA COM'ERI BELLA TI AVREI PRESA CON UNA FORCHETTINA E POCO PER VOLTA IN UN PIATTINO TI AVREI GUSTATA YAYAYA...POPO BELLLLAAAA
sweetie when you can...you could send me sofia's link i've spoke with her few minutes ago but i havent found her on fb....gooed evening cousin
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Mayo sec condemns 'unfair criticism'
Outside Elverys MacHale Park. ©INPHO/Bryan Keane.
Mayo GAA secretary Dermot Butler has written about his disappointment over the criticism that he and members of the executive have received over the handling of a donation made to them by Tim O’Leary.
The situation has made headline news over the course of the last few months as businessman O’Leary questioned where the €150,000 donation given in 2018 was being used and then he asked for the money to be fully reimbursed to him as he felt that the funding was allegedly used for a purpose for which they were not provided.
Writing in his report to convention which will be held next Sunday, Butler was critical of the abuse that the board members had been receiving since the incident.
“It’s always easy for people to sit on the fence and criticise the officers of the board but why don’t these people put their names forward for a job?
“But, no it’s easier to sit behind a faceless account on social media using a pseudo name. People must remember that the officers carry out their duties in a voluntary capacity and while we don’t always do things right, we do our best for Mayo GAA.”
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EIGHT INDEPENDENT MANAGERS BUSY IN ARIZONA WINTER LEAGUE
What do Independent Baseball managers do in the offseason?
This question has a great variety of answers, of course, but eight of them plus some coaches are already back in unform, working in the annual pay-to-play showcase known as the Arizona Winter League.
When the expanded league, operated out of Yuma, AZ by the Golden League, kicks off its 20-game schedule Friday six of the eight teams will be led by Independent skippers. Eddie Dennis is the field boss for Rio Grande Valley of the United League while Golden League managers handling teams are Garry Templeton of Chico, CA, Mike Marshall of Yuma, Brent Bowers of Edmonton, Paul Abbott of Orange County (Fullerton, CA) and Tim Johnson of Tucson.
Sioux City, IA (American Association) manager Les Lancaster is one of two roving pitching coordinators and Toby Rumfield of Florence, KY (Frontier League) is both a catching and hitting coordinator. Edmonton player-coach Darryl Brinkley also is a hitting instructor. The other AWL managers are coaches during the regular Independent season, with Boots Day the hitting coach for the Golden League's Calgary Vipers and Brooks Carey pitching coach for Normal, IL of the Frontier League.
15 HAVE NON-ROSTER JOBS
Our count of former Independent players who have been invited to major league spring training camps as non-roster invitees has grown to 15. That is far below the 33 of one year ago, but then a number of teams have not yet divulged all of their non-roster players. Middle infielders have been ignored so far, just as they were in 2009.
We will be keeping up with these developments here and in our subscriber-only Independent Baseball Insider column.
Posted by Bob Wirz at Thursday, January 28, 2010 No comments:
BATTING AVERAGES SEEM MINISCULE WHEN COMPARED TO A SERIOUS VEHICLE CRASH
Cory Snyder knows a lot about the ups and downs in the life of a baseball player from his nine-year (1986-94) major league career and his current managerial days, but the Snyder family is dealing with an issue right now that is so much bigger than a batting slump.
The onetime outfielder, who is due to manage the new Maui team in the Golden League this summer, is dealing with a serious auto accident January 10 that has left his second daughter, Amberley, with a broken back and at least temporary paralysis from the waist down.
Amberley, an 18-year-old and the Women's World Rodeo All-Around Champion, rolled her truck while on the way to the stock show in Denver. She was thrown from the vehicle and suffered the broken back along with other injuries. She was taken to a smaller hospital then airlifted to another facility in Casper, WY for surgery.
She obviously is a strong young woman as evidenced from becoming a rodeo champion and current Utah Future Farmers of America (FFA) president at such a young age (she turns 19 in one week) as well as from her own Facebook posts describing the accident, her injuries and her thanks to friends for all of their encouragement.
Cory Snyder, a collegiate standout at BYU and a 1984 Olympian, has managed St. George, UT in recent Golden League seasons.
MANAGERIAL OPENINGS
At least three Independent managerial jobs remain open, starting with Snyder's former post in St. George. The Tijuana team in the Golden League has not yet named a manager nor has the new Pittsfield team in the Can-Am League although there are indications Brian Daubach, who led the team last year when it was known as the American Defenders of New Hampshire (Nashua), will return.
LANGAIGNE'S BAT HOT IN VENEZUELAN PLAYOFFS
Well-traveled Indy outfielder Selwyn Langaigne is hitting .340 (17-for-40 with seven RBI) for the Margarita Bravos in the Venezuelan League playoffs. He was with Shreveport, LA in the American Association last season after three years of United League play at Alexandria, LA, including a career best of .353-9-80 in 2007. He played in the Central League for Rio Grande, TX and Jackson, MS from 2003-05.
Posted by Bob Wirz at Friday, January 22, 2010 No comments:
NORTHERN LEAGUE VET'S NEWEST OPPORTUNITY IS WITH PIRATES
Brian Myrow never seems to have a clear path to a major league job despite his 11-year .307 minor league batting average with decent power (115 homers in 3,181 at-bats). We can mark down 2010 as more of the same, though there seems to be some wiggle room for the 33-year-old, whose first two and a half professional seasons (1999-2001) were in the Northern League (Winnipeg).
Myrow moved within Triple-A ranks from the White Sox to Pittsburgh mid-way in 2009, and he made the most of his 62 games for the Pirates in Indianapolis, hitting .330-8-34 with an exceptional .448 on-base percentage. Someone obviously took notice.
This Fort Worth, TX resident's latest major league spring training invitation is with the Pirates where the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said at the time of Myrow's recent signing his experience at first base (more than 400 games) is "an area where the Pirates might have a reserve need".
Pittsburgh's current look at first base has Jeff Clement and Garrett Jones, lefty hitters like Myrow, with the inside track for the new season. Still, Clement has hit only .237 in his first 75 major league games (none of them were last season), and Jones, .293-21-44 in 82 games last season, has been more of an outfielder than a first baseman. The newest signee, veteran outfielder Ryan Church, could become part of the first base solution.
Myrow's 52 games of major league experience have been divided into three seasons with San Diego and the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he was largely a pinch hitter in those cases.
JAY GIBBONS NOW IN DODGERS' ORGANIZATION
Veteran major league outfielder Jay Gibbons, who logged some time with both Long Island, NY (2008) and Newark, NJ (2009) in the Atlantic League, has signed on with the Los Angeles Dodgers although his name does not yet show up on the Dodgers' non-roster list for spring training. Gibbons, 33 by the time the new season starts, hit .233 in 163 at-bats at Newark.
MICHEL HERNANDEZ COULD BACK UP MATT WIETERS IN BALTIMORE
If you are anything like me, one way to get through these frigid days that have come to most of the country is to read about the daily baseball signings and the spring training invitations.
While we can rest assured he did not get a fraction of the Jason Bay or Matt Holliday money, Michel Hernandez is among the most recent Independent Baseball refugees to get a major league spring training invitation.
The 31-year-old catcher will be in camp with Baltimore where his defensive skills may give Hernandez a chance to continue his big league career. Hernandez, whose 25 games for Somerset, NJ of the Atlantic League in 2007 provided a very nice springboard to the majors, would seem to be the top choice right now to back up Matt Wieters. Hernandez hit .242 in 35 games for Tampa Bay last season after serving as the backup catcher throughout the Rays' American League championship run at the end of 2008.
Non-roster invitations are starting to cascade in, and we hope to have a complete current rundown in Thursday's Independent Baseball Insider, the first of 41 such efforts for subscribers in the new year.
JOLIET HAS TWO OPEN TRYOUTS THIS WEEKEND
It is not often when an Independent team strays far from its home base to hold tryout camps, but the Northern League's Joliet Jackhammers are doing just that this week. Manager Chad Parker will look for players at noon this Saturday at San Diego Christian College and at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Masters College in Los Angeles. Downloadable registration forms are available at www.jackhammerbaseball.com.
FARGO BUILDS IT RADIO BASE
I found two things intriguing about the new radio agreement signed by Fargo, ND, another Northern League team.
The RedHawks say The Fan (AM 740) covers more than 100,000 square miles with its daytime coverage, the fifth largest territory for a station in the United States. While day games are usually limited to Sundays and special camp or school days, those contests give Fargo quite a reach. As intelligent marketers, Fargo's agreement with The Fan allows the team to cross-promote on all other stations in the home area.
Posted by Bob Wirz at Wednesday, January 06, 2010 No comments:
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I was first elected to the House of Commons in 2010 and re-elected in the general elections of 2011, 2015 and most recently the general election of October 2019. In addition to my current roles, I previously held the positions of Liberal Party Deputy House Leader and Liberal Party Critic of Immigration and Citizenship.
I was first elected to the Manitoba Legislature for the riding of Inkster back in 1988, I also won in the following Manitoba election years 1990, 1995, 2003 and 2007. I served inside the Legislature for just under 20 years and held critic roles that included Health, Education, Labour, Housing and Immigration.
I served for just over three years as a regular member of the Canadian Forces. My primary posting outside of my training was at the Edmonton Airforce base known as Lancaster Park were I worked as a Air Traffic Controller Assistant.
- Born in Winnipeg back in January 1962.
- Attended elementary and high school in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
- Studied at the University of Winnipeg.
- Married and had two children thiat are now young adults and a daughter in law.
- I also have two young grandchildren.
In October 2019 I was re-elected as "MP for Winnipeg North "
In December 2015 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed me
" Parliamentry Secretary to the Government House Leader "
In December 2019 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
gave me the additional responsibility of
" Parliamentary Secretary to the Queen's Council for Canada "
MP for Winnipeg North
Click here to return to my home page.
- Since leaving the Canadian Forces I have lived in Weston, Tyndall Park, Garden Grove, Shaughnessy Park and I currently reside in The Maples close to McPhillips Street.
- I have always lived in the area in which I have represented.
- During my downtime I enjoy playing cards, driving my Mustang and watching a good movie / tv show.
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This is a breadcrumb navigation to take you back to previous pages.Maine Memory Network > Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature > Bar Harbor: Building of Arts
Bar Harbor: Building of Arts
Building of Arts, Bar Harbor, ca. 1930
Building of Arts, Bar Harbor
Item Contributed by
Jesup Memorial Library
The September 13, 1905 edition of the Bar Harbor Record made the announcement: “A New Building for Music at Bar Harbor."
For many summers music lovers came to Bar Harbor with ever increasing numbers. To many it was evident that Bar Harbor had the potential to be more than a “mere summer resort” and become a “nucleus that would gather to itself each year whatever might be best in musical and other art."
A committee was formed to purchase a site for the building and raise the appropriate funds for construction. Land on the Cromwell Harbor Road, near the Kebo Valley Club was selected “not only for its accessibility and unrivalled mountain view but also for that quiet seclusion and freedom from disturbing influences which are necessary to all artistic accomplishment."
It was believed that this “opportunity is one of true public advantage and capable of far-reaching development."
The Building of Art did succeed for the next 25 or so years. Many famous artists and musicians performed on the stage of the lavish building.
As the Depression left its mark on the summer residents the Building of Art fell into disuse. In January 1943 the building was sold to E.D and Charles A. Holt with no immediate announcement of its future use. Then a mere three years later in April 1947 the Holts sold the building to Consuello Sides of Boston and New York. His plan was to use the building for a summer theatre. In October 1947 the Building of Arts was lost in the large fire that swept the eastern side of Mount Desert Island. The decision was made not to rebuild, a sad ending for a building that had started with such enthusiasm and promise.
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Go to chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39
Chapter 11 (page 46)
Sonographic Anatomy
In transverse sonographic sections the normal pylorus presents as a hypoechoic ring with a central echogenic core (Chap 10, Fig 10.1). By comparing the sonographic image with histological sections Blumhagen and Coombs (l98l) were able to show that the hypoechoic ring corresponds to the muscularis externa layer of the wall, while the more echogenic central core is formed by the mucosal and submucosal layers (including the muscularis mucosae). By means of sonography the relative extent of the muscular and mucosal/submucosal elements of the ring can be determined accurately in normal, living subjects under physiological conditions.
In infants, Stunden et al (l986) found the maximum overall diameter of the normal pyloric ring (presumably with the aperture patent) to be 13.0mm. The hypoechoic muscular layer was 3.0mm in thickness. (The term "thickness" in sonography is synonymous with "height" in microscopic anatomy). The minimum overall diameter (presumably with the aperture closed) was 7.0mm, giving a radius of 3.5mm. In these cases the muscle thickness was 1.0mm, and the mucosal/submucosal layer consequently 2.5mm.
Stringer et al (l986) found the thickness of the mucosal/submucosal layer to vary from 2.5mm to 3.5mm in normal infants. According to Swischuk (l989) the muscularis externa component of the ring usually measures 1.0mm in thickness and the mucosal/submucosal component between 2.5mm and 3.5mm in normal infants. Minor variations have been found by other authors (Chap 10).
Present Investigations
Transverse sonographic sections of the contracted pylorus were obtained in 10 subjects without gastrointestinal symptoms, ranging in age from one month to 73 years; in all a typical "doughnut" appearance was seen (Fig 10.1). In all subjects it was clear that the ring-like, hypoechoic outer muscular layer was equal to, or thinner than the inner, echogenic mucosal/submucosal component of the ring. For instance, in a 5 year old child the radius of the ring was 6.0mm, the thickness of the muscular layer 3.0mm, and that of the mucosal/submucosal layer 3.0mm. In a 73 year old male the radius was 11.0mm, the thickness of the muscle layer 5.0mm, and that of mucosa 6.0mm. It is concluded that, during life, the muscular and mucosal/submucosal components of the ring are more or less equal in height.
Many authorities look upon the pyloric ring as a sphincter (Chapter 2), implying that it is a purely muscular structure. At the other extreme Cole (l928) considered it to be a muco- membranous fold containing no muscular fibres at all. The present microscopic and sonographic images show that the ring has both muscular and mucosal/submucosal divisions. While the outer or peripheral part is formed by muscularis externa, the inner part of this muscular rim is capped by a fold of mucous membrane. With microscopy the height of the inner mucosal/submucosal division appears to be approximately one third that of the muscular part. Sonography of the normal, living ring (which is more accurate than microscopy in this instance, for reasons stated) shows that the muscular and mucosal/submucosal divisions are more or less of equal height in children and adults; in newborn infants the muscular division accounts for one-third, and the mucosal/submucosal division for two-thirds of the height of the ring.
In view of these findings it appears improbable that the pyloric ring as such constitutes a sphincter in the usually accepted sense.
Blumhagen JD, Coombs JB. Ultrasound in the diagnosis of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. J Clin Ultrasound l98l, 9, 289-292.
Cole LG. The living stomach and its motor phenomenon. Acta Rad l928, 9, 533- 545.
Edwards D. Some radiological aspects of pyloric disease. Proc Roy Soc Med l96l, 54, 933-937.
Edwards DAW, Rowlands EN. Physiology of the gastroduodenal junction. In: Handbook of Physiology, Sect 6, Vol 4, Motility. Edit Code CF. American Physiological Society, Washington DC, l968, l985-2000.
Horton BT. Pyloric musculature with special reference to pyloric block. Amer J Anat l928, 41, 197-225.
Manning IH, Gunter GU. Prolapse of redundant gastric mucosa through the pyloric canal into the duodenum. Amer J Path l950, 26, 57-73.
Scott WG. Radiographic diagnosis of prolapsed redundant gastric mucosa into the duodenum, with remarks on the clinical significance and treatment. Radiology l946, 46, 547-568.
Stringer DA, Daneman A, Brunelle F, et al. Sonography of the normal and abnormal stomach (excluding hypertrophic pyloric stenosis) in children. J Ultrasound Med l986, 5, 183-188.
Stunden RJ, Le Quesne GW, Little KET. The improved ultrasound diagnosis of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. Pediat Radiol l986, 16, 200-205.
Swischuk L. Imaging of the Newborn, Infant and Young Child. Williams Wilkins Co, 3rd Edit, Baltimore l989, pp 394-413.
Williams I. Closure of the pylorus. Brit J Rad l962, 35, 653-670.
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© Copyright PLiG 1998
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Throwback Thursday: @Xtina feat. @TheRealRedman- “Dirrty”
After a few years of commercial success, the former Disney star and Pop starlet Christina Aguilera wanted a make over. Dissatisfied with the direction of her career, she decided to get gritty, better yet dirty and change her image to something that suited her better. This lead to her iconic and most highly praised album ‘Stripped,’ released in November 2002, with the lead single “Dirrty” featuring New Jersey rapper Redman.
Aguilera created and chose the song “Dirrty” as a way as a way to escape her Pop image with a “dirtier,” more Urban sound and image to match. Christina approached Hip Hop producer with the idea of a vision of a song with Redman’s “Let’s Get Dirty (I Can’t Get in da Club)” in mind, so it made sense to have him on the track. The David Lachapelle directed video features Xtina in ass-less chaps, dirty fight rings and other kinks. The ass-less chaps look has been reimagined and copied by many, especially for Halloween- most notably Kylie Jenner.
Though the video was banned by many video stations, it managed to peak at #1 on MTV’s TRL and reached #49 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it her first single to not hit the Top 20. The record still garnered critical praise worldwide, receiving platinum and gold plaques worldwide. The single included album track “Make Over,” produced and co-written by Linda Perry, and the non-album track “I Will Be.”
Today, Christina Aguilera has a residency in Las Vegas after releasing her 8th studio album, ‘Liberation,’ last year. Aguilera stated she wanted her residency to serve as a safe space so fans can “take off their masks,” according to People Magazine. Check out the music video below from the iconic Christina Aguilera featuring Hip Hop star Redman below.- @MarvinRashad_
Rockweilder
Premiere: @KingYkOfficial Releases New Single “Missed Call”
New Music: @IAmCardiB- “Press”
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Wizard of Oz Turns 77 today, August 12
“Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow!”
~~ Judy Garland, playing Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz film, 1939, American actress, singer and vaudevillian (June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969).
The Wizard of Oz turned 77 years old August 12th. Happy Birthday to you. This 1939 American fantasy adventure film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was first released on August 12, 1939.
To honor the 75th anniversary back in 2013 aspecial 3D version was released Nationwide on September 20, 2013 for 1 week only to celebrate this milestone. (See The Wizard of Oz 3D Youtube Trailer.)
Based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum the film starred Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, and Frank Morgan, with Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charley Grapewin, Clara Blandick and the Singer Midgets as the Munchkins.
Surprisingly, the initial release of The Wizard of Oz was not a box office hit and barely broke even. According to IMDb.com, the film earned roughly 3,000,000 and had a huge budget for that time, estimated at $2,777,000.
What appeared to save this film was, of course, what else – technology – particularly with the use of Technicolor, along with the fantasy storytelling, musical score, and unusual characters. Gradually The Wizard of Oz has become one of the most well known films and part of American popular culture.
It also featured what may be the most elaborate use of character make ups and special effects in a film up to that time. With this gradual popularly, came huge earnings, adjusted in 2012 to $239,190, 498 (source: IMDb.com).
THE ICONIC RUBY SLIPPERS
According to a Forbes article in 2008, Inside the Search for Dorothy’s Slippers, the ruby slippers worn by Dorothy during The Wizard of OZ are now among the most treasured and valuable of film memorabilia.
Multiple pairs were made for the film, and of them five pairs are known to have survived; one pair was stolen in 2005 and has never been recovered. Interesting to note that in L. Frank Baum's original novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy actually wore Silver Shoes however it was changed for the film to ruby to take advantage of the new Technicolor film process.
MUSICAL SELECTIONS AND SOUNDTRACK
Music in The Wizard of Oz was highly acclaimed for musical selections and soundtrack. Music & lyrics were by Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, who won the Academy Awards for Best Music Song for "Over the Rainbow."
Also, Herbert Stothart, who composed the instrumental underscore, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
What was your favorite part of the original film?
Did you see the 3-D version that was released on the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz?
▲ The Wizard of Oz, Warner Brothers http://www.thewizardofoz.warnerbros.com
▲ The Wizard of Oz on Wikimedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(1939_film)
▲ The Wizard of Oz on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardOfOzMovie
▲ The Wizard of Oz on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/channel/HC62C4ngurVs4
▲ The Wizard of Oz photo stream on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/TheWizardOfOzMovie/photos_stream Warner Bros. studio screening of The Wizard of Oz 75th anniversary in 3-D!
▲ The Ruby Slippers: Inventing an American Icon, The Lemelson Center, http://invention.smithsonian.org/resources/online_articles_detail.aspx?id=593
All photos courtesy of Wikimedia.org unless otherwise indicated.
This blog is an updated report of the original Wizard of Oz 75th Anniversary posted on August 12, 2014.
Please visit this blog frequently and share this with your social media and professional network. Thanks.
Labels: 75th, allthingsdigitalmarketing, billie burke, Gloria Buono-Daly, good witch, judy garland, L. Frank Baum, Margaret Hamilton, metro Goldwyn mayer film, ruby slippers, Technicolor, wizard of oz
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the national interest Oct. 26, 2016
The Oddly Snobbish Anti-Intellectualism of Donald Trump
One of the smartest people anywhere in the world. Photo: Ty Wright/Getty Images
“Folks, we’re run by people that are not smart people, or to put it a different way, we are run by stupid people. Stupid people,” said Donald Trump Monday. Smart versus stupid, along with weak versus strong, is the barometer Trump uses to gauge men’s worth. (Women are usually either beautiful or ugly.) Last summer, when he was briefly tussling with Rick Perry, Trump dismissed the Texas governor as dumb (“He put on glasses so people think he’s smart. People can see through the glasses.”), and later said Perry should have to take an IQ test before being allowed to debate.
One of the more peculiar aspects of Trump’s campaign is his relationship to intelligence. In most ways, he is manifestly anti-intellectual. He is grossly simplistic, both in the concepts he tries to communicate and in the syntax with which he expresses them. He redirects every question from abstract knowledge to personal authenticity: Trump will solve it because Trump is the greatest; Trump’s critics are wrong because they’re disgusting; you should trust Trump’s allies because they have the approval of Trump himself.
Trump displays another classic element of anti-intellectual politics, which is the flattering of his supporters. Unlike those snobs who hate us, we have true smarts, not the kind you learn from books or at fancy schools. “I’m not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world,” Sarah Palin told Katie Couric in 2008. “No, I’ve worked all my life.” It’s no surprise that Trump’s style resonated with Palin. “The elites are shocked by Trump’s dominance, but everyday Americans aren’t,” Palin exclaimed last summer. “Everywhere I’ve gone this summer, including motorsport events in Detroit full of fed-up Joe Six-Pack Americans, the folks I meet commiserate about wussified slates of politicians, but then unsolicited, they whisper their appreciation for Trump because he has the guts to say it like it is.”
Elements of this explicit kind of anti-intellectualism do pop up in Trump’s rhetoric from time to time. “I love the poorly educated. We’re the smartest people, we’re the most loyal people,” he said earlier this year.
But when Trump describes himself, he retreats to the opposite method. Trump is not smart because he is poorly educated; he is smart because he benefited from the most elite education in the world. “I went to the Wharton School of Finance,” he said multiple times in one speech last summer. “I’m, like, a really smart person.” And again this week, he said, “I went to an Ivy League school. Our leaders are stupid people.” Populists like Trump usually take for granted the fact that government officials attended Ivy League schools and use this as evidence of their stupidity. Trump holds up Ivy League education as a credential, leaving open the question of why the many Ivy-educated officials in government are not also smart.
Trump has even boasted repeatedly about the educational achievements of his uncle, which he sees as evidence that he is a member of a genetic intellectual elite. “I had an uncle went to MIT who is a top professor. Dr. John Trump. A genius,” Trump said in an interview with CNN. “It’s in my blood. I’m smart. Great marks. Like really smart.”
In another speech last summer, Trump combined both boasts in a flight of credentialism so obnoxious it would have come off as tacky at a Harvard faculty party 50 years ago: How can it be that an elite education is both proof of intelligence for Trump while the opposite standard applies to his followers? One obvious answer is that it follows the same logic as everything else in Trump’s world. The only basis for knowledge is whatever Trump says at any given time, and one can and must hold mutually exclusive beliefs in the service of this overriding principle.
[M]y uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, okay, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, okay, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I’m one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it’s true! — but when you’re a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged.
But there are moments when Trump clearly shows an awareness of the contradiction. In August, he launched one of his riffs on unemployment, repeating his oft-stated belief that official labor statistics have been faked by the Obama administration, and then noted that many of his supporters are unemployed. This observation caused Trump to pivot immediately to a defensive boast of their intelligence. This is a riff that explains a great deal about how Trump sees his relationship with his supporters:
“And there are plenty of [unemployed people] in here. We have great people. We have loyal people.”
“We have the smartest people. So many of my people, they’re so smart. They like to say, ‘Well Trump, I don’t know if he’s got the smarts.’ Let me tell you: we have the smartest people,” Trump said at a rally in Wilmington.
“We have the people that are the smartest, and the strongest, and the best, and the hardest working.”
“We have the smartest people.”
“We’ll put IQs among some of us – you can’t say all of us, right? – against any IQs that we have to deal with.”
Trump’s real belief, as opposed to what he tells his marks, is that rich people are winners and poor people are losers. If you are unemployed or otherwise unsuccessful, you are a loser. A loser is the worst category of all in Trump’s hierarchy, the sum of dumb and weak. Once he broached the notion that many of his followers are unemployed, he wandered perilously close to calling them losers.
But instead he praised them as “loyal,” and from loyal he moved quickly to smart, using repetition rather than detail to reinforce his insistence that his loyal followers are also the very smartest people. It is as if Trump cannot help but assert his dominance. His supporters are imbued with intelligence secondarily, as an outgrowth of their allegiance to him. The Trump campaign is a pitch somewhat like Trump University — by giving him your vote, or your money, a tiny piece of his brilliance will accrue to you, and you will no longer be a sad loser, but you can never be Donald Trump.
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Former NFLers Ray Lewis and Jim Brown Stop by Trump Tower
Secretary of Defense? Photo: Seth Wenig/AP
Not long after meeting with Kanye West Tuesday morning, Donald Trump welcomed former NFL players Ray Lewis and Jim Brown to Trump Tower. Both men were escorted through the building by Omarosa Manigault, a onetime Apprentice contestant and the former director of African-American outreach for Trump’s campaign. They were reportedly in midtown to talk about race.
Trump to meet on African-American issues tomorrow, source tells me. Ray Lewis, Jim Brown. Pastor Darrell Scott reportedly attending
— Candace Smith (@CandaceSmith_) December 12, 2016
Lewis, arguably the greatest linebacker in NFL history over his long career with the Baltimore Ravens, is probably best known off the field for a 2000 murder charge. After cutting a deal to testify for the prosecution, he pled guilty to obstruction of justice. Since his 2013 retirement, Lewis has worked as a broadcaster for ESPN. Brown’s past is complicated, too. The 80-year-old is both a well-regarded civil-rights icon and a man who has been accused of beating or raping women multiple times.
The details of Trump’s conversations with the former athletes is not known, but Brown did tell reporters he was there to talk to Trump about “helping people.” One way to do that, according to all three of these men — stop talking about police brutality and focus on black-on-black crime.
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Why We Should Not Legalize Assisted Suicide
Scroll to read:
I. Suicide and Mental Illness
II. Pain Control Issues
III. Terminally Ill Issues
IV. Civil Remedies
Following is a brief summary of points worth making in rebutting arguments for legalizing active euthanasia:
For more detailed info go to:
http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/index.html
1. A request for assisted Suicide is typically a cry for help. It is in reality a call for counseling, assistance, and positive alternatives as solutions for very real problems.
2. Suicidal Intent is typically transient Of those who attempt suicide but are stopped, less than 4 percent go on to kill themselves in the next five years; less than 11 percent will commit suicide over the next 35 years.
3. Terminally Ill patients who desire death are depressed and depression is treatable In those with terminal illness.
In one study, of the 24 percent of terminally ill patients who desired death, all had clinical depression.
4. Pain is controllable.
Modern medicine has the ability to control pain. A person who seeks to kill him or herself to avoid pain does not need legalized assisted suicide but a doctor better trained in alleviating pain.
5. In the U.S. legalizing "voluntary active euthanasia [assisting suicide] means legalizing nonvoluntary euthanasia. State courts have ruled time and again that if competent people have a right, the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment requires that incompetent people be "given" the same "right."
6. In the Netherlands, legalizing voluntary assisted suicide for those with terminal illness has spread to include nonvoluntary euthanasia for many who have no terminal illnesses. Half the killings in the Netherlands are now nonvoluntary, and the problems for which death in now the legal "solution" include such things as mental illness, permanent disability, and even simple old age.
7. You don't solve problems by getting rid of the people to whom the problems happen.
The more difficult but humane solution to human suffering is to address the problems.
What's Wrong with Making Assisted Suicide Legal? By David N. O'Steen and Burke J. Balch
Many argue that a decision to kill oneself is a private choice about which society has no right to be concerned. This position assumes that suicide results from competent people making autonomous, rational decisions to die, and then claims that society has no business "interfering" with a freely chosen life or death decision that harms no one other than the suicidal individual. But according to experts who have studied suicide, the basic assumption is wrong.
A careful 1974 British study, which involved extensive interviews and examination of medical records, found that 93% of those studied who committed suicide were mentally ill at the time.1 A similar St. Louis study, published in 1984, a mental disorder in 94% of those who committed suicide.2 There is a great body of psychological evidence that those who attempt suicide are normally ambivalent,3 that they usually attempt suicide for reasons other than a settled desire to die,4 and that they are predominantly the victims of mental disorder.
Still, shouldn't it be the person's own choice?
Almost all of those who attempt suicide do so as a subconscious cry for help,5 not after a carefully calculated judgment that death would be better than life.
A suicide attempt powerfully calls attention to one's plight. The humane response is to mobilize psychiatric and social service resources to address the problems that led the would-be suicide to such an extremity. Typically, this counseling and assistance is successful. One study of 886 people who were rescued from attempted suicides found that five years later only 3.84% had gone on to kill themselves.6 A study with a 35-year follow-up found only 10.9% later killed themselves.7 The prospects for a happy life are often greater for those who attempt suicide, but are stopped and helped, than for those with similar problems who never attempt suicide. In the words of academic psychiatrist Dr. Erwin Stengel, "The suicidal attempt is a highly effective though hazardous way of influencing others and its effects are as a rule...lasting."8
In short, suicidal people should be helped with their problems, not helped to die.
But shouldn't we distinguish between those who are emotionally unbalanced and
those who are making a rational, competent decision?
Psychologist Joseph Richman, writing in the Journal of Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, notes,
[A]s a clinical suicidologist, and therapist who has interviewed or treated over 800 suicidal persons and their families... I have been impressed [that those] who are suicidal are more like each other than different, including ... those who choose "rational suicide".... [A]ll suicides, including the "rational," can be an avoidance of or substitute for dealing with basic life-and-death issues. ... The suicidal person and significant others usually do not know the reasons for the decision to commit suicide, but they give themselves reasons. That is why rational suicide is more often rationalized, based upon reasons that are unknown, unconscious, and a part of social and family system dynamics.... The proponents of rational suicide are often guilty of tunnel vision, defined as the absence of perceived alternatives to suicide.9
What about those who are terminally ill?
Contrary to the assumptions of many in the public, a scientific study of people with terminal illness published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that fewer than one in four expressed a wish to die, and all of those who did had clinically diagnosable depression.10 As Richman points out, "[E]ffective psychotherapeutic treatment is possible with the terminally ill, and only irrational prejudices prevent the greater resort to such measures."11 And suicidologist Dr. David C. Clark observes that depressive episodes in the seriously ill "are not less responsive to medication" than depression in others.12 Indeed, the suicide rate in persons with terminal illness is only between 2% and 4%.13 Compassionate counseling and assistance, such as that provided in many hospices, together with medical and psychological care, provide a positive alternative to euthanasia among those who have terminal illness.
What about those in uncontrollable pain?
They are not getting adequate medical care and should be provided up-to-date means of pain What about those in uncontrollable pain control, not killed. Even Dr. Pieter Admiraal, a leader of the successful movement to legalize direct killing in the Netherlands, has publicly observed that pain is never an adequate justification for euthanasia in light of current medical techniques that can manage pain in virtually all circumstances.14
Why, then, are there so many personal stories of people in hospitals and nursing homes having to cope with unbearable pain? Tragically, pain control techniques that have been perfected at the frontiers of medicine have not become universally known at the clinical level. What we need is better training in those techniques for health care personnel -- not the legalization of physician-aided death.
What about those with severe disabilities? What would it say about our attitude as a society were we to tell those who have neither terminal illness nor a disability, "You say you want to be killed, but what you really need is counseling and assistance," but, at the same time, we were to tell those with disabilities, "We understand why you want to be killed, and we'll let a doctor kill you"? It would certainly not mean that we were respecting the "choice" of the person with the disability. Instead, we would be discriminatorily denying suicide counseling on the basis of disability. We'd be saying to the nondisabled person, "We care too much about you to let you throw your life away," but to the person with the disability, "We agree that life with a disability is not worth living."
Most people with disabilities will tell you that it is not so much their physical or mental impairment itself that makes their lives difficult as it is the conduct of the nondisabled majority toward them. Denial of access, discrimination in employment, and an attitude of aversion or pity instead of respect are what make life intolerable. True respect for the rights of people with disabilities would dictate action to remove those obstacles -- not "help" in committing suicide.
Opponents of legalizing assisting suicide say it will lead to non-voluntary euthanasia.
Aren't these overblown scare tactics?
Absolutely not. As attorney Walter Weber has written in the Journal of Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior,
Under the equal-protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, legislative classifications that restrict constitutional rights are subject to strict scrutiny and will be struck down unless narrowly tailored to further a compelling governmental interest. ... A right to choose death for oneself would also probably extend to incompetent individuals. ... [A] number of lower courts have held that an incompetent patient does not lose his or her right to consent to termination of life-supporting care by virtue of his or her incompetency.... [T]he ["substituted judgment"] doctrine authorizes-- indeed, requires -- a substitute decision maker, whether the court or a designated third party, to decide what the incompetent person would choose, if that person were competent. ... Therefore infants, those with mental illness, retarded people, confused or senile elderly individuals, and other incompetent people would be entitled to have someone else enforce their right to die.15
Thus, if direct killing is legalized on request of a competent person, under court precedents that have already been set, someone who is not competent could be killed at the direction of that person's guardian even though the incompetent patient had never expressed a desire to be killed.
1. Barraclough, Bunch, Nelson, & Salisbury, A Hundred Cases of Suicide: Clinical Aspects, 125 BRIT. J. PSYCHIATRY 355, 356 (1976).
2. E. Robins, THE FINAL MONTHS 12 (1981).
3. See, e.g., Dorpat & Boswell, An Evaluation of Suicidal Intent in Suicide Attempts, 4 COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY 117 (1964).
4. See H. Hendin, SUICIDE IN AMERICA 223 (1982); Jensen & Petty, The Fantasy of Being Rescued, 27 PSYCHOANALYTIC Q. 327, 336 (1958); K. Menninger, MAN AGAINST HIMSELF 50 (1938); Rubinstein, Meses & Lidz, On Attempted Suicide, 79 A.M.A. ARCHIVES NEUROLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY 103, 111 (1958); & Stengel, SUICIDE AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE 113 (1964).
5. Jensen & Petty, supra note 4; Rubinstein, supra note 4, at 109; & Stengel, supra note 4, at 73.
6. Rosen, The Serious Suicide Attempt: Five Year Follow Up Study of 886 Patients, 235 J.A.M.A. 2105, 2105 (1976).
7. Dahlgren, Attempted Suicides 35 Years Afterward, 7 SUICIDE AND LIFE-THREATENING BEHAVIOR 75, 76, 78 (1977).
8. Stengel, supra note 4, at 113-14.
9. Joseph Richman, “The Case Against Rational Suicide,” Suicide and Life -Threatening Behavior, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Fall 1988): p. 285, 285-86.
10. James H. Brown, Paul Henteleff, Samia Barakat, and Cheryl J. Rowe, "Is It Normal for Terminally Ill Patients to Desire Death?" American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 143, No. 2 (February 1986): p. 210.
11. Joseph Richman, Letter to the Editor, "The Case against Rational Suicide," Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Fall 1988): p. 288.
12. Flora Johnson Skelly, "Don't dismiss depression, physicians say," American Medical News, September 7, 1992, p. 28.
13. Id.
14. Pieter Admiraal, “Euthanasia in the Netherlands - A Dutch Doctor’s Perspective,” (speech presented at the national convention of the Hemlock Society, Arlington, VA, 1986).
15. Walter Weber, “What Right to Die?” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Summer 1988): p. 181-96.
Part I: Suicide and Mental Illness
By Burke J. Balch, J.D., and Randall K. O'Bannon, M.A.
Under the banners of compassion and autonomy, some are calling for legal recognition of a "right to suicide" and societal acceptance of "physician-assisted suicide." Suicide proponents evoke the image of someone facing unendurable suffering who calmly and rationally decides death is better than life in such a state. They argue that society should respect and defer to the freedom of choice such people exercise in asking to be killed.
But what would be the consequences of accepting this perspective? Let us examine the facts.
Accepting a "right to suicide" would create a legal presumption of sanity, preventing appropriate mental health treatment.
If suicide and physician-assisted suicide become legal rights, the presumption that people attempting suicide are deranged and in need of psychological help, borne out by many studies and years of experience, would be reversed. Those seeking suicide would be legally entitled to be left alone to do something irremediable, based on a distorted assessment of their circumstances, without genuine help.
An attempt at suicide, some psychologists say, is often a challenge to see if anyone out there really cares. Indeed, seeking physician assistance in a suicide, rather than just acting to kill oneself, may well be a manifestation, however subconscious, of precisely that challenge. If society creates a "right to suicide" and legalizes "physician-assisted suicide," the message perceived by a suicide attempter is not likely to be, "We respect your wishes," but rather, "we don't care if you live or die."
Almost all who commit suicide have mental health problems.
Few people, if any, simply sit down and make a cool, rational decision to commit suicide. In fact, studies have indicated that 93-94% of those committing suicide suffer from some identifiable mental disorder. In one such study, conducted by Dr. Eli Robbins of suicides occurring in St. Louis, Missouri, 47% of those committing suicide were diagnosed as suffering from either schizophrenic panic disorders or from affective disorders such as depressive disorders, dysthymic disorders, or bipolar disorder. An additional 25% suffered from alcoholism while another 15% had some recognizable but undiagnosed psychiatric disorder. 4% were found to have organic brain syndrome, 2% were schizophrenic, and 1% were drug addicts. The total of those with diagnosable mental disorders was 94%. An independent British study came up with a remarkably similar total figure, finding that 93% of those who commit suicide suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder.
Persons with mental disorders make distorted judgments.
Suicide is often a desperate step taken by individuals who consider their problems so intractable as to make their situations hopeless. But experts in psychology recognize the evaluations these individuals make of their personal situations are flawed.
The suicidal person suffering from depression typically undergoes severe emotional and physical strain. This physical and emotional exhaustion impairs basic cognition, creates unwarranted self-blame, and generally lowers overall self esteem, all of which easily lead to distorted judgements. These effects also contribute to the sense of hopelessness that is the primary trigger of most suicidal behavior.
Studies have shown that during the period of their obsession with the idea of killing themselves, suicidal individuals tend to think in a very rigid, dichotomous way, seeing everything in "all or nothing" terms; they are unable to see any range of genuine alternatives. Many seem to be locked into automatic thoughts and responses, rather than accurately to understand and respond to their environment. Suicide attempters also tend to maximize their problems, minimize their achievements, and generally to ignore the larger context of their situations. They sometimes have inordinately unrealistic expectations of themselves. During the period of their disorders, these individuals usually see life as much more traumatic than it actually is and view temporary minor setbacks as major permanent ones.
Most of those attempting suicide are ambivalent; often, the attempt is a cry for help.
Studies and descriptions of suicide attempters who were prevented from committing suicide by outside intervention (or in some cases, because the means used in the attempt did not take complete effect) demonstrate that most suicidal individuals have neither an unequivocal nor an irreversible determination to die. For example, one study conducted by two psychiatrists in Seattle, Washington found 75% of the 96 suicide attempters they studied were actually quite ambivalent about their intentions to die. It is not actually a desire to die, but rather the desire to accomplish something by the attempt that drives the attempter to consider such a drastic option. Suicide is the means, not the end.
Often, suicide attempters are apparently seeking to establish some means of communication with significant persons in their lives or to test those persons' care and affection. Psychologists have concluded that other motives for attempting suicide include retaliatory abandonment (responding to a perceived abandonment by others with a revengeful "abandonment" of them through death), aggression turned inward, a search for control, manipulative guilt, punishment, escapism, frustration, or an attempt to influence someone else. Communication of these feelings -- rather than death -- is the true aim of the suicide attempter. This explains why, paradoxically but truthfully, many say after an obvious suicide attempt that they really didn't want to kill themselves. Psychiatrists have long advanced the opinion that underlying a suicidal person's ostensible wish to die is actually a wish to be rescued, so that a suicide attempt may quite accurately be described, not as a wish to "leave it all behind," but as a "cry for help." To allow or assist in a suicide, therefore, is not truly fully respecting a person's "autonomy" or honoring an individual's real wishes.
The disorders leading many to attempt suicide are treatable.
Depression can be treated. Alcoholism can be overcome. The difficult situations and circumstances of life which, at the moment, seem permanent and pervasive, often dissolve or resolve in time. The emotional and cognitive patterns of thought and emotion which cloud the suicide attempter's judgement and lead to feelings of utter despair and hopelessness, with proper psychiatric care, can be rechanneled in more rational, positive ways.
Crucial to such turnarounds is intervening to stop the suicide attempt and getting the attempter professional psychological assistance. Encouraging or validating the disturbed individual's feelings or misperceptions in fact makes it less likely the individual will get the help he or she needs and subconsciously probably wants.
Few of those rescued from suicide attempts try again.
Proof that most individuals attempting suicide are ambivalent, temporarily depressed, and suffering from treatable disorders is the fact that so few, once rescued and treated, ever actually go on to commit suicide. In one American study, less than 4% of 886 suicide attempters actually went on to kill themselves in the 5 years following their initial attempt. A Swedish study published in 1977 of individuals who attempted suicide at some time between 1933 and 1942 found that only 10.9% of those eventually killed themselves in the subsequent 35 years. This suggests that intervention to keep an individual alive, is actually the course most likely to honor that individuals true wishes or to respect the person's "autonomy."
Burke J. Balch is the Director of the Department of Medical Ethics for the National Right to Life Committee. Randall K. O'Bannon is a Research Associate for the Department of Medical Ethics.
Part II: Pain Control
by Burke J. Balch, J.D., and David Waters
Proponents of euthanasia argue that "mercy-killing" is necessary because patients, particularly those with terminal illness, experience uncontrollable pain. They argue that the only way to alleviate the pain is to eliminate the patient. But is there a better way?
The better response to patients in pain is not to kill them, but to make sure that the medicine and technology currently available to control pain is used more widely and completely. According to a 1992 manual produced by the Washing ton Medical Association, Pain Management and Care of the Terminal Patient, "adequate interventions exist to control pain in 90 to 99% of patients." The problem is that uninformed medical personnel using outdated or inadequate methods often fail in practice to bring patients relief from pain that today's advanced techniques make possible.
Doctor Kathleen Foley, Chief of Pain Services at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, explained in the July 1991 Journal of Pain and Symptom Management how proper pain management has mitigated patient wishes for assisted suicide:
We frequently see patients referred to our Pain Clinic who request physician-assisted suicide because of uncontrolled pain. We commonly see such ideation and requests dissolve with adequate control of pain and other symptoms, using combinations of pharmacologic, neurosurgical, anesthetic, or psychological approaches.
Approaches to Effective Pain Management
Treating "Total Pain"
The social and mental pain suffered by terminally ill patients may exacerbate the physical pain they experience. Dr. Matthew Conolly points out, "[F]ailure to remember this complexity is one of the most common reasons why patients fail to achieve adequate symptomatic relief." Effective pain control therefore requires a team effort of doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, and counselors to address the "total pain" a patient is suffering.
Proper administration of an opioid, particularly morphine, has been proven to provide effective pain management in the majority of patients with severe pain. A February 1993 article in Anesthesiology notes:
In the setting of widespread cancer, although more than half of patients will experience pain, their pain is manageable by oral administration of opioids alone in 70-80% of cases.
And many methods other than opioids are available. Some patients may benefit from radiation therapy, nerve blocks (including even spino-thalamic tractotomy in selected cases), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and non-pharmacological methods, which include distraction and relaxation. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and direct spinal cord (dorsal column) stimulation may be valuable.
Technological advances have greatly increased the available options in administering opioids. One of these, Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) (a pump which can deliver a continuous infusion of a drug such as morphine, as well as allow patient-activated doses for breakthrough pain), eliminates the delay in receiving pain relief caused by having to wait for a nurse to administer the necessary medicine. Studies have shown that PCA may actually lower the amount of medicine administered to patients, while providing them with a safe and effective way to have more control over their treatment.
Another technological advance is the availability of a 72 hour patch made by Alza Corporation which releases controlled amounts of the opioid fentanyl through the skin. This patch allows patients to sleep through the night, avoiding the need to to wake up to take more medicine. The development of time released morphine provides this same benefit. There is increasing interest in infusing opiates directly into the spinal column, sometimes using an implanted pump. This allows effective pain relief with a much lower total dose so that fewer systemic side effects are encountered.
Barriers to Effective Pain Control
Despite our ability to control pain through medicine and technology, there are some patients who are needlessly suffering due to beliefs and practices which disrupt proper pain management. Poor pain assessment by physicians, patient reluctance to report pain, and patient hesitance to take and physician reluctance to prescribe appropriate medication, are some barriers that prevent proper pain management.
These practices are based on several myths, related to addiction, tolerance, and side effects. Some doctors do not prescribe adequate opioid medication because they fear their patients will become addicted. Research shows, however, that only 0.04% of patients treated with morphine become addicted. Side effects associated with opioids, such as constipation, nausea, and vomiting, can be effectively managed by other medication and careful opiate titration. While a patient may develop a degree of tolerance to morphine over time, this is never total, and therefore increased doses of the opioid continue to provide relief.
Efforts to Educate Doctors and the Public
In an effort to counter beliefs and practices which disrupt proper pain management, health care professionals in 27 states are promoting cancer pain initiatives. These initiatives provide education for doctors, patients, and the general public about effective pain management, especially in terminal patients. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has produced a series of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Acute Pain Management and is now working on additional guidelines specifically for cancer pain.
We have the technology and the medicine effectively to control pain. While there do exist some barriers to the implementation of that medicine and technology, efforts are being made to remove those barriers. Instead of trying to legalize the killing of patients in pain, the public should be making sure that doctors are taught, and use, effective pain management.
Part III: What About the Terminally Ill?
By Burke J. Balch, J.D., and Randall K. O'Bannon, M.A
Proponents of physician-assisted suicide frequently begin by advocating its legalization for those who are terminally ill, although they have moved far beyond that category. But, as this article will demonstrate, 1) treatable depression, rather than the terminal illness itself, usually accounts for such a patient's expression of a wish to die; 2) after a diagnosis of terminal illness, a person normally goes through a series of stages of coming to terms with impending death and resolving unfinished business in his or her life, a valuable process that is cut short by acceding to a depression-induced request for assistance in suicide; and 3) given growing pressures to contain medical costs and prevailing social attitudes, if assisting suicide is legalized, many terminally ill patients will be led to feel they are burdens and have a duty to die.
Most terminal patients seek suicide not because they are ill, but because they are depressed.
A study of terminally ill patients published in The American Journal of Psychiatry in 1986 concluded:
The striking feature of [our] results is that all of the patients who had either desired premature death or contemplated suicide were judged to be suffering from clinical depressive illness; that is, none of those patients who did not have clinical depression had thoughts of suicide or wished that death would come early.
USA Today has reported that among older people suffering from terminal illnesses who attempt suicide, the number suffering from depression reaches almost 90%.
This fact is not really in dispute. Even Jack Kevorkian, the notorious "suicide doctor," said at a court appearance that he considers anyone with a disabling disease who is not depressed "abnormal." But what Kevorkian and others who argue in favor of physician-assisted suicide ignore is that even though the disease itself may be untreatable, the depression is treatable, and it is the depression, not the disease, which makes such persons suicidal.
Suicidologist Dr. David C. Clark notes that depressive episodes in the seriously ill "are not less responsive to medication"[5] than depression in others. And psychologist Joseph Richman, former President of the American Association of Suicidology, says, "[E]ffective psychotherapeutic treatment is possible with the terminally ill, and only irrational prejudices prevent the greater resort to such measures." Indeed, the suicide rate in persons with terminal illness is only between 2% and 4%. Competent and compassionate counseling, together with appropriate medical and psychological care, are the caring and appropriate response to people with terminal illness who express a wish to die.
Especially for those who are terminally ill, it is not good to circumvent the dying process.
In 1969. psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross outlined the 5 stages of the dying process -- denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Since that time, Dr. Kubler-Ross has worked with thousands of dying patients and their families to help them deal with the dying process. In a recent interview, she indicated that her experience over the past 20 years tells her that suicide is wrong for patients with terminal illness.
Lots of my dying patients say they grow in bounds and leaps, and finish all the unfinished business. [But assisting a suicide is] cheating them of these lessons, like taking a student out of school before final exams. That's not love, it's projecting your own unfinished business.
This "unfinished business" of considering the ultimate meaning of one's life, of resolving old disputes and mending relationships, of coming to a final recognition and appreciation of all the good things that have been a part of one's life, are all short-circuited by those who, overcome by depression , give up too soon in the process and kill themselves. And despite their compassionate motives, those healthy bystanders who encourage or even assist in these suicides are in fact helping to steal the last precious moments of these patients' lives.
Many consider suicide primarily because they are pressured into seeing themselves as burdens on their families or society.
The principal reason people in a 1991 Boston Globe survey said they would consider some option to end their lives if they had "an incurable illness with a great deal of physical pain" was not the pain, not the "restricted lifestyle," and not the fear of being "dependent of machines," but rather that they "don't want to be a burden" to their families. Family members who support the suicide of a terminally ill patient often unwittingly reinforce the notion that the ill family member's life has lost all meaning and value and is nothing but a "burden."
In an era of concern over escalating medical costs, "unproductive" consumers of medical services are increasingly made to see themselves as drains on society and the economy. When suicide is promoted as a socially acceptable "option," the pressure to avail oneself of it is immense.
Thus, if assisting suicide for those with terminal illness is legalized, the so-called "right to die" is very likely in practice to become a "duty to die."
Part IV: The Need for Civil Remedies to Prevent Assisting Suicide
by Burke J. Balch, J.D. and David N. O'Steen, Ph.D.
On May 2, 1994, a Michigan jury acquitted Jack Kevorkian of charges related to his publicly proclaimed assistance in the suicide of Thomas Hyde. The verdict points up the way in which the pathos of individual cases often leads criminal case juries to react emotionally, failing to give considerate attention to the general effects on older people and people with disabilities of signaling societal acceptance of death as the solution to human problems.
As this article will show, there are strong reasons why more states should follow the lead of Minnesota, Tennessee, and North Dakota, all of which have recently enacted "civil remedy" statutes that, entirely apart from criminal remedies, allow private parties to obtain injunctions against those who assist suicides. Injunctions are granted by judges, without juries, and a judge can punish violators with sanctions for contempt of court.
Regrettably, the Kevorkian acquittal is not an isolated case of jury nullification of laws protecting suicide victims. Recent history demonstrates that no physicians, and few non-physicians, have been successfully prosecuted for assisting suicide. The emotional tug of individual cases makes prosecutors reluctant to seek punishment and juries reluctant to impose it.
An article in the November 5, 1992 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine co-authored by Dr. Timothy Quill (who himself escaped penalty when a grand jury refused to indict him for his openly announced participation in assisting a suicide) notes, "In every situation in which a physician has compassionately helped a terminally ill person to commit suicide, criminal charges have been dismissed or a verdict of not guilty has been brought." Other studies confirm this conclusion, which in fact is not limited to circumstances of "terminal illness" or "compassion."
While there have been a few successful criminal prosecutions of non-doctors, they have been extremely rare. A 1986 article in the Columbia Law Review concluded:
[A]ll indications are that assistance statutes are rarely, if ever, used. ... [D]espite the thousands of suicides each year, only about fifty news reports regarding some form of prosecution in the past decade for some type of assistance to suicide have been located. ... No post-1930 decision appears to exist in any state reporter of an appeal from a prosecution for the specific offense of assisting or causing a suicide. Surely, many more cases of suicide assistance are occurring than are prosecuted.
.... Police and prosecutors appear to be reluctant to bring charges for suicide assistance. A British study found only one-sixth of all reported cases of suicide assistance were prosecuted. ... It seems plain that police and prosecutors are exercising their discretion to turn a blind eye to acts of assistance to suicide, which means that legislative enactments are not being enforced.
What happens when criminal prosecutions are actually brought? Leonard Glantz accumulated reports on 20 prosecutions from 1939 through 1983. Only in three of them is there a record of jail sentences for the accused, and in each of those three cases there were unusual factors that cast doubt on how "merciful" were the defendants' motives.
A few of the others resulted in suspended sentences, but the great majority resulted either in grand jury refusals to indict or acquittals. Glantz concluded, "[A]s a practical matter, the laws of homicide may not offer much protection to very sick, elderly patients."
Why Are Criminal Penalties So Frequently Evaded?
Most of those involved in assisting suicide seem more sympathetic characters to a jury than the typical street criminal. They are often doctors or family members and friends of the suicide victim. Even when prosecutors or juries are convinced that what these people have done or are doing is objectively wrong, it is hard for them to regard such people--who often subjectively have convinced themselves they are doing the right thing--as hardened criminals worthy of punishment. Indeed, this is an area in which almost all--including those of us pushing most strongly for laws to protect potential suicide victims from "assistance"--are more interested in preventing the act than in seeking retribution against the actor.
Thus, one law review article quotes a local prosecutor as saying "the District Attorney's office [does] not seek out such cases and would prosecute only those in which one of the people involved complained" and another as saying "that the law-enforcement authorities should stay out of them as much as possible." It must be remembered that in our system there is absolute "prosecutorial discretion" and there is no legal duty on the part of any prosecutor to investigate or to take to court someone who even admittedly has violated the law.
If a prosecution does in fact come to trial, and against the odds a conviction is secured, a dilemma occurs. If a stiff jail sentence is given, the defendant may well come to be seen as a martyr; if a lenient one, the deterrent value of the law will be greatly undermined. In either case, respect for the law is diminished, and pressure for its repeal--as either "draconian" or "ineffective"--is likely to grow.
What can be done to make more effective the laws already on the books against assisting suicide? After all, the pro-life objective is actually to protect potential suicide victims from those who would "assist" their suicides, not just to have the law symbolically condemn the act. There is reason to believe that if those otherwise inclined to assist suicides knew they could be sued for substantial sums by family members or others given "standing" (the legal right to sue), they might view that prospect as a more realistic deterrent than the unlikely chance they will be convicted under the criminal law. Even if the person planning to aid the suicide first secured the consent of family members (as Jack Kevorkian is apparently careful to do), he or she could never be sure that one of them might not later sue--either because of a change of mind, or simply because there would be a financial incentive. And if the law provided an easy way to get an injunction against a serial assister like Kevorkian, then the ability of the court to impose ever-increasing fines for contempt of court if the injunction was violated would be likely to deter all but the most resolute of euthanasia advocates.
How and Why Civil Remedies Work
Under a civil remedies approach, private individuals (such as family members of the suicide victim) are given "standing"--the ability to sue the suicide assister. This means that the prosecutorial discretion of public officials can no longer completely thwart the taking of steps against the assister. It also emphasizes that assisting suicide is not a "victimless" crime--that apart from the suicide victim himself or herself, those close to the one who dies are harmed, a point that may be important to juries.
There are two types of civil remedies: injunctions and civil damages. An injunction has a number of advantages. It allows action to prevent a death before it happens. It permits a case to be brought promptly before a judge who can directly order the would-be assister not to violate the law. That person then knows that if he or she violates the court order, the judge will order heavy fines for contempt of court. For most doctors, in particular, this is likely to be a far more realistic deterrent than the unlikely prospect of serving time in jail.
As the doctors' fear of malpractice liability demonstrates, sanctions that hit the pocketbook are extremely effective. They can be enforced through the garnishment of income and the seizure of assets.
Civil damages are monies awarded after the fact, as in traditional malpractice cases. Insurers are likely to exercise strong pressure on doctors to avoid actions that could subject them to such suits.
Kevorkian, who apparently enjoys posing as an iconoclastic martyr for the death crusade, might shrug off bankruptcy. But individuals like him are few, and the greatest danger is that more and more "respectable" doctors will come out of the woodwork to publicly assist suicides, if convinced the odds of criminal conviction are low. It is these whom civil remedies would be likely to deter.
If the legislation provides that relatives may bring suit for civil damages even if they consented to the killing, those who assist in a suicide will know they cannot ensure a cover-up even by involving family members in the conspiracy, since those who know will not be prevented from suing and will have a strong financial incentive to do so.
Civil remedies have another advantage from the perspective of taxpayers. The criminal law is enforced by prosecutors who are paid with tax dollars and by using jails constructed and run with tax dollars. But civil remedies are largely financed from the pockets of the wrongdoers, not only through fines but also through the awarding of reasonable attorney's fees to the lawyers for the plaintiffs if their suit is successful.
But Won't Civil Remedies Lead to Groundless, Harassing Suits?
If a suit is brought frivolously, or in bad faith, the plaintiff may be penalized by the awarding of reasonable attorney's fees to the defendant. This not only recompenses someone who is recklessly and wrongly accused, but also deters plaintiffs from filing suits unless they have clear evidence to back up their allegations.
Is There Any Precedent for the Use of Civil Remedies?
Much of the enforcement of civil rights statutes has come not through the criminal statutes but through the use of injunctions, sometimes issued in suits brought by government officials, but more frequently in those initiated by private citizens represented by public interest lawyers.
Suits for injunctions against discrimination in schools, public accommodations and the like frequently resulted in giving the plaintiffs the authority to monitor the future activities of the defendants, to check to see whether they were violating the injunctions.
It is these civil remedies that, even today, provide the principal means of preventing racial discrimination. Now is the time to work to add effective civil remedies to the existing protections against assisting suicide. We must be pro-active in the fight to protect vulnerable people from those who, instead of offering them help and counseling, will so very readily agree that they are better off dead.
Burke J. Balch is the Director of the NRLC Department of Medical Ethics and David O'Steen is the Executive Director of the National Right to Life Committee
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The Escher Quartet: Alexander Zemlinsky, from A to Z
Zemlinsky by Emil Orlik
With this post on Alexander Zemlinsky's last string quartet, we come to the end of the series about February's Market Square Concerts program with the Escher Quartet on Sunday at 4pm at uptown-Harrisburg's Temple Ohev Sholom. You can read a general introduction (including a video of the complete concert they performed in November 2016) and about the quartet by Dvořák on the program in the first post; and about Bartók and his 3rd Quartet in the second.
The music on this program originates in a fairly limited geographic area of Central Europe – from Prague to Budapest and back to Vienna – that would fit into an area roughly covering the distance from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. The works were written within a span of 41 years. While the Bartók quartet may sound more “modern,” the Zemlinsky quartet is chronologically the most recent of the three, composed in 1936.
And going from Dvořák/Prague/1895 to Bartók/Budapest/1927 to Zemlinsky/Vienna/1936 also takes us from the more familiar to the most likely unknown.
Who is Alexander Zemlinsky (or as you might sometimes see him, Alexander von Zemlinsky)?
I admit I'm not that familiar with his music and though I've listened to a few recordings of his works, I don't recall ever hearing anything of his “live,” or (more damning) remembering anything beyond a general curiosity: the fact his music never grabbed me quite the way hearing Bartók's 3rd did when I was a student, reflects more on me than on Zemlinsky, but it's often the fate of composers who, thinking of the Olympics we've been experiencing the past two weeks, never made it onto the medals podium at the end...
Considering how little of Zemlinsky or his music is known, I decided to opt for a more complete life-long biography rather than just discussing the work-in-question. I apologize for the length (if I had more time, I would have written less).
Feel free to scroll down till you find the music videos if you don't have the time or inclination to read everything. But also remember, you can return to the post and read it after the concert. It is – trust me – an interesting story and worth the effort.
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One of the things that fascinates me about him is how a composer with the connections he had never attained a more enduring reputation? He had the backing of no less than Johannes Brahms at the start of his career; and it was a similar kind of mentoring that could've developed into the same kind of sponsorship Brahms gave Dvořák if only the Grand Old Man had lived longer. Along the way, he was championed by Gustav Mahler who conducted two of his operas in Vienna, the first when he was 29. With his friend, sometime student, and eventual brother-in-law, Arnold Schoenberg, he was regarded as a leading light in Vienna's “new music scene.” As a member of various musical organizations in a city full of such “clubs,” he was regarded as an influential musician, teacher, and composer in a city loaded with composers, most of whom are even more unknown than Zemlinsky (if we continue the Olympic analogy, ones who never made it to posterity's preliminary rounds).
Zemlinsky is, in a way, an ethnic miniature of the Austrian Empire, a polyglot political patchwork that imposed Germanic culture across most of Central and South-Eastern Europe from the 16th Century to the end of World War I. His paternal grandfather was of Polish Catholic descent who was born in a part of Hungary now in Slovakia who married an Austrian woman. His maternal grandfather was a Sephardic Jew from Sarajevo in the Balkans (previously part of the Ottoman [Turkish] Empire) who married a Bosnian Muslim woman. When Zemlinsky was born in Vienna in 1871, the entire family had been converted to the Jewish faith. For some reason, the composer's father had added the aristocratic “von” to his name, but as soon as Alexander was gaining recognition as a composer, he dropped the “von” which was, essentially, if not illegal, at least pretentious.
Zemlinsky in 1898
Like many Jews – Mahler, included – there was little hope of advancement or official state recognition unless you converted and so in 1899, Zemlinsky became a Lutheran (which I find odd, considering Austria's bureaucratic government treated Catholicism as a state religion). Not that it mattered, in the long run: like Mahler and like Mendelssohn before them, they were born Jews and therefore always a target of the wide-spread anti-Semitism of 19th-Century German culture that made them and their music a target of the Nazi regime well into the 20th.
Most of what we know of Zemlinsky orbits around the peripheries of three people: Schoenberg, Mahler, and a composition student of his who would later become Mrs. Gustav Mahler (and would eventually marry the architect Walter Gropius and the writer Franz Werfel) – Alma Schindler.
In 1900, Gustav Mahler accepted Zemlinsky's new opera, a fairy-tale story called Es war einmal (the German equivalent of “Once upon a Time”). He was 29 and it seemed his whole future was quickly opening before him.
Shortly after the relatively successful premiere (the opera ran for a dozen performances, at least), Zemlinsky was having dinner at a friend's in late-February where he found himself chatting with a beautiful young lady who was studying composition but who had not yet seen Es war einmal though she was quite a fan of the conductor, Mahler. He suggested she should make an appointment to meet him, impressing her with his connection.
Alma Schindler in 1900
In her diary, Alma Schindler confided, “Spent most of the evening talking with Alexander Zemlinsky, the [29]-year-old composer of Es war einmal. He's dreadfully ugly, almost chinless – yet I found him quite enthralling.” The conversation turned to the music of Wagner whom she considered “the greatest genius that ever lived.” When she told him her favorite work of his was Tristan (with its celebration of adulterous love), she wrote “that so delighted him, he became entirely transformed. He grew truly handsome. Now we understood each other. I find him quite wonderful. I shall invite him to call [on me].”
Eventually, Zemlinsky became her composition teacher (it's quite possible he was more dazzled by her beauty than her musical talent) and wrote maddeningly passionate love-letters to her. As one source put it, “she tortured him for about a year” before finally breaking off their relationship on the advice of her family who's primary objection was he was Jewish as well as ugly. Alma's diaries are full of anti-Semitic comments, yet two of her three future husbands were Jewish – Mahler and Franz Werfel. In 1901, Alma Schindler began seeing Mahler and after a whirlwind courtship, they were married in 1902 – once Alma promised to give up composing (he insisted he wanted a wife, not a colleague).
More to the point of Zemlinsky's music, let's return to his friendship with Schoenberg. They'd met around 1895 (the year Dvořák composed his last quartet) when Zemlinsky founded an amateur orchestra in which one of the cellists was a self-taught would-be composer named Arnold Schoenberg. Zemlinsky, though only three years older, gave Schoenberg advice and general instruction about his compositional endeavors, and they became close friends. In 1898, Schoenberg converted to the Lutheran faith – he would later, in the face of the Nazi occupation of Austria, reconvert to his Jewish roots before fleeing to the United States – and in 1901 he married Zemlinsky's sister, Mathilde.
Gerstl's Group Portrait with the Schoenbergs
It would not be an entirely happy marriage: by the summer of 1908, Mathilde was having an affair with Schoenberg's painter-friend, Richard Gerstl, and actually left her family to live with him (it was during this time, he composed his 2nd String Quartet which includes his first foray into atonality in its last movement). She eventually returned to her husband and Gerstl subsequently burned most of his paintings and committed suicide.
[Gerstl's painting, by the way – see above – was done that summer and consists of three couples: Arnold and Mathilde Schoenberg (standing) with Alexander and Ida Zemlinsky (seated in front) with another couple that (not surprisingly) cannot be identified.]
Mathilde died in the fall of 1923 and the following summer, Schoenberg married the sister of a pupil of his, the violinist Rudolf Kolisch, who would found a quartet that would champion Schoenberg's music.
Now, I mention all of this because – regardless of the argument against the impact of biographical details on a composer's music – these events had a direct influence on Zemlinsky's music.
But first, let's hear a little bit of what Zemlinsky sounded like before he wrote the quartet we'll hear on Sunday's program: the Escher Quartet has recorded all four of Zemlinsky's quartets, and here they play the opening movement of his 1st Quartet (listen to a few minutes of the opening if you don't have time for the whole thing):
The 1st Quartet was written during the time Brahms had arranged a monthly stipend for the 25-year-old composer so he could concentrate on writing, and after its premiere in 1896 (compare this “sound-world” to Dvořák's last quartet in the first post), Brahms told friends it was “bursting with talent,” though he objected to some of its “modernist” tendencies in an awkward private conversation with its young composer. Basically, he pulled out a score of a Mozart string quintet, pointed out a particular passage as “perfection” and said quite matter-of-factly, “that is the tradition handed down from Mozart – to me.”
Zemlinsky's 2nd Quartet was begun in 1913 in the years following the episode in which his sister had run off with the painter Gerstl, and reflects the emotional turmoil he felt and observed both his sister and her husband going through. This is far from an abstract work built on forms and harmonic formulas! Completed in 1915, the quartet was dedicated to Schoenberg.
It's a vast, dramatic expanse lasting some 40-45 minutes, full of musical cyphers where motives are associated with people or events and sometimes motives that act like “code” created from a person's name. He assigns one three-note motive, D-E-G, to “the self” (basically, himself) and by transposing it to A-B-D, adds an E to create “Mathilde,” keeping in mind B in German is represented by H (that's how you can spell B-A-C-H in musical pitches): so, we have mAtHilDE.
The quartet opens with “The Self” motive as if Zemlinsky is the observer, the teller-of-the-tale. One also hears a chord – a D Minor triad with an added G-sharp – which becomes a “code-sonority” for “Fate,” something Zemlinsky used frequently in many of his later works, as well.
In the intervening 17 years, Zemlinsky's style has gone from being heavily influenced by Brahms to absorbing the chromaticism of Wagner's Tristan. Keep in mind, Schoenberg wrote his Wagnerian Verklärte Nacht by 1900 and his atonal break-through piece, Pierrot Lunaire, in 1912. While Zemlinsky has gone much farther afield from Brahms' advice than the Grand Old Man could ever have imagined, he has never gone nearly as far as Schoenberg: despite the intensity of his chromatic harmony, this quartet is still distinctly tonal and reminds me more of Schoenberg's own 1st Quartet (also in D Minor) from 1905 (and also in one unbroken span of about 45 minutes).
Zemlinsky & Schoenberg
A few years before he wrote the 2nd Quartet, Zemlinsky moved to Prague to become the chief conductor of the provincial German “National” Theater. He was responsible for productions of some 50 operas per season which left him very little time to compose. He wrote two operas of his own and then, in the early-1920s, a vast seven-movement symphony with baritone and soprano soloists setting translations of poems by the Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore. In scope, this work was inspired by Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (“The Song of the Earth,” setting Chinese poets, with tenor and alto soloists). Zemlinsky called his work the “Lyric Symphony” and premiered it in 1924. It is generally considered his greatest work.
He also realized he had taken his style about as far as it could go and so he fell into a period of silence as he tried to figure out what he might write next, what he could do to find inspiration – not unusual for composers facing a “style change.”
Zemlinsky with Cigar
Then two things happened: a festival of contemporary music was held in Prague that year and while Zemlinsky conducted Schoenberg's Erwartung, his vast and psychologically intense monodrama in a totally atonal style, he also heard many new composers he'd been unaware of before. All these different nationalities and styles got his creative juices flowing again.
Then, later that same year, his sister Mathilde died. It was customary in the Jewish tradition for the surviving spouse to wait till the end of the official “year of mourning” before remarrying, but Zemlinsky was shocked when Schoenberg announced two months before the mourning period ended that he was marrying Gertrude Kolisch. Whether Zemlinsky saw this as a “substitution” for his sister or not, he clearly was very distressed by Schoenberg's decision. (Admittedly, this doesn't make a lot of sense to me since, by this time, neither was still active in the Jewish faith, and while Zemlinsky never considered himself religious, his widow told his biographer in the 1980s “My husband did not consider himself Jewish,” but that's another story.)
Around this time, Schoenberg had gathered his friends and students together to introduce his new ideas about “composing with twelve tones,” a systematic approach to organizing pitches in lieu of tonality – and for that matter, the arbitrariness of atonality – something that later became known as “serialism” and something which Zemlinsky opposed. As much as he was interested in the expansion of chromaticism – not to mention working with “numerology” – Zemlinsky was never comfortable with abandoning tonality completely: he felt that would be ignoring the spirit of nature. In the “Theme & Variations” of the 3rd Quartet, then, he parodies Schoenberg's new “serial” style.
By now, Zemlinsky's own musical voice had become less reliant on internal creative processes and more on external reactive impressions: from the imitations of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde to parodying Schoenberg's serialism. While the new operas he began composing at this time – when he had time – were lush, post-Romantic scores that often ended in some kind of utopian D Major, it was his last quartet that came directly out of his emotions but again inspired by external events: in this case, the death of his close friend, Alban Berg, who died suddenly just before Christmas of 1935.
By this time, Zemlinsky left Berlin with its increasing presence of the Nazi Party and returned to Vienna. His new quartet, started almost immediately after Berg's funeral, became a Requiem for his friend – just as his 3rd Quartet had begun as a threnody for his sister Mathilde. He was always more attuned to Berg's more flexible approach to Schoenberg's styles (both atonal and serial) and since Berg had quoted from Zemlinsky's “Lyric Symphony” in his 1926 string quartet, the Lyric Suite, and dedicated it to Zemlinsky, Zemlinsky in turn wrote a string quartet he subtitled “Suite” – like Berg's, in six movements – though without the intricate and highly personal program (which Zemlinsky was certainly unaware of). [For links to Berg's Lyric Suite, see the previous post for its references regarding the inspiration for Bartók's 3rd Quartet.]
It's not really “six” movements but rather three pairs of movements: each pair being, in a way, reflections of the same material but presented in different and often violently contrasting ways – the way, for instance, memories and a sense of grief can unexpectedly turn into incomprehension and rage.
The first movement serves the purpose, as an introduction, of both a chorale and a funeral march in music that reflects Berg's melodic style but sometimes, in the contrapuntal texture, a conversation of mourners. The “burlesque” of the second movement – in the sense of being a parody – with its scurrying frenzy (reminiscent of the famous 3rd movement of Berg's “Lyric Suite”), takes on an entirely different and often violent surface.
The third movement, an adagietto, unwinds slowly in dense threads that might bring to mind Wagner's chromaticism by way of Berg's. In contrast, the Intermezzo is clearly a jazzy if at times delicate, understated dance, before breaking out in a slightly cheeky remembrance of good times past.
As the Intermezzo's rowdiness subsides, the composer – represented by the cello solo – is left alone with his thoughts in what becomes the theme for a set of variations, a truly elegiac moment and the most personal music of the entire quartet (if not all four of Zemlinsky's quartets). The elegy – labeled “Barcarolle” or “Gondola Song” – is passed from one player to another, accompanied by a haze of reminiscences in the others.
The finale – perhaps thinking back not only to Berg's often complex counterpoint but also the performance Zemlinsky conducted in the mid-1930s of an orchestration of Bach's Art of Fugue – is a Double Fugue that parodies the motive that opens the Elegy. This again reminds me of an overt reference to Berg's Lyric Suite. The movement ends in a blast of “tonal resolution” with the fugue subject in unison, sounding less “modern” than Beethoven's Grosse Fuge and not, perhaps, what one might expect from a work with such mournful origins.
Theme & Variations: Barcarolle
Double Fugue
But as with his operas of the mid-'30s ending with their “utopian optimism,” perhaps even in such a state, Zemlinsky was not yet ready to end his memorial tribute with any sense of negativity – or abandonment of tonality despite the intense chromaticism of the rest of the work – to fade away into nothingness the way Berg ended his Lyric Suite, in desolation.
As luck (or lack of luck) would have it, Zemlinsky had little chance to write much more after this 4th Quartet. In 1938, when the Nazis occupied Vienna, Zemlinsky and his wife Louise fled once more, this time through Prague to Holland, arriving in New York City just after Christmastime, nearly broke. About six months later, he suffered a severe stroke and was no longer able to compose. Several subsequent strokes weakened his health. When his brother-in-law arrived from Europe in 1942 with the remains of his wife's family's fortune, they were able to buy a house in suburban New Rochelle. Four days after they moved in, Zemlinsky died at the age of 70.
It is not a pleasant story, this life, and after putting it together for you, I find I am even more curious about why Zemlinsky – receiving the support of Brahms and Mahler when he was in his 20s, and given the connections he knew – never realized his potential. It is hard to think of him as a failure – given the American attitude about competition, “you don't win the silver: you lose the gold” – but sometimes it makes you wonder why, for some, life (and fame) can be so unforgiving.
The Escher Quartet: Part Two - Bartók's 3rd
The Escher Quartet
The Escher Quartet returns to Harrisburg for our February concert on Sunday at 4:00 at Temple Ohev Sholom on North Front Street with a pre-concert talk at 3:15. They'll be playing Bela Bartók's 3rd Quartet, Alexander Zemlinsky's 4th (and last) Quartet, and Antonin Dvořák's 14th (and last) Quartet.
I covered the Dvořák and re-introduced the Escher in the previous post which you can read here. It also includes videos of the complete concert they performed when they first appeared with Market Square Concerts in November 2016.
For my pre-concert talk, getting “behind” the music you'll hear on this program, I'll be taking on the role of a “forensic musicologist,” looking at these pieces from different aspects and associations with some of the influences on the composers and the pieces they've composed.
This post is about Bartók's 3rd (written in Budapest in 1927) -- Zemlinsky's 4th (written in Vienna in 1936) gets a post of its own.
Though I won't get into it here, there's an historic “common denominator” that's missing: a string quartet by Alban Berg written in 1926 which he called the Lyric Suite, inspired in part by Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony of 1923 (first heard in Prague in 1924). For this post, let's just leave it at this: Bartók was inspired to compose his 3rd and 4th String Quartets after hearing Berg's Lyric Suite in early-1927; Berg dedicated his quartet to Zemlinsky; and after hearing that Berg had died just before Christmas Day in 1935, Zemlinsky began his 4th Quartet as a memorial to his friend.
(If you have time and the inclination – or are reading this after the concert – you can listen to Berg's Suite here with score and performed by the Juilliard Quartet; and follow a lecture recorded at London's Wigmore Hall on the very involved and highly personal story behind Berg's music, here.)
Bela Bartók in 1927
Bartók's 3rd Quartet was composed in 1927, as I mentioned inspired by hearing Berg's new Lyric Suite for String Quartet earlier that year: for Bartók, the "take-away" from Berg's newest piece was hearing new sounds and new ways Berg used to organize these sounds. While the 3rd Quartet is the shortest and “tersest” of Bartók's six quartets, it is also the most outwardly “modern” of them as well, and perhaps the most difficult to understand (in one sense of the word). It is a visceral work, “muscular” in its dramatic contrasts and conflicts, and though certain ideas recur to give the listener something to hang on to, they do not recur in the same sense a traditional work by Mozart or Brahms would, giving the listener certain expectations and satisfying those expectations with the way everything – conflict and contrasts – are resolved.
In the 1920s, Schoenberg had presented his first “serial” works: if atonal music was “not tonal” and sounded too arbitrary, he felt he needed some way of logically organizing his pitches like tonality but without sounding old-fashioned. Music was becoming more “chromatic” – more reliant on the 12 pitches of the chromatic scale rather than the 7 pitches of the traditional Major or Minor scale – since the days of Mozart, especially once we hit the “Music of the Future” of Wagner and Liszt in the mid-19th Century. Schoenberg was just taking this chromaticism one step further. It is unfortunate people point to all the rules and constraints the system (any system) places on a composer without realizing that Classical Tonality has, after all, its own systematic approach with just as many rules and constraints (ask any college freshman music major struggling with Harmony 101).
Bartók apparently – though he never said anything in writing about his style that I'm aware of – agreed with Schoenberg about the need to organize pitches into some kind of systematic approach. He just didn't agree with Schoenberg's apparently pedantic use of it. More to his liking was the neo-Romanticism of Alban Berg's music with its emotional content and often violent use of tension: it is the release of that tension that drives classical tonality and without some kind of anchoring, the idea of “resolution” is only a vague and often unsatisfying veneer. It is the harmonic tension of tonality that supplies “structural satisfaction” to the ear of a 19th Century listener, aware of how it's done or not, and how else one could do that is what Berg – and eventually Bartók – was trying to discover.
Nominally, Bartók refers to his quartet as the Quartet No. 3 in C-sharp, yet as you follow the score and listen to this terse single-movement 15-minute work, you might think “C-sharp Major? He must be bonkers!” Without getting into the theory behind this architectural concept, just listen to ways Bartók creates a mounting tension, reaches a climax, resolves that tension and moves on to the next one. The fact it begins on a C-sharp pitch and ends on a kind of C-sharp chord (not built on thirds like your typical triad) - see below - may bypass you completely, but it's there and, in its own way, creates its own logical sense of “statement – digression – and return” that is the same sense one gets out of a piece in C Major by Beethoven.
Final Measures of Bartók's 3rd Quartet in C-sharp
This performance with the Hungarian Quartet allows you to follow along with the score: even if you can't read the music (or if it goes by too fast to make sense of it), sometimes just seeing the shapes and densities of the music can be illuminating.
Or if you prefer to watch a live performance, here's one with the Amernet Quartet who played an all-Russian program for MSC this past November:
You can, of course, listen to it any way you like: aesthetically for the emotional response to some very dramatic music; or technically to the ways Bartók might be creating those sounds and tensions through his dynamics, his sound effects and the music's harmonic and rhythmic drive, its tension-and-release.
There are sounds here Beethoven or Brahms would never have dreamed of using: the glassy, almost spooky sounds of playing “near the bridge” (sul ponticello) or the different kinds of attacks, especially his use of pizzicato, or plucking the string (in the 4th Quartet of 1928 he would make use of a “snap” pizzicato that became known as “the Bartók Pizzicato”). The way his textures weave in and out, piling up only to be interrupted by slashing chords, sometimes in contrasting rhythms, all manage to create “unexpected expectations” for the first-time listener: where did this come from? Where is that going?
Bela Bartók was a Hungarian composer, born in a part of Hungary now located in Romania when Hungary was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Usually he figures as one of the leading composers of the 20th Century along with Schoenberg and Stravinsky but is generally not regarded as important as he ought to be: let's say, if there were a Classical Music Olympics, he might have won the Silver for his Concerto for Orchestra and his six string quartets are regarded as the greatest collective achievement in the quartet repertoire since Beethoven and Brahms (that is, all of their quartets, not just a select few as one might hear from Haydn and Mozart).
Bartók, however, followed no school, writers on music will tell you, but then neither did Schoenberg or Stravinsky: other composers followed them. Schoenberg initiated what is called the “Second Viennese School” with his students Alban Berg and Anton Webern, and though few composers specifically imitated Stravinsky despite his winning three successive Gold medals between 1911 and 1914 for his three great ballets, Bartók seems to be a musical “dead end”: he had no disciples.
While Schoenberg, more notorious than famous, was one of the more “reviled” figures of 20th Century music, given the popular reaction against his serial style, and Stravinsky never had another popular success like The Rite of Spring (1914) even though he continued writing up until he died in 1971, Bartók's recognition was late in starting and was brought to a screeching halt by World War II – ironically, all three composers fled Europe to settle in the United States, Schoenberg and Stravinsky settling in the same neighborhood in Hollywood, Bartók trying to make a living in New York City – and he died in 1945 before he was able to regain the ground he'd lost by leaving his native Hungary behind.
But Bartók, like many artists, was not interested in catering to the popular crowd (even Beethoven bowed to popular appeal at times with things like Wellington's Victory and arranging, say, scads of British folk songs because they put food on the table). Works like the ballet The Miraculous Mandarin sometimes offended a potential audience through the amoral nature of its story even before they got to hear the raw music that conveys the story.
Plus Bartók was still “finding his voice” in his late-30s after World War I, a time when Hungary had become a newly independent nation, finally separated from centuries of domination by the Austrians. This was an even more turbulent time in its history between the ravages of politics and the collapsing economy. Bartók was a Hungarian Nationalist, refusing to speak German, the official language, at home. Now, in the social unrest of different factions trying to gain political control after the War, there was less interest in the arts, especially art that reminded them of the violence outside the concert hall. But to him it was more important than ever to find a “Hungarian Voice” not based on old German concepts of what music was.
Bartók had been primarily a pianist and teacher who composed in his spare time. He began The Miraculous Mandarin just before the war ended in 1918, essentially completing the first draft the next year; but he didn't actually finish it until 1924. The world premiere was given in Cologne, Germany, and was a disaster, followed by a 10-minute riot (Bartók himself never saw the work staged). In 1928, he created the orchestral suite from the full score and it has gone on to become a fairly popular concert work.
While completing his 1st String Quartet in 1909, Bartók heard a kitchen maid singing a song of such poignant beauty and simplicity, unlike anything he'd heard before, which, already in his late-20s, he realized was the “true folk music” of his native Hungary. Before that, everything he'd heard was the music of the gypsies, that typical “Hungarian” music beloved of Franz Liszt's Rhapsodies and Brahms' dances (and gypsies, though often associated with Hungary, are not ethnically Hungarian: in reality, their music is the equivalent of “urban pop” music and not actual folk music). This discovery was, to put it mildly, an ear-opener!
Bartók (4th from left) collecting folk songs in a Hungarian village
As a result, he began researching this music and started to arrange some of it into collections of songs and dances himself, even utilizing the style of it (if not actually quoting it) in some of his own music. Having discovered the essence of the “Hungarian Voice,” he was now able to create a less-Western sound to his music and by the 1920s, he was utilizing what he called “imaginary folk music” as the basis of his melodic style. He also incorporated elements of other folk musics he'd heard and collected: music from across the Balkans as well as Northern Africa. While it might not be a way of advancing a Hungarian sound, it did manage to convey a non-Western sound which could be open to many more (and even more diverse) influences than Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.
It is this sense of personal identity that permeates not only the 3rd Quartet but almost everything Bartók would compose the rest of his life.
And where does that leave Alexander Zemlinsky? Well, you can read about him and his 4th Quartet in the next post. (If you think this one's long, you should see what I cut out...)
- Dick Strawser
Posted by Dick Strawser at 11:48 AM No comments:
The Escher Quartet Returns: Part One
Who: The Escher String Quartet
What: Quartets by Bela Bartók, Alexander Zemlinsky, and Antonin Dvořák
When: Sunday, Feb. 25th, at 4:00 with a pre-concert talk by Dick Strawser at 3:15
Where: Temple Ohev Sholom at 2345 N. Front Street in uptown Harrisburg (directions, here)
The Escher Quartet on the road (I'm sure they get more than a bicycle when they tour)
If you were at the concert on November 2nd, 2016, at Market Square Church, you heard the Escher Quartet make their unexpected debut in Harrisburg with Market Square Concerts as a last-minute substitution for the Heath Quartet from England who suddenly had to cancel their American tour (not just their appearance with MSC but also their all-important Carnegie Hall debut). It's a tricky job finding any group that can come in and do the concert date much less the concert's program. And Peter Sirotin was delighted the Escher was available (or were available if you prefer treating the noun “quartet” as a collective plural instead of a singular group, but I digress...) because he'd hoped to engage them at some time in the near future. They didn't have the 5th String Quartet of Michael Tippett in their repertoire, alas – the Heath Quartet made a specialty of performing all five Tippett quartets – so they substituted Bartók's 2nd String Quartet instead along with Mozart B-flat Major Quartet, K.589 (Mozart's next-to-last quartet) and Dvořák's G Major Quartet, Op.106 (Dvořák's next-to-last quartet as well).
So, as conversations evolved during their brief visit to Harrisburg, it was agreed the Escher Quartet would make its own scheduled appearance this season. For this visit, they're again playing Bartók and Dvořák but adding one of their own specialties, a quartet by Alexander Zemlinsky (they've recorded and perform all four as a cycle). This time around, it's Bartók's 3rd and Dvořák's last, the A-flat Major Quartet Op. 105, as well as Zemlinsky's last, his Quartet No. 4.
If you're not familiar with the Escher Quartet's playing, here are two samples recorded in 2015 from “Music at Menlo” – first, the opening movement of Mozart's D Minor Quartet which we'd heard just last month with the Jupiter Quartet:
...and with the Quartetsatz of Franz Schubert, that one movement he completed of a proposed C Minor String Quartet that should, by rights, be called the “Unfinished” Quartet:
And if you did miss the Escher Quartet's concert in 2016, here is the complete program recorded at their Market Square Church performance. The first video opens with the Mozart B-flat, K.598; the Bartók 2nd begins at 23:50. The second video contains the Dvořák Quartet in G Major, Op. 106.
(with thanks to Market Square Church's resident sound- and video-technician, Newman Stare.)
Here is a brief and very informal interview with members of the quartet recorded during a performance in Tel Aviv, talking about the importance of music in their lives as well as how they became the “Escher” Quartet and the visit backstage after one concert where a man named Escher introduced himself. You see, they decided the Dutch artist M.C. Escher with his distinctive dimensionally challenging style (see below), would be an appropriate name for a group that explores various dimensionalities in chamber music. And the man named Escher who dropped by after the concert was M.C. Escher's son, George.
This post will cover the Dvořák quartet: you can read about (and listen to) the Bartók Quartet in the second post, here; and the Zemlinsky Quartet in the third post, here.
M.C. Escher, Waterfall (1961)
In my pre-concert talk which starts at 3:15 on Sunday, I'll be examining different aspects of the music and the composers' lives, different ways of thinking about what you're going to hear that might illuminate your listening experience.
For historical background and biographical information, you can read Lucy Miller Murray's always engaging program notes on the MSC website here.
And of course, you can read this post either before or after the concert and still find some enlightenment about the world behind the music.
Usually, I'd present the pieces in “program order” – as you'll hear them Sunday afternoon – but I decided for this one, I'd do them in “chronological order,” starting with the most familiar (Dvořák in 1895), then the less familiar (Bartók in 1927) and finally the least familiar and quite possible the unknown (Zemlinsky in 1936), all composed within a span of 41 years.
Or, for that matter, I could present them in, uhm... a kind of “geographical order,” working in toward the thematic center of Vienna: this would be Dvořák in Prague (which is 156 miles from Vienna as the crow flies, presumably first class); then, Bartók in Budapest (276 miles from Prague); and finally, in the center of it all, Zemlinsky's Vienna (135 miles from Budapest). Kind of an odd route as most tours go, but you'll see why this might work, in a bit...
To give you an idea of the space we'll be traveling musically in this concert, if we started in Pittsburgh, it would be 254 miles to Philadelphia and then 94 miles back to Harrisburg. The distance between Prague and Budapest is only 22 miles longer than it is from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.
In April of 1895, Dvořák returned to Prague following his stay in the United States, teaching at the National Conservatory in New York City since 1892. While he was there he composed, among other works, the “New World” Symphony and the “American” Quartet (No. 12), but when philanthropist Jeanette Thurber's money ran out and her pet project, the conservatory, could no longer guarantee Dvořák his “then-staggering” annual salary of $15,000, so the composer (long homesick for his native Bohemia) quickly packed his bags and left for Prague, bags which included sketches for two nearly completed works he'd been composing at the time, the Cello Concerto (Op. 104) and what became his last string quartet, No. 14 in A-flat Major (Op.105).
He'd already been working on this last quartet for six months before he left New York, a rather long time for him. Then he began working on a new quartet which became the G Major, started in November, 1895, and completed on December 9th. This then helped him break through the issues he'd been having with the A-flat Quartet and he finished it three weeks later.
(Through one of those flukes, he was working on two quartets almost simultaneously: No. 14 in A-flat got to the publishers first as Op.105, so No.13 in G Major became Op. 106. Yes, the numbering indicates the order of their completion, but the opus numbers are off-kilter, always confusing. Dvořák was never one to care much about opus numbers and chronology.)
Here's a classic performance with the Cleveland Quartet:
The quartet is in the usual four movements. The opening Allegro appasionato begins with a brooding slow introduction before lifting the curtain on the scene easily described as “a pleasant homecoming.” The second movement is the scherzo, marked Molto vivace and full of the syncopations and cross-rhythms typical of the Czech dance called a furiant. The middle section, the trio, is one of Dvořák's sweeter respites.
The slow movement, Lento e molto cantabile (“slow and very song-like”), is based on a choral song Dvořák composed on Christmas Day (five days before he officially completed the entire quartet). Then the finale brings back the suspenseful mood of the introduction before quickly opening up into a joyous dance – again, the pleasure of a homecoming – before ending with a big, almost orchestral climax to what would become not only his last string quartet but his last chamber work.
Dvořák was 54 when he completed these last two quartets of his. Though he would live another 8 years, he wrote primarily orchestral tone poems and operas, leaving the “abstract” world of chamber music, symphonies and concertos behind for the story-telling world of symphonic poems, three of which, composed in quick succession, got their first performances (basically open rehearsals) four months ahead of the A-flat Quartet – and four more operas including Rusalka of 1900, a Slavic version of “The Little Mermaid” story, with its famous “Song to the Moon.”
When he died at the age of 62 following a bout of the flu in 1904, he left sketches for several works behind, including a couple of possible oratorios and three more potential operas, but no chamber music.
As I suspected, this post would be too long by the time I get around to the remaining two quartets on the program, so I will continue with the Bartók and the Zemlinsky works in subsequent posts.
The Escher Quartet: Alexander Zemlinsky, from A to...
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PITHY QUOTE FROM Sidgwick: Complete Works, Select Correspondence
By theocracy we do not mean a State in which God governs, but a State in which persons claiming some special authority to declare the divine will are habitually obeyed on this ground, not only in the ordering of religious worship, but in the administration of secular affairs.
The Complete Works and Select Correspondence of Henry Sidgwick. Development of European Polity. Lecture XV. Medieval Theocracy
The Complete Works and Select Correspondence of Henry Sidgwick
Henry Sidgwick, 1894
The Complete Works and Select Correspondence of Henry Sidgwick (Second Edition) contains the complete published works of Henry Sidgwick, including both the First and Seventh editions of The Methods of Ethics. The collection includes Henry Sidgwick: A Memoir by Arthur Sidgwick and Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick, which draws extensively from Sidgwick's correspondence and journal.
Also included is a substantial body of correspondence, much of it previously unpublished, supplied from various British collections. Bart Schultz, Lecturer at the University of Chicago, editor of Essays on Henry Sidgwick, (Cambridge University Press: 1992), and author of the forthcoming book, Eye of the Universe: Henry Sidgwick and the Quest for Certainty, is the electronic editor. This is the first time Sidgwick's complete corpus has been published.
The second edition of the collection makes available for the first time in its entirety the matched correspondence between Sidgwick and his very dear friend, Henry Graham Dakyns. This material, in a severely edited form, served as the basis for Henry Sidgwick, A Memoir, assembled by Sidgwick's widow and brother; and it has consequently been heavily relied upon by every serious Sidgwick scholar of the twentieth century.
Sidgwick, Henry. The Complete Works & Select Correspondence of Henry Sidgwick. Electronic editor Bart Schultz. 2nd ed. Charlottesville: InteLex Corporation.
The collection contains:
Sidgwick, Henry. The Methods of Ethics. 7th ed. London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1907.
_____. Outlines of the History of Ethics. 5th ed. London: Macmillan & Co., 1902.
Sidgwick, Arthur, and Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick. Henry Sidgwick: A Memoir, by A. S. and E. M. S. London: Macmilland & Co., Limited; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1906.
Bibliographical and Textual Note
I. The Publications of Henry Sidgwick With a Bibliography
Pamphlets and Books
Essays, Reviews, Reports, and Letters to the Editor
II. A Selection of Correspondence, Personal Writings, and Unpublished Lectures With a List of Archival Sources
Letters to and from H. G. Dakyns, edited and with an introduction by Andrew Dakyns and Belinda Robinson
Letters to James Bryce
Letters to H. S. Foxwell
Letters to Lord Lytton
Letters to Oscar Browning
Letters to John Addington Symonds
Letters to Wilfrid Ward
Miscellaneous Individual Letters
Personal Writings
Autobiographical Fragment
Journal, edited and with an introductory note by Jean Marr Wilkins
Unpublished Lectures
"Is Prayer a Permanent Function of Humanity?"
"Is Philosophy the Germ or the Crown of Science?"
"Theory of Almsgiving"
"Poor Law," with a note on "Misunderstanding"
"Necessity of War and Arbitration"
The Past Masters edition of The Methods of Ethics is a reproduction of the Seventh Edition.
The text of Outlines of the History of Ethics is based on the Fifth Edition of the Ethics published in 1902 by Macmillan.
Henry Sidgwick is the greatest of the classical utilitarians, far superior to Bentham or Mill in the care with which he examines issues in moral philosophy. But The Methods of Ethics is a big book, and it used to be heavy to carry around. No longer—now I have not only The Methods, but Sidgwick's complete works literally at my fingertip—they are on my laptop, in an easily searchable form, and go with me, wherever I go. Thanks, Bart Schultz and InteLex!
—Prof. Peter Singer
Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics
Laureate Professor
Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics
In recent years Henry Sidgwick has regained his rightful place as one of the great moral philosophers of all time. Now with this marvelous . . . edition of his complete writings we can grasp the full magnitude of his achievement, spanning many different areas of philosophy as well as economics, political science, and belles lettres. To Bart Schultz we are indebted for putting at our fingertips the works of a universal genius.
—Charles Larmore
Sidgwick’s correspondence with Henry Graham Dakyns reveals more about the thinking leading up to “The Methods of Ethics” than any other available material.
—J. B. Schneewind
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The Fannie and Freddie Show Latest
Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 23:04 | Categorized as Fannie Mae,Freddie Mac
(MarketWatch) -- The quick rescue for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hammered out on Sunday doesn't look like it'll be quite that quick.
Shares of Fannie and Freddie rose dramatically on Wednesday after five straight days of losses. But while shares of each company climbed by a whopping 31%, the rescue plan still appeared to have some political distance to go as of Wednesday.
"It's looking slower today than it did yesterday," said David John, an expert on financial institutions at the Heritage Foundation.
The plan got support from House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., on Wednesday but Republicans in both the House and Senate have voiced skepticism about the plan, which would extend an unlimited line of credit for both companies for 18 months and give the Treasury the authority for 18 months to buy stock in both companies.
House and Senate lawmakers are aiming to pass a bill including the plan by the end of next week. That's not a moment too soon, says John.
"Some indication needs to be made and made quickly that Fannie and Freddie will not be allowed to fail," John said in an interview on Wednesday.
Concern about what one Republican senator called a "blank check" is one obstacle to congressional blessing of the plan to help the struggling companies. The other is the means by which to approve it.
Democrats are aiming to attach the measure to a housing bill that includes a $300 billion program to head off foreclosures, as well as long-debated regulatory reforms for Fannie and Freddie But Republicans are throwing cold water on that idea. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, has called for hearings about the aid plan and said it shouldn't be linked to the foreclosure program.
To be sure, Congress isn't known for its lightning-fast movements. But at the same time, analysts say, it'd behoove lawmakers to get their acts together to help the companies and help shore up confidence in the mortgage market.
"I think it will go through. I think there's a sense of urgency about this," said Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland. "Because it has to go," he said, citing the $5.2 trillion of home mortgages owned or guaranteed by both companies.
Not everyone is optimistic about passage, though.
"I think it's going to get slowed down," said Bob Moulton, president of the Americana Mortgage Group. "I think it's going to cost taxpayers a fortune," said Moulton, echoing concerns raised by some senators on Tuesday.
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Volcker: Wall St. Kills Regs By Running Out the Clock
Business + Economy
REUTERS/Todd Korol
By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times
As Federal Reserve chairman more than 30 years ago, Paul Volcker tamed out-of-control inflation and helped rescue the U.S. economy.
The 85-year old later shaped some of the reforms contained inthe Wall Street overhaul known as Dodd-Frank after the 2008 financial meltdown. The stooped 6’7” regulator—quite literally a giant in the field—became the namesake of a rule meant to restrict the ability of government-protected banks to speculate in the markets for their own profits.
So when Volcker declared on Monday that the financial regulation system is broken, it’s time to sound the alarm. The gist of his complaint is thatDodd-Frank was passed in the middle of 2010, yet many of its biggest regulations have not been finalized and there is no end in sight.
“I know it’s a complicated bill. I know the markets are complicated,” Volcker said at a conference for the National Association for Business Economics. “Two-and-a-half years later you can’t have a regulatory apparatus that’s devised by the most important piece of legislation in recent years? That suggests something is rather wrong. Something is dysfunctional.”
More than 63 percent of the 279 rulemaking deadlines in Dodd-Frank have been missed as of Friday, according to the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell.
As an example, Volcker used his own rule. It was created to prevent financial institutions with access to government-insured deposits and Federal Reserve programs from taking risks that could ultimately be covered by taxpayers. But the language remains up in the air more than a year after a draft proposal was released.
Five different agencies must approve the rule, so one can effectively veto the process. Also one of those agencies, the Securities and Exchange Commission cannot take any action until its fifth board member—President Obama has nominated Mary Jo White—receives Senate approval.
Volcker also noted that banking industry lobbyists have made the rulemaking process cumbersome. The proposed 35-page Volcker Rule included more than 200 questions raised in regulatory comments by the financial sector.
His comments hewed closely to those of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who suggested in her committee grilling last week of current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that the era of “too big to fail” banks has yet to end, despite the reforms introduced in 2010.
But Volcker is also challenging the position of the Obama administration. For months, senior administration officials have claimed it is better to get the final rules correct than meet the deadlines set by Dodd-Frank. Volcker’s conclusion is that the drawn-out process undermines the effectiveness of the rules.
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E-mail: info@planetaryproject.com
Concept of Sustainable Development
Criticism of the Concept of Sustainable Development
Concept of Managed Harmony
Futurophobia
Planetary Governance
Economic Objectives
Political Objectives
Social Objectives
Planetary Integration
Legislative Proposals
WORLD ENVIRONMENT
Planetary resources
CULTURE AND SPIRITUALITY
Humanitarian issues
Planetary Ethics
Global Spiritual Synthesis
Cross-cultural Communication
PLANETARY PROJECT
Konstantin Barezhev
Director for Research of the Planetary Development Institute
Konstantin Barezhev is the co-author of the Planetary Project, and Deputy Director for Research of the Planetary Development Institute. Dr Barezhev was born in 1973 in Leningrad (USSR), now St Petersburg (Russia). In 1996, he graduated from St Petersburg State University with a Cum Laude Degree in philosophy. He worked for organisations engaged in developing parliamentarism, democracy and civil society. In 2000, he received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Department of Ontology and Theory of Cognition of St Petersburg State University. His thesis focused on the evolution of the concept of meaning in European metaphysics, criticism and phenomenology. Between 1995 and 2003, he co-operated with the European Union TACIS Programme in the area of youth and social policy. From 2000 to 2012, he taught humanities courses, carried out research, ran various university departments, and edited university press publications. Since 2006, Dr Barezhev has been involved in consulting work in social and business communication and business administration. He is the author of two research monographs (“Meaning as Interpreting Essence”, 2009; and “Elements of Philosophy”, 2012), two textbooks (“Introduction to Corporate Culture”, 2011; and “Advertising in Communication”, 2011), and over 70 papers in scholarly journals and trade magazines. His research interests are wide ranging. They include: the history of philosophy and science, cultural studies, psychology, political science, management, sociology and globalism.
Publications on website
PDI General Director in Moscow
The leader of the Planetary Project Aleksandr V. Bezgodov spoke at a meeting of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences on November 10
Planetary Project in Great Britain
Members of the management team of Planetary Development Institute (PDI, Dubai) participated in the annual conference on law, economics and politics held at the University of Cambridge, from September 18th -20th 2017
Why ethics?
What is the most important thing in the world, on the planet? The most important thing is to preserve it, save nature and survive ourselves, in order to continue development. The world has become very compact, close-knit and comfortable. It is also very toxic, sometimes poisoned. It has become extremely fragile; we are just one step away from self-destruction and the destruction of all living things. The name of today's universal danger threatening both the beggar and the king is global problems. Without exaggeration, we can say that they are all tied to one thing – a human, their behavior, conscience, and morality. Today, the achievements of scientific and technological progress are such that all the technological, material and financial aspects of global problems can be solved.
Main Issues of the Anthropocene through the Prism of Planetarity and Managed Evolution
Антропоценом называют эпоху наступления окончательного господства человека над природой, некоего звездного часа раскрытия сути человека как субъекта геологической истории. Учение об антропоцене весьма созвучно и близко философии космистов и, в особенности, В.И. Вернадского. Однако в рамках этой чрезвычайно модной сейчас темы сами толкователи антропоцена указывают на ряд серьезнейших угроз, которую несет и уже принесла эта эпоха, начавшаяся в середине прошлого века.
Social Degradation in the Context of Economy of Rent- and Resource-based Colonialism
The social sphere, culture and education hardly ever draw investments or become the focus of government care in the so-called “pipeline economy”, or to use a better term, in the economy of rent- and resource-based colonialism. On the other hand, voter loyalty and mobility is crucial for the authorities that imitate democratic procedures. National solidarity, identification with, and agreement between people and government in the autocratic or totalitarian states, also known as political conformism, are considered to be very important, too...
From Sustainable Development To Managed Harmony: A Paradigm Shift
Despite its theoretical solidity and international recognition, the concept of sustainable development has run into fundamental implementation issues. Internal contradictions are revealed both in its ideological-methodological frame.
The concept of anthropo-socio-ecology and modern urban information environment ecologising
The modern world faces the threat of a global environmental catastrophe from two causes. Firstly, from the consumer society economic system whose exploitative nature is characterised by industrial technologies, which are hazardous and inefficient from the point of view of resource management.
Forms of Knowing and Spiritual Activity: Myth and Mythology
Why do we want to perceive the essence of myth and religion, analyse their content, compare forms, and study their origins? We should not treat myth, prehistoric religion, and mythological poetic tradition of the old with positivist or Marxist condescension. Ancient spirituality is not just humanity’s “infant identity”; it is not just a primitive pre-class communication form of describing the world based on handmade artifacts. It seems to hold the key to the mystery of the origins of man as both a natural and supernatural being.
Forms of Learning and Spiritual Activity: Philosophy, Religion and Science
Philosophy and religion are similar in that they are not satisfied with the current state of things or data provided by common sense, everyday thinking or even individual sciences; they look for an explanation of the world and life, existence and consciousness that cannot be achieved through possible experience. Philosophy and religion are the oldest forms of human spiritual activity and social consciousness.
The black market and shadow economy as global economic challenges
People retreat to the shadow sectors of economy in response to inefficient government policy and the unrestrained rent profiteering of government officials, making the black market grow at a fast rate. Indeed, when the interests of government and big business converge only the black market can serve as a zone of free entrepreneurial activity including a relatively independent circulation of capital.
In the Social Media:
Copyright © Planetary Project, 2015 - 2017
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“Fallout 4” Will Have a Season Pass
What's in the "Box," Bethesda?
By Bryan Smith on September 9, 2015 at 2:09pm
Bethesda announced that there will be post-launch content for "Fallout 4." Of the content that is known, there will be regular free update patches and the mod and creation kit.
Of the content that is known, there will be regular free update patches and the mod and creation kit. For the unknown, there will be a season pass priced at $30. The team does not know what the content will be, since they are still working on the game. It's also noted that any post-DLC will be included in the season pass.
"Fallout 4" is scheduled to release Nov. 10 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Due to the nature of season passes and not having any information from the publisher or developer, we at Player Theory caution those about the uncertainty that comes with unknown content and suggest to wait until additional information has been provided.
Release: 11/10/2015 [NA]
ESRB Rating: Rating Pending
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
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There might be more than one way to skin a cat...
...but there are at least three ways to get to the top of the heap in NHL goal scoring. NHL.com has a nice article on the three contestants for the Richard Trophy -- Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and Steven Stamkos. Perhaps most interesting are the graphics comparing the shots and locations on the ice from where the goals were scored. Take a gander here.
Labels: the peerless prognosticator
A TWO-point night: Caps 6 - Penguins 3
Keep telling yourself, “it doesn’t mean a thing”… “it doesn’t mean a thing”… “it doesn’t –“ aw, shoot, it was nice, anyway.
Nothing (in the regular season, at least) much beats taking the bully’s lunch and eating it in front of his face the way the Caps did last night in beating the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3, at Mellon Arena. What a send off… the last memory Penguins fans will have of a home game against the Caps at Mellon Arena (unless these teams meet in the post season) will be of trudging out of the arena, listening to the public address guy announcing, “Capitals goal scored by number eight, Alex Ovechkin, assist by Nicklas Backstrom. Alex Ovechkin, his 48th goal of the season, time of the goal, 19:59…”
And just in time, too. Caps fans were getting the vapors wondering when Ovechkin might break out of his slump (four goals in his previous 18 games). And he wasn’t the only one…
- Tomas Fleischmann, who had a single goal over a nine-game stretch, had one to give him two in his last three games.
- Mike Knuble had a goal to give him goals in consecutive games for the first time since the first two games of February.
- Matt Bradley had one to give him two in his last four games after going 25 games without one.
- Nicklas Backstrom had three helpers, giving him five in his last two games, which is more than he had in his last seven games combined. They also gave him a career best 67 assists.
- With this win, the Caps won all the games in the season series against the Penguins for the first time in franchise history. They were 3-0-1 last year and 6-0-1 in 1984-1985. That’s as close as they came until last night.
- In the battle of the double nickels… Jeff Schultz: two assists, a hit, two blocked shots and a plus-5. Sergei Gonchar: an assist, a giveaway, minus-1.
- Crosby gets a goal and two assist, Ovechkin gets a couple of goals. Crosby finished even, Ovechkin plus-1 (the empty netter being the difference). Both had seven shot attempts. These guys pretty much cancel one another out. But here is the difference – Penguin wingers: two points (both assists); Caps wingers (not including Ovechkin): four goals, three assists.
- Still, that's 7-3-10, plus-8 in four games against the Pens this year for Ovechkin.
- Matt Bradley, Professor Clutch. Each of his last two goals was the game-winner.
- Odd in a game featuring 35 hits by the Penguins that Brooks Orpik should get just one.
- What to make of Marc-Andre Fleury… with his performance last night he is 1-3-2, 4.57, .861 over the last two seasons. He didn’t get the loss last night, because coach Dan Bylsma mercifully yanked him 6:42 into the second period after Fleury allowed goals on the first two shots of the period for Washington, and Brent Johnson was tagged with the fourth, and game-winning goal.
- Getting goals 21 seconds, and 1:48 after Penguin scores stopped whatever momentum the Penguins derived from scores that might have been turning points.
- At times, Semyon Varlamov was very sharp, keenly anticipating where plays were going. But the Crosby and second Jordan Leopold goal were saves you’d have to have in a closer game.
- Shaone Morrison had a tough game last night with a minus-2, one of them courtesy of his tipping Jordan Leopold’s shot through the legs of Varlamov. Morrisonn is now minus-5 in his last six games.
- Tomas Fleischmann… three for 13 on draws? He might have the makings of a center as far as playmaking goes, but he’s 42.8 percent in the circle this season. Why that’s… well, it’s still better than Evgeni Malkin (40.8), who did not dress for this one. If those two faced off against one another, would the linesman have to toss them both because neither could win the draw? I’m getting this mental image of two guys wrestling around and poking their sticks, and the puck just lying on the red dot.
- On the other end, give credit to Jay Beagle, just called up from Hershey. He won seven of ten draws, and two of three in the defensive zone.
- One power play, one shot, one conversion, four seconds. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s eight power play opportunities in four games against the Penguins this year (one in each of the last two games). The Penguins have had 19. And with all that, the Caps still have more power play goals than the Penguins in this season’s series (four to three).
- Can’t go without mentioning how sweet that pass was from Quintin Laing from the corner to Matt Bradley heading for the net. Just the way you would draw it up.
- The Penguins are a formidable team at home, and that makes the fact that the Caps played the last two-plus periods with only five defensemen noteworthy. John Erskine left in the first with a “lower body ailment,” which we’re guessing is different than a “lower body injury.” Groin flu?
In the end, it was a win. A nice win, even. You might even convince yourself that it was a “statement” win against a perennial tormentor. But the source of that torment is what is yet to come – the playoffs. If these teams do meet again, Bruce Boudreau is right…
"I think playoffs is a whole new ballgame. Everything gets ramped up and you forget about past everythings. I don't know if it is going to affect them. They are champions; they are Stanley Cup champions. It's nice that we did it and I'm glad we did it; but I don't think it will mean a hill of beans if we see them in the playoffs."
Still, Caps fans will smile a little more broadly this morning.
Posted by The Peerless at 6:56 AM 6 comments:
Labels: 2009-2010 postgame, Pittsburgh Penguins, the peerless prognosticator, Washington Capitals
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The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!! -- Game 81: Panthers at Capitals, April 5th
Two games. Win, and you’re in. The Caps have two or more wins in a row nine times this season, so it is not like they are entirely unfamiliar with the concept. But these two games, starting Thursday night against the Florida Panthers, are for the playoffs. There should be no scoreboard watching; that is the sort of thing the team trying to catch up needs to do. No, the Caps full and undivided attention should be paid to the Panthers, a team that can yet be overtaken for first place in the Southeast Division and a third-seed to open the playoffs.
If there is a poster child of the post-lockout NHL, the Panthers are it. This is a team that has 18 standings points in losses. No team has as many standings points in games lost, and no team has played in more extra time games (25). Only Minnesota (19) has played in more trick shot competitions than the Panthers (17). Seven of their last ten games have gone to extra time, and their record is 2-5 in those games. Still, those are nine standings points earned in extra time games, five of those games going to The Gimmick. Florida is 12th in the East and 23rd in the league in wins in regulation and overtime, by far worst among playoff eligible teams in the East (New Jersey has the next fewest with 34) and two fewer than the playoff-eligible team in either conference (San Jose: 33).
And it is not as if the Panthers are even especially adept in the Gimmick. They have the fifth worst shooting percentage in the league in trick shots (22.4 percent on 13-for-58 shooting). It is just that they get so many opportunities. Those 58 shots in the freestyle competition are only one fewer than Minnesota. On the other side of the equation, their goaltenders have only a combined .633 save percentage in the Gimmick, 17th in the league. Florida benefits from doing a volume business in the tie-breaker.
Oddly enough, perhaps, none of those extra time games played by the Panthers have come against the Caps this season. But in making the most of bad numbers, the Panthers are only 2-3 against the Caps despite being outscored 15-10 and shutout twice. Stephen Weiss leads the Panthers in goals in the season series (three) and shares the points lead (3-2-5) with Brian Campbell (0-5-5). Weiss has both game-winning goals for the Panthers against the Caps this season
In terms of recent play, Florida has lost seven of their last eight games. But their record is 1-2-5. Despite seven losses, they have points earned in five of them. In three of those games they had to score a tying goal in the third period to force extra time. In those eight games the Panthers have struggled on special teams, going 3-for-30 (10.0 percent) on the power play and 16-for-21 (76.2) killing penalties.
Here is how the Panthers and Caps compare this season:
(click pic for larger image)
1. Only two teams have fewer goals scored at 5-on-5 than the Panthers (Los Angeles, Minnesota). Then again, only six teams have allowed fewer goals at 5-on-5.
2. Florida’s whole game plan seems to be to escape regulation play without a loss. Only one team has fewer losses by one goal in regulation than the five games Florida has lost in that fashion (Tampa Bay). It seems to be a case of hanging on for dear life as much as anything. Only two teams have a worse winning percentage when leading after two periods than Florida. They are right there with the Islanders for the most extra time losses (eight) when leading after 40 minutes.
3. Then again, only two teams in the league have earned more points in games in which they trailed after two periods. Florida does not have an especially high winning percentage (they rank 16th), but they have earned points in 13 of 30 games in which they trailed at the second intermission. Only Ottawa and Chicago have earned points in more games in which they trailed after two periods.
4. Erik Karlsson, Shea Weber, and… Jason Garrison? Those are the top-three goal scorers among defensemen this season. Garrison’s 16 goals is a team record for defensemen. He has not had one on the road, though, since February 28th, the game-winning goal in a 5-3 win over Toronto.
5. The Panthers have used three goaltenders in the five games between the teams this season – Jacob Markstrom, Scott Clemmensen, and Jose Theodore. Clemmensen has both Panther wins (2-1-0) but has a 3.33 goals against average and a .881 save percentage. Jose Theodore stopped 39 of 41 shots in his only appearance against the Caps this season, a 2-1 loss to the Caps on February 17th.
1. The Caps lead the all-time series against Florida, 46-36-9-7. When they lost consecutive games to the Panthers in regulation earlier this season it marked the first time that happened since the Caps lost consecutive games four days apart to Florida in November 2007. Since then the Caps are 19-8-2 against the Panthers.
2. Sixteen different Caps have points in the season series against the Panthers this season. Alex Ovechkin and Jason Chimera lead in goals with three apiece. Chimera, Alexander Semin, and John Carlson lead in points with five apiece.
3. Only four teams have fewer goals at 5-on-4 than the Caps, which only makes sense since there are only three teams having received fewer power plays than Washington. The Caps are 8-for-68 on the power play over their last 26 games (11.8 percent).
4. Since winning four in a row in early March, the Caps are 4-4-2. In those ten games the Caps have scored more than three goals once, a 5-3 win in Detroit on March 19th.
5. Goalie Michal Neuvirth does not have a particularly successful record against the Panthers. In eight career appearances he is 2-3-1, 3.07, .905. He owns both losses to Florida this season (0-2-0, 4.07, .881). Since he allowed four goals in four of five games in March, he is 2-1-0, 2.59, .911 in four appearances.
Florida: Tomas Fleischmann
The former Capital has career highs in goals (27), assists (34), and points. He also is tied for a career-worst minus-7. Of more recent relevance, Fleischmann has five goals in his last eight games, all of them in losses (part of the pain of losing seven of eight games). He is 1-3-4 in six games against the Caps for his career, all of his scoring recorded this season in five games against the Caps.
Washington: John Carlson
Don’t look now, bu John Carlson is a “last pager.” If you look up the plus/minus tables on NHL.cam, there he is on Page 10, the last page of defensemen. His minus-16 ranks in a tie for 277th among 294 defensemen, only 14 defensemen having worse marks. Only two defensemen have been on ice for more goals than the 103 he has seen up close, and he is one of only four who have been on ice for more than 100 goals against. He has had three “plus” games out of 16 contests since March 1st.
1. Get out of the gate. Washington and Florida rank 26th and 27th, respectively, in first period goals scored. If the Caps can play against type and get out quickly, all the better.
2. Kill, kill, kill. Under Dale Hunter the Caps are 6-12-4 in games in which they allow a power play goal. Florida is 7-0-3 in their last ten games in which they recorded a power play goal.
3. Play…your…game. The Caps get in trouble when they get cute or try to do things individually. Meanwhile, the Panthers are on the other side without a 30-goal scorer, with one 60-point player, only one player better than a plus-5, no one shooting lights out (top shooting percentage is 13.1 percent). But they are the ones on top. If the Caps play more of that kind of balanced, play to their system style, this game should not be close.
In the end, it is all about the numbers. “60” cannot be “65.” If this game goes past 60 minutes, the Panthers are Southeast Division champions. “Two” cannot become “one,” or even worse, “zero.” If the Caps do not get two points out of this game, their playoff chances are in jeopardy, even if Buffalo loses in Philadelphia tonight. Think of it this way. These are supposed to be “playoff” type games for the Caps. Well, with two games left in the regular season, this is like a “Game 6” of a seven-game series. Do you know what the Caps’ record is in Game 7’s when losing Game 6?
This has become their “must win” game.
Capitals 3 – Panthers 1
Labels: 2011-2012 game previews, Florida Panthers, the peerless prognosticator, Washington Capitals
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newswire article 09.Dec.2002 21:42
us takes sole copy of iraq weapons dossier
author: brian
just going to make a copy for the security council....
(AP) Two Iraqi soldiers stand guard as U.N. weapons inspectors vehicles drive by a portrait of Iraqi...
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States took possession Monday of the Security Council's copy of Saddam Hussein's massive arms declaration, as inspectors began combing the dossier for clues about whether Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction.
Reversing an earlier decision, the U.N. Security Council agreed late Sunday to give the United States and the four other permanent council members - Britain, France, Russia and China - full copies of the 12,000-page declaration.
Deputy Russian Ambassador Gennady Gatilov said the United States had taken the council's lone copy to Washington where it would make duplicates for distribution to the four other powerful council members.
The 10 non-permanent members, including Syria, will see only a censored version of the document once weapons inspectors have gone through the report and removed sensitive material - including possible instructions on bomb-making.
Angered by the decision cut over the weekend by Secretary of State Colin Powell, diplomats said, Syria planned to protest the arrangement during Security Council consultations Monday.
Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it would take some time to review the declaration and he called on Washington and others to be patient with the inspectors.
"The inspectors will have to review them, analyze them and report to the council, and I think that's going to take a while."
In Washington, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer withheld judgment on the massive documentation and said the United States wants to study the material "thoroughly, completely and fully and thoughtfully."
The U.N. nuclear agency said Monday that at first glance, the nuclear section of the dossier repeats Saddam's claim that his country has no atomic weapons, materials or associated programs.
(AP) Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, right, greets a member of the United Nations weapons...
Of the 2,400-page nuclear portion of the document, 300 pages still must be translated from Arabic. And only an exhaustive analysis, backed up by ongoing arms inspections in Iraq, can determine if the document is truthful, said Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the Vienna, Austria-based International Atomic Energy Agency.
"The cross-checking is extremely important, including cross-checking on the ground," Fleming told The Associated Press. "Should there be elements we feel have to be checked out, we have the advantage of having a team on the ground that can go the next day."
On Sunday, an adviser to Saddam suggested that in the years before the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq may have been close to building an atomic bomb.
Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi said Iraq no longer has such ambitions, but that it was up to the U.N. nuclear agency to determine "how close we were."
Using a powerful electronic database, nuclear experts began poring through the dossier within hours after it arrived at U.N. offices Sunday, measuring Iraq's claims against the hundreds of thousands of documents the agency has compiled since it began inspections in Iraq in the early 1990s.
(AP) Hans Blix, the United Nations' chief weapons inspector, speaks to reporters minutes before the two...
Iraq insists in the declaration that it has no programs for developing banned biological or chemical weapons - and challenged the United States to hand over any evidence it has to the contrary.
"The sooner they do it, the better," al-Saadi said Sunday.
Annan also said Monday that it sharing some intelligence with inspectors was critical to their success.
In Iraq, U.N. arms inspectors made a return visit Monday to Iraq's huge al-Tuwaitha nuclear complex, where scientists in the 1980s worked to produce the fissionable material for nuclear bombs.
Chief nuclear arms monitor Mohamed ElBaradei said that war can be avoided if continued inspections prove Iraq is disarmed.
(AP) Chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix enters UN headquarters shortly before a member of...
"If we succeed in providing a thorough analysis on the report and if we succeed in making sure Iraq is disarmed through an inspection, that I think could lead to the avoidance of a use of force," ElBaradei said at a Tokyo conference on nuclear safeguards.
The bulk of the Iraqi document, covering chemical, biological and missile components, is being reviewed in New York by the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, known as UNMOVIC.
The declaration arrived at U.N. offices in New York and Vienna late Sunday, the deadline for Iraq to provide a full and complete accounting of its weapons programs.
But the real test will be the document's transparency, which could determine whether Iraq will face another war with the United States and its allies over U.S. insistence that Iraq has banned weapons.
Under the terms of Security Council Resolution 1441, passed on Nov. 8, false statements or omissions in the declaration, coupled with a failure by Iraq to comply with inspections, "shall constitute a further material breach of Iraq's obligations."
(AP) Legal officer Surya Sinha of UNMOVIC enters the United Nations headquarters in New York with two...
Such a breach could be enough for Washington to argue that military action is the only way to force Iraq to comply.
In Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov said Iraq's declaration created "not a bad basis" for resolving the Iraq crisis politically.
Under successive resolutions, passed since the Gulf War ousted Saddam's troops from neighboring Kuwait, the Security Council has demanded that Iraq disarm and comply with a weapons inspections regime. Only after inspectors declare Iraq in compliance can 12 years of crippling sanctions, imposed after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, be suspended.
Last week, the White House said there was a "solid basis" for assertions that Saddam possessed banned weapons and that the United States would provide that intelligence to U.N. inspectors. That evidence has not been forthcoming, and Blix has continued to ask Washington to share its data.
Asked Sunday whether he was bothered by Washington's criticism of Iraqi compliance with his inspectors thus far, Blix said: "I'm not concerned about that. They will have their reaction, and we will have our study."
Iraq's declaration, in Arabic and English with an 80-page summary, was contained in at least a dozen bound volumes accompanied by computer disks. They were brought into U.N. headquarters in two, small suitcases.
The declaration covers the 1990s U.N. weapons inspection regime in Iraq, when many arms and much production equipment were destroyed, and details "dual-use" industries that can serve both civilian and military purposes.
Inspectors said they expect much of the declaration to include repetitious material that was submitted years ago.
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20021209/D7NQDTK81.html
add a comment on this article
US is an Insult to United Nations 10.Dec.2002 00:53
but... link
It's funny to think that America needs ANY version (original or copy) of the 12,000 page document submitted by Iraq, given that it is 100% assured that the US spooks have wired every corner of Iraq (and every other nation) with Signals Intelligence (sigint) equipment.
The CIA must have been aware from day one what was being written by the Iraqis.
The whole original/copy argument is just for the front pages. To show that Bush will NOT take any backseat to 'control' of this situation.
What a crock of sh*t he and his kind are.
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Fear Itself, and the Deadly Varieties of State Terrorism
I recall a beloved friend recounting for me, several decades ago now, a brief exchange of dialogue from The Andy Griffith Show that she had found especially funny. Barney Fife, as played by the wonderfully loopy Don Knotts, is rapidly hurtling himself into one of his regular fits of hysteria. Andy Griffith attempts, for perhaps the thousandth time, to calm Barney down before he melts into a pool of gibbering goo. "Just remember, Barney," Andy drawls, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." This pronouncement fails to have the desired effect.
"But that's what I have!" yells Barney. "Fear itself!"
And that's what Barack Obama wants you and every other American to have: fear itself. He wants all of you to become quivering pools of mindless goo:
What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.
Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.
That's why I feel such a sense of urgency about the recovery plan before Congress.
Feel the fear? Pass my plan, and pass it now, or -- our new bold, transcendent leader tells us -- the world as you know it will cease to exist in significant part.
One principle above all is crucial to remember here: whenever any individual is intent on making you act, and when he uses fear as the primary motivation to make you act in the particular way he demands, you should profoundly distrust him. It is almost certain that he is attempting to get you to do something that you might discover cannot be justified. But to discover that, you would need time and calm to consider the arguments, weigh the facts, and determine if different arguments and additional facts have been carefully omitted from those being used to pressure you so mercilessly.
But time and calm are precisely those conditions that such an individual will prohibit you from having, to the extent he can. He wants you to be like Barney Fife; he wants you to feel fear itself, and nothing else at all. That way, you are much more likely to do what he demands. In fact, you are almost certain to do it.
Americans have the retention capability of a backward gnat. I would say that you must be familiar with this pattern and remember its previous uses, and that you are thus on guard about the momentous dangers it carries. But of course, most Americans remember and understand none of this:
North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens.
Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom.
Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world.
States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic.
We will work closely with our coalition to deny terrorists and their state sponsors the materials, technology and expertise to make and deliver weapons of mass destruction.
We will develop and deploy effective missile defenses to protect America and our allies from sudden attack.
And all nations should know: America will do what is necessary to ensure our nation's security.
We'll be deliberate, yet time is not on our side. I will not wait on events while dangers gather. I will not stand by as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons.
It worked then, and it will work now.
I am very, very far from being an admirer of Franklin Roosevelt. Here's one reason, the internment of Japanese-Americans is another (together with the unreasoning bigotry and hatred directed at the Japanese in general, which the U.S. government did everything in its power to raise to frightening levels: "Everyone from journalists to President Roosevelt routinely used the dehumanizing slang term 'Jap,' and regularly compared Japanese soldiers and civilians to monkeys, baboons, and gorillas. ... New Dealer Paul McNutt, chairman of the War Manpower Commission, went [Elliott Roosevelt] one better, recommending 'the extermination of the Japanese in toto.'") and here are many other reasons, if you can stand a huge dose of reality and a wealth of facts that will undermine those cherished myths so dear to so many. But despite these horrors (and this list is far from complete), and as seen in one of his most famous formulations, Roosevelt still often appealed to Americans as adults and sought the agreement of people who were still recognizably human. At least some of the time, he attempted to steer Americans away from being overcome and paralyzed by fear.
Consider the distance we've traveled in the ensuing years. Now, three-quarters of a century later, our heralded new president explicitly and repeatedly seeks to instill mind-obliterating fear in all of us, to reduce all of us to puddles of goo -- so that we will do exactly what he demands. He doesn't want you to reflect on his plan, he doesn't want you to consider the incomprehensible amount of debt his "recovery" bill will add to a nation that is already bankrupt, he doesn't want you to wonder even momentarily if this redirection of massive amounts of resources, both financial and in terms of human labor, will accomplish any of the goals he has proclaimed. He wants one thing, and only one thing: he wants you to obey. And most Americans will.
Once again, I emphasize the connection between those murderous tactics consistently employed by the United States government in foreign affairs and identical tactics now used on the domestic front in ways that become increasingly brazen. In discussing this issue, I wrote the following in "Terrorist State, Abroad and At Home":
The fundamental lesson [in U.S. foreign policy] is unmistakable, and unmistakably evil in intent and execution (a word made horribly appropriate in more than one sense by our government's actions): you will do exactly as we say -- or else.
It is now critical to note a further implication of this murderous method of dealing with others. Just as it is not possible for an individual to restrict what constitutes a fundamental psychological methodology to only one area of his life, so a ruling class will not employ one approach in foreign policy while dealing with matters of domestic politics in a radically different manner. In any case, the U.S. ruling class never had such a desire: in one way or another, other nations would be made to submit to the demands of the U.S. government -- and the same is true for U.S. citizens. The citizens of America will do exactly as the ruling class demands -- or else. As far as the ruling class is concerned, you have as little reason to complain as the murdered Iraqis do: the ruling class only wishes to improve your life. The ruling class acts only on your behalf, and "for your own good."
You now witness these tactics of intimidation and of the most transparently, viciously manipulative fear-mongering deployed by almost every member of the ruling class in connection with the bailout bill. I will not rehearse another time all the reasons this bill will do nothing but hasten the economic destruction of the United States, or why it is supposedly designed to solve a problem that cannot be solved: begin with my most recent essay on this subject, and follow the links (or scroll through the last few weeks of posts) for much more. (In the following, I do not even mention the cruder and more obvious methods of intimidation now so beloved by our government. See an earlier essay -- "Obey or Die" --for just one kind of example of what the cruder methods entail.)
The words speak for themselves, but the purpose of these pronouncements should be emphasized: our rulers do not want to scare you to death, although your death would hardly approach a matter of any serious concern for them. While your death is not (necessarily) required, your obedience is. You will obey them -- or else.
There is one particular reason, or rather an interconnected series of reasons, why Obama's stimulus bill will not work and cannot work, although aspects of it may appear to work, but only on the surface and only in the short-term. And certainly, many of the standard Establishment voices, on both left and right, will repeatedly tell us it's working -- but at this point, you should not need me to remind you that those Establishment voices lie to you all the time, about every matter of consequence.
And Obama has already proven, in a matter of weeks, that he will maintain additional terrorist tactics in his arsenal, and that he is fully prepared to use them. We will examine these additional issues shortly.
posted by Arthur Silber at 12:38 PM
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New Development Bank opens in Shanghai
July 27, 2015 Category Finance, Weekly
The long-planned New Development Bank (NDB) opened in Shanghai on July 21. The bank, launched jointly by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), will provide financial support for infrastructure construction, mainly in emerging markets. Decisions will now be made regarding its organizational structure, operating rules, recruitment methods and procedures for the selection of investment projects. Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said at the opening ceremony: “The NDB is complementary to the existing multilateral development organizations, and it will build close relationships with them and the private sector.” The NDB was proposed by the BRICS’s five Finance Ministers in 2012 at the G20 Summit. In July 2014, at the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, the countries officially announced the setting up of the BRICS bank, to be headquartered in Shanghai. An African regional center will be established in Johannesburg, South Africa. The NDB, with its global purview and five members, differs from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), where the 57 prospective founding countries will focus on providing financial support for infrastructure construction projects in Asia. The NDB will have an initial authorized capital of USD100 billion, and its initial subscribed capital of USD50 billion will be shared equally among the five founding members. K.V. Kamath, who headed ICICI Bank, India’s leading private bank, for more than a decade, was previously named as the first President of the NDB, the China Daily reports.
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Home > World > This House Is Covered In Pink Crochet For One Powerful Reason
This House Is Covered In Pink Crochet For One Powerful Reason
Julianne Ishler, 3 years ago 0 2 min read 0
What can you make with 93 miles of yarn? A statement.
Women rule the world right now. Simone Biles broke records at the Rio Olympics. Hillary Clinton is in the running to become the first female president. Beyoncé broke the record for all-time VMA wins this year. Women can do anything and their power deserves to be celebrated.
That’s why artist OLEK united female refugees to crochet an entire house in pink yarn—to prove women, no matter their situation, can get back on their feet and rebuild their lives. OLEK and refugee women from Syria and Ukraine used 93 miles of yarn to cover two houses in Sweden and Finland.
https://medium.com/media/aa93ec6efdf24a071021d36420a82b37/href
OLEK, whose artwork typically focuses on feminism and sexuality, started the project in Avesta, Sweden, working to crochet a house to shed light on the plight of people who lost their homes due to war.
https://medium.com/media/96d572fadf9f454df4bdfdd25d0b5f5e/href
The second installation is in Kerava, Finland. OLEK’s team gave the 100-year-old home a fairytale-like makeover to show “a symbol of a brighter future for all people, especially the ones who have been displaced against their own wills,” according to Mental Floss.
Additionally, she explained on Instagram: “Originally, this building, built in the early 1900s, was the home of Karl Jacob Svensk (1883–1968). During the Winter War 1939–1940, the family fled to evade bombs falling into the yard, but they didn’t have to move out permanently. In 2015, more than 21 million people were forced to leave their homes in order to flee from conflicts. The pink house, our pink house is a symbol of a bright future filled with hope; is a symbol [of] us coming together as a community. I’m very proud of all [the] ladies who joined me in this journey. Thank you for your hard work.”
https://medium.com/media/5b0e49af5ade28558d2f21d97e175e4b/href
OLEK inspires us by using her artwork to spread an empowering message that speaks to females around the globe. See the process in the video below and check out her Instagram for more behind-the-scenes pictures!
https://medium.com/media/16b41274f0b59958217cda235b7726c0/href
#activism #art #refugees #travel
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[off topic] Roman Galleys --
This is totally "off topic" and has nothing to do with 18th century gaming . . . but it is certainly something cool! Besides, since this is "the ides of March" it is appropriate to mention this.
Eric Hotz (of "Larry Leadhead" fame) has designed a series of 1/300 scale Roman and Carthaginian galleys and merchant ships (for the galleys to protect) as well as Saxon ships (fairly similar to the later Viking longships).
These are all available through his "Roman Seas" website, where you can either purchase a CD with the plans or have them delivered to your own computer.
Because these are paper models, most sets are relatively inexpensive. Besides, once you've purchased the plans, you can print and build as many as you want. To learn more and see the many different ships available, go to:
http://www.romanseas.com/
I should mention that Eric also has a lot of 1/300 scale Roman buildings available as well. In addition, he will shortly be coming out with his own rules ("Roman Seas") for these ships soon -- he's been playtesting it a various conventions.
Finally, there's also a Yahoo Group for further discussion of his Roman Seas project. To learn more, go to:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/roman_seas/
By the way, most models are between 4" and 8" long and readily use 5mm or 6mm crews (Baccus is suggested although H&R are used for most photos).
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Passion Pit Seattle Center, Seattle, WA, September 3
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SUMMERS LEVINE & KRETZMER, LLP
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Jill Foley Alexander, a partner of Summers, Levine & Kretzmer, LLP, has exclusively practiced family law since graduating from law school. Beginning as an associate attorney for a highly reputable boutique family law firm in Chicago, Illinois, she focused on complex family law matters. Ms. Alexander moved to Los Angeles, California in 2007. After Ms. Alexander’s admittance to the California Bar, she continued to hone her experience and knowledge of the multi-faceted area of family law, handling complex financial matters and high conflict parenting disputes. She understands the emotional stress and uncertainty that comes with family law disputes and is able to bring a balance of advocacy and empathy to each case.
Ms. Alexander received her undergraduate degree from Loyola University Chicago in 2000. She received her J.D. from John Marshall Law School in 2003. She was admitted to practice law in Illinois in 2003 and then in California in 2007.
She is a member of the Family Law Sections of the California State Bar, the Beverly Hills Bar Association, and the LA County Bar Association. She was named a Southern California “Rising Star” by Law & Politics Media, Inc., and Los Angeles magazine for the years 2010 through 2012.
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Berl Senofsky
Berl Senofsky was a Russian violinist and teacher (most people would say American) born (in Philadelphia) on April 29, 1926 – one source gives his year of birth as 1925. He was known for his strong, focused sound and his strong convictions, whether on music topics or otherwise. He actually emerged from the ranks of orchestra players to become a concert violinist and teacher. Joseph Fuchs did essentially the same thing, though he spent many more years in an orchestra than did Senofsky. Senofsky began his violin studies at age 3, with his father, who himself had studied with Efrem Zimbalist and Mischa Elman. At age 6 (1932) he began studying with Louis Persinger, who was teaching Yehudi Menuhin, Ruggiero Ricci, Isaac Stern, Hermilo Novelo, Guila Bustabo, Camilla Wicks, and many other violinists at about the same time. According to one source, Senofsky also studied with Paul Stassevitch at the Mannes School of Music from age 9. Persinger began teaching at Juilliard (New York) in 1930. Senofsky may have been studying privately with Persinger since he did not enroll at Juilliard until age 12. From then on, his teacher was Ivan Galamian. Senofsky’s career was interrupted by World War II in 1944. However, after his brief military service, he made his debut in New York in 1946. He was 20 years old. He had by then won the Walter Naumberg Award, one of the top prizes for violinists. After further study with Galamian – an additional 4 years – he concertized for a short while. He first appeared with the New York Philharmonic on July 11, 1950, playing the Brahms Double concerto. The cellist on that occasion was Shirley Trepel. Senofsky eventually took a position with the Cleveland Orchestra in 1951, as assistant concertmaster. Joseph Gingold was the concertmaster at the time. He was there until 1955. In that year, he won the Queen Elizabeth competition in Belgium. From that point on, he concertized far and wide, focusing his initial (and extensive) concert activities on Russia. On January 15, 1959, he again played with the New York Philharmonic. The concert was repeated four times and the work he played was the Brahms concerto. With William Walton on the podium, Senofsky appeared with the same orchestra on August 8, 1963, playing the Walton concerto. On July 28, 1973, he was for the last time featured with the New York Philharmonic, performing the Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch. He was 47 years old. From 1965 until 1996, Senofsky had a teaching job at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. He was also concertizing around the world during all that time. Although he recorded for four (or five) different labels, Senofsky only recorded sporadically, but his recordings can still be easily found. A YouTube audio file is here. Among other violins, Senofsky played a 1771 Tomas Balestrieri violin which was later played by Ruggiero Ricci and a 1757 Carlo Landolfi later on. He loved playing chamber music but I could not find any mention anywhere indicating he actually played chamber music in public. A quote attributed to Senofsky goes something like this: "To me, music is a higher calling than just a profession or living. It is an effort in understanding something bigger than yourself--it is an effort at striving to be something bigger than you are. You can define religion that way too." Senofsky died on June 21, 2002, at age 76.
Posted by MUSE at 4:28 PM
Labels: American violinists, Carlo Landolfi, Cleveland Orchestra, Concertmasters, Efrem Zimbalist, Ivan Galamian, Joseph Fuchs, Louis Persinger, Peabody Conservatory, Russian violinists, Tomas Balestrieri
Berl Senofsky was American, not Russian; he was born in Philadelphia. His parents were Russian. As for playing chamber music in public, he did it quite often. He even ran a chamber music series in Baltimore for 5-6 years, playing many of the major chamber works for strings and piano.
MUSE September 23, 2013 at 6:49 AM
Thank you so much for your informative comment Noel. You have enhanced the post 100% - I looked up so many sources and none mentioned any public chamber music activity.
He also partnered with Gary Graffman, Ellen Mack, Artur Balsam, and many other pianists in recital and he had a piano trio for some years with Laurence Lesser and Ellen Mack.
I knew Beryl in NY in the late 50's when I was a grad student at Columbia. Wonderful man.We both lived on the upper west side. One afternoon in spring of 1960 I believe, I ran into him on 93rd and Broadway and he told me he just got off the phone with Heifetz in Ca.and that Heifetz's last words to him were,"don't forget to practice scales,Beryl, or you'll play like Isaac" and that Heifetz referred to Stern as a "whore"!
MUSE October 18, 2016 at 9:18 AM
Isaac Stern was known to be arrogant and is even credited with stifling some promising careers. Perhaps he did have more than his fair share of influence. I appreciate your comment, especially as it brings to light what is known only on the "inside."
marcxopoco May 14, 2018 at 11:31 AM
I studied with Senofsky at Peabody where I had a chamber music class with him.
Luckily I wrote in tiny pencil notes on the music all of his instructions and found them a few years ago.
He looked at each passage and phrase from the point of view of whether it should be in tempo, or should push FORWARD slightly or LEAN BACK slightly as compared to the basic tempo.
He told a number of hilarious stories about George Szell and other musicians.
The best was about how Szell told his orchestra he was going to make a fool out of Heifitz when Heifitz came to play the next week with Szell's orchestra.
But Heifitz instead effortlessly turned the tables and made a fool out of Szell.
At the rehearsal, when the orchestra had just finished the lengthy exposition of the concerto and Heifitz was about to come in, Szell stopped and said to the orchestra, "Let's go back through that again."
Heifitz said quietly, "Let's not," and started his entrance in the piece. The whole orchestra followed Heifitz, leaving Szell standing there.
Thanks for Heifitz' comments on Stern.
I always thought much the same about Stern although my instrument is the piano, not the violin.
MUSE May 16, 2018 at 9:18 AM
Thank you for this wonderful "inside" story. If you read my little profile of Guila Bustabo, you will find a comment from someone who was actually her stand partner in the Alabama Symphony. His knowledge of her history there is fabulous, especially since the press is given to making uninformed, incomplete, and misleading assessments of Ms Bustabo's career. Thanks again!!!
Godfather Forum October 17, 2018 at 11:29 AM
I was only 19 years old and studied with Beryl's father in Brooklyn -- Max Senofsky, a truly wonderful man who I will never forget. He never forgot to tell me how proud he was of his son. I was even lucky enough to purchase tickets in 1950 to hear Francescatti play the Beethoven in Carnegie Hall and took my dear teacher with me. I am just writing this note to remember and tell you how fortunate I was.
Regards to all.
MUSE October 18, 2018 at 12:08 PM
Thank you for your great comment. All of us who love classical music and great violin playing are fortunate indeed.
Interesting how various people will have various impressions, obviously based on their interactions & events in their lives.
When I was in high school, say about 1961, my first-cousin Beryl Senofsky was playing a concert in my home town, Jacksonville, FL. He stayed in our house and, that afternoon, before the concert that evening, he & I were throwing football back & forth.
When my father came home from work, he was aghast to learn that his nephew Beryl & I had been throwing a football to each other, with the concert violinist potentially putting his fingers in "violin-playing jeopardy" -- even more upsetting due to the fact that Beryl was scheduled to perform just a few hours later.
Thirty-five years after that, in 1976, Beryl was playing a concert in Orlando, and I was living at that time in Jacksonville. I drove down to see him in concert & to say hello. After the program, I went back stage, and knocked on his dressing room door. A man in a tux answered the door, and went to get Beryl. The dressing room was filled with VIP well-wishers.
Beryl came to the door, poked his head out without actually opening the door much more than shoulders-wide, chatted briefly with me for about 15 seconds, asked me to extend his regards to my parents, and then promptly disappeared back into the dressing room & the embrace of those well-wishers, leaving me more than a little dumbfounded at the closed door.
So much for driving 140 miles each way, and spending 3½ hours in my car to greet an older, distant first-cousin I had held in high esteem.
Lee Sinoff
emperors-nu-cloz@att.net
MUSE March 21, 2019 at 8:44 AM
Thank you for this incredible anecdote. My violin teacher told me a very similar story regarding Spivakovsky. It's been said that Heifetz used to hang up the phone on people calling his house if they didn't recognize his voice when he answered.
Mark B Davisson September 17, 2019 at 7:10 AM
I was a student of his in '73 and '74. I can confirm his disdain for Stern. And let me add that his skills at ping pong were formidable.
MUSE September 19, 2019 at 7:32 PM
Very nice comment. Thank you. You probably know that Heifetz was pretty good at tennis.
Andor Toth
Jascha Brodsky
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This November, we had the opportunity to support some projects that are very close to our heart. Events like these are a big part of the Snowcrest story, that’s why we wanted to take this opportunity to share some information about them, so that you can get to know a little bit more about the people behind your favourite frozen fruit and vegetables.
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We, like many of the local producers we work with, are lucky enough to call the Fraser Valley home. As a result, it’s only natural that we want to give back to a place that has been so supportive of us.
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Humble Roots, a local business in Maple Ridge, helped us showcase some of our very own Snowcrest products. Owner Tyler and his chef prepared a delicious Blueberry Citrus Chai spread that was served on bread at the event.
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US Supreme Court Center > Volume 289 > SOUTH CAROLINA V. BAILEY, 289 U. S. 412 (1933) > Full Text
SOUTH CAROLINA V. BAILEY, 289 U. S. 412 (1933)
South Carolina v. Bailey, 289 U.S. 412 (1933)
South Carolina v. Bailey
Argued April 21, 1933
Decided May 22, 1933
CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA
1. The question whether a person arrested for interstate rendition should be delivered to the demanding state or should be released upon the ground that, by clear evidence he has shown his absence from that state when the crime was committed and consequently that he is not a fugitive from justice, is a question of federal right which, when raised in a court of the arresting state, should be decided under Art. IV, § 2, par. 2 of the Constitution and § 5278 R.S., 18 U.S.C. 662, as construed by this Court. P. 289 U. S. 419.
2. A person who has been arrested in one state under Constitution, Art. IV, § 2, par. 2, R.S., § 5278, 18 U.S.C. 662, as a fugitive from justice and who seeks discharge by habeas corpus upon the ground that he was not in the demanding state at the time of the alleged crime, has the burden of proving the alibi beyond a reasonable doubt; if the evidence is conflicting, he should not be released. P. 289 U. S. 420.
3. The habeas corpus proceeding is in no sense a criminal trial, and if the evidence of alibi is suspicious, the judge may well require the prisoner to submit to examination also and to show what effort has been made to secure the presence of important witnesses. P. 289 U. S. 418.
203 N.C. 362, 166 S.E. 165, reversed.
Certiorari to review the affirmance of a judgment of discharge in habeas corpus.
MR. JUSTICE McREYNOLDS delivered the opinion of the Court.
Sunday night, May 1, 1932 (probably about 10:30 Eastern time), Hunt, a police officer, was murdered on a well lighted street in Greenville, South Carolina. An affidavit by policeman Corea, May 5th, before a local magistrate charged Ray Bailey, respondent here, with the crime. As provided by the federal statute, demand was made upon the Governor of North Carolina for delivery of the accused as a fugitive from justice. Bramlett and Hammond were designated as agents to bring him back.
This requisition was promptly honored, and a warrant issued directing officers in North Carolina to arrest respondent,
"afford him such opportunity to sue out a writ of habeas corpus as is prescribed by the laws of this state and to thereafter deliver him into the custody of the said C. R. Bramlett and L. W. Hammond, to be taken back to the said state, from which he fled."
June 7th, acting as commanded, the sheriff of Jackson County took him into custody. He at once obtained a writ of habeas corpus from the local superior court. His petition therefor alleged illegality of custody
"for that the defendant is charged with an offense in the State of South Carolina, to-wit, the murder of A. B. Hunt, on or about the 1st day of May, 1932, when at which time, this affiant was in the State of North Carolina, and was not in the State of South Carolina."
The sheriff, in his return to the writ, alleged that Bailey
"is being legally and lawfully held in custody after having been arrested on a warrant of extradition issued by the Governor of North Carolina on the 9th day of May, 1932, upon requisition for same by the Governor of South Carolina, on and for a charge of murder alleged to have been committed in the South Carolina, said warrant
of extradition having been duly executed by me on the said Ray Bailey, alias Ray Keith, on the 7th day of June, 1932."
The judge of the Superior Court sitting at Sylva, N.C., heard the cause June 27, 1932. A number of affidavits were received without objection, and thirty or more witnesses were examined in open court. At the conclusion of the testimony, the judge announced:
"Gentlemen, I think there has been an issue raised here I don't think I have a right to pass on -- that of identity -- and at the same time, I don't think it would be fair to the defendant to send him to South Carolina to stand a trial, as it would be very expensive to him and his folks; under the testimony, I don't think there would be a jury anywhere that would ever find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I shall therefore discharge him under the writ and let him go."
This formal judgment followed:
"1. That Ray Bailey (alias Ray Keith) is a citizen and resident of the State of North Carolina."
"2. That he is not a fugitive from justice from the State of South Carolina, and was not present at the time of the commission of the alleged crime at Greenville, South Carolina."
"3. That the State of South Carolina has failed to show probable cause for holding the said Ray Bailey in custody, or that he committed the alleged crime, the murder of A. B. Hunt, and has failed to produce sufficient evidence to warrant the Court in refusing the Writ, and the Court finding from all the evidence introduced in this cause that the petitioner is entitled to the relief sought in his petition and the Writ of Habeas Corpus; . . ."
"It is therefore upon motion . . . considered, ordered, decreed and adjudged by the Court that the petition and Writ be allowed and that the defendant be and he is hereby released from custody. "
The Supreme Court of North Carolina reviewed the cause upon certiorari under title "In the matter of Ray Bailey alias Ray Keith." It affirmed the challenged judgment and, among other things, said (203 N.C. 362, 166 S.E. 165, 167):
"In the case at bar, a controversy of fact arose between the contending parties -- that is, the demanding state and the prisoner -- as to whether the prisoner was in the demanding state at the time the alleged offense was committed. The writ of habeas corpus was created and fashioned for the express purpose of determining such controverted fact. The statute and public policy require that such fact be determined in a summary manner. Doubtless, in given cases, different minds would work out diverse conclusions, but, after all, it is perhaps wise that the determination of the ultimate fact should be lodged in the sound legal discretion of an impartial judge, commissioned by the law of the land and the inherent sense of the responsibility of his high office 'to do what to justice appertains.' He hears the witnesses and observes their mental leanings or bias toward the question involved. He senses the atmosphere of the case. Moreover, it would doubtless be a dangerous experiment to undertake by a judicial decree of an appellate court to prescribe a legal strait-jacket for such matters."
"Exercising the power delegated by statute and supported in principle by the decisions of this state, the hearing judge found certain facts and set them forth in his judgment. The last inquiry in the solution of the appeal is: what is the effect of the findings of fact set out in the judgment? Whatever may be the variable conclusions reached by other courts, that inquiry is settled in North Carolina. The law is thus stated:"
"The findings of fact made by the judge of the Superior Court, found, as they are, upon competent evidence, are also conclusive on us . . .
and we must therefore base our judgment upon his findings, which amply sustain his order."
"In re Hamilton, 182 N.C. 44, 108 S.E. 385, 386. See also Clegg v. Clegg, 186 N.C. 28, 118 S.E. 824; In re Hayes, 200 N.C. 133, 156 S.E. 791."
The matter is here on certiorari.
No question is raised concerning the form or adequacy of the writ issued by the Governor of North Carolina.
Prima facie, Bailey was in lawful custody and upon him rested the burden of overcoming this presumption by proof. McNichols v. Pease, 207 U. S. 100, 207 U. S. 109.
This he undertook to do. His own affidavit positively asserted his presence in North Carolina when the alleged crime occurred. He narrated his movements, all within that state, from Sunday morning, May 1st, when he was at Asheville (north of Greenville, S.C. sixty-one miles over a well paved highway) until 5:30 o'clock Monday morning, when he entered the hospital at Sylva, N.C., fifty miles southwest of Asheville (a paved highway connects these towns) under an assumed name. A number of affidavits and the testimony of several witnesses given in open court tend to support his narrative.
He claimed that he left Asheville about dark Sunday night, May 1st, in a car with a friend with whom he had been drinking and gambling during the afternoon; both were under the influence of alcohol; they were going towards Bailey's home in Yancey County; at a point on the roadside some twenty-five miles north of Asheville, between 10 and eleven o'clock, p.m. (Central time) this friend, after shooting him, left him on the roadside; shortly thereafter, two strangers appeared, put him in their car and carried him to his brother's house in Asheville; from there, an ambulance conveyed him to the hospital, fifty miles away, where he gave an assumed name.
The doctors found two bullets had passed through his body; also that a bullet had wounded his right hand at the base of the thumb.
Although present in court at the hearing, Bailey did not take the stand, and several persons who probably could have thrown much light upon the issue were neither called nor accounted for. Among these were the respondent's friend who shot him, the brother to whose house at Asheville respondent was taken, two women said to have been there, and the doctor who there dressed his wounds. Other important witnesses made ex parte affidavits.
Such a tale should have been subjected to rigid scrutiny. The hearing was in no sense a criminal trial, and the judge would have been well advised if he had demanded that the prisoner present himself for examination; also should show what effort had been made to secure the presence of important witnesses in order that they might be questioned. Viewed as a whole, the evidence for respondent leaves much to be desired; certainly it is unsatisfactory. If true, it supports the conclusions of the judge that Bailey had not fled from the justice of South Carolina.
On the other hand, the demanding state presented three witnesses -- police officers Corea and Singleton and a merchant -- residents of Greenville, S.C., who identified Bailey and positively asserted that, in their presence, he shot officer Hunt about 10:30 Sunday night, May 1st. They had never seen Bailey until he suddenly appeared and commenced to shoot. The officers gave a circumstantial account of the homicide, declared they were within a few feet of the assailant, shot at him nine times after he had fatally wounded Hunt, and thought they wounded him in the body and right hand. They further said that, during the melee, an automobile stopped nearby and its occupants shot at them many times. The culprit finally entered and escaped in that car. The whole affray continued for only a very short time -- a few moments.
While some circumstances tend to support these statements, they are not free from doubt. If true, Bailey was a fugitive.
The record presents an irreconcilable conflict of evidence. It is not possible to say with certainty where the truth lies.
The rights of the parties depend upon the proper construction and application of Art. IV, § 2, par. 2, of the Federal Constitution [Footnote 1] and § 5278, R.S. (U.S.Code, Tit. 18, § 662) [Footnote 2] derived from the Act of February 12, 1793.
The demanding state asserted a right to the custody of the respondent under the Federal Constitution and statute. He claimed that these impliedly forbade his surrender, since the evidence made it clear that he was beyond the limits of South Carolina at the time of the homicide, and therefore was not a fugitive from the justice of that state.
These questions of federal right were properly submitted for consideration by the state court upon the return to the writ of habeas corpus. And it was the duty of that court to administer the law prescribed by the Constitution and statute of the United states, as construed by this Court. Second Employers' Liability Cases, 223 U. S. 1, 223 U. S. 55; Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Ry. Co. v. Rankin, 241 U. S. 319, 241 U. S. 326.
In effect, the matter for determination was whether the accused appeared to be held contrary to the Federal Constitution and laws. The ultimate question of his guilt or innocence of the charge of murder preferred against him did not arise, the sole point for decision related to his absence from the state of South Carolina at the time of the crime. It was wholly beyond the province of the judge to speculate, as he seems to have done, concerning the probable outcome of any trial which might follow rendition to the demanding state. The circumstances require this Court to search the record and determine for ourselves whether upon the facts presented the courts below reached the proper conclusion.
The applicable provision of the Federal Constitution and of the statute intended to supplement it have often been considered here. Some of the more important cases are collected in the margin. [Footnote 3]
In Munsey v. Clough, 196 U. S. 364, 196 U. S. 375, through Mr. Justice Peckham, this Court said:
"When it is conceded, or when it is so conclusively proved that no question can be made, that the person was not within the demanding state when the crime is said to have been committed, and
his arrest is sought on the ground only of a constructive presence at that time in the demanding state, then the court will discharge the defendant. Hyatt v. Corkran, 188 U. S. 691, affirming the judgment of the New York Court of Appeals, 172 N.Y. 176, 64 N.E. 825. But the court will not discharge a defendant arrested under the governor's warrant where there is merely contradictory evidence on the subject of presence in or absence from the state, as habeas corpus is not the proper proceeding to try the question of alibi, or any question as to the guilt or innocence of the accused."
Speaking for the Court in McNichols v. Pease, 207 U. S. 100, 207 U. S. 112, Mr. Justice Harlan said:
"When a person is held in custody as a fugitive from justice under an extradition warrant, in proper form, and showing upon its face all that is required by law to be shown as a prerequisite to its being issued, he should not be discharged from custody unless it is made clearly and satisfactorily to appear that he is not a fugitive from justice within the meaning of the Constitution and laws of the United states. We may repeat the thought expressed in Appleyard's case, above cited, that a faithful, vigorous enforcement of the constitutional and statutory provisions relating to fugitives from justice is vital to the harmony and welfare of the states, and that,"
"while a state should take care, within the limits of the law, that the rights of its people are protected against illegal action, the judicial authorities of the Union should equally take care that the provisions of the Constitution be not so narrowly interpreted as to enable offenders against the laws of a state to find a permanent asylum in the territory of another state."
Considering the Constitution and statute and the declarations of this Court, we may not properly approve the discharge of the respondent unless it appears from the record that he succeeded in showing by clear and satisfactory evidence that he was outside the limits of South
Carolina at the time of the homicide. Stated otherwise, he should not have been released unless it appeared beyond reasonable doubt that he was without the State of South Carolina when the alleged offense was committed, and, consequently, could not be a fugitive from her justice.
The record discloses only a conflict of evidence; the requirement which we have indicated has not been met, and the challenged judgment must be reversed.
The cause will be remanded to the Supreme Court of North Carolina for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
MR. JUSTICE BRANDEIS and MR. JUSTICE BUTLER are of the opinion that the evidence, while possibly sufficient to sustain, does not require, a finding that there is probable cause to believe that the accused was a fugitive from South Carolina, and therefore this Court is not warranted in reversing the judgment of the Supreme Court of North Carolina.
[Footnote 1]
"A person charged in any state with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the state having Jurisdiction of the Crime."
Rev.Stats. § 5278.
"Whenever the executive authority of any State or Territory demands any person as a fugitive from justice, of the executive authority of any State or Territory to which such person has fled, and produces a copy of an indictment found or an affidavit made before a magistrate of any State or Territory, charging the person demanded with having committed treason, felony, or other crime, certified as authentic by the governor or chief magistrate of the State or Territory from whence the person so charged has fled, it shall be the duty of the executive authority of the State or Territory to which such person has fled to cause him to be arrested and secured, and to cause notice of the arrest to be given to the executive authority making such demand, or to the agent of such authority appointed to receive the fugitive, and to cause the fugitive to be delivered to such agent when he shall appear. If no such agent appears within six months from the time of the arrest, the prisoner may be discharged. All costs or expenses incurred in the apprehending, securing, and transmitting such fugitive to the State or Territory making such demand shall be paid by such State or Territory."
Kentucky v. Dennison, 24 How. 66; Ex parte Reggel, 114 U. S. 643; Roberts v. Reilly, 116 U. S. 80; Hyatt v. New York ex rel Corkran, 188 U. S. 691; Munsey v. Clough, 196 U. S. 364; Appleyard v. Massachusetts, 203 U. S. 222; McNichols v. Pease, 207 U. S. 100; Drew v. Thaw, 235 U. S. 432; Innes v. Tobin, 240 U. S. 127; Biddinger v. Commissioner of Police, 245 U. S. 128.
Powered by Justia US Supreme Court Center: SOUTH CAROLINA V. BAILEY, 289 U. S. 412 (1933)
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Spencer Watch
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Christian Member of the Knights Templar Interrupts Muslim Student Event
Even Ivy League Universities such as Princeton are not immune from radical anti-Muslims. A Christian man by the name of Adam Pyle interrupted a Muslim Student “welcome back dinner,” telling them that “Muslims are going to hell.”
One can only imagine the hysteria this would have caused in the anti-Muslim blogosphere if a Muslim had barged into a Christian, Jewish or any other faith’s “welcome back dinner.”
This is also noteworthy in the backdrop of the terrorist attacks in Norway. Anders Behring Breivik claimed to be a member of the Knight Templars as well. While we should not extrapolate excessively from this one incident we should keep in mind that there is a rise in the appropriation of Christian Crusader theology, symbols and rhetoric amongst the anti-Muslim movement.
One need only look at Robert Spencer’s extolling of the Crusades and reiteration of its call, “God Wills it,” and to the fascination in anti-Muslim groups of Crusader symbols, vividly brought to the fore in our piece, SIOA is an Anti-Muslim Hate Group.
Threats arise at Muslim Students Association event
by Henry Rome (DailyPrincetonian)
A local man claiming to be part of the Knights Templar was arrested on Saturday night after allegedly interrupting a Muslim Student Association welcome back dinner and telling students that “Muslims are going to hell,” according to multiple witnesses and police reports.
While the incident reflects a nationwide spike in bias crimes in the wake of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, MSA members say they are treating it as an isolated event and do not plan to scale back any of their events in response.
The man, Adam Pyle, 26, of Princeton Township, had apparently been present for part of the actual dinner at Campus Club, said Sohaib Sultan, the University’s Muslim life coordinator. Toward the conclusion of the dinner, Pyle left the dining area and allegedly started going through the backpack of Jihad Al-Jabban ’14, the MSA public relations chair.
When Al-Jabban walked over, Pyle explained that he was a Christian but still a member of the “ummah,” the global Muslim community, according to Al-Jabban. Pyle then proceeded to bow and ask MSA members if they were members of the ummah, said MSA vice president Areej Hassan ’13. He also allegedly asked a member, “Why do you hate Jews?” Hassan is a staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.
“I immediately became a little bit nervous about what his intentions were,” Sultan said. “I realized this could be a potentially violent situation.”
Sultan then ushered the 60 to 70 students attending the dinner into a closed room away from Pyle, and an attendee called Public Safety. In the meantime, Pyle allegedly said, “Muslims are going to hell” and “Death to Muslims,” and began walking toward the students, according to Sultan.
“I stood right in front of him and said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not going to let [you] go inside,’ ” Sultan recalled. During the night, Pyle also allegedly made references to the anti-Christ, University Spokesperson Martin Mbugua said in an email.
At 8:57 p.m., Public Safety officers arrested Pyle and charged him with bias intimidation, criminal attempt, disorderly conduct, harassment and defiant trespass, Mbugua said. Pyle will face the criminal charges on Monday in the Borough Municipal Court. Public Safety ordered Pyle to stay away from campus for the next 90 days, and the department intends to ban him permanently.
A message left seeking comment at Pyle’s home phone number was not returned. Pyle is not affiliated with the University.
“You just never know the type of individual [who] might come in and do something,” Sultan said. “The Muslim community in America has seen a real rise in Islamophobia over this past year in particular, and so it shakes us up. We really did feel threatened.”
It is unclear how Pyle learned of the welcome back dinner, since the event was only advertised via email and with limited on-campus advertising, MSA board members said.
“I don’t even think it was premeditated,” said Sheeba Arif ’14, the MSA events chair. “I feel like he just stumbled in on it actually.”
It is also unknown how Pyle gained access to Campus Club, access to which was limited by prox at the time, Mbugua said.
Sultan said the incident has shaken up some Muslim students, and he is concerned that new students may get the wrong impression about the University.
“To the freshmen and first-year graduate students, please don’t worry. This was an isolated incident and you will find this campus as warm and welcoming to Muslims as anywhere in this country,” Sultan said in an email to the MSA listserv.
Sultan has invited officers from Public Safety to speak with students at Friday prayers this week to thank the officers and to discuss revising any safety protocols. Students praised the responding officers, who also offered to escort the members back to their dorm rooms after the event.
Sultan added, however, that he doesn’t anticipate any increased security as a result of the incident.
“We really do hope and anticipate that this was a completely isolated incident,” he said. “We want to continue being the open community that we’ve become at Princeton.”
Other religious organizations on campus, including the Office of Religious Life, have lent their support and have offered to hold discussions and vigils in response to the incident. MSA board members said they may discuss the issue broadly at the next Religious Life Council meeting, but they want to move forward.
“It’s an isolated incident,” Arif said. “We don’t want to make a bigger deal than it is.”
While advocacy groups noticed a rise in bias crimes around the 9/11 anniversary, Ibrahim Hooper, the national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that colleges and universities are often immune.
“Colleges and universities have typically not been a major factor in our annual reporting on bias-related incidents, just because they tend to be more open, more tolerant and more knowledgeable about Islam and Muslims,” he said.
Indeed, Sultan said he couldn’t recall any similar incident occurring on campus, except for the occasional controversial speaker or offensive email. Mbugua also said this is the first incident of its nature to happen on campus.
“I think it’s still on the minds of students, but I think we recognize this was completely an isolated incident,” Sultan said. “Princeton University has been a wonderful and very welcoming home for Muslim students and faculty for many years.”
This entry was posted in Silly Spencer, Spencer Hate and tagged Adam Pyle, Anders Behring Breivik, Anti-Muslim, Crusaders, Henry Rome, Islam, Islamophobia, Knights Templar, MSA, Muslim Students, Princeton, Robert Spencer, Shoaib Sultan, What if they were Muslim by admin. Bookmark the permalink.
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Solutions Index
NORDIC/BALTIC
BNY Mellon Declares Dividends
NEW YORK, April 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation today announced that its Board of Directors authorized dividends on its common and preferred stock as follows:
Common – a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.28 per share, payable on May 10, 2019 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 29, 2019.
Preferred – the following dividends for the noncumulative perpetual preferred stock, liquidation preference $100,000 per share, for the dividend period ending in June 2019, in each case payable on June 20, 2019 to holders of record as of the close of business on June 5, 2019:
$1,022.22 per share on the Series A Preferred Stock (equivalent to $10.2222 per Normal Preferred Capital Security of Mellon Capital IV, each representing a 1/100th interest in a share of the Series A Preferred Stock);
$1,300.00 per share on the Series C Preferred Stock (equivalent to $0.3250 per depositary share, each representing a 1/4,000th interest in a share of the Series C Preferred Stock);
$2,250.00 per share on the Series D Preferred Stock (equivalent to $22.5000 per depositary share, each representing a 1/100th interest in a share of the Series D Preferred Stock); and
$2,475.00 per share on the Series E Preferred Stock (equivalent to $24.7500 per depositary share, each representing a 1/100th interest in a share of the Series E Preferred Stock).
BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment management and investment services in 35 countries. As of March 31, 2019, BNY Mellon had $34.5 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.8 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com. Follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon or visit our newsroom at www.bnymellon.com/newsroom for the latest company news.
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jennifer.h.sullivan@bnymellon.com
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magda.palczynska@bnymellon.com
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Tag: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 Wi-Fi Goes On Sale In India For Rs.13,900
Last year, Samsung announced the Galaxy Tab 2 3G as well as Tab 2 Wi-Fi at the Mobile World Congress (2012) in Barcelona. The South Korean manufacturer has already launched the 3G variant of this tablet in India, however the company failed to launch the Wi-Fi variant due to unknown reasons. In the meantime, Indian as well as global manufacturers has launched a number of Android tablets in the Indian market.
Exactly one year after its official announcement, Samsung finally launched the Galaxy Tab 2 P3110 Wi-Fi in the Indian market. Thankfully, this device is shipped with the Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) Operating System. If you don’t want to spend a few thousand bucks for the 3G Connectivity and looking for an great Android tablet in the sub-15k range, then you should definitely have a look at this device.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 P3110 Wi-Fi features a 7 inch TFT display, sporting a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels resolution, 1 GHz dual-core processor, Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) Operating System, Samsung TouchWiz UI, 3 megapixel rear-facing camera, Full HD (1080p) video playback, VGA front facing camera for video chats and so on.
It also comes with a 3.5 mm headset jack, Music player with SoundAlive, Wi-Fi 801.11 b/g/n, Samsung ChatON, Google Play Store, A-GPS, 16 GB internal memory, MicroSD card slot, 32 GB expandable memory, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi Direct, Samsung Apps, Games Hub, Readers Hub, Samsung Kies and a 4000 mAh battery.
Samsung is selling the out-dated Galaxy Tab 2 Wi-fi in India for Rs.13,900 (approx. $260). We are not sure if anyone will be willing to buy this device, when you can get a much powerful device from Asus, Acer, Micromax and Lava at a cheaper price. Moreover, the next generation of tablets from Samsung is expected to be announced at the end of this month in Barcelona. If you still want to get this tablet, head over to Samsung India’s eStore.
Posted on February 11, 2013 Author Omkar DuttaCategories Gadgets NewsTags Android, Android 4.1, Android Tablets, Galaxy Tab 2, India, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2Leave a comment
Garnet Red Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Coming To The US For $219.99
Last year, Samsung launched the 7 inch Galaxy Tab 2 at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona. This device was already available in classic Black and White colors. However, Samsung went ahead and announced the new Garnet Red edition of the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. This device will be shipped with the newer Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) Operating System, instead of the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS. The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 limited edition is designed for consumers who want to stay connected and entertained on-the-go, and are seeking a unique color offering.
Michael Abary, Senior Vice President, Samsung Electronics America, Inc, said,
“This new eye-catching version of the Galaxy Tab 2 offers endless entertainment in the palm of your hand, while the stylish Garnet Red look will set you apart from the crowd. The Garnet Red version of the Galaxy® S III has been incredibly well-received, so we are happy to make the same brilliant color available for our Galaxy Tab 2 as well.”
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Garnet Red Edition features a 7 inch TFT display, sporting a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels resolution, 1 GHz dual-core processor, Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) Operating System, Samsung TouchWiz UI, 3 megapixel rear-facing camera, VGA front facing camera for video calls, Wi-Fi 801.11 b/g/n and much more.
Other features include a 3.5 mm headset jack, Music player with SoundAlive, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi Direct, Samsung Apps, Games Hub, Readers Hub, Samsung Kies, Samsung ChatON, Google Play Store, A-GPS, 16 GB internal memory, MicroSD card slot, 32 GB expandable memory and a 4000 mAh battery.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Garnet Red Edition comes with a price tag of just $219.99 without any contract. This device will go on sale starting this week at Walmart, Amazon.com, Office Depot, Fry’s, Tiger Direct, Toys“R”Us and other retailers in the US.
Posted on January 29, 2013 Author Omkar DuttaCategories Gadgets NewsTags Android, Android 4.1, Android Tablets, Galaxy Tab 2, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2Leave a comment
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Wi-Fi Gets The Android 4.1 Update
Samsung has already confused the customers by launching the Galaxy Tab 2 with 2 different screen size. The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and 10.1 comes with 7.0 inch display and 10.1 inch display respectively. The 7 inch Galaxy Tab 2 is an entry-level tablet, which was shipped with the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Operating System. It packs a 7 inch WSVGA display, 1 GHz dual-core processor, 3 megapixel rear-facing camera, Wi-Fi 801.11 b/g/n and more.
Back in September, Samsung has announced the Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) update plans for 12 smartphones and 4 tablets, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. After waiting for a couple of months, Samsung has finally started rolling out the much-awaited Android 4.1 update for this device. Currently, this update is available only for the Wi-Fi variant of Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.
The latest update is numbered XXCLK5 and it bring the usual Jelly Bean goodies including “Project Butter” software enhancements, predictive search capabilities through Google Now, smart keyboard and so on. This update is currently rolling out in France and it would be available in other countries in the next few days.
The latest update can be easily downloaded via OTA (Over-The-Air). You can also manually update this device by connecting it to your computer and follow the instructions on the KIES software. It is advised to backup all your data before updating the device.
Posted on November 23, 2012 November 23, 2012 Author Omkar DuttaCategories Gadgets NewsTags Android, Android 4.1, Android Update, OTA Update, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, Software UpdateLeave a comment
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 310 Available For Pre-Order In India
Samsung India has officially started taking pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 310 Android tablet. The 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2 is expected to be priced at Rs. 23,250 (MRP), while select retailers have already started selling it for Rs. 19,500. This is the sixth Android tablet to be released in India by Samsung.
Consumers can pre-book the Galaxy Tab 2 310 aka Galaxy Tab 2 now they are entitled for a Tab stand worth Rs. 999 absolutely free. For the uninitiated ones, the Galaxy Tab 2comes with Android 4.0 out-of-the-box and is equipped with 3G, 1GHz dual-core processor, 7-inch WSVGA display with 1024*600 pixel resolution, Wi-Fi, 3MP rear-facing camera, front-facing VGA camera, GPS, microSD card slot, 8GB internal memory and 4,000mAh battery.
Interested customers can’t pre-order it from Samsung India’s official website, however, we suggest you to get it from retailers as it’s priced close to Rs. 4,000 cheaper than the one listed on Samsung’s webstore.
Posted on May 21, 2012 May 21, 2012 Author Apurva ChaudharyCategories Gadgets NewsTags Android 4.0, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 310Leave a comment
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 Announced; Comes With 1 GHz Dual-Core Processor, Android 4.0 OS
Samsung recently launched a new tablet device, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. This tablet is the successor of the highly popular Samsung Galaxy Tab. The Galaxy Tab 2 runs on the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Operating System and it comes with a 1 GHz dual-core processor, instead of the 1 GHz single-core processor found in the original Galaxy Tab. This tablet comes with the Samsung’s Music Hub and Readers Hubs, which allows you to access more than 17 million tracks and 2.3 million e-books respectively.
“Two years ago, Samsung Galaxy Tab began to offer customers more possibilities on the go. Since then, Samsung has actively enhanced our tablet line-up with several tablets in different sizes,” said JK Shin, President of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. “The new Galaxy Tab 2 will provide people with delighted multimedia experience and allow efficient communication.”
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 features a 7 inch WSVGA touchscreen display, sporting a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS, Samsung TouchWiz UI, 3 megapixel rear camera, VGA front facing camera for video calls, etc.
It also comes with the usual Samsung Apps, Samsung Kies, Readers Hub, Music Hub, Game Hub, Video Hub, Samsung S Suggest, Samsung ChatON, Music Player with SoundAlive, AllShare Play and Polaris Office. This device allows you to access more than 400,000 apps from the Android Market.
Other features include a 3.5 mm headset jack, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, 3G Connectivity, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB/ 16GB/ 32GB of internal memory, microSD card slot, 32GB expandable memory, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0, A-GPS and 4000 mAH Li-ion battery. This tablet measures 193.7 x 122.4 x 10.5 mm and weighs 344g.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 will be first available in the UK, followed by the global markets from March. The price of this device in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark is mentioned below.
Wi-Fi: 2,995SEK ($450)
3G: 3,695 SEK ($556)
Finland:
Wi-Fi: 349EUR ($463)
3G: 429EUR ($568)
Wi-Fi: 2,400NOK ($420)
3G: 2,990NOK ($523)
Wi-Fi: 2,350DKK ($419)
3G: 3,995DKK ($712)
Posted on February 14, 2012 February 14, 2012 Author Omkar DuttaCategories Gadgets NewsTags Android, Android 4.0, Android Tablets, Ice Cream Sandwich, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, UKLeave a comment
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UN: Iranian Forces ‘Shooting to Kill’ Protesters, At Least 7,000 Held
(THIS ARTICLE IS COURTESY OF THE SAUDI NEWS AGENCY ASHARQ AL-AWSAT)
Friday, 6 December, 2019 – 12:45
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet attends a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
Asharq Al-Awsat
The United Nations said Friday that at least 7,000 people have “reportedly” been arrested in Iran since mass demonstrations erupted last month, adding Iranian security forces were “shooting to kill” in their deadly crackdown against protesters in recent weeks.
In a statement, the UN human rights office said it had obtained “verified video footage” showing security forces firing on protesters, apparently with intent to kill.
The rights office added that it had “information suggesting that at least 208 people were killed” during the unrest, echoing a count also tallied by Amnesty International.
“There are also reports, which the UN Human Rights Office has so far been unable to verify, suggesting more than twice that number killed,” the statement added.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said video obtained by her office shows “severe violence was used against protesters.”
“We have also received footage which appears to show security forces shooting unarmed demonstrators from behind while they were running away, and shooting others directly in the face and vital organs – in other words shooting to kill,” Bachelet said.
Additional video material shows “armed members of security forces shooting from the roof of a justice department building” in the city of Javanrud, west of Tehran in Kermanshah Province, as well as gunfire from helicopters in Sadra, in Fars Province.
The protests began on November 15 following a surprise hike in fuel prices.
Iran has yet to give overall figures for the number of people killed or arrested when security forces moved in to quell the unrest that saw buildings torched and shops looted.
Bachelet’s office said it had received many reports of ill-treatment against people arrested, “including with the apparent aim of extracting forced confessions.”
She charged that “many of the arrested protesters have not had access to a lawyer,” while raising alarm over “reports of severe overcrowding and harsh conditions in detention centers, which in some cities include military barracks, sports venues and schools.”
“I urge the authorities to immediately release from detention all protesters who have been arbitrarily deprived of their liberty,” she further said.
The demonstrations show the widespread economic discontent gripping Iran since May 2018, when President Donald Trump imposed crushing sanctions after unilaterally withdrawing the United States from the nuclear deal that Tehran struck with world powers.
Posted in Demonstrations, human rights, Iran, murder, protests, U.N.Tagged Demonstrations, human rights, Iran, protestors being shot, UNLeave a comment
Israel: In surprise change, 13 countries vote against pro-Palestine UN resolution
(THIS ARTICLE IS COURTESY OF THE TIMES OF ISRAEL)
In surprise change, 13 countries vote against pro-Palestine UN resolution
States led by Germany change their voting pattern in favor of Israel, opposing Division of Palestinian Rights, although motion still passes by wide margin
By RAPHAEL AHREN Today, 1:49 am 6
View of the United Nations General Assembly during a vote the US-imposed embargo on Cuba on November 7, 2019. (Evan Schneider/ UN)
Over a dozen countries on Tuesday abruptly changed their voting pattern at the United Nations in Israel’s favor, opposing an annual resolution expressing support for a pro-Palestinian UN agency traditionally critical of the Jewish state.
Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Brazil and Colombia for the first time voted against the resolution regarding the Division of Palestinian Rights at the UN Secretariat.
In past years, these countries had abstained on the resolution.
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“I am pleased that this significant group of countries has decided today to voice a clear moral stance against discrimination toward Israel at the UN,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. “This represents an important step in the long struggle against the prejudiced bias toward Israel at the United Nations. Particularly noticeable is the shift in the stance of several member states of the European Union and I trust that the remaining EU members will adopt this position soon.”
The UK, France and Spain abstained, as they do every year.
The resolution — co-sponsored by Comoros, Cuba, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, United Arab Emirates and Yemen — still passed with a comfortable majority, with 87 “yes” votes, 54 “no” votes and 23 abstentions.
UN Watch
✔@UNWatch
· 23h
Replying to @UNWatch
The resolution titled “Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine” was adopted by a vote of 147 – 7 – 13.
The U.S., Canada, and Australia voted No.
See text here: https://undocs.org/en/A/74/L.15
The resolution titled “Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat” was adopted by a vote of 87–23–54.
A group of EU states who last year abstained switched their votes to No, including:
5:20 PM – Dec 3, 2019
Katz also thanked the United States, Canada, Australia, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Kiribati who again voted against the resolution.
The New York-based Division for Palestinian Rights is notorious among Israeli officials and pro-Israel advocates for its harsh criticism of Israeli policies. It serves as the Secretariat of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and organizes international conferences that usually focus on bashing Israel. It is also responsible for the annual observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on November 27.
The resolution passed Tuesday states that the Division for Palestinian Rights “continues to make a constructive and positive contribution to raising international awareness of the question of Palestine and of the urgency of a peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine in all its aspects.”
“This body represents the structural discrimination against Israel in the UN arena and uses UN manpower and budgetary resources to promote a Palestinian narrative while simultaneously encouraging a distinctly anti-Israel agenda,” Katz said.
According to Hillel Neuer, the executive director of Geneva-based UN Watch, the surprising change in the voting pattern of 11 EU states has to do with “an unprecedented focus” on Germany, whose Foreign Minister Heiko Mass earlier this year pledged to oppose the unfair treatment of Israel at the UN.
“I think Germany felt the need to modify some of its anti-Israel votes, and that this rare EU split at the GA allowed Netherlands, Austria and others to follow,” Neuer told The Times of Israel. “We were disappointed that countries like the UK, France and Spain did not join this principled opposition.”
“With it’s ‘no’ this year, Germany expresses its criticism on the disproportionally high number of resolutions that are critical of Israel,” Germany’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The ministry further said that there was no reason for the special status enjoyed by the Division for Palestinian Rights.
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Palestine at the UN
Israel Katz
Israeli diplomacy
Hillel Neuer
Israel-Germany relations
Posted in Germany, Israel, Palestinians, U.N.Tagged Germany, Israel, Palestinians, UN, UNGALeave a comment
How Wealthy Countries Can Step Up Their Contribution to Fight Global Poverty
T5557U
Wednesday, 4 December, 2019 – 12:30
Impoverished girl | Photo: REUTERS
Ferid Belhaj
How can the wealthiest nations around the globe continue to help the world’s poorest countries? This is a question that delegates will look to address during a meeting organized by the International Development Association, or IDA, in Stockholm next week.
The role of IDA, a financial institution and a member of the World Bank Group, is to offer loans, grants and debt relief to poor countries unable to borrow on the terms offered by another arm of the World Bank, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Its member states will gather in the Swedish capital on December 12 and 13 to set the agenda for assistance to these countries for the three-year period starting in July 2020. While countries in the Mena region, including Saudi Arabia, had contributed funds to the previous cycle, it is critical that they – and potentially others – sustain and increase their participation in this forum and support a global public good.
Many people are unaware that countries such as China, India, and South Korea were beneficiaries of IDA assistance in the past but now they have become donors giving back to the international community
This upcoming replenishment, as it is called, is indeed an opportunity for the region as a whole to make its presence felt. Beginning next year, it will be the epicenter of several global events. Saudi Arabia will host members of the G20, Egypt is the chair of the African Union and the UAE is preparing to host the region’s first World Expo. The World Bank-IMF annual meetings will take place in Marrakech in 2021. While these events are significant in their own right, a substantially higher financial contribution from Mena countries to IDA will demonstrate the region’s capacity to lead on long-term challenges such as poverty reduction, inclusive growth, and climate change.
Since its creation in 1960, IDA has become one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 77 poorest countries and the foremost instrument to channel multilateral funding where it is needed the most and in the quickest and most efficient way possible. Over six decades, it has provided almost $400 billion for investments in over 100 countries, its support paving the way towards equality, economic growth, job creation, higher incomes and better living conditions. IDA’s work covers primary education, basic health services, clean water and sanitation, agriculture, business climate improvements, infrastructure, and institutional reforms. More recently, it has intervened to bring hope to people affected by conflict and violence.
Since 2000, it has provided more than $88 billion in financial assistance to Arab and Muslim countries. In the previous replenishment, more than 50 percent of the resources were allocated to 28 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, including Djibouti, Syria, and Yemen.
In Yemen, IDA has played a critical role in providing relief and mitigating the lasting impacts of conflict. It has helped Yemenis fight diseases and famine, helped train nearly 12,000 health personnel and immunize 6.9 million children. Through an emergency program, it has helped ensure around nine million vulnerable Yemenis have access to food and other basic necessities.
Meanwhile, the conflict in Syria continues to take a heavy toll. More than 5.6 million people are registered as refugees, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. In Lebanon, where many of them live, IDA is helping the country enroll 200,000 children in public schools. In Jordan, IDA assistance is creating 100,000 jobs for Jordanian nationals and Syrian refugees.
Beyond the Mena region, IDA is a development partner for the poorest countries.
International institutions remain important for some of the most lagging regions and communities in the world. Independent assessments have documented the tremendous benefits of IDA’s support for the development of poor countries. Many people are unaware that countries such as China, India, and South Korea were beneficiaries of IDA assistance in the past but now they have become donors giving back to the international community.
Multilateral institutions deserve our utmost support because when misfortune strikes countries, the knowledge and financial resources of these institutions can save, protect and nurture lives. They can provide ideas for development strategies and funds for critical infrastructure. To eliminate extreme poverty and shared growth, they are a valuable ally for governments and citizens.
The World Bank Group is grateful for generous financial contributions from the international donor community to IDA. However, I believe that the more fortunate Mena countries can and must enhance their contribution to this agency. Its economic heft presents an opportunity for the region to take on a leadership role in this forum. It is also a wonderful opportunity to help those in need, which is fully in line with the region’s rich history of generosity towards the less fortunate.
Ferid Belhaj is World Bank regional vice president for Mena
Posted in Economics, Saudi Arabia, U.N.Tagged China, Economics, India, Marrakech, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, UN, US, wealthy nations, World ExpoLeave a comment
Pakistan, with China, tries to put 4 Indians on UN terror list
Posted on November 22, 2019 by oldpoet56
(INDIA IS LEARNING A HARD FACT: CHINA’S GOVERNMENT IS NO ONE’S FRIEND)(OP:ED oldpoet56)
After the UN Security Council designated Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government in Pakistan has been on an overdrive to frame Indians in terror cases.
INDIANS-ABROAD Updated: Nov 22, 2019 04:24 IST
Shishir Gupta
After Masood Azhar was designated global terrorist by the UN security panel, there have been several attempts by Pakistan to falsely implicate Indian nationals in terror cases.(VIA REUTERS)
Officials in the national security agencies and South Block are now convinced that Pakistan has embarked on a tit-for-tat designation of Indian nationals as terrorists under the UN Security Council’s 1267 Al Qaida sanctions committee as a response to India’s success, with assistance from the US and France, in having got Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar designated as a global terrorist on May 1.
Last week, Pakistan, with the support of UN Security Council permanent member and its all-weather ally China moved the 1267 Al Qaida sanctions committee to designate two Indians global terrorists after accusing them of past terror attacks in Balochistan and Peshawar, and even registered FIRs against them. This takes to four the number of Indians labelled terrorists by Pakistan. All four persons were evacuated by Indian security agencies from Afghanistan, with the last one being flown out of Kabul on November 18.
Hindustan Times has reported on three of the cases. The fourth is that of Andhra Pradesh resident Appaji Angara, who was working as a software developer in a bank in Kabul, Afghanistan. While Angara was moved out of Kabul as early as January 18, Pakistan accused him of a terrorist attack on Mall Road in Lahore on February 13, 2017, along with the Jamat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban, Pakistan.
ALSO WATCH | PM Modi hails ‘big victory’ after UN sanctions on Jaish chief Masood Azhar
In the dossier submitted to the 1267 committee, Angara has been accused of the attack on Army School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014, in collaboration with JuA, and a bombing in Warsak colony in Peshawar on September 2, 2016. An FIR number 77 (dated July 13, 2019) under sections 312, 324, 353, 14B, 149, ¾ F & P, 7 ATA, counter-terrorism department, police station Peshawar, has been registered against him. The residence address, passport number and personal details of Angara are being withheld by HT.
Earlier this week, HT reported Pakistan’s effort to designate Gobinda Patnaik Duggivalasa. The Odisha-born Duggivalasa, 54, was hurriedly evacuated from Kabul by Indian security agencies on November 18 after he was accused of a terror attack on Siraj Raisani, a Pakistani politician, on July 13, 2018 in Mastung, Baluchistan in which 160 persons were killed. An FIR number 12/18 (dated July 13, 2019) under sections 109-427-34-ATA counter terrorism department, police station Quetta, Balochistan, and another FIR number 08/2018 (dated July 9, 2019) under section 109-427-07 ATA CTD, police station Quetta, Balochistan, names Duggivalasa as a terrorist.
A B. Com graduate from Odisha, with a diploma in computer applications from Chennai and a MBA from Vishakapatnam, Duggivalasa, according to dossier, worked as President of Phoenix Consulting Services in Kabul, Afghanistan. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Fluentgrid, and involved in capacity-building projects in Afghanistan. The full details of Duggivalasa are being withheld by HT.
Several Indian companies are working on projects in Afghanistan as the country seeks to rebuild its infrastructure after years of conflict.
Indian intelligence officials point to the two other instances, involving Indian nationals Ajoy Mistry in October and Venu Madhav Dongara in September – HT was the first to report on both – where Pakistan, with the help from China, tried to embarrass India in the UN through the 1267 route.
In the backdrop of the Imran Khan government showcasing two Indians arrested this week near Bhawalpur, despite New Delhi having informed Islamabad about their inadvertent crossing over to Pakistan months ago, the proposals before the 1267 committee are ominous, officials say it is evident from the chain of events that Pakistan, with the help of China, wants to brand India as a terror factory to “achieve parity”.
Had these Indians not been extracted, it is possible that they may have been abducted by ISI from Afghanistan, in much the same way Indian naval officer-turned-businessman Kulbushan Jadhav was from Iran, the officials added. Islamabad claimed in 2017 that he was arrested from Balochistan and accused him of terrorism and spying for Indian spy agency Research & Analysis Wing. He was sentenced to death by a court in Pakistan but the International Court of Justice stayed the execution. In July, it asked Pakistan to review his trial and conviction and to also provide consular access to India.
While the first two proposals (involving Mistry and Dongara) were blocked by the US, New Delhi has again sought the help of its friends within the UNSC to stop any further attempts by Pakistan to tarnish India’s reputation.
global terror
Posted in Afghanistan, China, India, Pakistan, terrorism, U.N.Tagged Afghanistan, China, global terror, India, Kabul, Pakistan, terror attacks, UNLeave a comment
The truly frightening thing about Nikki Haley’s big revelation
Posted on November 11, 2019 November 11, 2019 by oldpoet56
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 10:59 AM ET, Mon November 11, 2019
(CNN) In her forthcoming book about her time in the Trump White House, former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley claims that she was recruited by White House chief of staff John Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to subvert the wishes of President Donald Trump.
“Kelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the President, they weren’t being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country,” writes Haley in “With All Due Respect,” which is out on Tuesday. (The Washington Post obtained an early copy.)
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In the wake of that revelation, much has been made — by Haley — of the fact that she resisted those entreaties. “It should have been, go tell the President what your differences are and quit if you don’t like what he’s doing,” Haley told CBS over the weekend. “To undermine a President is really a very dangerous thing. And it goes against the Constitution and it goes against what the American people want. It was offensive.”
But the focus on Haley — and what she did or didn’t do — misses the point, which is this: Two of the top Cabinet officials within the Trump administration were concerned enough about the behavior of the President of the United States that they were actively reaching out to other influential members of the Cabinet to actively work around him.
That is a VERY big deal. Especially when you consider how Tillerson and Kelly came into their jobs.
The former was the head of Exxon, a massive, multinational company. Trump touted Tillerson as the crown jewel of his Cabinet — a hugely successful and accomplished businessman that only this President could recruit to work for the government.
The latter was a hugely accomplished general who led Southern Command among other gigs in a lifetime spent in the military.
It was these resumes that drew Trump to them. Of all his Cabinet officials, he bragged on these two the most in the early days of his White House. Of Tillerson, Trump said: “He’s a world-class player. He’s in charge of an oil company that’s pretty much double the size of its next nearest competitor.” He so valued Kelly that he when the chief of staff job opened, Trump moved the general from his post as head of the Department of Homeland Security to the vacant job.
Neither of these men were “never Trumpers.” Both were Trump’s top picks for hugely important jobs — perhaps the two most powerful Cabinet gigs — and, at least in the early days of Trump’s presidency, were considered prime time players. These were the people who, along with Trump, were going to shape the future of the country and the world.
Neither Tillerson nor Kelly can be accurately described as so-called “deep state” actors either. Both men were new to this level of government. They were the farthest thing from embedded within the vast government bureaucracy. And not to sound like a broken record, but Trump appointed both of them!
So consider what it means that within a relatively short period of time, not only had both men identified major concerns with the President, but were so concerned that they were reaching out to others within the administration to try recruit them to a protect-the-country-at-all-costs mission.
You can absolutely question — as Haley has done — why Tillerson and Kelly didn’t just resign rather than trying to run a persuasion campaign within the White House to sideline the President. (My guess would be that they would say they were worried what might happen if they left.)
CNN’s Chris Cillizza cuts through the political spin and tells you what you need to know. By subscribing to The Point newsletter, you agree to our privacy policy.
But what, to me, is the most important part of the story is that both of these hugely accomplished Cabinet officials, who were hand-picked for their roles by the President and who, presumably, came into the administration favorably inclined to him, so quickly and clearly assessed that the man they were working for was an active danger to the country.
And such a danger that they were in the process of actively recruiting people within the administration to help them keep the President from doing anything that would endanger the country.
Think about that. It’s terrifying.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correctly identify that former White House chief of staff John Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were the two officials whom Nikki Haley alleges tried to recruit her to subvert Trump’s wishes. The story has been updated to correctly reference Kelly throughout.
Posted in Politics, Trump, U.N.Tagged Donald Trump, John Kelly, Kelly, Nikki Haley, Tillerson, United NationsLeave a comment
Saudi: With Little Progress on ‘Safe Zone,’ Erdogan Says Turkey to Act Alone in Syria
Posted on October 1, 2019 by oldpoet56
With Little Progress on ‘Safe Zone,’ Erdogan Says Turkey to Act Alone in N. Syria
Tuesday, 1 October, 2019 – 11:30
FILE PHOTO: An internally displaced woman sits outside a tent in Idlib province, Syria July 30, 2018. REUTERS/ Khalil Ashawi/File Photo
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Tuesday that his country had no choice but to act alone in northern Syria after a deadline to jointly establish a “safe zone” with the United States in the area by the end of September passed.
“We have not achieved any of the results we desired in the east of the Euphrates. Turkey cannot lose even a single day on this issue. There is no other choice but to act on our own,” Erdogan said at the parliament’s opening ceremony in Ankara.
“We plan to settle two million people in the safe zones we will establish. We calculated the costs and we will carry out efforts to improve. We will start taking steps as soon as the region is saved from the invasion of terror,” he said.
Erdogan told the United Nations last week he wanted to set up the zone along 480 km of border and reaching 30 km inside Syria. Under the Turkish plan, up to 2 million Syrian refugees would be settled in the safe zone, with international support.
If implemented, the project could halve the number of Syrian refugees sheltering in Turkey from Syria’s eight-year conflict, and drive the Syrian Kurdish YPG – which Ankara says is a terrorist group threatening its security – from the border, Reuters said.
While diplomats, analysts and Turkey’s main opposition say Ankara would be unwilling to anger Washington with a military incursion as the allies try to repair strained ties, Erdogan’s comments on Tuesday marked the clearest indication of an offensive in the region.
He added that Turkey aimed to host an “international donors meeting” to get funding for its plans in the area, which he said would stretch from the Euphrates river in Syria east to the Iraqi border.
Erdogan has repeatedly called on Turkey’s allies to provide financial support for the plans, including in his speech at the United Nations last month. But Ankara is unlikely to receive a response for any plan that settles people hundreds of kilometers from their homes and alters the demographics of northeast Syria.
The United States agreed to the safe zone as a way to protect its Kurdish allies in Syria and address Turkish concerns about the border, after President Donald Trump announced plans last year to abruptly withdraw 2,000 US special forces troops that helped Kurdish fighters battle ISIS.
But the US troops have yet to leave and Washington and Ankara have so far failed to agree on details. Turkey has accused the United States of dragging its feet and warned that it would take matters into its own hands.
Turkey has already launched two military incursions into northern Syria in the last three years and has stationed troops into the opposition-held Idlib region. It says preparations for another operation are complete.
Posted in Erdogan, Kurdish, military, Syria, Turkey, U.N.Tagged Erdogan, Kurd's, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, UNLeave a comment
Brazil: Bolsonaro intends to attack Venezuela, Cuba and Macron in UN speech
(THIS ARTICLE IS COURTESY OF BRAZIL’S 247 NEWS OUTLET)
Bolsonaro intends to attack Venezuela, Cuba and Macron in UN speech
Even at the risk of being protested internationally during his trip to the United Nations over anti-civilian stances and the destruction of the Amazon, Jair Bolsonaro decided to go to the opening of the UN General Assembly. His speech will be aligned with Donald Trump’s policy, with attacks on Venezuela, Cuba and Frenchman Emmanuel Macron.
September 19, 2019, 03:40 h
247 – Jair Bolsonaro has even decided to attend the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, where he will address the opening day of the event, exposing Brazil to unprecedented shame, as even diplomatic representatives are considering protesting against its policies. and their anti-civilization postures. The speech will be fully in line with Donald Trump’s interests and will have criticism of Cuba, Venezuela and Frenchman Emmanuel Macron – one of the US interests in South America is undermining the agreement to build nuclear submarines in partnership with France. , in Brazil.
“The speech that President Jair Bolsonaro prepares for the opening of the 74th United Nations General Assembly, on the 24th in New York, will have harsh criticism of the regime of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and Cuba as one of the main points of his speech. Brazil’s sovereignty over the Amazon, in a response to French President Emmanuel Macron, should also be included in the text, which is in the final stages of adjustment, “said Jussara Soares and Daniel Guilino, in a report published in Globo.
“He will present our country and our potential and will clarify once and for all these issues Brazil versus the environment. How much Brazil defends the environment and has been doing, since now, a sustaining process often unknown, either because of ignorance of the person or not wanting to disclose what Brazil has been doing in terms of protection, “said spokesman Octavio Rêgo Barros.
Posted in Brazil, Cuba, France, U.N., VenezuelaTagged Brazil, Cuba, France, Globo, Jair Bolosonaro, Macron, UN, VenezuelaLeave a comment
Brazil: Bolsonaro must even flee UN General Assembly
(THIS SHOULD BE NO SURPRISE, HE IS A HABITUAL LIAR AND COWARD JUST LIKE HIS IDOL, TRUMP!) (oldpoet56)
Bolsonaro must even flee UN General Assembly
Jair Bolsonaro, who previously said he would “even on a stretcher” at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, must remain in Brazil, claiming health care. Advisers say he would be the object of protests over the destruction of the Amazon. Another fact that motivates manifestations against him are his public praise for dictators and his postures against the most elementary principles of civilization.
September 18, 2019, 2:34 pm Updated September 18, 2019, 2:42 AM
(Photo: ADRIANO MACHADO – REUTERS)
247 – Jair Bolsonaro is expected to flee the opening of the United Nations General Assembly on September 24, although he said he would “go wheelchair-wise.” “Members of Planalto Palace already admit that the chief executive may not attend the event next week in New York, United States. Officially, the alleged reasons are only medical restrictions. Bolsonaro recovers from surgery to correct a hernia However, even before the medical procedure, some advisers privately assess that, after controversies involving the burning of the Amazon rain forest, there is also a political risk for the possibility of protests, “said journalists Jussara Soares and Gustavo. Maia, in a report published in Globo.
“Among the president’s aides and family members, there is disagreement about whether or not to go to the UN. The medical team that performed the last surgery and people close to Bolsonaro recommend that he not travel to preserve himself. Interlocutors told the report that the first Michelle Bolsonaro tries to convince her husband to cancel the trip. Another group argues that the moment is crucial for the Bolsonaro government to stand before the international community and make a public defense of the sovereignty of the Amazon, “says the report, without paying attention. to the fact that Bolsonaro intends to open the Amazon for commercial exploitation by Donald Trump.
Another fact that motivates manifestations against him are his public praise for dictators and his postures contrary to the most elementary principles of civilization. According to Ambassador Rubens Ricupero, Bolsonaro is an unrepresentable figure in the world.
Posted in U.N., BrazilTagged Brazil, UN, rain forest, Amazon, BolsonaroLeave a comment
Pakistan battles to push for UN debate on Kashmir amid lack of support
(This article is courtesy of India’s Hindustan Times)
Diplomats based in Geneva and New York said, barring China, other countries in the 47-member UNHRC haven’t expressed a demand for a debate on Kashmir while European nations have maintained radio silence on the issue.
INDIA Updated: Sep 14, 2019 14:20 I ST
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan addresses a pro-Kashmir rally in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, on Set 13, 2019.(AP)
With Pakistan getting no traction for its efforts to raise the Kashmir issue at least four times at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Islamabad is at its wit’s end about forcing an urgent debate or introducing a resolution at the session in Geneva.
Pakistan, as a coordinator of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), issued a joint statement that claimed all 58 members were supporting Islamabad and standing against New Delhi for revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. While OIC members haven’t castigated the coordinator for issuing a statement on their behalf or challenged the document, an influential section of the grouping has made it privately known to Indian counterparts that it has little to do with the statement.
WATCH | Pakistan’s UNHRC bid on Kashmir: Playing Russian roulette with diplomacy?
Pakistan’s UNHRC bid on Kashmir: Playing Russian roulette with diplomacy?
“Pakistan’s bid to internationalize the Kashmir issue again, this time at the UNHRC will come to a naught,” opines Hindustan Times’ Executive Editor Shishir Gupta in HT Conversations.
Loaded: 7.62%
To date, Pakistan has not named the 58 countries, apart from China and other Arab non-members, who are backing the statement on the changes in Kashmir and alleged human rights violations.
“The fact that Pakistan, despite raking up the issue four or five times in Geneva, has got no overt support in the UNHRC shows that the council has no appetite to discuss Kashmir,” said a top UN diplomat.
Imran Khan claims 58 countries support Pakistan. UNHRC has 47 members
‘Accidental war with India a possibility’, says Pakistan foreign minister
“I would say a debate over the issue without any outcome is possible as European nations are silent on the issue and feel there is no harm in debating Kashmir. However, the possibility of Pakistan forcing a resolution in Geneva is very unlikely,” the diplomat added.
Apart from Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and former foreign secretary Tehmina Janjua’s statements, Islamabad has made two “right of reply” interventions on the Kashmir issue since the council’s session began on September 9.
Pakistan battles to push for UN debate on Kashmir amid lack of support. It is understood Pakistan had got support on the Kashmir issue from a 22-member Arab group, though only a couple of them are members of the UNHRC.
Pakistan has so far not moved the UNHRC for an urgent debate and Indian diplomats are keeping their powder dry to scuttle any such move. Ajay Bisaria, who was till recent India’s envoy to Islamabad and was sent to Geneva to help counter Pakistan’s efforts, will stay on till the UNHRC session ends on September 27, people familiar with developments said.
“If the statements by Pakistan on alleged human rights violations in Kashmir have no support from UNHRC members, it will be very difficult for Pakistan to muster the numbers to force a debate, what to talk of a resolution in Geneva,” said a senior diplomat.
First Published: Sep 14, 2019 00:56 IST
Posted in China, India, Kashmir, Pakistan, U.N.Tagged China, India, Kashmir, Pakistan, UNLeave a comment
Saudi Arabia Opens its Doors to Tourists by End of 2019
Thursday, 12 September, 2019 – 08:45
Visitors walk outside the tombs at the Madain Saleh antiquities site, al-Ula, Saudi Arabia February 10, 2019. Picture taken February 10, 2019. REUTERS/Stephen Kalin
Saint Petersburg – Asharq Al-Awsat
Saudi Arabia will open its doors to tourists from around the world by the end of 2019, the head of the Saudi Tourism and Heritage Authority, Ahmad al-Khatib, said on Wednesday.
Khatib made the announcement during his speech at the meeting of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), which is held in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on September 9-13.
The Organization’s secretary-general, Zurab Pololikashvili, praised the ambitious plan led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz to place the Kingdom at the forefront of global tourism destinations.
In March, UNWTO’s general assembly approved Saudi Arabia’s membership in the executive council of the Organization for the Middle East region for the third time in a row. The Kingdom has retained its seats in the Tourism Statistics Committee and the Program and Budget Committee, and also joined the Executive Committee’s Membership Review Committee.
Saudi Arabia has provided some USD1.7 million to fund cooperation with the international organization, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
“Saudi Arabia is proud to be one of the first countries to work with the organization in the preliminary studies for the Measuring Sustainable Tourism (MST) project,” Khatib said in his speech.
The head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Heritage also announced ongoing cooperation with UNWTO for the preparation of a strategy for the development of human capital in tourism, and the establishment of a tourism academy.
He noted that his country has invited the Executive Council to meet in Saudi Arabia in 2020.
Posted in Saudi Arabia, tourism, U.N.Tagged Al-'Ula, Mada'in Saleh, Saudi Arabia, tourism, UN, UNWTOLeave a comment
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It's the architecture... perhaps
OK, I was (mostly) wrong. So were a lot of other pundits. The number 8 computer manufacturer (Apple) is going to Intel. I don't have a lot more to say about it - except that I think this is going to be a 64 bit battle between Microsoft and Apple and Linux.
But it's not about 64 bits per se' - it's about a viable OS on a good architecture - one with 16 registers to play with, and no abnormal programming model (like the cell). Although I largely agree with Cringely's diagnosis, I disagree with one point - that this is a blow to Linux.
It's an opportunity for Linux - or it would be if the organizations producing desktop software for Linux take advantage of the gap in time,space, and money between Intel mac and 64 bit XP ASAP. I have grave doubts about that, with the principal driver (RedHat) distracted by it's enterprise computing drive, and the lesser players (IBM going cell, selling off it's PC division), (Novell burying Suse) (etc)...
If it comes down to Linspire vs Apple. In that fight, Apple would win hands down. Still the prospect of being able to run Linux, OS-X, and XP all on the same box on some sort of hypervisor makes me salivate a bit - getting the best of all worlds, on one box - has been a fantasy of mine ever since I started using vmware.
We'll see how it all turns out, but I gotta confess one thing. The future of desktop computing just got a lot more interesting.
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Heather L. Hanna
Assistant Research Professor and Research Fellow at Social Science Research Center, Mississippi State University
Dr. Hanna serves as Assistant Research Professor and Research Fellow for the Social Science Research Center (SSRC), where she has worked for over 14 years. During her time at the SSRC, Dr. Hanna has written, administered, and collaborated on grant projects addressing public policy and system change.
Currently, she serves as Co-Director for Mississippi KIDS COUNT, an Annie E. Casey-funded program that provides policy-relevant data, statistics and original research about the health, education, safety, and well-being of Mississippi’s children. She is also Co-Principal Investigator on a Health Resources & Services Administration-funded project designed to examine and strengthen the developmental health system for young children in Mississippi.
Previously, Dr. Hanna served as Principal Investigator for the Assessing Employee Attitudes and Beliefs toward the Strategic Habitat Conservation Model Project, which was funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and utilized an all all-employee survey to examine bureaucratic change at the national level. She has also worked with the Family and Children’s Research Unit at the SSRC, focusing on policy and systems change related to education and health services for Mississippi’s children and families. These projects have been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Center for Mississippi Health Policy, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, among others.
Dr. Hanna earned a PhD in public policy and administration and a MS in sociology from Mississippi State University (MSU). She received her undergraduate training in psychology at the University of Mississippi. She is a member of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management and was formerly named a Founders’ Forum Fellow for the American Society for Public Administration.
Mississippi State, Mississippi, U.S.
Joined April 29, 2019
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The Grand Newsstand has been a valuable source of news for nearly two years. Our Bi-weekly newspaper and daily online content provides visitors with the latest news concerning the state of New York as well as stories affecting our nation.
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Person Page - 5115
F, #51141
Emma Hill is the daughter of Reverend J. Hill. She married, firstly, Reverend G. T. Spring before 1857.1 She married Reverend John Geoffrey Browne, son of Colonel Dominick Geoffrey Browne and Margaret Browne, in 1857.1
From before 1857, her married name became Spring.1 Her married name became Browne.
Reverend J. Hill
M, #51142
Reverend J. Hill was the Rector at Lyme Regis, Dorset, EnglandG.
Child of Reverend J. Hill
Beatrice Isabel Howe1
Beatrice Isabel Howe is the daughter of Edgar Howe.1 She married Mark Hugh Lubbock, son of Hugh Nevile Lubbock and Margaret Agnes Tiarks, on 15 January 1930.1
From 15 January 1930, her married name became Lubbock.1
[S8] BP1999 volume 1, page 146. See link for full details for this source. Hereinafter cited as. [S8]
Hon. Clare Helen Petre1
F, #51144, b. 24 November 1973
Last Edited=22 Nov 2015
Hon. Clare Helen Petre was born on 24 November 1973.1 She is the daughter of John Patrick Lionel Petre, 18th Baron Petre and Marcia Gwendolyn Plumpton.1 She married Ibrahim Azeem, son of Ali Mahiru, in 2002.1
She was educated at New Hall School, Chelmsford, Essex, England.1 She was educated at Royal Holloway College, London University, London, EnglandG.1 From 2002, her married name became Azeem.1
Edgar Howe1
Last Edited=5 Dec 2013
Edgar Howe lived at 44 Hans Mansions, London, EnglandG.1
Child of Edgar Howe
Mary FitzGerald1
F, #51146, b. 1716, d. 19 March 1741/42
Mary, Countess of Fingall
by Enoch Seeman, 1734 2
Photograph by MacPro paintings
Mary FitzGerald was born in 1716.2 She was the daughter of Sir Maurice FitzGerald, 5th Bt. and Helen Butler.1,3 She married, firstly, Justin Plunkett, 5th Earl of Fingall, son of Peter Plunkett, 4th Earl of Fingall and Frances Hales, circa 30 November 1731.4 She married, secondly, Sir Valentine Browne, 5th Bt., son of Sir Nicholas Browne, 4th Bt. and Helen Browne, in October 1735.1 She married, thirdly, John Bellew, 4th Baron Bellew of Duleek, son of Richard Bellew, 3rd Baron Bellew of Duleek and Frances Brudenell, in 1737.1 She died on 19 March 1741/42 at London, EnglandG.1
From 30 November 1731, her married name became Plunkett. After her marriage, Mary FitzGerald was styled as Dowager Countess of Fingall in 1734.1 From October 1735, her married name became Browne. From 1737, her married name became Bellew.1 After her marriage, Mary FitzGerald was styled as Baroness Bellew of Duleek in 1737.
Children of Mary FitzGerald and John Bellew, 4th Baron Bellew of Duleek
Emilia Bellew
Anne Bellew
Child of Mary FitzGerald and Sir Valentine Browne, 5th Bt.
Mary Frances Browne4 b. a Jun 1736
[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 103. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
[S3409] Caroline Maubois, "re: Penancoet Family," e-mail message to Darryl Roger Lundy, 2 December 2008. Hereinafter cited as "re: Penancoet Family."
Sir Maurice FitzGerald, 5th Bt.1
Sir Maurice FitzGerald, 5th Bt. married Helen Butler, daughter of Walter Butler and Mary Plunkett.2
He gained the title of 5th Baronet FitzGerald, of Castle Ishen, co. Cork.
Child of Sir Maurice FitzGerald, 5th Bt. and Helen Butler
Mary FitzGerald+1 b. 1716, d. 19 Mar 1741/42
Justin Plunkett, 5th Earl of Fingall1
M, #51148, d. 27 March 1734
Justin Plunkett, 5th Earl of Fingall was the son of Peter Plunkett, 4th Earl of Fingall and Frances Hales.2 He married Mary FitzGerald, daughter of Sir Maurice FitzGerald, 5th Bt. and Helen Butler, circa 30 November 1731.1 He died on 27 March 1734, without issue.2
He succeeded as the 13th Lord Killeen [I., c. 1449] on 24 January 1717.2 He succeeded as the 5th Earl of Fingall [I., 1628] on 24 January 1717.2
Colonel Heneage Charles Bagot-Chester1
M, #51149, b. 12 February 1836, d. 9 August 1912
Colonel Heneage Charles Bagot-Chester was born on 12 February 1836.1 He was the son of Lt.-Gen. John Chester and Sophia Elizabeth Stuart.1 He married Madeline Elizabeth Massey, daughter of Richard Mansel Oliver Massey, on 11 March 1865.1 He died on 9 August 1912 at age 76.1
He fought in the Indian Mutiny.1 He gained the rank of Colonel in the 27th and 29th Regiments.1 He fought in the North-West Frontier.1 He held the office of Justice of the Peace (J.P.) for Suffolk.1
Children of Colonel Heneage Charles Bagot-Chester and Madeline Elizabeth Massey
Captain Greville John Massey Bagot-Chester1 b. 22 Oct 1868, d. 28 Nov 1917
Hugh Augustus Bagot-Chester+1 b. 21 Apr 1871, d. 6 Jan 1938
Albrecht von Keudell
M, #51150, b. 1969
Albrecht von Keudell was born in 1969. He is the son of Walter von Keudell and Gunhild Baronin von Thüngen.
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The Rockin’ Chairs
50’s Rock & Roll
YOUR SPECIAL EVENT
PROMO INFO
BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE
TAB NEWSPAPER GROUP
What is or what are The Rockin’ Chairs?
By way of introduction, The Rockin’ Chairs is and are a show band that truly offers a unique and delightful fun experience to audiences.
To describe what they are, it’s important to tell you what they are not. They are not a young, hard-rockin’, heavy metal, head banging, grunge, cutting edge, screamingly loud bunch of musicians.
The Rockin’ Chairs are mature guys…(mature is a nice way of saying that they are Grandpas) who got together in 2017 to create a thoroughly entertaining show that included playing and singing the best rock & roll hits of the 1950’s and combining these songs with humor, some magic tricks and interesting stories about the music business, the famous singers and bands.
The Rockin’ Chairs did not want to be “just another band.” They had a vision for developing a show that would be a unique, enjoyable and memorable experience for audiences. And so, it began in a basement in Needham. A bass was unzipped from its gig bag, and a guitar was constantly being put in tune. Once everything was set up and ready, they looked at each other and said “Okay, now what?”
Unsure what to do next, they decided the best idea was to go to lunch. Then, after pie and ice cream, it started to happen. It’s very important to note that good things always happen right after pie and ice cream.
Suggestions about which were the greatest rock and roll songs of the 1950’s began flying back and forth. Songs were suggested, inspected, and rejected. Ultimately, only the best were accepted.
The Rockin’ Chairs were not on a mission to save or change the world. Their mission was to put together an hour-long show of wonderful, happy entertainment and to deliver it with enthusiasm and energy. They’re proud to say: “Mission Accomplished.”
Catch The Rockin’ Chairs show when they play in your area.
Oh, and here’s a good tip: They’re pretty easy to catch because they can’t run very fast.
And when you see them, please be kind. Remember, they are all Grandpas.
2017 - 2019 | The Rockin Chairs
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The 2015/16 Premier League Season, Part Three: Southampton to Swansea City
Posted by Ian | Aug 4, 2015 | Latest, Premier League | 0
Right, well, let’s get this over and done with as quickly as possible then, shall we? It’s time for the next part of our pre-season Premier League previews, so let’s go through the next group of teams in this division. (Out of interest, I’d like to know whether West Bromwich Albion and West Ham United have shorter pre-season previews written about them than anybody else – I can’t help but feel that there’s a possibility that this may be the case.)
Southampton: “Change is the only constant in life,” uttered the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. He may have lived five hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ, but it’s proven to be an enduring adage, a motto of the postmodernist art movement which emerged at the end of the 1940s, and now taken up with some gusto by, somewhat unusually, Southampton Football Club in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. An escape from the jaws of bankruptcy was followed by successive promotions from League One to the Premier League, and this has been followed by three seasons of consolidation and continued growth in spite of the constant attention of predators prizing their most valuable assets away from the club, culminating in the achievement of the return of European football to Southampton again this season, for the first time in eleven years. This time last year, the vultures were circling. Mauricio Pochettino left for Spurs, Calum Chambers, Luke Shaw, Dejan Lovren, Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana were also tempted from the club. Meanwhile the press circled issuing portents of doom and shedding crocodile tears over the futility of trying to build a squad capable of doing something unless one of the pre-appointed five or six.
The apocalyptic end of last year’s predictions never came to pass, of course. New coach Ronald Koeman steadied the Southampton ship still further last season, and this summer has been considerably more peaceful for the club than the last was. Morgan Schneiderlin has gone to Old Trafford and Nathaniel Clyne to Anfield, but the new arrivals at St Marys have a solid look about them and there is little sense that the Saints’ world is about to cave in, as there (incorrectly, as it turned out) was this time last year. Bringing in goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg on loan from Fulham feels like an extremely canny piece of business, whilst full-back Cedric Soares has both Champions League and international football already under his belt at twenty-three years of age, whilst Jordy Clasie, who played under Koeman at Feyenoord and has been cherished by the coach since he arrived at Southampton last year. And that’s just the pick of the bunch. Perhaps the Europa League and Southampton will be a good fit, and the club may benefit from treating this competition as a benefit to their season rather than a burden, as others have seemed to in recent years. Otherwise, a serious tilt at a domestic trophy would make for a fitting coda to their last couple of seasons. The social stratification of the Premier League may well inhibit much further progress in the Premier League for the time being, but Southampton remain headed in the right direction at the moment.
Stoke City: In amongst the the hullabaloo, the state of perpetual CRISIS, and the other constituent ingredients that make up the white noise that is modern football discourse, lurking in the shadows doesn’t always seem like such a bad idea. Away from the hysteria of the annual relegation avoidance bunfight and the glittering fragility of the Champions League, Mark Hughes has been quietly getting on with building the best Stoke City team in decades. Last season’s ninth placed finish marked the first time since 1975 that a team from the Potteries had finished in the top half of the top division for two successive seasons, and few so much as batted an eyelid. More significantly still, he did so with a team that is shaking off its reputation for treating a football like something approaching a hand grenade, yet the first thing our memory banks switch to when thinking of this club is wet Tuesday nights and Tony Pulis. The former manager is, however, still a part of the current team’s success. Stoke City may be more refined than they were under Pulis, but the team retain the physical strength of his era and this gives them a backbone that makes the likelihood of sliding back towards the possibility of relegation less likely than it might be elsewhere.
It won’t be completely plain sailing, of course. The departure of Asmir Begovic to Chelsea leaves a gap in goal that will be filled by the largely untried – though still highly regarded – Jack Butland, whislt the departure of Steven N’Zonzi is a definite loss. But Stoke’s summer transfers – Marco Van Ginkel on loan from Chelsea and Joselo from Real Madrid B, to name just two – look adventurous, and the return of Bojan after six months out will add the team a further attacking flourish and Charlie Adam showed the sort of form last season that led Liverpool to take a chance on him in the first place. Having said that, however, Stoke City continue to progress. Unfashionable and unheralded, they’ll likely never be media darlings, but who needs that when life in the shadows can prove to be so fruitful?
Sunderland: There were times last season when the home team on the pitch at The Stadium of Light looked as washed out as the once-red seats that sit immediately beyond the touchline there. Rather than being bleached from being bathed in sunlight, however, Sunderland AFC’s season lurched from one minor disaster to another, and the team’s sixteenth placed finish ended up a decent return on a previous nine months that could have resulted in something far worse. Over the last three years or so, supporters have been pushed from rock to hard place and back again, and although manager Dick Advocaat, the oldest in the Premier League, has been tempted to stay another year, owner Ellis Short has a tendency towards an itchy trigger finger and it wouldn’t a huge surprise if an underwhelming start led to further conjecture over the coach’s future.
Still, though, this summer hasn’t been an unmitigated disaster for Sunderland. Adam Johnson may well be disposed for the foreseeable future and the loss of Connor Wickham to Crystal Palace will be a blow, but both Sebastian Coates and Younes Caboul are plenty capable, and a new contract for Lee Cattermole offers more security and a figurehead on the pitch around which the team may be able to bind. It’s in front of goal that Sunderland really suffered last season, though, scoring just thirty-one times in the league, and much may come to rest on the shoulders of Jermain Defoe if Sunderland aren’t to struggle again this time around. Sunderland need a season of stability, but whether the popularity that Advocaat earned himself on Wearside from dragging the team clear of relegation will last may depend on a solid start for his team this time around, and the jury’s out on whether that will happen, for now.
Swansea City: Where next for Swansea City? This weekend brings the start of the club’s fifth successive season in the Premier League, but the glass installed between the eighth placed finish that the team managed last season is particularly thick, and to equal its best ever finish in the top division – a sixth place finish was achieved at the end of the 1981/82 season – it will require a monumental effort from a club that has achieved an enormous amount just to be a part of the Premier League in the first place. Since breaking into this division in 2011, the Swans have finished eleventh, ninth, twelfth and eighth, seldom bothered by worries concerning relegation but seldom looking particularly likely to push much higher up the table either. This represents an outstanding return on their last four seasons – especially when we consider the club’s League Cup win two years ago – but continual improvement for those in the Premier League’s middle rankings can be difficult, and the team is likely to have to settle for another mid-table finish again this season.
This summer has seen tweaking from manager Garry Monk, rather than anything like a wholesale overhaul of this squad. The signatures of Portugal international Eder and the Ghanaian Andre Ayew are likely to give his team a little more attacking flourish – and it’s worth noting that even the mid-season sale of Wilfried Bony felt more like a blip than a seismic event of any sort, last season – whilst French defender-cum-midfielder Franck Tabanou and Sweden goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt will a little depth to his defensive options. And Swansea supporters may well hope that any European distraction on the part of Southampton, who finished four points above them in seventh place at the end of last season, might even end up working to their advantage.
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PreviousThe Premier League, 2015/16, Part Two: Leicester City to Norwich City
NextThe 2015/16 Premier League Season, Part Four: Tottenham Hotspur to West Ham United
Ian began writing Twohundredpercent in May 2006. He lives in Brighton. He has also written for, amongst others, Pitch Invasion, FC Business Magazine, The Score, When Saturday Comes, Stand Against Modern Football and The Football Supporter. Ian was the first winner of the Socrates Award For Not Being Dead Yet at the 2010 NOPA awards for football bloggers.
New World Order? The Last Day Of The Premier League Season
The Premier League in Review: Leicester’s Performance For The Ages
Bolton Wanderers & A Fight Between A Frying Pan & A Fire
Yesterday In Plymouth… Strike Averted, But Club Not Saved
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from andrew sullivan:
Bush's Response to Hamdan
27 Jul 2006 06:23 pm
Marty Lederman has posted the text of the White House's draft legislation on military prisoners. It's a work in progress but its scope is clear:
On first glance, it does not appear to be limited to aliens, nor even to Al Qaeda and other groups and individuals covered by the September 18, 2001 AUMF -- it covers any and all "enemy combatants" against the U.S. and its allies in any conflict, anywhere and at any time.
Consider yourself warned. This kind of legislation, enabling the government to seize, imprison, and torture anyone, including U.S. citizens, without the legal protections accorded for centuries by Anglo-American principles of justice is deeply, deeply worrying.
the air changed a little, which doesn't always happen in the middle of dog days---i can see kennesaw again and the sun is not setting behind the price-waterhouse building anymore---
alexis is getting big---she's gonna be huge by the scheduled birthdate, nov 29---she got a sonogram yesterday and pam sent me a copy this morning----say hello to baby tilapia or whitey, which is mike's provisional name for him/her---it probly won't be a hermaphrodite, but they don't want to know if it's girl or boy till it's born---
got my new camera today---think i'm gonna like it---i will be better able to document the ongoing cycle of destruction and reconstruction on peachtree street, which really screws up the traffic---today they had two lanes closed between 6th and 7th, where i thought they were finished with replacing water mains, etc.
so they couldn't rouse her on the phone the other night and sent the cops over, who found her sitting there stone cold dead on her sofa in front of the teevee---she was 90 with her husband dead 20 yrs and their only son, my oldest cousin, warner, dead two or three years----that's her on the far left with the siblings at neel's gap or somewheres in the early 1930s---i always kinda liked her until mother told me or rather insinuated that ruby had ragged her about me being queer back when they were still young enough to be fighting and bitching with each other---somehow that made me feel a little different--- but tomorrow i gotta go be a pallbearer, or cart roller, which is what it amounts to---happy monday coming right up
san juan reminded me of habana, of course, but it was also very different---old san juan, or san juan antigua (antique san juan), is not as big as la habana vieja (old havana) and they seem to have different conceptions of their antiquity, but both are world heritage sites---san juan is in much better shape than havana---it's also not flat, like havana, and in fact ends in sheer walls down to the water in some places---but both of them have an excellent mixture of architecture, ranging from 16th century forts and cathedral to wonderful streets of 19th and 20th century residential and commercial buildings.
the lighthouse at san felipe del morro is the most elaborate lighthouse design that i have seen---built by the u.s. navy in 1908 to replace an earlier, smaller lighthouse.
there are several forts at San Juan, but the two biggest are san felipe del morro (constructed 1540-1790), located at the mouth of the bay, and san cristobal (1634), located about a mile east of el morro and the largest fortification in the Americas---the approach to el morro is across a treeless headland, while san cristobal has houses and apartment buildings across a narrow street from its entrance---along with construction of san cristobal, the spanish began constructing huge stone walls that completely enclosed the city by 1785--part of the walls were torn down in 1897 to facilitate expansion of the old city across the peninsula and around the bay, but they remain standing along the bay, around el morro, and along the atlantic above the cemetery and la perla, the latter being, my hosts assured me, a den of drug lords and other iniquity---on the bay side, they have created a great pedestrian path, which was overrun with feral cats that some believe are descendants of the cats that are known to have come to the island with columbus' second voyage in 1493---the iron oxides leaching out of sections of the walls make for some really nice coloration on parts of the walls.
the puerto rican sky was amazing---lots of clouds and huge thunderstorms---but unlike here, where haze obscures the horizon, there the clarity of the skies makes for some spectacular sunsets---wish i had had my camera when i was up on the terraplein of san cristobal tuesday evening---
so the ajc printed my letter in response to the little woman who wrote in bitching about how dangerous midtown is---she was all ascared of "aggressive vagrants. . .trafficking and drug use... prostititution" and, my personal favorite, "the disease and uncleanness caused by used condoms strewn on the streets"---she said she "could go on and on" but fortunately she didn't---she had moved here from marietta in november, but clearly needs to retrace her steps and GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR CITY----
the meyer lemon has made itself right to home---bloomed a lot and had a lot of little lemons, which all fell off before they started to grow---until now---there are two that are maybe 3/4" diameter and i think they are going to make---
The original Catedral de San Juan was destroyed by a hurricane in 1526; the present building was begun in 1540. It was looted by by the British in 1598 and badly damaged by another hurricane in 1615. The building underwent a major restoration in 1917.
another bug from the wilds of gwinnett county---well, technically, it's probably not a bug, unless you pulled its little wings off, which wouldn't be right----can anyone recommend a good lepidopterologist?
appearing over midtown this evening
down on your knees, you heathen savages
some people don't understand nuttin
and they're making the rules?
Ten of them streaming across that internet and what happens to your own personal internet? I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially.
sen. stephens (R-Alaska)
we drove over to little river canyon national preserve yesterday---first time i'd seen it---it's not quite tallulah gorge but still purty impressive---reminded me of high shoals on the apalachee only instead of naked hippies it was obese rednecks---lots of them---culminating with supper at the fruit jar cafe---i liked the rocks best
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— Novembre 28, 2018
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Shapovalov shouts at chair umpire in shock first-round exit1/22/2020
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Tag Archives: ghosts
Retro Review: Brilliant British Physicist Sir Oliver Lodge Brought Scientific, Experimental Methods To Explore Possibility Of Life After Death
SIR OLIVER LODGE was a top tier scientist of his day. His reputation stands perhaps on the edge of greatness. If he wasn’t in the genius league of, say, a Max Planck or Michael Faraday, he was certainly a figure of historic significance in the field of experimental physics.
His work with syntonics (we call it “tuning” today) was a key development in the invention of radio. He was later involved in a patent dispute with Guglielmo Marconi over a component essential to the development of wireless transmission, a case which Lodge eventually won.
His work also led to the invention of something most of us use every day in our cars – spark plugs. The first commercially available spark plugs were known as “Lodge Igniters.”
He was more than a theoretical physicist. He was an applied scientist who created practical, hand’s on devices that worked. This makes Sir Oliver a perfect candidate to study the possibility of life after death. He can’t be dismissed as just another of the flaky New Agers of his day – the many spiritualist or occultists who were conducting séances and practicing all sorts of arcane arts, from mediumship and automatic writing to table knocking and Ouija board channeling.
Sir Oliver Lodge was a plodding, detailed oriented researcher intensely focused on hard evidence gained from experimentation and fact-based results. These excellent qualities of the scientist would come in handy for Lodge after his beloved son, Raymond, a promising young engineer, went off to fight the Germans in World War I and was killed in battle.
Raymond Lodge
Raymond was just 25. If he would have returned from war his future was bright. His excellent grasp of mathematics and natural knack for mechanics all-but guaranteed a fulfilling career as an engineer, a role he had already been pursuing at a firm owned by his brothers. The Lodge family was wealthy and held high social status in Victorian England. Raymond was handsome and charming to boot.
His life was tossed away in the senseless slaughter of World War I.
Even before Raymond’s death, his father had demonstrated a keen interest in life-after-death issues. He was among the first members of the British SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH (SPR). He helped found it along with other such luminaries as, chemist Sir William Crookes, Nobel laureate Charles Richet and the American “Father of Psychology” William James. The SPR was dedicated to the study of paranormal phenomenon.
Because I have read a number of books from this era of widespread interest in the occult – especially on séances and the survival of death – I was expecting largely “more of the same” from RAYMOND OR LIFE & DEATH (download free). I’m pleased to say I was wrong. I should not have underestimated that esteemed, distinguished and intellectual gentleman — Sir Oliver Lodge.
This book is divided into three parts, only one of which Lodge describes as “supernormal.”
The first section represents and ingenious tactic by Sir Oliver. He wants to introduce us to his son, but he also desires that readers get know him on a deeper level for the wonderful person he was. To accomplish this, he let’s Raymond do all the talking, so to speak – that is, Lodge presents a selection of letters Raymond wrote while serving on the front lines of Belgium.
Sir Oliver Lodge, born 1851, died 1940
The effect is profound. Little by little, letter by letter, Raymond’s delightful personality comes forward. It soon becomes apparent that here was a marvelous young man who was intelligent and kind, brave and modest – and we get the sense that he possessed a natural caring, empathetic character. He was a curious, enthusiastic and gentle soul thrust into the horrors of war. Yet, he was bearing the gruesome daily reality of gritty combat with uncanny humor and sunny attitude.
And then – suddenly — a punch in the gut!
We get to the last of Raymond’s letter … and the next page is the report that he died a violent death on the battlefield. For me, the effect was wrenching. It was as if I had just made a new friend – and then, abruptly, he was dead.
The next section of the book is the “supernormal” stuff. Sir Oliver, his wife Lady (Mary) Lodge and his sons and daughters embark on an intense effort to develop contact with the spirit of Raymond. (The Lodges had 12 children).
British Medium: Gladys Osborne Leonard
This effort is conducted largely through the agency of mediums, one of which was the controversial GLADYS OSBORNE LEONARD. Several other mediums were engaged as well, including a certain prominent “Mrs. Kennedy of London, wife of Dr. Kennedy.” She was a medium but also apparently a gifted automatic writer.
An initial contact with Raymond came from overseas by way of one of the most scientifically examined and tested mediums in history – LENORA PIPER of New Hampshire. She was deemed “authentic” by William James and British researcher Richard Hodgson who subjected her to hundreds of tests controlled by rigorous scientific protocols.
Another frequent method of afterlife communication studied by Sir Oliver was “table tilting.” This is a fantastically tedious method is which séance sitters place their hands flat atop a small table – and sort of Ouija board style – they ask for contact with the spirit world. Then they ask specific questions once a presence on the “other side” is indicated by certain movements of the table. Even though hands are touching the table, the belief was that movements of the table was being initiated by the spirits and not the involuntary hand movement of the participants.
The attendees ask a question. If it is a “yes or “no” question, the table tilts three time to indicate “yes” and one time to indicate “no.”
Table tipping to communicate with spirits
But the really laborious part begins when they want the spirit to spell out answers to open-ended questions. In this case, the medium or séance leader asks a question, such as, “What is your name?” She then begins to call out the letters of the alphabet. Now let’s say the spirit’s name is “Paul.” When the facilitator gets to letter “P” the table tilts to indicate a “stoppage” for that letter. Then they start repeating the alphabet from the beginning.
It will tilt again at “A” then at “U” and then at “L” – and so they get the name “Paul” after having to go through the alphabet from the beginning each time.
Of course, skeptics shovel scorn upon all this. They think its obvious that the people placing their hands on the table are the one’s doing all the tilting – albeit with involuntary muscle control. This is the same skeptic’s explanation given for the action of the Ouija board. It’s called the ideomotor effect or ideomotor phenomenon.
Sir Oliver readily acknowledges that involuntary muscular control may offer a partial explanation for the table tilting phenomenon. However, he writes:
“Unconscious guidance can hardly be excluded … but first, our desire was rather in the direction of avoiding such control; and second, the stoppages were sometimes at unexpected places; and third, a long succession of letters soon becomes meaningless. Except to the recorder who is writing them down silently as they are called to him in another part of the room.”
In short, Sir Oliver comes away from many hours of table tilting study concluding that, “table tipping is an incipient physical phenomenon and that though the energy comes from the people … it does not appear to be applied in quite a normal way.”
Again, skeptics howl with ridicule at this. And yet … there is much more to table tipping. During these sessions, the table was often experienced to levitate. The table also evinced varieties of other movements and indications, including moving or “walking” across a room. Participants stayed with the table all the time with hands flat on top.
In one extraordinary chapter, Sir Oliver’s wife, Mary, describes a session during a social gathering at the Lodge family manse, Mariemont. An impromptu decision was made to place hands on a table to see if Raymond was present. The table indicated that he was. With hands positioned flat on the table, it walked around the room and at several points, levitated. Mary Lodge writes:
“I took one hand off (the table) leaving one hand on top, and Honor’s (Oliver and Mary’s daughter) two hands lying on the top, no part of them being over the edge, and I measured the height the legs were off the ground. The first time it was the width of three fingers, and the next time four fingers … I tried to press it down but could not – a curious feeling, like pressing on a cushion of air.”
When someone began playing the piano, the table edged its way over and began to tap against the back of the player in time with the music. This motion was so vigorous that the table tilters found it necessary to place a pillow between the player and the table to cushion the action of the table.
And so — by way of mediums speaking in trance, table tipping and automatic writing — Sir Oliver Lodge and his family became convinced that Raymond survived death. This determination was made through a lot of questioning, including “test questions,” which ask for information that only those who were intimate with Raymond could have known. Raymond’s brothers would ask about small, incidental things that happened only among themselves. For example, on a particular automobile outing one day, the muffler of their car was damaged going down a hill. Raymond, speaking through a medium, described the incident. The medium could not have known anything about it.
Initially, and in many cases, they selected mediums that were total strangers so he/she could have had no foreknowledge of or about the spirit he/she was channeling for the “sitter.”
The Lodges eventually flesh out the details of what life is like for Raymond on the other side. They ask about his environment, what his world is like, where and how he is living “over there.” Raymond calls his location “Summerland,” an idyllic earth-like environment which is just as solid as physical existence among the living on earth. He even lives in a cottage constructed of bricks. There are lots of other people there, buildings, towns and special halls that are like universities where they study advanced topics, and so forth.
But this picture develops slowly. Initially, Raymond’s perception and reports come across as being more dreamlike. Things shift and change at the whim of one’s thoughts. It seems analogous to what it’s like when we are experiencing a vivid dream, or perhaps a lucid dream. As Raymond gets more acclimated to his new situation, he seems to gain solid footing in the afterlife realm. It can be as firm and earth-like as he wants it to be, but it doesn’t necessarily have to stay that way. It’s a matter of creating or projecting one’s own virtual reality based on one’s thoughts, choices, perception, creativity and more.
Image courtesy of NASA
Raymond takes on the role of a “Helper” in his transformed existence. That is, he assists in the orientation of other people as they die and enter the afterlife realm. Business is brisk because of the war. Raymond expresses his profound gratitude to other special guides who took him under their wings (so to speak) and helped him to become oriented and acclimated to his exotic new afterlife environment.
Apparently, it takes a while to clear out the cobwebs and come to grips with that fact that one has shed the physical form and is now living in another, more etheric kind of body in a more fluid realm – yet a place that can be every bit as solid and “real’ as was life on the earthly plane.
Raymond comes to think of his former physical body as, “an old coat I have shed and no longer need or care about.”
In addition to his role as a Helper, Raymond is eager to work with his father to prove that there is no death. In fact, he says this work is extremely important. He thinks it is vital that living people on earth understand that life goes on and in a way that it is even better than physical life on earth, though It’s not a final, idyllic paradise or heaven. People, or souls, must continue onward with new challenges to learn, grow and strive to move higher up the ladder of consciousness and existence.
Raymond tells amazing stories of meeting advanced beings that have transcended to loftier levels of existence. They sometimes “come down” to his level to teach and encourage the recently dead to work toward advancement so that they, too, can move on to more sublime realms.
And there’s a lot more. We get numerous, tantalizing glimpses about life on the other side of death as reported by Raymond – albeit transmitted imperfectly due to a certain amount of garbled translation because the information is filtered through the brains of mediums, table tilting and automatic writing.
Sir Oliver Lodge and “student” depicted on the Victory Monument, Derby Square, Liverpool,
The third part of the book are a series of essays by Sir Oliver. They are part scientific theory, part philosophy and part opinions formed through his years-long study of supernormal phenomenon and communications with the departed.
They’re well worth reading. I came away with the impression that Sir Oliver was a man ahead of his time, especially in terms of challenging the established, mainstream scientific community for its pervasive unwillingness to consider study of life after death as legitimate inquiry because of hardened, preconceived notions of what is deemed to be “real” and what is not. Sir Oliver believed that science had become mired in a narrow box of limited belief systems similar to that of religious fundamentalists. Scientists, like religious dogmatists, refuse to accept anything outside of their own articles of faith based on unquestioning “belief.”
Sir Oliver Lodge endured withering criticism from his distinguished peers for his courage to look directly at the issue of life after death. They derided his willingness to tackle it with the same methodologies he used to study the physics of electricity. He was adept at giving back as good as he got, however, making his case through his eloquent essays and measured responses. He never devolves to pointless bickering or making bitter reprisals against his detractors.
In every respect, Raymond or Life & Death is a remarkable work by a great man, a driven scientist and courageous thinker.
BELOW ARE LINKS TO MY REVIEWS OF BOOKS SIMILAR TO THIS TOPIC:
STRANGE VISITORS edited by Henry J. Horn
GHOSTS I HAVE SEEN by Violet Tweedale
THE BETTY BOOK by Stewart Edward White
THE GHOST OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY by Frank DeMarco
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged consciousness, ghosts, Henry James, medium, Ouija board, paranormal, psychic investigation, Raymond. life After Death, seance, Sir Oliver Lodge, Society for Psychical Research, spiritualism, survival, table tipping, Victorian England on April 24, 2019 by admin.
Free Ebook About Channeling Ghosts and Spirits Is a Remarkable Window Into What Mediums Were Learning About The Afterlife 150 Years Ago
Mediumship, spirit writings and the séance were becoming all the rage by the late 1860s and perhaps would peak in England and America around end of the 19th Century. After, say, 1910, the fascination with empirical science began to gain steam, and before long, science fiction magazines were emerging, displacing that sense of wonder one filled by the spiritualists and occultists.
But in 1869 a klatch of free-thinking transcendentalists gathered somewhere in America — and apparently they had access to one incredibly talented medium. The result is this remarkable document, “Strange Visitors.”
Download the free ebook here: STRANGE VISITORS
It’s a collection of “original papers” which are messages channeled from the dead, but not just any of the dearly departed. This ambitious project goes for the cream of the crop. They seek contact with luminaries from the world of science and literature, philosophy and government, art and poetry, and more.
Nathaniel Hawthorn
Such VIP Dead as Lord Byron, Nathaniel Hawthorn, Napoleon Bonaparte, Edgar Allen Poe and William Thackeray are contacted and queried for their impressions of what it is like to die and what the `The Other Side’ is like.
Also, people who were famous at the time, but more or less forgotten today, are tapped for after-death reports.
Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington
For example, there is a session with LADY BLESSINGTON, who was born to poverty in late 18th Century Ireland as Margaret Power. She suffered through a bad marriage to a drunken sea captain (which ended with his death in debtor’s prison), until she finally married into the aristocracy, landing Charles Gardiner, the 1st Earl of Blessington. Upon her elevation into high society, Lady Blessington became Countess Blessington and something of a celebrated literary figure across Europe and among elite, over-educated Americans.
But who is Henry J. Horn, the editor of this document?
I’ve done considerable sleuthing, and the best candidate might be a lawyer who spent most of his life here in my native Minnesota. Today, the “Horn House” at 50 Irvine Park in St. Paul is a prominent landmark listed with the Minnesota Historical Society. Born in Philadelphia in 1821, Henry J. Horn passed the bar in Pennsylvania and moved to the Twin Cities area in 1855. He purchased the Horn House in 1881. The home was built by Dr. Jacob Stewart in 1874 and designed by the German-American architect August Gauger. Henry J. Horn died in 1902.
Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any connection between Mr. Horn and spiritualist groups, mediums and séances — but is it likely that a high-profile, respected Minnesota attorney would lend his name to such an arcane publication? It’s a mystery.
An even bigger mystery is the identity of the medium himself/herself. Who was this remarkable person who contacted these disincarnate souls, and via “automatic writing,” produced reports an array of richly divergent writings (and poetry)from beyond the veil?
What’s even more amazing is that these manuscripts are much more than musings about the Afterlife — for example, an entire Gothic novel is presented, purportedly written by the ghost of Charlotte Brontë herself!
There are also political ravings by Napoleon — clearly still a megalomaniac-imperialist in the hereafter. A dirge by Edgar Allen Poe reveals that he remains a bleak, dreary, haunted poet despite having cast off the agony of the flesh!
The examples of Napoleon, Brontë and Poe might lead one to believe that these missives are not so much after-death communications, but rather, impressions of a creative medium with a literary bent — except that the majority of these works read like “authentic” contact with the dead.
In recent decades an interest in mediumship has experienced a resurgence. It all goes hand-in-hand with the rise of all things “New Age,” but interest in the idea that “no one truly dies” has also received a boost from medical types, such as Dr. Raymond Moody and his groundbreaking book LIFE AFTER LIFE and Elisabeth Kübler-Ross with ON DEATH AND DYING.
Others have since have gone much further with talking-to-the-dead kinds of books — consider the likes of psychologist Michael Newton and psychiatrist Brian Weiss who use hypnotic regression to document volumes of intense information from people’s past lives, but also from deceased loved ones.
Then there’s a whole string of folks from all walks of like who are either channeling the dead or reporting intense experiences in the Afterlife — books I’ve read recently (some reviewed here) along these lines include those by Natalie Sudman, Erika Hayasaki, Julia Assante, Dr. Eben Alexander, Dr. Allan Botkin, Bill Guggenheim, Dr. Don Miguel Ruiz, and many more —
— and the point is, the descriptions and communications these folks report about the after-death environment are remarkably similar the writings presented in “Strange Visitors” — which suggests that there is a certain authenticity to these works.
So this obscure gem published in 1869 is of great significance and interest.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Afterlife, channeling, death and dying, Dr. Eben Alexander, ghosts, mediumship, Natalie Sudman, occult, paranormal, seance, spirits, talking dead on August 15, 2018 by admin.
The Betty Book is a Masterpiece of “Spirit Writing” Literature Channeled by Betty White With Help From Her Famous Author Husband Stewart Edward White
Stewart Edward White was a popular author in his day. From about 1900 through the early 1920s he published some three dozen books, both fiction and nonfiction, and they sold well.
His first book, The Westerners, was made into a Hollywood movie. Eight of his books would get movie treatment. The majority of his work featured outdoors themes that explored America’s “vanishing wilderness.” He wrote about his personal adventures with camping, cabin-building, panning for gold, hunting, fishing canoeing, Alaskan adventures and hiking deep outback trails.
His writing made him the first to be awarded the rare designation of Honorary Scout by the Boy Scouts of America in 1927, a recognition also given to the likes of Charles Lindbergh and James L. Clark. He hobnobbed with such luminaries as former President Teddy Roosevelt. Many of his works were later adapted into TV shows for The Wonderful World of Disney.
It was in 1919 that his life took a strange detour.
Stewart and his wife were at a party where someone suggested they noodle around with an Ouija board, “just for laughs.” Stewart describes himself as a skeptic, but more so, just basically unfamiliar and uninterested with occult phenomenon and esoteric thought. His overall notion was that psychic phenomenon had “been disproven.”
A Ouija board for sale in 1919.
His party friends disliked the planchette normally used with an Ouija board so they substituted an overturned whiskey glass. No one was in a serious mood so they asked goofy, inane questions. They hooted with laughter and scoffed with derision as the Ouija board only seemed to be obliging them by spelling out absurd and simplistic responses.
At one point, however, the Ouija expressed frustrations with the party folks. It abruptly spelled out: “Why do you ask such foolish questions?” This intrigued Stewart White.
But there was another thing that caused Mr.White to become even more intrigued — it was the way that shot glass moved under his fingers. He was aware of the scientific theory that such movement was caused by involuntary motions of the hands driven by cues from the subconscious mind — what today is called the ideomotor effect — and yet, he had a nagging sense this wasn’t what was happening. He couldn’t shake the feeling that “some other force” was involved.
One other thing gave him pause. At one point, the Ouija started spelling out the name “Betty” over and over again. Betty happened to be Stewart’s wife. She was standing off to the side no longer paying attention to the party game. Her husband told her the Ouija was requesting her participation. Betty shrugged her shoulders and obliged. She sat down and put her finger on the shot glass. The Ouija then began spelling out over and over again: “Get a pencil … get a pencil … get a pencil.”
The small peculiarities of the Ouija party captivated Betty just enough to pick up a pencil a few days later. Yes … despite having little or no interest in the occult or spiritualism … she decided to go ahead and try her hand at automatic writing!
A rare photo of Betty White along with her husband Stewart Edward White.
Automatic writing is when someone writes down information without conscious intent. The hand seems to move on its own as it spells out words. The paranormal suggestion is that the writer has set his or her mind aside and is channeling information from an unseen agent, such as a spirit or nonhuman entity of some sort.
Those who lean skeptical say it is information percolating up from the subconscious, or basically the same ideomotor effect that drives the Ouija. There is no outside influence. This information is coming strictly from inside the brain of the writer — who is also probably just deluding him or herself, the skeptics say.
As for Betty White, she just put all theories aside. Neither she nor her husband proclaimed to have an agenda, no investment in any particular theory, philosophy or occult influence — and for some extraordinary reason — Betty began the fantastically tedious process of trying to make headway with automatic writing!
This was remarkable — because this effort can be elusive and banal in the extreme. And for what reward, exactly? It involves endless hours of sitting with a pencil poised over a sheet of paper and getting into a certain frame of mind — a state that would allow her hand to flow, to seemingly write stuff down as if the her hand had a mind of its own.
A 19th Century depiction of automatic writing.
I dare say 99 out of a 100 people … no, more like 999 out of a 1,000 people … who give this a try once or twice give up in abject frustration. But Betty persisted. She was able to generate just a few words and phrases at first. Later came more complete sentences. The information imparted by these phrases and sentences was just intriguing enough for Betty to soldier on. The interest, support and participation of her husband was certainly helpful.
Betty eventually reached the point where she could generate pages of material via automatic writing. She then graduated to what today we could call “channeling.” She sat back in a mild trance state and dictated by voice information coming directly into her mind while her husband wrote it all down.
But just with who or what was Betty communicating? Ghosts? The spirits of dead people? Some sort of super-intelligent disincarnate intelligence? It seemed to be the latter. It was through a suggestion of a friend that Betty and Stewart decided to call their unseen source “The Invisibles.”
That’s not what the nonphysical entities called themselves. Indeed, these beings who were so eager to speak through Betty were also highly reluctant to talk about themselves. The details about their own true nature would be “an unnecessary distraction,” they said. The information they wanted to impart to the human race was paramount.
The Invisibles insisted that what they wanted to tell humanity was not just urgent, but “extremely urgent.” They said humankind had become lost is a miasma of trivial thoughts and petty pursuits They said that “thoughts are things,” and therefore, bad thoughts, negative thoughts and useless thoughts were doing great damage to the human condition.
They told Betty and Stewart that the dominant philosophy of materialism — that people were mere physical matter interacting with a purely physical world — was a dead end. They said humanity had become cut off from “a larger truth and reality” about their individual and collective existence — which they said extends far beyond the borders of the physical body.
They said the human brain was not merely a lump of meat acting and reacting to stimulus from the material world. The suggestion was that we had become convinced that we are mere biological machines, and that our reality ended at the border demarcated by the outline of our skin.
The Invisibles then imparted a vision of each human being as a much vaster entity composed of a nonphysical component that was just as real as the physical body. Although the Invisibles, Betty and Stewart all disliked loaded terms such as “spirit” or “soul” because of the religious baggage attached to these definitions, they nevertheless used them for the sake of convenience.
The Invisibles stressed the idea that a person’s “soul” was also a bona fide “thing with actual physical substance.” About this, Stewart White asked them:
“I may be literal-minded. But I am going to ask whether this spiritual body as you describe it is a symbolic statement meant to convey a concept or whether you mean it literally as you describe it, as a material thing.”
The Invisibles answered:
“It is ACTUALLY MATERIALLY THAT in its own condition of health and development. It is flesh and it is blood.It may not be the same kind, but it is as real, as warm, as living as your own.”
At this point Betty paused to actually experience directly what the soul or spiritual body was like. After about a half hour, she offered:
“It is a pulsing, living body purified of organic frailty … durable, flexible, susceptible of more powerful action through susceptibility of sense.”
And so the majority of the information offered in The Betty Book is a kind of instruction manual for how human beings can expand their vision and understanding of themselves and get into greater touch with what is actually the larger aspect of who we are. Think of the physical body as the tip of the iceberg that peaks above the surface of the water — and the nonphysical or “spiritual aspect” as the greater, more significant and more important component of each individual person.
Tina Keller M.D., a pioneer of Jungian analysis.
The kind of information and instruction offered by The Invisibles through Betty is some of the most remarkable channeled material I have ever read. Every page is deeply substantive and intellectually challenging — this is anything but more of the same New Age pap offered since, say, the 1960s, when a resurgence of channeled writings began to re-emerge into popular circulation on our bookshelves.
Even the great Swiss psychologist Carl Jung was deeply impressed by The Betty Book. Shortly after The Betty Book was published Jung gave a copy to his long-time associate Dr. Tina Keller, a pioneer in psychiatric medicine and psychoanalysis. Keller said she read an re-read The Betty Book and all of the subsequent channeled books that followed it. Keller said:
“Betty White, the brilliant woman who had accidentally discovered her mediumistic gifts, dictated to her husband, the writer and explorer Stewart Edward White, a long series of teachings, full of wisdom and salty humor, for practical application of living. They were communicated by different personalities of quasi-personalities whom the Whites called “The Invisibles” …. My own experiments, based on the books, proved this to be both true and extremely important.”
The late Jane Roberts and “Seth”. Roberts channeled the disincarnate entity to write dozens of books.
As for myself, I can think of no greater compliment to make about The Betty Book than it offers channeled information on par with the work of the great Jane Roberts, author of the Seth books. Roberts is the gold standard for intelligent and authentic channeled material, in my opinion.
Betty White’s information is far superior to, say, the healing advice and Atlantis predictions of Edgar Cayce, or the largely bland and vague pronouncements we get from so many of the popular psychic mediums selling books today.
There’s some additional information in the appendix that is fascinating. Stewart and Betty get together with some like-minded friends and conduct a series of experiments in which The Invisibles bring forth a variety of physical phenomenon to demonstrate their reality. This includes producing visible auras around the bodies of the participants. The Invisibles also conjured a series of “masks” which appeared over the face of Betty causing her to look like her child self. Other masks gave her more bizarre, exaggerated caricatures.
After the success of The Betty Book, Betty and Stewart produced several more volumes derived from Betty’s mediumship, the most successful of which was THE UNOBSTRUCTED UNIVERSE released in 1940. This book sold so rapidly that the printers had difficulty keeping up with month-to-month demand.
I think it’s significant to note that the financial success of all the channeled Betty books was no big deal to Stewart and Betty White. They were fantastically rich and had been so from birth. Both were the children of multi-millionaires. Betty was from one of the most venerable aristocratic families of Rhode Island. Stewart’s grandfather and father made millions in the lumber business. Stewart and Betty lived an exciting lifestyle of globe trotting, yachting and exotic adventure. That means the old skeptic’s charge of “they were just selling sensational books to make money” cannot apply.
It’s safe to say that Stewart Edward White, his books and the metaphysical books he produced with Betty are largely forgotten today. Some of them were reprinted as paperbacks with sensational titles and lurid images in the 1970s. They were sold in airports and drugstore racks designed as impulse buys for folks with casual interest in the paranormal.
Whatever the case, Betty White’s channeled information eloquently edited and assembled by her talented husband deserve a prominent place in the pantheon of the best metaphysical writings ever produced.
NOTE: You can read The Betty Book for free on the Australian Project Gutenberg site here: THE BETTY BOOK FREE
ADDITIONAL NOTE: You may be interested in my reviews of similar books, just click the links below:
AFTERLIFE CONVERSATIONS WITH KEN KESEY (AND OTHERS) BY WILLIAM BEDIVERE
GHOSTS I HAVE SEEN AND OTHER PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES BY VIOLET TWEEDALE
A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS BY DAVID LINDSAY
APPLICATION OF IMPOSSIBLE THINGS BY NATALIE SUDMAN
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Afterlife, American literature, automatic writing, Betty White, channeling, ghosts, mediums, metaphysical, New Age, occult, paranormal, spirit writings, Stewart Edward White, The Betty Book on July 27, 2018 by admin.
Lost on the Skinwalker Ranch by Erick T. Rhetts is an intriguing true tale of bizarre events in northern Utah
This book purports to tell of true events of extraordinary paranormal happenings in a remote region of Utah. The author grants that slight fictional elements have been employed for the sake of telling the story more smoothly.
Just a few years ago I would have been mostly skeptical of the strange events described here, but subsequent study and research, including conducting my own personal investigations of similar claims, lead me to conclude that all or most of this is likely true – it all really happened.
Telling his story through a ghostwriter, a retired career military man takes a job as a security guard on some property in northern Utah, a 500-acre plot which is owned by none other than Bob Bigelow.
If you are a dyed-in-the wool UFO junkie (like me) you will know that anything associated with the name of billionaire Bob Bigelow is inextricably tied to the endlessly multifaceted, layers-deep and conspiracy-infested universe of ufology, government black-ops and secret space programs.
The book reports that Bigelow purchased the 500-acre cold, dusty property in northern Utah precisely because of its reputation as a UFO hot spot, not to mention centuries of reports (including a rich legacy of Native American lore/religion) telling of bizarre phenomenon, from orbs and strange energy manifestations, to bizarre creatures sighted moving in and out of portholes to alternate dimensions.
Let me just say that the hero of our story in this book has many occasions to encounter much of the above in his job a night watchman on the grounds of this freakishly-haunted property.
I won’t go into more details of what this guy encountered because I don’t want to issue a spoiler alert, except to say I was intrigued and did not expect what the “main event” of his experience turned out to be.
I am delighted when a book of paranormal phenomenon can surprise me and deliver something beyond all the standard stuff – UFOs, ghosts, Bigfoot — we’re accustomed to reading about. The idiosyncratic nature of the events described here and a rich detailing of the smaller incidentals add to the credibility of the narrative.
This book is available as a Kindle Unlimited selection, so if you subscribe to that, this is a good chance to get it for a fast read. It took me only a long evening to breeze through from first page to last. The quality of the writing is quite good – a no-nonsense clear and lucid style just tells the tale, while also putting us into the scenes effortlessly with minimal but vivid description of landscapes and the other minor players, all of whom come alive as “characters” taking part in the strange events.
Erick T. Rhetts is the pseudonym of a guy who has produced a number of similar titles on similar topics. Some simple Internet sleuthing reveals to me that Mr. Rhetts is freelance writer located in Patchogue, New York. He claims authorship of this book on his LiknedIn Page under his real name, which I will let anyone here investigate for themselves if they are dying to know.
Whatever the case and whomever the author, this is a worthy little gem to add to your collection of titles exploring bizarre phenomenon and paranormal topics.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged alternate dimensions, bizarre happenings, Bob Bigelow, coverups, Erick T. Rhetts, ghosts, Lost on Skinwalker Ranch, Native American, orbs, paranormal phenomenon, portals, shamans, strange, U.S. Military, UFO, unexplained events, Utah on October 31, 2015 by admin.
Talking to the dead: Medium Suzanne Giesemann insists on real evidence
This is a fascinating book because it is anchored by a story that seems almost too sensational to be true, yet the evidence would seem to indicate that it is true.
Author and professional medium Suzanne Giesemann also brings an added aura of credibility — her former career as a high-ranking U.S. Naval officer provides a sense of grounding – here seems to be a no-nonsense person we can trust to be level-headed, honest and highly responsible.
Before taking on the life of a professional speaker-to-the-dead, Giesemann spent 20-years in military service, retiring with the rank of Commander. She served at the highest levels; she was Aide to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Anyone not knowing her background, and upon reading this book, might peg her as among the most airy-fairy of New Agers. This book, Wolf’s Message, has it all – all the (seeming) New Age fluff it can muster, and more.
There’s channeling of the dead, communication with advanced collective beings, angels, psychic phenomena, trance states – and so many of the common accouterments of New Agers – power crystals, dream catchers, runes for casting, angelic clouds, mandalas, sacred geometry, Hemi-Sync CDs – it’s almost as if the author used went into one of those New Age trinket shops in a place like Sedona, Arizona, and bought `one of each,’ then worked them all into her narrative.
Suzanne Giesemann
But the real foundation of this book is the astounding details surrounding the death of a young Plymouth, Massachusetts, man by the name of Mike Pasakarnis, who went by the nickname “Wolf.” He was struck dead by a freak lightning bolt.
Remarkably, this is the same way the step-daughter of the author died. Giesemann’s step-daughter was a sergeant in the U.S. Marines at the time. But that’s just one of the eye-popping confluence in this story.
The details of Wolf’s death, his prediction of his own death, the seemingly incontrovertible evidence of that, his after-death communication – it will all blow your mind.
I don’t want to give away too many details and ruin this read for anyone, but the circumstances of Wolf’s death, and Giesemann’s subsequent afterdeath communications with him, are intriguing, to say the least.
Note that Giesemann calls herself an “evidential medium.” That means she’s all about getting the hard facts – solid, undeniable proof that the voices she hears in her psychic head must be and truly are the spirit of the dearly departed.
It is important to note that this book goes well beyond the scope of merely communicating with a deceased person and passing on that information to his grieving parents – Giesemann uses the overall scenario as a platform to deliver up much wider, deeper and more penetrating spiritual lesson for her readers.
If you ask me, her prose is a bit over-the-top. Her style comes off as super-sticky-sugary New Agey schlock. Here enthusiasm is almost tiring – practically on every other page Giesemann reports being “stunned!” “astounded!” “awestruck!” “weeping with gratitude!” “blown away!” “blissful!” – the superlatives just keep gushing forth, as if a dam holding back a lake of Holy Water has breached.
But you know what? That’s okay. Suzanne Giesemann is clearly all heart. She’s a sincere-to-the-bone explorer of transcendent realms. She is driven to bring us a message of unstoppable, monumental cosmic hope. Why hold back?
I encourage everyone to get this book and be prepared to be “awestruck!”
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged afterdeath communication, Afterlife, book review, channeling, crystals, ghosts, healing energy, medium, New Age books, philosophy, spirituality, Suzanne Giesemann, Wolf's Message on January 9, 2015 by admin.
The Ghost of Ernest Hemingway: Still Eloquent in the Afterlife
KEN KORCZAK:
This is the second FRANK DeMARCO book I’ve read. The first was “A Place To Stand,” and I think anyone who reads both of the above will be sufficiently impressed that here is a guy who not merely another frivolous New Age writer raving from the fringe, or some person seeking to capitalize on the name of Hemingway merely to sell a book.
This is an intelligent book of substance that should intrigue long-time Hemingway fans, and give us pause to consider the implications of what it might really be like to have a one-on-one chat with an American literary giant.
There is ample historic president for these kinds of books, in particular, Jane Robert’s (author of Seth Speaks), “channeling” of the American philosopher William James. That book came out in 1977; James died in 1910.
Another famous example: Emily Grant Hutchings and a medium using an Ouija board took “dictation” from the spirit of Mark Twain to produce an entirely new novel, “Jap Herron.” It was published in 1916, six years after Twain’s death.
In 1869, a medium “downloaded” a fresh novel written by the deceased Emily Brontë; It’s presented in a book called “Strange Visitors” edited by an esteemed legal scholar, Henry J. Horn.
So DeMarco is backed by solid tradition, and the precedent of others who have written amazingly high quality books in this way.
Beginning in 2004, DeMarco, using the time-honored, method of automatic writing, made psychic contact Hemingway and engaged in a vigorous post-death conversation with Hemingway. The dialogue resulted in this book.
In it, Hemingway clears the deck on dozens of misconceptions he says numerous biographers and academics have besmirched upon his life, work and legacy over the years.
Not that he’s particularly angry or blames living biographers who, after all, only gave it their best shot. It’s just that, Hemingway says the game is rigged. Writing a truly accurate biography is fundamentally impossible. The deceased author tells DeMarco:
“To write a true biography you would need to do impossible things, such as:
* See and feel and think and react as the subject would have done.
* Contain within yourself all the subject’s background, including people, places, books he’s read, the news of the day (day by day), the daydream he had, the talents and aversions and every aspect of his personality.
* Know everything that had ever happened to him and some that happened only around him, and from multiple points of view.
* Know every strand that operated within him, and in what proportion and in what circumstances, including the tremendous amount he didn’t realize himself.
*Know at least something of why he came into life (or, you might say, what the potential or that particular mixture of elements was) and see how one thing could express only at the expense of others, and hence what tensions set up.”
That all makes sense, when you think about it. Certainly, the dead Hemingway has a knack for bringing an unclouded, common-sense kind of wisdom to vexing questions and thorny issues.
Frank DeMarco
Another example: DeMarco asks Hemingway to explain something controversial the macho-man writer once said, that he would “rather beat someone up than read a good book.” (This in light of Hemingway’s well-known love of boxing and barroom brawling).
Hemingway, from his perch in the Afterlife, defends his statement this way:
“All right … who are you talking to? In this case I mean, what age Hemingway? The answer you’d get from a 20-year-old isn’t what you’d get ten years later, or thirty, or after-the-fact entirely … the whole point of living is not to be the same year by year, but to change — I didn’t prefer beating somebody up to reading a good book. Just count the number of people I beat up and the number of books I read!”
Still eloquent in death, Hemingway scores again!
DeMarco’s book is loaded with gems like these. Hemingway’s quips zero in like sharpened darts, hitting dead-on rhetorical bullseyes time and again.
If this is not the actual spirit of Hemingway speaking through DeMarco, then DeMarco himself is one clever wordsmith.
But wait a minute — DeMarco cautions us that just who is actually communicating here is a tad more complicated than you might think. Here is the way DeMarco struggles to define his trans-death connection with the deceased writer:
“I think you mean to say that Hemingway 1899-1961 and DeMarco 1946-20-whatever do not touch, and that I have been thinking that DeMarco-46 was touching the spirit of Hemingway-99, but it may be more accurate to say that the larger being of which DeMarco-46 is a part is communicating with the larger being of which Hemingway-99 is a part, and the two time-bound parts are having a sort of virtual conversation.”
In other words, most people assume that when you contact the spirit of a dead person, you are speaking to the exact person/ego-construct/personality of that same person when he or she was alive.
But there is not a Person A = Person A situation vis-a-vis the live version of a person and the afterlife version of that same person.
After we pass over to the other side, we apparently expand our consciousnesses to embody the “whole self,” or perhaps “soul self.” We become aligned with the so-called Oversoul.
For the dead, the ego-self recedes into the background because the ego is actually an elaborate, artificial coping/defense construct designed to function in the environment of our earth-bound, physical matter reality. The ego is too often shaped by fears and desires, and is a reactor rather than an actor within a material system. Yet, after death, we can still operate from an ego-based platform if we want to …
What I really like about Afterdeath Conversations With Hemingway is that it reads not like the typical spooky and/or smarmy medium-channeled stuff, but as an insightful, intelligent and piercing series of observations by a savvy writer, who just happens to be positioned in the non-physical realm.
DeMarco’s book makes the extraordinary situation of speaking with the dead seem as commonplace as chatting with your Uncle Ned via Skype.
With dogged attention to detail, DeMarco combs through the issues that were the passions of Hemingway’s vigorous life — World War I, the Spanish Civil War, the American psyche, the artistic culture of Europe, big game hunting, deep sea fishing, writing and literature. Hemingway discusses what it meant to be an American, an emerging modern man in a nation straining to become the next superpower.
What about his suicide? Hemingway is actually rather blasé and dismissive of the whole issue. He called suicide “the family exit.” Hemingway’s father committed suicide, as did his brother, Leicester, and sister, Ursula. The dead Hemingway says of his suicide:
“When I left the body — when I blew myself out of that situation — I knew what I was doing, and why. I wasn’t emotionally distraught, I wasn’t out of my mind, and I wasn’t even depressed — once I figured out how to get out … the bad effects of suicide have a lot more to do with attitudes that with the given act.”
After his death, Hemingway tells DeMarco that he now manifests himself in the spirit world as a 30-something-year-old.
“I went back to being in my mid-thirties,” Hemingway said. “I was happy then. I’d taken my lumps and I’d already left Hadley, (first wife Hadley Richardson) which was a stupid thing to do but there you are, and I was in the prime of life.”
The bottom line: This is a marvelous read, well worthy of five stars, and gets my top recommendation.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Afterlife, automatic writing, book reviews, channeling, consciousness, death, Ernest Hemingway, Frank DeMarco, ghosts, heaven, Ken Korczak, Monroe Institute, New Age books, spirit writings on November 4, 2014 by admin.
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51 Walden - Performing Arts Center
Amanda Carr
Amanda Carr and the Silver Fox Jazz Quintet
Songs from the Great American Songbook
Saturday, March 12, 2011 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m
Cabaret style, dance floor available. $30 a person or reserve a table for 6 for $160
Amanda Carr’s versatility, spirit and onstage charm is a result of many years as a professional musician. Among her varied performances, she stars in “A Tribute to Peggy Lee and Benny Goodman”, The Artie Shaw Orchestra, the Harry James Band and has also appeared with the Glenn Miller Band.
Amanda was headlined at the EuroJazz Festival in Italy, and recorded “Live in San Giorgio” with Trio Martinale from Turin. She has received an Emmy nomination for “The Story of Golf”, an 8-part series on the Golf Channel and has won awards for her musical contributions to “Boston Red Sox: 100 Years of Baseball History..
Along with 4 other CD’s since 1995, Amanda released big band CD “Common Thread” in October of ‘09, with the Kenny Hadley Big Band that soared to #2 on Amazon’s Jazz Bestseller list on the heels of a Wall Street Journal endorsement.
In a 2007 Wall Street Journal review, Nat Hentoff said “Amanda Carr, is a true jazz singer. . . she sings and swings with the unaffected confidence of a genuine jazz improviser. I’ve rarely heard a jazz singer fuse so naturally and pleasurably….” The Boston Herald’s review of a 2006 appearance: “Her voice is like a soft blanket that surrounds you and instantly provides a sense of comfort and contentment. Blessed with a wonderful range, you hear every word, and the lowest notes are the sweetest… Don’t miss her when she brings her romantic style and smile to a stage near you. ….. Amanda Carr is the real thing, and yes, I would pay to hear her sing the phone book.”
Building Schedule
Opera51
Dance Studio Schedule
51 Walden
Directions to 51 Walden
The Concord Band
The Concord Orchestra
The Concord Players
Dance Teachers at 51 Walden
NE Entertainment Digest
Site Design by Timothy Morse
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Birthplace of hockey recognized
Canada’s PM and René Fasel unveil plaques for Victoria Skating Rink and “Father of Hockey” Creighton
From left: Bob Nicholson (Hockey Canada), Michael Fortier (Government Canada), IIHF President René Fasel and Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveil the Victoria Skating Rink commemorative plaque at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Photo: Alexandre Choquette / Parks Canada
MONTREAL – Plaques commemorating James Creighton – considered the “father of hockey” – and the Victoria Skating Rink were unveiled in a gala ceremony attended by Prime Minister Stephen Harper at Montreal’s Bell Centre. Also in attendance were IIHF President René Fasel and the Mayor of Montreal, Gérald Tremblay. The event was hosted by the Montreal Canadiens.
“It is very important for us, and an honour, to unveil these plaques during our centennial season,” Fasel said. “For us to have our Congress in Montreal as well, where the game was born, is a special part of the IIHF’s history.”
The plaques were created by Parks Canada on the advisement of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The unveiling was part of the IIHF’s 100 Year Anniversary Celebration. At the ceremony, James George Aylwin Creighton (1850-1930) was recognized as a person of national historic significance for his role in the development of ice hockey in the 1870s. The Victoria Skating Rink was also recognized as the birthplace of organized hockey.
The event was co-organized by Parks Canada, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC, the Government of Canada's expert advisory body on historical matters in Canada), the IIHF, Hockey Canada, the City of Montreal and the event host, the Montreal Canadiens.
Canada’s Prime Minister and hockey historian Stephen Harper (left) was presented with the IIHF 100 year anniversary book by IIHF president René Fasel in the Montreal Canadiens locker room prior to the plaque unveiling ceremony. Photo: Alexandre Choquette / Parks Canada
More than 400 invited guests were in attendance at the ceremony which was held at the centre ice area of the 21,273-seat Bell Centre, the arena of the Montreal Canadiens, who will celebrate their 100 year anniversary in 2009. The ceremony was covered by 26 news outlets. The site of the Victoria Skating Rink is 150 metres from the Bell Centre.
James Creighton organized and brought together all the key elements of the modern game of ice hockey. He is widely believed to have initiated the earliest codification of the game's rules, and thus laid the foundation for its emergence as an organized sport. On March 3, 1875, he organized the first indoor match in the Victoria Skating Rink in Montréal. The game was announced in the Montreal Gazette, and the day after the game the newspaper provided a game recap.
Prime Minister Harper, an enthusiastic hockey historian, noted that for this historic match at the Victoria Rink, Creighton employed a puck instead of a ball and used goals in a game officiated by a referee. Two teams of nine men aside kept score, and Creighton’s team won, 2-1. All of these aspects characterize the modern game.
In addition to being a developer and popularizer of organized ice hockey, Creighton was the captain of McGill University, the first regular hockey club to be formed in Canada, in 1877. Creighton, who later served for 48 years as Law Clerk to the Senate, is thus referred to as the "father" of organized ice hockey.
In 2002, the IIHF officially recognized the Victoria Skating Rink as the birthplace of organized hockey and the world governing body pursued the opportunity to follow up the recognition with the unveiling of a commemorative plaque during the 100 Year Anniversary of the federation.
“For the preservation of the heritage of our game, for hockey fans all over the world, and for the world governing body of ice hockey, it is important to finally and officially recognize the site where the Victoria Skating Rink once stood and James Creighton as the person of hockey historic significance. Not many sports can as hockey, precisely identify the origins of its game. This is of great historical value to us,” said Fasel.
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Responsibility at EU level to address Superlevy – IDB
Ciaran Moran
“There is an element of responsibility at EU level to accept that action does need to be taken to address the impending large superlevy bill.”
That’s according to Irish Dairy Board Secretary, Anne Randles who addressed the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture today on the potential difficulties facing the dairy sector in 2015.
Randles said the IDB believes that there is a certain element of responsibility at EU in where we find ourselves now.
“There has been a long lead in time to the abolition of milk quotas there was a lot of emphasis put on the whole issue of a soft landing as a responsible way of arriving at the situation that we are in.”
Yet, according to Randles the sector finds itself now in the last year of quotas facing perhaps the highest and the most historic bill throughout Europe not just in Ireland.
It’s possible, she said that the Commission will receiving in receipts from superlevy at one of the highest levels of receipts in the last year that the quota exists.
According to Randles there is an element of responsibility at EU level to accept that action does need to be taken not to hamper the investment that has been taken in response to what is a political decision to remove quotas.
“Its very disappointing two and a half months out that we are still looking at this,” she said.
“I think it is something that it is most unfortunate that we find ourselves in at a period when farmers throughout Europe have identified a future for themselves in dairying an are investing in there futures post the abolition of quotas.”
IDB Superlevy
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The Archconfraternity
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Archconfraternity
Apostolic Brief
Miracles Wrought
Association Prayers
Church Teachings
Ember Days
Perfect Contrition
Examine Conscience
Traditional Calendar
Festival Blog
The 15 Promises
Prayers in Rosary
Praying method
Sorrowful Mysteries
9 First Fridays
5 First Saturdays
7 Penitential Psalms
Regina Cæli Lætare
The Litany of Saints
To the Holy Ghost
Holy Name - MARY
O.L. Perpetual Help
Mary Most Sorrowful
7 Sorrows of Mary
7 Sorrows Beads
Plaint of Our Lady
Mother most Desolate
Fri-Sat Meditation
Litany- O.L. Sorrows
Passion of our Lord
Value of Meditation
Passion -St. Matthew
Passion -St. Mark
Passion -St. Luke
Passion -St. John
The Clock of Passion
15prayers-St.Bridget
The Shoulder Wound
The Sacred Head
Offer Precious Blood
Pr.Blood Reparation
The Apparitions
O.L.Miraculous Medal
O.L.La Salette
O.L.Lourdes
O.L.Fatima
Tears of La Salette
LaSalette Apparition
Maximin's Secret
Mélanie's Letters
Stifling of Message
Causes of Her Tears
Peculiarities
Doctrinal Decision
Consecration Prayer
July 8, 2019: ST. ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF PORTUGAL
July 8, 2019: ST. ELIZABETH, QUEEN (OF PORTUGAL), WIDOW
Rank: Simple.
“I have found, O Lord, that thy judgments are just; thou hast humbled me by thy truths. Pierce my flesh with thy fear; thy commandments have made me tremble.”
Prayer (Collect).
O Most merciful God, who, amongst other admirable endowments, didst privilege blessed Elizabeth with the gift of making wars cease: grant, by her prayers, that after having enjoyed the peace, which we humbly crave in this mortal life, we may be received into everlasting bliss. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
In the footsteps of Margaret of Scotland and of Clotilde of France, a third Queen comes to shed her brightness on the sacred Cycle. Born at the southern extremity of Christendom, where it borders on Mussulman lands, she was destined by the Holy Ghost to seal with peace the victories of Christ, and prepare the way for fresh conquests. The blessed name of Elizabeth, which for half a century had been rejoicing the world with its sweet perfume, was given to her, foretelling that this new-born child, as though attracted by the roses which fell from the mantle of her Thuringian aunt [St. Elizabeth, Duchess of Thuringia, a.k.a St. Elizabeth of Hungary], was to cause these same heavenly flowers to blossom in Iberia.
There is a mysterious heirship among the saints of God. The same year in which one niece of Elizabeth of Thuringia was born in Spain, another, the Blessed Margaret of Hungary, took her flight to heaven. She had been consecrated to God from her mother's womb, as a pledge for the salvation of her people, in the midst of terrible disasters; and the hopes so early centred in her were not frustrated. A short life of twenty-eight years spent in innocence and prayer, earned for her country the blessings of peace and civilization; and then Margaret bequeathed to our Saint of to-day the mission of continuing in another land the work of her holy predecessors.
The time had come for our Lord to shed a ray of His grace upon Spain. The thirteenth century was closing, leaving the world in a state of dismemberment and ruin. Weary of fighting for Christ, kings dismissed the Church from their councils, and selfishly kept aloof, preferring their own ambitious strifes to the common aspiration of the once great body of Christendom. Such a state of things was disastrous for the entire West; much more, then, for that noble country where the Crusade had multiplied kingdoms as so many outposts against the common enemy, the Moors. Unity of views and the sacrifice of all things to the great work of deliverance could alone maintain in the successors of Pelayo the spirit of the grand memories of yore. Unfortunately these princes, though heroes on the battle-field, had not sufficient strength of mind to lay aside their petty quarrels and take up the sacred duty entrusted to them by Providence. In vain did the Roman Pontiff strive to awaken them to the interests of their country and of the Christian name; these hearts, generous in other respects, were too stifled by miserable passions to heed his voice; and the Mussulman looked on delightedly at these intestine strifes, which retarded his own defeat. Navarre, Castile, Aragon, and Portugal were not only at war with each other; but even within each of these kingdoms, father and son were at enmity, and brother disputed with brother, inch by inch, the heritage of his ancestors.
Who was to restore to Spain the still recent traditions of her Ferdinand III? Who was to gather again these dissentient wills into one, so as to make them a terror to the Saracen and a glory to Christ? James I of Aragon, who rivalled St. Ferdinand both in bravery and in conquests, had married Yoland, daughter of Andrew of Hungary; whereupon the cultus of the holy Duchess of Thuringia, whose brother-in-law he had thus become, was introduced beyond the Pyrenees; and the name of Elizabeth, changed in most cases into Isabel, became, as it were, a family jewel with which the Spanish princesses have loved to be adorned. The first to bear it was the daughter of James and Yoland, who married Philip III of France, successor of St. Louis; the second was the grand-daughter of the same James I, the Saint whom the Church honours to-day, and of whom the old king, with prophetic insight, loved to say, that she would surpass all the women of the race of Aragon.
Inheriting not only the name, but also the virtues of the “dear St. Elizabeth,” she would one day deserve to be called “the mother of peace and of her country.” By means of her heroic self-renunciation and all-powerful prayer, she repressed the lamentable quarrels of princes. One day, unable to prevent peace being broken, she cast herself between two contending armies under a very hailstorm of arrows, and so forced the soldiers to lay down their fratricidal arms. Thus she paved the way for the happy event, which she herself was not to have the consolation of seeing: the re-organisation of that great enterprise for the expulsion of the Moors, which was not to close till the following century under the auspices of another Isabel, her worthy descendant, who would add to her name the beautiful title of “the Catholic.” Four years after Elizabeth's death, the victory of Salado was gained by the united armies of all Spain over 600,000 infidels, showing how a woman could, under most adverse circumstances, inaugurate a brilliant Crusade, to the immortal fame of her country.
Elizabeth, of the royal race of Aragon, was born in the year of our Lord 1271. As a presage of her future sanctity, her parents, contrary to custom, passing over the mother and grandmother, gave her in Baptism the name of her maternal great-aunt, St. Elizabeth, Duchess of Thuringia. No sooner was she born, than it became evident what a blessed peacemaker she was to be between kings and kingdoms; for the joy of her birth put a happy period to the miserable quarrels of her father and grandfather. As she grew up, her father, admiring the natural abilities of his daughter, was wont to assert that Elizabeth would far outstrip in virtue all the women descended of the royal blood of Aragon; and so great was his veneration for her heavenly manner of life, her contempt of worldly ornaments, her abhorrence of pleasure, her assiduity in fasting, prayer, and works of charity, that he attributed to her merits alone the prosperity of his kingdom and estate. On account of her wide-spread reputation, her hand was sought by many princes; at length she was, with all the ceremonies of holy Church, united in matrimony with Dionysius, king of Portugal.
In the married state she gave herself up to the exercise of virtue and the education of her children, striving, indeed, to please her husband, but still more to please God. For nearly half the year she lived on bread and water alone; and, on one occasion when, in an illness, she had refused to take the wine prescribed by the physician, her water was miraculously changed into wine. She instantaneously cured a poor woman of a loathsome ulcer by kissing it. In the depth of winter she changed the money she was going to distribute to the poor into roses, in order to conceal it from the king. She gave sight to a virgin born blind, healed many other persons of grievous distempers by the mere sign of the Cross, and performed a great number of other miracles of a like nature. She built and amply endowed monasteries, hospitals, and churches. She was admirable for her zeal in composing the differences of kings, and unwearied in her efforts to alleviate the public and private miseries of mankind.
After the death of King Dionysius, Elizabeth, who had been in her youth a model to virgins, and in her married life to wives, became in her solitude a pattern of all virtues to widows. She immediately put on the religious habit of St. Clare, assisted with the greatest fortitude at the king's funeral, and then, proceeding to Compostella, offered there for the repose of his soul a quantity of silk, silver, gold, and precious stones. On her return home she consumed in holy and pious works all she had that was dear and precious to her; she completed the building of her truly royal monastery of virgins at Coimbra; and, wholly engaged in feeding the poor, protecting widows, sheltering orphans, and assisting the afflicted in every way, she lived not for herself, but for the glory of God and the well-being of men. On her way to the noble town of Estremoz, whither she was going in order to make peace between the two kings, her son and son-in-law, she was seized with illness; and, in that town, after having been visited by the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, she died a most holy death, on the 4th day of July, in the year 1336. After death she was glorified by many miracles, especially by the sweet fragrance of her body, which has remained incorrupt for nearly three hundred years; and she is always distinguished by the name of the “holy queen.” At length, in the year of jubilee, of our salvation 1625, with the unanimous applause of the assembled Christian world, she was solemnly enrolled among the Saints by Pope Urban VIII.
Another account of St. Elizabeth of Portugal
A.D. 1336
St. Elizabeth was daughter of Peter III, King of Arragon, and grandaughter of James I, who had been educated under the care of St. Peter Nolasco, and was surnamed the Saint, and from the taking of Majorca, and Valentia, Expugnator or the Conqueror. Her mother, Constantia, was daughter of Manfred, King of Sicily, and grandchild to the Emperor Frederick II. Our saint was born in 1271, and received at the baptismal font by the name of Elizabeth, from her aunt, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who had been canonized by Gregory IX in 1235. Her birth established a good understanding between her grandfather James, who was then on the throne, and her father, whose quarrel had divided the whole kingdom. The former took upon himself the care of her education, and inspired her with an ardour for piety above her age, though he died in 1276 (having reigned sixty-three years), before she had completed the sixth year of her age.
Her father succeeded to the crown, and was careful to place most virtuous persons about his daughter, whose example might be to her a constant spur to all virtue. The young princess was of a most sweet and mild disposition, and from her tender years had no relish for any thing but what was conducive to piety and devotion. It was doing her the most sensible pleasure if any one promised to lead her to some chapel to say a prayer. At eight years of age she began to fast on vigils, and to practise great self-denials: nor could she bear to hear the tenderness of her years and constitution alleged as a reason that she ought not to fast or macerate her tender body. Her fervour made her eagerly to desire that she might have a share in every exercise of virtue which she saw practised by others, and she had been already taught that the frequent mortification of the senses, and still more of the will, is to be joined with prayer to obtain the grace which restrains the passions, and prevents their revolt. How little is this roost important maxim considered by those parents who excite and fortify the passions of children, by teaching them a love of vanities, and indulging them in gratifications of sense! If rigorous fasts suit not their tender age, a submission of the will, perfect obedience, and humble modesty are in no time of life more indispensably to be inculcated; nor is any abstinence more necessary than that by which children are taught never to drink or eat out of meals, to bear several little denials in them without uneasiness, and never eagerly to crave any thing. The easy and happy victory of Elizabeth over herself was owing to this early and perfect temperance, submissiveness, and sincere humility. Esteeming virtue her only advantage and delight, she abhorred romances and idle entertainments, shunned the usual amusements of children, and was an enemy to all the vanities of the world. She could bear no other songs than sacred hymns and psalms; and from her childhood said every day the whole office of the breviary, in which no priest could be more scrupulously exact. Her tenderness and compassion for the poor, made her even in that tender age, to be styled their mother.
At twelve years of age she was given in marriage to Dionysius, King of Portugal. That prince had considered in her, birth, beauty, riches, and sprightliness of genius more than virtue; yet he allowed her an entire liberty in her devotions, and exceedingly esteemed and admired her extraordinary piety. She found no temptation to pride in the dazzling splendour of a crown, and could say with Esther, that her heart never found any delight in the glory, riches, and grandeur with which she was surrounded. She was sensible that regularity in our actions is necessary to virtue, this being in itself most agreeable to God, who shows in all his works how much he is the lover of order; also, a prudent distribution of time fixes the fickleness of the human mind, hinders frequent omissions of pious exercises, and is a means to prevent our being ever idle and being governed by humour and caprice in what we do, by which motives a disguised self-love easily insinuates itself into our ordinary actions. Our saint therefore planned for herself a regular distribution of her whole time, and of her religious exercises, which she never interrupted, unless extraordinary occasions of duty or charity obliged her to change the order of her daily practices. She rose very early every morning, and after a long morning exercise, and a pious meditation, she recited matins, lauds and prime of the church office. Then she heard mass, at which she communicated frequently every week. She said every day also the little office of Our Lady, and that of the dead: and in the afternoon had other regular devotions after even-song or vespers. She retired often into her oratory to her pious books, and allotted certain hours to attend her domestic affairs, public business, or what she owed to others. All her spare time she employed in pious reading, or in working for the altar, or the poor, and she made her ladies of honour do the like. She found no time to spend in vain sports and recreations, or in idle discourse or entertainments. She was most abstemious in her diet, mean in her attire, humble, meek, and affable in conversation, and wholly bent upon the service of God in all her actions. Admirable was her spirit of compunction, and of holy prayer; and she poured forth her heart before God, with most feeling sentiments of divine love, and often watered her cheeks and the very ground with abundant tears of sweet devotion. Frequent attempts were made to prevail with her to moderate her austerities, but she always answered, that if Christ assures us that his spirit cannot find place in a life of softness and pleasure, mortification is no where more necessary than on the throne, where the passions find more dangerous incentives. She fasted three days a week, many vigils besides those prescribed by the church: all Advent; a Lent of devotion, from the feast of St. John Baptist to the feast of the Assumption; and soon after this she began another Lent, which she continued to St. Michael's day. On all Fridays and Saturdays, on the eves of all festivals of the Blessed Virgin and the apostles, and on many other days her fast was on bread and water. She often visited churches and places of devotion on foot.
Charity to the poor was a distinguishing part of her character. She gave constant orders to have all pilgrims and poor strangers provided for with lodging and necessaries. She made it her business to seek out, and secretly relieve persons of good condition who were reduced to necessity, yet out of shame durst not make known their wants. She was very liberal in furnishing fortunes to poor young women, that they might marry according to their condition, and not be exposed to the danger of losing their virtue. She visited the sick, served them, and dressed and kissed their most loathsome sores. She founded in different parts of the kingdom many pious establishments, particularly an hospital near her own palace at Coimbra, a house for penitent women who had been seduced into evil courses, at Torres Novas, and an hospital for foundlings, or those children who, for want of due provision, are exposed to the danger of perishing by poverty, or the neglect and cruelty of unnatural parents. She was utterly regardless of her own conveniences, and so attentive to the poor and afflicted persons of the whole kingdom, that she seemed almost wholly to belong to them; not that she neglected any other duties which she owed to her neighbour, for she made it her principal study to pay to her husband the most dutiful respect, love, and obedience, and bore his injuries with invincible meekness and patience. Though King Dionysius was a friend of justice, and a valiant, bountiful, and compassionate prince, yet he was, in his youth, a worldly man, and defiled the sanctity of the nuptial state with abominable lusts. The good queen used all her endeavours to reclaim him, grieving most sensibly for the offence of God, and the scandal given to the people; and she never ceased to weep herself, and to procure the prayers of others for his conversion. She strove to gain him only by courtesy, and with constant sweetness and cheerfulness cherished his natural children, and took great care of their education. By these means she softened the heart of the king, who by the succour of a powerful grace, rose out of the filthy puddle in which he had wallowed for a long time, and kept ever after the fidelity that was due to his virtuous consort. He instituted the Order of Christ in 1318; founded, with a truly royal magnificence, the university of Coimbra, and adorned his kingdom with public buildings. His extraordinary virtues, particularly his liberality, justice, and constancy, are highly extolled by the Portuguese, and after his entire conversion, he was the idol and glory of his people. A little time before his perfect conversion there happened an extraordinary accident. The queen had a very pious, faithful page, whom she employed in the distribution of her secret alms. A wicked fellow-page envying him on account of this favour, to which his virtue and services entitled him, treacherously suggested to his majesty that the queen showed a fondness for that page. The prince, who by his own sensual heart was easily inclined to judge ill of others, gave credit to the slander, and resolved to take away the life of the innocent youth. For this purpose he gave order to a lime-burner, that if on such a day he sent to him a page with this errand to inquire, “Whether he had fulfilled the king's commands?” he should take him and cast him into the limo-kiln, there to be burnt; for that death he had justly incurred, and the execution was expedient for the king's service. On the day appointed he despatched the page with this message to the lime-kiln: but the devout youth on the road passing by a church, heard the bell ring at the elevation at mass, went in and prayed there devoutly; for it was his pious custom, if ever he heard the sign given by the bell for the elevation, always to go thither, and not depart till mass was ended. It happened, on that occasion, that as the first was not a whole mass, and it was with him a constant rule to hear mass every day, he stayed in the church, and heard successively two other masses. In the meantime, the king, who was impatient to know if his orders had been executed, sent the informer to the lime-kiln, to inquire whether his commands had been obeyed; but as soon as he was come to the kiln, and had asked the question, the man supposing him to be the messenger meant by the king's order, seized him, and threw him into the burning lime, where he was soon consumed. Thus was the innocent protected by his devotions, and the slanderer was overtaken by divine justice. The page who had heard the masses went afterwards to the lime-kiln, and having asked whether his majesty's commands had been yet executed, brought him word back that they were. The king was almost out of himself with surprise when he saw him come back with this message, and being soon informed of the particulars, he easily discovered the innocence of the pious youth, adored the divine judgments, and ever after respected the great virtue and sanctity of his queen.
St. Elizabeth had by the king two children, Alphonsus, who afterwards succeeded his father, and Constantia, who was married to Ferdinand IV, King of Castile. This son, when grown up, married the Infanta of Castile, and soon after revolting against his own father, put himself at the head of an army of malcontents. St. Elizabeth had recourse to weeping, prayer, fasting, and almsdeeds, and exhorted her son in the strongest terms to return to his duty, conjuring her husband at the same time to forgive him. Pope John XXII wrote to her, commending her religious and prudent conduct; but certain court flatterers whispering to the king that she was suspected of favouring her son, he, whom jealousy made credulous, banished her to the city of Alanquer. The queen received this disgrace with admirable patience and peace of mind, and made use of the opportunity which, her retirement afforded, to redouble her austerities and devotions. She never would entertain any correspondence with the malcontents, nor listen to any suggestions from them. The king himself admired her goodness, meekness, and humility under her disgrace; and shortly after called her back to court, and showed her greater love and respect than ever. In all her troubles she committed herself to the sweet disposal of divine providence, considering that she was always under the protection of God, her merciful father.
Being herself of the most sweet and peaceable disposition, she was always most active and industrious in composing all differences between neighbours, especially in averting war, with the train of all the most terrible evils which attend it. She reconciled her husband and son, when their armies were marching one against the other; and she reduced all the subjects to duty and obedience. She made peace between Ferdinand IV, King of Castile, and Alphonsus de la Cerda, his cousin-german, who disputed the crown: likewise between James II, King of Arragon, her own brother, and Ferdinand IV, the King of Castile, her son-in-law. In order to effect this last she took a journey with her husband, into both those kingdoms, and to the great satisfaction of the Christian world, put a happy period to all dissensions and debates between those states. After this charitable work, King Dionysius, having reigned forty-five years, fell sick. St. Elizabeth gave him most signal testimonies of her love and affection, scarce ever leaving his chamber during his illness, unless to go to the church, and taking infinite pains to serve and attend him. But her main care and solicitude was to secure his eternal happiness, and to procure that he might depart this life in sentiments of perfect repentance and piety. For this purpose she gave bountiful alms, and caused many prayers and masses to be said. During his long and tedious illness he gave great marks of sincere compunction, and died at Santaren, on the 6th of January, 1325. As soon as he had expired, the queen retired into her oratory, commended his soul to God, and consecrating herself to the divine service, put on the habit of the third Order of Saint Francis. She attended the funeral procession, with her husband's corpse, to Odiveras, where he had chosen his burying-place in a famous church of Cistercian monks. After a considerable stay there she made a pilgrimage to Compostella, and returning to Odiveras, celebrated there her husband's anniversary with great solemnity; after which she retired to a convent of Clares, which she had begun to rebuild before the death of her husband. She was desirous to make her religious profession, but was diverted from that design for some time upon a motive of charity, that she might continue to support an infinity of poor people by her alms and protection. She therefore contented herself at first with wearing the habit of the third Order, living in a house which she built contiguous to her great nunnery, in which she assembled ninety devout nuns. She often visited them, and sometimes served them at table, having for her companion in this practice of charity and humility her daughter-in-law, Beatrix, the queen then reigning. However by authentic historical proofs it is evinced that before her death she made her religious profession in the aforesaid third Order, as Pope Urban VIII, after mature discussion of those monuments, has declared.
A war being lighted up between her son Alphonsus IV, surnamed the brave King of Portugal, and her grandson, Alphonsus XI, King of Castile, and armies being set on foot, she was startled at the news, and resolved to get out to reconcile them, and extinguish the fire that was kindling. Her servants endeavoured to persuade her to defer her journey, on account of the excessive heats, but she made answer that she could not better expend her health and her life than by seeking to prevent the miseries and calamities of a war. The very news of her journey disposed both parties to peace. She went to Estremoz, upon the frontiers of Portugal and Castile, where the son was; but she arrived ill of a violent fever which she looked upon as a messenger sent by God to warn her that the time was at hand wherein he called her to himself. She strongly exhorted her son to the love of peace and to a holy life; she confessed several times, received the holy viaticum on her knees at the foot of the altar, and shortly after extreme unction; from which time she continued in fervent prayer, often invoking the Blessed Virgin, and repeating these words: “Mary, mother of grace, mother of mercy, defend us from the wicked enemy, and receive us at the hour of our death.” She appeared overflowing with heavenly joy, and with those consolations of the Holy Ghost which make death so sweet to the saints; and in the presence of her son, the king, and of her daughter- in-law, she gave up her happy soul to God on the 4th July, in the year 1336, of her age sixty-five. She was buried with royal pomp in the church of her monastery of poor Clares, at Coimbra, and honoured by miracles. Leo X and Paul IV granted an office on her festival; and in 1612 her body was taken up and found entire. It is now richly enshrined in a magnificent chapel, built on purpose. She was canonized by Urban VIII in 1625, and the 8th of July appointed for her festival.
The characteristical virtue of St. Elizabeth was a love of peace. Christ, the prince of peace, declares his spirit to be the spirit of humility and meekness; consequently the spirit of peace. Variance, wrath, and strife are the works of the flesh, of envy, pride, which he condemns, and which exclude from the kingdom of heaven. Bitterness and contention shut out reason, make the soul deaf to the motives of religion, and open the understanding to nothing but what is sinful. To find the way of peace we must be meek and patient, even under the most violent provocations; we must never resent any wrong, nor return railing for railing, but good for evil; we must regard passion as the worst of monsters, and must judge it as unreasonable to hearken to its suggestions as to choose a madman for our counsellor in matters of concern and difficulty; above all, we must abhor it not only as sin, but as leading to a numberless variety of other grievous sins and spiritual evils. “Blessed are the peace makers,” and all who love and cultivate this virtue among men, “they shall be called the children of God,” whose badge and image they bear.
Taken from: The Liturgical Year - Time after Pentecost, Vol. IV, Dublin, Edition 1901;
The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Vol. II; and
The Divine Office for the use of the Laity, Volume II, 1806.
St. Elizabeth, pray for us.
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Media Contact: Kathi Baker 13 March 2006
kobaker@emory.edu
Stranded Gulf Coast Patients Get Help from Emory Flight
Months after hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, two bridges that connect Biloxi to New Orleans are still not accessible. Emory Flight, a partnership with Life Net Medical Services, has been supporting FEMA in missions to transport seriously ill or injured patients while the bridges that once gave them quick access to urgent medical care in New Orleans are being repaired. Long after many Americans have stopped thinking about Katrina, some Emory Flight medical personnel are still living in tents, sleeping on cots, eating in mess halls, and using outdoor showers.
"This is about as close to a modern-day M.A.S.H. unit as you can get," says John C. Holland, aviation director for Emory Flight's southeast region. "The flying area that we have set up is so remote that we could not even get roads on GPS."
Emory Flight began its mission immediately after Katrina hit, rescuing and transporting victims to safety. Since then, FEMA has added follow-on missions for Emory Flight to set up flying areas where they can quickly respond to patients who need to get to an emergency room. The distance would take an hour-and-a-half by car, but only seven minutes by helicopter.
"In one incident, we were returning to the unit after dropping off some patients when we noticed there had been a truck accident," explains Col. Holland. "When we landed, we found five people injured. Fortunately, we were able to get those people to the hospital by air. In situations like that, getting a patient treated quickly can mean life or death. Travel by ambulance may not have gotten them there in time."
Emory Flight helicopters have been staffed by volunteer Emory Flight medical personnel for the last three FEMA missions. The volunteers have been assigned to the Gulf for a week at a time, while the staff members who stay behind volunteer to pick up the slack. For this most recent mission, which has been extended for about one year, medical personnel have been recruited from around the country.
"Our employees have been stretched pretty thin over the last several months, so we have begun to train other medical professionals to staff the helicopters. However, we have been able to provide the use of our most modern long-range aircraft," says Col. Holland, "and we intend to continue to help out in any way we can, as long as we are needed."
Emory Flight is a partnership that combines staff trained by Emory Emergency Medicine faculty with LifeNet helicopter services. Each helicopter is designed as an airborne critical care unit, staffed by a pilot, nurse and paramedic, and linked through advanced technology communications to physician specialists in the receiving hospital or facility. Care begins the moment the patient is placed on the helicopter. The medical director of the Emory Flight program is Alexander Isakov, MD, an experienced flight physician and assistant professor in Emory University School of Medicine's Department of Emergency Medicine.
LifeNet is owned by Rocky Mountain Helicopters, which has been associated with the air medical industry for over 25 years. The Denver company was the provider of choice of the first aeromedical transport program in the United States. It currently operates aircraft at 59 locations throughout the United States and Puerto Rico and employs over 750 personnel nationwide, including medical staff.
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This article is about the film. For the eponymous character, see Gill-man.
Find sources: "Creature from the Black Lagoon" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. (February 2018)
Theatrical release poster
by Reynold Brown
Jack Arnold
William Alland
Screenplay by
Harry Essex
Arthur A. Ross
Maurice Zimm
Julia Adams
Nestor Paiva
Ricou Browning
Hans J. Salter
Herman Stein
William E. Snyder
Ted J. Kent
February 12, 1954 (1954-02-12)
(premiere)[1]
March 5, 1954 (1954-03-05)
(et al., regional openings)
Creature from the Black Lagoon is a 1954 American black-and-white 3D monster horror film from Universal-International, produced by William Alland, directed by Jack Arnold, that stars Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, Nestor Paiva and Whit Bissell. The Creature was played by Ben Chapman on land and by Ricou Browning underwater. The film premiered in Detroit on February 12 and was released on a regional basis, opening on various dates.
Creature from the Black Lagoon was filmed in 3D and originally projected by the polarized light method. The audience wore viewers with gray polarizing filters, similar to the viewers most commonly used today. Because the brief 1950s 3D film fad had peaked in mid-1953 and was fading fast in early 1954, many audiences actually saw the film "flat", in 2D. Typically, the film was shown in 3D in large downtown theaters and flat in smaller neighborhood theaters. In 1975 Creature from the Black Lagoon was re-released to theaters in the inferior red-and-blue-glasses anaglyph 3D format, which was also used for a 1980 home video release on Beta and VHS videocassettes.[1]
For marketing reasons, a comedic appearance with Abbott and Costello on an episode of The Colgate Comedy Hour aired prior to the film's release. The appearance is commonly known as Abbott and Costello Meet the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Ben Chapman reprised his role as the Gill-Man for the program.[citation needed]
Creature from the Black Lagoon generated two sequels: Revenge of the Creature (1955), which was also filmed and released in 3D in hopes of reviving the format, and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956), filmed in 2D. The Creature, also known as the Gill-Man, is usually counted among the classic Universal Monsters.[citation needed]
5 Home media
6 In other media
6.1 Novelizations
7 Reboots and remakes
7.1 Sequels
7.2 Cancelled remakes
7.3 Reboot
7.4 Legacy
9.2 Citations
Autographed Julie Adams still, featuring the Creature menacing Kay.
A geology expedition in the Amazon uncovers fossilized evidence (a skeletal hand with webbed fingers) from the Devonian period that provides a direct link between land and sea animals. Expedition leader Dr. Carl Maia orders his two assistants to stay in camp while he visits the marine biology institute.
Carl reunites with his friend and former student, ichthyologist Dr. David Reed. David works at an aquarium in California, but more recently he has been a guest at Carl's institute in Brazil to study lungfish. David persuades his boss, the financially minded Dr. Mark Williams, to fund a return expedition to the Amazon to look for the remainder of the skeleton.
Soon after Carl leaves camp, a piscine amphibious humanoid, a living member of the same species from which the fossil originated, becomes curious about the expedition's camp. When its sudden appearance frightens the assistants, they panic and attack, and, in response, the enraged Creature kills them both.
The group goes aboard the tramp steamer Rita, captained by crusty Lucas. The expedition consists of David, Carl, Mark, as well as David's girlfriend and colleague, Kay Lawrence, and another scientist, Dr. Edwin Thompson. When they arrive at the camp, they discover Carl's assistants have been killed while he was away. Lucas suggests it was likely done by a jaguar, but the others are unsure.
A further excavation of the area where Carl found the fossil turns up nothing. Mark is ready to give up the search, but David suggests that perhaps thousands of years ago the part of the embankment containing the rest of the skeleton fell into the water and was washed downriver, broken up by the current. Carl says the tributary empties into a lagoon. Lucas calls it the "Black Lagoon", a paradise from which no one has ever returned. The scientists decide to risk it, unaware that the amphibious "Gill-man" that killed Carl's assistants has been watching them. Taking notice of the beautiful Kay, the creature follows the Rita all the way downriver to the Black Lagoon. Once the expedition arrives, David and Mark go diving to collect rock samples from the lagoon floor. After they return, Kay goes swimming and is stalked underwater by the Gill-man, who then gets briefly caught in one of the ship's drag lines. Although it escapes, the creature leaves a claw behind in the net, revealing its existence.
Subsequent encounters with the Gill-man claim the lives of Lucas's crew members, before the Creature is captured and locked in a cage aboard the Rita. It escapes during the night, attacking Edwin, who was guarding it. Kay smashes the Creature with a lantern, driving it off, but Edwin is severely injured. Following this incident, David decides they should return to civilization. Mark, obsessed with capturing (or killing) the Creature, objects. As the Rita tries to leave, they find the Gill-man has blocked the lagoon's entrance with fallen logs. While the others attempt to remove the logs, Mark is mauled to death while trying to capture the Creature single-handedly underwater. The Gill-man then abducts Kay and takes her to its cavern lair. David, Lucas and Carl chase after the Creature and Kay is ultimately rescued. The Creature is riddled with bullets before retreating to the lagoon, where its body sinks into the watery depths.
Ricou Browning played the "Gill Man" in the underwater scenes of Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Revenge of the Creature (1955), and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956).
Richard Carlson as Dr. David Reed
Julie Adams as Kay Lawrence
Richard Denning as Dr. Mark Williams
Antonio Moreno as Dr. Carl Maia
Nestor Paiva as Captain Lucas
Whit Bissell as Dr. Edwin Thompson
Bernie Gozier as Zee
Henry A. Escalante as Chico
Perry Lopez as Tomas
Rodd Redwing as Luis
Sydney Mason as Dr. Matos
Ben Chapman as Gill-man (land)
Ricou Browning as Gill-man (underwater)
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Ginger Stanley did underwater stunts in the first two films.[2]
Producer William Alland was attending a 1941 dinner party during the filming of Citizen Kane (in which he played the reporter Thompson) when Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa told him about the myth of a race of half-fish, half-human creatures in the Amazon River. Alland wrote story notes titled "The Sea Monster" 10 years later, using Beauty and the Beast as inspiration. In December 1952, Maurice Zimm expanded this into a treatment, which Harry Essex and Arthur Ross rewrote as The Black Lagoon. Following the success of the 3D film House of Wax in 1953, Jack Arnold was hired to direct the film in the same format.[3]
The designer of the approved Gill-Man was Disney animator Milicent Patrick, though her role was deliberately downplayed by make-up artist Bud Westmore, who for half a century would receive sole credit for the creature's conception.[4] Jack Kevan, who worked on The Wizard of Oz (1939) and made prosthetics for amputees during World War II, created the bodysuit, while Chris Mueller Jr. sculpted the head.[citation needed]
Ben Chapman portrayed the Gill-Man for the majority of the scenes shot at Universal City, California. Many of the on-water scenes were filmed at Rice Creek near Palatka, Florida. The costume made it impossible for Chapman to sit for the 14 hours of each day that he wore it and it overheated easily. Due to these difficulties, Chapman often stayed in the studio's back lot lake, frequently requesting to be hosed down. He also could not see very well while wearing the headpiece, which caused him to scrape Julie Adams' head against the wall when carrying her in the grotto scenes. Ricou Browning played the Gill-Man in the underwater shots, which were filmed by the second unit in Wakulla Springs, Florida.[3]
Creature from the Black Lagoon received positive reviews from critics upon its release and is now considered a classic horror film.[citation needed]Leonard Maltin awarded the film three out of a possible four stars, writing, "Archetypal '50s monster movie has been copied so often that some of the edge is gone, but ... is still entertaining, with juicy atmosphere and luminous underwater photography sequences."[5] Film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 85%, based on 33 reviews, with an overall rating average of 7.03/10.[6] The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
2001: AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – Nominated[7]
2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
Gill-man – Nominated Villain[8]
Find sources: "Creature from the Black Lagoon" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
In 1980, Universal released Creature from the Black Lagoon on VHS in anaglyph 3D, using the Deep Vision anaglyph 3D release as its source. Subsequent releases followed on standard 2D VHS, Beta-Max, and DVD. On October 2, 2012, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray as a 2D / Blu-ray 3D dual format disc, a part of the "Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection" box set. On June 4, 2013, a Creature from the Black Lagoon 2D Blu-ray disc was released as a stand-alone title.
Novelizations
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Creature from the Black Lagoon was novelized in 1954 by John Russell Fearn, using the pseudonym "Vargo Statten". Walter Harris, using the pseudonym "Carl Dreadstone", novelized the creature in a 1977 mass market paperback, part of a short-lived series of books based on the classic Universal horror films. The novel, with an introduction by British fantasist Ramsey Campbell, offers a completely different Gill-man, who in this version is gigantic, being almost as big as the Rita herself, and weighing in at 30 tons. The creature is both coldblooded and warmblooded, is a hermaphrodite, and also possesses a long, whip-like tail. The gigantic creature is dubbed "AA", for "Advanced Amphibian", by the expedition team members. After slaying most of them, destroying a Sikorsky helicopter, and kidnapping Kay more than once, the huge Gill-Man is killed by the crew of a United States Navy torpedo boat.
The 1977 novel also rewrites most of its human characters. Only David Reed and Kay Lawrence remain the same. Mark Williams is now a German named "Bruno Gebhardt" and dies, not from drowning, but by the creature falling on him. Lucas is renamed "Jose Goncalves Fonseca de Souza", and is a sympathetic character until he suggests throwing the wounded and unconscious Reed to the Gill-Man. An enraged Gebhardt/Williams instead throws him to the creature. Dr. Thompson and Dr. Maia suffer grisly deaths this time, whereas in the film they both survived. Maia is eaten by the Gill-Man, and Thompson is impaled by the creature, using a long tree branch like a spear (an apparent nod to a deleted scene from Revenge of the Creature, wherein the Gill-Man kills a guard in this fashion).
Reboots and remakes
Main article: Cultural impact of Creature from the Black Lagoon
Creature from the Black Lagoon spawned two sequels: Revenge of the Creature (1955), which was also filmed and released in 3D in hopes of reviving the format, and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956), filmed in 2D. A comedic appearance with Abbott and Costello on an episode of The Colgate Comedy Hour aired prior to the film's release. The appearance is commonly known as Abbott and Costello Meet the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Cancelled remakes
In 1982, John Landis wanted Jack Arnold to direct a remake of the film, and Nigel Kneale was commissioned to write the screenplay. Kneale completed the script, which involved a pair of creatures, one destructive and the other calm and sensitive, being persecuted by the United States Navy.[9] A decision to make the film in 3D led to the remake being canceled by producers at Universal, both for budgetary concerns and to avoid a clash with Jaws 3-D.[9]
In 1992, John Carpenter was developing the remake at Universal.[10] He originally hired Bill Phillips to write the script while Rick Baker was hired to create the 3D model of the Creature, but the project never got green-lit.
Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris wrote a new script,[11] and Universal offered Peter Jackson the director's chair in 1995, but he chose to work instead on King Kong.[12]
In February 1996, Ivan Reitman was planning to direct the remake, but it never materialized.[11]
With the financial success of The Mummy remake in May 1999, development of the Creature from the Black Lagoon remake was revived.[13] In December 2001, Gary Ross signed on to write and produce the remake with his father, Arthur A. Ross, one of the original's writers. He told The Hollywood Reporter, "The story my father wrote embodies the clash between primitive men and civilized men, and that obviously makes it a fertile area for re-examination".[14]
In August 2002, Guillermo del Toro, a fan of the original feature, was attached to direct a remake.[15] He had hoped to do a story focused more on the Creature's viewpoint, while also letting him have a successful romantic liaison. He would later go on to turn this idea into the 2017 film The Shape of Water, after Universal rejected the concept.[16] Because of these creative clashes and his commitments to many other projects, Universal was forced to drop del Toro and hired Tedi Sarafian (credited on Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) to write a script in March 2003.[17]
In October 2005, Breck Eisner signed on as director. "As a kid, I remember loving Jack Arnold's original version of this film", he explained. "What I really want to do is update an iconic image from the '50s and bring in more of the sci-fi sensibility of Alien or John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)".[18] Ross said in March 2007 the Gill-man's origin would be reinvented, with him being the result of a pharmaceutical corporation polluting the Amazon. "It's about the rainforest being exploited for profit", he said.[19]
However, the production was delayed by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike; as a result, Eisner instead made The Crazies (2010), the number one project on his priority list. His new goal was to finish The Crazies and then begin filming Creature from the Black Lagoon in Manaus, Brazil and on the Amazon River in Peru. Eisner was inspired to shoot on location by the film Fitzcarraldo, and the boat set had been built. Eisner continued to rewrite the script, which was to be a summer blockbuster full of "action and excitement, but [still] scary". Eisner spent six months designing the new incarnation of the Gill-man with Mark McCreery (Jurassic Park, and Davy Jones' designer). The director said the new design was "very faithful to the original, but updated" and that the Gill-man would still remain sympathetic.[20]
In 2009, it was reported that Carl Erik Rinsch might direct a 2010 remake that would be produced by Marc Abraham, Eric Newman, and Gary Ross;[21][22] however, a project featuring the ensemble had been abandoned by 2011.[citation needed]
In March 2012, Universal announced that a remake was in production and would simply be titled The Black Lagoon rather than Creature from the Black Lagoon, in order to distinguish between the two versions. In October 2012, the studio hired Dave Kajganich to write the film.[23] The film was expected to hit theaters by May 2014, but was ultimately cancelled.[citation needed]
Main article: Universal Monsters § Dark Universe
Universal Pictures, beginning as early as 2014, began developing a shared universe of rebooted modern-day versions of their classic Universal Monsters, with the studio having various films in different stages of development. The series began with The Mummy (2017) and was intended to be followed by the remake of Bride of Frankenstein in 2019 prior to the critical and commercial failure of The Mummy. The Creature from the Black Lagoon was a remake also intended to be developed within the reboot with a story written by Jeff Pinkner and a script written by Will Beall. In June 2017, Kurtzman revealed that the Gill-man in this film would be from the Amazon.[24] However, on November 8, 2017, Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan moved on to other projects, leaving the future of the Dark Universe even further in doubt.[25]
On January 15, 2018, it was reported by Omega Underground that the production team for the Bride of Frankenstein had reassembled and were considering Gal Gadot for the lead role.[26]
The 2017 film The Shape of Water was partly inspired by Guillermo del Toro's childhood memories of Creature from the Black Lagoon; he wished to see the Gill-man and the film's co-star Julie Adams succeed in their "romance".[27]
^ a b Furmanek, Bob and Greg Kintz. "An in-depth look at 'Creature from the Black Lagoon'." 3dfilmarchive.com, 2012. Retrieved: November 19, 2013.
^ "Portrait of Ginger Stanley sitting on a diving board - Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida." State Archives of Florida. Retrieved: March 23, 2015.
^ a b Vieira 2003, pp. 141–143.
^ Ferrari 2003, p. 287.
^ Maltin, Leonard. Leonard Maltin's 2014 Movie Guide. Penguin Press. p. 298. ISBN 9780451418104.
^ "Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved August 20, 2016.
^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved August 20, 2016.
^ a b Murray 2005, pp. 154–156.
^ Archerd, Army "Olympics to cross finish line in style." Variety, July 19, 1992.
^ a b Archerd, Army. "Hiller relieved that noms weren't leaked." Variety, February 12, 1996.
^ "Recreating the Eighth Wonder." King Kong (3-disc Deluxe Extended Edition DVD), 2006.
^ Fleming. Michael. "Kornberg reups at U." Variety, May 20, 1999.
^ Linder, Brian (December 13, 2001). "Back to the Black Lagoon". IGN. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
^ Linder, Brian (August 7, 2002). "Del Toro to Uni's Creature Redo". IGN. Archived from the original on October 19, 2008. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
^ "Del Toro Talks Black Lagoon Influence On "Shape" - Dark Horizons". darkhorizons.com. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
^ Linder, Brian (March 11, 2003). "T3 Scribe Penning Creature". IGN. Archived from the original on August 18, 2012.
^ Snyder, Gabriel. "U's 'Creature' meets maker." Variety, October 19, 2005.
^ Cieply, Michael. "On screens soon, abused Earth gets its revenge." The New York Times, March 12, 2007.
^ Rotten, Ryan. "Exclusive: Eisner on Creature from the Black Lagoon Remake." Shock Till You Drop, May 2, 2008.
^ Fleming, Mike (December 14, 2009). "Creature to Feature Rinsch?". Variety. Archived from the original on August 22, 2010.
^ "'Creature from the Black Lagoon' Taps New Director for Revival." bloody-disgusting.com. Retrieved: March 23, 2015.
^ Kit, Borys. "'Creature From the Black Lagoon' nabs a writer (Exclusive)." The Hollywood Reporter, October 12, 2012. Retrieved: March 23, 2015.
^ "Where The Creature From The Black Lagoon Monster Comes From In Universal's Dark Universe". Cinema Blend. June 6, 2017.
^ Kit, Borys; Couch, Aaron (November 8, 2017). "Universal's "Monsterverse" in Peril as Top Producers Exit (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
^ "Bill Condon's 'Bride of Frankenstein' Assembles A Production Team - When Will It Shoot? - Omega Underground". omegaunderground.com. Archived from the original on June 11, 2018. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
^ "The Iconic Horror Movie Scene That Inspired 'The Shape of Water' – Bloody Disgusting". bloody-disgusting.com. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
Ferrari, Andrea. Il Cinema Dei Mostri. Milan, Italy: Mondadori, 2003. ISBN 88-435-9915-1.
Murray, Andy. Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale. Stockport, Cheshire, UK: Critical Vision, 2005. ISBN 1-900486-50-4.
Vieira, Mark A. Hollywood Horror: From Gothic to Cosmic. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003. ISBN 0-8109-4535-5.
Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties, 21st Century Edition. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009, (First edition 1982). ISBN 0-89950-032-3.
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The Reel Gill-man – Official site of Ben Chapman, who played the Gill-man
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Asymptotic giant branch
H–R diagram for globular cluster M5, with known AGB stars marked in blue, flanked by some of the more luminous red-giant branch stars, shown in orange
Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) Upper red-giant branch (RGB) Horizontal branch (HB) RR Lyrae variable (RR) End of main sequence, subgiant branch, and lower RGB
The asymptotic giant branch (AGB) is a region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram populated by evolved cool luminous stars. This is a period of stellar evolution undertaken by all low- to intermediate-mass stars (0.6–10 solar masses) late in their lives.
Observationally, an asymptotic-giant-branch star will appear as a bright red giant with a luminosity ranging up to thousands of times greater than the Sun. Its interior structure is characterized by a central and largely inert core of carbon and oxygen, a shell where helium is undergoing fusion to form carbon (known as helium burning), another shell where hydrogen is undergoing fusion forming helium (known as hydrogen burning), and a very large envelope of material of composition similar to main-sequence stars.[1]
1 Stellar evolution
1.1 AGB stage
1.2 Circumstellar envelopes of AGB stars
1.3 Late thermal pulse
1.4 Super-AGB stars
A sun-like star moves onto the AGB from the Horizontal Branch after core helium exhaustion
A 5 M☉ star moves onto the AGB after a blue loop when helium is exhausted in its core
When a star exhausts the supply of hydrogen by nuclear fusion processes in its core, the core contracts and its temperature increases, causing the outer layers of the star to expand and cool. The star becomes a red giant, following a track towards the upper-right hand corner of the HR diagram.[2] Eventually, once the temperature in the core has reached approximately 3×108 K, helium burning (fusion of helium nuclei) begins. The onset of helium burning in the core halts the star's cooling and increase in luminosity, and the star instead moves down and leftwards in the HR diagram. This is the horizontal branch (for population II stars) or red clump (for population I stars), or a blue loop for stars more massive than about 2 M☉.[3]
After the completion of helium burning in the core, the star again moves to the right and upwards on the diagram, cooling and expanding as its luminosity increases. Its path is almost aligned with its previous red-giant track, hence the name asymptotic giant branch, although the star will become more luminous on the AGB than it did at the tip of the red giant branch. Stars at this stage of stellar evolution are known as AGB stars.[3]
AGB stage
The AGB phase is divided into two parts, the early AGB (E-AGB) and the thermally pulsing AGB (TP-AGB). During the E-AGB phase, the main source of energy is helium fusion in a shell around a core consisting mostly of carbon and oxygen. During this phase, the star swells up to giant proportions to become a red giant again. The star's radius may become as large as one astronomical unit (~215 R☉).[3]
After the helium shell runs out of fuel, the TP-AGB starts. Now the star derives its energy from fusion of hydrogen in a thin shell, which restricts the inner helium shell to a very thin layer and prevents it fusing stably. However, over periods of 10,000 to 100,000 years, helium from the hydrogen shell burning builds up and eventually the helium shell ignites explosively, a process known as a helium shell flash. The luminosity of the shell flash peaks at thousands of times the total luminosity of the star, but decreases exponentially over just a few years. The shell flash causes the star to expand and cool which shuts off the hydrogen shell burning and causes strong convection in the zone between the two shells.[3] When the helium shell burning nears the base of the hydrogen shell, the increased temperature reignites hydrogen fusion and the cycle begins again. The large but brief increase in luminosity from the helium shell flash produces an increase in the visible brightness of the star of a few tenths of a magnitude for several hundred years, a change unrelated to the brightness variations on periods of tens to hundreds of days that are common in this type of star.[4]
Evolution of a 2 M☉ star on the TP-AGB
During the thermal pulses, which last only a few hundred years, material from the core region may be mixed into the outer layers, changing the surface composition, a process referred to as dredge-up. Because of this dredge-up, AGB stars may show S-process elements in their spectra and strong dredge-ups can lead to the formation of carbon stars. All dredge-ups following thermal pulses are referred to as third dredge-ups, after the first dredge-up, which occurs on the red-giant branch, and the second dredge up, which occurs during the E-AGB. In some cases there may not be a second dredge-up but dredge-ups following thermal pulses will still be called a third dredge-up. Thermal pulses increase rapidly in strength after the first few, so third dredge-ups are generally the deepest and most likely to circulate core material to the surface.[5][6]
AGB stars are typically long-period variables, and suffer mass loss in the form of a stellar wind. Thermal pulses produce periods of even higher mass loss and may result in detached shells of circumstellar material. A star may lose 50 to 70% of its mass during the AGB phase.[7]
Circumstellar envelopes of AGB stars
See also: List of interstellar and circumstellar molecules
Formation of a planetary nebula at the end of the asymptotic giant branch phase.
The extensive mass loss of AGB stars means that they are surrounded by an extended circumstellar envelope (CSE). Given a mean AGB lifetime of one Myr and an outer velocity of 10 km/s, its maximum radius can be estimated to be roughly 3×1014 km (30 light years). This is a maximum value since the wind material will start to mix with the interstellar medium at very large radii, and it also assumes that there is no velocity difference between the star and the interstellar gas. Dynamically, most of the interesting action is quite close to the star, where the wind is launched and the mass loss rate is determined. However, the outer layers of the CSE show chemically interesting processes, and due to size and lower optical depth, are easier to observe.[8]
The temperature of the CSE is determined by heating and cooling properties of the gas and dust, but drops with radial distance from the photosphere of the stars which are 2,000–3,000 K. Chemical peculiarities of an AGB CSE outwards include:[9]
Photosphere: Local thermodynamic equilibrium chemistry
Pulsating stellar envelope: Shock chemistry
Dust formation zone
Chemically quiet
Interstellar ultraviolet radiation and photodissociation of molecules – complex chemistry
The dichotomy between oxygen-rich and carbon-rich stars has an initial role in determining whether the first condensates are oxides or carbides, since the least abundant of these two elements will likely remain in the gas phase as COx.
In the dust formation zone, refractory elements and compounds (Fe, Si, MgO, etc.) are removed from the gas phase and end up in dust grains. The newly formed dust will immediately assist in surface catalyzed reactions. The stellar winds from AGB stars are sites of cosmic dust formation, and are believed to be the main production sites of dust in the universe.[10]
The stellar winds of AGB stars (Mira variables and OH/IR stars) are also often the site of maser emission. The molecules that account for this are SiO, H2O, OH, HCN, and SiS.[11][12][13][14][15] SiO, H2O, and OH masers are typically found in oxygen-rich M-type AGB stars such as R Cassiopeiae and U Orionis,[16] while HCN and SiS masers are generally found in carbon stars such as IRC +10216. S-type stars with masers are uncommon.[16]
After these stars have lost nearly all of their envelopes, and only the core regions remain, they evolve further into short-lived preplanetary nebulae. The final fate of the AGB envelopes are represented by planetary nebulae (PNe).[17]
Late thermal pulse
As many as a quarter of all post-AGB stars undergo what is dubbed a "born-again" episode. The carbon–oxygen core is now surrounded by helium with an outer shell of hydrogen. If the helium is re-ignited a thermal pulse occurs and the star quickly returns to the AGB, becoming a helium-burning, hydrogen-deficient stellar object.[18] If the star still has a hydrogen-burning shell when this thermal pulse occurs, it is termed a "late thermal pulse". Otherwise it is called a "very late thermal pulse".[19]
The outer atmosphere of the born-again star develops a stellar wind and the star once more follows an evolutionary track across the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. However, this phase is very brief, lasting only about 200 years before the star again heads toward the white dwarf stage. Observationally, this late thermal pulse phase appears almost identical to a Wolf–Rayet star in the midst of its own planetary nebula.[18]
Stars such as Sakurai's Object and FG Sagittae are being observed as they rapidly evolve through this phase.
Super-AGB stars
Stars close to the upper mass limit to still qualify as AGB stars show some peculiar properties and have been dubbed super-AGB stars. They have masses above 7 M☉ and up to 9 or 10 M☉ (or more[20]). They represent a transition to the more massive supergiant stars that undergo full fusion of elements heavier than helium. During the triple-alpha process, some elements heavier than carbon are also produced: mostly oxygen, but also some magnesium, neon, and even heavier elements. Super-AGB stars develop partially degenerate carbon–oxygen cores that are large enough to ignite carbon in a flash analogous to the earlier helium flash. The second dredge-up is very strong in this mass range and that keeps the core size below the level required for burning of neon as occurs in higher-mass supergiants. The size of the thermal pulses and third dredge-ups are reduced compared to lower-mass stars, while the frequency of the thermal pulses increases dramatically. Some super-AGB stars may explode as an electron capture supernova, but most will end as an oxygen–neon white dwarf.[21] Since these stars are much more common than higher-mass supergiants, they could form a high proportion of observed supernovae. Detecting examples of these supernovae would provide valuable confirmation of models that are highly dependent on assumptions.[citation needed]
Carbon star – Star whose atmosphere contains more carbon than oxygen
Mira variable – Type of variable star
Planetary nebula – Type of emission nebula
Red giant – Large cool stars that have exhausted their core hydrogen
^ Lattanzio, J.; Forestini, M. (1999). "Nucleosynthesis in AGB Stars". In Le Bertre, T.; Lebre, A.; Waelkens, C. (eds.). Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars. IAU Symposium 191. p. 31. Bibcode:1999IAUS..191...31L. ISBN 978-1-886733-90-9.
^ Iben, I. (1967). "Stellar Evolution.VI. Evolution from the Main Sequence to the Red-Giant Branch for Stars of Mass 1 M☉, 1.25 M☉, and 1.5 M☉". The Astrophysical Journal. 147: 624. Bibcode:1967ApJ...147..624I. doi:10.1086/149040.
^ a b c d Vassiliadis, E.; Wood, P. R. (1993). "Evolution of low- and intermediate-mass stars to the end of the asymptotic giant branch with mass loss". The Astrophysical Journal. 413 (2): 641. Bibcode:1993ApJ...413..641V. doi:10.1086/173033.
^ Marigo, P.; et al. (2008). "Evolution of asymptotic giant branch stars. II. Optical to far-infrared isochrones with improved TP-AGB models". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 482 (3): 883–905. arXiv:0711.4922. Bibcode:2008A&A...482..883M. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078467.
^ Gallino, R.; et al. (1998). "Evolution and Nucleosynthesis in Low‐Mass Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars. II. Neutron Capture and thes‐Process". The Astrophysical Journal. 497 (1): 388–403. Bibcode:1998ApJ...497..388G. doi:10.1086/305437.
^ Mowlavi, N. (1999). "On the third dredge-up phenomenon in asymptotic giant branch stars". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 344: 617. arXiv:astro-ph/9903473. Bibcode:1999A&A...344..617M.
^ Wood, P. R.; Olivier, E. A.; Kawaler, S. D. (2004). "Long Secondary Periods in Pulsating Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars: An Investigation of Their Origin". The Astrophysical Journal. 604 (2): 800. Bibcode:2004ApJ...604..800W. doi:10.1086/382123.
^ Habing, H. J. (1996). "Circumstellar envelopes and Asymptotic Giant Branch stars". The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review. 7 (2): 97–207. Bibcode:1996A&ARv...7...97H. doi:10.1007/PL00013287.
^ Klochkova, V. G. (2014). "Circumstellar envelope manifestations in the optical spectra of evolved stars". Astrophysical Bulletin. 69 (3): 279–295. arXiv:1408.0599. Bibcode:2014AstBu..69..279K. doi:10.1134/S1990341314030031.
^ Sugerman, Ben E. K.; Ercolano, Barbara; Barlow, M. J.; Tielens, A. G. G. M.; Clayton, Geoffrey C.; Zijlstra, Albert A.; Meixner, Margaret; Speck, Angela; Gledhill, Tim M.; Panagia, Nino; Cohen, Martin; Gordon, Karl D.; Meyer, Martin; Fabbri, Joanna; Bowey, Janet. E.; Welch, Douglas L.; Regan, Michael W.; Kennicutt, Robert C. (2006). "Massive-Star Supernovae as Major Dust Factories". Science. 313 (5784): 196–200. arXiv:astro-ph/0606132. Bibcode:2006Sci...313..196S. doi:10.1126/science.1128131. PMID 16763110.
^ Deacon, R. M.; Chapman, J. M.; Green, A. J.; Sevenster, M. N. (2007). "H2O Maser Observations of Candidate Post‐AGB Stars and Discovery of Three High‐Velocity Water Sources". The Astrophysical Journal. 658 (2): 1096. arXiv:astro-ph/0702086. Bibcode:2007ApJ...658.1096D. doi:10.1086/511383.
^ Humphreys, E. M. L. (2007). "Submillimeter and millimeter masers". Astrophysical Masers and Their Environments, Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, IAU Symposium. 242 (1): 471–480. arXiv:0705.4456. Bibcode:2007IAUS..242..471H. doi:10.1017/S1743921307013622.
^ Fonfría Expósito, J. P.; Agúndez, M.; Tercero, B.; Pardo, J. R.; Cernicharo, J. (2006). "High-J v=0 SiS maser emission in IRC+10216: A new case of infrared overlaps". The Astrophysical Journal. 646 (1): L127. arXiv:0710.1836. Bibcode:2006ApJ...646L.127F. doi:10.1086/507104.
^ Schilke, P.; Mehringer, D. M.; Menten, K. M. (2000). "A submillimeter HCN laser in IRC+10216". The Astrophysical Journal. 528 (1): L37. arXiv:astro-ph/9911377. Bibcode:2000ApJ...528L..37S. doi:10.1086/312416.
^ Schilke, P.; Menten, K. M. (2003). "Detection of a second, strong submillimeter HCN laser line towards carbon stars". The Astrophysical Journal. 583 (1): 446. Bibcode:2003ApJ...583..446S. doi:10.1086/345099.
^ a b Engels, D. (1979). "Catalogue of late-type stars with OH, H2O or SiO maser emission". Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series. 36: 337. Bibcode:1979A&AS...36..337E.
^ Werner, K.; Herwig, F. (2006). "The Elemental Abundances in Bare Planetary Nebula Central Stars and the Shell Burning in AGB Stars". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 118 (840): 183–204. arXiv:astro-ph/0512320. Bibcode:2006PASP..118..183W. doi:10.1086/500443.
^ a b Aerts, C.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, J.; Kurtz, D. W. (2010). Asteroseismology. Springer. pp. 37–38. ISBN 978-1-4020-5178-4.
^ Duerbeck, H. W. (2002). "The final helium flash object V4334 Sgr (Sakurai's Object) - an overview". In Sterken, C.; Kurtz, D. W. (eds.). Observational aspects of pulsating B and A stars. ASP Conference Series. 256. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific. pp. 237–248. Bibcode:2002ASPC..256..237D. ISBN 1-58381-096-X.
^ Siess, L. (2006). "Evolution of massive AGB stars". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 448 (2): 717–729. Bibcode:2006A&A...448..717S. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20053043.
^ Eldridge, J. J.; Tout, C. A. (2004). "Exploring the divisions and overlap between AGB and super-AGB stars and supernovae". Memorie della Società Astronomica Italiana. 75: 694. arXiv:astro-ph/0409583. Bibcode:2004MmSAI..75..694E.
Langer, N. "Late evolution of low- andintermediate-mass stars" (PDF). Stars and Stellar evolution lecture notes. University of Bonn/Argelander-Institut für Astronomie.
Habing, H. J.; Olofsson, H. (2004). Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars. Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-00880-6.
McCausland, R. J. H.; Conlon, E. S.; Dufton, P. L.; Keenan, F. P. (1992). "Hot post-asymptotic giant branch stars at high galactic latitudes". The Astrophysical Journal. 394 (1): 298–304. Bibcode:1992ApJ...394..298M. doi:10.1086/171582.
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Ramon Narayan
Ramon has worked with young people for the last twelve years in many different capacities from facilitating groups, leading youth advisory and participation processes, mentoring to coordinating events and developing youth development tools and models. In 2010 Ramon took on the role of Action Education Manager, which has seen him facilitate and develop several programmes including Drama Toolkit, the Breakdown DJ Programme, and spoken word poetry workshops, while supporting a team of youth workers and facilitators.
Ken Arkind
Ken Arkind is an American National Poetry Slam Champion, Tedx Speaker, Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam Champion and published author who has performed his work in 49 States, 6 countries and at over 200 colleges and universities. He is the founding Program Director of Denver Minor Disturbance, an independent literary arts organization dedicated to helping Colorado youth find voice through the mediums of poetry and performance. Ken has recently completed his Bachelor of Creative Arts at Manukau Institute of Technology specializing in creative writing.
Stevie Davis-Tana
Stevie (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Porou, Te Arawa) works as a youth development worker and spoken word poet for Action Education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Māori Development and Social Sciences, and a Masters of Human Rights from AUT. Stevie’s poetry often reflects her Māori identity, and her journey of reconnecting to her Māoritanga. She is passionate about young people, culture, creativity, education, and community. Stevie also sits on the Ministry of Youth Development Partnership Fund Board.
Julia Rahui
Julia comes from a large Irish/Maori whanau and is passionate about culture, art, music, social justice and community. She says “ I feel very privileged and proud to work for Action Education as I know personally the amount of aroha the youth workers put into their mahi, and I see all the time the opportunities that are taken by young people to thrive. I am interested in the intersection between the arts and youth development, so this job really gives me an insight on how this can be done safely and successfully”. Julia works as Action Ed’s funding Coordinator. She has worked for Ngo’s for the past 17 years and her career has included project management, working for in Vanuatu for an indigenous music and arts trust, youth development work and coordination for a community radio station and art gallery.
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Alberto Aran,
Medical Director of Aran Eye Associates
Dr. Alberto Aran, M.D., Medical Director of Aran Eye Associates, is a forerunner in the use of laser technology and other advanced surgical techniques. Dr. Aran’s specialties include cataract surgery by clear cornea incision with intraocular lens implantation, corneal transplants, and laser vision correction.
Dr. Aran’s vast clinical experience includes over 50,000 surgical procedures and he has performed over 50,000 cataract surgeries. As a scholar, he is widely sought out as a “training physician” by his peers. He was the first ophthalmic surgeon in Florida to use the FDA-approved Excimer Laser and he has trained many South Florida physicians in the use of Excimer Laser technology over the years. He is also the Director for the Laser Center at Coral Gables, a TLC affiliate.
Dr. Aran graduated Magna Cum Laude from Spring Hill College in Alabama and received his medical degree with honors from the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has received a citation from the United States Congress for his selfless contribution to the needy and his extensive volunteer work as an eye physician and surgeon. Dr. Aran is listed in the “Who’s Who Amongst Outstanding Americans” and received the 1979 Belen Jesuit Prep School “Men for Others” award.
Surgical Staff Privileges:
Surgical Center of Coral Gables
North Miami Beach Surgical Center
Jackson North Medical Center
Foundation for Advanced Eye Care
Eye Care and Surgery Center of Ft Lauderdale
Analisa Arosemena,
Glaucoma specialist
Analisa Arosemena, M.D. is a board certified by the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Dr. Arosemena completed two fellowships, one in ophthalmology and a second fellowship in Glaucoma /Anterior Segment at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana. She completed a Transitional Internship at Tulane University School of Medicine and a Rural Internship at Policlinica Santiago Barraza in Chorrera, Republic of Panama. Dr. Arosemena completed her medical degree in 1998 at Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara in Guadalajara, Mexico. Dr. Arosemena has published many publications and Manuscripts.
Honor and Awards:
Dr. Arosemena was the recipient of the Best student award, second place among 130 students with an overall GPA 4.5 in Medical School. She was also awarded the Clinical Research Award at the O’Brian Professorship Conference on June 2001 and June 2003 at Tulane University School of Medicine In New Orleans, Louisiana.
Glaucoma, Corneal and External Diseases, Xen and Cypass implant surgery
Dr. Arosemena speaks fluent English and Spanish
Kenneth T Wals,
Vitreoretinal disease specialist.
Dr. Wals is a board-certified ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal disease specialist.
Dr. Wals attained his doctoral degree in medicine at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, New York and completed his ophthalmology residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York, where he was also the Chief Resident. Dr. Wals also completed a vitreoretinal disease fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pennsylvania and has published numerous chapters in textbooks on retinal diseases.
Retina Complications due to HIV/AIDS
American Ophthalmology Association
Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY
Albert Einstein College of Medicine Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY
Internal medicine completed at, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Manhattan, NY
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh. PA
Renata Picciani,
Board Certified Ophthalmologist and Vitreoretinal disease specialist
Dr. Picciani is a board-certified ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal disease specialist. Dr. Picciani attained her doctoral degree in medicine at Universidade Federal do Ceara in Fortaleza, Brazil. She completed her residency in Ophthalmology at Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA. where she was also the Chief Resident. Dr. Picciani has completed two fellowships. She completed a Medical Retina fellowship at the University Of Miami, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and a second fellowship on Vitreoretinal surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. In her spare time, Dr. Picciani likes to volunteer with different health community organizations. Dr. Picciani is fluent in English, Portuguese, French, and Spanish.
American Academy of Ophthalmology
The American Society of Retina Specialists
Universidade Federal do Ceara, Fortaleza Brazil
University Of Miami Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, FL
Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX
Raul Masvidal,
30+ years providing Eye care
Dr. Masvidal graduated from the medical school of The University of Costa Rica and trained in Internal Medicine at Franklyn Square Hospital in Baltimore. He did Ophthalmology at State University of New York, Downstate in Brooklyn.
For over 30 years he has provided eye care to South Florida specializing in comprehensive and anterior segment, cataracts and glaucoma.
Juan Ayala-Haedo,
Dr. Juan A. Ayala-Haedo joined Aran Eye Associates in 2018 as an Oculofacial Plastic Surgeon with over 17 years of clinical experience.
Dr. Ayala-Haedo attained his Medical Doctorate from the National University of Asuncion School of Medicine in Asuncion, Paraguay. There, he graduated Summa Cum Laude before continuing his studies with both a Ph.D. and an MPH from the University of Miami. Dr. Ayala-Haedo’s Ph.D studies focused on gene-environmental interactions and the pathogenesis of ocular diseases. Subsequently, his Masters in Public Health focused on evaluating the interventions that would promote bioethical research in a developing nations.
Dr. Ayala-Haedo completed his residency in Ophthalmology at The University of Rochester Flaum Eye Institute before returning to Miami where he successfully completed an advanced fellowship in Oculofacial Plastic Surgery at The University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Dr. Ayala- Haedo's research in Oculofacial Plastic Surgery has centered on the role of stem cells in the pathogenesis of Thyroid Eye Disease.
Prior to joining the team at Aran Eye Associates, Dr. Ayala-Haedo served as the Medical Director of a regional center in South Florida. His current practice focuses on both cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, as well as noninvasive rejuvenation techniques. He adapts the latest technologies to his procedures while always addressing the patients’ needs.
Dr. Ayala – Haedo is the recipient of many honors and awards and is active in various organizations responsible for promoting research and making healthcare more accessible in developing countries. He has published various book chapters and abstracts, and has presented his research at numerous national and international conferences where he has been invited to be a guest speaker.
Dr. Ayala-Haedo is fluent in English, Spanish, German, and French and experienced with Italian and Guarani. In his spare time, he enjoys being out on the water, traveling with his family, and volunteering with different community projects.
Marco A Fabrega Jr,
Specializes in the medical and surgical treatment of eye diseases
Dr. Marco A. Fabrega Jr., MD, specializes in the medical and surgical treatment of eye diseases. Dr Fabrega’s specialties include clear corneal small incision cataract surgery with intraocular lens implantation and some glaucoma surgeries and laser procedures.
University of Maryland Medical System July 1, 1987, to June 30, 199
Transitional Medicine L.A. County Harbor/UCLA Medical Center June 24, 1985 to June 23, 1986
UCLA School of Medicine Los Angeles, CA September 1981 to June 1985
Arnulfo Mansur,
Special interest in dry eye treatment
Dr. Arnulfo Mansur is a board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology . He received his medical degree from of Universidad Del Norte, and completed his ophthalmology residency in Universidad Javeriana Hospital La Samaritana Colombia. Dr. Mansur has over 30 years in ophthalmology practice and completed a fellowship in Anterior and External diseases under the tutelage of Dr. Alberto Aran. He is an internationally trained ophthalmologist. .
Before his ophthalmology residency Dr. Mansur completed two elective rotations one in University of Paris Camp du Nord, Paris, France and the second in Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, and Puerto Rico. He is fluent in English, Spanish and French.
Dr. Mansur has a special interest in dry eye treatment and has extensive experience in performing pterygium surgery with amniotic membrane graft, autograft, Limbal stem cell transplantation, and functional eyelid disease.
Areas of Interest:
Pterygium Surgery
Professional Association:
Association of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons
Larkin Community Hospital
Claudia Arroyave,
Special interest in dry eye, Glaucoma disease treatment
Claudia P. Arroyave O’ Brien, M.D. is a board certified from the American Academyof Opthalmology. She completed a fellowship in comprehensive ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Institute in Miami, Florida. She completed her medical residency at Hospital Oftalmologico de Ntra. Sra. De La Luz, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico D.F. and completed a one year of internship at San Rafael Bogota, Colombia. She attained her Medical degree at Escula de Medicina Juan N. Corpas Bogota, Colombia in 1986. Dr. Arroyave O’Brien has published many articles and publications.
Honors and Awards:
Recognition Award Internship, Hospital San Rafael Bogota Colombia (1986)
Magna Cum Laude: Ophthalmology. Hospital Ophthalmologico de Ntra. Sra. De la Luz (1991)
Best Resident Paper; Mexican Society of Ophthalmology (1990)
Post-Doctoral Fellowship: Comprehensive Ophthalmology. Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (07/1999- 10/2001)
Laser Procedure
General Ophthalmology, Dry Eye, Glaucoma Treatment, Pterygium Surgery and Laser Procedures.
Dr. Arroyave O’Brien speaks fluent English and Spanish.
Max Corndorf,
Diplomat of the American Board of Ophthalmology
Dr. Corndorf is a graduate of Emory University where he received his bachelors degree in Chemistry and then the University of Miami School of Medicine where he was awarded his M.D.. He completed his Ophthalmology residency at the George Washington University where he served as chief resident. He was a fellow at the Katzen Eye Institute in Baltimore Md and then joined the staff at the Park Nicollet Medical Center in Minneapolis, Mn. He was also the founder of the Cataract and Laser Center in Minnesota. Dr Corndorf practiced in Moorestown New Jersey before returning to Florida where he is now a member of the staff at Aran Eye Associates. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Ophthalmology.
Joel David Aronowicz Gallego,
15+ years in medical practice
Joel David Aronowicz Gallego, M.D. completed his residency in ophthalmology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Dallas, Texas. He also completed a surgery internship at Northshore/LIJ Health System in Manhasset, New York. Dr. Aronowicz Gallego completed his medical degree from Central University of Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela in 1999 and has published many articles and participated in the ‘International Red Cross Voluntary Internship” Emergency department in Venezuelan Red Cross.
Latin-American Society of Scientific student societies (FELSOCEM) Honorary Member
2007- Best Poster 1st. Year Resident, at the alumni day event. UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, TX: Role of central corneal thickness (CCT) in circadian intraocular pressure (IOP) fluctuations in patients with mild to moderate primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) Joel Aronowicz, Philip Lieu, Jordon Lubahn, Michael Coleman, Patrick Brooks, Pranav Chitkara, Mohannad Albdour, and Karanjit S Kooner.
2000 - Executive secretary, Scientific Society of Student of Medicine of the Central University of Venezuela(1998-2000), Dean’s Recognition
1999- 1st Place free papers: Aronowicz J, Andarcia C, Armand A, Arrufat A. Prevalence of Labor Stress in a Population of Workers at a Petro-Chemical Industry in Venezuela. XIV International Scientific Congress of the Latin-American Federation of Scientific Societies of Student of Medicine (FELSOCEM), Panama, Panama.
General Ophthalmology, Dry eye, and Glaucoma treatment
Dr. Aronowicz Gallego speaks fluent English and Spanish
Mario J. Rojas
Mario J. Rojas, M.D. completed his ophthalmology surgical training at Eastern Virginia
Medical School and subsequently completed a fellowship in ocular surface clinical research, focusing on complex ocular surface disease and dry eye at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute / Miami Veterans Hospital.
He graduated from Loma Linda University School of Medicine; and completed one year of internal medicine at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Upon completion of his intern year, he completed a post-doctoral year working on early glaucoma detection at Bascom Palmer/McKnight Vision Research Center. Dr. Rojas has received several awards and grants. He has completed peer reviewed publications, and authored several book chapters focusing on dry eye treatments, premium cataract surgery and Microinvasive Glaucoma Surgery. He received a Bachelor of Science from UC Berkeley in Molecular Biology.
Dr. Rojas grew up in Torrance California, in the south bay of Los Angeles. His father is from Costa Rica and mother from Nicaragua. In his spare time Dr. Rojas is a passionate soccer player. He enjoys traveling and cooking. He lived Puerto Rico and Spain during the course of his educational studies.
Fernando F. Lopez,
Dr. Fernando F. Lopez, M.D. completed a fellowship in Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Beraja Medical Institute, Coral Gables, FL. in 2001 He completed his medical residency in ophthalmology at Interfaith Medical Center Division of Ophthalmology in Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Lopez received his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1995. Dr. Lopez worked at his private ophthalmology practice in Aurora Illinois in 2003 and later moved his practice to Lombard, Illinois. He later joined Aran Eye Associates in 2017.
Honors and Award:
Sigma Delta PI( Spanish Honors Society)
U of I at Urban-Champaign, IL.
Aura Zambrano,
Dr. Aura Zambrano earned her Bachelor of Science degree from St. Thomas University in 2007 where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and received the St. Thomas University Award in Science for her work in a project in conjunction with The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. She received her optometric training at Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry with honors in 2012 and was awarded the Southern Council of Optometry Award for Clinical Excellence.
Following graduation, Dr. Zambrano successfully completed a one-year optometric residency program in ocular disease at Aran Eye Associates. She is currently a full-time Optometric physician at Aran Eye Associates. She is a member of the Beta Sigma Kappa International Optometric Honor Society as well as the Dade County, Florida and American Optometric Associations. Dr. Zambrano was born and raised in Ecuador.
Fluent in Spanish and English.
Steven M Newman,
Dr. Steve Newman combines his knowledge as an optometric physician, certified personal trainer and board-certified nutrition specialist to educate his patients and the public on the importance of a healthy lifestyle. With more than twenty five years in the health profession, Dr. Newman has advised and guided thousands of patients with information needed to make the right choices when it comes to health, medicine, surgery, nutrition, supplements and overall well being.
A graduate from Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry, Dr. Newman completed an ocular pathology externship at the prestigious Bascom Palmer Eye Institute then followed with his post-graduate residency at the Fort Lauderdale Eye Institute.
Dr. Newman is well known on the professional lecture circuit as his seminars continue to get rave reviews from the doctors and lay people that attend. His latest book, FEEL MORE ALIVE NOW, is available @ amazon.com.
Practicing what he preaches, Dr. Newman is an avid cyclist, often participating in charity rides throughout the country.
Board Certified Optometrist Physician & Board Certified Nutrition Specialist
Samantha Fernandez
Samantha Fernandez, OD earned her Bachelor of Arts in Biology with a Minor in Philosophy from the University of Miami in 2014. While at the University of Miami she founded and became president of the UM pre-optometry club called OptomEyes. She received her optometric training at Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry, graduated with honors, and was the Alumni Chapter Scholarship recipient for her academic success and leadership. While at Nova Southeastern University, she was the vice president of the Florida Optometric Student Association and completed an externship in Shanghai, China where she helped patients at the Fudan Hospital for three months.
Following graduation, Dr. Fernandez completed a residency program in Primary Care with Emphasis in Ocular Disease, at Miami Veteran Affairs Healthcare System. She is currently a full time Optometric Physician at Aran Eye Associates. Dr. Fernandez comes from a loving Cuban family and she was born and raised in Miami, Florida. Her favorite travel experience was in Shanghai China and Hong Kong. She is fluent in English and Spanish.
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Filipino American Literature
Diwata
Poetry by Barbara Jane Reyes 9781934414378
James Laughlin Award-winning Filipina poet Barbara J. Reyes invents new mythologies melding Southeast Asian traditions with streetwise West Coast poetry.
Barbara Jane Reyes: Barbara Jane Reyes was born in Manila, Philippines and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She received her undergraduate education at UC Berkeley, and her MFA at San Francisco State University. She is the author of Gravities of Center (Arkipelago, 2003) and Poeta en San Francisco (Tinfish, 2005), for which she received the James Laughlin Award of the Academy of American Poets.Reyes is a recent Pushcart Prize nominee, and her work has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous publications, including 2nd Avenue Poetry, Asian Pacific American Journal, Boxcar Poetry Review, Chain, Crate, Interlope, New American Writing, Nocturnes Review, North American Review, Notre Dame Review, Parthenon West Review, Shampoo Poetry, Tinfish, Versal, as well as in the anthologies Babaylan (Aunt Lute, 2000), Eros Pinoy (Anvil, 2001), InvAsian: Asian Sisters Represent (Study Center Press, 2003), Going Home to a Landscape (Calyx, 2003), Coloring Book (Rattlecat, 2003), Not Home But Here (Anvil, 2003), Pinoy Poetics (Meritage, 2004), Asian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area (Avalon Publishing, 2004), 100 Love Poems: Philippine Love Poetry Since 1905 (University of the Philippines Press, 2004), The Lambda Award finalist Red Light: Superheroes, Saints and Sluts (Arsenal Pulp, 2005), Graphic Poetry (Victionary, 2005), The First Hay(na)ku Anthology (Meritage, 2005). She is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Mills College, and she lives with her husband, the poet Oscar Bermeo, in Oakland, CA. Her website is: http: //barbarajanereyes.com
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Just another Chessdom site
Information about the opening ceremony of the World Women Chess Championship 2008
Posted on August 18, 2008 by chessdom
Nalchik, Kabardino – Balkaria
Information about the World Women Chess Championship
Statements: Kirsan Ilymzhinov / Boris Kutin / Arsen Kanokov
General information / Pairings round 1
Mt. Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe
Photo: Wikipedia.org
State flags of the participating countries will be placed on the square in front of the central entrance of the Russia’s biggest out-of-door theatre. Many-colored flags will also be hung on the hawsers of the cableway over the lake. Both black and white chess queens will come to the stage of Zeleny theatre on horseback. Organizers keep secret about the way the Prime queen of the event will appear with her retinue. Three masters of ceremonies will greet the audience in the Russian, Kabardian and Balkarian languages.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, President of the Russian Chess Federation Alexander Zhukov, President of Kabardino-Balkaria Arsen Kanokov, and plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the South Federal District Vladimir Ustinov will give salutatory speeches. FIDE President and the President of the Republic of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov will declare the Championship open. All addresses and speeches will be translated into English. The next important act is drawing of lots. Zsuzsanna Veroci, Chief Arbiter of the Championship will declare its results.
The program for the concert will include vocal-choreographic composition performed by children’s exemplary music groups of KBR, musical choreographic suite performed by dance groups of “Kabardinka”, “Balkaria”, “Terskie Kazaki”, and songs of KBR pop stars. At the end of the ceremony the audience will see water-pyrotechnic show and fireworks.
Kabardino Balkaria location
Where is Kabardino-Balkaria?
Kabardino-Balkar Republic was established in January, 1991. Nalchik is the administrative center of the republic. Its territory covers 12470 square kilometers: 100 km from the north to the south and 175 km from the west to the east. According to the Population Census of 2002 the population of the republic is 902 thousand people. Kabardino-Balkaria is a multinational republic, represented by more than 100 ethnic groups. The Republic consists of 10 administrative-territorial districts, 8 cities and towns, two of them are under republican’s jurisdiction, 4 semi urban centers. There are also 113 rural settlement administrations.
The republic is situated on the northern flank of the central part of the Caucasus and adjoining Kabardian plain.
Kabardino-Balkar Republic borders Georgia, Stavropol region, the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania and Karachay-Chercess Republic.
The republic is rather peculiar due to natural contrasts, original relief that combines dry steppes and semidesert zones in the north and floriferous plains of foothills, luxuriant alpestrine meadows and mountains, cliffs and unapproachable glaciers covered with everlasting snow in the south. There is a number of unique natural complexes and sights on the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria. Cascaded waterfalls in Chegemskoe gorge, famous Golubye Lakes, dolines and caves of the Malkinskoe gorge, etc. Mountains cover half of the territory of the republic with the highest Mt. of Europe Elbrus (5642 metres).
The location of Nalchik
The capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, the city of Nalchik is in the center of the republic. It is situated at an altitude of 450-600 meters above the sea level, in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. According to the majority of scientists the city is named after the Nalchik River, on the shores of which it is located. The word “Nalchik” means “small horseshoe” in Kabardian. Nalchik covers an area of 150 square kilometers of which 1000 hectares is occupied by green belt. The population of the city according to the Census data of 2002 is 272 thousand people. It is an all-Russian resort. All agencies of State power are situated in Nalchik as well as an international airport, a railway station, and bus stations of interurban and suburban communication, recreation complex, stadiums, a hippodrome, a State University and other educational institutions.
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Nature of the Graviton | Claudia de Rham | TEDxCLESalon
The Search for Planet 9 | Dr. Renu Malhotra | TEDxPortland
Aluminum and Mercury
by Super User, 2 years ago
Claudia de Rham is an assistant professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University. Her research is in the area of theoretical cosmology, and she is interested in exploring field theory models of gravity which could account for the accelerated expansion of the Universe.
Claudia de Rham is an assistant professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University. Her research is in the area of theoretical cosmology, and she is interested in exploring field theory models of gravity which could account for the accelerated expansion of the Universe. In particular she has been at the forefront of the development of theories of Massive Gravity where the graviton, the particle carrier of the gravitational force may be massive.
She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge on Braneworld models, and went on to perform postdoctoral research at McGill University, McMaster University and the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics in Canada. She was an SNF Professor at University of Geneva before moving to Case Western Reserve.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
Super User uploaded a new media, Nature of the Graviton | Claudia de Rham | TEDxCLESalon
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Russell/Smith family genealogy
Smith Family Curse Mystery Solved
Since the time he was a young man Robert Doyle Russell knew that he had a hearing problem. It didn’t prevent him from joining the Navy in 1962 where he passed the most rigorous training the Navy had and still has, Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL training, or BUD/S. His particular loss was mostly in the lower range… thunder, deep male voices, car mufflers. He learned to compensate for his hearing loss by reading lips and limiting his social interactions to one on one conversations but by 1966 when his Naval service was complete he knew he needed hearing aids.
Bob’s mother, Frances Smith Russell, had struggled with her own hearing problems for most of her life and as she aged the problems grew worse. Each of Bob’s three siblings had hearing impairment of various degrees, and so did several of their cousins, uncles, and grandfather. The family realized there was a genetic problem affecting a wide range of Smith relatives.
With the success of the Human Genome Project in 2003 when DNA sequencing was declared successfully complete, scientists began to study the origins of genetic medical problems in families, starting with those that are most devastating. And soon after that, Bob’s sister Mary voiced her hope that someday, hopefully in her lifetime, someone would study the genetic hearing impairment of the Smith family. She thought perhaps a graduate student would be interested in making the study the subject of his or her thesis.
In the summer of 2016 researchers at the University of Iowa agreed to include our extended Smith family in an ongoing study they are conducting to identify the specific genes that are responsible for genetic hearing loss, and map the exact location on the genes where the mutations occur, since gene mutations are the cause of genetic hearing loss. Mary had named this family malady “The Smith Family Curse” and corresponded with many of her relatives to determine who were affected and to encourage their participation in the study. She also compiled complex family trees and gathered audiograms from afflicted relatives.
In November of 2016 the U of I sent saliva DNA test kits to key members of the family, those whose audiograms showed similar patterns of limited range, approximately seven of the twenty-five interested in participating. After months of waiting we received an answer to our question in August 2017. The mutant gene causing the Smith Family Curse is WFS1, Allele1: chr4:6304014G>A; NM_001145853:c.2492G>A, p.Gly831Asp, Allele 2: normal allele. This was offered as further clarification:
“Variants in WFS1 are associated with low frequency autosomal dominant non-syndromic hearing loss at the DFNA6/14/36 locus.”
I don’t pretend to understand this well. But I have googled this subject and these finding and offer this amateur’s take on the findings. From this website, https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/WFS1, I learned: "The WFS1 gene provides instructions for producing a protein called wolframin that is thought to regulate the amount of calcium in cells. A proper calcium balance is important for many different cellular functions, including cell-to-cell communication, the tensing (contraction) of muscles, and protein processing. The wolframin protein is found in many different tissues, such as the pancreas, brain, heart, bones, muscles, lungs, liver, and kidneys.
"Within cells, wolframin is located in the membrane of a structure called the endoplasmic reticulum. Among its many activities, the endoplasmic reticulum folds and modifies newly formed proteins so they have the correct 3-dimensional shape to function properly. The endoplasmic reticulum also helps transport proteins and other molecules to specific sites within the cell or to the cell surface. Wolframin is thought to play a role in protein folding and aid in the maintenance of endoplasmic reticulum function by regulating calcium levels. In the pancreas, wolframin may help fold a protein precursor of insulin (called proinsulin) into the mature hormone that controls blood glucose levels. In the inner ear, wolframin may help maintain the proper levels of calcium ions or other charged particles that are essential for hearing." (I underlined those words “is thought” and “may” to emphasize that researchers are still studying this protein and aren’t certain of it’s functions.)
I also learned from reading various research papers found online that because wolframin protein is not well understood in just how it regulates calcium, among other things, the new gene editing technology, CRISPR, is not being used at this time to edit this gene, at least not at the University of Iowa. Until scientists really understand all that wolframin does and how it does it, editing WFS1 to remove the mutation is risky. At least, that is my understanding.
Apparently there are families in Japan, the United States, The Netherlands, and Spain who, without being related to one another, show the same mutation of gene WFS1, leading researches to surmise that there are locations on this gene that are particularly susceptible to mutating. Fortunately for our family we did not inherit the mutation of WFS1 that causes Wolfram Syndrome. You can read about that on this website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfram_syndrome. Also, that site has a good explanation of our Smith Family Curse, and I quote: “More than 30 WFS1 mutations have been identified in individuals with a form of nonsyndromic deafness (hearing loss without related signs and symptoms affecting other parts of the body) called DFNA6. Individuals with DFNA6 deafness cannot hear low tones (low-frequency sounds), such as a tuba or the "m" in moon. DFNA6 hearing loss is unlike most forms of nonsyndromic deafness that affect high tones (high-frequency sounds), such as birds chirping, or all frequencies of sound. Most WFS1 mutations replace one of the protein building blocks (amino acids) used to make wolframin with an incorrect amino acid. One mutation deletes an amino acid from wolframin. WFS1 mutations probably alter the 3-dimensional shape of wolframin, which could affect its function. Because the function of wolframin is unknown, however, it is unclear how WFS1 mutations cause hearing loss. Some researchers suggest that altered wolframin disturbs the balance of charged particles in the inner ear, which interferes with the hearing process.”
In conclusion, we now know the cause of our family’s hereditary hearing loss, a gene mutation of WFS1. We know that this mutation is rare but widely dispersed across the globe. Some researchers believe it is more common than we know because loss of the lower ranges of hearing don’t keep people from understanding human voices like loss in the higher ranges. Consequently, many people with low frequency loss probably don’t look for genetic testing. And we know, too, that until wolframin protein is better understood we will not be candidates for gene editing.
I would like to thank everybody in our big, wonderful Smith family who participated in this study, including those who did not receive a saliva test from the University of Iowa. I was told that any family member can still participate (there is no deadline) but that the researchers require a blood sample now instead of a saliva sample. As quickly as DNA technology is changing and expanding I really expect to learn that gene editing to repair our family's gene mutation will become available someday soon.
Posted by Russell at 7:38 PM No comments: Links to this post
William Franklin Smith
Sarah Frances Buchanan Smith
John W. & Mariah T. Russell
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Natural weather phenomena on Earth. We observe the spectacular northern lights in the night sky, unusual cloud formations, breathtaking sunrises & sunsets. Dangerous storm, lightning. Powerful supercell, tornado & hurricane. Colorful optical phenomenon...
Patricia destroy Mexico Pacific Coast as a Category 5 HURRICANE
MIAMI, FL -- Hurricane Patricia roared ashore in southwestern Mexico as a Category 5 storm Friday evening, bringing lashing rains, surging seas and cyclonic winds hours after it peaked as one of the strongest storms ever recorded.
Although it had weakened some before hitting the coast, forecasters said it had potential to do "catastrophic" damage.
The storm is now a Category 2 hurricane. So far, there were early reports of some flooding and landslides, but no word of fatalities or major damage as the storm moved over inland mountains after nightfall. TV news reports from the coast showed some toppled trees and lampposts and inundated streets.
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Patricia's center made landfall in a relatively low-populated stretch of the Jalisco state coast near Cuixmala. The nearest significant city, Manzanillo, was about 55 miles (85 kilometers) southeast and outside the zone of the storm's hurricane-force winds.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm clocked with winds of 200 mph (325 kph) earlier in the day had weakened some, but remained a very dangerous Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 kph) at landfall.
Residents and tourists hunkered down in shelters and homes along a coastal stretch dotted with sleepy fishing villages and gleaming resorts, including Manzanillo and the popular beach city of Puerto Vallarta.
In Puerto Vallarta, residents had reinforced homes with sandbags and shop windows with boards and tape, and hotels rolled up beachfront restaurants.
At a Red Cross shelter, some 90 people waited anxiously in the heavy, humid air, including senior citizens in wheelchairs and young children snuggled between their parents on mattresses on the floor.
Carla Torres and her family sought refuge there in the afternoon, fearful of what Patricia might do to her home just two blocks from a river in an area vulnerable to high winds.
"Here we are with those who can give us help," Torres said.
Patricia formed suddenly Tuesday as a tropical storm and quickly strengthened to a hurricane. Within 30 hours it had zoomed to a record-beating Category 5 storm, catching many off guard with its rapid growth.
By Friday it was the most powerful hurricane on record in the Western Hemisphere, with a central pressure of 880 millibars and maximum sustained winds of 200 mph (325 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center.
Patricia's power while still out at sea was comparable to that of Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,300 dead or missing in the Philippines two years ago, according to the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization. More than 4 million people were displaced and over 1 million houses were destroyed or damaged in 44 provinces in the central Visayas region, a large cluster of islands.
Mexican officials declared a state of emergency in dozens of municipalities in Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco states, and schools were closed. Many residents bought supplies ahead of Patricia's arrival. Authorities opened hundreds of shelters and announced plans to shut off electricity as a safety precaution.
According to the 2010 census, there were more than 7.3 million inhabitants in Jalisco state and more than 255,000 in Puerto Vallarta municipality. There were more than 650,000 in Colima state, and more than 161,000 in Manzanillo.
One of the worst Pacific hurricanes to ever hit Mexico slammed into the same region, in Colima state, in October 1959, killing at least 1,500 people, according to Mexico's National Center for Disaster Prevention.
A steady rain fell in Puerto Vallarta after dark Friday, but there was no sign of the storm's vicious winds. Streets were deserted except for police patrolling slowly with their emergency lights on.
Brandie Galle, a tourist from Grants Pass, Oregon, said she sheltered with other guests in a ballroom with boarded-up windows at the Hard Rock Hotel. Workers let them out to eat in a hotel restaurant after nightfall, when the city was not feeling any major effects from the storm two hours after landfall. There was no visible damage to the building.
This places Patricia among the most rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones ever witnessed anywhere in the world since the advent of modern meteorology.
Source: ABC13
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The nautical mile (symbol M, NM or nmi) is a unit of length that is approximately one minute of arc measured along any meridian. By international agreement it has been set at 1,852 metres exactly (about 6,076 feet).
Net Tare weight
Weight of an empty container.
Net Ton (NT)
1 Net Ton = 907.185 kgs.
A Vessel's gross tonnage minus deductions of space occupied by accommodations for crew, by machinery, for navigation, by the engine room and fuel. A Vessel's net tonnage expresses the space available for carrying capacity.
Weight of the product unpacked, exclusive of any containers.
Nominal TEU Capacity
The maximal geometric capacity, expressed in 20 Feet Equivalent Units (TEU). It is the contractual capacity agreed upon in charter contracts, or the TEU capacity shown by owner-operators
Non-Negotiable Bill of Lading
"Bill of Lading cannot be endorsed for the transfer of title on the goods. This is not a document of title. "
Non-Vessel-Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC)
A cargo consolidator in ocean trades that will buy space from a carrier and re-sell it to shippers. The NVOCC issues Bills of Lading, publishes tariffs and otherwise conducts itself as an ocean common carrier, except that it will not provide the actual ocean or intermodal service.
Note protest
1. A legal means of proving presentation and default of a negotiable instrument, as well as providing notice to interested parties that the instrument was not paid. 2. A declaration made by the master of a ship before a Notary Public in the United States and Great Britain or a Tribunal of Commerce on the European Continent, or before the Consul of the country from which the ship hails if in a foreign port, on arrival in port, when, through stress of weather, it has not been practicable to adopt ordinary precaution in the matter of ventilation for perishable cargoes; when the condition of the cargo or any part thereof at the time of shipment is such as to lead to the belief that damage or some further damage has occurred during the voyage; when any serious breach of a charter party by the charterer in a foreign port happens; when a ship experiences bad weather while at sea and when the master has reason to believe that the cargo is damaged or part of the deck load lost overboard. Copies of the protest are frequently demanded underwriter in the event of a claim. Protest are received as evidence in tribunal on the Continent but they cannot be made use of as evidence in Courts of Law in the United Kingdom in favour of the party making the protest except by the consent of both parties concerned.
Notice of Arrival
A notice from the delivering carrier to the notify party indicating the shipment's arrival date at the destination.
Notify Party
The name of a company or individual that should be notified when a shipment reaches its destination.
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Christine Ray King
Wednesday, August 7. 2013
Services for Christine Ray King of Baxley, formerly of McRae, were held at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 30 in the chapel of Lowe’s Funeral Home with interment in Telfair Memorial Gardens, McRae. Visitation was held Monday, July 29 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home.
The Rev. John Carter officiated.
Mrs. King, age 70, passed away on Saturday, July 27, 2013 in Baxley. She was the daughter of the late Max L. and Dollie Stovall Ray of Telfair County and was married to Mark L. King of Baxley. She was preceded in death by a sister, Janice McDonald.
Survivors include her husband, Mark L. King of Baxley; two children, Charles (Robin) Hutto of McRae and Patrice (John) Carter of Baxley; two grandchildren, Hunter Carter and Sunshine (Drew) Conner of Baxley; two sisters, Hazel Hutcheson of LaGrange and Willene (Paul) Carter of Douglas; one brother, Sonny “Max” Ray of Danville; several nieces and nephews; and many friends.
Hunter Carter, Drew Conner, Chris Yawn, Stacy Bryant, Richard Cameron and Jim Little were pallbearers. Nancy Livingston played the piano. Sharon Johnson sang “Beulah Land” and Heather Cameron sang “I’ll Rise”.
Please register online condolences at lowesfuneralhome.net
Lowe’s Funeral Home of Helena was in charge of the arrangements.
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The three-day BRICS summit is set to begin on Sunday in China’s southwestern city of Xiamen where India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are likely to meet on the sidelines. Although economic, security and other multilateral issues will figure in the annual meet of the five-member grouping, a probable one-on-one between Modi and Xi will be a focal point, especially after the protracted military standoff along the Sino-India border in Doklam.
“Since the (Doklam) dispute has been resolved, the Xiamen meeting (bilateral meet between Modi and Xi) will be a turning point,” Wang Dehua, an expert at one of China’s top think tanks the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told IANS. Wang, who was one of the Chinese experts threatening India with war during the standoff at Doklam, said “there was no reason for India and China to be hostile to each other”.
“I always advocate ‘Chindia’ which is integration of China and India. I think it is a turning point. If we work together, the world will listen to us,” Wang said. The troops of India and China were locked in an over two-month standoff over stopping construction of a Chinese road by the Indian Army in Doklam, at the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan.
The dispute, which had begun to threaten the success of the BRICS summit, was resolved on Monday. “It’s good news that Modi is coming, but the reasons causing such kind of stand-offs increase strategic mistrust,” Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asia and Oceania Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told IANS.
Asked about the issues he expects that will figure in the meet, Hu said: They (Modi and Xi) should give a kind of signal that this standoff does not happen again.” When questioned what if Modi raises India’s concerns over terrorism emanating from Pakistan, Hu said: “This is the time of recovery. They will meet in the general way to discuss bilateral issues.”
“It will take some time to recover from the damage,” he said referring to the face-off. China has ruled out discussion on India’s concerns over terrorism emanating from Pakistan at the summit.This is one of the thorny issues between India and China. Beijing’s Belt and Road project, whose key artery the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through a disputed Kashmir area claimed by India, is another sore point between the two nations.
Issues like counter-terrorism and the global financial crisis will also come for up discussion. The proposed BRICS rating agency will be one of the key issues at the 9th meet of the grouping, which will be chaired by Xi. The five-member bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa was formed in 2006. They comprise 42 percent of the world’s population, have 23 percent of global GDP and 17 percent share in world trade. The theme of the ninth BRICS summit is `Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future’.
rough jinping transcript opening brics leadership ...
BRICS summit 2017: PM Narendra Modi-China Presiden...
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Where Have All The Flowers Gone?
If you were living in the US in the 1960s you will know that this article is not about horticulture. You will know why Peter Seeger sang this beautiful but sad melody. You will know where the flowers have gone, “long time passing.” When we sang this song we also sang “How many years must one man have, Before he can hear people cry? How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?” Optimistically we thought, “The times they are a-changin’”
Well, folks, think again. Let’s take a hard look at the history of war in this country. If you consult Wikipedia’s inventory of wars in the United States since 1812, you will see an incredible list of warfare separated only by a time period 1922 to 1941 during which we experienced the great depression and the war drums started beating for the next world war. One of our great generals and presidents, Dwight Eisenhower, in 1961 gave his famous speech warning us of the rise of the “military-industrial complex.” Did we listen? Now the war drums are beating about the danger of the Islamic State with Al Qaeda and their Khorassan branch lurking in the shadows. Unfortunately we do know where all the flowers have gone.
Why am I, a psychologist and therapist, writing about war in my Advice Line column? I usually write about happiness, love, compassion and kindness as well as techniques to help us deal with anxiety, stress and trauma. Aha, that’s why: stress, trauma and even terror! The pain and horror of war is surrounding us and causing a background level of fear without our government or media acknowledging this for us. In the past Americans used to have to pay for wars, to scrimp and deny themselves while the war drums were beating. Today these influences are always in the background and we have little conscious awareness of their influence. When I was very little I remember that we had to have wooden toys because we needed steel for the war. We couldn’t have regular butter. We had to have margarine with coloring in the center which we would press out to make it look like yellow butter. The news was filled with stories of patriots marching to war and their heroic but dangerous missions. We knew that our nation was at war but that peace would return. That’s what the public was told when we waged the wars to end all wars. Did that peace ever return? How can we have peace in our hearts when there is never ever peace in the world?
In thinking about the last 200 years of war in our country, I remember my years as a schoolgirl when I learned about the 200 year struggle called the Crusades. I remembered being quite puzzled about these crusades. If a group organizes and goes to war against another, won’t the other group organize and come back in retaliation? The Pope called this a Holy War. Weren’t religious people supposed to be for love and peace? Who paid for these wars? How could God pay for wars? As a child I was sad and confused when I learned about these Crusades. Now in 2014, reading over the history of the Crusades, I am even more appalled by those tragedies and the continuing similarities of nations going to war against each other. Pope Urban II rallied his followers, “This word is given to you by God. When an armed attack is made upon the enemy, let this one cry be raised by all the soldiers of God: It is the will of God!” Some history books do tell the sordid story of this very unholy war. In transit to raid Jerusalem the warriors wearing the Cross of the Lord pillaged the countryside. Crusaders marching to the Holy Land massacred “infidel” Jews and others on their journey. Men, women and children of all ages were killed indiscriminately. Reaching Jerusalem, the residents of the city were brutalized and slaughtered, even cannibalized, by the pious “knights in shining armor.” During this time period groups of Hospitalers and Templars became immensely rich and powerful through banking and real estate acquisitions. Saladin finally organized the Muslims and drove out the so-called Knights. A dismal failure to be sure, although this history is still sometimes taught as exemplifying great religious crusades.
So where are we today? With great fanfare, President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. Looking back on the commentary, we can see that our president was praised for his calls for peace and cooperation with other nations, for “easing US conflicts with Muslim nations” and “efforts to reach out to the Arab world.” The prize was hyped as a message of hope. Do you feel hopeful today? What caused our new crusader, a president of peace, to start sending killing drones abroad and now sending bombers in air strikes over civilian areas? Why is he now telling us that we must be the first responders, the ultimate police force to save the world? Months ago we were told that the military could begin cutting back as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars appeared to be coming to a close. Interestingly, wars have apparently broken out across the globe and we’re told we must continue to fight across the world. Who and what is behind this continuing call for more war?
It seems that there is always another threat, another need for financing more military action. World War I was seen as “the war to end all wars…. the war to make the world safe for democracy.” This seems ridiculous, laughable today! Who is paying for all these wars? Are you?
What is it about wars and the need for “national defense” that keeps us warlike? Let’s hear from an expert. During his 34 year career as a Marine, General Smedley Butler led military actions in the Philippines, China, Central America, the Caribbean during the Banana Wars and France in World War I. He was one of the most highly decorated US generals, receiving sixteen medals, five for heroism, and the Medal of Honor twice. Remarkably, General Butler exposed war corruption and profiteering upon his retirement in his book, “War is a Racket.” To quote General Butler’s key summary about the racket, “It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes." Who makes the profits? General Butler identified corporations as earning incredible profits. “Take our friends the DuPont’s, the powder people... An increase in profits of more than 950%” with profits increasing from $6 million a year to $58 million a year.” Butler identified the bankers as reaping the cream of the profits. “Their profits were as secret as they were immense. How the bankers made their millions and their billions I do not know, because those little secrets never become public – even before a Senate investigatory body. It has been estimated that the war cost your Uncle Sam 52 billion. Of this sum, 39 billion was expended in the actual war itself. This expenditure yielded 16 billion in profits. That is how the 21,000 billionaires and millionaires got that way.” Butler’s advice to us, “We must take the profit out of war.” General Butler was not a pacifist. He believed in protecting our country but not using war to protect U.S. owned businesses. Although highly decorated for his military prowess, his protests were obviously controversial. He was arrested and court-martialed by President Hoover in 1931 but was eventually released. He was passed over for Marine Corps Commandant, resigned from the military in 1931 and died in 1940 at the age of 58.
What does war-making cost? We actually don’t know. Eisenhower’s speech warned us that “the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.” I’ll report some information I gleaned through my reading. According to official reports, Americans spend more money on our military than any other nation, about 45% of the world’s total military expenditures. We have taken military actions abroad some 250 times, attacking, invading, policing, overthrowing or occupying 62 other nations. In 2010 the Washington Post reported that the national security community “has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employees, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.” In 2013 the Daily Beast reported that there are “1,931 private companies working on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence. Throughout the DC area, 33 buildings containing 17 million square feet of office space have been built since 9/11 – the equivalent of 22 capital buildings. But despite the growth of government national-security workers, we are told we must add contractors. According to reports some 500,000 private contractors also have top security clearances... There are 51 federal organizations and military commands.” In 2014, Jonathan Turley, Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, wrote that “The new military-industrial complex is fueled by a conveniently ambiguous and unseen enemy: the terrorist.” He now states that we have “16 spy agencies that employ 107,035 employees. This is separate from the over 1 million people employed by the military and national security law enforcement agencies.” He wrote that our “environmental and social programs are eliminated or curtailed by billions as war related budgets continue to expand to meet quote new threats.” To continue expanding their powers, “the DOJ even changed the definition of terrorism to allow for an ever widening number of cases to be considered terror-related.”
In addition to the apparently ever-expanding military and intelligence services, we must consider information reported about horrendous monetary mismanagement in our military. Here are four key pieces of information. 1) ‘“According to some estimates, we cannot track 2.3 trillion in transactions, Rumsfeld admitted. 2.3 trillion: that’s $8000 for every man, woman and child in America.” 2) ‘“The Special Inspector General for Iraq reconstruction says the US Department of Defense is unable to account properly for 96% of the money. Out of just over 9 billion, 8.7 billion is unaccounted for.” 3) “All other federal agencies are audited annually. And with rare exceptions, they pass every year. The Pentagon alone has never been audited, leaving roughly 8.5 trillion in tax payer dollars unaccounted for since 1966.” 4) “A GAO report found Defense inventory systems so lax that the U.S. Army lost track of 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 Javelin missile command launch units. When military leaders were scrambling to find enough chemical and biological warfare suits to protect US troops, the department was caught selling these suits as surplus on the Internet for pennies on the dollar.” (Want To Know Info, 2014.) We committed $400 billion dollars to build a fleet of F-35 Joint Strike fighter jets which is now 7 years behind schedule. The Huffington Post reports that these funds could have built a $600,000 house for every homeless person in the US!
There are many reasons why we continue to go to war. You might consider an interesting book, “The Ruses for War”, John Quigley, Prometheus, 1992. Quigley analyzed governmental rationales concluding that the government explanations differ greatly from reality. You doubtless recall President Bush’s explanation for the war in Iraq: Saddam Hussein’s secret development of weapons of mass destruction which actually never existed. Another interesting book is “War Is a Lie,” David Swanson, Self Published, 2010. He cogently demolishes 13 reasons for war including: wars are not fought against evil; wars are not launched in defense; wars are not unavoidable; and war makers do not have noble motives. He ends with a passionate and cogent plan, “War is Over (if you want it.)”
The public is war weary. Economic power is being consolidated at the top, and many of us have grave concerns about our economic security. More and more are actually living in poverty. Why would we want to go to war? A major influence to be considered is the power of the media beating the drums for war. Want To Know Info provides us with a concise and cogent analysis of current media policies and influences written by Robert McChesney, Research Professor at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois. McChesney described a bias of professional journalism which reports according to “values conducive to the commercial aims of the owners and advertisers as well as the political aims of the owning class” with the perspective that “democracy tends to be defined by their ability to maximize profits.” He has reported a “striking consolidation of the mass media, especially the giants which include AOL Time Warner, Disney, Viacom, News Corporation, Bertelsmann, Vivendi Universal, Sony, AT&T and General Electric.” “The largest 10 media firms own all the US TV networks, most of the TV stations in the largest markets, all major film studios, all major music companies, nearly all of the cable TV channels, much of the book and magazine publishing industry and much, much more. The logic of mass media industries is that a firm can no longer compete if it is not part of a larger conglomerate.” He states that “investigative journalism, especially that which goes after powerful corporate or national security interests, is discouraged. Largely irrelevant human interest/tragedy stories get the green light for extensive coverage. These are cheap, easy to cover, and they never antagonize those in power.” McChesney reports that “the propagandistic nature of the war coverage was made crystal clear by AOL Time Warner’s CNN a few weeks after the war began in Afghanistan. CNN president Walter Isaacson authorized CNN to provide two different versions of the war: a more critical one for the global audience and a sugarcoated one for Americans. Isaacson instructed the domestic CNN to be certain that any story that might undermine support for the US war be balanced with a reminder that the war on terrorism is in response to the heinous attacks of September 11.”
What about 9/11? Many consider 9/11 a kingpin in the continuation of our so-called “war on terror.” What if the official version, the 9/11 Commission Report, is inaccurate or even a fabrication? What if we are actually not so vulnerable to foreign threats that a few terrorists could actually cause such terror and devastation? Although not reported by the official media, doubt and suspicion are growing in an ever widening and credible fashion. An increasing number of books and journalists are providing extensive coverage of these issues. 50 senior government officials, over 100 professors, over 2000 architects and engineers, over 250 pilots and aviation professionals, physicists and chemists, firefighters and first responders and some 9/11 families, all are now on record questioning the official report. You can consult Need To Know Info for a summary of this information. A must-read book is “How America Was Lost: From 9/11 to the Police/Welfare State,” by Paul Craig Roberts, Clarity Press, 2014. Dr. Roberts, notably, is a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and an associate editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal. He has testified before Congress on 30 occasions and was awarded the U.S. Treasury’s meritorious service award for outstanding contributions in the formulation of US economic policy. Roberts states that “No aware and informed person believes that the US national security state and the intelligent services of Washington’s NATO allies and Israel’s Mossad were outsmarted by a handful of Arabs operating independently of any government and intelligence service.” According to Roberts, “the second part of Washington’s argument is that in order to be safe, Americans must give up the civil liberties granted to them by the U.S. Constitution.” The book is actually a compilation of Robert’s articles from 2008 through the end of 2013. He states that ”it is totally and completely obvious that the wars have nothing to do with protecting Americans from terrorism. If anything, the wars start up and create terrorists. The wars create hatred of America that never previously existed.” Mincing no words, Dr. Roberts wrote that “Americans need to understand that they have lost their country. The rest of the world needs to recognize that Washington is not only the most complete police state since Stalinism, but also a threat to the entire world.”
The threat of 9/11 is a key reason why our civil liberties are increasingly circumscribed and our government collects incredible amount of information about us. A 1.5 million square-foot Utah Data Center has been constructed by the National Security Agency for 1.7 billion dollars to collect and store information about our citizens. It will be able to store a yottabyte of information. In case you don’t know, a yottabyte will include 500 quintillion pages of text of secret information about us. Other strange and expensive purchases have been reported and are verified by multiple media sources. The Department of Homeland Security has purchased 1.6 billion rounds of hollow point bullets, about five per person in this country. Hollow point bullets are designed to kill, but are so powerful that they are actually forbidden by international law for use in war. DHS has also purchased armed personnel carriers with gun ports. None of this equipment has been purchased for use in wars outside our country. 5 million coffins have been purchased by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency.) They are described as cremation coffins large enough for multiple bodies. President Obama recently signed an order for $1 billion worth of disposable coffin liners. A number of FEMA camps have been constructed around the country. Some locations have been documented while others are suspected, with some estimates of up to 800 locations. None of these purchases have been clearly explained and none are planned for use in warfare outside of our country. Would our government ever round up law-abiding citizens who have not been adjudicated? Yes. In 1942 President Roosevelt signed a law for the internment of 127,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry in concentration camps in this country. Their only crime was a suspicion of possible loyalty to the country of their ancestry!
President Eisenhower told us, “We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.” It is clear from the above information that we have lost our way and have neither security nor liberty.
The drums of war are beating now about the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL.) with the Al Qaeda group Khorasan singled out as possibly even more intent on attacking the United States. My question is, are we just continuing the Crusades in the Middle East? Why have we been bombing and killing in Iraq and Afghanistan? What did we get except more war? If we would leave these countries alone, perhaps they would leave us alone. Why is our defense always an offense?
Right now you are probably thinking about beheadings. Surely we must defend ourselves to protect us from such awful things reaching into our borders! The media even reported a beheading carried out by an American citizen. Think for a minute about the intense media coverage of beheadings which likely inspired copycat action here in our country. As awful as they are, why has there been such intense media coverage of beheadings if not to justify additional US military action as we defend the world against such atrocities? We are told we must understand our noble mission as we hear our president assert that our country will always be the first to lead and defend other nations. But now let’s look at the bigger picture. War always creates atrocities as well as patriotic defenses of the homeland’s military actions. Take a few minutes to check out Internet reports of the atrocities committed by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. We don’t behead but we do kill many innocent civilians including children. Only a few reports actually reach the popular media. I recall with horror and disgust information about our troops urinating on dead bodies. Some information has been presented by the media to us about our drone strikes, often with an emphasis on justification of their use against terrorists. Again an Internet search provides more detailed information. According to data provided by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, from 2004 through 2012 2,562-3,325 people were killed by our drones in Pakistan, with 474-881 being civilians including 176 children. The strikes also injured an additional 1,228-1,362 individuals. Please consult a report prepared by the Living Under Drones organization which has provided an important analysis of this issue. I could not help but be horrified by the thought of the psychological costs of living under drone warfare. “Drones hover 24 hours a day over communities in northwest Pakistan, striking homes, vehicles and public spaces without warning. Their presence terrorizes men, women and children, giving rise to anxiety and psychological trauma among civilian communities Those living under drones have to face the constant worry that a deadly strike may be fired at any moment, and the knowledge that they are powerless to protect themselves.” Given all the civilian drone deaths, the picture worsens over time. A recent White House statement to Yahoo News reported even looser standards with less protection against civilian deaths in our current airstrike bombing in Syria. To be informed citizens we must look at the whole picture and not be satisfied with selected media snapshots about our patriotic military defending us against terrorists.
Ample information suggests that the US actually may have been backing and supplying the Islamic State group with weapons and financial support as a part of the so-called Free Syrian Army and that these “freedom fighters” practice beheading citizens themselves. Our own general made a video statement about our support for ISIS before it was quickly removed. The video has been saved and does exist however. US Air Force General Tom McInerney was quoted as saying “In Syria we backed… some of the wrong people and not in the right part of the Free Syrian army. I’ve always maintained… That we were backing up the wrong types. Some of those weapons from Benghazi ended up in the hands of ISIS. So we helped build ISIS.” (Fox News, 8/23/14) Look up the Internet report by Global Research (9/12/14) providing details and even videos showing that the “freedom fighters” which we supported against Assad for the last three years have themselves been beheading Syrian citizens and priests. As just one example, in December 2012 a nun. Sister Agnes-Miriam, reported that “The free and democratic world is supporting extremists.” providing details wherein a young Christian man was beheaded and his body fed to dogs. Correlated information is available in the report by Professor Michael Chossudovsky, “Going After the Islamic State. Guess Who is Behind the Caliphate Project? 9/12/14.
Details in the back story about the Islamic terror groups will be emerging as we continue our military involvement in this region. The big picture, however, is clear. Our modern crusades in the Middle East are actually stimulating war, terror and destruction no better than the so-called Holy War Crusades. When will we ever learn?
We must keep studying and analyzing the current “military-industrial complex.” Think about the information presented already in the Chatham County Line about the influence of the corporations, financial institutions and corporate media as well as the inaction of our so-called congressional leaders. Think about the need for a free press and Internet both of which are imperiled today. Think about what you must do to remain a free, informed and independent citizen of our nation.
President Eisenhower warned us that we “must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead of proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.” We are well on our way to becoming this community of dreadful fear and hate. What are the social and spiritual effects of our permanent militarization? Today we seem no better than the Crusaders pillaging their way through the countryside for an unholy war.
Will we continue to find them in the graveyard?
When will we ever learn?
What will YOU do to advocate for peace, to pray for peace, to act for peace?
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2.2.10: 1585 - 1725 - Financing, print-runs and prices
During this period as well, a major role was to be played by the paper traders in the financing of printed matter. Paper was very expensive and although printer-publishers necessarily ordered small quantities at a time, many were in debt to their paper supplier as can be shown, for example, by the list of creditors made up in the event of a publisher's bankruptcy. In joint ventures between publishers and printers, the wealthiest publisher sometimes also acted as a supplier of paper as well and, in return, would receive part of the print run from the printer.
Many publications were brought about with borrowed money. The problem was that the turnover rate of books at that time was generally very low: decades after their publication books could be found in the bookshop in sheets, i.e. as new. An investment was repaid very slowly causing the problem of a long-term interest burden and the rental of warehouses.
If an edition had to be financed with one's own capital, publishers could try to limit the risk of piracy through protection by way of a privilege (which, incidentally, also cost money), by sharing the edition with a colleague, by forming a larger joint venture (a company), by ensuring the support - alone or together with an author - of a patron or of the authorities (in return for the dedication of the book to the person or authority in question), by having an author or translator provide the finances or through publication by subscription.
There is little information about print-runs due to a lack of publishers' archives. The print-runs for different categories of printed matter obviously differed enormously. Fewer copies of a beautifully illustrated and therefore expensive folio edition would be printed than of a schoolbook or an almanac. If a publisher wished to provide quality, the print-run could not be too large as the type, but especially the copperplate, would show signs of wear. Copperplates could, however, be refurbished. An average print-run in the seventeenth century amounted to about 1000 to 1500 copies: longer production times meant higher interest charges for the loans taken out. If a publisher knew for certain that a book would do well, he could consider a larger print-run which was cheaper than having to compose a new issue after only a short time.
The prices for printing were, of course, dependent on production costs, especially paper costs and the wages of translators, compositors, correctors, printers, engravers, gatherers and collators. Account had to be taken of additional costs for freight, privileges, the production of an index and suchlike. Something is known of this due to price specifications in a number of stock lists and warehouse catalogues. Around 1600 and in 1628, the price for books without illustrations on good paper appeared to be about half a stiver (about € 0.01) per sheet. This price could be lowered - certainly in reissues after printed copy - by using lesser quality paper and inferior woodcuts in larger print-runs, as was the case in much of the so-called popular literature. The price per sheet could in this way be reduced to a quarter stiver. These are nearly always minimum prices for booksellers for unbound books; discounts were only given to colleagues who paid cash. Consumer prices were 20-40% higher, certainly for bound books, but whether prices were higher or varied in towns other than those where production took place or in the country due to, for example, transport costs is not clear.
author: P.J. Verkruijsse
Contents period 1585-1725
Financing, print-runs and prices
bookshop chains
Definition: co-operative of a number of bookshops which pursue a similar outward presentation as well as service, etc.
extended description bookshop chains
Publications about bookshop chains
Handbook Images Persons Studies Books Collections Auctions Glossary
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E-Edition & Archives
Landenberg Life
Kennett Square Life
West Chester & Chadds Ford Life
Arts+Entertainment Eat+Drink+Shop Sports Schools Home+Garden Health+Wellness Opinion
Andrew Wyeth stamps to be dedicated July 12
07/06/2017 12:13PM ● By J. Chambless
The First-Day-of-Issue dedication ceremony for the Andrew Wyeth Forever stamps that commemorate the centennial of his birth will be held July 12 at 11 a.m. at the Brandywine River Museum of Art (Route 1, Chadds Ford). The event is free and open to the public.
Jamie Wyeth, the son of Andrew Wyeth, will attend the event, which also features Patrick Mendonca, the U.S. Postal Service senior director and chief of staff to the Postmaster General; and Virginia A. Logan of The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art.
This pane of 12 stamps celebrates the centennial of the birth of Andrew Wyeth (July 12, 1917-Jan. 16, 2009), one of the most prominent American artists of the 20th century. Working in a realistic style that defied artistic trends, Wyeth created haunting and enigmatic paintings based largely on people and places in his life, a body of work that continues to resist easy or comfortable interpretation.
This issuance includes stamps that each features a detail from a different Andrew Wyeth painting. The paintings are: “Wind from the Sea” (1947), “Big Room” (1988), “Christina’s World” (1948), “Alvaro and Christina” (1968), “Frostbitten” (1962), “Sailor’s Valentine” (1985), “Soaring” (1942–1950), “North Light” (1984), “Spring Fed” (1967), “The Carry” (2003), “Young Bull” (1960), and “My Studio” (1974).
The public may RSVP online at usps.com/awyeth.
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Authentic Relating for Straight Singles: Ages 25-45
7:00pm · Philadelphia Ethical Society
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The Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust
Tomorrow Starts Here.
What have
we funded?
The Trustees &
Donations &
The Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust (the Trust) is responsible for the allocation of the money raised by the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal to support earthquake recovery initiatives.
The Trust is an independent charity, registered under the Charities Act of New Zealand. The Trust's charity registration number is CC46329. The Trust is governed and operated by the Trustees independent of government.
The Appeal was launched by the Prime Minister, and the cost of running it is being met by the government to maximise the donated funds that can be directed to the relief of Christchurch. The Trust is administered by a small Secretariat within the Department of Internal Affairs.
The Trust deed anticipates that the Trust's legal life-time will be ten years. The Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust has allocated available funds to projects and is no longer receiving requests for funding.
All funding decisions made by the Trustees are published on this website. In addition, the Trust is required to file an annual return with the Charities Commission, detailing its financial statements. This is publicly available.
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Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority
Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission
Go to www.govt.nz
This site is managed on behalf of the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust by the Department of Internal Affairs
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Critically Ill Man Denied Medical Parole, Dies Months After Being Imprisoned for Telling People about His Faith
September 13, 2018 | By a Minghui correspondent in Hunan Province, China
(Minghui.org) After three months in Wangling Prison, Mr. Wang Yuelai's life was in danger. He was unable to lift his head or even talk. As his health deteriorated, the doctor issued three critical condition notices for him.
Mr. Wang's family requested permission to take him home on medical parole when they were given the second notice of critical condition. The prison authorities would only agree to release him if he renounced his faith in Falun Gong. Unable to talk, Mr. Wang shook his head “no.”
Enraged by his persistence, the prison denied his parole request and ordered four guards and two inmates to monitor him around the clock.
His condition continued to deteriorate until the doctor issued the third critical condition notice. On August 31, 2018, Mr. Wang passed away in prison. He was 56.
Mr. Wang Yuelai
Life Changed through Falun Gong
Mr. Wang began practicing Falun Gong in 2008. Prior to that, he led a lavish life and was addicted to drinking, smoking and gambling. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2008 and suffered from consistent, gnawing pain.
The desire to survive prompted him to try Falun Gong, an ancient Chinese mind-body spiritual discipline with meditative exercises, in the hopes that the practice could help him regain his health. Many people with similar situations as his have reported dramatic health improvement after they started practicing Falun Gong.
Shortly after he started the Falun Gong exercises, Mr. Wang was excited to find his health indeed improving. The tumor in his stomach went away. He was much more calm and peaceful. His relationships with his family and neighbors also improved. He became a totally different person.
With deep gratitude about how the practice had changed him, Mr. Wang was eager to share his story with others and help more people benefit as well, despite the ongoing persecution of the practice by the Chinese communist regime.
Persecuted for His Faith
On November 11, 2013, while distributing Falun Gong-related materials, Mr. Wang was arrested with three other practitioners. He was detained for several months before being released.
Just a few months after his release, Mr. Wang was arrested again and taken to the Xiuhuayuan Brainwashing Center in April 2014.
Because he refused to give up his faith after rounds of intensive brainwashing, the Yueyang County Court sentenced Mr. Wang to three years, with a five-year suspended sentence on October 24, 2014. He was then released and put on probation.
In early 2017, Mr. Wang developed symptoms of stomach cancer again. He was unable to eat for more than a month and couldn't keep anything down. He continued doing the Falun Gong exercises and recovered two months later.
While studying Falun Gong books with other practitioners, Mr. Wang was arrested for the third time on January 24, 2018.
The police put him in criminal detention two days later. The Procuratorate approved his case on February 12 and submitted the case to the Yueyang Court on March 21, along with three other practitioners – Ms. Chen Quanxiu, Ms. He Genliang, and Ms. Zeng Guzhen.
The court sentenced Mr. Wang to another three years on April 10 and fined him 5,000 yuan. The judge also revoked his five-year suspended sentence and combined the three years he'd been given in 2014. Because he had already been detained for six months between April and October 2014, his final term was set at five years and six months.
Ms. Chen was sentenced to four years, and Ms. He to one year.
Mr. Wang was taken to Jin City Prison in Hunan Province on May 14 and then transferred to Wangling Prison one month later, where he tragically passed away after being denied medical parole.
Related report:Three Falun Gong Practitioners from Hunan Province Sentenced for Their Faith
“Additional Persecution News from China – August 29, 2018 (19 Reports)”
“Hebei Practitioners Mr. Wang Zhiqin and Wife Ms. Cao Yachun Tried”
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George Yoshida
(b. 1922) Musician
Ways of Fitting In Introduction to Jazz We’re Still Japanese Nisei Swing Kids The J-Town Jazz Ensemble Sansei and the Redress Movement
Transcripts available in the following languages:
George Yoshida was born in 1922 in Seattle, WA. Prior to World War II, his family moved to East Los Angeles, CA in 1936. Yoshida was incarcerated in Poston, AZ during the war. Yoshida grew up around the Big Band sound and Swing music and while in camp formed a dance band called the “Music Makers” for which he played the drums. Through music, the internees tried their best to keep life as a normal as possible and forget that they were surrounded by barbed wire. In 1943, Yoshida was drafted into the U.S. Army. He married in 1945 and moved to Berkeley, CA where he taught at Washington Elementary School for the next 35 years.
After retiring from teaching in 1987, Yoshida’s started the J-Town Jazz Ensemble, a swing band of Nisei and Sansei musicians. He still plays the drums, but this time, Yoshida uses music to remember the history of Japanese Americans during a period of great hardship. Yoshida is also the author of a book, Reminiscing in Swingtime 1925-1960: Japanese Americans in American Popular Music. (April 15, 2008)
culture education identity family Jazz music camps World War II Anita internment Poston Santa community organizations redress
Role of the redress movement in helping Nisei ...
Dale Minami
An emotional response from mother upon talking about ...
Concentration camp from a Japanese mother’s point of ...
Yumi Matsubara
Does a Nikkei culture exist? (Spanish)
Doris Moromisato
Relief fund to support Japanese communities (Japanese)
Margarida Tomi Watanabe
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How to Conduct Your Own Interview
This guide will give you the fundamental knowledge you will need to conduct your own oral history interview.
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Abdominal Pain (Pain, Abdominal)
Subscribe to New Research on Abdominal Pain
Sensation of discomfort, distress, or agony in the abdominal region; generally associated with functional disorders, tissue injuries, or diseases.
Pain, Abdominal; Abdominal Pains; Pains, Abdominal
Networked: 6722 relevant articles (391 outcomes, 392 trials/studies)
Relationship Network
Disease Context: Research Results
Signs and Symptoms Pathological Conditions
Pain: 115883
Abdominal Pain: 6722
Colic: 1686
Acute Abdomen: 812
Renal Colic: 537
Digestive Signs and Symptoms
2. Nausea
3. Constipation
4. Fever (Fevers)
5. Vomiting
1. Fichna, Jakub: 11 articles (11/2015 - 01/2012)
2. Talley, Nicholas J: 11 articles (05/2009 - 05/2002)
3. Chey, William D: 8 articles (11/2012 - 02/2005)
4. Talley, N J: 8 articles (03/2010 - 09/2000)
5. Sałaga, Maciej: 6 articles (10/2015 - 03/2014)
6. Benninga, Marc A: 6 articles (04/2015 - 07/2006)
7. McCallum, Richard W: 6 articles (01/2014 - 10/2005)
8. Tack, J: 6 articles (01/2014 - 06/2006)
9. Camilleri, M: 6 articles (06/2013 - 01/2000)
10. Conwell, Darwin L: 6 articles (03/2013 - 01/2003)
Drugs and Biologics
Drugs and Important Biological Agents (IBA) related to Abdominal Pain:
1. linaclotideIBA
03/01/2014 - "Most linaclotide-treated IBS-C patients who were FDA non-responders reported some improvement in abdominal pain and stool frequency, and global relief/satisfaction. "
10/01/2013 - "Data from Phase II and III clinical trials demonstrated that linaclotide seems to produce a statistically significant increase in stool frequency, improved straining, decreased abdominal pain and discomfort."
01/01/2013 - "A significantly greater proportion of linaclotide-treated vs. placebo-treated patients were 12-week abdominal pain/discomfort responders (Trial 31: 54.8% vs. 41.8%; Trial 302: 54.1% vs. 38.5%; P < 0.001) and IBS degree-of-relief responders (Trial 31: 37.0% vs. 18.5%; Trial 302: 39.4% vs. 16.6%; P < 0.0001). "
12/01/2013 - "During 26 weeks of linaclotide administration, a significantly greater percentage of patients (70%) had at least a 30% reduction in abdominal pain compared with patients given placebo (50%). "
01/01/2013 - "Linaclotide treatment significantly improved abdominal pain/discomfort and degree-of-relief of IBS-C symptoms compared with placebo over 12 and 26 weeks. "
2. Anti-Bacterial Agents (Antibiotics)IBA
07/01/2014 - "After 2 years of follow-up, recurrences of nonoperatively treated right lower quadrant abdominal pain are less than 14% and may be safely and effectively treated with further antibiotics."
10/01/2015 - "Nine of 17 patients (52.9%) required inpatient hospitalization following ERCP; the most common indications were abdominal pain and need for IV antibiotics. "
06/01/2014 - "Use of antibiotics in infancy and childhood and risk of recurrent abdominal pain--a Swedish birth cohort study."
12/01/2013 - "Although conservative management with fasting and antibiotics ameliorated the abdominal pain, the mass remained approximately 5cm at its largest diameter. "
10/01/2013 - "Statements with 100% agreement and 'high' evidence levels indicated that: (i) specific probiotics help reduce overall symptom burden and abdominal pain in some IBS patients; (ii) in patients receiving antibiotics/Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy, specified probiotics are helpful as adjuvants to prevent/reduce the duration/intensity of AAD; (iii) probiotics have favourable safety in patients in primary care. "
3. Prednisolone (Predate)FDA LinkGeneric
07/01/2003 - "Although lamina propria T-lymphocyte counts decreased significantly after prednisolone (22.0% +/- 5.6%, P = 0.003), but not after placebo (11.5% +/- 8.6%, P = 0.1), this was not associated with any significant treatment-related improvement in abdominal pain, diarrhoea, frequency or urgency. "
03/01/2012 - "After the administration of oral prednisolone 40 mg daily for therapeutic trial, abdominal pain and endoscopic lesions were improved. "
02/01/2004 - "His abdominal pain and muscle involvement improved 1 week after commencing oral prednisolone therapy. "
10/01/1999 - "The patient improved with conservative treatment but complained of abdominal pain when the prednisolone (PSL) dose was decreased. "
06/01/2008 - "The patient was referred to our hospital because of severe abdominal pain that was unresponsive to prednisolone. "
4. AmylasesFDA Link
08/01/1991 - "The study population included 133 consecutive patients with a chief complaint of abdominal pain who had amylase drawn over a 2-week period at a university hospital ED. "
01/28/2015 - "Generally, it is defined as the onset of new pancreatic-type abdominal pain severe enough to require hospital admission or prolonged hospital stay with levels of serum amylase two to three times greater than normal, occurring 24 h after ERCP. "
08/07/2013 - "During postprocedural follow-up, abdominal pain and elevated amylase levels were noted in three patients and one patient developed abdominal perforation. "
04/01/2013 - "A 7-year-old girl was referred to our hospital for severe abdominal pain and elevated serum levels of amylase and aminotransferase. "
01/01/2013 - "The main clinical features of this case were abdominal pain and increased levels of plasma amylase as well as liver function test. "
5. tegaserod (Zelnorm)FDA Link
01/01/2004 - "Tegaserod did not significantly improve the patients' individual symptoms of abdominal pain and discomfort although bowel habit showed a statistically significant improvement with tegaserod 4 mg and there was a non-significant trend in favour of tegaserod 12 mg. When GI symptoms were assessed separately, those indicative of GI motility such as number of bowel movements and days without bowel movements were generally improved with tegaserod although the proportion of patients experiencing diarrhoea was significantly higher in the tegaserod 12 mg group compared with placebo (RR 2.75, 95% CI 1.90, 3.97), with a number needed to harm (NNH) of 20. "
11/01/2004 - "Patients who were treated with tegaserod had an overall improvement in IBS symptoms (Subject's Assessment of Global Relief) as well as in secondary end points, such as abdominal pain and discomfort, stool consistency, change in bowel movements and relief of bloating. "
01/01/2004 - "Tegaserod has been assessed in a number of international multicentre trials and its use leads to an improvement in abdominal pain and bowel dysfunction as well as global well-being, at the expense of remarkably few adverse effects. "
04/01/2003 - "In clinical trials with tegaserod, the Subject's Global Assessment (SGA) of Relief (a global measure that includes overall wellbeing, abdominal pain/discomfort, and bowel function) was used to identify responders. "
01/01/2008 - "In the group with other indications to start tegaserod therapy, moderate or significant relief of abdominal pain and bloating was noted in 64% and 68% of patients, respectively. "
6. Opioid Analgesics (Opioids)IBA
01/01/2007 - "We hold that current evidence supports the administration of opioids to children with acute abdominal pain, and future trials will help determine safe and effective timing and dosing related to opioid administration."
01/01/2007 - "The review provide some evidence to support the notion that the use of opioid analgesics in patients with acute abdominal pain is helpful in terms of patient comfort and does not retard decisions to treat."
11/01/1999 - "Opioids relieved abdominal pain. "
02/01/2007 - "Randomized clinical trials (RTCs) comparing the use of opioid analgesics with placebo administered before any procedure in patients with acute nontraumatic abdominal pain were included. "
02/01/2007 - "The aim of the present study was to determine whether the use of opioid analgesics in patients with acute nontraumatic abdominal pain increases the risk of diagnostic error. "
7. Morphine (MS Contin)FDA LinkGeneric
01/20/2010 - "Abdominal pain was significantly relieved and the patients' cooperation was improved in the morphine group after 30 minutes treatment compared with the control group and before morphine administration (P<0.05). "
01/20/2010 - "Morphine relieved abdominal pain and improved the patients' cooperation for treatment and care. "
09/01/2010 - "This study involved 10 patients (5 male and 5 female) with cancerous abdominal pain, for whom the original opioid regimen was switched to morphine alone or continued in combination with morphine. "
01/01/2003 - "The study was a prospective, double-blind clinical trial in which adult Emergency Department (ED) patients with undifferentiated abdominal pain were randomized to receive placebo (control group, n = 36) or morphine sulphate (MS group, n = 38). "
11/01/1997 - "We conducted a randomized, prospective, placebo-controlled trial to investigate changes in physical examination following the administration of placebo, 5 mg, or 10 mg of morphine to 49 patients with acute abdominal pain. "
8. Misoprostol (Cytotec)FDA LinkGeneric
01/01/2011 - "After treating herself for a self-diagnosed pregnancy with illegally provided misoprostol, this patient presented with persistent lower abdominal pain. "
01/01/2011 - "A girl presented with constant lower abdominal pain after taking misoprostol for pregnancy termination. "
04/01/2008 - "Self-administered vaginal misoprostol of 1000 micrograms at home the evening before operative hysteroscopy is safe and highly acceptable, although a small proportion of women experienced severe lower abdominal pain. "
11/01/2005 - "Only 2 women (3.9%) experienced mild lower abdominal pain after misoprostol application. "
07/01/2004 - "Lower abdominal pain peaked at 1 and 2 hours after oral misoprostol, while it did so at 2 and 3 hours after vaginal misoprostol. "
9. LactoseFDA LinkGeneric
05/01/2003 - "A trial of dietary lactose restriction may be beneficial in reducing abdominal pain in children with lactose maldigestion."
01/01/2013 - "The concurrent reduction in abdominal pain and improved overall tolerance could be a meaningful benefit to lactose intolerant individuals."
06/01/1981 - "This result compared with improvement occurring in five of 12 (42%) absorbers with recurrent abdominal pain who received a regular diet for one year and suggests that the elimination of lactose will not affect the overall frequency of improvement in recurrent abdominal pain. "
05/21/1994 - "A lactose-free diet was proposed and led to the disappearance of abdominal pain in 24% and a clear improvement in 32%. "
05/15/1985 - "Incomplete lactose absorption is a relatively benign condition that can be added to the differential diagnosis of gas-fluid levels in the colon and may account for some cases of spontaneous resolution of clinical and radiologic signs in children presenting with acute recurrent abdominal pain."
10. rifaximin (L 105)FDA Link
08/01/2011 - "In addition, more patients in the rifaximin group than in the placebo group (p < 0.001) reported an adequate relief of bloating, and an improvement in abdominal pain and stool consistency - secondary outcome measures. "
11/01/2013 - "We recorded one serious adverse event in a participant in the rifaximin group who had grade 3 right lower quadrant abdominal pain 72 h after the last intake of study drug. "
08/01/2011 - "In summary, a 2-week course of rifaximin provided significant relief of IBS symptoms, as well as bloating and abdominal pain."
01/06/2011 - "In addition, significantly more patients in the rifaximin group had a response to treatment as assessed by daily ratings of IBS symptoms, bloating, abdominal pain, and stool consistency. "
10/01/2009 - "Larger doses of rifaximin were statistically better for abdominal pain. "
1. Aftercare (After-Treatment)
01/01/2008 - "The minimum duration of therapy considered was one week, and studies had to report either a global assessment of cure or improvement in symptoms, or cure of or improvement in abdominal pain, after treatment. "
12/01/2011 - "The Rosemont classification system can identify patients who are more likely to have improvement in abdominal pain after treatment with pancreatic enzyme supplementation."
07/01/2008 - "The symptoms of hemafecia and abdominal pain were improved, the disease active index (DAI) was lowered after treatment in both groups (P <0.01), but the improvement of hemafecia, time of disappearance of mucous bloody stool and decrease of DAI in the treatment group were superior to those in the control group (P <0.05 or P <0.01). "
09/01/2014 - "The patient's chief complaints of right upper abdominal pain and abdominal fullness remarkably improved after treatment initiation. "
01/01/1983 - "Frequency, stool consistency, abdominal pain and signs of venous stasis improved after treatment. "
2. Cholecystectomy
01/01/1989 - "The authors believe that elective cholecystectomy is to be recommended (emergency cholecystectomy is associated with a high morbidity) as the children operated were improved by surgery, with resolution of abdominal pain."
01/01/1998 - "Although more than one-third complained of abdominal pain after cholecystectomy, 93% had improved or were cured. "
10/01/2015 - "The aim of this study was to determine characteristics associated with patient-reported absence of abdominal pain after cholecystectomy, improved abdominal symptoms, and patient-reported positive cholecystectomy results in a prospective cohort multicentre study. "
01/01/2014 - "She refused cholecystectomy, and the abdominal pain gradually improved in response to conservative treatment. "
10/01/2011 - "Factors that predict relief from upper abdominal pain after cholecystectomy."
3. Drug Therapy (Chemotherapy)
01/01/2014 - ", one trial found that drug therapies that reduce gastric acidity improved gastro-intestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain; seven trials reported significant improvement in measures of fat malabsorption; and two trials reported no significant improvement in nutritional status. "
01/01/2012 - "However, one trial found that drug therapies that reduce gastric acidity improved gastro-intestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain; seven trials reported significant improvement in measures of fat malabsorption; and two trials reported no significant improvement in nutritional status. "
05/01/2008 - "The abdominal pain and appetite loss improved after the first course of chemotherapy, and therapeutic efficacy was rated PR. "
12/01/1994 - "A 43 year old woman in remission from acute myeloid leukaemia developed abdominal pain, severe melaena, diarrhoea and gram-negative septicaemia whilst severely pancytopenic following consolidation chemotherapy. "
08/01/1991 - "Chest X ray findings improved after 4 months' antituberculous chemotherapy, but he complained of right lower abdominal pain and a mass with tenderness. "
4. Enema (Enemas)
01/01/2004 - "The author suggests that the ROME II criteria for FFR could be improved by including the following additional items: a history of BMs that obstruct the toilet, a history of chronic abdominal pain relieved by enemas or laxatives, and the presence of an abdominal fecal mass or rectal fecal mass."
01/01/2015 - " trial reported none of the following pre-specified secondary outcomes: stool consistency using Bristol stool form scale , use of alternative products , laxative agents , enemas , relief of abdominal pain/discomfort and stool frequency . "
02/01/2013 - "A 61-year-old man and a 45-year-old man presented with abdominal pain after forceful entry of tap water into the rectum, during rinsing of the anus after defecation in the first case, and during self-administered enema in the second case. "
11/01/2005 - "The patient developed abdominal pain approximately 3.5 h after a pre-procedural enema was administered. "
07/01/2004 - "The RS procedure provided excellent continence control, with a shortening of the enema duration, a lower fluid volume, and good cosmesis, and without any ACE-related abdominal pain. "
5. Appendectomy
09/01/2005 - "The therapeutic value of elective laparoscopic appendectomy in the management of chronic abdominal pain."
09/01/2014 - "Efficacy of preoperative computed tomography imaging to reduce negative appendectomies in patients undergoing surgery for left lower quadrant abdominal pain."
06/01/1999 - "Three patients had undergone previous diagnostic explorations for abdominal pain, the appendix was not removed, and a subsequent appendectomy relieved the discomfort. "
01/01/1998 - "Sonographic diagnosis of right sided abdominal pain helped to reduce the risk of restricted indication for diagnostic laparoscopy respectively appendectomy by reducing the number of unnecessary operations without relevant change of perforation rate."
11/01/1980 - "Ninety-six per cent of these 70 children had been relieved of their recurrent abdominal pain by appendectomy. "
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Debate: Colonization of the Moon
Revision as of 15:38, 5 August 2009 (edit)
← Previous diff Revision as of 15:39, 5 August 2009 (edit)
===Background and context === ===Background and context ===
- The colonization of the Moon is the proposed establishment of permanent human communities on the Moon. Moon colonization is also known as space settlement, space humanization, and space habitation. The most prominent proposal, within NASA, is known as the "Moonbase". Advocates of space exploration have seen settlement of the Moon as a logical step in the expansion of humanity beyond the Earth. [[Image:Moon and Earth.jpg|left|210px]][[Image:Colonization of the Moon.jpg|right|230px]] In 2006, US President George W. Bush announced plans to colonize the Moon, although the subsequent economic crisis dampened talk of such a colony under the Obama administration. Yet, the debate continues, framed by multiple questions: Is space exploration and colonization - of the Moon and any other planet - important? Is it important as a source of inspiration? Is is necessary as a means of fulfilling a supposed, innate "human impulse" to explore and discover? Is the Moon a good testing ground for broader space exploration and colonization? Is it a good testing ground and possibly "launch-pad" for a mission to Mars ("Moon-to-Mars")? Is colonization of the Moon safe? Can humans survive, reproduce, and grow healthily in low-gravity? Is the colonization of the Moon generally feasible, practical, and economically reasonable? Are there commercial/export opportunities on the Moon? Is colonization of the Moon, and any subsequent space exploration important to human survival? Is colonization important to scientific discovery on the Moon as well as of the universe? Can colonization help heal political conflicts on Earth? Overall, is the colonization of the Moon a good idea? + The colonization of the Moon is the proposed establishment of permanent human communities on the Moon. Moon colonization is also known as space settlement, space humanization, and space habitation. The most prominent proposal, within NASA, is known as the "Moonbase". Advocates of space exploration have seen settlement of the Moon as a logical step in the expansion of humanity beyond the Earth. [[Image:Moon and Earth.jpg|left|210px]] In 2006, US President George W. Bush announced plans to colonize the Moon, although the subsequent economic crisis dampened talk of such a colony under the Obama administration.[[Image:Colonization of the Moon.jpg|right|230px]] Yet, the debate continues, framed by multiple questions: Is space exploration and colonization - of the Moon and any other planet - important? Is it important as a source of inspiration? Is is necessary as a means of fulfilling a supposed, innate "human impulse" to explore and discover? Is the Moon a good testing ground for broader space exploration and colonization? Is it a good testing ground and possibly "launch-pad" for a mission to Mars ("Moon-to-Mars")? Is colonization of the Moon safe? Can humans survive, reproduce, and grow healthily in low-gravity? Is the colonization of the Moon generally feasible, practical, and economically reasonable? Are there commercial/export opportunities on the Moon? Is colonization of the Moon, and any subsequent space exploration important to human survival? Is colonization important to scientific discovery on the Moon as well as of the universe? Can colonization help heal political conflicts on Earth? Overall, is the colonization of the Moon a good idea?
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Is colonizing the Moon a good idea?
The colonization of the Moon is the proposed establishment of permanent human communities on the Moon. Moon colonization is also known as space settlement, space humanization, and space habitation. The most prominent proposal, within NASA, is known as the "Moonbase". Advocates of space exploration have seen settlement of the Moon as a logical step in the expansion of humanity beyond the Earth.
In 2006, US President George W. Bush announced plans to colonize the Moon, although the subsequent economic crisis dampened talk of such a colony under the Obama administration.
Yet, the debate continues, framed by multiple questions: Is space exploration and colonization - of the Moon and any other planet - important? Is it important as a source of inspiration? Is is necessary as a means of fulfilling a supposed, innate "human impulse" to explore and discover? Is the Moon a good testing ground for broader space exploration and colonization? Is it a good testing ground and possibly "launch-pad" for a mission to Mars ("Moon-to-Mars")? Is colonization of the Moon safe? Can humans survive, reproduce, and grow healthily in low-gravity? Is the colonization of the Moon generally feasible, practical, and economically reasonable? Are there commercial/export opportunities on the Moon? Is colonization of the Moon, and any subsequent space exploration important to human survival? Is colonization important to scientific discovery on the Moon as well as of the universe? Can colonization help heal political conflicts on Earth? Overall, is the colonization of the Moon a good idea?
Space exploration: Is colonizing the Moon critical to space exploration/discovery?
Colonizing the Moon is analogous to colonizing America. "Why Go Back to the Moon?" NASA. January 14, 2008: "To put the arguments for a return to the Moon, and a lunar outpost, in the most general terms: the Moon is essentially a whole planet, one that has so far been barely touched. But this new planet is only a few days travel away and we have already camped on it. To turn our backs on the Moon would be equivalent to European exploration stopping after Columbus’s few landings, or China’s destruction of its giant ships to concentrate on domestic problems in the 15th century."
Colonization of the Moon satisfies human desire to explore. Robert Roy Britt. "10 Reasons to Put Humans Back on the Moon." Space.com. December 8th, 2003: "1. Satisfy the soul [...] Beyond the basic needs for food, shelter and clothing, we humans are a restless lot. Exploration seems to be in our bones. The quest for knowledge is not an exclusive motivator in the desire to venture across land, sea, air or cosmic frontiers. 'The practical case for manned spaceflight gets ever-weaker with each advance in robotic probes and fabricators,' Sir Martin Rees, one of the world's leading theoretical astrophysicists, told SPACE.com last week as the rumors swirled. 'Indeed as a scientist I see little purpose in sending people into space at all. But as a human being, I'm nonetheless an enthusiast for space exploration -- to the Moon, to Mars and even beyond -- as a long-range adventure for (at least a few) humans.'"
The Moon would be ideal site for a space observatory. A lunar base would provide an excellent site for any kind of observatory.[1] Particular advantages arise from building observatory facilities on the Moon from lunar materials. As the Moon's rotation is so slow, visible light observatories could perform observations for days at a time. It is possible to maintain near-constant observations on a specific target with a string of such observatories spanning the circumference of the Moon. The fact that the Moon is geologically inactive along with the lack of widespread human activity results in a remarkable lack of mechanical disturbance, making it far easier to set up interferometric telescopes on the lunar surface, even at relatively high frequencies such as visible light.[18]
Moonbase would be ideal staging area for space exploration The energy required to send objects from the Moon to space is much less than from Earth to space. Ease of landing on and launching from the Moon makes it an ideal construction site or fueling station for spacecraft. Some proposals even include using electric acceleration devices (mass drivers) to propel objects off the Moon without building rockets.
Moon is a good testing ground for space exploration/colonization. Ken Murphy. "25 Good Reasons to Go to the Moon." Out of the Cradle. June 14th, 2008: "25) A true space-faring civilization. The Moon is the ideal location to get our feet wet, and getting there can lay the foundation for a civilization that can go beyond the Moon to Mars and the asteroids and other destinations of interest."
There are too few practical reasons to colonize the Moon. Gregg Easterbrook. "Moon Baseless". Slate. Dec. 8, 2006: "The United States will have a permanent base on the moon by the year 2024, NASA officials said on Monday. What does the space agency hope to discover on the moon? The reason it built the base. [...] Coming under a presidency whose slogan might be 'No Price Too High To Accomplish Nothing,' the idea of a permanent, crewed moon base nevertheless takes the cake for preposterousness. Although, of course, the base could yield a great discovery, its scientific value is likely to be small while its price is extremely high. Worse, moon-base nonsense may for decades divert NASA resources from the agency's legitimate missions, draining funding from real needs in order to construct human history's silliest white elephant. [...] What's it for? Good luck answering that question. There is scientific research to be done on the moon, but this could be accomplished by automatic probes or occasional astronaut visits at a minute fraction of the cost of a permanent, crewed facility. Astronauts at a moon base will spend almost all their time keeping themselves alive and monitoring automated equipment, the latter task doable from an office building in Houston. In deadpan style, the New York Times story on the NASA announcement declared, 'The lunar base is part of a larger effort to develop an international exploration strategy, one that explains why and how humans are returning to the moon and what they plan to do when they get there.' Oh–so we'll build the moon base first, and then try to figure out why we built it. [...] NASA itself can't really offer an answer, though it does offer a free, downloadable 'Why the Moon?' poster. According to the poster, a moon base would 'enable eventual settlement' of Earth's satellite—which might happen someday, but represents an absurd waste of tax money in the current generation. (No one has any interest in settling Antarctica, which is much more amenable to life than the moon and can be reached at far less than 1 percent of the cost.) NASA also says there might be commercial opportunities on the moon. Ha! The agency justified the space station partly with the claim that commercial enterprises would pay hefty fees to use the it for microgravity manufacturing; instead, there's been no revenue-generating activity on the space station, other than a golf ball commercial and the space-tourist fees paid to the Russian space agency. If businesses have no profit use for low-Earth orbit, how would they make money on the moon, with at least double the launch expense? Hilariously, NASA says another purpose of the moon base would be to 'create international lunar heritage sites.' We'll preserve that dust for future generations! And the moon base would be the risk to the 'lunar heritage' in the first place."
Colonizing the Moon is mostly about continuing funding to NASA. Gregg Easterbrook. "Moon Baseless". Slate. Dec. 8, 2006: "So, what is it for? Transparently, the true goal of the moon base would be to keep budget lines and contracts flowing to the congressional districts and aerospace contractors wired in to current NASA spending."
Moon-to-Mars: Would colonizing the Moon aid a mission to Mars?
Colonizing the Moon is a good test for colonizing Mars. If the Moon were colonized then it could be tested if humans can survive in microgravity. Those results could be utilized for a viable Mars colony as well.
The Moon is ideal for launching rockets on mission to Mars. A lunar base could also hold a future site for launching rockets, to distant planets such as Mars. Launching rockets from the Moon would be an easier prospect than on Earth due to the Moon's lower gravity requiring a lower escape velocity.
Colonizing the Moon is not a logical step toward Mars Gregg Easterbrook. "Moon Baseless". Slate. Dec. 8, 2006: "Don't we need a moon base to go to Mars? No! When George W. Bush made his Mars-trip speech almost three years ago, he said a moon base should be built to support such a mission. This is gibberish. All concept studies of Mars flight involve an expedition departing from low-Earth orbit and traveling directly to the red planet. Stopping at the moon would require fuel to descend to the lunar surface, then blast off again, which would make any Mars mission hugely more expensive."
Health: Is the colonization of the Moon healthy for humans?
Moon colony would feel comforted by site of large Earth. On the lunar near side, the Earth appears large and is always visible as an object 60 times brighter than the Moon appears from Earth, unlike more distant locations where the Earth would be seen merely as a star-like object, much as the planets appear from Earth. As a result, a lunar colony might feel less remote to humans living there.
Artificial gravity can overcome health risks on Moonbase. Artificial gravity is not a very difficult task to accomplish. The technology already exists in many forms and will continue to advance with a focused effort to develop it for a Moonbase. This will overcome any major health risks associated with the low-gravity levels on the Moon as well as on Mars.
Moonbase advances knowledge of human viability on alien planets. It is critical that humans begin the process of understanding the health implications of living on alien planets, including the Moon, Mars, and possibly others in the distant future. This requires understanding - among other things - the implications of living in a lower-gravity planet, such as the Moon, and developing techniques - such as artificial gravity - to cope with any issues that may arise. The Moon is an ideal place to begin this process.
Low-gravity Moon would be healthier for the elderly. Ken Murphy. "25 Good Reasons to Go to the Moon." Out of the Cradle. June 14th, 2008: "7) Human factors. Having 1/6th of Earth’s gravity, the heart doesn’t have to pump as hard to supply oxygen to the brain. While for a youth this would have an atrophy-type effect, for those advanced in years it can serve a rejuvenative effect, as the heart is suddenly relatively stronger. This allows for longer productive lives for our citizens. And you can fly in a large enough space."
The Moon's gravity is too low for human health. "Why the Moon will Never be Colonized." Phil for Humanity: "The Moon will never be colonized for a single reason. Basically, the Moon’s gravity is less than 17% of Earth’s gravity, and people can not survive long periods of time at such low gravity. [...] Even though people could easily survive short time periods in this low gravity, it would be extremely unhealthy for prolonged periods of time especially when returning to Earth. For instance, long stays in low gravity can and will result with significant loss in bone density and muscle atrophy, just to name the two most common issues with low gravity. However, assuming that the colonization of the Moon is a one-way ticket without ever returning back to Earth and Earth’s higher gravity, adults could live relatively long and mostly healthy lives on the Moon."
Children would not develop properly in low-gravity Moon colony "Why the Moon will Never be Colonized." Phil for Humanity: "The bigger problem with colonizing the Moon is the effects that low gravity will have on children. The human development process has evolved perfectly with Earth’s high gravity. On the Moon, children would most likely develop severe and possibly fatal deformities under low gravity. For instance, their bones would be extremely brittle and break often. Their hearts would be very weak and never fully develop, as well as possibly all of their other muscles too. Children would literally grow to extreme heights that will cause severe complications on the spinal cord and digestive systems, because these organs have limited stretching capabilities. As a result, colonists on the Moon might not be able to have healthy children capable of living long enough to have children of their own."
Human survival: Is colonization of the Moon critical to human survival?
Colonizing the Moon is critical for human survival William Burrows. "Colonize the Moon." Wall Street Journal. February 2, 2007: "The overriding reason to establish a colony on the moon is humanity's survival: Darwin achieves liftoff." The overriding reason to establish a colony on the moon is humanity's survival: Darwin achieves liftoff. [...] Earth has been pummeled by asteroids and probably comets, large and small, throughout its existence. The dinosaurs are thought to have met their end because of a huge asteroid that hit roughly 65 million years ago. But they also may have owed their existence to another huge impactor that killed off their competitors millions of years earlier. As the old saw has it, the giant beasts would still be around if they had had a space program."
Moonbase distracts from protecting against asteroid strike. Gregg Easterbrook. "Moon Baseless". Slate. Dec. 8, 2006: "it borders on criminal that NASA is doing nothing to prepare for a deadly comet or asteroid strike. (The agency says it has already cataloged 835 'potentially hazardous' large space rocks.)"
Feasibility: Is the colonization of the Moon feasible?
The proximity of the Moon to Earth makes it ideal to colonize The Moon is the closest large body in the solar system to Earth. While some Earth-crosser asteroids occasionally pass closer, the Moon's distance is consistently within a small range close to 384,400 km. This proximity has several benefits, making it easier to transport supplies and build a colony, requiring less energy to do so, offering the prospect of emergency rescues and mission abortions, and also enabling timely communications.
A colony at the Lunar north pole would avoid temperature extremes. An exception to the extreme conditions on the moon is the so-called "peaks of eternal light" located at the lunar north pole that are constantly bathed in sunlight. The rim of Shackleton Crater, towards the lunar south pole, also has a near-constant solar illumination. This would be an ideal place for a colony. And, it would enable the full exploitation of solar energy.
A colony at the Lunar north pole could rely on solar energy. because the Moon's axis of rotation is almost perfectly perpendicular to the ecliptic plane, it may be possible to power polar colonies exclusively with solar energy. Power collection stations can be located so that at least one is in sunlight at all times. Some sites have nearly continuous sunlight. For example, Malapert mountain, located near the Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole, offers several advantages as a site:
A Moonbase need not mean permanent "colonization" for visitors. "Why Go Back to the Moon?" NASA. January 14, 2008: "Taking the Los Angeles Times title, 'Don’t colonize the Moon,' at face value, I will first point out that the Vision for Space Exploration proposes an 'outpost' on the Moon. This is hardly colonization in the sense that Europeans colonized North America."
The Moon lacks materials for self-sufficiency. The Moon lacks light elements (volatiles), such as carbon and nitrogen, although there is some evidence of hydrogen near the north and south poles. Additionally, oxygen, though one of the most common elements in the regolith constituting the Moon's surface, is only found bound up in minerals that would require complex industrial infrastructure using very high energy to isolate. Some or all of these volatiles are needed to generate breathable air, water, food, and rocket fuel, all of which would need to be imported from Earth until other cheaper sources are developed. This would limit the colony's rate of growth and keep it dependent on Earth.
Moon dust is an extremely abrasive substance. Moon dust is an extremely abrasive glassy substance formed by micrometeorites and unrounded due to the lack of weathering. It sticks to everything, can damage equipment, and it may be toxic.
A moon colony would be at extreme risk to meteors. The lack of an atmosphere increases the chances of the colonial site being hit by meteors, which would impact upon the surface directly, as they have done throughout the Moon's history. Even small pebbles and dust (micrometeoroids) have the potential to damage or destroy insufficiently protected structures.
Temperature extremes make colonizing the Moon very challenging. The Moon would has very extreme cold and heat, depending on where the sun shines, which presents many challenges to a lunar colony. The lack of a substantial atmosphere for insulation results in temperature extremes and makes the Moon's surface conditions somewhat like a deep space vacuum. It also leaves the lunar surface exposed to half as much radiation as in interplanetary space (with the other half blocked by the moon itself underneath the colony). Although lunar materials would potentially be useful as a simple radiation shield for living quarters, shielding against solar flares during expeditions outside is more problematic. (See also Proton exposure)
Economics: Is the colonization of the Moon economical?
Colonized Moon could export mineral resources to Earth. "Why Go Back to the Moon?" NASA. January 14, 2008: "The Moon may offer mineral resources, so to speak, of great value on Earth. Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt, working with the Fusion Technology Institute of the University of Wisconsin, has shown that helium 3, an isotope extremely rare on Earth, exists in quantity in the lunar soil, implanted by the solar wind. If – a very big if – thermonuclear fusion for energy is produced on Earth, helium 3 would be extremely valuable for fusion reactors because it does not make the reactor radioactive. A more practicable use of helium 3, being tested at the University of Wisconsin, is the production of short-lived medical isotopes. Such isotopes must now be manufactured in cyclotrons and quickly delivered before they decay. But Dr. Schmitt suggests that small helium 3 reactors could produce such isotopes at the hospital. In any event, research on the use of helium 3 would clearly benefit if large quantities could be exported to the Earth."
"25 Good Reasons to Go to the Moon." Out of the Cradle. June 14, 2008: "A good proportion of the Lunar soil returned by astronauts was in the form of glass. Lunar glass has the distinct characteristic of having formed in a water-free environment, making it anhydrous. What advantages this may offer in the field of optics is largely Luna Incognito. Then there’s fiberglass, composites, etc."
Colonizing the Moon will foster space commercialism. Robert Roy Britt. "10 Reasons to Put Humans Back on the Moon." Space.com. December 8, 2003: "3. Foster commercialization [...] There is no agreement among scientists over the role private enterprise ought to play in human spaceflight. Yet already, commercial companies help build the machines that carry astronauts into space. [...] Many experts think space tourism and even certain mining and manufacturing will succeed in space if only entrepreneurs are turned loose (and perhaps assisted with federal money or incentives). [...] "Perhaps future space probes will be plastered in commercial logos, just as Formula I racers are now," Rees says. "Perhaps 'robo-wars' in space will be a lucrative spectator sport."
Colonizing the Moon would be too expensive to justify Gregg Easterbrook. "Moon Baseless". Slate. Dec. 8, 2006: "How much will it cost? NASA said Monday it can build a moon base for about the $10 billion per year it now spends on the (soon-to-be-retired) space shuttle and the space station. (The agency also says that the international community will soon begin funding the space station, but no nation has agreed to this.) Considering that the space station and shuttle cost about $10 billion per year, a moon base might cost much more. The space station is 200 miles away and only goes up, never comes down. The equipment for a moon base would need to be accelerated to a significantly higher speed than was required for the space station, and that means a lot more fuel and a lot more expense. Moon-base ships will also need lots of fuel to descend to the lunar surface, and some will need still more fuel to blast off again. [...] This quickly gets you to a program cost of at least $300 billion to build the moon base."
Growing crops on the moon faces many difficult challenges. This is due to many challenges, including the long lunar night (nearly 15 earth days), extreme variation in surface temperature, exposure to solar flares, and lack of insects for pollination. (Due to the lack of any atmosphere on the Moon, plants would need to be grown in sealed chambers, though experiments have shown that plants can thrive at pressures much lower than those on Earth.) The use of electric lighting to compensate for the 28 day/night might be difficult: a single acre of plants on Earth enjoys a peak 4 megawatts of sunlight power at noon. Experiments conducted by the Soviet space program in the 1970s suggest it is possible to grow conventional crops with the 15 day light, 15 day dark cycle.[22] A variety of concepts for lunar agriculture have been proposed, including the use of minimal artificial light to maintain plants during the night and the use of fast growing crops that might be started as seedlings with artificial light and be harvestable at the end of one lunar day. A farm at the lunar North Pole could provide eight hours of sunlight per day for rotating crops, a beneficial temperature, radiation protection, insects for pollination, and all other plant needs artificially during the local summer for a cost. One estimate suggested a 0.5 hectare space farm could feed 100 people.
Science: Are there good scientific reasons for colonizing the Moon?
Moonbase will help answer remaining scientific questions. Robert Roy Britt. "10 Reasons to Put Humans Back on the Moon." Space.com. December 8, 2003: "4. Gather rocks [...] The Apollo era answered many questions about the Moon. But much was left undone. [...] Scientists see the Moon as an attic of Earth, a place where rocks long ago blasted from our planet are sitting around waiting to be studied. This history has not decayed much because there is almost no atmosphere and little geological activity on the Moon. [...] Earth, on the other hand, regularly recycles clues to its past, pulling material inward, and spitting it back out as unrecognizable lava. [...] 'We are talking about finding material from the very early Earth,' says John Armstrong of the University of Washington in Seattle. 'Samples of the Earth 3.9 to 4.0 billion years ago could tell us a lot about the state of the early atmosphere, what the crust and surface were like, and possibly even when life began to evolve.'"
The Moon is ideal for extra-terrestrial discovery. "Why Go Back to the Moon?" NASA. January 14, 2008: "Another example of Moon-based astronomy can be the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), by radio telescopes that on the far side would be shielded from terrestrial interference. Small telescopes on the Moon’s solid surface could be linked to form interferometer arrays with enormous resolving power. Astronomy in a limited sense has already been done from the Moon, namely the Apollo 16 Ultraviolet telescope emplaced by Apollo astronauts and before that, the simple TV observations of Earth-based lasers by the Surveyor spacecraft. The much-feared lunar dust had no effect on these pioneering instruments."
Manned mission to Moon is less cost-effective than robotic missions. "Don't colonize the moon." LA Times. December 10, 2006: "Manned moon flight may appeal to baby boomers, but it makes little scientific sense for most space missions these days. Robots can now perform, or be developed to perform, most of the tasks people would do at a moon station. And even if the world shares the goal of landing astronauts on Mars, this is a roundabout way to achieve it. Why re-create the old technologies for going to the moon when they are of no use to get to Mars?"
Manned mission: Is a manned mission to the Moon a good idea?
A manned presence on the Moon is superior to a robotic one "Why Go Back to the Moon?" NASA. January 14, 2008: "Taking the Los Angeles Times title, 'Don’t colonize the Moon,' at face value [...] The Times editorial echoes identical arguments advanced in the early 1960s, that robotic missions could produce as much as manned ones. The US did in fact have a large robotic lunar program, including 3 Rangers, 5 Surveyors, 5 Lunar Orbiters, and 2 Radio Astronomy Explorers, not counting the few unsuccessful missions. So NASA did use robots in our first lunar program. But as argued at the time, human abilities on the surface later proved far superior to robotic ones."
Preserve Earth, but Moon colony safeguards against asteroid event. "Why Go Back to the Moon?" NASA. January 14, 2008: "The bleak conclusion to which these facts point is that humanity is vulnerable as long as we are confined to one planet. Obviously, we must increase our efforts to preserve this planet and its biosphere, an effort in which NASA satellites have played a vital role for many years. But uncontrollable external events may destroy our civilization, perhaps our species. We can increase our chances of long-term survival by dispersal to other sites in the solar system."
Politics: Will a colony on the Moon improve the political relations between states?
Colonizing the Moon will improve cooperation between States. Robert Roy Britt. "10 Reasons to Put Humans Back on the Moon." Space.com. December 8, 2003: "2. Bring nations together Just as the International Space Station packed explorers from previously antagonistic nations into tight quarters, an effort to return to the Moon could bring nations together in an era of increasing international tension, some analysts say. China, with its own lunar ambitions, is a good example of a country the United States might want to work more closely with. 'I think the international public would cheer a program designed as a flagship for how space technology can be a role model for letting technicians of various countries work together in programs that would benefit all of us,' said William K. Hartmann, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson."
Territorial claims on the Moon will become a source of conflict. Just as humans staked out claims on Earth's North Pole, it is also likely that different countries will begin staking claims to territory on the Moon. This creates the possibility of raising tensions between nations.
Pro/con sources:
Sam Dinkin. "Colonize the Moon before Mars." The Space Review. September 7, 2004
William Burrows. "Colonize the Moon." Wall Street Journal. February 2, 2007
"Why Go Back to the Moon?" NASA. January 14, 2008
"Gaia Selene - Saving the Earth by Colonizing the Moon." (2005)
Richard Hollingham. "Why go back to the Moon?" BBC. July 19, 2009
Robert Roy Britt. "10 Reasons to Put Humans Back on the Moon." Space.com. December 8, 2003
Michael Potter. "Back to the Moon: What's the Point." LA Times. July 24, 2009
Ken Murphy. "25 Good Reasons to Go to the Moon." Out of the Cradle. June 14th, 2008
"Why the Moon will Never be Colonized." Phil for Humanity
"Don't colonize the moon." LA Times. December 10, 2006
Gregg Easterbrook. "Moon Baseless". Slate. Dec. 8, 2006
Ian O'Neill. "John Glenn Speaks Out Against Future Moon Base." Universe Today. August 1st, 2008
Bill Nye. "No moon base needed." LA Times. July 24, 2009
Debate: Mission to the Moon or Mars?
Debate: Space exploration
Debate: Funding for space exploration
Debate: Mission to mars
Debate: Manned mission to Mars
Debate: Manned space flight
Debate: One-way, one-person mission to Mars
Debate: Moonbase
Debate: Should humans colonize outer space?
"Moon Colonization." News Flavor. April 9, 2008
Retrieved from "http://www.dbp.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:_Colonization_of_the_Moon"
Categories: Underdeveloped debates | Space | Moon | Mars | Planets | Society | Science | Sci-fi | Technology | Future
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Qualified advisers answering your
Financial Questions
Home » News & Guides » Cost of flooding could exceed £1.5 billion
Cost of flooding could exceed £1.5 billion
The cost of heavy flooding through the north of England could exceed £1.5 billion according to accountancy firm PwC.
Small businesses and insurance firms will be hit the hardest, and further rainfall could push the total even higher. Consultancy firm HIS has claimed that the flooding and damage caused by storms Eva and Desmond could wipe up to 0.2% of the UK’s economic output this year.
Over the weekend The Environmental Agency issued almost 30 severe flood warnings meaning danger to life in the north-east and north-west of England. There have also been more than 180 less severe flood warnings across England and Wales.
Insurance companies are set to bear much of the total cost of the flooding, somewhere between £700 million and £1 billion of the total cost so far. This will have a detrimental effect on relevant insurers' year-end profitability.
As well as insurers, small, family run businesses are set to be severely effected by the flooding, particularly those who don’t have insurance. The floods will also dent consumer confidence, and might even wipe out some small businesses altogether.
Justin Urquhart Stewart, of Seven Investment Management, said:
"It's not just a money issue, it's a morale issue and that morale is the crucial element to running an economy.
"Something like this can not only knock them back, it can knock them out altogether."
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If you have any personal finance questions related to this news article, then please contact our financial advisers. You can get in touch by asking a question online, calling us on 0800 092 1245, or by arranging a visit.
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Office of Fair Trading looking at UK infrastructure companies
The Office of Fair Trading is set to embark on a groundbreaking exercise to create a list of all essential economic infrastructure in the UK and detail ownership and control of these assets. While this will not include items such as schools and hospitals it will include water companies, electric companies and other utility companies which are central to the UK business and consumer arena. Once... Read More
International Monetary Fund Chief warns of dark 2009
In what is currently one of the more blunt messages for 2009 the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is suggesting that 2009 could be an even worse experience for the worldwide economy compared to 2008. The IMF believes that unless governments act in unison and pump more and more money into the financial markets there could be a serious slowdown and possible depression over the next few... Read More
Is Germany Dragging The Rest Of Europe Down?
News that the German economy is struggling badly has cast a dark shadow over the rest of Europe with the German economy being very much a leader in the EU. A recent business report suggested that business sentiment was as low as it has been since the 1990s and looks set to get worse in the short term.
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City analysts forecast 3 million unemployed by 2010
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UK 'hardest hit in Europe' by crunch
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Jerry Yang’s 2007 WSOP Corum Watch on eBay
21st July 2014 // Gossip, News
If you want to own a piece of poker history, you have until Thursday night (EST) to go for it. The Corum Admiral’s Cup watch awarded to Jerry Yang for winning the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is being auctioned off on eBay.
The watch is not actually being sold by Yang himself, but rather a third party who came into possession of it last year. Last spring, Yang had sixteen pieces of jewelry, including the watch and his 2007 WSOP Main Event bracelet, seized by the Internal Revenue Service and auctioned off because he owed back taxes. According to the Notice of Encumbrances posted on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s website, Yang had a massive federal tax lien of $571,894.54, plus a few thousand owed to the state of California.
Corum Watch Awarded to Jerry Yang for Winning the 2007 WSOP Main Event
On April 4th, 2013, the items were sold at auction by the IRS. The eBay seller apparently bought the Corum WSOP watch, a Movado watch, and a Wittnauer watch, lots four, five, and seven of the auction, according to documentation he posted with the eBay listing. As this article is being written, there have been 38 bids on the Corum watch, with a top bid of $1,500. The auction ends at 8:14pm EST Thursday. The seller wrote in the listing that the watch “retails by Corum for more than $9000 and that is without the provenance of having been won during the World Series of Poker Main Event.” Looking at listings for similar Corum Admiral’s Cup watches on online jewelry retailer Ashford.com, full retail price seems to be anywhere from $6,550 to $22,000, depending on the specific watch. The prices listed for sale on the site, though, range from $3,115 to $11,000. There does not seem to be an exact match for Yang’s watch (it was, after all, awarded seven years ago), but it perhaps looks most like one on the least expensive end of the scale. As the seller said, though, its historical significance could add to the value, depending on the prospective buyer.
Jerry Yang’s tax troubles were, according to the Main Event champion himself, the result of unintentionally poor decision-making after his $8.25 million victory. In an interview with Fifth Street Radio in March 2013, Yang explained the mess:
I did pay my state taxes, over $900,000. Unfortunately, I’m not going to blame anybody but myself, but I encountered people that I thought I could trust and would give me good advice, but unfortunately some of the people that I hired or got on my team were advising me in the wrong way, if you will. So I did make some mistakes, and what made the matter worse was that in April of 2008, when it was time to pay the federal tax, there was a financial crisis with the Bank of America, and that’s where I put my money in. Unfortunately, all my funds were locked away, were frozen if you will, and so I wasn’t able to pay my federal taxes on time. Due to penalties the amount that I owed at that point, after I paid everything, I owed roughly between $150,000-$170,000 due to penalties and things like that. That’s why I owe the IRS a little bit more than that today. That is basically the story. Again, I don’t have anybody to blame but myself.
When he won the World Series of Poker Main Event, Jerry Yang pledged ten percent of his winnings (in sum) to three charities: the Make-a-Wish Foundation, Feed the Children, and the Ronald McDonald House. He made good on that promise, though he said he made the mistake of making the contributions before paying taxes, thus leaving himself with less money in the bank.
Yang also put $540,000 down in 2009 to open Pocket 8’s Sushi and Grill in Merced, California, a restaurant he named after his Main Event winning hand. In the Fifth Street Radio interview, he said that the restaurant was doing well, so he wasn’t worried about his future well-being. The restaurant has gotten mediocre reviews on Yelp, being reviewed 99 times and earning just two and a half out of a possible five stars. Negative reviews tend to focus on the service and the quality of the sushi. Reviews of non-sushi items are mixed, but are generally positive, even if not glowing. While some customers are turned off by the abundance of poker and Jerry Yang-centric décor, those who have met him at the restaurant have said he is extremely nice.
No matter his tax problems or what one thinks of him as a poker player, it would be an extremely rare occurrence to hear someone say an unkind word about Jerry Yang as a person. He was generally criticized by poker fans for being a luckbox who just got hit by the deck at the final table, but at the same time, he has never made himself out to be the poker gods’ gift to the game. No, his face won’t be on the Mount Rushmore of poker, but he enjoyed his moment and remained humble and most poker fans were able to appreciate that.
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2008年12月英语六级快速阅读真题及答案
Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)
Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1.
For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D].
For questions 8 -10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
Supersize Surprise
Ask anyone why there is an obesity epidemic and they will tell you that it’s al down to eating too much and burning too few calories. That explanation appeals to common sense and has dominated efforts to get to the root of the obesity epidemic and reverse it. Yet obesity researchers are increasingly dissatisfied with it. Many now believe that something else must have changed in our environment to precipitate(促成) such dramatic rises in obesity over the past 40 years or so. Nobody is saying that the “big two” – reduced physical activity and increased availability of food – are not important contributors to the epidemic, but they cannot explain it all.
Earlier this year a review paper by 20obesity experts set out the 7 most plausible alternative explanations for the epidemic. Here they are.
1.Not enough sleep
It is widely believed that sleep is for the brain, not the body. Could a shortage of shut-eye also be helping to make us fat?
Several large-scale studies suggest there may be a link. People who sleep less than 7 hours a night tend to have a higher body mass index than people who sleep more, according to data gathered by the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Similarly, the US Nurses’ Health Study, which tracked 68,000 women for 16 years, found that those who slept an average of 5 hours a night gained more weight during the study period than women who slept 6 hours, who in turn gained more than whose who slept 7.
It’s well known that obesity impairs sleep, so perhaps people get fat first and sleep less afterwards. But the nurses’ study suggests that it can work in the other direction too: sleep loss may precipitate weight gain.
Although getting figures is difficult, it appears that we really are sleeping less. In 1960 people in the US slept an average of 8.5 hours per night. A 2002 poll by the National Sleep Foundation suggests that the average has fallen to under 7 hours, and the decline is mirrored by the increase in obesity.
2. Climate control
We humans, like all warm-blooded animals, can keep our core body temperatures pretty much constant regardless of what’s going on in the world around us. We do this by altering our metabolic(新陈代谢的) rate, shivering or sweating. Keeping warm and staying cool take energy unless we are in the “thermo-neutral zone”, which is increasingly where we choose to live and work.
There is no denying that ambient temperatures(环境温度) have changed in the past few decades. Between 1970 and 2000, the average British home warmed from a chilly 13C to 18C. In the US, the changes have been at the other end of the thermometer as the proportion of homes with air conditioning rose from 23% to 47% between 1978 and 1997. In the southern states – where obesity rates tend to be highest – the number of houses with air conditioning has shot up to 71% from 37% in 1978.
Could air conditioning in summer and heating in winter really make a difference to our weight?
Sadly，there is some evidence that it does-at least with regard to heating. Studies show that in comfortable temperatures we use less energy.
3. Less smoking
Bad news: smokers really do tend to be thinner than the rest of us, and quitting really does pack on the pounds, though no one is sure why. It probably has something to do with the fact that nicotine is an appetite suppressant an appears to up your metabolic rate.
Katherine Flegal and colleagues at the US National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, have calculated that people kicking the habit have been responsible for a small but significant portion of the US epidemic of fatness. From data collected around 1991 by the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, they worked out that people who had quit in the previous decade were much more likely to be overweight than smokers and people who had never smoked .Among men, for example, nearly half of quitters were overweight compared with 37% of non-smokers and only 28%of smokers.
4. Genetic effects
Yours chances of becoming fat may be set, at least in part, before you were even born. Children of obese mothers are much more likely to become obese themselves later in life. Offspring of mice fed a high-fat diet during pregnanc are much more likely to become fat than the offspring of identical mice fed a normal diet. Intriguingly, the effect persists for two or three generations. Grandchildren of mice fed a high-fat diet grow up fat even if their own mother is fed normally-so you fate may have been sealed even before you were conceived.
5. A little older…
Some groups of people just happen to be fatter than others. Surveys carried out by the US national center for health statistics found that adults aged 40 to 79 were around three times as likely to be obese as younger people. Non-white females also tend to fall at the fatter end of the spectrum: Mexican-American women are 30% more likely than white women to be obsess, and black women have twice the risk.
In the US, these groups account for an increasing percentage of the population. Between 1970 and 2000 the US population aged 35 to 44 grew by43%.the proportion of Hispanic-Americans also grew, from under 5% to 12.5% of the population, while the proportion of black Americans increased from 11% to12.3%.these changes may account in part for the increased prevalence of obesity.
6. Mature mums
Mothers around the world are getting older. in the UK, the mean age for having a first child is 27.3,compared with 23.7 in 1970 .mean age at first birt in the US has also increased, rising from 21.4 in 1970 to 24.9 in 2000.
This would be neither here nor there if it weren’t for the observation that having an older mother seems to be an independent risk factor for obesity. Results from the US national heart, lung and blood institute’s study found that the odds of a child being obese increase 14% for every five extra years of their mother’s age, though why this should be so is not entirely clear.
Michael Symonds at the University of Nottingham, UK, found that first-bor children have more fat than younger ones. As family size decreases, firstborn account for a greater share of the population. In 1964, British women gave birth to an average of 2.95 children; by 2005 that figure had fallen to 1.79. In the US in1976, 9.6% of woman in their 40s had only one child; in 2004 it was 17.4%. this combination of older mothers and more single children could be contributing to the obesity epidemic.
7. Like marrying like
Just as people pair off according to looks, so they do for size. Lean people are more likely to marry lean and fat more likely to marry fat. On its own, like marrying like cannot account for any increase in obesity. But combined with others—particularly the fact that obesity is partly genetic, and that heavier people have more children—it amplifies the increase form other causes.
1. What is the passage mainly about?
A) Effects of obesity on people’s health
B) The link between lifestyle and obesity
C) New explanations for the obesity epidemic
D) Possible ways to combat the obesity epidemic
2. In the US Nurse’ Health Study, women who slept an average of 7 hours night_______.
A) gained the least weight
B) were inclined to eat less
C) found their vigor enhanced
D) were less susceptible to illness
3. The popular belief about obesity is that___________.
A) it makes us sleepy
B) it causes sleep loss
C) it increases our appetite
D) it results from lack of sleep
4. How does indoor heating affect our life?
A) it makes us stay indoors more
B) it accelerates our metabolic rate
C) it makes us feel more energetic
D) it contributes to our weight gain
5. What does the author say about the effect of nicotine on smokers?
A) it threatens their health
B) it heightens their spirits
C) it suppresses their appetite
D) it slows down their metabolism
6. Who are most likely to be overweight according to Katherine Fergal’s study?
A) heavy smokers
B) passive smokers
C) those who never smoke
D) those who quit smoking
7. According to the US National Center for Health Statistics, the increased obesity in the US is a result of_______.
A) the growing number of smokers among young people
B) the rising proportion of minorities in its population
C) the increasing consumption of high-calorie foods
D) the improving living standards of the poor people
8. According to the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the reason why older mothers’ children tend to be obese remains __________.
9. According to Michael Symonds, one factor contributing to the obesity epidemic is decrease of ___________.
10. When two heavy people get married, chances of their children getting fat increase, because obesity is _____________.
1. C. New explanations for the obesity epidemic.
2. A. gained the least weight
3. B. it causes sleep loss
4. D. It contributes to our weight gain.
5. C. It suppresses their appetite.
6. D. Those who quit smoking.
7. B. the rising proportion of minorities in its population
8. not entirely clear
9. family size
10. partly genetic
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Ken Griffey Jr. done In 2007
Posted by Milo Taibi Categories: Athletes, Injuries, MLB,
Because of a strained groin, Cincinnati Reds’ star outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. will call it a day for his 2007 season. He hit 30 home runs this year, with 93 RBI’s with a .277 batting average. Griffey left his Wednesday game against the Chicago Cubs because of the groin injury.
“You hope its not as bad as it feels,” said Ken.
Click to continue reading Ken Griffey Jr. done In 2007
Gallery: Ken Griffey Jr. done In 2007
American League Defeats National League In All Star Game
Posted by Milo Taibi Categories: Athletes, MLB, News,
The National league got off to the better start in this year’s MLB All Star Game, but the American League had the last laugh coming away with the victory. The final score was 5-4, with Ichiro hitting the first ever inside the park home run in the All Star Game history. Home Runs were also hit by Victor Martinez, Carl Crawford, and Alfonso Soriano. Ken Griffey Jr. also had the first two runs batted in for the National league. The win went to Josh Beckett, and the loss went to San Diego Padres pitcher Chris Young. Barry bonds was lifted from left field in the fourth inning after going 0-2. He predicted that he would go hitless, because of the part he attended the night before.
“Forgive me when I go 0-for-5. The party was more fun,” Bonds said before Tuesday night’s All-Star game. “I don’t stay up past 11 or 12 ‘cause I get up and train every morning.”
However he still did claim to have a great night at the All Star Game.
“I’m lost for words with it,” Bonds said. “There’s too many emotions to be able to explain it. This is my family who I grew up with for a lot of years. All I can do is say, ‘thank you.”
Click to continue reading American League Defeats National League In All Star Game
Gallery: American League Defeats National League In All Star Game
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If anything is excellent or praiseworthy -think about such things. Philippians 4:8
Good vs. Evil
I’ve been thinking a bit lately about the blurring of the lines between good and evil considering the state of politics currently and the continued controversy of the US election. There’s so much energy and passion growing on both ends of the spectrum and it concerns me. How do we look at this as followers of Jesus?
In younger days I was a fan of WWF wrestling (yes, its true!) and loved to watch the stories unfold of the ‘good guys’ vs. the ‘bad guys’. There were very clear lines between the two and you could always tell when someone was going to switch from one side to the other. It was like a soap opera for men! Also, the predictability of good ultimately triumphing over evil and ‘good is good’ and ‘bad is bad’ was very comforting.
Not so today.
Today we have the WWE and there are no such distinctions. The good guys are bad and the bad guys badder. This trend is not limited to the world of wrestling. We see heroes in strange places. Games like Assassin’s Creed has the assassin as hero and defender of good while those who would have traditionally been thought of as virtuous (knights) are the bad guys. The Grand Theft Auto franchise glorifies extreme criminal activity while lifting up the perpetrators as the heroes. Evil has not only become acceptable, it’s become cool and draws people to it.
Even the Stormtroopers from the recent Star Wars movie have been redeemed in a way and are viewed as heroic by many within the Star Wars universe (if only it weren’t for those pesky movies where they’re shown as bad!). So now we have trouble saying anyone is good or anyone is bad. It’s all a matter of perception.
This all speaks to the relativism of our time and the decay of the concept of absolute truth. Evil has always been tempting in some ways, that is sin nature, but to redeem it and legitimize it is building for us a sad legacy. The most dangerous part of it though is when it becomes cool and those who represent it are viewed as heroes. Their actions, no matter how wicked become not only rationalized but also become attractive to those looking at the example.
Where are the days when Paul’s encouragement to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:22 to “flee the evil desires of youth” were something to measure our lives by? Perhaps they’ve been lost since we’ve forgotten the second part of that verse: “…and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
It’s a matter of the heart and an issue of what we focus on. It’s easy to blame the devil for these circumstances but much of it comes down to the choices we make. Do we resist the devil as Jesus did when He was tempted in Matthew 4 or as we’re called to do in James 4:7? Do we compromise and accept a watering down of the heroic ideal or do we pursue righteousness?
Where can you resist the evil in your life? What true heroes can you raise up? While these days may be discouraging, we can take heart since in the end, we know that good ultimately triumphs over evil and there will be no blurring of the lines when that happens. Read Revelation 20 and see for yourself!
Pastor Chris
"At GBC we're serious about the Bible, serious about the truths that are found in it and living in Him but also like to laugh, cry and experience life together."
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News / Austin helps set up new industrial heritage group
Austin helps set up new industrial heritage group
Posted by Ian Austin 621pc on November 20, 2013
Dudley MP Ian Austin is helping establish a new Parliamentary group to promote Britain’s industrial heritage.
The new All-Party Parliamentary Group on Industrial Heritage will work to build cross-party support for industrial museums such as the Black Country Museum, as well as heritage centres and other organisations across the country.
Austin is calling for other local MPs of all parties to join the group and support local heritage sites like the Black Country Living Museum.
Ian Austin MP said:
“I grew up here, I love the place and there’s no-one prouder than me of Dudley’s history as the place that fired the spark that lit the Industrial Revolution.
“I remember helping out at the site that was to become the Black Country Museum in the 1980s, and this new Parliamentary group will help showcase the museum and Dudley’s other world-class industrial heritage sites.
“We need to be proud of our past and take inspiration from it as we forge a new industrial revolution and bring high-tech manufacturing jobs into the region.”
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Scientists demonstrate more fallacies of “manmade global warming”
It seems that every few weeks we hear or see some scientific data that seriously challenges the politically correct notion that the activities of man, burning fossil fuels for energy, are irreversibly and catastrophically damaging the Earth’s atmosphere and causing global temperatures to rise to dangerous levels.
There are two competing ideas about the last two decades of global temperatures: One says temperatures have plateaued for the last 18 years, but the other that says the rising temperature trend has continued through that period.
According to a CNS News story Dr. John Christy, professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth System Science Center (ESSC) at the University of Alabama/Huntsville, argues that there has been no global warming for at least the last 18 years, and bases that position on actual raw temperature data he and fellow University of Alabama/Huntsville professor and NASA scientist Dr. Roy Spencer collected from 14 instruments aboard various weather satellites.
However, in a story in The Washington Post, a group of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say that based upon their analysis of new surface temperature data and corrections to old data that NOAA knew were imperfect, there has been no break in global warming.
Some questions arise from these diametrically opposed opinions.
• Which of the two methods of measuring global temperature – surface temperatures, used by the NOAA team, or satellite observations, used by Drs. Christy and Spencer – is the most accurate? Or is some combination of the two, or some other method, more accurate?
• If trained scientists do not, cannot or will not agree on what the truth is about whether temperatures are rising or not, how can the rest of us understand climate changes?
• Since the outcome of its analysis confirmed NOAA’s previously held idea about global temperatures increasing, and in light of previous manipulation of data by some well-known scientists, should we be concerned about NOAA “correcting” data it “knew were imperfect?”
Just last month The Daily Caller reported on a paper stating that the global temperature change observed over the last hundred years or so is well within the natural variability of the last 8,000 years.
What this means is that even if the global temperature has risen as the global warming faction says, it shouldn’t be a cause for concern, since global temperatures have been in the current range before, and long before man started doing the things the global warming gang thinks are responsible for the increase.
The paper was written by Dr. Philip Lloyd, a South Africa-based physicist and climate researcher, who examined ice core-based temperature data going back 8 millennia. Dr. Lloyd is a former lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC), the body that is perhaps the most honored authority for climate opinion, and an organization that supports manmade global warming.
The work of Dr. Lloyd, Dr. Christy and Dr. Spencer is out of the mainstream of climate opinion, a mainstream that is shrinking, as more of its members question the “settled science” of rising global temperatures due to the burning of fossil fuels, and recognize the failure of dozens of flawed climate models that predict warming that many scientists argue hasn’t occurred. More and more, this line of thinking appears more political than scientific.
One danger of politically influenced science is that some ideologically motivated government agency will use it as an excuse to impose draconian measures to achieve political goals, some of which are unachievable, and others that are dangerous to our economic system and well-being. Enter the Environmental Protection Agency, arguably the most harmful of the abundant federal bureaucracies that increasingly control our every word, thought and deed.
In its headlong effort to crush the economies of coal mining states and destroy businesses that rely in whole or in part on coal, the EPA has overdriven its headlights with a scheme that depends upon faking science.
The EPA attempted to impose a rule that mandates the use of so-called carbon capture and storage, where CO2 from burning coal would be injected underground instead of being released into the air. The agency was quite content to put this rule into effect, despite knowing that the method does not work.
“We submitted comments for the record explaining that EPA had made a mockery of the interagency review process, ignoring the government's own experts in order to push an ideological agenda,” the Energy and Environment Legal Institute’s Chris Horner said. Mr. Horner’s organization has forced the EPA to back down on imposing the rule, but a report by Inside EPA says that the White House may force the EPA to go to court and defend a process that it had to admit doesn’t work and is thereby legally indefensible.
Here is a multiple-choice question: Why would a federal agency attempt to impose a process on coal burning facilities that it knows doesn’t work?
A. It believes it has unlimited power
B. It cares little about the repercussions of its actions
C. Its employees serve ideological and political masters instead of the American people
The EPA is upside-down.
Posted by James Shott at 6/09/2015 08:46:00 AM
Labels: Big Brother, Big Government, Climate Change, Climate Fraud., EPA, Global Warming, Government Tyranny, Political Correctness
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George Whitefield College
www.gwc.ac.za
George Whitefield College[1] (abbrev GWC) is a Christian theological college which is reformed and evangelical situated in Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa, and is named after the 18th-century English evangelist George Whitefield. It was founded in 1989 on the initiative of Bishop Joe Bell, then presiding bishop of the Church of England in South Africa, and its founding Principal was David Broughton Knox,[2] who had for 27 years been Principal of Moore Theological College, Sydney.
Knox's vision was for "the best theological college in Africa", teaching the "whole counsel of God", sending out well trained and effective students who would make an impact in the communities they would serve. The college at that time made use of some of the Bible Institute's facilities and lecturers to augment its own program, and purchased some buildings for its own use nearby. Of the 28 students linked to GWC in its first year, only six graduated in 1990 as members of GWC; the others graduated from the Bible Institute and were only linked to GWC as they were seeking training for ministry in the CESA. After a several years at the college Dr Knox retired and was succeeded by Dr David Seccombe in 1993. The author of several books and commentaries, Dr Seccombe has recently published "The King of God's Kingdom" which has been well received internationally. Under his leadership the college has been developed considerably, and in 1998 it moved from its original Kalk Bay premises to a property on Beach Road Muizenberg. Since then a number of other buildings have been acquired, most of them residential in order to accommodate the growing student body. In 2013 David Seccombe was succeeded by Mark Dickson.
The GWC faculty in 2013 totals eight full-time members and numerous part-time lecturers. The administration comprises a registrar, assistant registrar, business manager, IT manager, library director, student services manager, a librarian and two development managers. The Explore correspondence course is internally managed, and currently has 100 enrolments in about 10 countries, including Madagascar and Thailand. The library (which started off as Dr Knox's substantial personal library) has grown to 35,000 volumes (adding in about 800 new titles each year), and is housed in a custom-built resource centre. There are currently over 80 full-time undergraduates enrolled for the 3 year BTh, and in the Postgraduate program there are 7 in honours, 11Masters students, and 5 engaged in doctoral studies. Students have the use of a computer centre as well as an intranet, along with wireless access to the internet. Lecture rooms are equipped with data projectors and modern seating. Applications for study flow in from all over the world and it is not uncommon to have students from Chile, England, Germany, Korea and Australia. Most however come from Africa, with the majority from South Africa.
The bulk of the enrollments are for a BTh in Pastoral Ministry, but the college has for many years offered a BTh in Children's Ministry, a unique degree. There is also a fully accredited one year Certificate qualification, and each year several students prior to any engagement with other studies, come to the college for some theological grounding. At the commencement of each year, there is an 8 day language school which introduces the rudiments of Biblical Greek and Hebrew, and is open to members of the public.
In 1997 GWC became affiliated with Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, now known as North-West University and with Dr Seccombe an accredited external New Testament professor of NWU. Up until 2010, most students of GWC were also students of NWU, and although they studied at GWC with GWC’s curriculum, they were able to graduate with the Bachelor of Theology, the Bachelor of Arts Honours, and the Master of Arts from NWU. Since January 2010 GWC has offered its own BTh program, one that has been fully accredited by the Council for Higher Education.
In 2008 the research wing of the college received a boost via the appointment of full-time director Dr Ben Dean (PhD Systematic Theology Cambridge). GWC encourages scholars to join the GWC Post Graduate Fellowship and to live and study on the college campus. The director and his team assist students in writing their research proposals and finding their way through their post-grad studies. Regular seminars are held where researchers can share their progress. Visiting scholars spend time at GWC and conduct PostGraduate modules: In 2011 Dr Paul Bowers (New Testament), in 2012 Dr Abel Ndjerareou (Old Testament), Dr George Athas (Hebrew), Dr Peter Bolt (New Testament) and as special guest in Feb 2013 Dr Mark Thompson, principal elect of Moore Theological College. GWC has also employed new PhDs in a postdoc capacity resulting in the publishing of several books: Dr Vhumani Magezi on Pastoral counselling and Aids in Southern Africa (2011), and Dr Fabulous Moyo in the area of Church history in Malawi (2012).
GWC is keen to continue developing in the area of practical theology, and in 2009 acquired a new faculty member to oversee this. The college in its efforts to promote evangelism and to stimulate thinking in regard to applying the Bible in local contexts, seconded one of its faculty members Jomo Mchunu to the planning team for the Lausanne conference held in Cape Town in October 2010. In addition, the college became a Globalink partner so as to offer the benefits of the conference to a wider public. In 2012 Bishop Frank Retief took over the Evangelism course.
To stimulate public interest and support, GWC hosts an annual lecture which in October 2009 was given by former member of faculty Dr James Krohn on the topic of Calvin as preacher of the Word. In October 2010 Dr John Azumah delivered this lecture. In 2012 this lecture was given by Dr Ashley Null.
Some graduates of GWC have produced instruction manuals to provide grassroots training, and in one case have founded an organization to assist in the task.[3] The manuals have been translated into several African languages and workshops have been held in the respective countries .
GWC seeks to maintain friendly ties with the Bible Institute of South Africa situated in Kalk Bay in Cape Town,[4] and two sister CESA colleges: the Johannesburg Bible College[5] and the Kwazulu-Natal Missionary and Bible College (KMBC) formerly Trinity Academy.[6] The college also enjoys close ties with several local churches including St James Church Kenilworth whose rector is former GWC vice principal Dr Mervyn Eloff.[7] The college is also keen to maintain ties with former students and faculty, and supports the creation of electronic pages by students to this end - see GWC Facebook page[8]
George Whitefield College is overseen by a board of directors chaired by Bishop Frank Retief up till September 2010, but recently succeeded by Bishop Desmond Inglesby currently the presiding bishop of the Church of England in South Africa. The board is fully compliant with demands set by King 3.
↑ http://www.gwc.ac.za
↑ http://acl.asn.au/resources/david-broughton-knox-what-we-owe-to-him/
↑ http://www.kingscrosstraining.com
↑ http://www.bisa.org.za/
↑ http://www.jbc.org.za
↑ Email: trinityacademy@holytrinitypmb.org.za
↑ http://www.stjames.org.za
↑ http://ml-in.facebook.com/group.php?gid=41504253639
South African universities
FOTIM
Traditional universities
Fort Hare
Witwatersrand
Comprehensive universities
Walter Sisulu
Mangosuthu
Planned universities
Sol Plaatje
Design and Art Schools
AFDA
Inscape Design College
The Open Window School of Visual Communication
Theological seminaries
Auckland Park Theological Seminary
Baptist Theological College of Southern Africa
Doxa Deo School of Divinity
South African Theological Seminary
CIDA City Campus
CTI Education Group
Damelin
IMM Graduate School of Marketing
Midrand Graduate Institute
Regenesys Business School
St Augustine College of South Africa
Stenden University South Africa
DHEAT
South African Technology Network
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=George_Whitefield_College&oldid=1265157"
Seminaries and theological colleges in South Africa
Religious organizations established in 1989
Educational institutions established in 1989
Anglican organizations established in the 20th century
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Reading on a Theme: Girls Disguised as Boys
They are resourceful, plucky, and, in many cases, out of options. They are girls disguised as boys.
First in a New Series:
Defy by debut author Sara B. Larson is the story of Alexa who, disguised as a Alex, serves as a guard for the prince of Antion, a country at war. Alexa guards prince Damian because it's her duty, but she's pretty convinced that he is smug, stuck-up, and wimpy. Things are, of course, not as they seem, and more than one person wears a mask. The adventure in Defy is solid, the stakes are definitely high, and a lot happens. There are multiple layers of secrets, and the pace at which they are revealed is good. I liked that Alexa is a darn good sword fighter and able to hold her own. Here's hoping that Larson can make this fantasy series truly epic. Defy is out January 7, 2014 Review copy from NetGalley.
Steampunk World War I:
Leviathan is set during an alternate 1914. The world is on the brink of war. Alek, the son of murdered Archduke Ferdinand and Princess Sophie, must run for his life in his Stormwalker--a giant, mechanical war machine that walks on two legs. Deryn is a Scottish girl who disguises herself as a boy so that she can join the Air Services. The two cross paths aboard the Leviathan, the crown jewel of the British Air Force, a giant hydrogen airbeast, fabricated from the DNA of hundreds of animals. I loved Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan Series. The books are a fantastical romp around the world, from England and Austria to Switzerland and the Ottoman Empire to Russia and the United States. I wish I could read more about this amazing setting and the characters who populate it.
Fantastical China:
Eon is competing to become a Dragoneye. He is one of the few that can see the Energy Dragons. As a Dragoneye he will commune with his Energy Dragon to help control the forces of nature. The thing is, Eon is really Eona, a girl, and she doesn't just see one Energy Dragon, she sees them all. All that is, except the Mirror Dragon, who was lost eons ago. Alison Goodman creates a captivating and complex world in Eon. The twelve Energy Dragons correspond to the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Although I can understand her hesitation and fear due to the danger of being a woman in a man's world, I often wished that Eona would own up to her true self. I want Eona to really embrace her true self and her power.
Magic in the Regency Period:
Kim, of A Matter of Magic (Mairelon #1-2) by Patricia Wrede, knows life on the streets only holds a few options for a young girl so she lives her life disguised as a boy, thieving her way through the busy city. However, when she’s sent to steal from a mysterious travelling magician, her life is turned upside down. Mairelon offers to train Kim in the ways of magic and together they work to clear Mairelon’s name. This alternate history is part mystery and part fantasy and will leave you wondering how everything will come together.
The Classic Fantasy:
I could not write a post about girls disguised as boys without including Alanna, who, for me, is the ultimate girl in disguise. In The First Adventure Alanna and her twin brother Tom switch places so that Tom can get a magical education and Alanna can train to become a knight in a world where there is no such thing as female knights. The Song of the Lioness series is a great introduction to master story-teller Tamora Pierce's Tortall, which at present, spans 18 books with more to come. Alanna holds a special place in my heart and on my bookshelves.
Labels: books, reading on a theme
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Holiday Reads: Wit, Weddings and Happiness
All the signs of the holidays are present. Chestnuts are roasting by an open fire. The lights are twinkling and the somewhere the little drummer boy is tap-tap-tapping away, setting up a tempo for our holiday heartbeats to synchronize to. It's cold outside and (if you're lucky) the snow has fallen, and all that's left to do now is curl up with a good book to pass the time until Santa and the gang roll up. So, here are a few merry tales to tide you into the new year.
Note: They are not in the least holiday related, but they are cheery nevertheless.
Hector and the Search for Happiness by François Lelord
What is happiness? Or better yet, what makes people happy? A question that has plagued humanity for eons, A secret formula that is unique to every person, and one that our hero, Hector ventures out to find. As his dissatisfaction with his own life impedes his ability to help his psychiatric patients find satisfaction in their own. He sets off around the world equipped with a pen, a notebook and a sheer curiosity for what makes people tick. Along the way, he faces harrowing circumstances and meets fascinating people who help him to put the answer together one lesson at a time. His journey of culture and adventure warms the heart and the soul, as each lesson makes you consider what happiness means to you. Equal parts enlightening and reflective, Hector and the Search for Happiness will leave you with a smile on your face and excited for what the future holds in store.
There's no point in looking before crossing the road if you don't look in the right direction.
~François Lelord, Hector and the Search for Happiness
Proving that all that glitters is not gold, Crazy Rich Asians is a fast-paced read told through multiple perspectives. We follow the story through the eyes of the newcomer (the girlfriend, Rachel Chu), to the head of the household (the mother, Eleanor Young) and everyone in between (crazy aunts, cousins, it-girls, brides-to-be, etc.). Invited by her boyfriend Nicholas Young to visit his family in Singapore, Rachel misleadingly expects a wholesome, traditional family vacation. However, the opulence and luxury that awaits poor Rachel is as bold as the title of this book. Unknowing and unarmed, she dives headfirst into a world of paparazzi, private jets and personal assistants, in the midst of Singapore's the biggest wedding of the year. As preparations are made and gossip is spread, Rachel must find a way to stay true to herself, as details about her boyfriend's lavish past and her own more mysterious one are revealed. Humorous, entertaining and energetic, Crazy Rich Asians is jam-packed with enough family feuds and festivities to last you throughout the holidays.
Remember, every treasure comes with a price.
~Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians
Elements of Wit: Mastering the Art of Being Interesting by Benjamin Errett
By exploring the rise and fall of history's wittiest people and how they became so, Elements of Wit, seeks to show how you too can master the art. This book was as informative as it was engaging. Each chapter provided examples of history's most elegantly spoken bon vivants and how they honed their craft. Filled with plenty of one-liners, zingers, and retorts. Brimming with tales of verbal triumph and strife, Elements of Wit is every bit as humorous as it is helpful. By peeling back each layer of wit, Errett turns the seemingly illusive craft into a magical (albeit, tricky) one to master. All the while proving that in life, practice makes perfect. For earning a coveted spot among "the great wits", has more to do with a good sense of humor, a spark of creativity, a lot of practice, then a simple stroke of luck.
Wit is comedy minus time.
~Benjamin Errett, Elements of Wit: Mastering the Art of Being Interesting
The Hidden Magic of Christmas Lights
5 Important Life Lessons The Mindy Project Taught ...
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"God bless them Beatles for what they done"
Let it Be meets the Beatles' first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
An older but energetic Paul McCartney made a triumphant return to the Ed Sullivan Theatre last night, where he rocked Broadway atop the Late Show with David Letterman marquee.
There was clearly an excited vibe among the Late Show audience last night - even Bruce Willis showed up to do a Top 10 list, "just to meet Paul McCartney." And Letterman came off as an excited, nervous schoolboy - perhaps the only time I've seen him like that on the show.
"When we were kids, we would go to the school library and look up all the information we could find on the Beatles," Letterman said to a bemused Paul, who - as always - spoke about "the four lads who shook the world" in stride.
When Letterman asked him why he'd never been on the Late Show before, McCartney joked, "Because I don't like the show."
Chris Farley's famous SNL sketch with McCartney came to mind: "Member when you were with the Beatles? That was awesome!"
First and last and always
It must be depressing to be a musician and to consider that no matter what you write or record, or how famous you become, you will never be as great as the Beatles. They did it first, and they did it best.
My bible, the Rolling Stone Album Guide, gives 15 of the Beatles' albums a four-and-a-half or five-star rating, and neatly summarizes their influence:
"They invented the idea of the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments. They invented the idea that the world's biggest pop group could grow up into arty, innovative musicians. For that matter, they invented the idea that there was any such thing as the world's biggest pop group. They also invented drugs, beards, bed-ins, India, concept albums, round glasses, the Queen, breaking up, and vegetarians.
Not bad for a start. Then, there's the music:
"The Beatles left behind more great music than anybody can process in a lifetime. Sheer abundance is part of their story: Life with the Beatles means vaguely disliking a chestnut like "Nowhere Man" or "Blackbird" for years until it sneaks up and gets into your blood for good.
"Just check out "I Want to Hold Your Hand," which explodes out of the speakers with the most passionate singing, drumming, lyrics, guitars, and girl-crazy howls ever - it's an insult to the Beatles to say they never topped this song, because nobody else has either, although the lads came pretty close themselves with "You're Going to Lose That Girl." It's the most joyous three minutes in the history of human noise."
To this day, the best test to see if a person is deserving of your companionship is the simple question, "Do you like the Beatles?" If the person says, "No," or - even worse - "I like the Beach Boys better," run for your life.
Conversely, you can also ask, "Do you love Jar Jar Binks?" And if the person says, "Yes," same deal.
The Beatles mystery
I credit the Beatles with the reason I love music (and life?) so much today. Sorry, Mom, it wasn't the piano lessons.
In grade eight, when time isn't so valuable a commodity, I used to lie on the floor with the headphones on, mostly listening to my Mad Magazine floppy vinyl records, like "It's a Super Spectacular Day," which played a different ending each time you played it, depending on which groove the needle hit. Clever.
One day, the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club album cover caught my eye. What the hell was this? Was it the Beatles? Another band covering the Beatles? A greatest hits? What did this have to do with "I Wanna Hold Your Hand?" Why was Bob Dylan on the cover?
Julian Cope talks about having a similar experience in his excellent book Japrocksampler. As a kid, he puts on the Beatles' 45 of "I Saw Her Standing There," and Paul yells out the opening line: "She was just 17, if you know what I mean..." And Cope thinks to himself, "No, I don't know what you mean."
One of the things that's missing from music today is that mystery; you can e-mail Gwen Stefani, and you might even get an e-mail back. All of the musicians' personal information is posted on MySpace ad nauseam. If you hang around after a show, the odds are really high that you'll meet the band and get an autograph.
Back then, the mystery is part of what sold the music. When I listened to the Beatles, I couldn't even conceive of them as human beings living on the same planet as me; music this good must've come from more intelligent beings from another dimension!
Back to Sgt. Pepper: I listened to it until the grooves wore out, and my life was never the same again. Soon after, I went to see "Beatlemania" at the Winnipeg Concert Hall - a lame version of the Beatles, but as close as I would come until Paul McCartney played the Stadium on May 23, 1993.
Or as I call it, "the day that God came to Winnipeg."
The weather was perfect - the Beatles being God, they can control the weather - and I'll never forget the awe I felt when McCartney hit the stage. "Holy crap: this is the guy who played the Ed Sullivan Show. And who wrote "Yesterday" and "Hey, Jude." And once stopped at the Winnipeg airport with the Beatles, because the plane needed refueling."
Probably the greatest moment of my life was belting out "Penny Lane" with Paul McCartney at the Winnipeg Stadium, beer in hand (me, not Paul). Sure, everyone else was singing along too, but to me it was a duet, and I won't let anyone burst my bubble.
I should also point out that the lamest controversy of the show was drummed up in advance, courtesy of Peter Warren and CJOB radio, who heard that Sir Paul was showing a short anti-animal testing video before the show, which featured some quick shots of animal abuses.
The big question on CJOB that day, "Will you walk out of the concert during the video?" Wah, wah, wah. Yeah, I'm going to walk out on a Beatle because you told me to do it, local radio star. Then again, I did go to Portage and Main when the Jets were leaving town, and I'm not even a hockey fan. OK, we're even, CJOB.
The day after the stadium show, I went to Polo Park to buy the one Beatles CD I didn't own ("Yellow Submarine" - yuck), and the place was packed with people who attended the concert the night before, buying up as many Beatles CDs as they could carry. This was 1993, almost 40 years after the Beatles played the Ed Sullivan Show. Amazing to consider, especially in the era of the free download.
A world without Beatles?
But seeing McCartney on Letterman yesterday reminded me that there will soon be a planet Earth on which no Beatles will exist. That will be a dark day indeed. Because Paul and Ringo have lived into comfortable old age, it's not likely that when they die we'll see the public grief that we saw with the death of Michael Jackson or John Lennon, for that matter.
But when the media asks "Will there ever be someone as famous as Michael Jackson?" I have to laugh. The world already has someone as famous as Michael Jackson: Paul McCartney and the Beatles before him.
The world will never see the likes of them again, unless some super-intelligent aliens from another dimension appear and blow us away with something better. Until then, I'll take Sgt. Pepper.
In the song below, Daniel Johnston - pays tribute to the Beatles in his own, inimitable basement tape.
"God bless them Beatles for what they done!"
I knew you would post on this! I have to agree, the excitement level on the show was palpable.
Just a note on the so-called "Late Night Wars," Dave was number one once again last night, and he has pretty much pulled even with Conan in overall ratings. This could be the show that sees him pull ahead for good. When Leno had Hugh Grant on after his hooker scandal in the 90’s, it put him on top for the majority of his time on the Tonight Show. What with Dave's resurgence and the fantastic guests he's had as of late, it wouldn't surprise me if he stayed on top after this.
Also, McCartney ended up playing a seven song set for the crowd in front of the theatre. You can find the video on the Late Show's website: http://www.cbs.com/late_show/video/mccartney.php
Oh, and Craig Ferguson was hilarious afterward, as usual. I don't even watch NBC anymore!
Kenton Larsen July 16, 2009 at 7:19 PM
Yep, Ferguson was also great last night. It's a pretty solid two-hour block, I must say.
Conan is still struggling on the Tonight Show, though I think he'll find his way, just like he did last time.
Jimmy Fallon, though: he's gotta go.
Wade July 16, 2009 at 10:16 PM
Since this post has more than one subject on the go, I shall stick to the Beatles. One thing that has always fascinated me is how the Beatles and artists like Elvis and Sinatra were so prolific in album creation compared to today's artists.
The Beatles released 12 studio albums in the U.K. in 8 years, all the while touring all over the world. Artists like them have such great catalogues of music because they gave us so much to enjoy. Now you're lucky if you get an album every couple years from your favourite artists. Albums today probably take more time being mixed than the entire process did back then.
I think that's one of the reasons that we'll never see artists like that again. Now it's more about the celebrity, money, fame, and the "game" than it is about the music (Keep in mind this is just a generalization of all music. There are many exceptions to this comment) At least the truly amazing music of the Beatles and their kind lives on and on.
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Kevin D. Hendricks
Bald Birthday Benefit
Is Your Church Ready to Quit?
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Top 10 Fiction of 2018
January 5, 2019 Kevin D. Hendricks Leave a comment
I may have read 101 books in 2018, but I’ve been in an ongoing reading slump. Makes it harder to choose a top 10.
I think I made the same complaint last year. These are good books, but I’m not sure they’re books I’d run up and down the street with. Those are becoming harder and harder to find.
I’m also not sure how well these lists hold up over time. After all, I did put Octavia Butler’s Kindred at #6 in my 2013 list. It’s probably one of my favorite books.
But aside from all that, I think it is a fun collection of books.
Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray – A robot falls in love would be the cliche way to pitch this book, but it was a much more fun and engaging adventure than that trite description would have you believe.
A Live Coal in the Sea by Madeleine L’Engle – I love the way L’Engle weaves this whole complicated story together.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells – The opening chapter of the Murderbot diaries is gripping, fast-paced and fun.
The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan – This was a lovely little book. It also has cliche potential, but it was just a wonderful tale.
A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain – I almost wrote this one off early, but it really shines.
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland – Zombies in the Civil War. Need I say more?
Front Lines by Michael Grant – If women were drafted in World War II. It’s an interesting thought experiment and artfully executed.
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid – A beautifully written bit of speculative fiction (this is the kind of book that helps you understand the difference between sci-fi and speculative fiction).
Sunny by Jason Reynolds – My favorite installment of the Track series, this one just has a delightful quality.
The Last Good Man by Linda Nagata – A fast-paced futuristic military thriller.
And let’s give an honorable mention to What Alice Forgot by Alice Moriarty. I had a rocky time reading it (listened to part of the audio book, slept through some of it, then read the rest), but I really liked the way it explored the overdone amnesia ground in a fresh way.
If you want to read more, check out my booklet 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading Again.
And how about previous top 10 fiction lists: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012.
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A work-at-home dad wrestles with faith, social justice & story.
The personal site of Kevin D. Hendricks: Sharing ideas I can’t get out of my head, including causes, thoughts, and lots of books. Since 1998. Kevin is a writer and editor with his company, Monkey Outta Nowhere and also runs West St. Paul Reader.
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Posts Tagged ‘Intelligence’
Cherry picking on Chinese influence.
Posted on 11:32, May 29th, 2018 by Pablo
Concern about Chinese influence operations in Western democracies has increased over the last few years, including here in NZ. The concern stems from the fact that, although not espionage or intelligence gathering per se, such operations–which involve money spent on individuals and organisations, establishment of pro-China fronts and media outlets, and placement of individuals linked to or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party in positions of corporate and political importance–corrupt Western democratic systems and undermine the political, social and economic values that underpin them.
The impact of Chinese influence operations has been the subject of considerable discussion in Australia, to the point that politicians have been forced to resign because of undisclosed ties to Chinese interests and intelligence agencies have advised against doing business with certain Chinese-backed agencies. As usual, the NZ political class and corporate media were slow to react to pointed warnings that similar activities were happening here (people may remember my essay on a Chinese fifth column from a few years ago). It was not until Canterbury University academic Anne Marie Brady published an essay last year on so-called Chinese “magic weapons” that the extent of Chinese influence in the local political and corporate worlds was revealed and became a matter of public interest.
It is significant that Brady’s work was first published in the US for a think tank focused on Chinese international affairs, and her first public exposure happened in Australia at a parliamentary committee hearing. That is because, unlike the US and Australia, NZ politicians are not particularly interested in digging into the nature and extent of Chinese influence on the party system and government policy. This, in spite of the “outing” of a former Chinese military intelligence instructor and academic as a National MP and the presence of well-heeled Chinese amongst the donor ranks of both National and Labour, the close association of operatives from both parties with Chinese interests, and the placement of well-known and influential NZers such as Don Brash and Jenny Shipley in comfortable sinecures on Chinese linked boards, trusts and companies.
As I have written before, there is enough to this pattern of behaviour to warrant scrutiny from NZ intelligence agencies and the police. But we also need to put Chinese influence operations in perspective. How are the Chinese any different than the Indians or Polynesian groups when it comes to infiltrating political parties, other than the amount of money available to them? How are these influence operations substantially different than those of other governments such as the US, which funds an array of scholarships, visitor programs, parliamentary delegation junkets and the like? How are Chinese backing of friendship and solidarity groups different than those backed by other foreign governments? How is Chinese corporate fund raising, “fact-finding” and conference travel and other ear-bending efforts any different than the lobbying of corporations, business associations, advocacy groups, etc.?
The answer seems to be that the Chinese are authoritarian, have lots of money to spend on making friends and influencing people and do so in a clearly transactional fashion, much as they do via their chequebook policy in the South Pacific. The implication is that they engage in corrupt practices when necessary and will not adhere to the strictures of democratic governance other than as lip service when it comes to pursuing their interests. Since NZ is, in essence, just another Pacific Island nation, why should this come as a surprise? In fact, the more interesting issue is why, fully knowing that the Chinese are using influence operations for purposes of State that go beyond international friendship or business ties, do so many prominent New Zealanders accept their money and/or positions on front organisations? Is the problem not so much what the Chinese do as as a rising great power trying to enlarge its sphere of influence as it is the willingness of so-called honourable Kiwis to prostitute themselves for the Chinese cause?
Last week the beat up on Chinese influence in NZ took a strange twist. At a US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCESRC) hearing, an ex-CIA analyst said that the Chinese had penetrated the “political core” of the country and that in light of that the US should reconsider keeping NZ in the Five Eyes signals intelligence sharing network.
The absurdity of these remarks needs to be deconstructed, not only for what was said but for what was not said. Let it also be noted that although nominally a bipartisan agency of the US Congress, the USCESRC has increasingly become a China-bashing forum, something that has been accentuated under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (who oversees Commission appointments) and President Trump. This also matters because the witnesses called to testify before USCESRC are often cherry picked for their views on matters of US-China relations.
In his case the ex-CIA analyst rightly pointed out that, in contrast to the US and Australia, the NZ political elite were blasé about the extent of Chinese influence in local politics. But he took a step too far, downplaying the record of the previous National government and criticising the new Labour government for casting a blind eye on pernicious Chinese influence within its ranks (the only mention of National was a reference to the Jian Yang case). He then jumped the shark by recommending that the US and other 5 Eyes partners reconsider NZ’s membership in the signals intelligence sharing partnership.
Let’s be very clear: for the previous nine years National was in power, the deepening of Chinese influence was abided, if not encouraged by a Key government obsessed with trade ties and filling the coffers of its agrarian export voting base. It was National that ignored the early warnings of Chinese machinations in the political system and corporate networks, and it was Chinese money that flowed most copiously to National and its candidates. It is not an exaggeration to say that Chinese interests prefer National over Labour and have and continue to reward National for its obsequiousness when it comes to promoting policies friendly to Chinese economic interests. In fact, it is National that had a Minister, in the person of Judith Collins, attempt to use her position and manipulate the NZ ambassador to China into pushing her husband’s dodgy Chinese-backed business.
All political parties protest that they strictly adhere to campaign finance law and on paper they clearly do. But the whiff of dark money, dirty politics and other forms of unacknowledged influence trading has long clung to National in a measure not shared with its opponents. Put succinctly, contrary to what the the ex CIA analyst intimated, the influence of Chinese interests has been strongest when National is in government. And it is not just the Chinese who have availed themselves of the favourable climate operative during National’s tenure.
Not that National is solely to blame when it comes to trading favours. Labour clearly has consorted with some unsavoury Chinese donors and it remains to be seen if it will be any different than National now that it is out of the wilderness and back into government. But if foreign penetration of the “political core” is such a concern, it is surprising that no serious mention has made either at home or abroad of Winston Peters’ ties to Russia via the horse industry and beyond. In fact, when one looks at Peters’s links to an assortment of industries and interests, it is not just foreigners who appear to have an inside track on his thinking. Even so, the notion of a “political core” being compromised assumes that a whole array of constituent groups, from unions to manufacturers to iwi, are in the pockets of the Chinese no matter who is in government. Perhaps they are, but if so, I have not heard about it.
Labour may have the likes of Raymond Ho in its ranks and some dubious Chinese businessmen among its supporters, but it comes nowhere close to National when it comes to sucking up to the Chinese. That is why Jian Yang is still an MP, and that is why we will never hear a peep from the Tories about the dark side of Chinese influence operations. For its part, Labour would be well-advised to see the writing on the wall now that the issue of Chinese “soft” subversion has become a focal point for Western democracies. After all, Chinese influence operations that work to subvert basic value structures do so against a backdrop of aggressive Chinese cyber attacks and intelligence gathering in the countries in which influence operations are most prominent, NZ included.
But that is also why the recommendation that NZ be excluded from 5 Eyes is ridiculous. First, because for all of the talk about counter-terrorism, the bulk of counter-intelligence efforts by NZ (through the SIS and GCSB) and its 5 Eyes partners are directed at state actors, China in particular. Even if the NZ political elite were totally compromised by the Chinese, the security bureaucracies would insulate their operations from political interference and would likely work with the Police to demonstrate when and where politicians were acting on behalf of Chinese rather than NZ interests. It is the NZ intelligence community (NZIC), more than anyone else, who know the full extent of Chinese activities in the country, and the NZ intelligence community is fully ensconced in Anglo-centric democratic intelligence networks. It is therefore not likely that the NZIC would overlook the type of Chinese influence operations that result in capture of NZ’s “political core.”
Secondly, getting thrown out of 5 Eyes is not simply a matter of being told to take one’s toys and go home. The equipment at the listening posts at Waihopai and Tangimoana and at GCSB headquarters in Wellington is acutely sensitive and there are numerous citizens of partner countries working at those installations. Dismantling and removing equipment, files, archives and other sensitive material from such facilities will be time consuming, diplomatically fraught and operationally vulnerable, especially when it is well known that the Chinese, foremost amongst others, are extremely interested in them. Institutional history, to include linkages with 5 Eyes partners and broader security networks, would have to be purged in order to avoid it falling into adversary hands. So getting kicked out of 5 Eyes involves much more than a rebuke, and, given NZ’s taskings within the 5 Eyes network, it is precisely the Chinese who will benefit the most from the expulsion.
If the US and other 5 Eyes partners are as worried about NZ being compromised by the Chinese as the ex-CIA analyst suggests that they are, a message of concern would have been sent to the NZ government in at least three ways: via diplomatic communications from the US embassy (which undoubtably has sent reports back to the State Department about the prevalence and impact of Chinese influence operations and intelligence gathering in NZ); by a diminishing of intelligence feeds from those partners in an obvious fashion; and by direct communication between the intelligence chiefs involved. This could well have been the purpose of the visit by the US Director of Intelligence to NZ a few weeks ago and if so, the gravity of the concerns have now been made clear to the Ardern government. However, the PM as well as the Opposition leader have both said that nothing has been brought to their attention that causes them to believe that NZ’s political system has been compromised by Chinese agents.
Given my antipathy towards authoritarians, I hold no particular affection for the PRC. But I do recognise that it does so as a maturing great power and accept that its behaviour is not going to change any time soon unless action is taken to circumscribe its activities in the West–a problem for societies founded on notions of freedom of association, movement and speech (including of opinion and the press). Because these rights are seen as Achilles Heels to be exploited by authoritarian rivals such as China and Russia, it should be expected that they will continue to be used as avenues of exploitation by them (as has been well demonstrated in the US).
What I deplore the most, though, is attacks on left-leaning governments (such as they are) like the current Labour government in NZ for supposedly going soft on Chinese influence pandering when in fact it has been right-leaning governments, not only in NZ but elsewhere, that have most assiduously courted Chinese investment and better diplomatic ties in spite of the PRC’s authoritarian character and dubious record when it comes to human rights and adherence to international conventions. For the NZ media to pick up and bang this hammer when it is part of an orchestrated attack on the Chinese by the US doing so for geopolitical reasons of its own demonstrates how shallow and uncritical reporting has become in Aotearoa. The issue is serious, which is precisely why it should not be subject to partisan manipulation or, ironically, pressure from allied states.
So yes, NZ has a problem with Chinese influence operations on its soil, particularly the willingness of NZers to serve Chinese interests for a handful of coin. But no, it is not just the fault of Labour and no, it is not as bad as has been alleged by the ex-CIA analyst. Nor is what the Chinese do in terms of influence mongering that dissimilar to what many other entities do when pushing their message in the NZ political system. So let us take better notice of the phenomenon and address it for what it is without succumbing to the apocalyptic diatribes of people whose concern about Chinese influence operations has less to do with the particularities of NZ and more to do with the broader strategic competition that sees China on the rise and the US in decline.
BONUS LISTEN: Here is an interview done on RNZ by the ex CIA analyst in question. Readers can form their own opinions as to whether he sounds like an authoritative and credible source for the claims he has made: https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018646774/ex-cia-analyst-admits-trump-irony-in-china-influence-warning
Tags: China, Chinese influence operations, Democracy, Foreign policy/affairs, GCSB, Intelligence, Labour, National, Security
Posted in Authoritarianism, Democracy, governance, Intelligence and Security, International relations, Politics, Uncategorized | 26 Comments | Read More »
On intelligence oversight, a broader perspective.
Posted on 17:10, April 20th, 2018 by Pablo
The announcement that the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS), Cheryl Gwyn, has convened an external Reference Group to discuss issues of intelligence agency oversight (specifically, that of the NZSIS and GCSB, which are the agencies under her purview) has been met with applause and controversy. The applause stems from the fact the Group is a continuation of her efforts to strengthen the oversight mechanisms governing New Zealand’s two most important intelligence collection and analysis agencies. The controversy is due to some of the persons who have accepted invitations to participate in the Group.
The Group is an unpaid, non-partisan collection of people with interest, expertise and/or background in matters broadly related to intelligence and security and their oversight. None are government employees, something that gives them freedom to speak frankly under the Chatham House rules established by the IGIS. The Group is a supplement to and not a rival of or substitute for the IGIS Advisory Panel, made up of two people with security clearances that have access to classified material and who can offer specific assistance on matters of operational concern. However, the Advisory Panel has had no members since October 2016.
The idea behind the Reference Group, which is modelled on a Dutch intelligence oversight counterpart, is to think laterally or “outside of the box” on matters relevant to intelligence oversight. Bringing together people from different backgrounds and perspectives allows Group discussions to gravitate towards areas of common concern, thereby eliminating personal agendas or extreme positions. And because the Group is made up of outsiders, it does not run the risk of becoming slave to the groupthink of agency insiders.
In contrast to the Advisory Panel, the Reference Group does not handle classified material nor discuss operational matters. Access to classified material or operational details is obviated by the fact that the Group’s focus is on the broad themes of accountability, transparency, organizational compliance and the balance between civil liberties (particularly the right to privacy) and the defense of national security as conducted by the lead intelligence agencies. These are matters of legality and propriety rather than operational conduct. And while similarly important, legality and propriety are not synonymous. Often what is legal is not proper and vice versa, and this is acutely the case when it comes to intelligence collection, analysis and usage. Since the IGIS does not oversea the NZDF and smaller intelligence “shops” such as those of the DPMC, Police, Immigration and Customs, the Group will only discuss issues relevant to oversight of the NZSIS and GCSB.
Who are the members of the Group and why the controversy? The plurality of members are four public interest lawyers, three of them academicians and one an advocate for refugees. Two members are journalists. One is the Issue Manager for Internet NZ, one is the head of the NZ Council for Civil Liberties, one is a former Russian diplomat now serving as the Director of the Massey University Centre for Defense and Strategic Studies (CDSS), one is an economist who chairs Transparency International New Zealand and one is a private sector geopolitical and strategic analysis consultant.
Concern has been voiced about the presence of both journalists as well as the refugee advocate and the loyalties of the former Russian diplomat (although he has held positions at a US security institution as well as the NZDF-funded CDSS). The thrust of the contrary views about these and some of the other participants is that they are untrustworthy due to their personal backgrounds, professional affiliations and/or ideological orientations. An additional reason given for opposing some of the membership is that they have been strong critics of the SIS and GCSB and therefore should be disqualified a priori.
Others believe that the Group is just a whitewashing, window-dressing or co-optation device designed to neuter previous critics by bringing them “into the tent” and subjecting them to “bureaucratic capture” (whereby the logic of the agencies being overseen eventually becomes the logic accepted by the overseers or Reference Group interlocutors).
The best way to allay these concerns is to consider the IGIS Reference Group is as an external focus group akin to a Town Hall meeting convened by policy-makers. Communities are made of people of many persuasions and many viewpoints, and the best way to canvass their opinions on a broad range of subjects is to bring them together in a common forum where they can debate freely the merits of any particular issue. In the case of the Reference Group the issue of intelligence agency oversight and, more specifically, matters of institutional and individual accountability (both horizontal and vertical, that is, vis a vis other government agencies such as the judiciary and parliament, on the one hand, and vis a vis the government and public on the other); transparency within the limits imposed by national security concerns; and the juggling of what is legal and what is proper, are all set against the backdrop of respect for civil liberties inherent in a liberal democracy. These are complex subjects not taken lightly by those involved, all of whom have track records of involvement in the field and who, given the terms of reference and charter of the Group, are acting out of a sense of civic duty rather than for pecuniary or personal gain.
The IGIS does not need political or agency authorisation to construct such a Group, which has no statutory authority or bureaucratic presence. As a vehicle for interest intermediation on the subject of intelligence oversight, it serves as a sounding board not for the IGIS but for the people on it. In that light, the IGIS has called the Group’s discussion a “one-way street” where participants air their informed opinions about agenda items agreed to in advance and in which the IGIS serves as a discussion moderator and takes from it what she finds useful. Expected to meet two or three times a year over tea and coffee, the Group is not likely to tax the Treasury purse and could well deliver value for dollar in any event.
Critics of this exercise and other forms of interest intermediation or external consultation betray their closet authoritarianism because such concertative vehicles are mainstays of policy-making in advanced liberal democracies. Be it the tripartite wage negotiation structures bringing representatives of the State, labour and capital together (even at the regional or local level), to consultative boards and other social partnership vehicles that connect stakeholders and decision-makers in distinct policy areas, the use of interest intermediation is an integral feature of modern democratic regimes (for an example of the breadth of issues addressed by intermediation vehicles, see Kate Nicholls, Mediating Policy: Greece, Ireland and Portugal before the Eurozone Crisis. London: Routledge, 2015.). To argue against them because of who is represented or because they are seen as inefficient talkfests that are a waste of taxpayer money is just a cloak for a desire to silence broad public input and dissenting views in the formulation of public policy. That may have been the case under the previous government but no longer is the case now.
One of the thorniest problems in a democracy is the question of what system of checks and balances keeps the intelligence community proper as well as legal. As the most intrusive and sensitive of State activities, intelligence collection, analysis and usage must be free from reproach on a number of grounds—conflicts of interest, partisan bias, foreign control, illicit activity or criminal behaviour, etc.—and must be accountable and responsive to the public will. The broadening of consultation intermediators between the NZ intelligence community and the public is therefore a step in the right direction, and for that reason the Reference Group is a welcome contribution to the oversight authority vested in the IGIS.
References: http://www.igis.govt.nz/media-releases/announcements/establishment-of-igis-reference-group/
http://www.igis.govt.nz/media-releases/announcements/reference-group/
Disclosure: The author is a member of the Reference Group. The views expressed are his own.
Tags: Democracy, GCSB, IGIS Reference Group, Intelligence, Representation, Security, SIS
Posted in Democracy, governance, History, Intelligence and Security, NZ Security, Politics, Public services | 36 Comments | Read More »
A matter of insubordination and contempt.
Posted on 14:00, December 22nd, 2017 by Pablo
In her latest annual report, Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) Cheryl Gwyn detailed that the NZSIS unlawfully collected Customs data on thousands of travellers from 1997-2016. This bulk collection was not done under warrant and was instead done on industrial scale: anyone who passed through New Zealand ports of entry during this time period can assume that their personal data was “harvested” by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) for its own purposes. Current NZSIS Director Rebecca Kitteridge defended the practice as a necessary part of fighting terrorism (which presumes that SIS concern with terrorism started in 1997 if her claim is correct) and maintains that legal advice at the time made the SIS believe that the practice of bulk collection was lawful. Think about that–warrantless indiscriminate collection of the personal information about thousands of people was deemed, if we are to believe the Director, lawful by the best in-house legal minds within the NZSIS. This happened even though the NZSIS Act was revised several times during the time in which the unlawful bulk collection occurred, so it is clear that when it came to warrantless access of traveler’s personal information, be they citizens, visitors, immigrants or officials, the senior staff in the agency thought that it was fair game–or at least thought that they could get away with it. One gets the impression that this is the same legal team that thought it was lawful for the GCSB to spy on Kim Dotcom after he gained permanent residency–a practice clearly prohibited in the GCSB Act in force at the time of the illegal wire-tapping. Perhaps it is time for these legal geniuses to step down.
IGIS Gwyn also noted that the NZSIS refused to cooperate, impeded and/or raised obstacles to her search for primary documents related to the unlawful monitoring of travellers as well as on other issues. Let’s be clear on this: New Zealand’s primary human intelligence agency deliberately impeded the work of the main oversight officer to which it is responsible. This, in spite of legal requirements to do so. The answer to this contempt for their statutory obligations may rest in the fact that under the current SIS Act the maximum penalty levied on the NZSIS for unlawful acts (of which obstruction is one) is NZ$5000–payable by the agency, not the individuals who authorised the unlawful acts or who refused to cooperate with the IG’s requests.
Although I find it very hard to believe, let us assume that SIS managers who authorised the mass tapping of Customs data were doing so in good faith while under the impression that the practice was lawful. If that is the case, they should be reprimanded and counselled on their statutory obligations. But those who obstructed or impeded the IGIS’s work need to be fired. In fact, if they are not, then Director Kitteridge needs to either resign or herself be dismissed. That task falls to Andrew Little, the Minister responsible for Intelligence and Security. Yet, although he has made some noises to the effect that he expects the agency to comply with IGIS requests, he has made no moves to punish those responsible for this blatant disregard for and defiance of the intelligence oversight process.
It is now abundantly clear that even though the IGIS is better funded and staffed and has better powers of proactive as well as post facto investigative authority (ostensibly including the powers of legal compulsion) than her predecessors, her office remains effectively marginal, if not subordinate to the bureaucratic logics internal to the agencies she oversees. These logics are founded on a deliberate opaqueness when it comes to transparency and statutory compliance and a deeply ingrained disregard for external advice, scrutiny or oversight. The old boys club will do as it sees fit to do regardless of the arrows slung by nosy outsiders. They are the gatekeepers and guardians of the secrets, and it is they who decide what is proper and what is not when it comes to legality and oversight adherence. Perhaps in this particular case the SIS managers do not like Ms. Gwyn or her somewhat unconventional career path on the way to becoming IGIS, but even if that is true their personal feelings have no place impeding the effective discharge of her duties.
The problem of ineffectual oversight of the NZ intelligence community (NZIC) highlighted by the IGIS’s frustrations with SIS obstructionism is rooted in a bureaucratic culture of impunity within the SIS and GCSB and in the lack of strong parliamentary oversight. The Select Committee on Intelligence and Security (SCIS) remains a highly partisan paper tiger devoid of real compulsion or enforcement authority. For their part ministers responsible for intelligence and security such as Andrew Little are all to often reluctant to confront spies about their excesses, when not prone to “bureaucratic capture” by them (a situation where an ostensible overseer becomes captivated by the logics and rationales of subordinates with specialised expertise in a given policy field, leading to a lack of critical appraisal and independent review of actions taken in that field). Some of this may be due to the history of politicization that surrounds the SIS, which often appears to serve the government of the day rather than the common interest (in which case Mr. Little’s soft response has a politically opportunistic basis). But most of the oversight failures when it comes to the NZIC is grounded in the lack of effective and enforceable legal authority granted to the IGIS and the SCIS.
The only answer to this culture of insubordination and contempt within the NZIC, in this case specifically the SIS, is to hold individuals legally accountable for their actions. For example, rather than levy paltry fines on the SIS for its unlawful activities, the fines should be increased 20 fold and levied against the individuals who either knowingly ordered the illegal project(s) and/or who deliberately obstructed, concealed, tampered with or otherwise impeded the IGIS investigation into their activities. Likewise, the SCIS needs to become a dedicated organ of Parliament with its own professional staff and dedicated funding so that it can be come an independent research and investigatory arm answerable but not subordinate to the government of the day. The political appointments at the top could remain as stands (five members, the PM and two members nominated by him/her plus the Leader of the Opposition and his/her one nominee). Or it could be revised to include leaders of parties who reach a significant electoral threshold (say, ten percent of the popular vote). Either way, the SCIS should be provided powers of compulsion under oath, arrest and other means of legal enforcement of its oversight mandate so that the NZIC understands that it answers to the people of Aotearoa via elected officials as well as the IGIS, not the other way around.
The new Labour government has a golden opportunity to promote effective reform of the NZIC armed with the justification provided by Gwyn’s report on the SIS. Much like rot, there is a culture of contempt as well as impunity amongst at least some senior staffers in the NZIC that needs to be extirpated and replaced by those who understand that in a democracy it is not the spies who determine what is lawful and what is not (or for that matter, what is secret and what is not), but instead it is the specialized oversight agencies entrusted by the people and grounded in law (such as when it comes to definitions of national security threats) who do so. But for that to be the case, the oversight agencies and mechanisms need teeth, and it is exactly that which continues to be missing from the current oversight scheme.
Tags: Cheryl Gwyn, Democracy, Intelligence, Oversight mechanisms, Security, SIS
Posted in Intelligence and Security, NZ Security, Politics, Uncategorized | 5 Comments | Read More »
A walking Tui ad?
Posted on 06:57, October 20th, 2017 by Pablo
The election turned out OK as far as I am concerned. My decision to support Labour after years of supporting the Greens seems to have paid off as they are now leading the new government. The Greens were punished for their shift from red to blue at their core and for bringing in neophytes onto their list, but not too much (although I still have serious reservations about their ideological direction and one of their new MPs). Save for ACT the various useless parties disappeared. And the Nats got what they deserved, which was the boot, even if it took that old dog Winston to apply his toe to their posteriors. As for NZ First, time will only tell if they are the fly in the ointment or the straw that stirs the drink.
When it comes to how the new government will be organized, I am very curious to see who will be appointed Minister of Defense. Ron Mark is a likely candidate, and I have no problem with him in that role in spite of his otherwise reactionary views (apologies if the list of Ministers is out and someone else is the new MoD). With the exception of Phil Goff he will be the most informed person to assume that portfolio in the last 18 years, which is good because the NZDF have some major decisions to make when it comes to upgrading and configuring the force. There are issues of equipment purchases, recruitment and retention, foreign alliance commitments and the overall thrust of NZDF operations that need immediate addressing. He has been critical of the lack of strategic vision on the part of NZDF and MoD leaders, so my hope is that he will push for an overhaul in the strategic thinking underpinning NZDF operations that goes beyond the periodic exercises known as Defense White Papers. And he will have to address the problem of drug abuse within the NZDF, which has been kept largely under wraps but which is large enough to run the real risk of jeopardizing operational security and/or getting someone killed.
However, when it comes to intelligence matters and the general subject of security, I have concerns about the ability of the new government to impose its will on the intelligence community and Police as well as avoid so-called “bureaucratic capture:” the situation where the lack of experience in a subject field by new overseers or managers allows career bureaucrats to shape the former’s views of the subject in ways that serve the entrenched interests of the latter. I do not see anyone in the top tiers of Labour, the Greens or NZFirst who display particular fluency in matters of intelligence and security, and when it comes to direct political oversight of the NZ intelligence community, the lack of expertise is dire.
Or let me put it in this way:
Tags: Greens, Intelligence, Labour, NZDF, Security
Posted in Democracy, elections, governance, History, Intelligence and Security, NZ Security, NZDF, Parliament, Politics | 18 Comments | Read More »
Is he a spy?
There is a fellow in NZ who once lectured at an elite foreign military school that trained military and civilian intelligence agents. His position required him to meet certain protocols and standards in order to receive a high level security clearance. In return for receiving that clearance and his lecturing on topics of interest to the intelligence community, he was privy to classified subjects and materials as well as being allowed to interact with the agencies from which his students originated.
His students learned foreign languages as part of their studies, combining that with training in the practical and operational skill sets required of them once they graduated and entered the field.
After leaving the military education institution, the fellow in question went on to work closely with the intelligence community in his country of origin, eventually taking a fairly senior position within the defense and intelligence establishment and continuing to consult with it even after his departure from active government service.
Some time after, he moved abroad and found his way to NZ, where he was hired as a lecturer in politics at the University of Auckland and settled into his adopted country by buying property and engaging in community servcie. He became fairly well known in political circles, wrote academic titles on NZ and comparative foreign policy and engaged with government on topics of common interest.
The question is: is this guy a spy given his past? Could he have come to NZ as an undercover “mole” ready to be sprung into service by his foreign masters after lying dormant for some time?
I ask because another former University of Auckland lecturer now in public service as a parliamentarian has found himself under some scrutiny after it was revealed that he also had lectured to intelligence agents at military educational institutions in his country of birth. It seems that there are questions as to whether he left that life behind him when he came to NZ even though his academic and community life in NZ broadly resemble that of the first individual mentioned above. But now the political knives are pointing at him.
It seems to me that the question about whether either individual is a spy reduces to two things. What were the cirumstances surrounding their emigration from their countries of origin, and what sort of security vetting was done on them before they took up residency and later, when one decided to enter public life?
In both cases security background checks would have been done as part of their visa appllication process. In both cases the University of Auckland would have presumably checked their academic credentials (which is an issue because the second fellow apparently fudged his academic credentials on his citizen application form, which makes one wonder if due dilligence was done on him by the UA prior to it recommending him, as an employment sponsor, to immigration authorities). For the individual who entered public service, more extensive vetting conducted by the SIS or an agency contracted by it would have examined the case a bit more in depth.
Based on what I know of the second case so far, the individual in question is no more a spy than the first guy is, and the first guy is clearly not. The problem for the second guy is that he comes from a country ruled by an authoritarian regime with neo-imperialist ambitions that is known to use its diaspora as a human intelligence collection network, where emigrants take out citizenship and settle into target countries but continue to report back to intelliigence authorities in their homelands. For his part, the first guy was more involved in his home country’s intelligence community prior to his arrival in NZ than the second guy apparently was (as far as has been reported), and the first guy’s home country has an extensive record of imperialism, including covert intelligence collection in NZ and elsewhere in the South Pacific that historically dwarfs that of the second guy’s motherland. Unfortunately for the second guy, his country of origin is not a NZ intelligence partner like the country the first guy came from, and in fact is a major counter-intelligence target for NZ security agencies.
So the question remains: can either or both of these guys be legtimately called a “spy” based on their backgrounds prior to arrival in NZ?
I ask because I am the first guy and I do not like being misidentified without cause (as I have been from time to time). It is unfortunate that my former colleague now stands accused (even if by insinuation) of something that he might not be based on assumptions about what he used to be. For his sake as well as that of NZ security, it is appropriate and necessary for the SIS or other NZ security agencies (not the government of which he is an MP) to issue a clarification on the matter now that the question has been raised in public and there is a cloud over his career and reputation.
Tags: Foreign policy/affairs, Intelligence, Security, Yellow peril?
Posted in Intelligence and Security, NZ Security, Politics | 32 Comments | Read More »
Bulk Collection, Mass Surveillance, Targeted Spying and the Issue of Consent.
Posted on 15:46, June 1st, 2016 by Pablo
I was invited to speak at a forum in Wellington on the “Privacy Security Dilemma.” It included a variety of people from government, the private sector, academia and public interest groups. The discussion basically revolved around the issue of whether the quest for security in the current era is increasingly infringing on the right to privacy. There were about 150 people present, a mixture of government servants, students, retirees, academics, foreign officials and a few intelligence officers.
There were some interesting points made, including the view that in order to be free we must be secure in our daily lives (Professor Robert Ayson), that Anglo-Saxon notions of personal identity and privacy do not account for the collective nature of identity and privacy amongst Maori (Professor Karen Coutts), that notions of privacy are contextual rather than universal (Professor Miriam Lips), that in the information age we may know more but are no wiser for it (Professor Ayson), that mass intrusions of privacy in targeted minority groups in the name of security leads to alienation, disaffection and resentment in those groups (Anjum Rahman), and that in the contemporary era physical borders are no impediment to nefarious activities carried out by a variety of state and non-state actors (various).
We also heard from Michael Cullen and Chris Finlayson. Cullen chaired the recent Intelligence Review and Finlayson is the current Minister of Security and Intelligence. Cullen summarised the main points of the recommendations in the Review and was kind enough to stay for questions after his panel. Finlayson arrived two hours late, failed to acknowledge any of the speakers other than Privacy Commissioner John Edwards (who gave an encouraging talk), read a standard stump speech from notes, and bolted from the room as soon as as he stopped speaking.
Thomas Beagle gave a strong presentation that was almost Nicky Hageresque in its denouncement of government powers of surveillance and control. His most important point, and one that I found compelling, was that the issue is not about the tradeoff between security and privacy but between security and power. He noted that expanded government security authority was more about wielding power over subjects than about simply infringing on privacy. If I understand him correctly, privacy is a commodity in a larger ethical game.
Note that I say commodity rather than prize. “Prize” is largely construed as a reward, gain, victory or the achievement of some other coveted objective, especially in the face of underhanded, dishonest, unscrupulous and often murderous opposition. However, here privacy is used as a pawn in a larger struggle between the state and its subjects. Although I disagree with his assessment that corporations do not wield power over clients when they amass data on them, his point that the government can and does wield (often retaliatory) power over people through the (mis) use of data collection is sobering at the very least.
When I agreed to join the forum I was not sure exactly what was expected from me. I decided to go for some food for thought about three basic phrases used in the information gathering business, and how the notion of consent is applied to them.
The first phrase is “bulk collection.” Bulk collection is the wholesale acquisition and storage of data for the purposes of subsequent trawling and mining in pursuit of more specific “nuggets” of actionable information. Although signals intelligence agencies such as the GCSB are known for doing this, many private entities such as social media platforms and internet service providers also do so. Whereas signals intelligence agencies may be looking for terrorists and spies in their use of filters such as PRISM and XKEYSCORE, private entities use data mining algorithms for marketing purposes (hence the targeted advertisements on social media).
“Mass surveillance” is the ongoing and undifferentiated monitoring of collective behaviour for the purposes of identifying, targeting and analysing the behaviour of specific individuals or groups. It is not the same thing as bulk collection, if for no other reason than it has a more immediate, real-time application. Mass surveillance is done by a host of public agencies, be it the Police via CCTV coverage of public spaces, transportation authorities’ coverage of roadways, railroads and airports, local council coverage of recreational facilities and areas, district health board monitoring of hospitals, etc. It is not only public agencies that engage in mass surveillance. Private retail outlets, shopping centres and malls, carparks, stadiums, entertainment venues, clubs, pubs, firms and gated communities all use mass surveillance. We know why they do so, just as we know why public agencies do so (crime prevention being the most common reason), but the salient fact is that they all do it.
“Targeted spying” is the covert or surreptitious observation and monitoring of targeted individuals and groups in order to identify specific activities and behaviours. It can be physical or electronic (i.e. via direct human observation or video/computer/telephone intercepts). Most of this is done by the Police and government intelligence agencies such as the SIS, and most often it is done under warrant (although the restrictions on warrantless spying have been loosened in the post 9/11 era). Yet, it is not only government security and intelligence agencies that undertake targeted spying. Private investigators, credit card agencies, debt collectors, background checking firms and others all use this as a tool of their trades.
What is evident on the face of things is that all of the information gathering activities mentioned here violate not only the right to privacy but also the presumption of innocence, particularly the first two. Information is gathered on a mass scale regardless of whether people are violating the law or, in the case of targeted spying, on the suspicion that they are.
The way governments have addressed concerns about this basic violation of democratic principles is through the warrant system. But what about wholesale data-gathering by private as well as public entities? Who gives them permission to do so, and how?
That is where informed consent comes in. Informed consent of the electorate is considered to be a hallmark of robust or mature democracies. The voting public are aware of and have institutional channels of expression and decision-making influence when it comes to the laws and regulations that govern their communal relations.
But how is that given? As it turns out, in the private sphere it is given by the phrase “terms and conditions.” Be it when we sign up to a social media platform or internet service, or when we park our cars, or when we enter a mall and engage in some retail therapy, or when we take a cab, ride the bus or board a train, there are public notices governing the terms and conditions of use of these services that include giving up the right to privacy in that particular context. It may be hidden in the fine print of an internet provider service agreement, or on a small sticker in the corner of a mall or shop entry, or on the back of a ticket, but in this day and age the use of a service comes attached with it the forfeiture of at least some degree of privacy. As soon as we tick on a box agreeing to the terms or make use of a given service, we consent to that exchange.
One can rightly argue that many people do not read the terms or conditions of service contracts. But that is the point: just as ignorance is no excuse for violation of the law, ignorance of the terms of service does not mean that consent has not been given. But here again, the question is how can this be informed consent? Well, it is not.
That takes us to the public sphere and issues of governance. The reality is that many people are not informed and do not even think that their consent is required for governments to go about their business. This brings up the issue of “implicit,” “implied” or inferred” consent. In Latin American societies the view is that if you do not say no then you implicitly mean yes. In Anglophone cultures the reverse is true: if you do not explicitly say yes than you mean no. But in contemporary Aotearoa, it seems that the Latin view prevails, as the electorate is often uninformed, disinterested, ignorant of and certainly not explicitly consenting to many government policy initiatives, including those in the security field and with regards to basic civil liberties such as the right to privacy and presumption of innocence.
One can argue that in representative democracy consent is given indirectly via electoral processes whereby politicians are elected to exercise the will of the people. Politicians make the laws that govern us all and the people can challenge them in neutral courts. Consent is given indirectly and is contingent on the courts upholding the legality if not legitimacy of policy decisions.
But is that really informed contingent consent? Do we abdicate any say about discrete policy decisions and legislative changes once we elect a government? Or do we broadly do so at regular intervals, say every three years, and then just forget about having another say until the next election cycle? I would think and hope not. And yet, that appears to be the practice in New Zealand.
Therein lies the rub. When it comes to consenting to intrusions on our privacy be they in the private or public sphere, we are more often doing so in implicit rather than informed fashion. Moreover, we tend to give broad consent to governments of the day rather than offer it on a discrete, case by case, policy by policy, law by law basis. And because we do so, both public authorities and private agencies can collect, store, manipulate and exchange our private information at their discretion rather than ours.
Tags: Democracy, Intelligence, open government, Participation, Privacy, Representation, Security
Posted in Crime, Democracy, governance, History, identity, Intelligence and Security, Politics, Public services, Social change | 7 Comments | Read More »
Media Link: Brussels’ heart of darkness.
Posted on 19:56, March 23rd, 2016 by Pablo
I wrote a short opinion piece in the Herald outlining some of my thoughts about the Brussels terrorist attacks. Unless the root causes of the problem are addressed, there will be no end to them. Even if they overlap in the form of foreign fighters, those root causes primarily reside in the disaffection and alienation produced by socio-economic and cultural grievances at home rather than in the conflicts of the Middle East. The solution is to be proactive as well as reactive to the threat posed by domestic radicalisation, and that involves social reform as well as better human intelligence collection in the communities from which home-grown jihadists emerge.
Tags: Belgium, Brussels, Daesh, Democracy, Foreign policy/affairs, Intelligence, racism, Security, Terrorism
Posted in Crime, cultural difference, Democracy, governance, History, identity, Intelligence and Security, Terrorism, War | 17 Comments | Read More »
Something Fundamentally Wrong.
In last Monday’s press briefing, the Prime Minister took my name in vain. Responding to questions from a reporter I had talked to, he said that my concerns about the apparent illegality of undercover intelligence operations were “fundamentally wrong.” Instead, he said that although intelligence agencies could not break laws (tell that to Kim Dotcom), they might require “different laws.”
I beg to differ.
Before delving deeper, let’s address the PM’s remark about the need for “different laws” governing undercover intelligence operations. What does he mean by “different?” Is he proposing that there be one set of laws for regular citizens and another set of laws governing undercover intelligence work? How does that sit with the “equal rights under the law” premise that is at the heart of democratic jurisprudence? And if there is no provision for “different laws” governing undercover intelligence operations today, then what is there in extant law that makes otherwise illegal acts legal? How often and under what circumstances are these illegal-but-legal acts allowed and are they only allowed or legal under warrant? Something tells me that the answers to the last two questions are “frequently and routine” and “no” respectively.
The question about undercover intelligence operations was raised because during the course of conversations with a couple of reporters about the Intelligence Review in general, I pointed out that the most interesting items were buried at the back of the report. Reporters tend to read the executive summaries of official government documents but seldom have the time or inclination to read through 179 pages of dense prose and legal jargon.
But since I have the time and inclination, I did. Plus, in my former life as a US government official I actually helped draft such reports so know that the best way of reading them is from back to front. That way one can get to the meat of the report, often found in annexes, before wading through the fluff.
I should point out that my overall take on the report is this: given who was on the Review committee, the report was inevitably going to have a bias towards institutional continuity and incrementalism with regard to reforms. That is indeed what happened. The report reflects as much if not more of the spy agencies’ concerns than it does that of external parties or stakeholders like the civil society organisations and individuals that were consulted by the Committee. The result is bound to be disappointing to those who wanted a major overhaul of the intelligence community or wanted parts of it disbanded altogether, such as the Greens, but to my mind it is a small but acceptable step towards greater transparency and accountability in the NZ intelligence community and its main collection agencies, the GCSB and SIS.
Even so, there are several problematic areas in the report that are worth considering, and here I will focus on the undercover operations that the PM thinks I have interpreted so fundamentally wrong. Rather than present my views without context, here are (cut and pasted) the recommendations regarding undercover operations as listed in the Report:
163 Annex C: Full list of recommendations (abridged).
Cover for operations and employees
78.The legislation should explicitly provide for the Agencies to obtain, create and use any identification information necessary for the purpose of maintaining the secret nature of their authorised activities. This should include the ability to create cover for anyone authorised to undertake activity for the Agencies.
79. “Identity information” should include anything that could be used to establish identity – such as credit cards and shell companies in additional to traditional forms of identification (such as passports and driver licences).
80. The Agencies should also have the ability to obtain, create and use identification information necessary to keep the identity of their employees confidential.
81. The use of these powers should be covered by a tier 3 authorisation (policy statement) to ensure they are exercised only where necessary and proportionate.
82. There should be corresponding immunities from civil and criminal liability for reasonable acts done in good faith to create or maintain cover as part of an authorised operation or to keep the fact of a person’s employment with the NZSIS or GCSB secret.
Immunities.
83. These powers and immunities should be incorporated through general provisions in the legislation governing the Agencies, rather than by inserting specific exceptions in other legislation as is currently the case.
84. The same immunities should apply to both agencies, in line with our recommendations that the Agencies share functions and an authorisation regime.
85. Immunities should also apply to anyone required to assist the Agencies, such as telecommunications companies, or to human sources or agents acting at the Agencies’ request or direction.
86. The legislation should provide that no person should be subject to criminal liability for acts carried out in good faith and in a reasonable manner that are necessary to give effect to a tier 1 or tier 2 authorisation.
87. Employees of the Agencies should also have immunity from criminal liability for acts carried out in good faith, in a reasonable manner and in accordance with the purposes of the Act to obtain a tier 1 or tier 2 authorisation.
88. The immunities for employees of the Agencies should also extend to any relevant minor offences or infringements that may need to be committed in the course of investigations carried out under a tier 3 authorisation (such as breaches of road user rules).
89. Employees of the Agencies and any person acting at the request or direction of the Agencies should be protected from civil liability for acts or omissions in good faith in the pursuance or intended pursuance of the Agencies’ duties, functions or powers. This is the same protection as is provided to public sector employees under the State Sector Act 1988.
90. Where the GCSB or NZSIS is assisting another agency to perform its functions, any immunities that apply to the agency being assisted should also apply to the GCSB and/or NZSIS.
Readers can form their own conclusions about what these recommendations imply. But here are some thoughts. It appears that undercover operations conducted by the SIS (and to a lesser extent the GCSB) do not have specific legal cover as things currently stand. There are no provisions in the SIS or GCSB Acts that explicitly refer to a legal framework under which otherwise criminal acts undertaken by undercover intelligence agents may occur. That means, in effect, that until now undercover intelligence operations are essentially illegal except for the fact that they are conducted by agents of the State at its behest under exceptions to existing legislation (outside of the GCSB and SIS Acts or even the State Sector Act). But even then there is apparently nothing in the law that explicitly authorises undercover intelligence operations that otherwise would be criminal acts (say, burglary, forgery or credit fraud). Yet the recommendations speak directly to such acts so clearly they have been happening.
The problem is not just that SIS agents have no specific legal cover for what they do covertly, something that individually places them at considerable risk in the event that they are caught or detected. There also are no specific provisions on what they cannot do. Where is the line drawn as to what is permissible when acting as an undercover agent of the State. Murder? Arson? Extortion? Blackmail? Kidnapping? Credit card fraud? Money laundering? Burglary? Home invasions? Tail-gating? (I include this because recommendation 88 specifically mentions breaches of road user rules). If an agent is recklessly tail-gating a surveillance target and wrecks while doing so, killing or injuring passerby, is that agent immune from prosecution or liability because s/he was in the service of the State?
These questions are not frivolous. From my personal experience, I know that among other things covert or undercover agents are taught how to pick locks and conduct “traceless” break-ins and burglaries (they are even provided with the tools to do so). Cyber-hacking to install malware or to steal sensitive information is a stock in trade of signals intelligence agencies. Clandestine surveillance of all sorts is the bread and butter of most human intelligence agencies. The CIA has its own lethal drone program and paramilitary branch, as do several other spy agencies. The Mossad is, among many other things, a brutally efficient assassination machine. So where does one draw the line when it comes to otherwise criminal acts carried out by intelligence agents of the NZ state?
The recommendations repeatedly speak about acting in “good faith.” But how is “good faith” defined? The SIS agents who broke into activist Aziz Chowdry’s home in 1996 were probably acting in “good faith” when they committed what otherwise would be a crime, but how is it that stealing documents from activists is justified on national security grounds? Moreover, the person who caught the SIS agents in the act of breaking and entering, David Small, had his home raided, ostensibly to search for bomb-making materials, by the Police a week later, after making the initial complaint (he was able to record the SIS get away car’s registration plate number, which was traced back to an SIS front company). How was the raid on Dr. Small done in “good faith” and at whose behest? The government was eventually forced to settle with Mr. Chowdry for a six figure amount and, worse yet, forced to apologise to him for the break in (you can read a summary of the case here).
Dr. Small also received compensation for “unreasonable search.” If we accept that an apology implies recognition of wrong doing and that “unreasonable searches” may be part of the SIS repertoire, then how and where does “good faith” come into the picture? Add to that events such as SIS break-ins at Auckland University in the late 1990s (if I am not mistaken Jane Kelsey’s office was a target), and one gets the idea that the SIS engages in otherwise illegal acts not so much for national security reasons but because it simply can under a de facto “good faith” immunity clause. So the effect of the current recommendations would be to codify what is already informal usage and practice.
The issue of “good faith” extends beyond New Zealand’s borders. Inspector General of Intelligence and Security Cheryl Gwyn is currently investigating whether the SIS was complicit in the CIA extraordinary rendition and black site program. For those unaware of these, the program involved kidnapping or detaining suspected Islamic extremists and “rendering” them to clandestine detention centres in a number of countries (Poland, Thailand and Egypt, among others). There they were subject to euphemistically labeled “enhanced” interrogation techniques (some of which are more properly classified as torture). Although some of those “rendered” by this program turned up in Guantanamo Bay or in prisons operated by US allies, many others have never been seen again. All of this was conducted off the books and outside of legal guarantees or protections for the detainees.
Assuming that Ms. Gwyn does find that in fact the SIS knew about or was complicit in the extraordinary rendition/black site program in contravention of NZ commitments to international conventions against torture and arbitrary detention, can the SIS turn around and claim that it was doing so in “good faith?” Is “good faith” nothing more than a get out of jail card for the intelligence services?
The bottom line is two-fold. First, undercover intelligence operations to date have been conducted under very porous and somewhat dubious legal cover that allows a multitude of operational sins to occur under what seems to be a wink and nod agreement with other agencies such as the police and Crown.
Secondly, the recommendations in the report about legal cover for undercover intelligence operations are very vague and broad, which allows the possibility for agents to go “rogue” so long as they can claim that they are acting in “good faith.” Neither is acceptable in a liberal democracy.
I agree that a comprehensive legal framework is needed governing the circumstances and permissible activities conducted during undercover intelligence operations. But this framework has to specify as much what is not permissible as what is, and has to ensure clear lines of responsibility as well as authorisation before and during the conduct of said operations. Otherwise we run the risk of allowing State-sanctioned criminal enterprise to masquerade as intelligence gathering.
Tags: Covert operations, Democracy, GCSB, Intelligence, NZSIS, Security
Posted in Democracy, governance, History, Intelligence and Security, NZ Security, Politics, Uncategorized | 5 Comments | Read More »
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Our pick of London’s 2020 exhibitions
With just 40 days left of 2019, we’re already looking ahead to 2020 and the dates you should be putting in your diary. From David Hockney to Andy Warhol, there are some major exhibitions to keep you busy.
David Hockney: Drawing from Life
27 February – 28 June 2020
The first major exhibition devoted to David Hockney’s drawings in over 20 years will see the National Portrait Gallery explore Hockney as a draughtsman from the 1950s to the present. Featuring around 150 works from public and private collections across the world – including previously unseen works – the exhibition will focus on depictions of himself and a small group of sitters close to him. As well as portraits of his muse, Celia Birtwell, and his mother, Laura Hockney, there will be new coloured pencil drawings created in Paris in the early 1970s, composite Polaroid portraits from the 1980s, and a selection from an intense period of self-scrutiny during the 1980s when the artist created a self-portrait every day for two months.
David Hockney, Gregory. Los Angeles. March 31st 1982 © David Hockney. Photo Credit: Richard Schmidt
12 March – 6 September 2020
Visitors to this Tate Modern major retrospective will follow Andy Warhol’s story from shy outsider to Pop art legend in what is expected to be one of the biggest events in next year’s art calendar. The first Warhol exhibition at Tate Modern for almost 20 years will offer a rare personal insight into how a shy gay man became the hub of New York’s social scene and his work marked a period of cultural transformation. Expect all his biggest works, including his Marilyn Monroe screen prints and Campbell’s Soup Cans, as well as 25 pieces from his Ladies and Gentleman series – portraits of black and Latinx drag queens and trans women – that will be shown for the first time in 30 years.
Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych 1962. Tate © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Right Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London
Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait 1986. Tate © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Right Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London
Alice: Down the Rabbit Hole
27 June 2020 – 10 January 2021
Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of the most iconic and loved books of all time, and its influence can still be seen throughout art, entertainment and fashion more than a century and a half after it was written. It’s not surprising that it’s inspired a major exhibition next summer at the V&A then. Following its curators down the rabbit hole, visitors will explore its story from its origin 157 years ago to its many reinventions across art, literature, film, ballet and fashion in what’s expected to be a mind-bending and colourful selection of multi-media displays.
Alice in Wonderland. The Royal Ballet. Zenaida Yanowsky ©ROH, Johan Persson, 2011. Costumes by Bob Crowley
The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Raphael
In the year that marks the 500th anniversary of his death, The National Gallery will present one of the first-ever exhibitions to explore the career of Raphael – the painter, draughtsman, architect, archaeologist and poet. Although his brief career spans just two decades, his immortal legacy is celebrated across paintings and drawings, as well as in architecture, poetry, and design for sculpture, tapestry and prints. With loans from the Louvre, Vatican Museum, Uffizi Museum, National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Prado Museum, this impressive display highlights Raphael’s impact on Western culture and countless other artists.
Raphael, The Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary, Saints and Angels (The Mond Crucifixion) © The National Gallery, London
View works by Maddie Rose Hills here...
View works by Jonathan Yeo here...
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News: brad@bradhaugaard.com • Restaurants • Schools • Police • Map • Movies • Library Catalog, Activities • Facebook / Twitter / RSS
Monrovia Police: Bicyclist Stopped for Vehicle Code Violation; Senior Bilked by Publishers Clearing House Scam; Cell Phone Tracks Down Suspect; Lots of Car Windows Busted; Etc.
[Monrovia Police activities from the Police Department's Neighborhood Watch Report for April 5 - 11. - Brad Haugaard]
During the last seven-day period, the Police Department handled 440 service events, resulting in 91 investigations.
Violation of Restraining Order – Suspect Arrested
April 5 at 12:38 a.m., residents in the 200 block of N. Shamrock heard a male and female yelling inside one of the houses on their block. Officers responded and located the two subjects. A computer check revealed the male subject had a valid restraining order against him which prohibited him from being around the female subject. He was taken into custody.
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia – Suspect Arrested
April 5 at 10:46 p.m., an officer was patrolling the 100 block of W. Duarte when he saw a bicyclist commit a vehicle code violation. He stopped the bicyclist and found the rider was in possession of an open container of alcohol, as well as drug paraphernalia. The rider was arrested.
April 6 at 8:26 a.m., a resident in the 800 block of Montana reported a male subject pacing back and forth on the street. She had a valid restraining order against the male, who was prohibited from being anywhere near the residence. Officers arrived, located the subject and took him into custody.
April 6 at 11:12 a.m., an elderly resident in the 600 block of E. Olive received a telephone call from someone telling her she had won a sweepstakes from Publishers Clearing House; however, to receive the money she would have to purchase $15,000 worth of gift cards, then provide the caller with the gift card numbers. The resident complied with their request, but never received the prize money she was promised. This investigation is continuing.
Domestic Violence – Suspect Arrested
April 6 at 2:08 p.m., a caller reported a male and female fighting at a residence in the 500 block of Sombrero. Officers arrived and located the two subjects, who are living together and in a dating relationship. An investigation revealed the female subject had bitten the male, so she was taken into custody.
Fraud – Suspect Arrested
April 6 at 8:09 p.m., a sergeant was patrolling the 700 block of E. Foothill when he saw a vehicle in front of him with current registration tabs; however, a DMV computer check revealed the registration was actually expired. The vehicle was stopped and the driver was arrested for fraud.
Burglary / Grand Theft Auto
April 6 at 10:03 p.m., a resident in the 1100 block of S. Fifth returned home after spending several days in the hospital and discovered her home had been burglarized. Several designer clothing items had been stolen, as well as one of her vehicles. This investigation is continuing.
April 6 at 10:18 a.m., a sergeant was patrolling the 800 block of W. Duarte when she was stopped by a resident who said they had just found their parked vehicle’s window had been shattered. The resident was inside her home when she heard the vehicle’s alarm activate, so she went outside and saw the damage. This investigation is continuing.
Warrant / Drug Paraphernalia – Suspect Arrested
April 6 at 11:04 p.m., a sergeant was patrolling the 1700 block of S. Magnolia when he saw a male subject he recognized from previous contacts. A computer check revealed the subject had a warrant for his arrest, so the sergeant took him into custody. A search incident to arrest revealed the subject was also in possession of drug paraphernalia.
Commercial Burglary
April 7 at 6:36 a.m., the owner of a business in the 300 block of W. Huntington arrived to work and discovered one of the windows to the building had been shattered. When she went inside the business, she found that it had been burglarized, with several packages of merchandise taken. This investigation is continuing.
April 7 between 8:30 and 9:41 a.m., residents in the 900 block of Monterey and the 300 block of N. Grand walked outside their homes to go to work and discovered windows to their vehicles had been shattered. Two vehicles had been burglarized sometime during the night. A laptop computer and a backpack were taken. This investigation is continuing.
Possession of Stolen Property – Suspect Arrested
April 7 at 4:32 p.m., the victim of a vehicle burglary in the City of Duarte had their cellphone and other items stolen. The victim used the phone’s tracking system to locate the phone inside a house in the 1400 block of Encino. Officers responded and the phone and other stolen property was recovered. The person who was in possession of the stolen property was arrested.
Warrant – Suspect Arrested
April 7 at 10:14 p.m., an officer was patrolling the 700 block of W. Huntington when he saw a female subject lying across the sidewalk. The officer stopped to see if she needed medical assistance, but found she was only sleeping. A computer check revealed she had a warrant for her arrest, so she was taken into custody.
DUI / Warrant – Suspect Arrest
April 7 at 10:27 p.m., an officer was patrolling the 100 block of W. Walnut, when he saw a motorist weaving back and forth along the road. He stopped the vehicle and found the driver to be intoxicated. After field sobriety tests were conducted, the driver was arrested for DUI. A computer check revealed the driver also had a warrant for his arrest.
Under the Influence of Drugs – Suspect Arrested
April 7 at 11:47 p.m., a sergeant was patrolling the 800 block of S. Fifth when he saw a male subject walking in the parking lot of a business that was closed. The male was behaving suspicious. The sergeant stopped the subject and found him to be under the influence of drugs, so he was arrested.
April 8 at 12:05 a.m., an employee of a restaurant in the 600 block of W. Huntington walked outside to his car and found someone had stolen one of the wheels off his vehicle. The car was propped up on a jack. This investigation is continuing.
DUI – Suspects Arrested
April 8 between 1:34 and 2:09 a.m., officers stopped two separate vehicles, one in the 2000 block of S. Myrtle and the other in the 900 block of S. Alta Vista for vehicle code violations. Both drivers were found to be intoxicated, so field sobriety tests were conducted. Both subjects were too intoxicated to operate a vehicle safely, so they were arrested for DUI.
April 8 at 3:05 a.m., a resident in the 1100 block of Sesmas heard someone knocking on the front door to her home. When she looked outside, she did not recognize the male subject, so she called the police. Officers arrived and contacted the subject. A computer check revealed he had a warrant for his arrest, so he was taken into custody.
DUI – Suspect Arrested
April 9 at 12:06 a.m., a sergeant was patrolling the 2600 block of S. Myrtle when she saw a vehicle traveling north on Myrtle, swerving back and forth. She stopped the vehicle and found the driver to be intoxicated. Field sobriety tests were conducted and the driver was arrested for DUI.
April 9 at 8:33 a.m., a resident in the 1200 block of Encino walked outside his home and discovered that sometime during the night someone had shattered two of his car windows. He looked inside his car and found that his laptop and wallet containing credit cards had been stolen. He called his credit card companies and was told the cards had already been used at several different stores in various cities. This investigation is continuing.
Shoplifting – Suspect Arrested
April 9 between 1:10 and 2:48 p.m., employees of a store in the 500 block of W. Huntington reported two incidents of shoplifting. The suspects in the first incident stole over fifty pair of jeans, then fled the store. The investigation in this incident is continuing. In the second incident the suspect was detained by store security, and after police arrived, the suspect was arrested.
April 10 at 8:09 a.m., a resident in the 100 block of S. Mountain walked outside his home and discovered someone had shattered his car window sometime during the night. Several items from inside the vehicle had been stolen. This investigation is continuing.
April 10 at 9:00 a.m., an officer was patrolling the 100 block of W. Foothill when he saw a subject loitering whom he recognized from previous contacts. A computer check revealed the subject had several warrants for his arrest. The officer contacted the subject and took him into custody.
April 10 at 12:23 p.m., an employee of a store in the 100 block of W. Foothill saw a female subject enter the store, removed items from a shelf, then run out of the store without paying for the merchandise. He saw her get into a vehicle and drive out of the parking lot. Officers were called and a search was conducted, but the suspect was not located. This investigation is continuing.
Public Intoxication / Warrant – Suspect Arrested
April 10 at 3:01 p.m., a sergeant contacted a male subject in the 400 block of S. Myrtle to see if he needed medical help. The sergeant found that the subject was actually heavily intoxicated and unable to care for his own safety. The subject was taken into custody. A computer check revealed he also had a warrant for his arrest.
April 10 at 8:27 p.m., a resident in the 100 block of E. Evergreen called the police to report his UPS package containing a Harley Davidson wheel had been stolen from his front porch sometime during the day. He had called UPS and confirmed that the package had, in fact, been delivered. This investigation is continuing.
April 11 at 11:26 a.m., a resident in the 100 block of N. Lincoln arrived home from working all morning and discovered someone had broken a window to their home and gained entry. It is unknown what was taken.
April 11 at 3:40 p.m., a resident in the 700 block of W. Foothill walked outside his home and discovered someone had burglarized his vehicle sometime during the day. Several items were stolen from inside the vehicle. This investigation is continuing.
April 3 at 8:09 p.m., a resident in the 900 block of W. Foothill walked outside his home and discovered someone had entered his unlocked vehicle. His laptop computer was stolen from inside the vehicle. This investigation is continuing.
April 4 at 4:01 a.m., the owner of a business in the 100 block of S. Myrtle received an alarm activation on his cellphone for his business. His phone was connected to his store’s surveillance system, so he could see two suspects inside his store attempting to steal the office safe. Being unsuccessful, they fled within one minute after entering. This investigation is continuing.
Posted by Brad at 4/12/2018
Labels: police
RE: Fraud - Suspect Arrested
What made the sergeant check the validity of the tags? Was the driver profiled first?
Also, why are there so many laptops left in cars to be stolen? Is this an ongoing scam so they can get new laptops or does Monrovia have a lot of idiots?
That's actually a valid question about the tags. Does MPD regularly run the plates of vehicles which don't appear to be in violation of laws? I know LAPD uses an automatic scanner which automatically reads plates. Does MPD use something like that?
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Sex Ed “Standards” called into Question by The Medical Institute
Austin, Texas – 01/16/2012
The Medical Institute for Sexual Health (MI) takes issue with the recently released National Standards for Sexuality Education for a clear lack of emphasis on messaging that would achieve the best health outcomes for youth. “It appears this set of so-called standards disregards accepted protocols for establishing optimal health attainment and provides instead a matrix for at best risk reduction rather than risk elimination,” stated Freda M. Bush, M.D., Chairperson of the Board of MI, a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist. “These standards carry the risk of damaging the health and well being of both male and female young people,” she added.
MI is no stranger to the creation of guidelines for effective sexuality education, having done so as far back as 1996 with an updated version of guidelines in 2007, funded by a CDC grant that complied with the goals of Healthy People 2010. This resource provides instruction that is compliant with state and federal educational regulations, is consistent with state educational standards, and is in accordance with community values and norms. “Promoting the health of young people is the goal which should be foremost in our undertaking as advocates for our children and youth. The Medical Institute remains committed to providing objective and scientific sexual health information that advances and supports the healthiest behaviors in our young people,” Dr. Bush added.
For more information, please contact us at 5123286268 or e-mail us at [email protected]
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A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket.
By extension, the term is frequently used, especially in the context of the film industry, as a synonym for the amount of business a particular production, such as a film or theatre show, receives. The term can also mean factors which may influence this amount, as in the phrases "good box office" and "bad box office".
Read more about Box Office: Usage, Related Film Industry Terminology, Etymology
Other articles related to "box office, box":
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... According to Box Office Mojo, it ranked at 174 for all films released in the US in 2000 and 74 for R-rated films released that year ... As of December 2011, its all time box-office ranking for LGBT-related films is 73 ...
Box Office - Etymology
... The term is attested since 1786, presumably from sales of box seats or "boxes" (private seating areas) ... derives from Elizabethan theatre, where theater admission was collected in a box attached to a long stick, passed around the audience compare the "bottle" in Punch and Judy, where ...
Beverly Hills Cop II - Reception - Box Office
... Hills Cop II was one of the most anticipated films of 1987 and became a box office success upon release, despite not making as much as the first Beverly Hills Cop ... becoming the third biggest hit domestically at the box office that year, after Fatal Attraction and Three Men and a Baby and the second highest grossing film worldwide that year, behind Fatal Attraction ...
Mr. Nice Guy (1997 film) - Box Office
... Mr ... Nice Guy opened on Chinese New Year, 1997, up against director Hung's own Once Upon a Time in China and America ...
Katrina Kaif - Career - Initial Success (2007–2009)
... films, all of which were successful at the box office ... Featuring Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Kirron Kher and Shilpa Shetty, the film was a box-office hit ... making it Kaif's sixth consecutive success at the box office ...
Famous quotes containing the words office and/or box:
“At first, it must be remembered, that [women] can never accomplish anything until they put womanhood ahead of wifehood, and make motherhood the highest office on the social scale.”
—“Jennie June” Croly 1829–1901, U.S. founder of the woman’s club movement, journalist, author, editor. Demorest’s Illustrated Monthly and Mirror of Fashions, pp. 24-5 (January 1870)
“If you like to make things out of wood, or sew, or dance, or style people’s hair, or dream up stories and act them out, or play the trumpet, or jump rope, or whatever you really love to do, and you love that in front of your children, that’s going to be a far more important gift than anything you could ever give them wrapped up in a box with ribbons.”
—Fred M. Rogers (20th century)
Terms related to box office:
Box Office Bomb
Box Office Prophets
3 Strikes (film)
Highest Grossing
Just Visiting (film)
Million Tickets
Yolngu Boy
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Nelson Ledges Road Course was constructed in 1958 on a small rural potato farm outside of Warren, Ohio. There was no design plan, no million-dollar study, and no million-dollar contracts with architects, engineers or planners. It was two men (Marvin Drucker and John McGill) and a bulldozer with an idea to build a race track. The original track was dirt and only 1 mile in length. Paving came next and then the addition of “The Carousel” in 1962. Later the bridge was added, the pit lane was extended and paved, and the tires were added for barriers around the track. It is considered one of, if not, the fastest tracks in the country.
In 1968, the idea of the 24 Hours of Nelson Ledges became a reality for motorcycle teams to battle a 24-hour race alike the cars. The 24 Hours of Nelson Ledges was the only continuous 24-hour motorcycle race in the United States at its time. The race was famous for running the Le Mans style start.
Nelson Ledges Road Course also hosted two large concerts in the mid 70’s that included the Steve Miller Band, Heart, Widow Maker, Electric Light Festival, and Van Morrison.
SCCA’s Trans Am series made 3 annual visits to the track in 1975, 1976 and 1977. John Greenwood, George Follmer, and Bob Hagestad won these prestigious events with the likes of Peter Gregg, Hurley Haywood, Bob Tullius, and Al Holbert in quick chase.
A couple years later, John McGill, Grover Griggs, Ann McHugh, and a whole slew of other instigators had a crazy idea to hold a 24-hour race for purely showroom stock vehicles. Hence, the Longest Day of Nelson was conceived in 1980. The list of competitors over the next 16 years reads like a who’s who of North American motorsports. Hurley Haywood would return. John Greenwood would return. John Heinricy, Andy Pilgrim, The Archer brothers, John and Jeff Andretti, Parker Johnstone, Price Cobb, Mark Dismore, Janet Guthrie, Danny Sullivan, and the Nonnamaker family all put in a lot of laps at night around this track.
Micheal Andretti went to his SCCA driver’s school here as well as Peter Cunningham and Micheal Galati. Also, Nelson is not absent of celebrity appearances. John Oates (of Hall and Oates) Tom Cruise, and even Steve McQueen have made appearances behind the wheel here. But Nelson is most revered by the visits from Paul Newman. Many people can remember many evenings after the racing was done for the day, the spectators were gone for the evening, and the beer was being swilled. This was when Mr. Newman himself would come join the communal campfire with the workers, racers and officials.
Nelson Ledges is one of the very few of its kind left in the country. Most tracks today have changed and lost their original character. It’s a herald back to classic race tracks not cookie cutter designs that we see today. Bridgehampton, Stardust, and Meadowdale are long since gone but Nelson has remained Nelson, and will continue to be a Nelson forever.
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Regeneration progress highlighted as Leisure Centre takes shape
Details of the latest progress on the new leisure centre for Aberavon were revealed at an event last week to review Neath Port Talbot Council’s regeneration strategy for Aberavon seafront.
Following a briefing on the latest stages of construction, ward councillors were joined by representatives of local sports groups and businesses on a site visit to view progress.
The investment in the landmark seafront location will result in a purpose-built beachfront leisure centre, complete with ‘wave design’ roof and featuring a 25m pool with moveable floor; multiple changing facilities, gym/fitness suite, spin room, dance studio, four court sports hall, cafe and community rooms.
Developer Corban Investments and their contractor, Heron Bros Ltd. started construction of the £13.4m facility in June last year which is being built adjacent to Reel Cinema and expected to be completed by the end of 2015.
Installation of the timber roof beams is now complete and wall cladding and roof sheet covering works are ongoing.
All underground drainage works and the ground and first floor concrete floors are completed, and the pre-cast concrete staircases have been installed.
The main pool walls and floor are complete and the poolside promenade concrete decking work is due to be finished shortly.
Internal block work to the wet change village, offices and community rooms is underway and mechanical and electrical works have started.
Works over the next few weeks will include the completion of the roof coverings and cladding, and the installation of external glazing panels. Once this is complete, the building will be watertight and internal works including pool tiling, carpentry and internal wall finishes can commence.
One of the Council’s key aims is to maximise community benefits from regeneration projects such as this one, and the Council’s Business Development team is working with Heron Brothers throughout the duration of the contract to ensure local businesses benefit from the investment.
At the start of the project, a ‘Meet the Buyer Event’ was attended by over 60 local contractors. So far, more than 50% of the project’s contractors and suppliers are based within South Wales.
Councillor Ali Thomas OBE, Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council said: “I am pleased to see good progress being made on the construction of the new leisure centre.
“This will be a wonderful twenty first century facility we can all be proud of and will be a focal point in enhancing our strategy and vision for regenerating the whole area.
“I am delighted to see that the contractor is working with us to provide trading opportunities for local businesses wherever possible.
“Creating local job opportunities is one of our key priorities and it is vital that we make the most of investment and construction projects such as this one to benefit local businesses and people and in the County Borough.”
Chris Mundow, Development Director with Corban Investments said: “We’re very pleased with the level of progress on this flagship development which is now halfway to completion. This has been achieved thanks to the tremendous level of support from our on-site team, and our continued partnership with Neath Port Talbot Council.
“The majority of companies involved and those working on the site are from the South Wales area. Indeed, the benefits of this development to local businesses and to the community as a whole have been a priority from the outset. We are confident that the completion of this landmark project will add considerably to the regeneration and reinvigoration of the entire area and will also have a positive impact on the local community, both now and in the future.”
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3D Systems' Full Color Printers Bring LAIKA's ParaNorman to Life
3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD) announced that the company's ZPrinter® 650 is the first ever full color 3D printer used in a stop-motion animated film, ParaNorman, produced by Portland, Oregon based animation studio LAIKA. Known for integrating innovation with the hand-created artistry of the stop motion technique, LAIKA utilized 3D printing to create over 31,000 individual, color facial parts for production.
3D Systems' ZPrinter technology allowed LAIKA animators to quickly and accurately print hundreds of facial features and expressions for each of the film's 62 characters.
"ParaNorman is an enduring and emotional story that is driven by strong characters and exquisite designs," says Brian McLean, LAIKA's Creative Supervisor of Replacement Animation and Engineering. "In order for us to give the characters the facial expressions and emotional range needed to support such a wonderful story, we needed to try something unprecedented. By using a color 3D printer we were not only able to push facial performance to new levels, but we were also able to achieve a level of detail and subtlety in characters' faces that a few short years ago would have seemed impossible. This technology, combined with a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication from talented artists and technicians, has created something truly unique and beautiful."
"We are absolutely thrilled to partner with the ground breaking team at LAIKA as they utilize our full color 3D printing technology to revolutionize storytelling," said Cathy Lewis, Vice President of Global Marketing for 3D Systems. "We look forward to ParaNorman being a great success with global audiences."
ParaNorman premieres nationwide in theatres August 17, 2012.
For more information, visit: www.paranorman.com or www.zcorp.com/en/Products/3D-Printers/ZPrinter-650/spage.aspx
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Hospital Labs
About PTPG
Role of Pathologist
Julia Adams, M.D.
Andrew B. Armstrong, M.D.
Horea Baila, M.D.
Elizabeth A. Bauer-Marsh, M.D.
Ronald Champagne, M.D.
Tran Cromwell, M.S.
Pamela Goodell, M.D.
Hui Guan, M.D., Ph.D.
Katherine A. Kasper, MD
Alexandra Larson, M.D.
Wei Liu, M.D., Ph.D.
Paul Ndekwe, M.D.
Fred Oakley, M.D., Ph.D.
Brandy Pownell, M.D.
Adam Quinn, D.O.
Lori Racsa, D.O.
Channon C. Rider, M.S.
Michael D. Spears, M.D.
Lily Tran, M.D.
Kirsten Zeman, M.S.
Questions About Your Bill
Billing Office
Laboratory Director, Graham Hospital & Mason District Hospital
Primary Location: Graham Hospital
Special Interest: Surgical Pathology & Cytopathology
Dr. Champagne received a B.A. degree in Biology from Washington University in St. Louis (1991) and his M.D. from Rush University in Chicago (1995). He completed his residency training in anatomic and clinical pathology at Emory University School of Medicine (1995-1997) and Northwestern University McGaw Medical Center (1997-2000).
Dr. Champagne had special training in cytopathology and surgical pathology in his final year of residency and is a diplomate of The American Board of Pathology. After his residency, he practiced pathology at Genesis Clinical Laboratory and MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Illinois, where he served as the Director of the Microbiology Laboratory (2000-2003). Dr. Champagne joined PTPG in July 2003. He is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pathology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, as well as Laboratory Director at both Graham Hospital & Mason District Hospital.
Dr. Ronald Champagne
Illinois License
Physician, Licensed
Iowa License
Peoria Tazewell Pathology Group
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For the Mets and their fans, it’s too early to panic
by Bryan Fonseca Queens Ledger
Apr 25, 2017 | 9336 views | 0 | 372 | |
The Mets try to figure things out on the mound in Friday night’s loss to the Nationals.(Photo: Jeffrey Armstrong)
The Mets tried to stare down Bryce Harper and the Nationals at Citi Field, but got swept in three games at home. (Photo: Jeffrey Armstrong)
The first thing you would have heard getting off the 7 train at Mets-Willets Point on Friday night would have been a forceful “World series or bust!”
It was too early for people to be drinking, but the way the New York Mets’ season has started and fans with such high expectations, who knows?
Those expectations, by the way, are warranted. It just doesn’t appear that way right now.
As a result of getting swept by the Washington Nationals, the New York Mets are now 8-11 on the season, but there are 143 games left.
That’s 143.
The Mets loss on Sunday night occurred in large part at the hands of former Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy belting a grand slam in the first inning off Zach Wheeler, who rebounded with six scoreless innings after the poisonous first.
Ironically, it was two days after Met manager Terry Collins promised “we’re not going to let Daniel Murphy beat us,” following an extra-inning game against the Nats to open the series where the Mets lost 4-3, but it was not Murphy’s doing.
Sunday was.
The Mets have lost 8-of-9 heading into a three-game series with the Atlanta Braves, before they visit the Nats in Washington D.C. between next weekend.
“Every team goes through a bad streak,” said Collins. “What we’ve got to do is say ‘hey, this is ours, and when it’s done, we’re going to get back in this hunt.’”
After back-to-back playoff berths, a 2015 World Series trip being one of them, the Mets entered this season with sky-high expectations. They even started 7-3, far better than last season, and matched their ’15 record through the first 10 games in the process.
But in less than two weeks that has since grown into an abstract thought.
Other than Major League Baseball being the ultimate marathon, the Queens-based club still has all the more reason for optimism because the main source of this unfavorable output is a multitude of injuries.
The injury list has already included Yoenis Cespedes, who nearly played against the Nationals on Sunday, Brandon Nimmo, Wilmer Flores, Seth Lugo, Lucas Duda and, of course, David Wright, who is on the 60-day disabled list.
Many of these key players will return sooner as opposed to later, but the Mets need to tread water until then, and as of late it’s been easier said than done.
“I think getting Cespedes back will make all the difference,” Collins said. “We’ve been unable to get the one big hit when we’ve needed it.”
The Nationals, on the other hand, lead the National League East with a 13-5 record, and could expand their lead tremendously if the Mets continue to falter.
While the Mets (and Nationals) have the World Series in mind, October is still ages away, and the Mets are primarily focused coming out of April on the positive note.
“You try not to freak out,” said Mets’ second baseman Neil Walker. “That’s the absolute worst thing you can do 19 games into a season. We know we’re not playing great, it wasn’t a good series any way you put it. There is not going to be any finger pointing in here, we know we need to be better.”As Collins said, maybe this is just their downswing, and it’s arrived incredibly early.
Or maybe it’s not that simple and the Mets aren’t as good as they’ve been over the last two years.
We don’t know, and we won’t know in April.
Time will tell; 143 games over the next five-plus months kind of time.
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Eisenmenger Inks Contract With Newark Pilots For 2016
PC: St. John Fisher Athletics
Newark, N.Y. – Nearby St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y., has proven to be a hotbed for talent for the Newark Pilots over the years, producing the likes of two-time Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL) All-Star Justin D’Amato, fellow 2011 PGCBL Champion Sean Osterman, 2012 All-Star Ben Bostick, and Cody Wiktorski, a 2015 All-PGCBL First Teamer.
The Pilots will once again tap into the Fisher pipeline in 2016 with the addition of Cardinals first baseman Scott Eisenmenger.
The bulky 6-foot-4, 235-pound sophomore is coming off of a banner freshman season that resulted in both Empire 8 Conference and D3baseball.com New York Region Rookie of the Year awards. He also picked up D3baseball.com and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings Second-Team All-New York Region honors.
In 2015, Eisenmenger paced the Cardinals and the Empire 8 Conference with eight home runs and a .616 slugging percentage, and was tied for the league lead with 55 hits. He also led Fisher with a .418 on-base percentage, while his .364 batting average was second on the team. Through the first 14 games of his sophomore campaign, Eisenmenger is batting .255 with three doubles, three homers, 10 runs scored and nine RBIs.
The Hilton, N.Y., native was a two-time All-Greater Rochester and All-New York State honoree at Hilton High School. Eisenmenger was crowned the Monroe County West Player of the Year as a junior in 2013, the same year the accomplished high school pitcher led the Cadets to the Monroe Country West Division Championship with a complete game and six strikeouts on the mound against Greece Athena High School. Eisenmenger hit .524 with two homers and 26 RBIs in his final season at Hilton.
The Newark Pilots open the 2016 PGCBL season on Wednesday, June 1, on the road against the Jammers of Jamestown. The home opener at historic Colburn Park is scheduled for Friday, June 3, at 7:05 p.m. against the Geneva Red Wings. For more information and to purchase season tickets, please contact team president Leslie Ohmann at 315-576-6710 or newarkpilots@gmail.com.
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Review: A Matter of Forever by Heather Lyons (Blog Tour + Giveaway)
May 20, 2014 Meredith Blog Tour, Reviews 3 ★★★★★
A Matter of Forever by Heather Lyons
Series: Fate #4
Published by Cerulean Books on May 13, 2014
It all comes down to this . . .
Chloe Lilywhite has struggled for years to find her footing in a series of dangerous and demanding worlds. Creator, first tier Council member, and one of the most powerful Magicals in existence, she was little more than one of Fate’s pawns. But now, Chloe is back home and ready to call the shots. She knows what she wants and who she wants to be.
Except the Elders never got the memo.
Annar and Magical-kind are under attack. The lives of Chloe’s loved ones, and life as they know it, are at stake. Chloe's the key to taking the Elders down, but they won't go quietly into the night.
This time, neither will Chloe.
*This is a New Adult title, suitable for readers 18+
Hey everyone! Welcome to my stop on the A Matter of Forever tour! I’m very excited to be a part of this blog tour! Heather is amazing and I absolutely LOVED this book!!!! I hope you enjoy my review!
This book shattered my feels, brought me to tears and filled me with more joy than any other book ever has or ever will. Heather’s writing is so melodic and she crafted a gorgeous ending to an incredible series, one that will stay with me forever.
I feel like I say this every time, but Chloe has grown SO much from the first book to now. She started out as a young, frightened (though never helpless) girl and matured into a bright, strong, mature young woman. She fought harder than she has ever fought before. She knew when to give up, when to ask for help and when to keep pushing until she achieved her desired goals. She also knew when to let go… But I can’t explain that because of spoilers.
Jonah was… Wow. And Kellan? Omg.. Wow… First of all, I just want to say this: You know a love triangle is amazingly well-done when you root for one person, but know the MC will end up with the other – and you’re perfectly okay with that, because you know, deep down, it’s meant to be. Now, for those of you who know which Team I’m on, this may seem like a spoilers, though I can assure you, it’s not. And for those of you who don’t know which Team I’m on, you’ll need to read the books to truly find out! But it needed to be said because Heather is such a brilliant writer, she managed to pull off one of my all-time favorite love triangles EVER. And she did it in such an amazing way, I’m completely satisfied with the way things ended. I’m still heartbroken over certain things, but I’m completely satisfied.
It’s hard to say which twin matured more in this final book. For Jonah, he got over his trust and anger issues. He was no longer like a ticking time-bomb, ready to explode. When things needed to be asked or said, he asked them and said them. He was open and honest and so, so good to Chloe in this book. Then there was Kellan. Kellan had to grow up a LOT in this series. He had to accept so many things. In the past, he ran away from his problems rather than face them. But in A Matter of Forever, he accepted things and faced them head-on. He didn’t run; rather, he came to a mature decision, weighed the pros and cons and did what he felt was best for everyone involved.
Of course, no review of a Fate book would be complete without mentioning how much I adore Astrid, Callie, Cora, Cameron, Will, Raul and so many others. Unlike some books, where secondary characters are just that – secondary and in the background, Heather has crafted these amazing characters, family and friends, people you wish you could know in real life. I don’t want to say too much and spoil things, but I’m truly happy with where their stories ended – though still heartbroken for some of them.
The deaths in this book – and yes, I’m sad to say that there were several lives lost – dealt a crushing blow. I had to stop reading after two deaths in particular. I raged against them. I kept telling myself they hadn’t actually happen, they had to be a dream. I felt both losses just as greatly as the characters did. I’m still dealing with them, mourning the losses with a broken heart. The outcome of the one, well… Spoiler. So I can’t say, but I can say that at least the one was for the best. That’s not to say I’ll ever heal from that loss (I know, I’m speaking as if this truly happened in real life… but that’s how much these characters have come to man to me), but I know I’ll heal over time.
And yes, that brings me to say that my feels were utterly destroyed with this book. After four books and one novella, these characters have become like family to me. They feel so real and we’ve been through so much together, it’s hard to see them as fictional. Though we still have Kellan’s novella to look forward to, this is pretty much the end of this series and and I just can’t fathom it. I can’t imagine not having another book in this series to look forward to. It baffles me that this is the end and I won’t get to know what happens next for these characters.
But with that said, the ending was absolute perfection. I definitely cried several times throughout the book, but the end brought me tears of joy. I can’t imagine this series ending in any other way and I’m so, so happy with where all the characters stories ended.
This will, forever and always, be considered one of my Top Three favorite series’ of all time. I can see myself re-reading it for years to come. If you haven’t read this series, then you must. With realistic, lovable characters, a plot that is like nothing I have ever read and the most amazing, satisfying ending, I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.
About Heather Lyons:
Heather Lyons has always had a thing for words—She’s been writing stories since she was a kid. In addition to writing, she’s also been an archaeologist and a teacher. Heather is a rabid music fan, as evidenced by her (mostly) music-centric blog, and she’s married to an even larger music snob. They’re happily raising three kids who are mini music fiends who love to read and be read to.
Heather’s Website | Heather’s Twitter
Heather’s Facebook | Heather’s Goodreads
Heather’s Pinterest
Thanks to Inkslinger PR and Heather Lyons, we have an amazing giveaway set up for you guys! Please enter by using the Rafflecopter below:
3 Responses to “Review: A Matter of Forever by Heather Lyons (Blog Tour + Giveaway)”
Charlie Anderson
I heavily weigh the pros and cons, and also think about ripple effect of that one choice: what would happen if…?
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Filmphonics: Bringing the Phantom to Life
Ahead of his performance at the Hackney Attic live scoring the 1925 classic, The Phantom of the Opera, composer Costas Fotopoulos explains how the dawn of sound changed cinema’s musical landscape
Ambient sound, dialogue and effects were not expected, or even desirable, in film until the sound era had begun. Directors, producers and of course audiences expected silent films to be accompanied by music, whether it was composed especially, or appropriate pre-existing music was played along to the film.
With modern performance-screenings of films such as Phantom of the Opera (1925), we’re ‘restoring’ these silent films by ‘adding’ music in the sense that we are being faithful to the expectations of the time. You might say that a great silent film without music is like a great colour painting whose colour had faded away – something important would be missing, but it would still be great. In that respect, I don’t think it is nostalgic to add music to modern screenings of silent films – since this was expected in the films’ own era, the only issue that remains is whether it is desirable to view silent films now at all. My response would be a resounding “Yes”. A crucial part of cinematic and cultural history, some of the greatest films of all time were made in this era, and music can enhance and illuminate their enjoyment. For me, it’s not a case of longing from the past, but learning from it.
I’ve always had a keen interest in cinema, and I’d already seen and loved a number of silent films – both American and European – before I started accompanying them at the piano. Having been a pianist and composer almost my entire life, I have always seen improvisation as the link between the two activities.
The shift from silent films to ‘talkies’ had the very distressing effect of putting many performing silent-film musicians out of work, but it also enabled the art of film music composition to be firmly established. A number of great concert composers wrote some exceptional (even historic) scores for talking films, most notably Prokofiev and Shostakovich. But the new phenomenon was that of the dedicated film composer. With solid experience writing for the concert hall and stage, these American-born and European composers – Steiner, Korngold, Rozsa, Herrmann – settled in Hollywood and began writing scores in the early 1930s and 40s. Their impact was that film became inextricably linked with finely-wrought, technically and emotionally complex music written especially for each title that not only emphasised what was visible on screen, but even more importantly, revealed what wasn’t visible. Music stopped running throughout, or almost throughout a film with the arrival of sound. There were now either isolated sections of diegetic music (heard/performed by characters within the film), or else the non-diegetic music (the score, which only viewers of the film can hear) would be broken into separate cues or interspersed with diegetic music, practices which of course continue to this day in films.
The challenge now in providing music for any silent film is to do it justice, i.e. to be as true as possible to the director’s intentions as I understand them, given that the director is unfortunately no longer around for consultation. The more emotionally rich and complex a film is, the greater the challenge, because it requires improvisation of more subtle and sophisticated music. Such films, or such moments within films, are what I especially enjoy, because they push me creatively and, hopefully, will make the experience of watching the film as powerful as possible.
But the primary role of music in film has never changed: to reveal the emotional heart of a film. This is why most filmmakers in cinema history have regarded music to be one of the most important elements in a film, from the silent era until today.
Costas is live-scoring The Phantom of The Opera at the Hackney Attic on Sunday 20 July. Click for ticket details, and more information on the Hackney Picture House
Words PORT Magazine
The Summer of Reeves
The City They Never Knew Existed
The Rajasthan Kabir Yatra
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News: Rotherham colliery to host massive auctions
By Tom Austen
Remaining employment land at the former Maltby Colliery in Rotherham has been sized up by Ritchie Bros., the world's largest auctioneer of heavy equipment and trucks, for its new UK location.
The 500 acre colliery was mined for over 100 years until geological conditions could not be overcome and underground operations ceased in 2013.
Rothbiz reported last year that Hargreaves Land was promoting the reuse of around 80 acres for commercial/industrial uses around the former pit head.
Now plans have been submitted to enable part of the yard to be used as an auction site which could accommodate large plant, machinery and equipment when auction events would be held up to ten times per year. Around 575 attendees are expected at each auction event over two days.
The initial proposals are for a smaller area for temporary period of 12 months with plans set to follow for the full 26 acres for a 20 year period.
The first Rotherham auction has already been pencilled in for February 26 with a catalogue of loaders, dump trucks and excavators.
Ritchie Bros. have been holding auctions since 1958, initially in Canada and then expanding to now operate on an international basis with over 40 sites. UK auctions had been held at Donington Park but have now outgrown the site.
In searching for new sites, Ritchie Bros. identified two preferred sites and of these the land on part of the pit yard at the former Maltby Colliery was the preferred location.
The plans added that "the former Maltby Colliery site's appeal to Ritchie Bros. included a heritage with an industry that they feel close to and a site with many inherent benefits by being expertly engineered and designed to accommodate large plant, machinery and equipment."
Secure, controlled access and excellent transport links were also in Maltby's favour.
The plans, drawn up by WYG, explain: "Ritchie Bros. employed 29 full time staff at their Donington Park site, which ceased activities in late 2018. It is anticipated that the temporary Auction Scheme would provide 30 full time jobs, which would include around ten employees relocating from the Donington Park site and the remaining 20 would be new employees.
"It is envisaged that 40 additional temporary jobs would be provided for each auction event (over two days) up to ten times per year, along with a proportion of such jobs commencing the week before the auction and also during the following week. In addition, there would be indirect jobs and spend in the local economy associated with the Auction Scheme estimated to be in the order of £0.75m per annum."
Transport assessments throughout the year are included with significant travel expected around the auction event days.
Rupert Craven, sales director UK & Ireland at Ritchie Bros., said: "We're extremely proud and excited to announce that we're holding our next UK auction at a new location: in Maltby, Rotherham (South Yorkshire).
"More precisely, our auction site will be at the former Maltby Main Colliery mine – a place of incredible heritage and an inspirational community. As an active coal mine for more than a hundred years (between 1910 and 2013), it has seen its share of hard work, ingenuity and – yes – heavy machinery. We'll certainly strive to continue with these traditions.
"We've started to outgrow our Donington Park site. More and more equipment is brought to our yard every year. Our new location in Maltby will be ready for future growth and offer more advantage to all our customers."
The reclamation scheme for the rest of the colliery is expected to commence in Spring 2019.
Ritchie Bros. website
Images: Hargreaves / Ritchie Bros.
Labels: coalfield, commercial property, development, employment, event, Hargreaves Services, investment, Maltby, regeneration, Ritchie Bros., Rotherham, WYG
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House Approves Bernstine Legislation to Prevent Violent Offenders from Early Release
HARRISBURG – The House of Representatives today overwhelming passed legislation that would preclude the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole from paroling an inmate at the expiration of his or minimum sentence if the inmate was convicted of a violent offense or an obstruction of justice while incarcerated.
House Bill 1855 or Markie’s Law, authored by Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R-Beaver/Butler/Lawrence), was named after Mark Mason, an 8-year-old from Lawrence County, who was brutally stabbed to death by a man who was paroled at the end of his minimum sentence for homicide, even after committing two separate assaults of other inmates while behind bars.
“Today, we made another step toward protecting our citizens across the Commonwealth,” said Bernstine. “We cannot change what has already occurred, but we have an obligation and responsibility to do everything possible to make sure it does not happen again.”
The bill would also postpone consideration of a violent inmate’s parole an additional 24 months following the inmate’s minimum release date for each conviction for a violent offense while incarcerated. In addition, it would suspend consideration of an inmate’s parole an additional 12 months if the inmate attempts to escape, smuggles contraband, or retaliates or intimidates witnesses while incarcerated.
“If House Bill 1855 had been in place on July 8, when the tragedy occurred, this animal would have been kept behind bars for a significantly longer period of time due to his actions in prison and Markie would be in school today interacting and studying with his classmates,” said Bernstine. “Violent individuals who are sent to prison and continue to commit violent acts while incarcerated should not be released on the streets after serving the bare minimum of their sentence,”
Keith Burley is a convicted murderer who was released from prison in March after serving 20 years in a robbery/shooting death. After serving his minimum sentence, Burley was arrested in early July in the stabbing death of Mason, who he abducted in a car with his 7-year-old brother during a domestic dispute with the boys’ mother.
“Working closely with Sen. Elder Vogel (R-Beaver/Butler/Lawrence) on Markie’s Law from the outset, it is my hope that this legislation will be approved by the state Senate and then signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf,” Bernstine added.
Representative Aaron Bernstine
10th Legislative District
Media Contact: Rick Leiner
717.260.6437 (office), 717.497.8478 (cell)
Rleiner@pahousegop.com
RepBernstine.com / Facebook.com/RepBernstine
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