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The following are a set of modern aerial photography images from Google Earth. Each set of two images depicts the locale where forest fire fighters died in 1910. The first image in each set has wording and/or icons to help with orientation. The second image in each set has no wording or icons on the landscape. All are looking north except for the De Faut Gulch images which are looking south. The scale from set to set are approximately equal. MIDDLE FORK OF BIG CREEK OF THE ST. JOE RIVER Middle Fork of Big Creek -- The Middle Fork of Big Creek joins the West Fork of Big Creek three miles downstream. What then is Big Creek proper flows another eight miles to the St. Joe River. Homesteads were scattered throughout the Middle Fork. The Beauchamp homestead, where Bell's crew sought refuge, was in what is now called Early Creek. The elevation there is 3700 feet. The Coeur d'Alene-St. Joe Divide is just two miles to the north. Across a low place in the Divide (4900 feet) is Big Creek of the Coeur d'Alene River's South Fork. The Coeur d'Alene-St. Joe Divide rises to 5900 feet at the head of Early Creek and stays between 5700 and 6200 feet for a couple of miles to the east, the route of Pulaski's flight with his crew. Striped Peak, just off the Divide, is at 6316 feet. The War Eagle Mine was around 3500 feet. Wallace is at 2750 feet. WEST FORK OF BIG CREEK OF THE ST. JOE RIVER West Fork of Big Creek of the St. Joe River -- The Dittman homestead was along a fork of a tributary, now called Deadman Gulch, of the West Fork of Big Creek. The elevation there was 4400 feet. The scarp extending easterly from there is on the north face of Pierce Creek which flows into Big Creek a mile below the confluence of the West Fork and the Middle Fork. A half mile to the west of the homestead site is the divide between Trout Creek and Big Creek, and up that divide at the head of Deadman Gulch is Lemonade Peak, elevation 5651 feet. To the north is the Pine Creek drainage of the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River. STORM CREEK - SETZER CREEK Rock Creek - Storm Creek - Setzer Creek -- These three creeks flow off of Flash Peak, Storm Mountain and the North Fork divide to flow into the St. Joe River. The upper elevations are over 5600 feet with a higher ridge (Cedar Mountain) to the north. The ridge camp was at 5600 feet elevation, and the camp at the back of Storm Creek was at 3500 feet. Avery, at the mouth of the North Fork of the St. Joe River, is at 2500 feet. Slate Creek flows past Cedar Mountain to the west and enters the river at 2400 feet. BULLION CREEK Bullion Creek -- The Bullion Mine is near the head of Bullion Creek just off the Bitterroot Divide. The elevation at the mine is 4900 feet. Bullion Creek flows westerly to join the North Fork of the St. Joe River at 3150 feet elevation. The St. Paul Pass Tunnel bored through the Bitterroot Divide between Roland and East Portal at an elevation of 4150 feet. The Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound Railway opened the tunnel and its main line in 1909. From Taft eastward the CM&PS Railway paralleled the Northern Pacific Railroad's Wallace extension along the St. Regis River. The elevation at Taft is 3600 feet. Wallace is six miles down the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River from Mullan. Mullan's elevation is 3300 feet. The elevation of Stevens Peak is 6838 feet, and the elevation of Lookout Pass is 4725 feet. DE FAUT GULCH (DRY CREEK) De Faut Gulch -- De Faut Gulch is now called Dry Creek, which flows into the Clark Fork between Clark Fork, Idaho and Heron, Montana. The braided channels of the Clark Fork, which flow into Pend Oreille Lake, are just west of Clark Fork, Idaho. The main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad crossed De Faut Gulch near its mouth. To the south beyond the head of De Faut Gulch is the Coeur d'Alene River drainage. SWAMP CREEK Swamp Creek -- Swamp Creek flows out of the mountains onto the bottomlands of the Clark Fork five miles north of Trout Creek, Montana and just across the valley from Tuscor Creek. The elevation along this reach of the Clark Fork is around 2300 feet. At the head of Swamp Creek are Goat Peak, 6889 feet, and Flat Top Mountain, 7590 feet. The main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad crossed Swamp Creek near its mouth.

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OPERATION MARKET-GARDEN XVIII US Airborne Corps Maj, Gen. Matthew B. Ridgeway 82nd U.S. Airborne Division "All American" Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Col. Tucker 1st Battalion Harrison 2nd Battalion Wellems 3rd Battalion Cook Col. Ekman 1st Battalion Maj. Long 2nd Battalion Maj. Vandervoort 3rd Battalion Maj. Kaiser Col. Roy E. Lindquist Lt. Col. Shields Warren, Jr. 2nd Battalion Lt. Col. Otho E. Holmes 3rd Battalion Lt. Col. Louis G. Mendez Operation Market Garden included the single, largest, airborne military operation in the history of the world to date. Almost 39,000 armed men, including US, British, and Polish troops, participated in the airborne action. Due to limited airlift capacity, the operation had to be performed in three waves into the three invasion zones in Holland, being an area north of Eindhoven, an area south and east of Nijmegen, and an area west of Arnhem. The first two areas were selected for drop zones because they were near the bridges, the third which was farthest from the objective because it had the best conditions for glider landings. The bridges had to be taken and held so that Allied ground forces could move northward from Belgium towards Arnhem, and create a base of operation to eventually strike into Germany. "If you see a white plane, it's American, if you see a black plane it's RAF. If you see no planes at all it's the Luftwaffe". The US Army 82nd Airborne Division, commanded by Brigadier General James Gavin, used roughly the same number of planes and gliders to transport the 12,500 men, the heavy guns, jeeps and other ground support equipment. They, too, landed in three waves over a three-day period, and jumped into the Grave/Groesbeek/Nijmegen area. The 82nd Airborne dropped with the minimal loss of two Dakotas. The 504th Parachute Infantry dropped at Grave (with a company of the 2nd Battalion dropped west of the bridge) while the 505th Parachute Infantry and 508th Parachute Infantry dropped on the Groesbeek Heights with the 376th Parachute Artillery Battalion (the first ever parachute deployment of artillery into battle). Meanwhile, the 508th and 505th Parachute Infantry Regiments had set up defensive positions either side of Groesbeek village Relieved of much of the responsibility for Nijmegen, the 82nd Airborne mounted an attack with the 504th and 508th Parachute Infantry Regiments on the Groesbeek Heights and pushed Corps 'Feldt' off for good. The regiment was dropped with the 508th Regiment at Drop Zone 'T’ on the other side of Groesbeek. Now only one target remained, the bridge at Nijmegen. The 508th regiment was entrusted with this target. The regiment also had to defend the landing zones and secure the Groesbeek heights in the north. Immediately after the landing, Gavin ordered Colonel Lindquist’s 508th regiment to head for the bridge along the east side of the city, avoiding the built-up area. But due to a misunderstanding, Lindquist thought he was to advance only after he secured his other objectives. As a result, he moved towards Nijmegen late in the afternoon through the built-up area which Gavin had wanted him to avoid. The surprise effect of his attack was lost. German troops (some from Gräbner's squadron) prevented the Americans from taking the bridge. However, the Americans succeeded in blocking Nijmegen’s access roads. The 82nd Airborne Division’s first day was successful. All of its objectives, except one, had been achieved. Copyright and all other rights reserved by the Family and Friends of The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment Association or by those who are otherwise cited, For problems or questions regarding this web site, please contact Jumpmaster.

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Weekly Parashah iLearn Torah Parashat Yitro by Rabbi Yehudah Zoldan(Bar Ilan U.) 21.01.2019 10:59 Comments: 0 Categories: Weekly Parashah Tags: torah shabbat parashah shemot yitro "The people come to me to inquire of G-d" To Jethro's question as to what Moses was doing to the people, Moses replies (Ex. 18:15-16): It is because the people come to me to inquire of G-d. When they have a dispute, it comes before me, and I decide between one person and another, and I make known the laws and teachings of G-d. Resolving conflicts between one another is defined as inquiring of G-d. It is not only a matter of seeing to a well-ordered society, which requires a method of conflict resolution in order to enable disputants to carry on amicably or to find the correct balance between them, but also a matter of clarifying the will of G-d in order to reveal the truth and render justice in the situation at hand. In any civilized society human beings establish laws and rules that make it possible to maintain the social order and public life. The laws of the Torah, however, are intended to direct us towards the proper heavenly order by which the world will be well-run and just. "To inquire of G-d [Elohim]"—the word elohim also denotes the judges who adjudicate the laws of the Torah (Midrash Tanhuma [Buber ed.], Parashat Aharei-Mot 12): In all charges of misappropriation—pertaining to an ox, an ass, a sheep, a garment, or any other loss, whereof one party alleges, "This is it"—the case of both parties shall come before G-d: he whom G-d declares guilty… (Ex. 22:8). He whom G-d [Elohim] declares guilty—Elohim means the judges, for it is written of them: "You shall not revile G-d [Elohim]" (Ex. 22:27).[1] Divine justice is brought to light and clarified by the said judges, and therefore they are given this special appellation: Rabbi Hiyya b. Rab of Difti recited to them: The people stood about Moses from morning until evening—now, can you really think that Moses sat and judged all day? When was his learning done? But it is to teach you: Every judge who judges with complete fairness, even for a single hour, the Writ gives him credit as though he had become a partner to the Holy One, blessed be He, in the act of creation. (Shabbat 10a) Rabbi Samuel b. Nahmani, reporting Rabbi Jonathan, said: A judge who delivers a judgment in perfect truth causes the Divine Presence to dwell in Israel, for it is written: G-d stands in the divine assembly; among the divine beings He pronounces judgment (Ps. 82:1). And he who does not deliver judgments in perfect truth causes the Divine Presence to depart from the midst of Israel, for it is written: "Because of the groans of the plundered poor and needy, I will now act," says the Lord (Ps. 12:6). (Sanhedrin 7a) A judge who delivers judgment in perfect truth—one who examines the case thoroughly, elucidating all sides of the issue as is fit and proper, and who instructs the parties how to act becomes a partner with the Holy One, blessed be He, in building the world and in causing the Divine Presence to be felt on earth. Thus Rav Kook explained the unique character of the laws of the Torah: Insofar as the divine laws stem from the source of supreme Truth, their objective is not merely the immediate one of settling passing disputes in the life of mankind, rather they are to elevate all life and existence, proceeding from the foundation of supreme Truth imbued in them. For they cause the Divine Presence to dwell in the world and bring their influence to bear on mankind and the world.[2] The seat of the Sanhedrin, the High Court, was in the Temple, in the Chamber of Hewn Stone. "Why was the passage on laws put next to the passage on the altar? To tell you that the Sanhedrin should be placed in the Temple" (Rashi on Ex. 21:1). The Sanhedrin, judges dealing with the Lord's laws, are part and parcel of the way in which the Divine Presence dwells in the Temple. Alongside the legal system that Moses instituted at Jethro's suggestion, he taught the Law to Joshua and the seventy elders, transferring to them the ability and authority to instruct and rule on the Halakhah, this being the act of ordination (Maimonides, Hilkhot Sanhedrin 4.1): Our teacher, Moses, ordained Joshua by placing his hands upon him, as Numbers 27:23 states: "He laid his hands upon him and commissioned him." Similarly, Moses ordained the seventy elders and the Divine Presence rested upon them. Those elders ordained others, and the others still others in later generations. This tradition extends back to the court of Joshua and the court of Moses. Ordination signifies that the person thus ordained is fit to teach Halakhahbecause he carries on the tradition of instruction and halakhic ruling from the time of Moses, who received the Law from the Almighty at Mount Sinai. At a later period, the Romans decreed it illegal to ordain teachers of Halakhah(Sanhedrin 14a): Once the wicked Government decreed that whoever performed an ordination should be put to death, and whoever received ordination should be put to death, the city in which the ordination took place demolished, and the boundaries wherein it had been performed, uprooted. What did Rabbi Judah b. Baba do? He went and sat between two great mountains, between two large cities; between the Sabbath boundaries of the cities of Usha and Shefar`am, and there ordained five elders: Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Judah, Rabbi Simeon, Rabbi Jose and Rabbi Eliezer b. Shamu`a. Rabbi Awia adds also Rabbi Nehemia to the list. As soon as their enemies discovered them, he urged them: "My children, flee." They said to him, "what will become of you, Rabbi?" "I lie before them like a stone which none is concerned to overturn," he replied. It was said that the enemy did not stir from the spot until they had driven three hundred iron spear-heads into his body, making it like a sieve. Why was a decree passed against ordination and such a severe penalty meted out to its violators? What in this action so deeply disturbed the Romans? Apparently it was difficult for them to accept the Israelite assumption that the legal system derives its force from a Supreme source, that ever since Revelation at Mount Sinai an ordained judge (and any other judge, even if not ordained) must investigate and clarify the will of G-d according to the rulings and interpretations that have accrued through the generations up to his day. At issue here are not only human intellectual constructs by upright, justice-seeking people, but also the aspiration to know the law from a higher place. Also the adjudicants are partners in Divine justice (Exodus Rabbah [Vilna ed.], 30.1): "It was You who established equity, You who worked righteous judgment in Jacob" (Ps. 99:4). You have established equity for those who love You; for through the ordinances You have given them, they become involved in strife with one another, submit their quarrel to judgment and make peace. One could understand this as saying that the Holy One, blessed be He, is praised here for the very act of establishing justice and for making it possible for disputants to resolve their conflict and establish peace between them. Rabbi Jacob Harlap, however, has a different understanding: That is to say, were it not for the ordinances, there would be no disagreements among Israel. They come to strife only so that the light of Divine justice be translated from potential to reality, but as soon as a ruling on the law is issued, they make peace. Any issue that arises between two Jews is but to reveal part of the Oral Law that stems from the deepest will of the Almighty, who for the sake of His justice desires to magnify and glorify the Law, that all of G-d's laws be revealed in actual practice. Not only laws concerning relations between man and G-d have come down to us from the heavenly origins of their foundation, but also laws and ordinances governing relations between one person and another have come down to us with all their roots and origins. Do not dare to imagine that the ordinances between one and another are all only of this world, established in the wake of conflicts between one person and another; rather, they also are deeply rooted on high, and from that heavenly foundation the laws and conflicts come into existence, they being the fundamental revelation of the Oral Law.[3] Strife and conflict between human beings come into being so that the Divine law will be revealed and exposited, unlike the case with other legal systems, in which rulings, laws or regulations are established solely on the basis of human constructs. Not all possible eventualities can always be predicted, and legal rulings, laws or regulations are established in the wake of accumulated cases and experience. The laws of the Torah were given at Mount Sinai, and the role of the judge is to investigate and reveal what was said then and accordingly to determine and decide the case at hand, thus also setting the direction for future rulings. Translated by Rachel Rowen Per page: 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Le recours à l'IA devient nécessaire pour analyser en temps réel les risques qui menacent l'entreprise et prendre les mesures nécessaires 24/24 heures et 7/7 jours. About Us Privacy Terms FAQ Invite A Friend Contact Us Bookmark Copyright © 2010-2020 24jewish.net

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Meet Director of Pan African Cultural Heritage Institute Appointed By ADTourism January 7, 2019 No Comments The Pan African Cultural Heritage Institute has appointed as its first director Dr. Phyllis Gray Ray, Chair and Professor of Sociology/Criminology at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL.The Pan African Cultural Heritage Institute was founded by Rev. Dr. Eugene Franklin, chair of the Florida Black Chamber of Commerce, as a part of the Pan African American Cultural Heritage to educate, celebrate and promote the culture and connectivity of the people of the African Diaspora. Dr. Yvonne Freeman, the owner of the Alliance for Global Education and Leadership in Atlanta will serve as chair of the Institute. As director of the Institute, Dr. Gray Ray, who has produced approximately 20 professional research final reports, and has presented nearly 60 papers at national and international conferences, will be in charge of providing documentation and research related to black culture. A foremost researcher and veteran in getting needed funding, Dr. Gray Ray has generated close to 10 million dollars in external research funds. Her research has been funded by such noted Organizations as the National Science Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U. S. Department of Education, the Kellogg Foundation and various departments of the government of Mississippi. Dr. Gray Ray will use her expertise in funding to help with some of the Institute’s projects. In addition to cultural heritage and cultural commerce research, some of the goals of the Institute include the launch of the Leadership Academy which will serve to develop leaders and cultural ambassadors with character and integrity. The Institute has already set up youth academies, a speaker’s bureau and an arts and entertainment department will do various conferences, workshops and seminars and festivals related to black cultural awareness. The Institute will help to enhance the platforms and visibility of cultural heritage artists in various cities, thereby contributing to the livelihood of the artists. For the past 30 plus years, in addition to her research, Dr. Gray Ray, the founding Director of the National Black Graduate Student Association, Inc., has used her professorship to teach about the African American Experience in areas of race relations, classism, the justice system and crime and several other topics related to race. Her administrative leadership skills include having once served as a coordinator, director, department head, dean, and a vice-president where her social and scholarly network has spanned across the African Diaspora. She is the author of “From Imagining to Understanding the African American Experience” which will be the basis of the core curriculum of the Institutes Leadership Academy. Dr. Gray Ray wrote this book to aid individuals in developing their “sociological imaginations” and to broaden their understanding of the “Sociology of the Black Experience,” particularly in the United States’ multicultural society. Her book provides a unique sociological exploration of the African American experience and how it has been specifically impacted by culprits such as slavery and racism. “The reality of slavery and racism is deeply threaded throughout the fabric of the current state of African Americans and this threading must be understood,” explains Dr. Gray Ray. Dr. Gray Ray says that “From Imagining to Understanding the African American Experience” is applicable to the goal of the Institutes’ Leadership Academy since the focus of the academy will be teaching the next generation of leaders from a cultural perspective by using proven historical experiences as a teaching foundation. She hopes that the book will serve as inspiration to prepare individuals to appreciate their responsibilities in seeking out opportunities that will make their communities a better place. “Individuals and young adults who are interested in participating in the Pan African Cultural Heritage Institute’s “Leadership Academy” must be trained about the book as a part of its core of the curriculum. I hope that the Institute will have a profound and lasting impact on today’s youth, blacks in general and other races,” says Dr. Gray Ray. She intends to lead the Institute in such a way to accommodate African American students who still find themselves subjected to segregated and inferior schools that are located within their own neighborhoods. Dr. Gray Ray knows firsthand about inadequate schooling because,even though she was bright as a student, she was often overlooked and unsupported in a white school system. “The importance of educating “Negros” (African Americans) “the right way,” was first boldly introduced by William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) DuBois and Carter G. Woodson.” W.E.B. DuBois who advocated that blacks are going to have to save and educate themselves, was a crusader for the creation of a black college educated elite group leaders and teachers to educate the masses with an emphasize on heritage. Woodson, known as the “Father of Black History,” wrote the book “The Mis-education of the Negro” where he blasted the educational system in America, and described the vicious cycle that occurs when mis-educated people graduate from schools, and then go on to teach and mis-educate others. Both of these through leaders believed that black children are denied the real truth about their race and culture. Both scholars were ahead of their time, and contributed monumental knowledge through their writings, and their message is still very relevant today. “If some of their knowledge teachings had been rigorously applied especially throughout the black community, perhaps the outcome for Blacks in terms of education would have been a lot better,” says Dr. Gray Ray. “The Pan African Cultural Heritage Institute embraces these men’s philosophies, and hopes to fill gaps within the current educational system. My hope is that the Institute will have a global impact and contribute to the re-education of Americans and the Global Diaspora in terms of contributions of black people.” The philosophies and teachings of these great men will be incorporated in the curriculum and mission of the Institute, which is one of the basis for Rev. Franklin founding it. Dr. Gray Ray will work with Rev. Franklin as well as Dr. Freeman towards accomplishing these and other goals and missions of the Institute. Other goals of the Institute include working to improve and alleviate disparities not only in education, but also regarding cultural commerce issues that affects economic development in African Americans communities in particular. With the National Black Chamber of Commerce as a strategic partner and member of the Pan African Alliance, the Institute has a goal of contributing to cultural economic development. The Institute will support and work with other chambers of commerce, state and local governments, community and economic development groups of the US and global African Diaspora. Colleges, including HBCUs; institutes of higher learning, schools, churches and faith based initiatives, as well as corporations and organizations have started partnering with the Pan African Institute to help in the preservation, education and promotion of cultural heritage and cultural economic development. For more information and continued updates about the Pan African Cultural Heritage Institute, please visit panafricanchi.org. Previous PostMy Super Fun Trip to Bimini, Bahamas Next PostA Feast on West African Culture: A Look

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Planting Hope “About one in the morning, Mike’s friend called me and told me Mike had been in an accident,” Mike’s wife, Michelle Halpin, recalled about the accident. “[He] told me Mike said it was his neck and he couldn’t move his legs.” Mike Halpin, was unloading bales at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin when his hand caught on the twine and pulled him headfirst into the ground. After Mike was rushed to the hospital, the Halpins discovered Mike dislocated his C5 and C6 vertebrae and suffered from a spinal cord injury. Due to his injuries, Mike had no feeling or mobility from the middle of his chest down. AgrAbility helps farmers keep their independence. As a program of the University of Illinois Extension, in collaboration with Illinois Assistive Technology Program and the Community Health Partnership, AgrAbility Unlimited of Illinois promotes independence in agriculture to farmers with disabilities and their families. So after family friend connected Mike Halpin with AgrAbility Unlimited, AgrAbility partnered with the Illinois Assistive Technology Program to make necessary adaptations to the Halpin house that Mike needed to return home. It’s estimated that more than one million people engaged in agricultural production are restricted from performing essential tasks due to physical limitation. A love of farming keeps people going Despite these obstacles, many like Mike Halpin persevere and continue farming. “I do anything I can to help out. I want to work.” While Mike cannot get into a tractor, he still contributes as much as he can to his family’s 4,000 acre farm near Cullom, Illinois. He keeps up with the farm office work, like keeping track of yields, insurance claims, and grain tickets. “When the harvest was completed, we didn’t have that mess to go through like we’ve had in the past.” Staying involved with the community “We’re still being involved in the things that we care about,” Michelle explained. The Halpins still participate in different community activities and cow shows. Mike was also reelected to a 3-year term on the alumbi board. “We’re definitely putting more of an effort to still do those things that we did before Mike’s accident, and [we’re] just figuring out how we can still do them,” Michelle “because it’s what we really enjoy.” Mike’s current goal is to walk unassisted by the two-year anniversary of his accident on October 5, 2018. AgrAbility was recently featured in the Fall 2018 magazine of ACES@Illinois, a publication for the University of Illinois College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. Click here to read the full article from the Fall 2018 issue of ACES@Illinois.

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porn - javhd - hentai AIDC Perspective Political Economy Alternatives AIDC Programme Updates Dismantling Corporate Power One Million Climate Jobs Campaign Amandla! Media About Amandla! Media Amandla Ulutsha Amandla! Archive Solidarity Centre Amadiba Crisis Comittee Botshabelo Unemployment Movement Lutzville PE Amandla Forum Progressive Youth Movement South African Green Revolutionary Council Home › Amandla › The problem with the past is that it doesn’t pass: on the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution The problem with the past is that it doesn’t pass: on the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution Posted on February 15, 2017 by AIDC — 1 Comment ↓ by Por Boaventura de Sousa Santos* This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution (RR) and also the 150th anniversary of the publication of the first volume of Karl Marx’ Das Kapital. Combining the two historic dates may seem strange because Marx never wrote in detail about the revolution and communist society and, even if he had, it is unimaginable that what he might have written could bear any resemblance to what the Soviet Union (USSR) was, especially after Stalin took over the leadership of both the party and the State. The truth is that many of the discussions raised by Marx’ book during the 20th century outside the USSR were an indirect way of discussing the merits and demerits of the RR. Now that revolutions started in the name of Marxism either came to an end or evolved into … capitalism, perhaps Marx and Marxism can finally be discussed as they deserve – as social theory. The truth is that Marx’s Capital, whose first one thousand copies took a whole five years to be sold before it came to be one of the most influential books of the 20th century, has recently become a bestseller again and, two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, was finally being read in countries that had been part of the USSR. What kind of appeal may such a dense book hold? How appealing can it be at a time when both public opinion and the overwhelming majority of intellectuals are convinced that capitalism will not end and that, if it eventually does, it will certainly not be followed by socialism? Twenty-three years ago, I wrote a text about Marxism as social theory. In one of my next columns I will address what, in my view, has changed or not changed since and will try to answer these questions. Today I shall be focusing on the meaning of the Russian Revolution. The debates on the Russian Revolution that will take place over the current year will most likely repeat everything that has already been said and discussed, to probably end with a final feeling that a consensus on whether the RR was a success or a failure is simply impossible. At first sight this seems somewhat strange, because whether the RR is considered to have reached its end when Stalin came to power (Trotsky, one of the leaders of the revolution, was of this opinion) or with Boris Yeltsin’s coup d’état in 1993, it seems obvious that it failed. And yet, this is not exactly evident, and the reason does not lie in the assessment of the past, but rather in the assessment of our present. The triumph of the RR lies in the fact that it raised all the problems that capitalist societies are still facing today. Its failure lies in the fact that it didn’t solve any of those problems. Except one. In my next columns, I will address some of the problems that the RR was not able to solve and which continue to haunt us. Today I wish to discuss the only problem that the RR did solve. Can capitalism promote the well-being of the large majorities without the existence of a credible and unequivocal alternative to capitalism in the field of social struggle? This was the problem that the RR did solve, and the answer is No. The RR proved to the working classes all over the world, and especially the European ones, that capitalism was not an inevitability, that there was an alternative to poverty, to the insecurity caused by imminent unemployment, the prepotency of employers, to governments serving the interests of powerful minorities while claiming to do the opposite. But the RR happened in one of the most backward countries in Europe, and Lenin was well aware of the fact that the success of the world socialist revolution and of the RR itself depended on its ability to extend into the most developed countries with their sound industrial base and their extensive working classes. At the time, one of these countries was Germany. The failure of the 1918-1919 German revolution resulted in the division of the workers’ movement and a significant part of it started to believe that it was possible to achieve the same goals by different means other than the Russian workers’. But the concept of an alternative society to capitalist society did remain intact. What was later to be termed reformism, the gradual and democratic process towards a socialist society that combined the social achievements of the RR with the western countries’ democratic political achievements, was thus consolidated. In the post-war period, reformism gave rise to European social democracy, a political system that combined high levels of productivity with high levels of social protection. For the first time in history, the working classes were able to make plans for their lives and the future of their children. Public education, health, and social security, among many other social and labor rights. It became clear that social democracy would never lead to a socialist society but it seemed to guarantee the irreversible end of ‘wild’ capitalism and its replacement by capitalism with a human face. In the meanwhile, on the other side of the iron curtain, despite Stalin’s terror, or precisely because of it, the Soviet Republic (USSR) was showing a prodigious industrial vigor which, within the space of a few decades, did transform one of the most backward regions in Europe into an industrial power that could compete with western capitalism, and, most especially, with the United States, the country that had emerged from World War II as the most powerful nation in the world. This competition eventually translated into the Cold War, which dominated international politics in the following decades. It determined the relief of a good part of the huge debt that Western Germany had incurred during the two wars that the country had waged on Europe and which it had lost. It was necessary to provide Western German capitalism with the conditions to compete with the development of Eastern Germany, at the time the most developed of Soviet republics. The divisions among the parties that claimed to defend the workers’ interests (the socialist or social-democratic parties and the communist parties) were an important part of the Cold War, with the socialists attacking the communists on the ground that they were connivant with Stalin’s crimes and they defended the Soviet dictatorship, and the Communists attacking the socialists for having betrayed the socialist cause and for being right-wing parties often at the service of US imperialism. Little did they imagine at the time how much they had in common. But the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the USSR collapsed soon after. It was the end of socialism, the end of a clear alternative to capitalism, unconditionally and incautiously celebrated by democrats throughout the world. However, to the surprise of many, neoliberalism, the most anti-social version of 20th century capitalism, was experiencing a global consolidation, progressively articulated (notably after Bill Clinton’s presidency) with the most predatorial version of capitalist accumulation: financial capital. The war against economic and social rights intensified, productivity gains became separated from wage growth, unemployment returned as the usual ghost, wealth concentration increased exponentially. It was the war against social democracy which in Europe was thereafter led by the European Commission under the leadership of Durão Barroso, as well as by the European Central Bank. As recent years have shown, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, not only did socialism collapsed but social democracy has also collapsed. It has become clear that the achievements of the working classes in the previous decades had been possible because the USSR and the alternative to capitalism did exist. They represented a major threat to capitalism, which, mobilizing its survival instinct, had made the necessary concessions (taxation, social regulation) in order to guarantee its reproduction. When the alternative collapsed and was no longer a threat, capitalism ceased to fear its enemies and returned to its predatory, wealth-concentrating madness, trapped in its own urge to successively create and destroy massive wealth, including human wealth. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, there have been some similarities with the period of the Holy Alliance which, from 1815, and after the defeat of Napoleon, sought to sweep away from the imagination of Europeans all the achievements of the French Revolution. Not by coincidence, and despite the differences (the achievements of the working classes that have not yet been eliminated through democratic means), capitalist accumulation is now extremely aggressive, being reminiscent of the pre-RR period. And all this suggests that until a credible alternative to capitalism emerges, the situation of workers, the poor, emigrants, pensioners, the always-on-the-verge-of-abruptly-falling-into-poverty middle classes will not be significantly improved. The alternative will obviously not be the kind of alternative that was created by the RR (neither would it be a good one if it were). But it will have to be a clear alternative. To have shown this was the great merit of the Russian Revolution. 1 By Russian Revolution I mean exclusively the October Revolution because that was the revolution that shook the world and impacted on the lives of about one third of the world’s population in the following decades. It was preceded by the February Revolution, in the year when the Tsar was deposed, and it lasted until October 26 (according to the Julian calendar used in Russia at the time), when the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, seized power with the watchwords “Peace, Bread, and Land”, “All Power to the Soviets” i.e., the workers, peasants, and soldiers’ councils. 2 Pela Mão de Alice, originally published in 1994. See 9th revised and expanded edition, published 2013 by Edições Almedina, 2013, p.33-56. *Boaventura de Sousa Santos is portuguese professor of Sociology at the School of Economics, University of Coimbra (Portugal), distinguished legal scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, and global legal scholar at the University of Warwick. Co-founder and one of the main leaders of the World Social Forum. Article provided to Other News by the author Source: Other News ‹ Manufactured Consent – Power, Media and Think-tanks “Save our Water” demonstration in upmarket Cape Town Restaurant: › Posted in Amandla Tagged with: Centenary since Russian Revolution, Russian Revolution One comment on “The problem with the past is that it doesn’t pass: on the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution” Keith Williams says: This author repeats all aspects of the narrative of the western imperialists to denigrate the gains of the Russian Revolution. The consequences of the Revolution are just held to be bad without any analysis or any true investigation. He cannot hide the sins of capitalism, but his main message is that the Revolution has nothing to teach us. It was an unmitigated catastrophe. The Heritage Foundation and such right-wing think-tanks would give him an unanimous round of applause. Latest Amandla! Out Now Voices of the Streets – Episode 5: Never Again India Voices of the Streets – Episode 4: Rural womens’ struggles in Southern Africa 2019 updates – The Southern Africa Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power VOICES OF THE STREETS – Episode 3: Violently Displaced Refugees Voices of the Streets – Episode 2: Tito’s budget for the rich Voices of the Streets – Episode 1: Decent Housing Now! AIDC was formed in 1996 in response to the democratic transition in South Africa and the new opportunities and challenges it brought those seeking greater social justice within the democracy. Over the years AIDC has played a leading role in various civil society responses to ongoing inequality including facilitating the launch and building of the South African Jubilee 2000 debt cancellation campaign, and the Right to Work Campaign. Enter your details below to subscribe to the AIDC Newsletter. 129 Rochester Road Observatory, Cape Town Email: info@aidc.org.za © 2020 AIDC. All Rights Reserved. Sitemap

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Antislavery Usable Past Slavery in Museums Teaching Slavery Notice: Undefined index: type in /var/www/omeka-2.3.1/application/views/helpers/ItemSearchFilters.php on line 92 Bought and Sold, Somebody's Sister Freedom sculpture Remembering Slavery 2007 was a regional initiative involving museums, galleries and other cultural organisations across the North East of England in a programme of exhibitions, events, performances, lectures and activities to explore the themes of slavery and abolition, in both historical and modern contexts. The project sought to connect the North East with the slave trade, the plantation economies of the Americas, and the social and political movements for abolition. Featured here are the 'What's On' guides detailing various initiatives across the region in 2007, plus a selection of postcards from the project. The Iniquity of Slavery Durham University Library holds many archives relating to the slave trade in its Special Collections due to a connection with the family of abolitionist Granville Sharp. This is supplemented by material relating to the West Indies and the slave trade in the papers of the Prime Minister between 1830 and 1834, Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey. This material had already been used in a series of online resources available to download on the 4schools website. Central to their bicentenary commemorations in 2007 was a special event to recreate the image of the slave ship ‘Brookes’ using a life-size print of the middle deck and populating it with nearly 300 students from local schools. Students were also given the opportunity to learn African dance and drumming. The handling collection, print and resources produced as a result of this event are still in use for outreach work with local schools. In 1999, Vi was one of about 250 workers brought from Vietnam on a labor contract. A South Korean businessman named Kil Soo Lee had bought a garment factory near Pago Pago, in American Samoa, and required sewing machine operators. Vi was recruited by a Vietnamese government-owned enterprise called Tourism Company 12, and told she was heading for the US. Like the other recruits, she paid $5000 to cover the cost of airfare and work permits, and signed a three-year contract in exchange for monthly paychecks of around $400, plus free meals and housing, and return air fare. But upon arrival in American Samoa, the recruits were forced to work to pay off smuggling fees. Lee confiscated their passports to prevent them from escaping, and quickly stopped paying them altogether, though kept charging them for room and board. He withheld food, ordered beatings, and forced them to work 14-18 hour days. Female employees were sexually assaulted, and those who became pregnant were forced to have abortions or return to Vietnam. Vi’s story of slavery is also one of prosecution. In 2000, two workers at Lee’s factory sought legal help from attorneys. On behalf of more than 250 factory workers, the attorneys filed a pro-bono class-action lawsuit against Daewoosa and the Vietnamese government. The case was publicized by human rights groups, and the two workers who asked for legal help disappeared. Their bodies were never found. Then, in November 2000, a group of workers refused to return to their sewing machines, and a fight ensued between workers and factory guards. During the incident, one woman lost an eye and two other workers were hospitalized. This gained the attention of local law enforcement and the FBI Field Office in Honolulu began investigating Daewoosa in February 2001. Enforcing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), federal agents closed down the factory and arrested Lee on charges of involuntary servitude and forced labor. He was deported to Hawaii in March 2001. Though the recruiting companies and the Vietnamese government refused to pay for the workers’ flights home, they left American Samoa. Some returned to Vietnam and more than 200, including Vi, were flown to the US and admitted as potential witnesses for the prosecution at Lee’s trial. In April 2002, the High Court of American Samoa ordered the factory and two Vietnamese government-owned labor agencies to pay $3.5 million to the workers. Lee claimed bankruptcy. In February 2003, he was found guilty of involuntary servitude, extortion, money laundering and bribery, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The court also ordered him to pay $1.8 million in restitution to the workers. Vi, and the other Vietnamese workers who came to the US, applied for “T” visas, issued to victims of trafficking as a result of the TVPA. After several months in slavery, Beatrice Fernando reached the point of no return. Standing on a fourth-floor balcony in Beirut, Lebanon, she realized there was “no other way to get home” but to “dive backwards.” In a recent interview she explained of her decision to step off the balcony: “When we take a step against slavery, the world will take another step.”In 1980, at the age of 23, Beatrice had responded to an advertisement for work as a housemaid in Lebanon. She left her home country of Sri Lanka, intending to send money to her parents and her three-year-old son. But in Beirut she became a domestic slave. She was locked inside a home, starved, beaten, never paid, and forbidden from communicating with the outside world. Guards were instructed to shoot her if she tried to leave. After she reached a turning-point and escaped by jumping from the apartment’s fourth floor, she spent 21 days in a coma. Doctors told her that she was paralyzed. After 14 months in hospital she recovered from the paralysis and returned to Sri Lanka. In 1989 she came to live and work in the US. Anti-Slavery International, 2007 The world's oldest human rights organisation, Anti-Slavery International, led several initiatives in response to the bicentenary. The Fight for Freedom 1807-2007 Campaign, launched in 2005, called for measures to address the continuing legacies of the slave trade. The publication '1807-2007: Over 200 years of campaigning against slavery' looked back at the work of Anti-Slavery International and its predecessor organisations. The Spotlight on Slavery series of exhibitions and events included debates, lectures, film screenings and photography exhibitions. Anti-Slavery International also collaborated with a number of other organisations and projects in 2007, including Rendezvous of Victory and Set All Free, and contributed exhibition material to various exhibitions around the UK, including the Remembering Slavery exhibition at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle. Slavery in Lake Volta Sweet History? The Sweet History? project saw the Bristol Architecture Centre work with young people from the Knowle West Media Centre to explore the social and economic impacts of the sugar and slave trades on the built environment heritage of Bristol. Working with local artists and historians, the young people put together the Sweet History? Trail, containing photographs and information about 23 sites in and around Bristol that have links to the sugar and slave trades. The project had a particular focus on using digital technology to develop an interactive website (which included an audio podcast of the trail) to engage youth audiences with the study of heritage buildings. Bexley: The Slavery Connection The 'Slavery Connection' project researched Bexley’s links with the transatlantic slave trade through the London borough's residents and buildings. The exhibition, which included objects from Bexley Museum, aimed to raise the level of understanding in local communities about the history of the slave trade, by highlighting numerous local connections - such as Danson House, once home to the sugar merchant and slave trader Sir John Boyd, while archives of the East Wickham estate reveal evidence of a West African coachman called Scipio. Over a two year period, the travelling exhibition was displayed at 14 sites, including local African Caribbean groups, youth centres, libraries and churches. The launch event at the Bexley African Caribbean Community Association was accompanied by displays of African dancing, drumming and drama. An educational handling box and teachers’ pack were created for use in local schools. Wearing Her Story In contrast to the trope that brands individuals’ experiences onto their backs, the No Project released a poster in 2012 titled “Wearing Her Story,” made by the artist Ismini Black. A woman’s dress hangs alongside carcasses in a butcher’s window. There are letters cut out of the dress and the words are impossible to piece together. By replacing a woman’s body with just her dress, the poster refuses to inscribe slavery’s story onto her flesh. She might wear her story like a removable item of clothing, but it is not the last word on her total identity. Instead it remains impossible to grasp and therefore consume, unlike the poster’s chunks of meat. Reading Mural Black History The project began in 1987 when Central Club approached Reading Borough Council about the possibility of a mural project. A project steering group was set up consisting of representatives of Central Club, Reading Borough Council and Berkshire County Council (who then ran Central Club as part of the Youth and Community Service). It was agreed that the project should aim to achieve a number of objectives: · A high quality visual artwork · Community involvement – both Central Club members and the wider community · Reflecting African Caribbean culture, since Central Club had a high proportion of African Caribbean members In 1988 a number of artists were interviewed, and Alan Howard was offered the commission. Alan was keen to encourage the involvement of Central Club members both in a consultative capacity but also more directly in the design and execution of the mural. An apprenticeship scheme was established, where a limited number of people were offered the opportunity to work alongside Alan and receive training in planning, design and technical skills. The process of planning the mural involved a number of steps: · Wide ranging discussions with Central Club members and the wider African Caribbean community · Consultation with funders – Reading Borough Council and Earley Charities · Consultation with neighbouring residents and businesses in the London Street area Out of this process the theme for the mural emerged, and it was agreed that the mural should depict the positive role that black people have played throughout history, including in Reading itself. The mural therefore includes figures such as Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King and Bob Marley as well as Reading-based people involved in founding Central Club. The final panel of the mural and the various symbols look to the future and depicts a number of tools – positive and negative – that people use to shape the future. Woman to Go One major trope in 19th-century antislavery visual culture was the auction block, which featured in the Liberator masthead from 1831 to 1865 as a scene with crowds of onlookers. In 21st-century antislavery imagery, the auction block is back. In 2010, the Task Force on Human Trafficking opened an installation called “Woman to Go,” featuring real women sitting or standing on blocks behind glass in a shopping center in Tel Aviv, each with a price tag and barcode. Am I Not a Man and a Brother? Am I Not a Man and a Brother? was a piece of documentary theatre devised by Reveal Theatre Company in partnership with North Staffordshire Racial Equality Council. It used stories and testimony from the African Caribbean community in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire, interwoven with historical and contemporary slave stories. The play was produced by Robert Marsden and Julia Barton. The production was launched at the Stoke-on-Trent Racial Equality Council - where it was performed to the local people who had contributed their stories and was accompanied by a performance by a local Black choir - and then toured to venues in Bristol, London and Liverpool. “It wisnae us!” Glasgow’s built heritage, tobacco, the slave trade and abolition By the mid-18th century, Glasgow dominated Britain's tobacco and sugar imports, and the city was also involved in the slave trade. In 2007 Glasgow Built Preservation Trust (GBPT), in partnership with Glasgow Anti Racist Alliance, developed an exhibition linking Glasgow’s built heritage with the slave trade. In September 2007, Glasgow’s Doors Open Day event marked the bicentenary with walks (both guided and by podcast), a pop-up exhibition, and an evening of drama, talks and music. The event was later transformed into a week long ‘built heritage festival’, from which a travelling exhibition and city trail were created by the historian Stephen Mullen. Revealing Histories: Remembering Slavery (Museum of Science and Industry) The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) was one of eight heritage bodies in the ‘Revealing Histories: Remembering Slavery’ partnership in Greater Manchester. The project set out to explore the history, impact and legacy of slavery on Britain through collections and community links in the North West. An exhibition and trail at MOSI explored the connections between Manchester’s economic success from the late eighteenth century onwards and its international trade, particularly the cotton trade with the USA, with its associated links to the transatlantic slave trade. Items identified in the collection included an American Civil War patriotic envelope from 1861, which satirised Britain's willingness to ignore the plight of American slaves. Other events included the creation of a series of terracotta figures depicting slaves on a slave ship by artist Annette Cobley. Workshop sessions to accompany this artwork were based on the theme of silence surrounding slavery. Hertfordshire's Hidden Histories This partnership project, led by Hertfordshire Archives, investigated the links between Hertfordshire people, the slave trade and abolition through stories from original archival documents. Project outcomes included creative workshops, a booklist, a DVD documentary, a heritage trail booklet, and collaboration with the project for the restoration of the Thomas Clarkson monument in Thundridge. The monument was erected in 1879 to mark his involvement in the campaign to abolish slavery. The ceremony to re-dedicate the monument in November 2007 involved pupils from Thundridge Primary School performing a dance that they had developed with arts-led charity Theatre Is…. Reading's Slave Links This exhibition from Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC) in collaboration with local communities uncovered Reading’s links with the slave trade, the campaign for its abolition and its aftermath. Exploring Reading’s involvement in historical slavery and the impact on the town’s development, the exhibition focused on, for example, wealthy families in the area, the role of the Royal Berkshires in Caribbean colonies, and the story of Mary Smart, the earliest known Sierra Leonean resident in Reading. The project also sought to raise awareness of modern forms of slavery and injustice. It included workshops, a conference, and a quiz. Sharp Practice Inspired by archival research, ‘Sharp Practice’ was a touring play exploring the slave trade and the role of abolitionists from the North East of England in its demise (and, in particular, the work of Granville Sharp). The play was devised and produced by Jackass Youth Theatre, in collaboration with professional artists from Jack Drum Arts. Each performance was accompanied by an exhibition exploring the North East’s links to slavery and abolition, researched by members of the theatre group. Working with heritage professionals, their research took the performers to Newcastle, Hull, Liverpool, Gloucester, London and the University of Virginia. Leeds Bicentenary Transformation Project This collaborative community initiative celebrated African and Caribbean culture in Leeds, with a focus on commemorating the Abolition Act by 'highlighting African achievement, liberation and aspirations'. New exhibitions, publications and resources were produced and over 100 bicentenary events organised under different themes: Education and Museums; Arts and Carnival Culture; Churches and Abolition; Legacy; Black History and Community Development; Media and Communications. Highlights included the photographic exhibition and pamphlet 'From Abolition to Commonwealth', which remembered indentured labour in Africa and the Caribbean after 1807, and the 40th anniversary of Leeds West Indian Carnival, with themes that highlighted heritage, liberation, respect and freedom. Project outputs included an education pack, black history classes, concerts, church services, lectures and performances. © University of Nottingham

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Poll Finds Growing Public Worry About Social Security More than eight in 10 Americans now see the country’s Social Security system as headed for a crisis, and most think a major overhaul is in order, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Overall, 81 percent of those polled see Social Security as veering severely off-course, up 10 percentage points from 2005, when former president George W. Bush led a push to privatize the government-run program. And since that time, public support for specific changes has risen, but remains tepid. The new poll comes as another survey shows Americans’ slumping confidence in their ability to achieve a comfortable retirement. In the poll by the Employee Benefit Research Insitute, a record high 27 percent of workers said they’re “not at all confident” they’ll have enough money when they retire. Most still expect Social Security to be a source of income in their retirement. But similar to a poll six years ago, in the new Post-ABC survey, only one of six possible ways to avoid a potential shortfall in Social Security – removing the cap on income subject to its dedicated tax – tops the 50-percent-mark, and barely so. There is, however, increased support for some possible changes. There’s been a 12-percentage-point spike in the number advocating a reduction in the benefit guarantee for future retirees (although to a still small 32 percent), a 10-point jump in backing for a further reduction in benefits for early retirees and a nine-point boost in raising the retirement age by one year. Changing the benefits calculation to slow increases now draws about as many supporters as opponents (45 to 48 percent), a shift from 2005, when opposition neared 60 percent. In 2005, Democrats in Congress were preferred to Bush on the issue by a dozen points. Now, 44 percent side with the Republicans in Congress when it comes to dealing with Social Security; 42 percent put more faith in President Obama. The parity comes from lower Democratic support for the president on the issue, compared with Republican backing of the GOP (70 vs. 83 percent). Political independents prefer the president on the issue, 48 to 34 percent. Beyond partisan leanings, age plays a big role in public opinion. Fully 58 percent of seniors advocate raising the retirement age, compared with 35 percent of those aged 40 to 64. Similarly, older adults are the least supportive of slowing the growth of retirement benefits. This telephone poll was conducted March 10 to 13, among a random national sample of 1,005 adults. The results from the full poll have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Read more at The Washington Post. One of the more popular ideas for improving the finances of the Social Security system is to raise the maximum level of... Some Democratic tax proposals are focused on making millionaires and billionaires pay more, but other households would... A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney introduced legislation Tuesday that would...

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Go to…Home Contact You are here: Home » Publications @ar AEF – 12 septembre 2019 Select Month November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 September 2005 July 2005 June 2005 April 2005 March 2005 January 2005 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 June 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 October 2002 September 2002 July 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 January 2002 October 2001 July 2001 June 2001 May 2001 April 2001 October 2000 September 2000 July 2000 June 2000 May 2000 April 2000 February 2000 January 2000 December 1999 November 1999 October 1999 July 1999 June 1999 May 1999 March 1999 February 1999 January 1999 December 1998 November 1998 October 1998 June 1998 January 1998 October 1997 May 1997 February 1997 January 1997 November 1996 October 1996 July 1996 April 1996 Copyright © 2020 AB Conseil

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Royal BC Museum Collections inscribed into the Canadian Commission for UNESCO’s Canada Memory of the World Project On March 27, 2018, two collections from the Royal BC Museum—the Vancouver Island Treaties and the Ida Halpern fonds—were accepted for inscription on the Canadian Commission for UNESCO's Canada Memory of the World register. The Memory of the World Program, created by UNESCO in 1992, showcases the most significant documents of our shared heritage. This new national register highlights documentary treasures from across Canada. In this first list of recipients, we are proud that the Royal BC Museum is the guardian of the only two collections west of Winnipeg. The two Royal BC Museum collections exemplify our commitment to highlight and make accessible the “memory” of humanity—particularly materials with Indigenous content. These efforts are part of the museum and archives’ response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action. To ensure Indigenous researchers and communities can access these records with ease, we have digitized the Vancouver Island Treaties and the Ida Halpern sound recordings. A copy of the treaties has been given to each of the signatory nations, and we are engaged in returning digital versions of the songs in the Halpern collection to descendants of the singers. We seek knowledge and information about the records from the communities to help us better represent these collections in our online catalogue. Our goal is to include Indigenous perspectives in our documentation of the records. In creating the Canada Memory of the World Register in May 2017, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO envisioned it as a reflection of the immense diversity of the documentary heritage that is significant to Canada, a country whose roots extend from the initial settling of the land by Indigenous Peoples up to the present time. The Royal BC Museum looks forward to the benefits that inscription on the Canada Memory of the World register will bring: a national audience, greater universal access to this documentary heritage, and an increased awareness of the significance of these valued documents. Home > Explore > Canada Memory of the World

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GBA Gets Stung by Yggdra BRYAN BOULETTE Sting, the development house behind Evolution Worlds for the Nintendo Gamecube and Riviera for the Game Boy Advance, has announced its next project: Yggdra Union, a new strategy RPG for the Game Boy Advance. The game carries a tag line of "We'll never fight alone." Yggdra Union allows for the movement of multi-character units, similar to those used in the Langrisser and Ogre Battle games, across a grid-based map. When two units meet in battle, the game switches to a close-up view of its sprite-based characters arrayed for combat. Characters will make use of a class system, and the first screenshots show off classes such as Fencer, Sword Maiden, Hunter, and Assassin. Yggdra Union will also incorporate a card system, though it is currently unclear what role these cards will play in the game. The three main characters of Yggdra Union are: Yggdra, the Queen of a conquered kingdom: She has inherited the legendary sword which has been passed down from generation to generation in the royal family, and when her kingdom falls under attack, she is the only survivor of its ruling family that manages to escape. Yggdra seeks to restore the freedom of her land. Milanor, the Thief King: Known as the Silver Wolf, Milanor is the leader of a band of thieves that has been increasing in popularity due to its ideals of justice. Yggdra seeks Milanor's aid in regaining her kingdom's freedom. Emperor Gulcasa: Gulcasa has only recently ascended to power, having overthrown the previous emperor through a military coup. He has since imposed a dictatorship and instituted a policy of strengthening the military and expanding the empire. His forces conquer Yggdra's land. Yggdra Union has been announced for a spring 2006 release in Japan, and its official website can be found here. The website currently contains story and character information in Japanese, as well as tons of artwork from the game. No North American release has been announced at this time. RPGamer will continue to report on additional information on this title as it comes to light. Yggdra Union

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TOP STORY >> Alligator wrestling comes to Ward Leader staff write What do you do when you see an alligator about to cross the road? Faced with that question Tuesday evening, Lonoke County Sheriff Jim Roberson, a former rodeo performer, lassoed the animal and jumped on its back like it was one of the bucking broncos or bulls he rode in his younger days. Then while the sheriff held the gator’s mouth, one of the 20 or so motorists who had stopped to watch the unusual sight taped it closed. “We called the Game and Fish but they were going to be awhile and he was trying to get away,” the sheriff said. The spectacle was played out on Hwy. 38 between Butlerville and Coco’s restaurant in Ward. The sheriff said he acted because he was afraid that just the sight of an alligator near the highway was enough to cause wrecks. Except for one scratch on the sheriff’s finger, no one was injured. But the sheriff said catching the gator was trickier than he thought it would be. “I was worried about his head, but his tail was just about as vicious,” he said. When Game and Fish officials arrived, Roberson said he helped load the gator into a truck and he hoped it was relocated to a place where it could help thin out the beaver population. The gator, a 5-foot, 3-inch female that was likely in search of a mate since May and June are the breeding season, was released unharmed into the backwater of the Arkansas River, said Kelly Irwin, herpetologist for the Game and Fish Commission and the state’s leading expert on alligators. Irwin said the 2,800 alligators that were taken from the swamps of Louisiana and released mostly in the southeastern third of Arkansas between 1972 and 1984 have increased to as many as 5,000. But the population does not appear to be expanding and neither is their range. According to the Game and Fish Web site, most adult alligators are 6 to 12 feet in length. But females are usually smaller than males and stop growing at 6 to 7 feet. Alligator have been in Arkansas for thousands of years before settlers cleared and drained the land where they lived and hunted them without restriction, Irwin said. By the 1960s they were on the endangered species list but 30 years of federal and state regulation and restocking efforts have increased their numbers throughout the southeastern U.S. Now they are protected, but no longer endangered. In Arkansas, there is even a hunting season the last two weekends in September in which a lottery, much like the one used for elk hunting, allows the taking of 32 alligators. About 80 percent of Arkansas’ imported alligators were placed on private property at the request of the owners who hoped they would thin out the beavers that dam waterways and cause flooding problems, Irwin said. Since adult alligators eat fish, birds, beavers, otters and other mammals, the theory was plausible. But beavers, which Irwin said rebounded without assistance from Game and Fish, still thrives in the state. For the most part, alligators are not dangerous, he said, adding that he has heard of no injuries from alligators in the nine years he has lived in Arkansas. “Most move away when humans approach but females are protective of their nests,” he said. Stopping short of calling the sheriff’s actions illegal, Irwin said not even local law enforcement officers have the authority to trap an alligator. From the pictures he saw of the area it looked like it was not heavily populated. The gator appeared to be in a horse pasture where it was not a danger to small children or pets. “That is a wild animal. They need to contact Game and Fish and let us deal with the situation,” he said. The agency has teams all over the state trained to deal with nuisance black bears and alligators. So what should you do when you see an alligator about to cross the road? The alligator is protected by state and federal laws, and it is illegal to feed, possess, harass or kill them, Irwin said. He suggested leaving them alone and calling the Game and Fish Commission to handle trapping it. “Keep an eye on it, but keep your distance,” he said. Posted by THE LEADER at 1:14 AM EDITORIAL >> Lottery boss hits jackpot After dallying with lottery legislation themselves for months, Arkansas lawmakers suddenly insisted that speed was essential and stampeded the state Lottery Commission into hiring a director of the Arkansas lottery Friday. They hired a man who had not applied for the job at a salary far exceeding the one that he is getting and about whom they knew precious little. We hope he is exactly the right person for the job and that they (and the rest of us) do not have to repent in leisure what they did yesterday in so much haste. Ernest L. Passailaigue Jr. sounds like he has the credentials that the lottery promoters, including Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, wanted. They said the director should have lottery experience, which excluded everyone in Arkansas. Passailaigue is the executive director of the South Carolina lottery. He had no experience with lotteries before he became head of the new South Carolina lottery in 2001. He was a politician. “We’ve got a winner,” Halter said. Passailaigue should satisfy the legislators who have been pushing for quick action in getting the lottery going. Passaliaigue is a former South Carolina state senator. In fact, he sponsored legislation creating the South Carolina lottery and then became its first director. He also ran for governor of South Carolina in 1990 and lost rather badly. He is an accountant and once owned a professional baseball team. With credentials like that, why look any further? The state Lottery Commission, largely handpicked by state legislators, panicked this week when legislators grumbled that the commission was taking too much time picking a director, which was postponing the day when Powerball tickets would go on sale. So the commissioners met in secret session twice at the end of the week and chased down Passailaigue, who agreed to take the job at a salary of $324,000. Actually, it was Passailaigue who suggested the figure, and the commission instantly agreed. He is earning $226,829 a year at Charleston. But Chairman Ray Thornton said Passailaigue would be giving up some benefits that he gets in South Carolina, which he did not identify. Presumably, the Arkansas job will come with health and retirement benefits. In South Carolina, the principal qualification for the man to kick-start the lottery was to be a well-connected politician who had sponsored legislation to create a lottery. In Arkansas, the qualification apparently was the same, with the additional qualification that he have actually got one started. The extraordinarily lucrative Arkansas offer comes at a good time for Passailaigue. Blogs have been titillating South Carolinians with reports that the lottery chief, who is married and has seven children, moved a woman out of his office and into another $67,000-a-year position in the big lottery operation after complaints from employees that she was his girlfriend. The South Carolina lottery is a big, big operation — some 150 employees. We’ll soon have another big bureaucracy at Little Rock. But what the lottery commissioners, the lawmakers and Halter, the lottery godfather, wanted was someone who could get over the early hurdles quickly so that people can start gambling their checks away before the end of the year. Passailaigue ought to be the man for that. We don’t think that is worth anything close to $324,000, which is nearly four times the governor’s salary and more than the director of any state department, but we admit it: We have a poor appreciation for the value of lotteries. It clearly is the most important undertaking in modern history. We will suspend our misgivings and hope that Ernie Passailaigue will take Arkansas into the bright tomorrow that the lottery promoters say is coming. TOP STORY >> Koko sang ‘Wang Dang Doodle’ to us By GARRICK FELDMAN Leader executive editor Koko Taylor, the Queen of the Blues, appeared at the Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival in Greenville, Miss., last September. We’d missed her show because the festival had been moved without much advance notice. But we caught her back stage and asked her to autograph a publicity shot her record company had sent us. We then asked her if she’d sing just a tiny bit of her big hit, “Wang DangDoodle,” and she obliged us while we sat on a bench. We gonna pitch a wang dang doodle all night long All night long, all night long, all night long. We hugged and promised to look her up in Chicago, but she looked frail — she’d been in poor health for years — and we didn’t think we’d see her again. Koko died on Thursday at the age of 80 in Chicago, where scores of other great blues artists who’d migrated there from the South are buried. We first met her more than a decade ago, when her band from Chicago appeared for a fund-raiser for the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Miss. John Mayall was on the bill, and Buddy Guy was the headliner. Koko and her group may have driven down from Chicago (years later, a couple of her musicians were killed on the road trying to get to a gig). She was never a megastar like Buddy Guy or John Mayall. But she was just as good. Taylor’s family moved to Chicago from Memphis in the early 1950s, and she soon became part of the jumping blues scene that included transplants from all over the South. It was an amazing gathering of great artists who were born in a region where the blues began. But few women rose to the top in a field dominated by men since the 1930s. Before that, Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey and other women were the stars. Then tastes changed, so it was remarkable for Koko Taylor to take her rightful place in the Chicago blues pantheon. She had a powerful voice till the end, even though she’s had a couple of operations and many health problems. She recorded Willie Dixon’s “Wang Dang Doodle” on Chess in 1965, and remained a star for the rest of her life. Her finest recordings are gathered on a Chess compilation titled “What It Takes,” where she’s backed by some of the finest blues musicians in Chicago: Big Walter Horton (harmonica), Buddy Guy, Robert Nighthawk, Jack and Louis Myers (guitar), Lafayette Leake (piano), Dixon (bass) and others. There’s also a similarly titled CD from Alligator (her label for more than 30 years), titled “I Got What It Takes.” This, too, has several top-notch Chicago bluesmen, including Sammy Lawhorn of Little Rock, Mighty Joe Young on guitar, Abb Locke on saxophone, Bill Heid on keyboards and Vince Chappelle on drums. Wonderful musicians, wonderful singer. “There’s not a lot of young people listening to the blues,” Koko told an interviewer. “I want to educate the next generation and show them how to sing the blues. I want to get it through their little heads the blues is cool, and the blues will never die. It’s music that sticks to your ribs—like red beans and rice.” May she keep singing to us from heaven. Rest in peace, Koko. TOP STORY >> Mayor-elect has his team ready to go With a new mayor come new people and new ideas. Mayor-elect Gary Fletcher has already started to make plans for his new team to lead Jacksonville forward. “To be a successful administration, you’ve got to surround yourself with a successful team,” he said. “I’m going to have to get a lot done in just 12 months before I start thinking about re-election. I’ve got to show that I can get the work done,” Fletcher said. The mayor-elect said he’s focused on three main areas: schools, annexation and re-examining the Graham Road closing. His team to help him do this will include businessman Jim Durham as the director of administration to bring a “business and retail attitude to city hall.” Current city administrator Jay Whisker, who has split his duties between administration and city engineer duties, will become the city engineer, a job he held previously. Fletcher, 54, said it would be a lateral move and no reduction in pay. “We need Jay working full-time on our annexation issues, streets and drainage. It has to be someone with expertise who I can trust, and that’s Jay,” he said. City planner Chip McCulley, who was hired when Whisker left city employment for a short time before coming back as the administrator, will stay on, too. “As city planner, his focus is on code enforcement and cleaning up the city,” Fletcher explained. Fletcher, who will take over July 1, said the mayor’s job is not a one-man show. “We need a solid group of people working together for the best for Jacksonville,” he said. Fletcher likened his election to fill the last 18 months of retiring Mayor Tommy Swaim’s term to a quarterback coming into the game in the fourth quarter. “I’ve got to move the team and score so I can get into the next game at the beginning,” he explained. Once Fletcher moves into the mayor’s office, the city council will have to appoint a replacement to Fletcher’s council seat. “I expect there’ll be three or four applicants. It will be the council’s decision. I won’t endorse anyone,” he said. The alderman candidate will have to live in Ward 4, which is basically north of Main Street and west of Hwy. 67/167. Fletcher, like most Jacksonville residents, is upset with the way the school district has treated Jacksonville over the years. “I don’t feel they have a clue how to give us a quality education. Every day that problems persist is another day that it hurts our children,” he said. Fletcher added that he was embarrassed by the condition of the city’s schools. “They need to be better than that. Our kids are better than that,” he said. Fletcher said, “The mayor is the head of the city and has to be up in front on this issue and not take a wait-and-see attitude. We’ve been reactive too long. It’s time to take the bull by the horns.” The mayor-elect is displeased with the movement of school administrators and putting all the middle school students back under one roof. “That building is undersized and not up to code,” he said. Fletcher said as mayor he would offer the district an olive branch. “I want to play nice.” Durham said Fletcher would approach the district with a carrot in one hand and a big stick in the other, in case the carrot doesn’t work. When it comes to the question of the closed Graham Road crossing, which some residents feel has helped isolate Sunnyside from the rest of the city, Fletcher has said the issue needs revisiting. “I don’t ever remember seeing an economic study, and we all know what happened economically. Closing that crossing has hurt a lot of people. We need to push and see exactly what it would cost us (to reopen it). I can’t see them making us pay all the money back,” he said. Fletcher added that years ago there was talk about curving Main Street into Graham Road. “We need to look at that again. We’ve got a $4 million overpass and will soon have a $7 million improved Graham Road with two one-way streets in the middle. Traffic needs to flow.” Fletcher wants to annex everything north along Hwy. 67/167 up to the county line. “We need to expand, “ he said. Fletcher has lived in Jacksonville since 1968 and has been on the council since 1978. He is president of Fletcher Homes. He is married and has two children and five grandchildren. TOP STORY >> School construction costs remain $14M The Cabot School Board learned this week that the cost of the combination building on the high school campus that will be used for health, physical education and recreation as well as a cafeteria and amphitheater (HPER/cafeteria) will likely cost the same as it was expected to cost five years ago when it was first on the drawing board. Dr. Tony Thurman, the school superintendent, told the board Tuesday that although nothing is final, the building will likely cost $14 million, including the $773,000 that architect Steve Elliott will be paid. As with all construction projects, the school district is the contractor and all the bids are from companies that will supply various parts of the new structure such as electrical, plumbing, windows, flooring, gym seating and the like. “We were thinking a lot higher so we were very pleased,” Thurman told the board. To get ready for construction to begin, some buildings will be torn down; others will be relocated and programs will be moved to new homes. The project is expected to be completed in 30 months. The HPER/cafeteria is among $50.5 million in projects that were made possible by the 3.9 percent millage increase voters approved last year. In addition to work on the high school campus, several additions and improvements district-wide, the millage increase is helping to fund an elementary building estimated at $11.3 million. To get the site ready to start the dirt work this summer, Thurman said the old metal agriculture building and the old concession stand will have to be removed. The ROTC building will be moved to Junior High South and used as an activity building. The old counseling center will also be removed. The ROTC program will move to the former media center on the high school campus once the renovations are completed. Those renovations are expected to be completed by the time school starts in August. The agriculture program will move to the S-Building on the high school campus. Once the HPER/cafeteria is completed, the S-Building. will be renovated for additional classroom space. The existing cafeteria will be renovated for a modern agriculture education center. The current bus drive through the center of the high school campus will move to the front of the Career and Technical Center (formerly Champs Hall). The current Fine Arts Center will be renovated once construction on the HPER/cafeteria has been completed and will share a lobby with the new HPER/cafeteria. Construction is winding down on the new Junior High North that started almost two years ago and it is expected to be ready for students in the fall. The original Junior High North burned three years ago. The portables that have been used since the fire to house students are scheduled to be removed in the next two weeks, Thurman told the board. The new Junior High North will be larger than the original, 127,282 square feet compared to 102,400 square feet. It will cost the $13.5 million with furnishings. Four additional classrooms will open in the fall at Westside Elementary. The dirt work is under way at the new Mountain Springs Elementary that is expected to open in the fall of 2010. The district also is negotiating the purchase of the Funtastic building on Hwy. 321 for $1.3 million. It will be used for the district’s alternative school and charter school. Thurman said renovations will likely not be completed by the time school starts. TOP STORY >> No to portable buildings Pulaski County Special School District officials say they will add five portables to alleviate a classroom shortage next year at the newly coeducational Jacksonville Middle School but the town’s mayor-elect says “not in our town you won’t.” “Jacksonville is not a trailer park,” said Gary Fletcher, who assumes duties as mayor on July 1. “We’ve been here 100 years and I don’t support temporary buildings for a permanent problem.” To the distress of many Jacksonville leaders and parents, its board member Bill Vasquez has worked for more than a year to dismantle the single-gender middle schools despite evidence that they were effective academically and in reducing discipline problems. But the Pulaski Association of Class-room Teachers wants control of those schools. Vasquez, board president Tim Clark and Gwen Williams, all steadfast friends of the union, were joined by Charlie Wood of Sherwood earlier this year to combine the schools on Vasquez’s motion. The issue cannot be voted upon again unless reintroduced by a school board member who passed the policy. Vasquez, Clark and Williams are unlikely to do so, leaving Wood as the last hope of the single-gender advocates. Wood could not be reached for comment. July 1 is the deadline to reconfigure schools for the 2009-2010 school year, and Jacksonville school activists will join the new mayor, his city engineer and others Tuesday night hoping to argue their case at the last regular school board meeting. So far, they say they have not been able to get on the agenda to discuss the contentious item, but will at least speak out during the public-comment period. Even if the action is not re-versed, the large coed school is still not a done deal. The U.S. District Court and the state could have something to say about the use of portables, according to Martha Whatley of Jacksonville. Whatley, a longtime educator, says the state wants to get rid of portables by 2010. Jacksonville Fire Marshal Mike Williams may not approve the portables, or the overall condition of the building, which still has plumbing, electrical, drainage and other problems, perhaps including asbestos. Whatley, Daniel Gray, Rep. Mark Perry (D-Jacksonville), former Rep. Pat Bond and her engineer/husband Tommy Bond joined Williams, city administrator Jay Whisker, city engineer Chip McCulley for a tour of the building school officials intend to use for the coeducational middle school next year, and Perry said they were concerned. “They are trying to put a fresh dress (on it), but the issue is structural as well as health related,” Fletcher said. “We have to make sure everything falls into code, no violations from fire or health. The city has to have a say on code violations. We need to sit down and they have to understand what needs to be done,” Fletcher said. “We want our (own) school district. We won’t accept anything less, and we want it now,” he added. Whatley said that problems that must be resolved include asbestos abatement, plumbing, loose wires, and sub-standard bathrooms, and there were health concerns as well as fire-code and building code problems. “I’m extremely concerned with what children are having to put up with,” she said. “(The district’s) plans keep changing,” said Fletcher. “They sent plans to the engineer department for the middle school and now we’re told they are going to make a change. We don’t know what the plans are.” The district had about $430,000 to get the building, known as building 600, ready to accommodate all middle school boys and girls and teachers next year, according to Gary Beck, acting executive director for support services. But bids came back about $100,000 over that, so the project has been cut back. Those numbers included leasing and setting up the five portable classrooms. Instead of replacing the bathrooms, they will be repaired, he said. Also cut from the list are additional canopy replacements or repairs. Some canopy will be repaired, some additional classrooms readied and drainage work done near the band room, Beck said. “I don’t think the fire marshal will approve the plan,” Perry said. “In order to meet the capacity, they need portables,” said Perry. He said that plan would have to be approved by U.S. District Court, where the school desegregation case languishes. Perry said the portables also would have to be approved by city code and fire marshal officials. PCSSD desegregation lawyer Sam Jones said Thursday that he disagreed. Plan 2000 requires that we inform the Joshua Interveners of any plan that involves an increase in capacity, according to Jones, but “I don’t read Plan 2000 to require us to get approval of the court.” Jones said he was writing Joshua lawyer John Walker on Friday. “We are past the point of remodeling,” said Fletcher. “We need new construction like the others (a new high school slated for Maumelle and a new Sylvan Hills Middle School).” Fletcher and engineer Chip McCulley want to be placed on the agenda for the Tuesday night PCSSD meeting, but so far their plea has fallen on deaf ears, meaning they may be allotted only five minutes each to speak during the public comment period of the meeting. Kim Forrest, appointed earlier to be principal of the coeducational school, spoke out in favor of postponing the move to a coed middle school, and many believe it was her outspoken advocacy that resulted in her sudden transfer to Northwood Middle School. Jacksonville officials, activists who want a stand-alone Jacksonville school district and at least most of the teachers from the boys school have spoken out in favor of the gender-specific education, at least for one more year to provide for a more orderly transfer. Also, many believe that the widely anticipated stand-alone Jacksonville school board should make the decision. Perry says he will reintroduce legislation in the next session providing for the recall of school-board members, a very thinly veiled threat to Vasquez’s tenure. TOP STORY >> How shooting victim survived attack at LR recruiting station Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula is limping around his home in Jacksonville with several bullet holes in his body and shrapnel in his lung, his neck and down his back. A terrorist sprayed him with bullets Monday morning at an Army recruiting station in west Little Rock. Ezeagwula, 18, survived by playing dead after he was shot. Pvt. William Long, 23, of Conway died from a single bullet wound. He will be buried Monday. Ezeagwula, who graduated from Jacksonville High School last year, pulls up his T-shirt, and you can see his back is all shot up. A visitor thought Ezeagwula would be in bed while he recovers from the gunshot wounds that nearly killed him. But this tough guy — a former Red Devils football player — doesn’t stay in bed much. He takes some pain pills and a nurse visits him daily to tend to his wounds. Ezeagwula, who left the hospital on Thursday, talked about his ordeal as his family sat with him, just grateful that he’s alive. “I’m thanking God he’s at home,” says his aunt, Vicki Jones. Ezeagwula and Long were standing outside the recruiting station in Ashley Square Shopping Center near Rodney Parham Road when a dark pickup approached them as they took a smoke break. “We’d been standing outside for five minutes,” Ezeagwula says, as he sits on a couch in the living room. He and Long had worked there only for a week as temporary recruiters before they were supposed to head out for their next assignment. “He was really a nice guy,” Ezeagwula says. At 10:19 a.m. Monday, Abdul-hakim Mujahid Muhammad, 24, aka Carlos Leon Bledsoe, reached for a cheap Chinese semiautomatic rifle and started firing. Muhammad was saying something, but Ezeagwula couldn’t understand him. Despite earlier reports, the two soldiers were not armed. Recruiters don’t carry weapons. Ezeagwula doesn’t remember some of the details of the shooting. But his mother, Sonia, says that when Muhammad reached for his rifle, her son thought it was a prank. “When he pulled out his gun, (Quinton) thought he was playing,” his mother says. “I had just dropped him off 20 minutes earlier.” But Muhammad was deadly serious. He’d come to kill as many soldiers as he could gun down. Long was shot first and was mortally wounded. He’d been shot once. Ezeagwula was shot in his neck, back and buttocks. He tried to run, fell down and played dead. “I was bleeding, but I didn’t think I was seriously hurt,” he says. When Muhammad drove off, the Jacksonville teenager started crawling back toward the recruiting office. As he lay wounded, he called his mother on his cell phone to tell her that he was all right, but she didn’t answer. A sergeant came running out from the recruiting office. “He asked me if I was OK,” Ezeagwula said. “I told him I’d been shot.” As they put Ezeagwula in an ambulance, the sergeant called the private’s mother to tell her that he’d been shot. “Who would have thought something like that would happen at a recruiting station?” she asks. “He’s a good son. He never was in a gang. He never stole for drugs. He stayed on a good path.” The family has just moved into a new house and would have had to wait until Monday to get electricity, but Rep. Vic Snyder’s office had the power turned on a couple days ago. “I’m just so glad to see this boy,” his mother says. Ezeagwula is staying in the Army and is headed for Hawaii when he recovers. “He wants to continue serving his country,” his mother says. EDITORIAL >> Sen. Baker’s showboating State Senator Gilbert Baker is having trouble writing a constitutional amendment that he hopes might carry him to the U. S. Senate. That ought to be hard, if not impossible, to do. Manipulating the state’s fundamental law for political gain once got you nowhere, but it has become the go-to strategy for politicians and parties. Jim Johnson circulated petitions in 1956 to put on the ballot a constitutional amendment requiring state officials to do everything possible to prevent the federal courts from integrating the public schools. The amendment passed, to be repealed by voters nearly 40 years later, but Johnson lost his simultaneous bid to be elected governor. But for the past 20 years Republicans have put emotional issues on the general-election ballot that Republican candidates can rally around and get out the vote: abortion, gay marriage, gay adoptions and foster parenting. It has proven to be moderately effective in ramping up the vote for Republicans. Union baiting looks like the strategy for 2010. Baker, the former state Republican chairman who is pondering a race for the U S. Senate, filed a proposed constitutional amendment that he says would require elections by secret ballot before a company would have to bargain with a union. That would be in case Congress and the president change the federal labor rules to require employers to bargain with employees when most of them signed cards for a union to represent them on wages and benefits. The state Constitution in that eventuality would still protect the company from having to negotiate with its employees. Of course, Baker does not describe his proposal in those terms. He says it’s all about protecting the employees by forever guaranteeing them the secret ballot. It is not about the secret ballot but about labor-management relations. Now, labor-management decisions rest entirely in the hands of the employer. No matter how many union requests that workers sign, the company decides if an election will be held and it dictates the terms. The union card-check bill pending (and doomed) in Congress would let a majority of workers decide if an election will be held or if there will be negotiations for a contract. Twice, the attorney general has rejected Baker’s proposal. It is too ambiguous for voters to know what they are voting to do, he said. Baker and the group he says he represents, something called Save Our Secret Ballot in Arkansas, will get another chance to write an amendment that is clear and viable. As it was submitted, it might require elections in any number of situations. If election by secret ballot is a sacrosanct way of transacting commercial activity, then indeed it should be forcibly applied to other commercial matters as well, perhaps the choosing of company directors and executive officers, the awarding of contracts and subsidiary relations. There is nothing about a wage contract that should make it subject to a secret ballot. It is one form of democratic expression, a fairly recent one, but not the only legitimate one. A bigger hurdle for Baker is that nothing that he and corporate lawyers can write into the Arkansas Constitution will change the timeless rule of constitutional federalism. The federal government has pre-empted jurisdiction in labor-management relations. A congressional act, even a regulation of the National Labor Relations Board, pre-empts any contrary provision of the state Constitution. Baker’s amendment, if it is ratified, won’t alter the rules on bargaining that Congress lays down. Arkansas learned that when the 1988 amendment prohibiting the use of public funds for abortions was invalidated after its first application because it ran afoul of federal regulations for Medicaid. But that really is immaterial. Putting it on the ballot and giving candidates a chance to stand foursquare for the secret ballot and against union bosses are all that matter. The mere utterance of “union bosses” gets people’s blood boiling. The amendment is a means, not an end. Who cares whether the proposition carries or if it ever does anything? TOP STORY >> Local man is tied to daring prison break A Jacksonville man is one of three arrested by the State Police in connection with the escape of two convicted killers from the Arkansas Department of Correction’s Cummins Unit at Grady on Friday. Michael Stephenson, 50, was arrested Saturday, along with Deanna Davison and Ryan McKinney, both of North Little Rock. All three were charged with a felony count of furnishing an implement of escape by leaving a 2003 Hyundai Sonata in the prison parking lot for the escapees to use in their getaway. The State Police aren’t saying how the three knew the two escapees, Jeffrey Grinder, 32, and Calvin Adams, 39. Neither of the inmates seem to have any Jacksonville connections. State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said the escape is still under investigation and it could take weeks before it’s completed. Grinder and Adams walked out of the prison Friday wearing correctional officer uniforms that are made at Cummins, got into the Sonata and drove off shortly after the 6 p.m. head count. The pair was not noticed as missing until the 10 p.m. head count. Authorities had leads over the weekend that the two were near Kalamazoo, Mich., and arrested them Tuesday in New York after they tried to speed away from police and crashed into a tree about 90 miles southeast of Buffalo. The escapees were in the same car that had been left for them at the Cummins Unit prison. Arkansas Correction Department spokeswoman Dina Tyler said the chase began when a New York trooper tried to stop the men’s car for speeding. Both were caught after the car crashed and they tried to run away, she said. No one was hurt and neither man was armed. According to police reports, the chase reached high speeds and went on for about 20 miles in Allegheny County in rural western New York, just north of the Pennsylvania state line. Tyler said Monday that five guards at the Cummins Unit had been placed on unpaid leave while the department investigates the escape. She did not name the officers but said they were guarding the entry and exit points at the prison. Adams, from Laetrile, was convicted in 1995 in the 1994 kidnapping and murder of Richard Austin, 25, a banker. Austin’s wife was wounded and walked more than a mile to summon help. Grinder is from Yellville and was convicted of capital murder, aggravated robbery and burglary in the 2003 beating death of Pat Gardner, 77, who lived near Springdale. TOP STORY >> A survivor in shooting doing well Leader editor-in-chief Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, who was a fullback and a linebacker for the Jacksonville Red Devils in 2007, is recovering from gunshot wounds after a terrorist attack Monday at an Army recruiting station in Little Rock. Ezeagwula was shot three times as he stood outside the recruiting station with Pvt. William Long, 23, of Conway. Long was shot several times and died later at Baptist Health Medical Center. Ezeagwula’s family is hoping the teenager makes a full recovery. Tuesday, Ezeagwula’s Army buddies brought him a football to cheer him up and to remind him of the days when he played for the Red Devils and when terrorism was something that happened far away. The soldiers couldn’t imagine they’d become victims of terrorism even before they headed overseas. Members of our armed services know danger awaits them when they go to Iraq or Afghanistan — roadside bombs are a constant menace — but when you’re volunteering at an Army-Navy recruiting station, the last thing that crosses your mind is gunfire from a Muslim fanatic who’ll tell you his religion stands for peace while he mows you down. Who knows, he might have shouted, “Allah is great” as he sped away. Ezeagwula and Long were volunteering in the Army’s Hometown Recruiter Assistance program. They made easy targets as they took a break outside the recruiting office in Ashley Square Shopping Center near Rodney Parham Road when a dark pickup approached. They had no idea that a convert to Islam, who had recently returned from Yemen, was looking for soldiers to kill. Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 24, aka Carlos Leon Bledsoe, shot several rounds from the back of the vehicle. He’d brought a cheap Chinese military rifle with him, similar to the one a Jacksonville man used last summer in a standoff with police in his home. That standoff ended when a police sharpshooter killed the man through a kitchen window. Although Ezeagwula and Long may have been armed, they didn’t have time to defend themselves once the shooting started. Muhammad said he would have shot others if they’d been outside with the others. But this was no suicide mission: Muhammad didn’t dare leave his truck and storm the recruiting office, where he could have killed many other soldiers, but he, too, would have died in a hail of gunfire. Instead, Muhammad fled, but he was soon arrested at the I-630 and I-30 interchange near downtown Little Rock. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday to capital murder and terrorism, but he remained defiant. He said he was a devout Muslim who hated the military for what it was doing to Muslims overseas. He recently changed his name from Carlos Leon Bledsoe, but the FBI was watching him because of his travels to the Middle East. He’d moved from Memphis to Little Rock, where he was looking for a military target. On Monday, he’d found what he was looking for. TOP STORY >> Cabot mayor to run for Senate AND JOAN MCCOY Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams announced Monday that he is running for the Dist. 28 Senate seat that Sen. Bobby Glover will vacate at the end of 2010. Williams, a Republican, said running for the Senate next year instead of a second term as mayor was a matter of timing. Glover, a Democrat from Carlisle, is term limited in the office he has held since 2004. Dist. 28 includes all of Lonoke and Prairie counties and parts of Pulaski and Arkansas counties. If he is elected, Williams says he will be the same type of approachable public servant that Glover has been. “I will build on his reputation as a constituent senator,” the mayor said. Former House Speaker Benny Petrus, D-Stuttgart, said Tuesday that he was “leaning toward getting in the race.” “I’m going to sit down with my family and make a decision by the first of August,” Petrus said. “If we do it, we’re going to get after it. It will be feet to the pavement.” “I’ve been encouraged by a lot of people,” Petrus added. “I’ve got the [legislative] experience,” he said. “So much knowledge of how the process works. But I’ve got to get committed myself.” Petrus said if he decided against running, he would back his friend, former state Rep. Lenville Evans, D-Lonoke. Evans, reached on a tractor planting soybeans Tuesday, said he was considering a run for Glover’s seat, but that there were several considerations, including whether or not Petrus seeks the office. Glover said Monday that he would not endorse a candidate, at least not in the primary. He also said he had decided not to run for secretary of state, in part because he’s not fully recovered from his stroke last summer. He said he would be open to further service to the people if he were appointed to the state Highway Commission or the state Corrections Board. In an interview Monday, Williams called Glover one of the best friends Cabot has ever had and credited the senator with help on some of the major projects that have been started since he became mayor in January 2007, especially funding for the armory that will be built in Cabot. Williams’ prepared statement did not include his affiliation with the Republican Party. “I’ll work for everyone as an individual, not as a party,” he said. “Being there when your constituents need you is more important.” To stave off critics who might say he hasn’t given enough to Cabot yet to move on to a state office, Williams says it’s possible to stay in a position too long, that he has gone at “mach speed” ever since he took office and he has accomplished a lot. “It’s not about how long; it’s what you do while you’re there,” Williams said. Traffic has been on top of Williams’ list of priorities since he took over as mayor. He has worked with the state and county on road projects that have eased traffic congestion somewhat. The city was at least $400,000 in debt so the budget was also a major concern. Now, mainly through staff cuts, the city has about $2 million more than is necessary to run the city at the current level. Additionally, a $775,000 health department clinic is under construction and an $8.2 million armory should be started this year. The $7.2 million railroad overpass that Williams started working for about 10 years ago while he was on the Cabot City Council is near completion. If elected, Williams will continue to work for federal funding for a north interchange estimated to cost about $20 million. Williams, 54, grew up in Sheridan. He has been married for 37 years and has three daughters, six grandsons and one granddaughter. He worked for the railroad for 30 years, starting as a laborer and working up to regional director of transportation. He retired when he was elected mayor. Asked how he would deal with being only one of many senators instead of the top official, Williams said he realized that his role would be different from what it is now. But he said he would become a consensus builder. “People need someone to represent them at the state level,” he said. Williams, who announced his intentions to run for mayor almost four years before he was elected, said he won’t start campaigning until 2010. Randy Minton of Ward, a former state representative and a Republican, had been rumored as a candidate for the state Senate, but Minton said this week that he will not run and that he has offered his support to the mayor. Minton, who once coveted the seat held by Glover, said, “I’m going to support Eddie Joe. Eddie Joe is the best chance the Republican Party has to take that seat.” His unsuccessful race for an open House seat last year against Davy Carter was the reason for his decision, Minton said. Minton said that he’s not running because of “the outcome of the last election” for state representative, which he lost to Carter (R-Cabot), 1,388 to 1,066. Also, “I’ve had some changes in my business and it takes a lot of time.” Petrus, who owns both a Chrysler/Ford dealership and a General Motors/Buick dealership in Stuttgart, said although these are difficult times for car dealers, “We didn’t get any letters” from Chrysler or GM telling Petrus to close down. Lonoke County prosecutor Will Feland also has been named as a possible candidate. Feland, who was appointed as prosecutor last year after Lona McCastlain resigned, said his new job is consuming all his time now. He isn’t saying he won’t run, Feland said, but it is too soon to say one way or the other. TOP STORY >> Fletcher winner in runoff Click inside box to enlarge view Alderman Gary Fletcher will be the new mayor of Jacksonville. It was his third try for that job. Fletcher jumped out to a 105-vote lead in the early voting and never relinquished the reins, beating Alderman Kenny Elliott, 1,367 votes or 54.8 percent to 1,142 votes or 45.2 percent. The runoff election contradicted the norm by bringing out more voters than the original election — a six-candidate race held May 12. Fletcher was the front-runner in that election where 2,437 votes were cast, garnering 39 percent of the vote to Elliott’s 32 percent. The winner thanked his supporters outside his campaign headquarters at Crestview Plaza. Fletcher called his election a grassroots effort and credited his supporters for carrying him to victory. “The people here is why this happened,” Fletcher said, pointing to his supporters as they laughed, applauded and ate barbecue. “I’m just overwhelmed. It’s been a long four months.” “I just want to be the people’s servant,” Fletcher said. He praised his opponent for running a positive campaign. “Kenny is a class act,” Fletcher said. “Kenny and I showed politics don’t have to be gutter politics.” “These people came as volunteers and took over the campaign,” he said in an interview. “They put up yard signs and went door to door.” Fletcher said he, too, knocked on many doors. “I sat down with people house to house,” he said. “I was being Gary. They told me they expected a lot from me.” Elliott called Fletcher early Tuesday evening and congratulated him on the win. “As an alderman and a resident of Jacksonville I will continue to work hard for the city,” he said. Elliott felt good about the campaign he ran and said both he and Fletcher ran very positive campaigns. “I feel good about the issues that were raised. We worked hard, but Gary came out on top and I congratulate him,” he said. Elliott also wanted to thank all of his supporters. Mayor Tommy Swaim, who is resigning July 1 in the middle of his term, called Fletcher to congratulate him on his victory. “If there’s anything I can do, let me know,” Swaim told him. Swaim said he would “work as hard as I can to make the transition as smooth as possible” and between now and June 30 he’ll continue to do his job. Fletcher won five of the eight polling sites, losing to Elliott at Chapel Hills Baptist Church, the Jacksonville Boys and Girls Club and Berea Baptist Church. At an earlier candidates forum sponsored by the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce between the special election, May 12, and Tuesday’s runoff, Fletcher said the “choice is not between good and bad. We are both good people. If you want the city to continue in the direction it’s been going, then vote for Elliott, but if you want a change and someone with a clear vision, vote for me.” When asked at the forum if the mayor should be leading the charge for a separate school district for the city, Fletcher said, “The mayor is the head of the city and has to be up in front on this issue and not take a wait-and-see attitude. We’ve been reactive too long. It’s time to take the bull by the horns,” he said. Fletcher has said that he wants to create an education commission and fund it with city money as a war chest to get the new district going. “We need to let the county district know we are serious,” he explained. “We’ve got to push for our schools. The schools are the heartbeat of our community,” Fletcher said. Fletcher was concerned about the recent brouhaha over the city’s boy’s and girl’s middle school. “I’m upset with the district and don’t feel they have a clue how to give us a quality education. Every day that these problems persist is another day that it hurts our children.” Fletcher is displeased with the move of administrators and the middle school students back under one roof. “That building is undersized and not up to code,” he said. Fletcher had said that as mayor he would offer the district an olive branch. “I want to play nice, but if they continue not to listen to us, we can play hardball with the best of them. I don’t want that to sound like a threat, but there are things we can do,” he said. Fletcher said the issue of the Graham Road closing needs revisiting. “I don’t ever remember seeing an economic study and we all know what happened economically. Closing that crossing has hurt a lot of people. We need to push and see exactly what it would cost us. I can’t see them making us pay all the money back,” he said. Fletcher said that years ago there was talk about curving Main Street into Graham Road. “We need to look at that again. We’ve got a $4 million overpass and will soon have a $7 million improved Graham Road with two one way streets in the middle. Traffic needs to flow,” he said at the forum. Fletcher also wants to annex north up Hwy. 67/167 to the Lonoke County line. “Sure there’s some businesses there we may not want in our city, but the best way to make sure we don’t get more of them is to annex the area,” he said. Fletcher added that Cabot has already come south to the county line and that by going north, the city could work with Cabot. Fletcher first ran for mayor when he was 28 in 1982 against Mayor James Reid and lost. Again in 1986 he lost to Reid in a primary by 30 votes. Reid lost to independent candidate Swaim, who has been mayor ever since. SPORTS >> Bruins close tournament with 8-7 win Sylvan Hills Optimist junior Legion team salvaged a win in the Gwatney Chevrolet Tournament on Sunday at Burns Park. The Bruins opened with losses to Sheridan and Gwatney, but took advantage of Benton’s generosity on Sunday to post an 8-7 victory and a fifth-place finish. Benton pitching issued six walks, hit two more and committed three errors, allowing the Bruins to score their eight runs on only six hits. Sylvan Hills was in a giving mood, too, issuing seven walks and hitting two, while committing three errors. But Sylvan Hills got the victory when Cain Cormier singled in Justin Cook as time expired in the 2-hour time limit game. Cook opened the fifth inning of a 7-7 tie by lining his first offering into right for a single and Forrest Harrison singled him to third. One out later, Cormier hit a sharp single through the hole at shortstop. Sylvan Hills grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first after Lance Hunter reached on an error and came around on Blake Rasdon’s RBI single. But two walks, an infield single and a throwing error produced a pair of runs and a 2-1 Benton lead in the second. The Bruins tied it in the bottom half on three walks and a wild pitch. But Sylvan Hills returned the favor in the third with three walks and a wild pitch and Benton temporarily led 3-2. Hunter got things going for the Bruins in the bottom of the third with a walk, and Trey Sims, on in relief of Rasdon-in the third, delivered a pinch hit single. Michael Lock was hit with a pitch to load the bases and the Bruins tied it when Cook drew a walk. Both Austin Spears and Lock scored when Will Carter reached on a throwing error. Cook scored on a wild pitch to give Sylvan Hills a 6-3 lead. But Benton took advantage of two Sylvan Hills errors and a pair of singles to narrow the gap to 6-5 in the fourth. Brian Chastain singled leading off for the Bruins in the bottom half of the inning and eventually scored on Sims’ sacrifice fly. Sims ran into trouble in the fifth, hitting a batter and giving up a single to start the inning. Spears, the Bruins’ first baseman, made a nifty play on a sacrifice bunt attempt, charging and throwing across to third to get the lead runner. But two walks, a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch tied the game at 7. Spears came on with two outs and the go-ahead run at second and got a fly out to end the inning. Spears picked up the win after facing just one batter. Cormier, Chastain, Rasdon, Sims, Cook and Harrison had one hit each. Cook scored three times. SPORTS >> New head coach Russell putting program in place at North Pulaski Rick Russell is probably hoping the month of June isn’t quite as hectic as May. The new North Pulaski football coach spent all of last month attending to his teaching duties at Jacksonville High School before heading to North Pulaski in the afternoons for Falcon spring football. Russell, a long-time defensive coordinator at Jacksonville, took over the head coaching job at North Pulaski on May 1 when he replaced seven-year head coach Tony Bohannon. The job was already a challenging one, given the Falcons’ 5-65 record over the past seven years. It became even more challenging with Russell’s ongoing duties at Jacksonville High School. Then, Russell found out that due to a scheduling problem, the players who showed up for spring football wouldn’t be getting their physicals until the last week in June. That meant no contact during spring practice, which just concluded last week. None of that seemed to faze Russell, who sounded enthusiastic about the turnout, both in terms of numbers and quality. “I’ve enjoyed it,” he said. “It’s been a good experience getting to know the kids. I’ve been kind of busy, teaching at one school and rushing to the other school. But I’m really pleased with having 50 coming out. Especially with a new coach and with not having an athletic period. It showed commitment by the kids to be willing to come out after school.” Russell said that not being able to have contact really didn’t slow down the Falcons’ progress much because there was already so much new stuff to put in place. He compared the two weeks of spring football to the first three days of August football, when contact is also limited. “We were in helmets and shoulder pads and we were able to do a lot of drill work,” he said. “We saw them run, saw how they moved, how they lined up and pursued. We were able to see them throw and catch and cover each other. We saw a lot of things we needed to see.” Russell was especially excited about the athleticism in his secondary and by the pursuit and movement of the entire defense. He credited secondary and running backs coach Terrod Hatcher with the progress the defense has made. On offense, the big factor will be how well a mostly new offensive line develops. The Falcons lost a big group up front and will focus more on smaller, speedier linemen this fall. “It’s hard to replace those big kids on the offensive line,” he said. “We’re working on strength and quickness.” North Pulaski lost two-year starter A.J. Allen at quarterback as well as all-purpose threat Jerald Blair. But three sophomore running backs return to join football newcomer DaQuan Bryant, a talented athlete who helped lead the North Pulaski basketball team to a berth in the 5A state title game in March. “DaQuan is a college prospect in both sports,” Russell said. “He’s got the body that you want and for a guy carrying 200 pounds, he moves great.” Juniors-to-be Darius Cage, Billy Barron and Bryan Coulson are all back to help shore up the backfield. Sophomore Shyheim Barron took the most snaps at quarterback this spring. Russell said Shyheim is athletic and visualizes the field extremely well and that he can throw the ball downfield. Russell said the Falcons would run out of multiple sets on offense, including a Veer option and two- and three-back power sets. North Pulaski has most of the coaching staff in place, though Russell said he still has one position to fill. Strength and endurance were key priorities when Russell took over last month. Thus far he’s happy with the progress. “We’re on schedule,” he said. “We’re emphasizing muscle endurance through three basic lifts — the clean, the squat and the bench press. We should be able to make the increases throughout the summer as planned.” Russell has scrapped plans to participate in the Pulaski Robinson 7-on-7 tournament next week. Instead, the team will practice Mondays and Thursdays through July and will participate in a 7-on-7 scrimmage against Cabot on July 15. SPORTS >> New Lonoke basketball coach has history of winning Lonoke High School wasted little time in filling the head basketball coach’s position left vacant by former coach Wes Swift, who resigned last month to take over at Jonesboro. Dean Campbell, who has been a varsity assistant and junior high coach the past three years, was named the new head coach by athletic director Mark Hobson. Campbell has an extensive resume, including a stint as head coach at Central Arkansas Christian from 2002-04. He did his graduate work at Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Mo., from 1994-97 before joining the staff as an assistant at Coffeeville Community College in Kansas. He worked at West Texas A & M as a women’s assistant for two years before moving to CAC, which shared a conference with Swift and the Jackrabbits. He worked for two years in the Pulaski County Special School District before making the move to Lonoke. He was able to take the Mustangs from a nine-year drought in state tournament berths to the 3A tourney in his second season. “I think I know what it takes to put a program that has hasn’t been successful and get it going on the right track again,” said Campbell. “But I’m in a situation where Lonoke has a long tradition, and it’s been a smooth transition for the kids. That’s the most important part.” A Kansas native, Campbell began his college-playing career at Coffeyville for two years as a shooting guard before finishing at Whalen Baptist in Texas. He grew up in the community of Tyro and attended high school at Caney Valley. His marriage to Jacksonville native DeAnna 17 years ago brought him to Arkansas. They have two children, 10-year-old Regan and Riley, 6. Campbell joined the Lonoke staff in 2006. “We competed against Lonoke, and through talking with coach Swift, I learned that they had a position open,” Campbell said. “It was a good opportunity for me to be able to coach a junior high team and still be able to work with a high-school team.” For A.D. Hobson, the choice was a no-brainer. “We didn’t open the job,” said Hobson, who also had to replace departing football coach Jeff Jones with Doug Bost in March. “We liked the job that coach Campbell has done with our junior high program enough that we thought he was the best guy for the job. It’s not over, we still have to replace his position, and we also have to fill a position for girls assistant coach.” Campbell said he and Swift enjoyed a good chemistry, though the two have different demeanors. “As far as disciple, kids playing hard and being as fundamental as you can be, I will try to continue that style,” said Campbell. “I’m not as fiery as coach Swift, but he and I were a good mix. His knowledge of defense and my offensive approach worked together well, and I think he knew that ahead of time. It also led to a lifetime relationship for both of us. “He is excited. I’ve never seen him as intense and motivated. I think it will be a good marriage between him and the Jonesboro program.” SPORTS >> Gwatney settles for third place Gwatney Chevrolet bounced back from an opening-round loss to Sheridan to post wins over Sylvan Hills and Maumelle and finish third in the Gwatney Chevrolet Tournament last weekend at Burns Park. In the third-place game on Sunday, Gwatney wasted leadoff base runners in the first and second before erupting for five runs in the third and eight in the fourth to demolish Maumelle 13-3. Gwatney collected 11 of its 13 hits over the final two innings of the four-inning affair. Devon McClure led the way with three hits and three RBI. He also picked up the victory, allowing three hits and one earned run over three innings of work. He struck out five. Gwatney busted open a scoreless tie when it sent nine to plate in the third inning, scoring five of them. Orlando Roberts grounded a single to left and Jacob Abrahamson looped a single into center. After a wild pitch moved the runners up to second and third, McClure ripped a two-run single to right to put Gwatney up 2-0. The onslaught was just beginning. Patrick Castleberry singled home McClure and eventually scored himself on the back end of a double steal. Chris McClendon walked and Nick Rodriguez was hit with a pitch. Jesse Harbin drove in McClendon with a base hit and Gwatney led 5-0. After pitching out of a pair of jams in the first and second innings, McClure was touched for a run in the third, but it might have been worse. A double, two walks and a wild pitch made it 5-1. Rodriguez, the Gwatney catcher threw a runner out at the plate after another wild pitch and McClure got a strikeout to stop further damage. Gwatney began an 8-run rally in the fourth after the first batter was retired. Abrahamson walked, McClure singled and Castleberry delivered them both with a single to center. McClendon walked and, with two outs, Zach Traylor singled in two more runs. Harbin singled and Michael Lamb was hit with a pitch to load the bases. Roberts drew a bases-loaded walk to force in Traylor. Abrahamson followed with a two-run single and McClure drove in another run with a base hit to make it 13-1. Traylor came on in relief of McClure in the fourth. Two walks and two singles produced a pair of runs. But McClendon at third base recorded the final two outs of the game. Castleberry had two hits and three RBI, while Abrahamson went 2 for 2 with two runs and two RBI. Harbin had two hits and an RBI, and Traylor drove in a pair of runs with a base hit. Gwatney was slated to host North Little Rock last night in a game played after Leader deadlines. TOP STORY >> More to stay behind bars By mid-June, the Pulaski County Detention Center should expand to legally accommodate 980 prisoners. The increase will be 100 more than the current cap, but not enough to legally hold the 1,015 prisoners locked up one morning this week, according to John Rehrauer, spokesman for Pulaski County Sheriff Doc Holladay. The Pulaski County Quorum Court authorized the increase Tuesday night. The jail’s capacity was reduced from 1,130 to 800 after the roof collapsed in 2005 above jail Pods A and B. Capacity was increased in recent years to 880 with the help primarily from North Little Rock and Little Rock. Their police departments arrest the majority of the prisoners. Of those 880 inmates, 100 considered nonviolent were housed in the old work-release center now called the satellite center. When the pods were repaired and repainted early this year, those inmates and their jailers were transferred to those pods without increasing jail capacity. Renovations cost about $600,000. But the sheriff can’t add 250 inmates to fill the satellite center unless the county can pay for the additional guards, medical costs, food and utilities for them. The sheriff’s office has been training 27 new jailers with the intention of reopening 100 beds in the work- release center once they complete the seven-week course, according to a spokesman. That will increase the jail’s capacity to 980 by the middle of June. The quorum court had appropriated $1.3 million to train and pay the extra jailers required to operate the new pods and also 100 beds of the work-release center. The jail pods are within the fenced secure area of the detention center, while the satellite center is not. Holladay said that once the satellite center is completely reopened, the moves would increase jail capacity by 250 beds without a bond-issue or tax increase. Holladay said he hoped to open the remaining 150 beds of the work-release center as funds become available. When those beds become available, jail capacity will return to its 2005 capacity of 1,130. “It doesn’t solve all our problems, but it’s a step in the right direction,” Rehrauer said. Any additional jail beds beyond that would require new construction and a new source of revenue, perhaps a tax increase, Rehrauer said. To operate all 250 beds in the satellite center would cost the county $2.7 million a year in additional deputies, food, medical costs and utilities. Most studies, including an extensive study conducted by former UALR Chancellor Charles Hathaway, say the county needs between 1,500 and 1,600 beds. Pulaski County residents turned down several tax increases sought in recent years to build new capacity for the detention center. TOP STORY >> School construction costs remain $14M... TOP STORY >> How shooting victim survived attack a... TOP STORY >> Local man is tied to daring prison br... SPORTS >> New head coach Russell putting program i... SPORTS >> New Lonoke basketball coach has history ...

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Kill the QDR Doctor: “Where does it hurt?” Patient: “It only hurts when I do this. “Doctor: “So, stop doing that.” It’s an old joke, but sound medical advice, particularly for our present patient, the Pentagon. It’s time to “stop doing that” — “that” being the Quadrennial Defense Review. After four attempts (if you include the 1993 “Bottom-Up” Review,” or BUR), it is fair to conclude that the process has outlived its utility. It’s not that the 2005 QDR is so awful; it hasn’t been officially released, but its basic conclusions are common knowledge. But the Pentagon has more or less been in “QDR mode” for more than a decade; the services maintain semi-permanent QDR offices where activity peaks every four years but never ceases. It’s time to call an end to an exercise that isn’t producing the desired result. The original idea was a good one. As the Soviet empire collapsed, it became apparent that the Cold War strategy of containment and its force-sizing and force-shaping constructs had been overtaken by events. There was no superpower doppelganger for the United States, confronting us in every remote corner of the planet. Deprived of the Russian yardstick, U.S. military forces did not have an obvious way of measuring how big they needed to be. For the first Bush administration this was a serious problem. In the eye of the public and press, our last Cold War president seemed a bit of an anachronism. Oddly, the stunning success in Operation Desert Storm only fueled the desire for a “peace dividend;” U.S. armed forces seemed so dominant that they could patrol the planet single-handedly. And so then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney directed an internal study which produced the 1992 Defense Planning Guidance. In many ways, each QDR has been a footnote to the basic policy elaborated in that report: the U.S. military should secure American global pre-eminence, try to deter the rise of a superpower challenger, and shape the international security order in ways conducive to American principles and interests. Leaked to the press before being formally approved, the DPG was castigated as the work of unreconstructed Cold Warriors looking for any excuse to keep defense spending up. While the planning guidance officially was buried with the nuclear waste, it did provide the basis for a force-planning exercise dubbed the “Base Force.” That was an attempt to define a minimum level of military power that would signal to the rest of the world that, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell put it, a “superpower lives here.” Be careful before you cross the United States. Strategic fashions have come and gone over the course of the QDRs. The 1993 report of the BUR was the brainchild of Defense Secretary Les Aspin, a former McNamara “whiz kid” who had distinguished himself as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and been tapped by new President Bill Clinton to lead the Pentagon. The BUR set forth the metric that U.S. forces needed to be able to fight two “nearly simultaneous major theater wars,” or MTWs, a kind of “lite” formulation of the two-big-war standard of the Cold War; major theater wars defined as the kind of quick and crushing victory over the Iraqis in 1991. The most attractive part of the idea was that it justified significant defense spending reductions and force cuts. Yet, almost immediately, the two-theater-war benchmark became not a wind of change but a force defending the status quo. The first Clinton term produced little likelihood of a conventional conflict — the 1994 North Korean scare revealed that a war on the peninsula would be anything but a Desert Storm replay — rather a plethora of smaller but more ambiguous operations. These “peacekeeping” operations or “tea-cup wars” may have been smaller, but they were nightmarishly complex. The “Black Hawk Down” incident in Somalia and a botched intervention in Haiti cost Secretary Aspin his job. The subsequent paralysis in the face of the Rwandan genocide and the escalating fighting in the Balkans made the demands of “contingency” operations a central concern. But the deeply entrenched commitment to conventional-style theater wars halted the attempt to quantify the demands of smaller wars in the usual force-planning way. “MTWs” became “MRCs” — major regional contingencies — but the 1997 QDR offered little beyond the name change. The 1997 review also introduced the idea of a “revolution in military affairs,” the Clinton administration’s version of “transformation,” but in practice that meant buying a few extra precision-guided weapons at the expense of aircraft and other “platform” programs. As in 1993, the Army staved off deeper manpower reductions. The banner of transformation flew high above the 2001 QDR — candidate George W. Bush had made a lot of this idea on the campaign trail and hired Donald Rumsfeld for the job of secretary for transformation. Transformation appealed to the “cheap hawk” sentiments of the modern Republican Party, increasingly driven by the impulses of the Gingrich Revolution of the mid-1990s. This was not Ronald Reagan’s Republican Party, willing to spend the Soviet Union into the dustbin of history. Unfortunately, the 2001 QDR was delayed, and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, raised doubts about the wisdom of Rummy-style transformation. Once again, a QDR was overtaken by events; these massive reviews were reactionary rather than revolutionary. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and subsequent counterinsurgency campaigns, to say nothing of the ultimate “long, hard slog” to secure political transformation of the greater Middle East, made the idea of “rapid, decisive operations” look shallow, indeed. And so heading into the 2005 QDR, the Pentagon found itself with an irresolvable dilemma. The goal of American pre-eminence endured — indeed President Bush’s 2002 national security strategy had strengthened the commitment — but the hopes for preserving Pax Americana on the cheap, the hopes of every U.S. administration since the end of the Cold War had been shattered by new strategic realities. Not only was there the matter of the Middle East, but China’s rising military had learned the lessons of the revolution in military affairs to create new power-projection capabilities that put U.S. forces at risk in the event of a crisis or conflict. And there was the even-more-difficult challenge of what to do about the spread of nuclear weapons to unstable and rogue-type regimes such as Iran. In sum, we’ve reached the limit of our ability to think our way out of our military dilemma. It’s time to stop thinking and start spending. Only a larger and more capable force — a more expensive force — can give us the strategic options we so desperately need. In retrospect, the notion that the U.S. could long retain its position of leadership while spending just 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on its military was optimistic, to put it kindly. Even allowing for the strong appeal of American ideals of individual liberty, the likelihood of the post-Cold-War lions lying down with the lambs contravenes the entirety of human history. The real measure of our interest in preserving the Pax Americana is what we’re willing to pay for it; people in uniform are making the ultimate sacrifice abroad, but people at home seem less willing to make a more modest financial sacrifice at home. Even the baseline budgets of the Bush administration have added no more than half a percentage point to the share of American wealth devoted to defense; the “emergency” supplemental costs of Iraq and Afghanistan — 4½ years after Sept. 11 — bump the slice up to just over 4 percent. By comparison, George Bush Senior spent 4.8 percent of GDP on defense in his final year in office; the Cold War average was between 6 and 7 percent, including the Reagan buildup. Thus, no matter how perceptive the Pentagon’s strategy-makers turn out to be, their plan will suffer from a shortfall of resources, just as the preceding plans have. The dichotomy between policy and resources, between strategic ends and military means, is nowhere more apparent than in the Middle East; President Bush has advanced a bold “forward strategy of freedom,” appealing to the deepest of American political ideals, and he repeatedly has shown his own deep commitment to make the ideal real. But in the process, he has neglected the military institutions upon which his strategy is based. The combination of the Bush Doctrine and Clinton-era budgets is a recipe for disaster, redeemed so far mostly by the quality of the force. But the failure to reinvest in defense needs will eventually catch up with us. The shortages go across the board. Procurement of new weaponry was more than halved from a peak in 1985 of more than $106 billion — in 2003, inflation-adjusted prices — to just over $50 billion during the years of the second Clinton Administration, the infamous “procurement holiday.” Again, this administration has restored less than $20 billion per year of that figure; it is no wonder that equipment readiness rates are flagging as fleets of all kinds age. Nor is it any wonder that the defense industry may be set for another round of consolidation. Although research and development spending didn’t dip as much and has been largely restored, the procurement bottleneck means that new technologies don’t make it to the field as fast as they should. Personnel and operations and maintenance spending have followed a weird trajectory all their own. The bottom line is that a smaller active-duty force is doing more with less, and the reserve components — particularly the National Guard — have been employed not as a true strategic reserve but as an operational reserve, constantly called up to supplement an overstretched active force. But though the tale of the budgetary numbers isn’t as clear as it is with materiel, the fundamental problem is, if anything, more severe; the force, particularly the ground force, is too small. And peacekeeping, peacemaking, counterinsurgency and other forms of irregular war are more manpower intensive than they are firepower intensive. END IT, DON’T MEND IT In sum, the Quadrennial Defense Review process, from 1993 until now, has utterly failed to do what it was intended to do: provide a link among strategy, force-planning and defense budgeting. Indeed, with every QDR, the situation has gotten worse; the ends-means problem has grown. Given that the Bush administration’s 2007 budget request is highly unlikely to reverse this terrible trend — how I hope I’m wrong! — it would be far better to refrain from future defense reviewing, quadrennial or otherwise. The process has become an exercise in fantasy, and what the Pentagon and the president need are a dose of reality. Let’s be honest; let’s tell the military: “OK, here’s the amount of money we’re willing to give you. Tell us what you think you can do with it and let’s manage the risk.” I come to bury the QDR with not a little personal regret. When I worked for the staff of the House Armed Services Committee, I helped draft the enabling legislation for the 1997 review. And Congress could play an important role in reconnecting our security strategy-making to our defense budget process. Committee Chairman Rep. Duncan Hunter has been preparing a “shadow QDR” through hearings last fall and to come this spring; perhaps he can reprise the role played by Les Aspin 15 years ago, bringing pressure on the administration from Capitol Hill. However, I’m not optimistic about Mr. Hunter’s prospects. Budgetary questions are always a matter of domestic politics, and the political climate in Washington these days — the president’s weaknesses combined with the collapse of the Republican machine in Congress and the inveterate hostility of the Democrats — is not conducive to putting the national interest above partisan interest. The one man who might solve the problem is President Bush himself, and he has continually surprised those who have underestimated him. But the president has squandered two golden opportunities to achieve a new consensus on defense spending, once when he was first elected and again in the aftermath of Sept. 11. We can’t wait another four years for another QDR.

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Vischer.com Framework Agreement between Switzerland and the EU Select topic Capital Markets China Desk Data & Privacy Digital Business Law Bites Dispute Resolution Employment Law Immigration Employment Law Insolvency Law Life Sciences Media & Marketing Tax Transport/Aviation Negotiations between Switzerland and the European Union (EU) on an institutional framework agreement (German only) aimed at placing bilateral relations between Switzerland and the EU on a more sustainable footing and paving the way for the conclusion of further market access agreements have stalled in recent months. In the summer of 2019, the EU reacted by withdrawing the Swiss stock exchange equivalence. For the Swiss financial centre and also for other economically important sectors, it is of great importance that an agreement between Switzerland and the EU be reached next year. The framework agreement as the cornerstone of relations with the EU Switzerland maintains a close relationship with the EU not only at the economic level, but also on the political and cultural levels. In total, there are more than 120 bilateral agreements granting Switzerland access to the EU internal market and enabling Switzerland to be linked to the EU in a sectoral manner similar to membership. The EU has long criticised the fact that the current treaty network of bilateral agreements does not guarantee homogeneity in the application and further development of the law and that there is no institutional framework overall. At the centre of criticism is the fact that most agreements do not contain an explicit obligation for Switzerland to regularly adapt market access agreements to relevant developments in EU law. The EU therefore makes new market access agreements dependent on the conclusion of a framework agreement that regulates institutional issues in a uniform and superordinate manner. In addition to the dynamic further development of the bilateral agreements, this agreement also provides for a mechanism for settling disputes and overall increases legal certainty and transparency in decision-making. The scope of the framework agreement is limited to the existing five bilateral market access agreements (free movement of persons, removal of technical barriers to trade, land transport, air transport and agriculture) and to all future market access agreements. Negotiations currently in deadlock After almost five years of negotiations, the Federal Council published the draft framework agreement with the EU in December 2018 and sent it to a domestic policy consultation. In its media release of 7 June 2019, the Federal Council approved the report on consultations on the institutional agreement between Switzerland and the EU, but pointed out that certain issues still needed to be clarified. The consultation showed that the political left and right are united against the agreement, albeit for different reasons. While the left criticises primarily that wage protection would be undermined, representatives of the right complain that "foreign judges" could rule on Swiss affairs. Because the Federal Council has not yet been able to have the negotiated agreement signed, the EU Commission has already reacted with retaliatory measures. Since 1 July 2019, the EU has no longer recognised Swiss stock exchange regulation as equivalent to EU stock exchange regulation. This is a purely politically motivated manoeuvre for which there is no objective reason. It is not yet clear how much longer the negotiations will take. However, before the vote on the initiative for moderate immigration ('limitation initiative") launched by the Swiss People's Party (Schweizerischen Volkspartei) in May 2020, hardly any significant progress can be expected in the negotiations. The adoption of the initiative would result in the termination of the agreements on the free movement of persons, which would make a framework agreement superfluous (cf. blog article "No Limitation for Europeans"). Federal Council demands clarification of disputed points The internal policy consultation process has shown that the current version of the framework agreement does not enjoy widespread support. Particular criticism is levelled at the softening of wage protection, state subsidies and ambiguities regarding the EU Citizenship Directive, which creates additional entitlements for EU citizens in the area of social assistance and family reunification. Another highly controversial issue is the dispute settlement procedure, which is intended to resolve disputes between EU law and Swiss law, and the dynamic adoption of the law, which obliges Switzerland to adopt new EU law on an ongoing basis. Contrary to what the opponents of the agreement claim, however, this is not an automatic adoption of EU law, since Switzerland can decide separately on each adoption of EU law in the planned mechanism for legal development and the constitutional rights are always observed - the referendum option is therefore fully preserved. What happens if the framework agreement fails? A failure of the contract negotiations would have negative consequences for Switzerland and would entail an incalculable risk. For one thing, it would make it impossible to conclude further market access agreements with the EU, and for another, there could even be a risk of the existing agreements being dropped or suspended. For example, it could be expected that the current negotiations on the electricity agreement and in the areas of public health and food safety would be broken off. In addition, it can be assumed that the EU could, in addition to the non-recognition of the equivalence of the Swiss stock exchange, react with further retaliatory measures such as the exclusion of Switzerland from the continuation of the EU research programme Horizon 2021. A failure of the negotiations would have devastating consequences not only for the Swiss financial centre, but also for the export industry. In view of the fact that around 55 percent of all Swiss exports go to the EU, non-discriminatory access to the European internal market is of great importance for Switzerland. For this reason, an agreement with the EU as Switzerland's most important trading partner is unavoidable. In the event that no agreement is reached even after the vote in spring 2020, the question of a Plan B arises. In order to mitigate the negative consequences of a possible non-acceptance and to allow negotiations to resume at a later date, the conclusion of an interim agreement could be considered. This would make it clear that while Switzerland has no right to conclude further market access agreements, the existing agreements would remain in force. Not least because of the threat of a suspension of cohesion payments, which Switzerland will have to pay to the new EU member states over the next 10 years, the EU should also have an interest in such an agreement. The Council of States and the National Council have agreed on the amount of CHF 1.3 billion for cohesion payments, but have made the payments conditional on the EU refraining from discriminatory measures such as the withdrawal of Swiss stock exchange equivalence. It remains to be seen how the EU will position itself on the framework agreement in the coming year under the new head of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Our Immigration Team will be happy to answer any further questions you may have. Authors: Blanka Batschwaroff & Urs Haegi Topics: ImmigrationInstitutional Framework AgreementSwiss stock exchange equivalencebilateral agreements Here you will find the frequent news alerts in the fields tax, litigation and arbitration, public sector and regulatory, corporate and commercial law and intellectual property law. Subscribe to all or a specific topic of our blog Vischer ViPN © 2020 VISCHER

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Metro government will draw jobs. Seriously? July 20, 2009 by Dawn Miller Metro government supporters routinely say that a new consolidated government would make Kanawha County more attractive to corporations looking for new locations. Skeptics shake their heads. Kanawha has about 190,000 people, including 50,000 in Charleston. Redrawing lines on a map or redesigning local government won’t suddenly add thousands of irresistible skilled workers or fix any other problems that turn business off. True, says Matt Ballard, president and CEO of Charleston Area Alliance. But he believes metro government really could make Kanawha County more attractive to corporations. “Large businesses do hire site consultants,” Ballard said. “They come back with a short list of sites that meet certain criteria.” Companies are usually looking for two main things — infrastructure and population of a certain size, enough to provide a good workforce. So, for example, if that consultant makes a list of all the metropolitan statistical areas of 250,000 anchored by a principal city, no place in West Virginia makes the cut. Metro government: What does South Charleston see? South Charleston Mayor Frank Mullens is the second Kanawha County elected official to answer our question: “When you imagine metro government, what do you see?” Mullens was elected mayor in 2007. He started working for the city as a lifeguard in 1982 at age 19. He attended West Virginia State College, sold real estate for a time and worked his way up to city public works director in 1992. South Charleston was established in 1906 and incorporated in 1919. The city has about 12,000 people A vision of metro government By Frank Mullens Mayor of South Charleston Vision on Metro Government. I guess it is simply that a principle City (Charleston) would be the major identity of the County and the major decision maker. Even though the supporters say there would be no change in how smaller Cities function, I don’t believe that would be the case and certainly not in the long run. The argument that every City would have representation which gives them a voice just doesn’t hold water. The voice would be small and ineffective. The people serving now will not be the people serving 10 or 20 years from now, so who’s to say where the power structure would go? Here in South Charleston, I believe we have an efficient and effective government, the best services in the State, and the City is financially strong. Why would we change? Our services are very personalized, and I believe if we merge services it would take away that special personalized touch. There are many questions that need to be answered and some comments that just do not make sense. The discussions have been very generic. Comments such as more efficient and effective government lack detail. A great question would be “What service that the City of South Charleston provides now would a Metro Government provide better and how?” There have been many comments made that a Metro Government would be more cost effective by sharing resources or services. While there may be some, which needs to be explained in more detail, many of these things I would contend could be done now without the formalization of a Metro Government ( 911, Metro Drug Unit). There is also evidence that sharing cost for bulk buying does not always save money. Metro government: The view from Chesapeake Some time ago, while listening to an argument about metro government, it occurred to me that no two people I ever met seemed to mean the exact same thing when they used the term. So, we asked several Kanawha County elected officials to write down for us in their own words precisely what they see when they imagine some future metro government in the county. The first one is Damron Bradshaw, mayor of Chesapeake since 1991. He previously served on the town council and as town recorder. He is executive director of the Upper Kanawha Valley Enterprise Community, pastor of the Racine United Methodist Church and worked for 32 years at Dupont. Chesapeake has about 1,600 residents. It was incorporated on Nov. 1, 1948 and is named for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. How do I see metro government? By Damron Bradshaw Mayor of Chesapeake My vision of metro government in the sense of Charleston-Kanawha County is truly akin to what I saw when I twice visited Louisville, Ky. Being mayor of one of the small towns in the Upper Kanawha Valley, I see a metro government that does not take away the autonomy of the towns. The towns do not change their structured form of government, but besides that have a representative to the new metro government. If the 190,000 inhabitants of Kanawha Valley are evenly divided by population and each “new district” has representation to the metro government, then I think that there is equal representation. I see a diversity of representatives by race, age and gender coming together for the good of all. But, the big thing is, “How will the unincorporated areas perceive metro government as it relates to them?” Metro government: What’s the process? At Kanawha County’s request, the Legislature this year changed the state code so that Kanawha County needs only a simple majority of affected voters (anything over 50 percent) to consolidate governments. The law lists three possible versions of consolidated government. One is the consolidation of two or more counties. Another is the consolidation of two or more cities or towns. The third variety, the one most talked about in Kanawha County right now, is called a metro consolidation in state law and is the consolidation of one or more counties with a principal city. So, how do you actually go about creating a new government? You can read Chapter 7A of state for yourself. Here are the steps for a metro consolidation (the details vary somewhat for the other two kinds) listed in the law: Step 1 — To get the process started, at least 25 percent of the registered voters of each affected principal city and county (excluding the principal city) sign a petition in support of a metro consolidation, or the affected principal city and county pass resolutions for a metro consolidation. Metro government: Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson Jerry Abramson, mayor of Louisville-Jefferson County, Ky., visited Charleston this week to answer questions and share his experience of consolidating government in 2000 (after 40 years of debate). Abramson was mayor of the old city of Louisville and was then re-elected countywide after the merger. Staff writer Rusty Marks covered Wednesday’s public meeting at the University of Charleston. Abramson also sat down with us at the Gazette for about 45 minutes and talked about savings under the metro government, preserving the county’s 80 suburban towns, representation, interacting with new business, working with the county school system, volunteer and paid fire departments and more. You can listen to Abramson’s comments here.Â

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Home Premiere Service Could Kill the Movie Theater Experience The new Home Premiere service, which will allow movie viewers to watch new films for $30 each in the comfort of their own home, may well make lots of money for movie studios—but it could prove fatal to theaters, says Edward Jay Epstein. Edward Jay Epstein Updated Jul. 13, 2017 2:28PM ET / Published Apr. 03, 2011 8:13PM ET Warner Bros., Fox, Sony and Universal are teaming up to bring new release films to your home in high def 2 months after they've been relseased in theaters. Credit: Photo Illustration,Sami Sarkis Warner Bros., Sony, Universal, and Fox’s plan to carve a new video-on-demand window from what had been the theatrical window is an opportunity for the movie studios. But it also might well destroy the exhibition system that created Hollywood—and the movie experience that goes with it. With the Home Premiere service, which costs $30 per film, couch potatoes can get a new movie beamed into their homes from cable or DirecTV just eight weeks after it opens in the multiplexes. Now home audiences can see a movie in high definition, in the comfort of their home, at least three months before it is available on Netflix, the vending machines of Redbox, or at video stores. The math for the movie studios, at first glance, looks appealing. The average ticket price in 2010 was $7.89. The studio’s share is between 40 percent and 50 percent, depending on its deal with the theaters. (Under some contracts, the studio’s cut decreases after two weeks.) So at best, studios wind up with $3.95 per ticket sold. But for every Home Premiere viewing, they get $21, after giving DirecTV or the participating cable companies their cut. Even if people watch a Home Premiere movie in groups, studios can afford to kill off five ticket sales at the box office per home viewing and still make money. According to estimate of a Warner Bros. executive familiar with the research, the studios expect this service to skim off no more than 5 percent of the theater audience. As the Warner Bros. executive calculated it, “We cannot help but make money.” No doubt the studios will harvest money from this new service, and even draw away part of the Netflix audience, but what is conspicuously absent from the equation is what the theaters might lose. Virtually every modern theater is in a leased premise, with fixed overhead and a payroll to meet. The theater makes most of its money not from the proceeds of movie tickets but from popcorn sales and ads to the herds of moviegoers. The concessions have an 80 percent profit margin; advertising, 90 percent. Together, these two operations, which studios do not get a penny from, provide 75 percent of the multiplexes’ operating income. If they lose only a small fraction of their audience, this income diminishes accordingly. So how seriously would a 5 percent drop in attendance hurt them? A former senior studio executive who was also responsible for that studio's movie theater investments pointed out that in 2000-02 just a 3 percent to 5 percent drop in tickets sold pushed almost half of all the theaters in the U.S. to file for bankruptcy. “A 10 percent drop in ticket sales, and the attendant decline in concessions income and advertising income, will close over two-thirds of the American movie theaters—and they will never re-open,” the former executive added. The studios’ assumption that Home Premiere will not hurt theaters is nothing more than “I-can-have-my-popcorn-and-eat-it-too” wishful thinking. If so, the studios, which now are run mainly by former TV executives, are undertaking a highly risky business. They are offering the public the possibility of watching new movies at home without the hassle and expense of hiring a babysitter, driving to a megaplex, and buying food at the concessions stand. True, such an offer may appeal to only a small part of the moviegoing audience, but the studios’ assumption that it will not hurt theaters is nothing more than “I-can-have-my-popcorn-and-eat-it-too” wishful thinking. At this stage, no one can predict whether such defections will reach the critical 5 percent to 10 percent level. If it does, Home Service could kill the exhibition system responsible for Hollywood—and the traditional American movie experience. Edward Jay Epstein is the author of The Hollywood Economist: The Hidden Financial Reality Behind the Movies, which is also available as an iPad app.

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and Maintenance Agreement The BottiVerde Group Inc. 1215 Soderlind Street Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3B6 Information@BottiVerde.com (To be used in conjunction with the Web Site Planning Worksheet.) Contact Name __________________________________________________ Phone _________________________ FAX __________________________ Company/Client ________________________________________________ Address _______________________________________________________ City _____________________ Province _____ Postal Code ____ ____ E-mail address _________________________________________________ Present WWW URL (if any): ISP Username ____________________ Password _____________________ Authorization. The above-named Company or Client ("Client") is engaging The BottiVerde Group Inc., a federally incorporated company, located at 1215 Soderlind Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3B6, as an independent contractor for the specific project of developing and/or improving a World Wide Web site to be installed on the Client's Web space on some Internet Service Provider's computer. The Client hereby authorizes The BottiVerde Group Inc. to access this account, and authorizes the Internet Service Provider to provide The BottiVerde Group Inc. with "write permission" for the Client's Web page directory, cgi-bin directory, and any other directories or programs which need to be accessed for this project. The Client also authorizes The BottiVerde Group Inc. to publicize their completed Web site to Internet search engines, as well as other Internet directories and indices. Standard Web site Package Elements. The BottiVerde Group Inc. includes the following elements in their Standard Web site Packages: Text Content is to be supplied by the Client. Text content may consist of up to 200 words per Web page where not supplied via 3.5" computer diskette or electronic mail. Text content exceeding 1,200 words of text may be subject to additional fees. Text content must be presented as a final version ready for publishing. Text content may be supplied in draft form but will incur additional editorial fees. Links to external pages, up to an average of 2.5 per page. Custom Graphics Package to include a Masthead graphic on the first page; a top-of-page graphic for all other pages in the Client Web site; and various emphasis elements (viz lines and bullets, and colored and textured background). The Masthead will be in the form of a simple custom graphic incorporating the company logotype of the Client. As with other graphic elements the company logotype will be supplied by the Client in a form suitable for displaying on the Web. Photos and other miscellaneous graphic images as supplied by the Client (up to an average of 1.3 per page), in addition to the Masthead and top-of-page graphic. Graphic images must be supplied in a "ready to use" form that is suitable for displaying in a graphical Web browser, in GIF or JPEG format. Graphic images may be supplied in other forms but will incur additional fees for conversion to GIF or JPEG and the quality of the result cannot be guaranteed. Installation of Web pages on an Internet Service Provider host computer of the Client's choosing. Minor updates and changes to existing Web pages for six months. Includes up to one hour per page in total, subject to the limits outlined below. Additional changes will be billed at the hourly rate. Site publicity registration to no less than ten of the major Web search engines (viz Yahoo, AltaVista, InfoSeek, WebCrawler, Lycos, HotBot). Legal link to be included on each Web page to a page giving terms of use, copyright notices, and other legal information. The content of the target page will be supplied by the Client. The BottiVerde Group Inc. will not undertake to edit the content of this page content. The Content. The content of the Web pages will be supplied by the Client and executed as specified by the Client in the "Web site Planning Worksheet" dated _______________. This Web site includes up to ___________ Web pages. In case the Client desires additional standard Web pages beyond the original number of pages specified above, the Client agrees to pay The BottiVerde Group Inc. an additional $_______ for each additional Web page. Graphics or photos beyond the allowed average of 1.3 per Web page shall be billed at an additional $____ each. Transparencies incur an extra charge of $_____ each. Where custom graphic work (beyond the scope of the "Custom Graphics Package" detailed above) is requested, it will be billed at the hourly rate specified below. Maintenance and Hourly Rate. This agreement includes minor Web page maintenance to regular Web pages over a six-month period up to an average of one hour per regular page, including updating links and making minor changes to the text content. Substantial changes to page content will be billed at the rate of $_____ per hour. If the Client or an agent other than The BottiVerde Group Inc. makes changes the Client's pages, the time required to return the pages to their original form will be assessed at the rate of $_____ per hour, and is not included as part of time allowed for the six-month maintenance period. The six-month maintenance period commences upon the date the Client signs this contract. Changes requested by the Client beyond those limits will be billed at the rate of $_____ per hour. Changes to Submitted Text. Please send us your final text. Time required to make substantive changes to Client submitted text after the Web pages have been constructed will be billed at the rate of $_____ per hour. Internet Services. The Client understands that internet services require a separate contract with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) of the Client's choosing. The Client agrees to select an ISP which allows The BottiVerde Group Inc. full access to the Web site and a cgi-bin directory via ftp and telnet. Completion Date. The BottiVerde Group Inc. and the Client must work together to complete the Web site in a timely manner. We agree to work expeditiously to complete the Web site no later than _________________________. If the Client does not supply The BottiVerde Group Inc. complete text and graphics content all Web pages contracted for within six weeks of the date this contract was signed, the entire amount of the contract becomes due and payable. If the Client has not submitted complete text and graphics content within two months after signing of this contract, an additional continuation fee of 10% of the total contract price will also be assessed each month until the Web site is advertised. Payment of Fees. Fees to The BottiVerde Group Inc. are due and payable on the following schedule: 50% upon signing this contract, 50% when the Web pages have been constructed according to the Client's original written specifications. If the total amount of this contract is less than $600, the total amount shall be paid upon signing this contract. In case the Client has not secured Web space on an Internet Service Provider computer by the time the Web pages are completed, the Web pages may be delivered to the Client on diskette or attached to an e-mail message. Advertising the pages to Web search engines and updating occur only after the final payment is made and the Web site is publicly reachable. Assignment of Project. The BottiVerde Group Inc. reserves the right to assign subcontractors to this project to insure the right fit for the job as well as on-time completion. The BottiVerde Group Inc. does not warrant that the functions contained in these Web pages or the Internet Web site will meet the Client's requirements or that the operation of the Web pages will be uninterrupted or error-free. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the Web pages and Web site is with Client. In no event will The BottiVerde Group Inc. be liable to the Client or any third party for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages arising out of the operation of or inability to operate these Web pages or Web site, even if The BottiVerde Group Inc. has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Delinquent bills will be assessed a $25 charge if payment is not received within 10 days of the due date. If an amount remains delinquent 30 days after its due date, an additional 5% of interest will be added for each month of delinquency. The BottiVerde Group Inc. reserves the right to remove Web pages from viewing on the Internet until final payment is made. In case collection proves necessary, the Client agrees to pay all fees incurred by that process. Copyrights and Trademarks. The Client represents to The BottiVerde Group Inc. and unconditionally guarantees that any elements of text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks, or other artwork furnished to The BottiVerde Group Inc. for inclusion in Web pages are owned by the Client, or that the Client has permission from the rightful owner to use each of these elements, and will hold harmless, protect, and defend The BottiVerde Group Inc. and its subcontractors from any claim or suit arising from the use of such elements furnished by the Client. Laws Affecting Electronic Commerce. From time to time governments enact laws and levy taxes and tariffs affecting Internet electronic commerce. The Client agrees that the Client is solely responsible for complying with such laws, taxes, and tariffs, and will hold harmless, protect, and defend The BottiVerde Group Inc. and its subcontractors from any claim, suit, penalty, tax, or tariff arising from the Client's exercise of Internet electronic commerce. Copyright to Web Pages. Copyright to the finished collection of Web pages produced by The BottiVerde Group Inc. is owned by The BottiVerde Group Inc. Upon final payment of this contract, the Client is assigned rights to use as a Web site the design, graphics, and text contained in the finished assembled Web site. Rights to photos, graphics, source code, work-up files, and computer programs are specifically not transferred to the Client, and remain the property of their respective owners. The BottiVerde Group Inc. and its subcontractors retain the right to display graphics and other Web design elements as examples of their work in their respective portfolios. Sole Agreement. The agreement contained in this "Web site Design and Maintenance Agreement" constitutes the sole agreement between The BottiVerde Group Inc. and the Client regarding this Web site. Any additional work not specified in this contract must be authorized by a written change order. All prices specified in this contract will be honored for six (6) months after both parties sign this contract. Continued services after that time will require a new agreement. This agreement becomes effective only when signed by The BottiVerde Group Inc. Regardless of the place of signing of this agreement, the Client agrees that for purposes of venue, this contract was entered into in the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, Ontario, and any dispute will be litigated or arbitrated in the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, Ontario. Initial Payment and Refund Policy. The total amount of this contract, totaling items detailed in Paragraphs 4 and 5 above, is $______________ This agreement begins with an initial payment of $_____________. If the Client halts work and applies by registered letter for a refund within 30 days, to The BottiVerde Group Inc., 1215 Soderlind Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3B6, phone (613) 829-0524, work completed shall be billed at the hourly rate stated above, and deducted from the initial payment, the balance of which shall be returned to the Client. If, at the time of the request for refund, work has been completed beyond the amount covered by the initial payment, the Client shall be liable to pay for all work completed at the hourly rate stated above. No portion of this initial payment will be refunded unless written application is made within 30 days of signing this contract. The undersigned agrees to the terms of this agreement on behalf of his or her organization or business. On behalf of the Client: _______________________________________ Date ________________ On behalf of The BottiVerde Group Inc. © Copyright 1996, The BottiVerde Group Inc.®

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Top 10 Canadian Fantasy Annexations Chris’ personal picks from places in the world that he has visited. Canada has never had an Empire. We are really not an Empire type of people. Our history is littered with examples of the U.S. demanding more territory and Canada apologizing politely for being in the way. But if we were to emulate our neighbour to the south, here are my tongue in cheek suggestions to expand our horizons. Turks & Caicos: This is just marginally less absurd than the other lands on this list as it has become part of Canadian folklore that this Caribbean island group seriously considered becoming part of Canada in the 1980’s. It didn’t. However it’s still the first question asked of the islands’ Premier whenever he comes to Canada. But as he once responded: Canada already owns most of the sizeable companies there, plus the three biggest banks, so why bother to annex the place? Bermuda: Another island in the sun, this time in the North Atlantic. This one also technically still belongs to Britain, but I’m sure they wouldn’t miss it. After all, they have so many others. And there are so many reasons why Bermuda should be Canadian – starting with simple convenience: it’s the closest warm weather island to Canada. We have much in common: old Parliamentary roots and guys in shorts for instance… Machias Seal Island: Did you know that this island in the Bay of Fundy off the coast of New Brunswick and Maine remains an on-going territorial dispute between Canada and the U.S. When the U.S. demanded Oregon Territory, we just rolled over. Time for them to roll over on this one! Trouble is – there’s not much there… Two lighthouse keepers (Canadian) and an awful lot of puffins and terns, so it’s a bit difficult to get too nationalistic about this rock. The Next Hawaiian Island: Over 70 million years, the combined processes of magma formation, eruption, and continuous movement of the Pacific Plate over a stationary ‘hot spot’ have left the trail of volcanoes across the Pacific that we now call the Hawaiian Islands. This conveyor belt of island formation is continuing. Lōʻihi Seamount is an active submarine volcano 35 km off the southeast coast of Hawaii about 975 m below sea level. It is predicted to rise above the surface in 10,000 to 100,000 years. I say stick a Canadian flag on it now and wait for our very own Hawaiian luau to come bursting out of the Pacific. Greenland: It really doesn’t make much sense for Greenland to be owned by a country fifty times smaller and an ocean apart. Its people are of a similar culture to our Inuit people. It’s close to us. It’s the world’s biggest island and we’re used to big landmasses. Every decent map of Canada also shows Greenland as well, so we don’t have to revise all our maps, just colour them differently. We even have the disappearing Vikings in common. It’s a no-brainer. Alaskan Panhandle: While we are mopping up the north, let’s also get rid of that weird bit of geographical nonsense called the Alaskan Panhandle. What an absurd piece of geopolitics, denying British Columbia half its Pacific coastline because some Russian was a bit short of cash. The U.S. can keep the rest of Alaska: I wouldn’t want to mess with a region that can produce such an offensive weapon as Sarah Palin… Pierre et Miquelon: The islands are 3,819 kms from Brest, the nearest point in Metropolitan France, but just 25 kms off the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland. In an obvious fit of absent-mindedness, Britain forgot to take back this last remnant of New France after the war and so these islands remain a part of France to this day. Time to remember who won the war and reclaim the source of the best croissants this side of the Atlantic. Iceland: At the height of its recent financial meltdown, Iceland seriously considered dropping the plummeting Icelandic Krona in favour of the more resilient Canadian Dollar. Why stop there? The Icelandic Vikings invaded Newfoundland and more recently Gimli, Manitoba where a large part of the population has Icelandic roots. So it’s time to reverse the trend, man the Bluenose and sail for Iceland’s rugged shores. Besides, I’ve heard the bars in Reykjavik on a Saturday night are unbelievable! The North Pole: In 2007, a Russian scientific expedition made the first manned descent to the ocean floor at the North Pole, to a depth of 4.3 km, to plant the Russian flag on the ocean floor exactly under the North Pole in support of Russia's 2001 extended continental shelf claim to much of the Arctic Ocean floor. As soon as our scientists can come up with a waterproof Maple Leaf we should supplant them and show them who really is The True North strong and free! New Zealand: I have always felt we have so much in common with New Zealanders. The colonial history mixed with aboriginal peoples, the stunning natural landscapes, and the Big Brother aspect of our respective neighbours of the U.S. and Australia. But most importantly, when it’s cold here, it’s lovely there…and vice versa. So I see this of more of home swap rather than an annexation: Kiwis love to ski, so they come here for ski season and we move in until winter is over. Fair, no?

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The city was incorporated on December 12, 1938, after a majority of citizens voted for the approval and Fowler Burris was the first mayor. In 1948 Vela Driver was elected Mayor, followed by L.K. McKewen in 1951 and Milton Carrell in 1952. R.L. Gillispie was Mayor from 1956-1958, followed by Paul Lowery, R. D. Gipson, M.E. Lemoine, and Jim Herrington in 1962. Boley Thomas, B.J. Thomasson, R.A. Stewart, E.P. Rhoudes, and H. R. Forrest served from 1966-1977. R.D. Gibson was again elected in 1977, followed by Dean McMullen, Thomas Baggett, Don Black, and Bobby Weaver. Dean McMullen served again from 1988 until 1996, when Lamar Tinsley was elected and served until his death in 2005. Herman Woolbright, Mayor Pro-tem was appointed to serve out the term and was elected by the people following his appointment. He stepped down as Mayor at the end of his term in May, 2014. Frank Harris was elected in May, 2014 and is currently serving as Mayor. Serving as City Secretary (City Clerks) have been B. C. Ivy, Pauline Capps, Evelyn Johnson, Leona Yeates, Judy Spivey, Louise Stripland, Donna Price, Betsy Gregson and Julie Davis, the current Secretary. FOR THE COMPLETE HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF THE CITY OF HUNTINGTON PLEASE SEND A DONATION OF $5.00 TO THE CENTENNIAL PARK BOARD, P.O. BOX 349, HUNTINGTON, TEXAS 75949.

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Shakespeare Web Links BUFVC articles about Shakespeare Search Shakespeare for '"Pamela Momvete"' in Person New Search (Shakespeare) Search for: in All fields Title Series Person Character Theatre Theatre Company Keywords Organisations AND OR NOT in All fields Title Series Person Character Theatre Theatre Company Keywords Organisations Year: 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 to 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 « Reset date Medium: -- All media types -- Audio Film Multimedia Radio Television Video Type: -- All production types -- Advertising/Trailers/Promos Animation Dance Documentary/Educational/News Fiction Films Operas and Musicals Sitcoms/Variety Sound Recordings(Commercial) Stage Recordings Television and Radio Drama Other Play: -- All plays -- All’s Well That Ends Well Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It Comedy of Errors, The Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry V Henry VI part 1 Henry VI part 2 Henry VI part 3 Henry VIII Julius Caesar King John King Lear Love’s Labour’s Lost Macbeth Measure for Measure Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Much Ado About Nothing Othello Pericles, Prince of Tyre Richard II Richard III Romeo and Juliet Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, The Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus and Cressida Twelfth Night Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Two Noble Kinsmen, The Winter’s Tale, The Category: -- All play categories -- Apocrypha Comedies Complete Works History Plays Late Plays Poetry Problem Plays Roman Plays Songs Sonnets Tragedies Subject: -- All subjects -- American Studies Archaeology Architecture Art Arts and Humanities Astronomy Biology Broadcasting Business studies Catering Classical studies Dance Design Drama Economics Education English language and literature Film & television production Film studies Film Studies French studies Geography History Information technology Languages Law Librarianship Linguistics Literature Media studies Medical sciences Music Philosophy Politics & government Psychiatry Psychology RACE RELATIONS & CULTURAL IDENTITY CATALOGUES Religious studies Science Shakespeare Social sciences Social Studies Spanish studies Sports science Technology Travel & tourism Women’s studies Period: -- All periods -- Ancient Americas Ancient Britain Ancient Rome Ancient Greece Dark Ages Medieval Elizabethan Renaissance Italy 16th Century 17th Century 18th Century 19th Century Victorian Edwardian 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Contemporary Future No period Country: -- All countries -- Argentina Australia Austria Barbados Belgium Bosnia-Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Canada Chile China Congo Croatia Cuba Czech Republic Czechoslovakia Denmark Egypt Estonia Finland Former Czechoslovakia Former USSR France Georgia Germany Ghana Government USA Great Britain Greece Hong Kong Hungary India Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Italy Japan Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malaysia Mexico Morocco Netherlands New Zealand Nigeria Norway Palestine Paraguay Poland Portugal Romania Russian Federation Serbia Singapore Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Tadjikistan Taiwan Thailand Turkey United Kingdom United States Uzbekistan Venezuela Yemen Yugoslavia Language: -- All languages -- Albanian Arabic Arabic (Algeria) Arabic (Egypt) Arabic (U.A.E.) Armenian Belarusian Bengali Bulgarian Catalan Chinese (Hong Kong SAR) Chinese (Singapore) Chinese (Taiwan) Chinese - Mandarin (PRC) Croatian Czech Danish Dutch (Belgium) Dutch (Standard) English English (Australia) English (Caribbean) English (Ireland) English (United States) Estonian Farsi Finnish French (Belgium) French (Canada) French (Standard) French (Switzerland) Georgian German (Austria) German (Standard) German (Switzerland) Greek Gujarati Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian (Standard) Japanese Korean Lithuanian Macedonian Malaysian Maori Mzansi Norwegian (Bokmal) Norwegian (Nynorsk) Pidgin English Polish Portuguese (Brazil) Portuguese (Portugal) Romanian Romany Russian Sami (Lappish) Serbian (Cyrillic) Serbian (Latin) Sign Language Slovenian Spanish (Argentina) Spanish (Mexico) Spanish (Paraguay) Spanish (Spain - Modern) Spanish (Venezuela) Swahili Swedish Thai Tibetan Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Welsh Xhosa Yiddish Yoruba Zulu Sort results by Date (newest first) Date (oldest first) Title Relevance -- Save results as -- Email XML (Dublin Core) Text CSV BibTeX JavaScript (JSON) Citation printer Twelfth Night (2009 Video) Video recording, using a single, fixed camera, of Gregory Doran’s 2009 production of Twelfth Night with Nancy Carroll as Viola and Richard Wilson as Malvolio. Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order You are currently searching in Shakespeare. Search all the BUFVC's collections for '"Pamela Momvete"' in All fields. Shakespeare productions: 1

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Interpreting Homer’s “Near Andersonville” Published: March 29, 2011 3 comments Actress Tia James portrays the enslaved African American woman represented in a painting in the Newark Museum’s collection. “Near Andersonville” was created by famed American artist Winslow Homer in 1866. The painting depicts the young woman on the ‘threshold’ of the future as she considers her freedom and views her liberators (Union soldiers) being led off to the notorious Andersonville Prison in Georgia. Homer presented an anonymous figure, but Ms. James researched published narratives of enslaved people to create her own character named Charity. Charity tells her story and comments on the dangers of the Underground Railroad, facing fear, and the hope to reunite with her husband, Walter. The gourds presented in the picture are symbols of the North Star (the guide for runaways) and the video includes a rendition of the folksong “Follow the Drinking Gourd”. The video is a component of the Newark Museum’s curriculum, “Civil War@150,” a teaching resource recognizing the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. If you are looking for more on the painting you will want to take a look at Peter H. Wood’s concise study, Near Andersonville: Winslow Homer’s Civil War (Harvard University Press) . Craig Mar 30, 2011 @ 17:53 An uncle of my mother’s grandfather, Abraham Steele, was among the first five hundred Union soldiers to die at Andersonville. He was one of eight soldiers from the 80th Ohio captured by Cleburne at Tunnel Hill in the Battle of Chattanooga. Five of the eight survived the camp and two of them boarded the Sultana in Vicksburg at the end of the war. One of them was killed when the boiler exploded near Cairo. The other was healthy enough to swim to shore. Abraham belonged to the Brethren. He was a pacifist. He fought in two battles, Corinth and Chattanooga, and was taken prisoner in both battles. He spent most of his enlistment in Confederate prisons. He had planned to study to become a doctor. His younger brother, Michael, my great great grandfather, married the daughter of the town doctor in Wabash, Indiana, shortly after the war. They moved to South Bend. Camp Sumter, aka Andersonville, was still under construction when Abraham Steele died there. The camp started receiving prisoners in late February. He died early in April while it was still a model of cleanliness. The eight boys from the 80th Ohio had spent the previous three months at a camp in Alabama. Six months after their arrival, Andersonville had become the fifth largest city in the Confederacy, a population the size of Mobile. Henry Wirz was hanged after the war on what is now the site of the United States Supreme Court. He did the best he could under extremely adverse circumstances. His hanging was a monumental miscarriage of justice. Samantha Apr 3, 2011 @ 6:37 This clip relates closely to a debate which my public history class had. On their website the NCPH, or National Council on Public History, defines public historians as including “museum professionals, government and business historians, historical consultants, archivists, teachers, cultural resource managers, curators, film and media producers, policy advisors, oral historians, professors and students with public history interests, and many others.” Most of these positions seemed to correspond to common, popular notions of historians. The film producers, and whether actors could count as historians as well, sparked a debate because some people felt that credentials and scholarly knowledge needed to be a prerequisite to being counted as a historian. This clip illustrates that actors have a huge influence on how the general public understands history and, more interestingly, even do research to understand how they should portray their roles. I can see where people who dedicate themselves to the study of history would scorn the thought of actors being historians, and it is important to think about reliability, but their interpretations in some ways are more important because that is what the mass public will understand. As for this video, I was impressed with her research and drive to make a story from a picture. My only problem was that she seemed extremely modern, and the flat background did not help the presentation. In the video the actress does understandably favor the interpretation that the Civil War was about slavery, but while she did address the danger of being part of the Underground Railroad, her emphasis on the hardships of slavery definitely served as a back-handed commentary on both the courage of those who were a part of the railroad and of those too terrified to help. Kevin Levin Apr 3, 2011 @ 6:42 Thanks for the comment, Samantha. You raise some very interesting issues. I don’t know much at all about the staff at the Newark Museum, but if I remember correctly this particular Homer painting has been in their possession for quite some time. I thought what they did with this video was very interesting and quite creative. I would have loved to have heard more about the specific setting of the image, which was only alluded to in the video. You will notice the Union prisoners being marched off to Andersonville in the background. Homer was clearly making a connection between that scene and the slave woman. What was she thinking as she viewed these men in the distance? Now that you've read the post, share your thoughts. Cancel reply Next post: What I Will Miss Previous post: How Should the Civil War Be Commemorated?

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中国对澳大利亚旅游的选择 Australia has never been a more popular destination for Chinese holidaymakers. January 2019 was Australia's busiest 12-month visit ever, with 1.46 million people from China. More than half of the tourists - 54% - visit Australia and enjoy what the country provides for holidaymakers, but a considerable number of tourists come to Australia for educational opportunities (18%) and visits to friends and family (18%). More than 1.2 million people living in Australia have Chinese cultural heritage. Two-fifths of them were born in China. No wonder they have strong ties and many friends and family can visit them. As a result, China is one of the most important markets in Australia's tourism industry, and the country's tourism industry itself is one of the most important industries. The average consumption of Chinese tourists is 9,000 Australian dollars, 75% higher than the average consumption. The average accommodation time of Chinese tourists is 43 nights, which is due to the high proportion of time spent with friends and family and the long visit time. Australian authorities have been concerned about the reasons for the slowdown in the growth of mainland tourists. Earlier this year, Australia's approved destination plan (ADS) was boosted by A$11.5 billion, which is believed to ensure the safety of Chinese tourists. Tourists can get as high a tourist experience as possible. In addition, the traffic flow is still very large. The rapid expansion of China Airlines'overseas network and the improvement of the level of aviation services allowed between the two countries have partially contributed to the recent prosperity. The legacy of the past few years is unprecedented for Chinese tourists who want to visit Australia. In August 2019, 36 routes were operating between the two countries. This is two fewer than in August 2018, five routes have been cancelled and three routes have been increased as airlines are trying new routes and markets. Throughout the month, passengers can choose 1277 direct flights, each with an average of 262 seats. Every day the seats are under 11,000. However, direct services in China's second largest city surged last year. In the 12 months to August 2017, almost three-quarters of the capacity came from China's three major airports, which grew by 5% in the next few months. By contrast, the capacity of other airports almost doubled in the next 12 months. Today, there are 14 airports in China, with more than a third of the capacity of flights between China and Australia. More than half of China's cities with a population of more than 3 million now have direct air services to Australia. The rest are close enough to cities where these services can be used. For example, residents of Suzhou can take flights from Shanghai and Dongguan can take flights from Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Although services between cities such as Shenzhen and Darwin, as well as services between Chongqing and Melbourne, are typical of new connections, Sydney is undoubtedly the focus of Australian tourism and aviation services. There are regular flights between Sydney and 14 airports in China. Almost half of the seats are for Sydney; almost half of the flights are for Sydney. Studies by the Australian Tourism Authority show that Chinese like the combination of nature and wildlife, aquatic and coastal areas, and food and wine provided by Australia. No wonder Australia is still the first choice for overseas tourism. Prev： Shanghai Disney is questioned for its regulations Next： Shandong Huaqiang Font decide on what path to follow?

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Bioethics Grand Rounds Bishop Lecture Research Colloquium CBSSM Seminars Home » News & Events » Events The Bishop Lecture in Bioethics Bishop brochure revised.jpg The University of Michigan Medical School was the beneficiary of funds for the establishment of the Ronald C. and Nancy V. Bishop Lectureship in Bioethics. Both were graduates of the University of Michigan Medical School (Class of ’44). Ronald Bishop joined the U-M Medical School faculty in 1951 and pursued a career in research, teaching, and patient care in the Department of Internal Medicine, Hematology Division, until his retirement in 1987. He served as Director of the Unit for Human Values in Medicine (1981-1984) at the Medical School, and as a visiting scholar at the Hastings Center. Both Ronald and Nancy were strongly committed to social justice and were active members of the Ann Arbor community. Current Lecture 03/11/2020 2020 Bishop Lecture featuring Danielle Ofri MD, PhD 05/22/2019 2019 Bishop Lecture featuring Ruha Benjamin, PhD 05/01/2018 2018 Bishop Lecture featuring Barbara Koenig, PhD 04/25/2017 2017 Bishop Lecture featuring Norman Daniels, PhD 04/27/2016 2016 Bishop Lecture featuring William Dale, MD, PhD 03/17/2015 2015 Bishop Lecture featuring Lawrence O. Gostin, J.D., LL.D. (Hon.) 05/15/2014 2014 Bishop Lecture featuring Myra Christopher 04/17/2013 2013 Bishop Lecture featuring Ruth Macklin, PhD 05/10/2012 2012 Bishop Lecture featuring Jerome Groopman, MD and Pamela Hartzband, MD 05/19/2011 2011 Inaugural Bishop Lecture featuring John Lantos, MD

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UK travel tech startup Upgrade Pack gets ￡1.3 million in funding Upgrade Pack, an app that provides exclusive flight and hotel upgrades as part of a loyalty-based membership, has announced a new investment of ￡1.3 million, bringing total funds raised since the startup’s launch a year ago to ￡3.4 million. The recent financing round was led by a British investment firm Havisham Group, with the capital to be used to launch Upgrade Pack’s platform in the coming months as well as to expand its operations to North America and Asia Pacific. Delivered as an app, Upgrade Pack connects directly to airline and hotel APIs, enabling users to access live, premium seat and room upgrades at a typical saving of 15% to 35% through its closed online marketplace. At the same time, the app is providing banks and corporations with a unique, value-driven form of customer reward. The latest round, which now values the company at ￡15 million, will see David Brownlow, a prominent entrepreneur, investor and co-founder of Havisham Group, join the Board as the startup’s chairman. Craig Unsworth, founder and group CEO of Upgrade Pack commented: “Having someone of David’s calibre and experience will be invaluable as we expand into North America, and Asia Pacific this year.” The startup is planning two new hubs for its global expansion – Toronto for North America and Singapore for the APAC region, with further details on its growth strategy and key management in each region to be revealed in the coming months. Prev： China Southern launches lounge-sharing with American Airlines

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All Souls College, Oxford Balliol College, Oxford Brasenose College, Oxford Caius College, Cambridge Christ Church, Oxford Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's Hospital, London Clare College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College, Oxford Downing College, Cambridge Emmanuel College, Cambridge Exeter College, Oxford Girton College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Harvard Divinity School Humboldt University, Berlin Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College, Oxford Keble College, Oxford King's College, Aberdeen King's College, Windsor, Nova Scotia Lincoln College, Oxford Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen Hall, Oxford Magdalene College, Cambridge Magill University Manchester College at York Merton College, Oxford New College, Oxford Newnham College, Cambridge Oriel College, Oxford Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College, Oxford Peterhouse, Cambridge Queen's College, Oxford Queen's University, Belfast Queens' College, Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge St. Alban Hall, Oxford St. Andrews University St. Catharine's College, Cambridge St. Edmund Hall, Oxford St. John's College, Cambridge St. John's College, Oxford St. Mary Hall, Oxford St. Mary's College, Oscott St. Peter's College, Cambridge Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut Trinity College, Oxford Trinity Hall, Cambridge Univ. Hesse Casssel University College, Durham University College, London University College, Oxford University of Berlin University of Genoa University of Giessen University of Gottingen University of Greifswald University of Heidelberg University of Königsberg University of Leipzig University of Marburg University of Parma Wadham College, Oxford Wesleyan University (Connecticut) Worcester College, Oxford x Owens College Earwaker, John Parsons (male) 04/22/1847 - 01/29/1895 English Owens College; Pembroke College, Cambridge; Merton College, Oxford Historian and antiquarian; deputy-keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. Moore, Sir Norman (male) 01/08/1847 - 11/30/1922 English St. Catharine's College, Cambridge; Owens College Doctor and historian; wrote The History of the Study of Medicine in the British Isles, History of St Bartholomew's Hospital (1918). (Also in the Wellesley Index.) Shaw, William Arthur (male) 1865 - 04/15/1943 English Owens College Historian and archivist; wrote Manchester Old and New (1894), A history of the English Church during the civil wars and under the Commonwealth, 1640-1660 (1900), and other works. Thompson, Francis (male) 12/16/1859 - 11/13/1907 English Owens College Poet; studied medicine; sponsored by Wilfred and Alice Meynell; active from 1888 to 1897; best known for "The Hound of Heaven."

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CWILA: Canadian Women In The Literary Arts Facebook CWILA Twitter CWILA Fostering Community for Canadian Women Working in the Literary Arts Why I Joined CWILA: Words from our Members CWILA Board of Directors CWILA Admin Team The CWILA Count CWILA’s Critic-in-Residence Program 2017 A Philosophy of Criticism by Sue Sinclair Pitching Guidelines CWILA Reads Subscribe – Listserv Recommended Reading/Watching/Listening Publishers of Canadian Literary Reviews Residencies Available ← Editors on Reviewing: PRISM International Editors on Reviewing: National Post → An Interview with Mark Medley, Books Editor at the National Post Posted on July 5, 2013 by CWILA By Savanna Scott Leslie In our count this year, CWILA found that 42 per cent of all National Post book reviews in 2012 discussed books authored by women, up from 33 per cent in 2011. Since we published the 2011 CWILA numbers, the number of female authors increased to 49 per cent. Did the 2011 numbers affect your selection? I’d be lying if I said that CWILA, and last year’s count, hasn’t affected the National Post’s Books Section. I was on my honeymoon when the numbers came out, and I remember pacing around our hotel room, looking at my iPhone in disgust, and disbelief, at the results and the subsequent debate on Facebook and Twitter. It felt like a personal attack. Which is ridiculous, of course. I knew my numbers were bad, but dragging them into the light, kicking and screaming, was exactly what needed to happen. No longer could I pretend I didn’t know what the numbers were, even though I always had a sneaking suspicion they were out of whack. And that’s not to dismiss my section pre-CWILA. I still think it was far and away the best books section in Canada. It just could have—should have—been even better. Last year, you told CWILA you think that editors should pay attention to the gender of authors when choosing books to review, but that the gender of reviewers does not matter. The Books Section’s women reviewers increased from 24 per cent overall in 2011 to 37 per cent overall in 2012, with women representing 40 per cent of reviewers since we published the 2011 CWILA numbers. Why? As I said last year, I was appalled by the numbers—especially when it comes to the number of women writing for me—but not all that surprised. I said—and it’s still true—that the vast majority of pitches I receive are from men. In the past, I think I sort of shrugged and thought, “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it.” But it’s my job to do something about it. So I made it a priority to reach out to women writers I admire, even if they’d never pitched me before. Sometimes all you have to do is ask. When I told CWILA that the gender of the reviewer doesn’t matter, I didn’t mean in terms of the count—of course, we should strive for parity. I just meant that I don’t care if it’s a man or a woman who’s writing the review, as long as it’s good. When you spoke with CWILA last year, you said that only about 10 per cent of the pitches you receive come from female reviewers. Has that changed, and do you think the literary culture in Canada overall welcomes women? Well, as I just said, the vast majority of pitches I receive are from men. I remember having an email exchange with a writer about a month or so after last year’s CWILA numbers were published, expressing my frustration that I’d received only a handful of pitches from women since the numbers were posted. That’s when I decided I couldn’t just wait around for things to change. I don’t know why a gap still exists. I sometimes think that women are more hesitant to pitch me because the National Post is a historically conservative paper, with a readership that skews male, but I hope people realize my section is its own beast. I want to say the literary culture “welcomes” women, but last year’s CWILA numbers made it clear something was wrong. I bristle at the word “welcomes,” though, because it suggests there’s a spot for everyone, that everybody is invited inside. There isn’t room. You have to be good, you have to be determined, and you have to be able to withstand rejection. There are people (men and women) who pitch me once, and, if I say no, never try again. If you truly want to be a part of the conversation, you have to keep shouting. As of May 18, 51 per cent of National Post book reviews from 2013 discuss books authored by women, and 48 per cent of the reviewers are female. Do you think reviewers and publishers in Canada should aim for this even balance between female and male authors and reviewers? My goal, more than anything else, is to produce a lively section. But it’s become clear to me that having a mix of voices—and I’m not just talking about gender, but age, race, sexuality, and geography—guarantees a lively section. A section that is entirely dudes writing about other dudes—and we’ve been guilty of this in the past—is usually pretty boring. CWILA also counted the number of Canadian- and non-Canadian-authored books reviewed in 2012, and we found that 71 per cent of your Books Section’s reviews assessed books written by Canadians. How important do you think it is to review mostly Canadian-authored books? How do you decide which international books to review? I’ve always given priority to Canadian titles. The number of pages devoted to books coverage in Canada is abysmal, so I feel a responsibility to use whatever space I have to feature Canadian authors. And it’s not charity—they deserve it. Despite shrinking book sections, despite lower advances, despite the struggles of (some) Canadian publishers, the quality of work in this country is as high as it’s ever been. I feel very fortunate to be in the position I’m in at this moment—it’s exciting. When it comes to foreign titles, I consider just about any book if the pitch is good. Today, it’s easier than ever to access book reviews online that are written and posted by casual readers. Why should book readers continue to read professionally published reviews? Listen, I’ll often scan the Amazon.ca reviews before ordering a book, just to see if a consensus emerges, so I’m not about to slag people who post their thoughts there or on Goodreads. You want to write about a book you just read? Amazing. But there’s a huge difference between that and what our section prints. On Amazon, for instance, you’ll often find a lot of one-star or five-star reviews. It’s “This is the best book ever” or “This book should be burned.” We allow for nuance, for reflection. And, for the most part, our reviews are written by authors, journalists, full-time critics—people who are, in essence, professional readers. If you’re interested in books you SHOULD read us, but I’m not going to tell anyone they MUST read us—that we’re the only way to find out if a book has any merit. But I think we’re one of the best ways. Photo by Mark Medley Mark Medley is the National Post’s Books Editor and co-edits the paper’s books blog, The Afterword. He has written for publications across Canada, including The Walrus, Toronto Life, the Globe and Mail, This Magazine, Descant, Spacing, and Taddle Creek. He currently sits on PEN Canada’s Board of Directors and serves on the Advisory Committee of The Humber School for Writers. He lives in Toronto. Savanna Scott Leslie is a freelance editor with diverse web and print experience. She has a BA in philosophy and Russian literature from the University of Toronto and studies publishing at Ryerson University. She lives in Guelph, Ontario. This entry was posted in Interviews. Bookmark the permalink. In Conversation with Erina Harris and Christine Stewart What Are The Stories Behind the Data? The Count, Accountability and More Questions Than Answers Committed to Doing Better Celebrating Diversity by Dismantling CanLit REVERB: In Conversation with Leah Horlick and Estlin McPhee CANADIAN WOMEN IN THE LITERARY ARTS - Fostering Community for Canadian Women Working in the Literary Arts

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10. ARSCOTT-TREND Lee Tree JOHN ARSCOTT and ELIZABETH TREND (10) JOHN ARSCOTT. We do not know the origins of John Arscott of Drewsteignton. His marriage in 1679 would suggest a birth date between 1645 and 1665. The 17th-century Drewsteignton parish registers give many Arscott/Ascott marriages and burials, but only two christenings, in 1625 and 1627, until the baptisms of John’s own children from 1680. We would expect more. It may be that there are some gaps in the baptism register. [1] The most likely Drewsteignton marriage for his parents is that of William Ascot of Drewsteignton and Joan Pethybridge of Chagford in 1655. The bride’s name appears in Boyd’s Marriage Index as Pithibridge.. There are also baptisms for John Arscott in South Tawton, 1661, son of Adham. In Belstone, 1658, son of John. In Sampford Courtenay, 1650, son of Richard and Agnis. There are no Arscotts in the surviving returns for Drewsteignton in the 1674 Hearth Tax, though part of the return is missing. [2] In 1678, the year before his marriage, John Arscott contributed 1 penny towards the rebuilding of St Paul’s Cathedral after the Great Fire of 1666. He was a young man of 23, but this points to a low social status. [3] Also in Drewsteignton, Joanne Arscott contributed 5d and Marg. Arscott 1d. William Arscott of Crosse died in 1672. Joane could be his widow, possibly the Joane Easterbrooke who married William Arscott in 1637, or Joane Peteybridge who married William Ascot in 1655. Drewsteignton [4] ELIZABETH TREND. John and Elizabeth were married in Drewsteignton on 17 June 1679. John Arscott & Elizabeth Trend, Both of this Parish (Their Banns having been thrice Published and without Denyall) were Married on Tuesday June the 17th Anno Predict. Their eldest son John junior was baptised on 4 Jul 1680. Five more children followed. 1682 Sunday 31 Dec William. William lived for less than 2 months. He was buried on Sunday Feb 25 1682/3. 1683/4 Tuesday 18 Mar Elizabeth, by Roger Specott, Vicar of Spr… (Spreyton?) Elizabeth too died. She was buried on Friday Oct 8 1686. John and Elizabeth also named their next daughter Elizabeth, wishing to have a girl bearing her mother’s name. 1686/7 Wednesday 2 Feb Elizabeth. But three years later, this second Elizabeth died too. She was buried on Trinity Sunday June 15 1690. Meanwhile, another son was born, followed by a third daughter. 1689 Thursday 10 Oct Peter. The rector adds that he was baptised “By my son William Reade, Deacon”. 1692 Whit-Sunday 17 May Agnes. The couple raised only three of their six children. John Arscott was buried on Sep 2 1720. Elizabeth survived him by six years. She was buried on 16 June 1727. [1] BMDs from Findmypast [2] Devon Hearth Tax Returns of 1674. Ed, T.L. Stoate. www.thebookshop.org uk. [3] Genuki Devon Drewsteignton. [4] Holiday in Dartmoor. NEXT GENERATION: 9. ASCOTT-PERKIN PREVIOUS GENERATIONS: 11. ASCOTE-PETHYBRIDGE

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Home » For charities » Manage your charity » Governance Hub » ACNC Governance Standards » Disqualification from being a Responsible Person Under Governance Standard 4, charities must be satisfied that their Responsible Persons (such as board or committee members, or trustees – what the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (Cth) (ACNC Act) calls ‘responsible entities’) are not disqualified from managing a corporation nor disqualified by the ACNC from being a Responsible Person. An important part of meeting this obligation is for your charity to check, before appointing a Responsible Person, that the person is not disqualified. A charity can do this by: searching the ASIC Disqualified Persons Register searching the ACNC Register of Disqualified Persons, and asking their Responsible Persons to sign a declaration confirming that they are not disqualified and agree to notify the charity if the person becomes disqualified in the future. Disqualification information Important: read this information before signing the Responsible Person declaration Who may be disqualified from being a Responsible Person for a charity? You may be disqualified from being a Responsible Person if you: have been disqualified by the ACNC in the past year, or are disqualified from managing a corporation within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). This may occur if you: have been convicted of certain offences, such as serious offences, dishonesty offences or other offences that can affect a corporation, are an undischarged bankrupt or are subject to a ‘personal insolvency agreement’ you have not followed, or have been disqualified by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Office of the Registrar of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations (ORIC), or an Australian or New Zealand court. Most people will know straight away that these categories do not apply to them. However, if you think one or more of these categories may apply to you, the questions below will help you work out if you are disqualified from managing a corporation. Am I disqualified from managing a corporation? Q1: Have I been convicted of certain offences? Have you been convicted of any of the following: a serious (‘indictable’) offence that involves making or participating in making, a decision that affects the whole or a substantial part of the business of a corporation (including an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation) a serious (‘indictable’) offence for actions that could significantly affect a corporation’s (including an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporation’s) finances an offence that is a contravention of the Corporations Act or the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth) that is punishable by imprisonment for more than 12 months an offence involving dishonesty that is punishable by imprisonment for at least three months, or a serious offence against the law of a foreign country that is punishable by imprisonment for a period greater than 12 months. These include offences against the law of a foreign country. No. Move to Q2 below Yes. Read below If you have been convicted of one of these offences, has: it also been less than five years (from conviction, if no prison sentence, or from release from prison for the offence), or a court extended your disqualification time (and it is still within this disqualification time)? Yes. You are disqualified from managing a corporation. Please do not sign the declaration. If you still want to act as a Responsible Person for a registered charity, see below. However, if the corporation affected is or was a registrable Australian body or foreign corporation contact us to work out if you are disqualified (since an exception may apply). Q2: Am I bankrupt or under personal insolvency? Have you: ever been bankrupt (under Australian or any foreign law) and have not been discharged from this bankruptcy, or made a ‘personal insolvency agreement’ and not complied with the agreement? Note: A personal insolvency agreement is a formal agreement between a person and their creditors, when that person cannot pay what they owe. This agreement is set out in a deed under Part X of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth) or a similar law of an external territory or a foreign country. Q3: Have you been disqualified by a court or regulator? had a New Zealand court order made against you preventing you from being a director or being involved in the management of a foreign company, or been disqualified by an Australian court, ASIC or ORIC and this disqualification is still current? No. You are not disqualified from managing a corporation. You can sign the declaration. Note: If you are unsure, ASIC keeps a register of people who have been disqualified by ASIC, ORIC or an Australian court (but not by a New Zealand court) on their Banned & Disqualified register. If you can answer ‘no’ to each of the above three questions, you can sign the Responsible Person declaration. Please contact the ACNC if you are still unsure about any of these questions. I am disqualified from managing a corporation. Can I still be a responsible person for a charity? Yes. Even if you are disqualified from managing a corporation, you may still be able to be a Responsible Person of a registered charity if the ACNC allows you to do so (as well as ASIC or ORIC if necessary). We will allow this if it is reasonable to do so in your circumstances. Please contact the ACNC for more information if you are disqualified, but would like to request the Commissioner to allow you to be a Responsible Person. Suggested Responsible Person declaration Important: read the guidance and checklist before signing the disqualification declaration Charities can use the following words when asking a potential Responsible Person to declare that they have not been disqualified from being a Responsible Person, for the purposes of Governance Standard 4. I, [insert name] of [insert address or other identification information] declare that: I am not disqualified from managing a corporation, within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and I have not been disqualified by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commissioner at any time during the previous year from being a responsible person (what the ACNC Act calls a ‘responsible entity’) of a registered charity. While I am a Responsible Person for [insert charity name], I agree to notify this charity as soon as possible if I do become disqualified from managing a corporation within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001, or am disqualified by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commissioner. Responsible Persons are the members of a charity’s governing body who share responsibility for the governance of the charity (called ‘responsible entities’ under the ACNC Act). Declared at: [insert location] On: [insert date] Download the suggested Responsible Person declaration template (DOCX, 15.39 KB) Responsible Persons - board or committee members

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The Constitution Reader HILLSDALE COLLEGE Launch the Reader Explore Study Resources Support Hillsdale Enter your email address and password below to sign in. Not registered? Create an account. Enter your email address below to have your password reset and sent to you. " American Founding " | The Apple of Gold/Frame of Silver The Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence With the War for Independence over a year old and hope for a peaceful resolution nonexistent, the Continental Congress appointed a Committee of Five—including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin— to draft a document "declar[ing] the causes which impel [the American colonies] to the separation." Thirty-three-year-old Jefferson composed the initial draft, completing it in seventeen days. The committee submitted its draft to Congress on June 28, 1776, and on July 2, Congress voted for independence. Two days later, after numerous edits, Congress approved the Declaration of Independence by unanimous vote. July 4, 1776 The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States ... Sec. 1.02 Reader Timeline Letter to Henry Lee Letter to Henry Lee Letter to Henry Lee 1 Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) In his later years, Jefferson answered hundreds of letters, including, in this instance, a query about the Declaration of Independence, explaining that it drew upon a long political and philosophical tradition and reflected principles widely understood by Americans of the founding era. May 8, 1825 Dear Sir: ...That George Mason was the author of the bill of rights, and of the constitution founded on it, the evidence of the day established fully in my mind. Of the paper you mention, purporting to be instructions to the Virginia delegation in Congress, I have no recollection. If it were anything more than a project of some private hand, that is to say, had any such instructions ... Nicomachean Ethics Nicomachean Ethics Nicomachean Ethics 1 Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Written in the tradition of Aristotle's teacher, Plato—and of Plato's teacher, Socrates—the Nicomachean Ethics addresses the question, "What is the best life for man?" An extended reflection on virtue, happiness, and friendship, it helped to inform the moral and political thought of America's Founders. There are echoes of it, for instance, in President George Washington's First Inaugural Address, when he states "that there exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness." C. 350 B.C. Book 1 Chapter 1. Every art and every inquiry, and likewise every action and choice, seems to aim at some good, and hence it has been beautifully ... The Politics The Politics 1 Aristotle Thomas Jefferson began studying Greek at the age of nine, and later in life employed so many Greek phrases in his letters that John Adams, his frequent correspondent, complained of them. The Founders' interest in classical languages was not academic, but political and philosophical. Among the ancient books that they drew upon was Aristotle's Politics, a catalog of constitutions and a guide to understanding regimes. C. 335-322 B.C. Book 1 Chapter 1. (1) Since we see that every city is some sort of partnership, and that every partnership is constituted for the sake of some good (for everyone does everything for the sake of what is held to be good), it is clear that all partnerships aim at some good, and ... On the Commonwealth On the Commonwealth On the Commonwealth 1 Marcus Tullius Cicero (c. 106-43 B.C.) Cicero was the great defender of the Roman republic and a master of oratory. The author of several books on politics, philosophy, and rhetoric, he was the first to speak of natural law as a moral or political law, and was an important influence on the Founders. C. 54-51 B.C. ...[33] True law is right reason, consonant with nature, spread through all people. It is constant and eternal; it summons to duty by its orders, it deters from crime by its prohibitions. Its orders and prohibitions to good people are never given in vain; but it does not move the wicked by these orders or prohibitions. It is wrong to pass laws obviating this law; it is not permitted to abrogate ... Second Treatise of Government Second Treatise of Government Second Treatise of Government 1 John Locke (1632-1704) Locke's Two Treatises of Government presented a critique of the divine right of kings and outlined the principles of natural rights and government by consent. Written during the 1670s, they were not published until after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the passage of the English Bill of Rights in 1689. Locke was the political theorist quoted most frequently by Americans in the 1770s. 1690 Chapter II. Of the state of nature. 4. To understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions, and persons ... Discourses Concerning Government Discourses Concerning Government Discourses Concerning Government 1 Algernon Sidney (1623-1683) Involved in some of the same anti-monarchical causes as John Locke, Sidney was caught up in the conspiracy to oust King Charles II. He was beheaded on December 7, 1683, a martyr to the English Whig cause. Fifteen years after his death, his Discourses Concerning Government was published. A hero to John Adams and widely read in the American colonies, Sidney famously inscribed the following in the Visitor's Book at the University of Copenhagen: "This hand, enemy to tyrants, by the sword seeks peace under liberty." This inscription later inspired the state motto of Massachusetts. 1698 Chapter One Section 17. God having given the Government of the ... Sidney, Algernon The Constitution of the United States of America The Constitution of the United States of America The Constitution of the United States of America Fifty-five delegates from twelve states (Rhode Island declined to participate) traveled to Philadelphia to attend the Constitutional Convention, which began in May 1787. They quickly scrapped the existing Articles of Confederation, and after four months they concluded their business by adopting a new frame of government. On September 17, thirty-nine delegates signed the Constitution. It was nine months before the requisite nine states ratified the Constitution, putting it into effect. The thirteenth state, Rhode Island, did not ratify it until 1790. Subsequently, it has been amended twenty-seven times. September 17, 1787 Preamble We the People of ... Fragment on the Constitution and the Union Fragment on the Constitution and the Union Fragment on the Constitution and the Union 1 Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) This never appeared in Lincoln's public speeches, but it is possible that he composed it while writing his First Inaugural Address. It draws upon the King James translation of Proverbs 25:11—"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver"—to describe the relationship between the principles of the Declaration and the purpose of the Constitution. January 1861 All this is not the result of accident. It has a philosophical cause. Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained the result; but even these, are not the primary cause of our great prosperity. There is something back of these, entwining ... Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved | Natural Rights/American Revolution Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved 1 James Otis (1725-1783) Otis rose to prominence in 1761, after he gave a courtroom speech opposing the Writs of Assistance—blanket warrants issued by the British for searching suspect property. He edited that speech into this essay three years later, after the passage of the Sugar Act. Its arguments contain the seed of the American Revolution—an appeal to natural rights applied against particular abuses of political power. Struck by lightning in 1783, Otis did not live beyond the Revolution. But John Adams remarked that he had never known a man "whose service for any ten years of his life were so important and essential to the cause of his country as those ... Otis, James A Summary View of the Rights of British America A Summary View of the Rights of British America A Summary View of the Rights of British America 1 Thomas Jefferson Jefferson began his public career in 1769 in the Virginia House of Burgesses, the colonial legislature. British implementation of the Coercive Acts of 1774 (also known as the Intolerable Acts)—passed in response to the Boston Tea Party—prompted the "Summary View," Jefferson's first publication. Written for Virginians who were choosing delegates to the First Continental Congress, it laid the groundwork for later appeals by a "free people, claiming their rights as derived from the laws of nature." July 1774 Resolved, that it be an instruction to the said deputies when assembled in General Congress with the deputies from the other ... An Election Sermon An Election Sermon An Election Sermon 1 Gad Hitchcock (1718-1803) Pastors and ministers were among the highest educated citizens in the American colonies, and often addressed politics from the pulpit. This sermon by Hitchcock was delivered on election day in 1774, in the presence of General Thomas Gage, the British military governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. It decries British monarchical rule and celebrates the idea of the consent of the governed, appealing to reason as well as revelation. 1774 ...In a mixed government, such as the British, public virtue and religion, in the several branches, though they may not be exactly of a mind in every measure, will be the security of order and tranquility—Corruption and venality, the certain ... Hitchcock, Gad The Farmer Refuted The Farmer Refuted The Farmer Refuted 1 Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) When Loyalist writings began to appear in New York newspapers in 1775, nineteen-year-old Hamilton responded with an essay defending the colonists' right of revolution. Still a student at King's College, he followed up with this second pamphlet, expanding his argument on the purpose of legitimate government. February 23, 1775 I shall, for the present, pass over to that part of your pamphlet, in which you endeavor to establish the supremacy of the British Parliament over America. After a proper eclaircissement of this point, I shall draw such inferences, as will sap the foundation of every thing you have offered. The first thing that presents itself is a wish, that "I ... Hamilton, Alexander Common Sense Common Sense 1 Thomas Paine (1737-1809) Published anonymously in January 1776 by an Englishman who had come to Philadelphia two years before, Common Sense became the most published work of the founding era. Printed over half a million times in a nation of three million people, it made a passionate case for liberty and against monarchy. Unpopular in later life for his attacks on Christianity, Paine will always be remembered for this pamphlet—a pamphlet often said to have launched the American Revolution. January 10, 1776 On the Origin and Design of Government in General, With Concise Remarks on the English Constitution Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them ... Letter to Roger Weightman Letter to Roger Weightman Letter to Roger Weightman 1 Thomas Jefferson Written just days before his death on July 4, 1826, this letter to the mayor of Washington, D.C., encapsulates the great cause of Jefferson's life. June 24, 1826 Respected Sir: The kind invitation I receive from you, on the part of the citizens of the city of Washington, to be present with them at their celebration on the fiftieth anniversary of American Independence, as one of the surviving signers of an instrument pregnant with our own, and the fate of the world, is most flattering to myself, and heightened by the honorable accompaniment proposed for the comfort of such a journey. It adds sensibly to the sufferings of sickness, to be deprived by it of a personal participation ... Virginia Declaration of Rights | Religion, Morality, and Property Virginia Declaration of Rights Virginia Declaration of Rights 1 George Mason (1725-1792) The Virginia Declaration of Rights, drafted by George Mason as a preamble to the Virginia Constitution, is—along with the Declaration of Independence that followed a month later—the clearest statement of the social contract theory of government found in major early American documents. June 12, 1776 A declaration of rights made by the Representatives of the good people of Virginia, assembled in full and free Convention; which rights do pertain to them and their posterity, as the basis and foundation of Government. Section 1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state ... Mason, George Fast Day Proclamation of the Continental Congress Fast Day Proclamation of the Continental Congress Fast Day Proclamation of the Continental Congress 1 The petition of this Fast Day Proclamation was echoed repeatedly by Congresses in early American history. December 11, 1776 Whereas, the war in which the United States are engaged with Great Britain, has not only been prolonged, but is likely to be carried to the greatest extremity; and whereas, it becomes all public bodies, as well as private persons, to reverence the Providence of God, and look up to him as the supreme disposer of all events, and the arbiter of the fate of nations; therefore, Resolved, That it be recommended to all the United States, as soon as possible, to appoint a day of solemn fasting and humiliation; to implore of Almighty ... The Northwest Ordinance The Northwest Ordinance The Northwest Ordinance Adopted by the Congress of the Confederation in 1787, the Northwest Ordinance set forth a model for the expansion of the American republic. Providing a governing structure for the territory that would later become Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, it prohibited slavery, protected religious liberty, and encouraged education. Following the adoption of the Constitution, the new Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance again in 1789. July 13, 1787 An Ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio Section 1. Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the said territory, for the purpose of temporary government, be one ... Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments 1 James Madison (1751-1836) Madison circulated the Memorial and Remonstrance anonymously in 1785 as part of the effort to pass the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. It appeals to Christian citizens by emphasizing that Christianity's own teachings preclude politically coerced support for particular sects, and to all citizens based on reason. June 20, 1785 To the Honorable the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia: A Memorial and Remonstrance We the subscribers, citizens of the said Commonwealth, having taken into serious consideration, a Bill printed by order of the last Session of General Assembly, entitled "A ... Madison, James Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom 1 Thomas Jefferson Jefferson asked to be remembered on his tombstone as author of the Declaration of Independence, father of the University of Virginia, and author of this law. Long delayed because of the contentiousness of the subject and the powerful interests arrayed against it, the Virginia Statute was drafted in 1777, introduced as a bill in the 1779 legislative session, and adopted in 1786. Eventually the laws of all thirteen original states would prohibit an established church and guarantee religious liberty to all. January 16, 1786 I. Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to ... The Apple of Gold/Frame of Silver (9) Letter to Henry Lee (1) Nicomachean Ethics (1) The Politics (1) On the Commonwealth (1) Second Treatise of Government (1) Discourses Concerning Government (1) Constitution of the United States (1) Fragment on the Constitution and Union (1) Natural Rights/American Revolution (6) Rights of the Colonies Asserted and Proved (1) A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1) An Election Sermon (1) The Farmer Refuted (1) Letter to Roger Weightman (1) Religion, Morality, and Property (9) Virginia Declaration of Rights (1) Fast Day Proclamation (1) Northwest Ordinance (1) Memorial and Remonstrance (1) Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1) Letter to Hebrew Congregation (1) Farewell Address (1) Letter to Danbury Baptists (1) On Property (1) Articles of Confederation (6) Circular Letter to the States (1) Letter to John Jay (1) Letter to James Madison (1) Query XIII: Constitution (1) Vices of the Political System of the United States (1) Rethinking Union and Government (15) Letter Transmitting the Constitution (1) Federalist 1 (1) Brutus I (1) Federalist 10 (1) Federal Farmer I and II (1) Three Branches of Government (13) Brutus XI (1) Marbury v. 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Small Businesses Go Bust By CHARLES P. WALLACE/Berlin Sunday, Nov. 03, 2002 Leafing through a brown leather scrapbook, Sven Romeike traces the history of his family-owned business back three generations. There's a photo of his grandfather in billowing white overalls when the painting company was founded in 1932. There are his father and uncle when they took over the business in the prosperous 1970s. But what's missing are pictures and pleasant memories from the last couple of years during Sven's management, when the business collapsed and forced him to file for liquidation. "It's been very painful, very sad. It was terrible to have to dismiss my workers," Romeike says. "My career has been a big disappointment." Yet Romeike's troubles are not entirely of his own making. They stem from a thicket of high taxes, stifling bureaucracy and labor-market rigidity that has dogged Germany in recent years. Romeike faced price competition from craftsmen from the former East Germany, as well as unemployed painters willing to work in the "black economy" without paying taxes. Burdened with a staff of highly paid painters, the 37-year-old Romeike says he was underbid for just about every job. "A company like ours can't adjust to the market situation because we can't dismiss people," he says. "They have been working here for 20 to 30 years and they can't be laid off because laws are too strict or severance pay too high." The result: his 20 employees all lost their jobs without compensation when Romeike filed for liquidation in February last year. Romeike's plight has become a familiar part of the economic landscape in Germany, as bankruptcies reach historic proportions. According to Creditreform, a company that tracks bad debts, the number of insolvencies in Germany in the first six months of the year was 18,800, an increase of more than 25% over the year before. While high-profile company failures like construction firm Philipp Holzmann and cell-phone service MobilCom draw the headlines � and the government bailouts � it's small companies like Romeike's that have borne the brunt of the economic downturn. "Small- and medium-sized companies are dying out because the political framework is so bad," says Mario Ohoven, president of the Federal Association of Middle-Sized Companies. "Germany has the second-highest taxes in Europe. The more tax a company pays, the less it earns, and the less capital it has in times of crisis." Higher costs mean it's more difficult for German firms to compete with foreign companies. According to Ohoven, a qualified printer earns �21 an hour in Germany, �14.87 in Britain and just �4 an hour in the Czech Republic. And Germany has the highest non-wage costs � such as pension and health-insurance contributions � in all of Europe, reaching 43.5% of salaries, Ohoven says. Dirk Andres, a prominent bankruptcy lawyer, says his case load has swelled to 440 bankruptcies in the first nine months of this year, compared to 360 cases in all of last year. Family companies are often overwhelmed by emotion in the face of insolvency, which requires the appointment of an outside administrator while the company restructures. "They cry in court or are in a state of shock," Andres says. The main cause of bankruptcies, according to Andres, is that small companies can no longer pay their mounting tax bills. When German companies bill clients, they must pay the government 16% value-added tax up front. When clients are late in paying, the outstanding taxes can sink a struggling firm. The biggest problem for small German companies like Romeike's is a wage system known as the tariff. Wage rates for each occupation are negotiated on a national basis by employers' associations and trade unions. There is one rate for all of western Germany and generally lower pay for the states of the former East Germany. So rather than paying what he could afford to stay competitive, Romeike was forced to pay his staff according to West German tariff levels of �12.50 an hour, because his company has its office in West Berlin. He says he had to charge customers �30 an hour just to break even. Just over the boundary in neighboring (and formerly communist) Brandenburg, painting companies charge less because they have lower labor costs. What's more, a steady stream of qualified but illegal workers from Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic is willing to work for wages as low as �3 an hour. "Those who pay honestly go down the drain in the end," Romeike says. Michael Pietsch, one of Romeike's former painters, lost his job in March 2001. "I was shocked because it was an old, established company," Pietsch says. "I blame the state for letting all these workers from Poland, Spain and Portugal work here." Andreas Borchardt worked at Romeike for 11 years before being laid off. Now he runs his own company with two employees. "You have to pay health insurance, trade associations and taxes. And they all want your money, no matter where you get it from," he says. Filing for liquidation is just the final legal step before closing a company down, so these days Romeike's firm is barely surviving. In the 1990s, he borrowed �175,000 from his personal savings to keep the company afloat. He now works by himself trying to earn his money back. Although he apprenticed as a painter at the company, he mainly worked as a supervisor. Now he has returned to painting. As a creditor to the company, he does not have to pay taxes on the money he earns. So he works 65-hour weeks as a subcontractor with no vacations, charging well below the tariff to ensure a steady stream of jobs. He has been forced to sell property to pay off the banks. To help make ends meet, his wife has gone to work as a cashier in a discount food store. Romeike says he has nothing but regret that he followed his father into the company, just as his father followed his grandfather. "If I started working in a large company I would be earning far more money now and have far fewer worries," he says. For his next job he says he will probably avoid the painting business because of the precarious state of the economy. What he's really good at, he says, is managing crisis. Given the state Germany's in, that skill is likely to come in handy.

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Competences in Education and Recognition Methodology and Planning Welcome to the CoRe projects website CoRe stands for Competences in Education and Recognition. Representatives from NUFFIC, UK NARIC, French, Estonian and Czech NARICs came together to form the CoRe1 project team. The aim of CoRe1 was to evaluate the impact of the degree profile, developed by the Tuning Educational Structures in Europe project. This would include a review of how it facilitated transparency and academic recognition within Europe. Through the project it was established that the application of the degree profile varied so greatly across the different higher education institutions that there was no consistency in how concise and clear competences and learning outcomes were formulated. To ensure the consistency and usability of the degree profile in practice, a second project (CoRe II) was conceived. CoRe2 was a two-year project funded under the Lifelong Learning programme and conducted by a consortium of ENIC/NARICs, Tuning and the Dutch Flemish Accreditation Organization (NVAO). Further information on project partners is available in the Partner section. The project focused on the creation of a user friendly guide specifically targeted at higher education staff who are responsible for the provision of information relating to particular study courses within the degree profile. The guide consists of a single template for the Tuning Degree Profile and guidelines how to complete the degree profile, including examples of good practice and a glossary of terms to ensure a similar understanding and use of words. The guide will facilitate a consistent use of the degree profiles by higher education institutions, which in turn will allow for better evaluations by international credential evaluators and admission officers in their evaluations of qualifications. It also provides meaningful information for potential employers while recruiting a graduate and for prospective students who like to orientate themselves on a particular programme. Further information on the aims of CoRe2 may be found in the Objectives section. More general information on the project is provided in our FAQs section . You can find further information relating to the first project in CoRe1 section. Home Site Map FAQ Contact Hosted by UK NARIC Last updated February 2010

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EU Urgency Mounts as Greece and Eurozone Near Brink (9/28) The head of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, delivered a challenging “state of the union” speech for the EU warning that the union faces the toughest challenge in its half-century history, which he said can only be met by member states agreeing to be more integrated in the way they run their finances. In his blunt speech on Sep 28, the day before a crucial vote in the German parliament about bailout funds for Greece and other debt-laden EU states, he called on the European Central Bank to take more pro-active measures to spur economic growth. Stimulus by the ECB – for example, by buying weak bonds to protect them from high market rates adding to countries’ debt burden – has been resisted by Germany, the Netherlands and some other governments. But Chancellor Angela Merkel said this week, during a visit to Germany by Greece’s leader, that Berlin would do whatever was required to help Athens find its way out of its predicament. Her tone – accompanied by rumors of a bolder new EU plan to protect the euro – seemed to afford some hope of light at the end of the tunnel for the eurozone. Barroso’s comments also appeared to have what a commentator called “American fingerprints”—reflecting the new urgency felt in Europe after crisis talks among the world’s leading finance minister in Washington at the weekend. Europe’s economic woes are already affecting the U.S. as a threat to American exports and to American investments in Europe. Fresh determination in Europe and a more aggressive approach to shoring up the eurozone has crystallized in reports of a bold new plan to stop fallout from Greece's debt crisis from further hurting the world economy. As widely reported, the new plan is expected to involve a 50 percent write-down of Greece's huge government debt, while increasing the size of the euro zone bailout fund to $2.7 trillion. The mechanics of the plan involve three main elements: - A key step would be a quadrupling – from the current projected level of 440 billion euros – in the firepower of Europe’s main bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). - This would be done by putting in place an arrangement that would allow the European Central (ECB) to lend alongside the fund. - The EFSF would take on the main risk of lending to governments struggling to borrow from normal commercial sources – governments like Italy. By leveraging the EFSF in this way, EU leaders could make it less dangerous for the ECB to lend to stricken governments. European governments are expected to have the plan ready in five to six weeks, hoping that Germany and other governments can clear the political hurdles that are confronting them immediately – such as the German parliamentary vote. It took until this week for Slovenia, one of the EU’s smallest economies, to approve the existing bail-out plan. And on Wednesday, the Finnish parliament approved the existing plan notwithstanding the earlier demand for "collateral" from Greece as a condition for approval.

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Direct From Panet House Historic milestone for RMC Club rmcclub / March 29, 2015 Club Elects its first Board of Directors! The Club achieved another major and indeed historic milestone in the implementation of the recently approved new Club governance model. Arguably the most significant recommendation emanating from the Strategic Review, the governance review and modernization has preoccupied the Club for the last two years. During this period, the Club completed an in-depth governance review which culminated in the approval of the new governance model and a significant revision to the Club’s venerable constitution which has served the Club very well since 1884. The on-line voting saw almost a 1,000 votes cast with an overwhelming 97% endorsement of the new model on 17 December 2014. On Thursday, 26 March 2015, the Club held a Special General Meeting which was focused on the election of the nine directors. As this is a transition step of sorts, the terms for all nine members will expire with the election of a new slate during the 26 September 2015 AGM. As AGMs are the vested election authority for Board Directors, the new slate will be elected with varying terms of one to three years so that there will be future continuity. In the opinion of many, the restructure of the Club’s governance model is the most significant in the history of the Club to date. Without doubt, the new Board of Directors will serve to enable the Club‘s governance to be harmonious with the best practices of Not-for-Profit organizations. As a result of the Special General Meeting, the Club now has a Board of Directors comprising 14 Directors. Five of these directors are standing members of the Board and as such they are appointed or selected by other means. Of the remaining nine directors which must be elected, five of them represent classes from various decades while the other four Directors are members at large. All of the new Directors were previously appointed to the Club’s Executive Committee during AGM 2104. Here are the Club’s new Directors: During the meeting, it was noted that the Board will elect its own President, Vice President, and Treasurer and that these three, along with the Club’s Past President, will also serve as the Club’s new Executive Committee. The term for Presidents will be two years with an option for a one year extension. This is specifically designed to provide greater stability as Board Presidents previously served one year terms. The first Board meeting will be convened in early April following which the Club President, Vice President and Treasurer will be formally announced. On behalf of all Club members, I would like to convey our profound and most sincere appreciation to the retiring Executive Committee members; Glenn Allen, Bernie Laliberté, Michel Reid, and Tony Battista. Finally, we also owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the architects of the Strategic Review and to the highly experienced and dedicated volunteers of the Governance Committee which spearheaded the significant restructure and refined the new Board Policies and Procedures document. Bryan Bailey – Executive Director Life & Times of Dr Ken Reimer Before, During & Beyond RMCC A 75th Anniversary Update on the Royal Roads Paverstone Project

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Ellen Tordesillas You are here: Home Ellen Tordesillas Tension rising as China sinks Vietnamese boat Tension rising as China sinks Vietnamese boat Published on Sunday, 01 June 2014 21:44 Written by Ellen Tordesillas While we continue to be engrossed with Napolist (she has submitted an expanded list naming 120 lawmakers as alleged beneficiaries of her largesse including her contributions to their election campaign), things are heating up in the South China Sea between China and Vietnam that could destabilize Southeast Asia. News reports yesterday said a Chinese boat sank a Vietnamese fishing vessel 17 nautical miles from the oil rig of China National Offshore Oil Corporation near the China- occupied Paracel islands. The rig is 240 km (150 miles) off Vietnam’s coast and 330 km (206 miles) from the southern coast of China’s Hainan island. According to reports, Hanoi said the sinking happened after some 40 Chinese fishing boats had surrounded the Vietnamese vessel, and one of them rammed it. Other Vietnamese fishing boats rescued the 10 crew members of the boat. China’s version is the Vietnamese boat capsized after “harassing and colliding with” a Chinese fishing boat. The boat sinking raises the tension in the area triggered by the drilling by CNOOC starting three weeks ago which Vietnam vehemently protested saying the area is within their 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. They sent their own ships and engaged Chinese ships in a water cannon fight. Vietnam said last week there were 86 Chinese vessels protecting the oil rig as against their 50 vessels preventing China from proceeding their operation which Beijing said will only be up to August 15. Vietnam said China’s Paracels flotilla includes military vessels, marine police vessels, marine surveillance ships, naval ships, fishery administrative boats, salvage tugs, cargo ships, tankers and fishing vessels with iron hulls. Protest rallies against the Chinese were staged, which in the beginning were apparently encouraged by the government. The rallies, however, turned into riots which resulted in deaths and injuries not only to Chinese businessmen and workers but also to Taiwanese and Japanese, who were mistaken as Chinese. China has since evacuated thousands of its nationals from Vietnam, whose officials called for calm and moved to contain the anti-Chinese rampage. Tuesday’s sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat recalls the bloody battle for control of the Parcels that includes 30 islets, sandbanks and reefs over a maritime area in the South China Sea, between China and then Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) January 19, 1974 which resulted in the sinking of the latter’s warship and death of 53 of its soldiers. Another China-Vietnam battle happened in South Johnson Reef in March 1988 which resulted in the death of 70 Vietnamese and control of China. It is also claimed by the Philippines, which it calls Mabini Reef. Last month, the Philippines protested reclamation and construction by China of what looks like an airport in Johnson South/ Mabini Reef. Strangely, Vietnam was quiet in China’s development in the reef which is near islands occupied by them, the nearest of which is Collins Reef, just four miles away. In a tense environment which South China Sea is described today, the possibility of miscalculations is high. The situation is a challenge to the Association of Southeast Asia Nations. It concerns one of its members (Vietnam) and one of its major dialogue partners (China) and threatens the stability of the region.

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Inclusion Match Success On the 18th of August the Hawthorn Football Club celebrated its first ever Inclusion Match. The match has been designed to make the football a safe, supportive and fun environment for a broader cross-section of society. According to CEO Justin Reeves, the match aimed to be a continuation of the hard work Hawthorn has been doing in the social inclusion space over the last two years. “We want everyone to feel safe and included when they head out to watch the football,” Reeves said. “We recognise that these types of public events can present difficulties for many people, particularly those living with a disability, so we’re working to create a more accessible and inclusive environment. “As a club, we have a responsibility to ensure every member of the Hawthorn family feels valued, respected and included. “We’ve made some great strides in the last 24 months, particularly with regards to our AFL Blind and wheelchair teams, but there’s still work to be done in this space and we’re committed to our pursuit of social inclusion.” The key message of the day was: The celebration began with the club's AFL Blind and AFL Wheelchair competitors forming the guard of honour and welcoming the Hawks as they entered the field. They all loved this opportunity, commenting that the roar of the crowd was amazing and something they will never forget. The aim was to make the game more accessible for all, across every aspect of the match day, including utilising the services of an interpreter from The Auslan Company. This was the first time that a deaf interpreter has been used at an AFL match through an interpreter relay, creating more job opportunities for people in the community. Once again, the Afford Sensory Friendly Space was a great success that allowed families to step away from the intensity of the crowd whilst still being able to enjoy the game. The Deakin University initiative, Allplay Dance Group, performed a ballet piece on the ground at three quarter time. The purpose of this group is to create new pathways for inclusion for children with physical disabilities and developmental challenges so they can dance, learn and make connections in the community. Dance provides a unique way to honour and embrace different ways of moving and celebrates our differences to create a great inclusive space. All of Hawthorn’s inclusion programs are made possible by the wonderful support of Afford. AIME Cultural Experience Day Kennedy Community Centre update AFL Blind Team Launch

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Norman Allin (Bass) (19 November 1884, Ashton-under-Lyne - 27 October 1973, Pontrilas) He studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music under John Acton (singing) and Walter Carroll (theory). He wed the singer Edith Clegg in 1912 and went to London, where the conductor Henry J. Wood heard him and planned to involve him in the 1914 Norwich Festival. Unfortunately, the festival was interrupted by the outbreak of World War One. However, Allin did sing the Handel aria "O ruddier than the cherry", from Acis and Galatea, at a Promenade Concert for Henry Wood during the war. (He was not called up for military service owing to the fact he was classified in a low medical grade.) Sir Thomas Beecham auditioned him and at once offered him the title role in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, but Allin felt a less challenging debut was needed. So, his first appearance for Beecham was as the Old Hebrew in Samson et Dalila on 15 October 1916. With the Beecham Opera Company he appeared, too, in Verdi's Aida. He first sang at a Royal Philharmonic concert, again under Beecham's baton, in 1918. He later appeared as Boris, as Gurnemanz in Wagner's Parsifal, Hagen in Wagner's Götterdämmerung and Baron Ochs in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 1921, he became founder-member of the British National Opera Company. Allin created the role of Sir John Falstaff in Holst's 1925 opera At the Boar's Head. In 1934, he appeared in the initial Glyndebourne Festival production under Fritz Busch and Carl Ebert of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. Henry Wood later wrote (in 1938) that had Allin not possessed such a retiring disposition, he might have become one of the world's most celebrated operatic basses, and that even so, his stage roles numbered almost 50. During the Second World War (1939-1945), he was a member of the Carl Rosa Opera Company. This company gave London seasons, during which Allin appeared alongside fellow singers Joan Hammond, Gwen Catley, Heddle Nash, Dennis Noble, Parry Jones and Tudor Davies. Allin's career was not restricted to opera, however, and he was perhaps best known to contemporary music-goers as a concert recitalist and an oratorio singer. He appeared before the Royal Philharmonic Society in a Royal Choral Society Beethoven Missa Solemnis in 1927 under Sir Hugh Allen. In 1932, after giving his 270th performance of Handel's Messiah, at a Halle concert, he decided not to sing the part again. He always gave the greatest satisfaction when he sang in music festivals, and Wood felt that he could trust him with anything. He was one of the soloists in the original line-up for Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music on 5 October 1938. Allin's line goes down to low D; the words set for his solo are 'The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus.' He was also in the performance of it for the Royal Philharmonic Society, on behalf of the Musicians' Benevolent Fund, in February 1940. In 1934 he took part in a seven-month operatic tour in Australia, appearing mainly in Melbourne and Sydney. On his return he was offered a professorship of singing at the Royal Academy of Music, and took it up in autumn 1935. Later he also accepted a similar appointment at the Royal Manchester College, which he held jointly with the other, only resigning the Manchester post in 1942 owing to pressure of work in London. Among Allin's pupils were Jean Allister, Pamela Bowden, Richard Lewis, Norman Lumsden and Ian Wallace (who followed his teacher into the role of Bartolo at Glyndebourne). Allin's voice possessed a depth, authority and resonance rare in modern-day British basses, the preferred style of voice now being lighter and less magisterial. His singing technique was exemplary and his vocal production was smooth and extremely attractive in tone, as his recordings verify. 1916 Beecham Opera Company 1922-1929 British National Opera Company 1939-1945 Carl Rosa Opera Company Labels: Allin Norman A lovely man with whom I studied. An unforgettable experience. Ashot Arakelyan August 21, 2018 at 11:47 AM https://www.ebay.com/itm/BRITISH-BASS-NORMAN-ALLIN-1884-1973-CD/292654664502?hash=item442393cb36:g:m7MAAOSwRLZaaX8z

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Gematriot - Revealing Torah Secrets Gematriot - the numerical values of the Holy Hebrew Letters, reveal the deeper meaning of what the Torah wants to convey to us. Far more than just an intellectual game, Hashem - with His complex wisdom via the road of Gematriot - teaches us all about living the REAL Jewish way of life. Gematriot are mentioned in virtually every section of Jewish literature - Talmud, Midrash, Zohar, and Halacha. #137 - Tribe of Levi: Life of a Levite (Part 5) As our Rabbis tell us: Acharon Acharon Chaviv "The very last is the most beloved". And so, in the finale of my five part series on the Tribe of Levi, I will reveal the best and the rest on this most special tribe of the Jewish people. While in my previous post, I focused much more on Moshe - whose birthday and Yahrzeit is today, 7Adar - than on his brother Aaron; as a play on the above Hebrew phrase, perhaps it could be said as Aharon Aharon Chaviv "Aharon is the most beloved", for indeed, Aaron was the one chosen by Hashem to be the Cohen Gadol/High Priest, rather than Moses, whose genealogy and age at passing is no less known than Moses' in the Torah. Imagine, Aaron became the first Cohen Gadol of the Jewish people, and all Cohanim today after over 3,300 years later know that they are Cohanim because they are descended by parental line all the way back up to Aaron. In fact, there are some Cohanim today who can trace their ancestry knowing the exact number of generations back up, some tracing their lineage to Pinchas, Aaron's grandson. In fact, in this week's Parsha, Parshat Tetzaveh, the stars of the week are Aaron and his sons, as the first half of the Parsha mentions the details of the various Priestly garments, and the later half mentions the details of the dedication ceremony for this family to become consecrated as Cohanim, without a single mention of Moshe's name in the entire Parsha! In fact, it has been said that it is no coincidence that 7 Adar, the date of Moses passing away, falls out every year during or around the time of the reading of this Parsha. Anyways, getting back to the theme of the title of this particular post, I will be mentioning about the lives of the father and great-grandfather of Moses and Aaron - Amram & Levi, respectively, who both lived to the age of 137, the number of this post. As it turns out, there are quite a few other things related to the number 137 that has to do with the Levites. Amazingly, the phrase HaCohen V'HaLevi "The Cohen & the Levite" is also the Gematria of 137! For after all, the Tribe of Levi, whose ancestor is Levi, consists of both Cohanim & Levites. And noting the connection between Levi & Amram as regards the age of their passing at 137, Amram's sons were the only brothers of the Jewish people of whom one was a Cohen and the other a Levite, even as both had the same father. This phenomenon did not ever exist in any other family of the Jewish people. Now, as you may have noticed, in my last several posts, I mentioned the psalm corresponding to the number post. This post will be no exception, even though you will not see one word about the Levites in this psalm. However, we know by tradition that the narrators are the Levites who were told by their captors at the river of Babylon to sing "the songs of Zion" that they used to sing as Levites in the Temple, some even having their harps with them, to which they replied "How can we sing the songs of Hashem on foreign soil?" As relevant in our daily lives, we are living in a world, in fact, also on foreign soil, in sharp contrast to where we all originate from - the world of truth where the real stuff is located. Our brief sojourn in this world - whether a few more years, or a few less years, is nothing compared to the eternity that we are here to earn. The fact that the conversation between the Levites and the enemy captors, the scene of the exile of Babylonia immediately following the destruction of the First Temple, takes place in Psalm 137 reminding us the years of the life of Levi, ancestor of the Levites, in this world, should remind us of our time and place in this world, of which the Temple is a microcosm - which in turn is a microcosm of the Temple in Heaven - to serve Hashem as our only opportunity to accomplish spiritually as much as possible. And this leads to the next thing - the section of the Mishneh Torah, the magnum opus of the Rambam/Maimonides that is about the laws of the Temple that is called Beit HaBechira "The Chosen House". If you recall from Part 2 of the Tribe of Levi series (Post 134), I had mentioned this as being the beginning of the eighth of the 14 volumes of this work of the Rambam, consisting of eight chapters. Well today, I am mentioning this section about the Temple for another reason. You see, it has been pointed out that this consists of 137 laws or paragraphs. You read right - the Rambam's section of the Temple called Beit HaBechira consists of 137 laws, as this number relates to the fact that Levi, ancestor of the Tribe who served in the Temple, lived for 137 years. And since it semms that the number 137 is a hot number to discuss, there is a very famous and popular word, even among non-Jews, which has the Gematria of 137 - Kabbalah. Yes, this word is used usually refering to the secrets of the Torah, much of which is found in the Zohar, the teachings of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. And so in a way, it can be said that just as the Temple, as very related to the number 137, is the holiest place in the world; so too, the teachings of Kabbalah, the name which is the Gematria of 137, are the holiest or highest teachings of the Torah, for only one who is already well versed with the entire Oral Torah, especially the Talmud, is allowed to delve deeply into Kabbalah, and understand it well. While I can easily spend the next few paragraphs attacking one or more recent groups who supposedly promote Kabbalah, using it for monetary gain and doing things that go completely against Judaism/Jewish Law, I think that it would be a little more useful today to relate what the word Kabbalah originally referred to. To begin with, the word Kabbalah means something this is received, just as written in the very beginning of Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers - Moshe Kibel Torah M'Sinai "Moses RECEIVED the Torah from Mt. Sinai". And so, as we see here, the word Kabbalah in its orignal meaning as related to the Torah refers to the Torah that Moses received, which is basically the Oral Law, as the phrase that is mentioned in Torah wriitngs - HaKetav V'HaKaballah - The Written and the Received (Torah). And so, while the mystical or secrets of the Torah that we call the Kaballah today are also part of the Oral Torah, as this was not written down anymore than the teachings of the Mishna or Gemara/Talmud, when people used to use the word Kabbalah, it automatically referred to the Oral Torah in its entirety. Now, before concluding the basic topic about the Levite tribe, I would like to mention something that recently took place. Being that today is the birthday and Yahrzeit of Moshe Rabbeinu, I would like to mention of a well noted rabbi whose name is also Moshe. I am referring to Rabbi Moshe Wolfson, Shlita, Mashgiach of Yeshivat Torah V'Da'at in New York. One rabbi who isn't swayed by politics, he gives Torah lessons that hit the core as to what the Torah is truly about. He always gives his discourses on Shabbath and Jewish holidays, both in New York and when he visits yearly in Israel. However, in a rare weekday address last month, speaking to nearly 1,000 people, he talked about the dangers of the threat of Iran wishing to attack Israel, G-d forbid, and mentioned reciting every day Psalm 46. Now, in case anyone is wondering as to why this particular psalm, one look at it will tell you that this is basically about G-d taking control of what is going on in the world, and when nations start up in war, G-d will be around to show who is the Big Boss. In any case, it is most interesting to note that the number 46 is the Gematria of Levi. And as we know from history, following the sin of the Golden Calf, when the original Moshe called out Mi L'Hashem Eilai "Whoever is for Hashem, come to me", only the Tribe of Levi, the only Tribe who didn't participate in the Golden Calf, heeded the call, fighting Hashem's war, killing even non-Levite relatives who had something to do with the worship of the Golden Calf, not being swayed by politics. In fact, it was this very act that earned this tribe to be the ones to serve in the Temple, replacing the firstborns who were the ones originally slated to be the ones to serve in the Temple. Before concluding the whole Levite topic, there is someone else in the Torah who also lived for 137 years - Abraham's son Yishmael. Now, it is true that though Yishmael did not exactly live a very righteous life, being drawn to idol-worship and robbing people as part of his wild nomadic life, being first thrown out of Abraham's home after taking a "fun" arrow shot at Isaac, his half-brother who was the heir to the Jewish people, he in fact did do repentance later in life, and died as a righteous person, being influenced by his loving father Abraham who only looked to attract people to Hashem's service through love. However, he is the ancestor of the Arab race, which includes many of them being Moslems, most of whom today only wish for Israel's destruction. But one thing that we do see is that there are parallels between the side of holiness and the side of impurity. Hence, just as the Cohen Gadol, the leader of the Cohanim, the holiest part of the tribe of Levi, whose ancestors Levi & Amram lived for 137 years, led the service on Yom Kippur, the one day of the year on which we pray five obligatory prayers; the Moslems, in their show of devotion to Allah (which by the way is not the same as Hashem as many mistakenly think, but is based on the pagan Babylonian moon god as the Moslem calendar is strictly a lunar calendar, unlike our Jewish calendar with is a solar-lunar calendar) pray five times daily. Indeed, the very name Yishmael means "May G-d hear". Moreover, just as the Tribe of Levi was the only tribe both in Egypt and in the wilderness who were not afraid of doing circimcision; so too, the Yishmaelite race, as their ancestor Yishmael did, perform circumcision as well when they turn 13. So basically, Hashem listens to the prayers of the nation who has the upper hand (seemingly, even if the one god that they worship isn't Hashem, via the powers of spiritual impurity) based on our spiritual performance. This explains why today, being that an unfortunate significant percentage of Jews in Israel are secular, the Moslem Arabs have the power to twist the arms of the Israeli government, and get away with things that no other nation or country on earth would even dream of. And besides this, if the Israeli government would at least have a little more faith in Hashem rather than being so quick to give in to terrorist demands, things would be a lot better, as Rabbi Meir Kahane, may Hashem avenge his blood, a Cohen, said "It will be either Kahane or Arafat." Don't think that I need to explain more. Technically, this concludes my five part series of the Tribe of Levi. Now, I do have an addendum here that especially relates to today's date. Yes, tonight is 7Adar, whose significance I mentioned in this post. However, I am refering rather to the date of the secular calendar - the once in a four year date of February 29. Some my ask, who cares, this is a "goyishe" date, why even mention it? Well, I have a big surprise for you all, as believe it or not, this is hinted in the Torah, and at the end, I will also relate this to the Tribe of Levi, so hang on a bit longer... FEBRUARY 29 - THE NUMBER 2,000 If I had been writing this blog 12 years ago, the title here would be February 29, 2000. You see, I am implying here that the leap day has a connection to the number 2,000. Of course I will prove this from the Torah. But in order to appreciate this fully, it is important that I bring a little history behind the making of this date. To note, in our Jewish calendar, which is partly lunar based, the majority of the years consist of 353-355 days, based on the annual cycle of the moon. However, since the seasons are based on the sun's annual cycle of 365.2425 days, and the Torah wants us to observe the Jewish holidays at certain seasons, beginning with Passover to be celebrated in Chodesh Ha'Aviv "Month of Spring", referring to Nissan, a leap month is added (nowadays, every two or three years), in order that this can remain possible. Now, noting that the total cycle of the sun comes out to 365 and close to six hours, that is 365 days 5 hours 49 minutes 12 seconds, or 365.2425 days, one leap day is added once in every four years in the secular calendar. In practical terms, every year that is exactly divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by 100; the centurial years that are exactly divisible by 400 are still leap years. For example, the year 1900 is not a leap year; the year 2000 is a leap year. This was instituted by Pope (I mean poop) Gregory XIII (and Catholics wonder why for them, the number 13 is a bad luck number) in 1582. And so, February 29, 2000 was a leap day. And aside from the fact that after Moshiach's coming, this secular calendar will be obsolete with the fall of Christianity once everyone sees the truth of G-d not being a "Trinity" and who the real Messiah is, the world's 6,000 year existance is only another like 228 years, so even according to the secular calendar, this world will end around the secular year of 2,240, so in fact, the last time that this 400 year phenomenon of February 29 falling out on a double zeroed year will happen has already happened in the secular year of 2,000. Now, let us open the Chumash, which, in honor of Moses' today's special date of 7 Adar, we will call the Five Books of Moses, let us turn to near the end of the Book of NUMBERS (Sefer Bamidbar) in Chapter 35 about the LEVITE cities, which were cities given to the Levites to reside since this tribe did not have land of its own, which were also the cities to which accidental killers could escape to, it mentions about measurements as related to these cities, "You shall measure outside the city 2,000 cubits of the east corner, 2,000 cubits of the south corner, 2,000 cubits of the west corner, and 2,000 cubits of the north corner... (verse 5)" Now, for those who know about the cantillation notes that are used for reading the Torah, there is one place in the entire Chumash were distinct cantillation notes are used, and this is for the Hebrew words for the first mention of the words "2,000 cubits" in this verse - Alpayim B'Amah, the word Alpayim has the cantillation note that is called Yareach Ben-Yomo, and the word B'Amah has the cantillaton note of Karnei-Farah. The point that I am making here is that the Torah doesn't do things at random, and the fact that the once time in the entire Chumash, in the entire Sefer Torah, Judaism's holiest object, that a cantillation note is sung on the word that is a number - particularly the number 2,000, there is a sure reason for this. Now, there is another distinct cantillation note that is used for the word B'Amah, literally translated as "by cubits". To note, this subject of 2,000 cubits is mentioned in another area of the Torah as it relates to Halacha/Jewish Law, though you will not find this in the Chumash. You see, in the story about the manna - which by the way came to the Jews in the merit of Moses - the Jews are told not to leave their places on the Shabbat day. We learn from this that this meant that the Jews should not leave the Israelite camp which consisted of 12 mil (a measurement that is similar to miles), and hence, according to the Torah, we are not allowed to walk 12 mil beyond our immediate city limits. However, the rabbis felt that a limitation should be placed on the amount of walking on Shabbat (since the whole idea here is that Jews should rest on Shabbat rather than exert themselves so much), and made the limits to 2,000 cubits outside city limits. Now obviously, the rabbis didn't make up just any figure, and no doubtedly derived this measurement from this part of the Torah about the Levitical/refuge cities. So, aside from the number 2,000, what does this have to do with February 29, 2000? OK, so first I have to mention another Halachic aspect about this 2,000 cubits on Shabbat. Sometimes, a person can walk more than 2,000 cubits outside of one's city limits - if one establishes a spot anywhere within 2,000 cubits from the city limits as his "spot for Shabbat", if one designated that spot before Shabbat by being there until after the beginning of Shabbat, or placing food there before Shabbat. These loopholes, as you will, is what is called an Eiruv Techumin, which literally means merging (refering to the ways that the rabbis permitted these type of activities) of boundaries. Hence, once can then walk 2,000 cubits from that spot in addition to the walk that one is permitted from the city limits to that spot, hence, up to 4,000 cubits for him is permitted on Shabbat. Now, in connection to leap years, the words EIRUV and IBUR, the word used for a leap year, which literally means pregnant implying something extra in the body for a period of time until the baby is born, share the same five Hebrew letters! Hence, we see that there is an intrinsic connection between these two concepts via the number 2,000; the word Eiruv representing the concept of place and the word Ibur representing the concept of time. And as related to the Levite tribe, the tribe that represented the Jewish people in serving Hashem in the Temple, we have here the three dimensions of this world, known as Olam/world, Shana/year, and Nefesh/soul, or place, time and people, as discussed in Kabbalah. So, even as a Pope who was part of the vicious anti-Semitic Vatican system who until this day are holding on to Jewish items from the Temple and Jewish holy books for which G-d will exact vengence shortly upon the real Messiah's arrival, was the one responsible for setting up the calendar the way that it is used universally until this day, nothing is in fact a coincidence, and is hinted in the Torah in some way. For to begin with, it is the Jewish people who were commanded to uniform our calendar according to the seasons that are based on the sun's cycle, and so the non-Jews doing the same is in fact only copying our system. Indeed, this Pope is known as Gregory the THIRTEENTH, and L'Havdil (to make a seperation between him and the Jews), our leap year consists of a THIRTEENTH month. And so, there is no doubt in my mind noting the connection between the Hebrew words having the same letters that refer to Shabbat/Levitical-refuge city boundaries and leap years, as well as the fact that the sole appearance of certain cantillation notes in the entire Sefer Torah is at the very mention of the words "2,000 cubits", is hinting to this phenomenon about a leap day in the secular calendar that normally does not fall out on a double zeroed year falls out on every 400th year, and that the last one to ever fall out on was the secular year of 2000. As we live in a world that is not only controlled by this secular calendar, but with the use of modern technology, business transactions including in Israel are using the non-Jewish secular calendar, we have to bear in mind that this is strictly for business purposes, but in no way does this mean that we have to treat this calendar as related to personal matters, such as birthdays. Yes, I was born on the secular date of May 7, but as far as I am concerned, I have nothing to do with this date as far as celebrating my birthday, except to mention this for legal or business purposes. Otherwise, when people ask me what my birthday is, I ONLY mention my Jewish birthdate of 1 Iyar, and especially when this is Rosh Chodesh, a little more reason to celebrate than most other days, so why should I wish to mention a date on the Poop calendar as my birthday, or "another" birthday? Everytime that I answer with my Jewish birthday, I am fulfilling the command of "In their (non-Jewish) statues, you shall not follow". As per our Jewish calendar of months, each of the months correspond to one of the Tribes. Now, while the original 12 Tribes included the Tribe of Levi strictly as the 12 sons of Jacob; considering the special status of Joseph's two sons Menashe & Ephraim as two distinct Tribes, and the Tribe of Levi as a unique Tribe, the months of the year correspond accordingly as such that two of the months correspond to Josephs's two sons in lieu of Joseph per se and Levi. Along these lines, the question is asked, when there is an extra Jewish month of Adar, corresponding to which tribe does the extra month of Adar correspond to, or is there a corresponding tribe to begin with? Actually, it could be possible that this extra Adar month - Adar Sheni (Adar II) could correspond to all of the tribes. But there is this view that this month corresponds to the Tribe of Levi. Indeed, as mentioned here about the 2,000 cubits in relationship to the Levitical cities, and for the 2,000 cubit measurement of Shabbat boundaries for which one can use the Eiruv Techumin method, and the word Eiruv & Ibur (word refering to a Jewish leap year) have the same letters, we can see the connection between the Tribe of Levi and a leap year. And for the inner meaning, just as a leap month or day, depending on the type of calendar, serves the purpose of conforming the calendar with the seasons; so too, it is the Tribe of Levi who conforms the Jewish people with the service of Hashem, so that even if not all the Jews aren't always up to par with doing everything right, coming to the Temple with their animals for atonement, let's say, which was then handled by the Cohanim, led the Jews to be more spiritually attuned to mend their ways and come closer to serving Hashem. Yes, everything in this world needs a balance. And if anything is amiss, it is our responsibility to see to it that we provide the necessary balance. Boundaries or limits are needed in our lives if we want to function normally. Any good parent, even if they give sweets to their children that could possibly causes cavities in the teeth, will set some sort of limits as to how much they allow their children to this type of food. In our adult lives, especially in our family lives which involve th spouse and children, we have to limit ourselves as to how much extra curricular actiivity we allow ourselves without interfering with our family lives, as well as getting some sleep instead of watching the tube or internet if we need to get up early for work the next morning. Even Moses was limited with the amount of years that he lived - only 120 years, less than what his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather lived, even though he was the greatest righteous person to live on this planet. And so it is with numbers, the whole idea about numbers is that they limit the amount that something is supposed to measure - in place, in time, but for the ultimate good that it serves us, for all numbers too, just as all other creatures - spiritual or physical - serve the One Above all. 7 Adar, 5772 - Birthdate & Yahrzeit of Moshe Rabbeinu P.S. The time of this posting is 1:33 PM. As this post included the mention of Levi & Amram living 137 years, Levi's son who is also Amram's father - Kethath, lived for 133 years. Posted by shimonmatisyahu at 1:33 PM No comments: #136 - Tribe of Levi: The Levite VOICE (Part 4) It can clearly be said that the most distinguishing service of the Levites in the Beit HaMikdash/Temple was their singing. In fact, taking the word Kol/voice, spelled Koof-Vav-Lamed, contains the first two letters of the name Levi. And since this is a Gematria blog, it is worthwhile to note that in many if not most Machzorim (prayerbooks for the High Holidays), where it states at the highlight of the Unetaneh Tokef prayer "Repentence, Prayer, and Charity remove the evil decree", you will notice tiny words on top of these three live saving features as the words Tzom/Fasting, Kol/Voice, and Mammon/Money. While it is quite obvious that there is some connection between the features of repentance, prayer, charity and their respective parts of fasting, voice, money; the punchline here is that all of the three words that are brought to translate or explain the meaning of the factors that remove the evil decree have the same Gematria of 136, which is the number of this post. So as we see, the Kol/voice is very related to Tefilla. And in turn, Tefilla has the same Gematria as Shira/song (515), for song was indeed the distinguishing factor of the Levi, the Levites who were not Cohanim, in the Temple. And as the uniqueness of the Gematria number of 136 to the Hebrew word Kol, it is comprised of the same letters that spell the number 136 in Hebrew. Today, we recite the daily Shir Shel Yom/Song of the Day that the Levites used to sing in the Temple for the corresponding day of the week. We introduce the daily psalm with "Today is the _________ day of the week on which the Levites would recite in the Temple". Question: If the Levites sang the psalm then why do we merely state that they recited, as though it were another prayer. Wasn't the whole idea that the Levites would SING the psalm? As we see in the beginning of the fifth chapter of Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers, as well as the very beginning of the Midrash that is called Yalkut Shimoni - "With 10 statements was the world created". You see, Hashem was able to create everything in the days of creation with mere statements, rather than needing to physically, if you will, create the objects that He wanted to appear and exist. In Hebrew, these statements are referred to as Asara Ma'amarot. The word Ma'amarot is the noun for the verb say, or to say. Hence, when we mention in our prayers that the Levites SAID these psalms, rather than sing them, it is hinting to the fact that Hashem created the world with statements, rather than some other way of the Bing Bang Theory (which should really be uncapitolized as bing bang theory, because it clearly denies G-d as the Creator of the Universe). This is especially relevant to the Temple, because the Mishkan/Tabernacle or Temple was built as a microcosm of the world that Hashem created with ten statements. Now, let's turn to other numbers. We see in the section of the Torah about the consecration of the Levites (Numbers 8:5-26) that there is a verse that mentions the phrase B'nei Yisrael/Children of Israel five times (verse 19). Rashi notes that the five times of this mention shows how beloved the Jews were to Hashem, as these five mentions correspond to the five books of the Chumash. Now as we know, the Chumash is what comprises the Sefer Torah/Torah scroll, which we read from throughout the year. However, the words are not merely recited, but they are sung with a tune that are indicated by cantillation notes, which is based on the tradition that Moses received from Hashem on Mt. Sinai. We see in the Talmud another connection between the concept of the voice and the number five. It mentions (Berachot 6b) that whoever partakes of a wedding feast and doesn't gladden the bridegroom and bride (which is typically performed by dancing at the minimum when the newly wed couple enters the room) violates the five voices that are mentioned in Scripture - the voices of joy, gladness, bridegroom, bride, and people thanking Hashem (Jeremiah 33:11). In fact, the word Simcha/joy, one of these five voices, when its letters are rearranged, spells the word Chamisha/five, speaking of which, we are presently in the month of Adar of which the Halacha notes "When Adar enters, we increase with joy". There is a uniqueness of the number five to the voice in other ways. As we see in the Kabbalistic writings about the Alef-Beit, there are five phonetic divisions that help us pronounce the 22 letters of the Alef Beit - throat, lips, palate, tongue and teeth (Sefer Yetizra 2:3). And in secular knowledge about using the voice, there are five dimensions of voice, using the acronym of the word VAPER - volume, articulation, pitch, emphasis, and rate. Also, of all the 22 letters of the Alef-Beit, the letter Hei - whose numerical value is five - is the lightest of the letters in terms of pronunciation, for though this letter shares the same part of the speaking area - the throat - as the letters Alef, Cheit, and Ayin, this letter Hei is pronounced as a mere breath, which is Ruach in Hebrew, name of one of the five parts of the soul, and as we see in the Torah about Hashem bringing life to mankind "He breathed in his nose (nostrils) the breath/spirit of life" (Genesis 2:7). The voice in connection with a wedding is also hinted as such in Psalm 29 where the word Kol/voice is mentioned seven times, and as we know, there are seven times that the bride circles encircles the bridegroom, the Sheva Berachot/Seven Blessings that are recited under the Chupa/wedding canopy, and the seven days of feasting for the newly wed if at least one of them was never married before to a Jewish spouse. To note, Psalm 29 refers to the alarming events that took place at Matan Torah/Giving of the Torah, which was the spiritual wedding day between Hashem and the Jewish people when He gave them the marriage contract - the Torah. In fact, every Shabbat, we recite this psalm twice; once - in the Kabbalat Shabbat prayers on Friday evening when right afterwards, we chant the song called Lecha Dodi stating "Come my beloved to greet the bride, we will receive the countenace of Shabbat", and the second time on Shabbat morning when the Sefer Torah is returned to the Ark following the Torah reading, bearing in mind that it was on Shabbat morning that the Giving of the Torah took place. And making another connection between the numbers five and seven in relationship to the voice, of the different parts of the body that cause one to speak that correspond to the four letters of Hashem's name YKVK, it is the mouth that corresponds to the last Hei of Hashem's name, which has the numerical value of FIVE. Also, as we see in the Tikunei Zohar, the Sephira that corresponds to the mouth is Malchut/Kingship, the SEVENTH and last of the active Sephirot. And finally, let's note Psalm 136 which is most unique because this 26 versed psalm is the only one in the entire Tehillim where all the verses end with the same words, and these words are "for His kindness is everlasting". It has been mentioned that these 26 verses correspond to the 26 generations that had yet to receive the Torah, and it was only in the midst of the 26th generation after nearly 2,450 years from the creation of the world that the Torah was finally given. For in fact, the world only exists in the merit of the Torah; however, Hashem in His great kindness allowed the world to exist despite the fact that the Torah never was obligatory on people until He finally officially gave it to the Jews. As we see, the three worded phrase that ends all 26 verses come out to a total of 78 words, and the last word of each verse Chasdo/His kindness is the Gematria of 78. Moreover, the word Lechem/bread is also the Gematria of 78, as it was only the physical sustenance and substance that allowed people to exist until the spiritual aspect of the Torah came into being, as the verse states "for not by bread alone will mankind live, for on all that will come out of the mouth of Hashem will mankind live" (Deutronomy 8:3). And while in the immediate context of this verse, the last part is referring to the Manna that the Jews ate in the desert for 40 years, the rabbis tell us that the Torah was given to those who ate the manna, being that it wasn't merely another type of physical food, but also some sort of spiritual food. The Chida on Tehillim (Psalms) quotes the Sefer that is called Reishit Chachma about the verse that states Zecher Rav Tuvcha Yabiu V'Tzidkatcha Yeraneinu "The remembrance of Your goodness will they enunciate, and Your righteousness will they sing" (Psalms 145:7) (the verse beginning with the letter Zayin=7 of the psalm that each begins with another verse in order of the Alef-Beit), the first letters of the last three letters of this verse (Yud-Vav-Yud) add up to the Gematria of 26, hinting to the fact that when they enunciate with their mouths to sing, they have in mind to unite the name of Hashem (YKVK=26) Blessed Be He whose name is etched in the voice (as the various parts of the body that allow the voice to speak or sing correspond to the four letters of Hashem's name). Thus, it is hardly coincidental that Psalm 136, as the letters of the Hebrew number 136 having the same letters as the word Kol/voice, consists of 26 verses, whose theme which is repeated in each of the 26 verses is that Hashem's kindness is everlasting. Now, the question may be asked, what is the determining factor of what was 26 generations? At best, we know that at the flood where Noah and his family were the only survivors, we can say that it was the 10th and 11th generations who survived. However, beyond that, there could be a number of generations in existance based on when people got married, had children, etc.? So, who is this 26th generation in which the Torah was given? While in Divrei Hayomim (Chronicles), the final book of the Tanach, we see many genealogical listings of various tribes of the Jews; in the Chumash, the foundation of the Torah, or at least the Written Torah, we are able to trace generation after generation starting from Adam until people living at the time that the Torah was given through only one set of generations. We see that the first 10 generations are listed in the first Parsha of the Torah that ends with Noah, and the next 10 generations are listed in the second Parsha of the Torah that ends with Abraham. Following this, are the generations of Isaac, Jacob, and then we see especially listed for the Tribe of Levi, more than any of the other tribes, the following few generations following Levi the son of Jacob - Kehath, Amram, and...Moses & Aaron (as well as Miriam, but her age at passing is not mentioned). Yes, in no other family except in the sibling family of Moses, the Lawgiver, the ONLY ONE in his generation - where the word generation refers to the group of people living at any given time even if made up of a number of generations in their family trees - whose lineage in the Torah can be traced WITHOUT INTERRUPTION all the way back to Adam, or of more recent generations, to the ancestor of the particular tribe that he belonged to. Additionally, every single generation through Moses in his parental ancestry is mentioned with the amount of years that they lived. Even though Joseph, the only other son of Jacob whose age is mentioned in the Torah, the ages of his children and on are not mentioned. Hence, Moses is the 26th generation that is referred to when mentioning the amount of generations that passed before the Torah was given. Moreover, the Gematria of Hashem's main name - YKVK - is 26, and the surname that we use to refer to this name as Hashem, when spelled backwards, spelled Moses' name Moshe, the 26th generation, in whose merit the Jewish people were fed the manna, the spiritual bread, which was a preparation for the Jews to receive the Torah "the Torah was given only to those who ate the manna". In conclusion, the Levite VOICE represents much more than just a Jewish choir of heimishe songs, but more like heimelshe (heavenly) songs, for the idea of the Levites singing in the Temple was to highlight the awareness of Hashem's kindness to us both in physical and spiritual ways. In a similar vein, we see that the offering of sacrificial animals also represented both aspects, of which the animal that was slaughtered, especially to atone for one's sin, was to have to have the effect of reminding one to repent of one's ways, for in fact, the guy who brought the animal as a sinner really should have been the one to have been killed. However, Hashem in His great kindness allowed a person to make amends in various ways, part of which is reminding a person of what he was spared, and instead, the animal was the one that was killed, skinned, burned, eaten, etc., using a very physical object to accomplish major spiritual goals and ways of improving one's relationship with Hashem. On a personal note, I will always be grateful to Hashem for sending me Dr. Miriam Arman, Ph.D, for saving my voice at a time when I began to notice myself sounding hoarse when reading the Torah. It was totally by "accident" that I discovered her, and unlike most other instructors who blindly teach their students to breathe via the abdomen when singing, having them swallow raw eggs, etc., I had none of this nonsense from her. Right from day one, she made it very clear that singing is a most spiritual activity, and as such, we need to open our mind for the voice to go up - rather than go down. I actually thought of becoming a public singer until I moved to Israel, but aside from saving my voice, I learned practicalities of how we open our voice to Hashem. We just have to open our minds, our hearts, and hear what Hashem is telling us without our own ideas of what we think is the best way of relating to Him. For more information, you can check up her website http://www.intlacademyofvoicetzfat.org.il/ And in my upcoming final segment of the Tribe of Levi series, I will spill the rest of the beans about this unique tribe, and Gematriot never beforehand seen, at least not all in one place, as well as a unique addendum which will be exclusive to www.gematriot.blogspot.com. 6 Adar, 5772 P.S. As per the timing of this post 4:26 AM, I mentioned in this post about Hashem's main name YKVK which consists of FOUR letters (Yud, Hei, Vav, Hei) and is the Gematria of TWENTY-SIX. Posted by shimonmatisyahu at 4:26 AM 2 comments: #135 - Tribe of Levi: Levite MATZA (Part 3) Korach had it all. He was an accomplished Torah scholar, one of the wealthiest people who ever lived, related to the greatest righteous people of all time, and was a Levite. Now, someone in his position would be crazy to throw this all away, or would he? Was it his Torah scholarship, his wealth, his claim to fame, his genealogy, or something else, or a combination of things that got to him? Whatever the case, what we do know for sure, aside from the Midrash which states that he had an evil wife who encited him to start up, that he felt he was no less worthy of being a Cohen Gadol as Aaron. Perhaps if he would have been elected to a certain position, a leadership position that a son of a younger brother than his father wound up being elected to, he never would have proceeded with his claims against his cousins Moses and Aaron. You see, Kehath son of Levi had four sons - Amram, Yitzhar, Chevron, and Uziel. Now, Korach was never simply greedy or stupid. He would have accepted the fact that Moses and Aaron, sons of Kehath's son eldest Amram, became the leader of the Jewish people and Cohen Gadol respectively, even if Hashem never would have said a word as to who should have what position. However, as the son of Kehath's second oldest Yitzhar, he wouldn't stomach the fact that Elitzaphan, son of Kehath's youngest Uziel, became a Levite leader as instructed by Hashem or Moses, rather than himself. You would think that with his kind of money, aside from his spiritual connections, that Korach would be happy enough. However, this was not to be. I am not going to start to get into all kinds of details of what took place in the ensuing argument between Korach and Moses/Aaron. Actually, it was a one-sided argument, because Moses merely appointed the positions based on Hashem's words, and not his own decision, so as far as Moses was concerned, Korach was messing with the Big Boss. Now, I should not in relationship to my previous post of the Tribe of Levi series about the watches of the Tribe of Levi, that Korach had Divine Inspiration and foresaw that all 24 watches of the Levites would be descended from him. This was one among other reasons why Korach felt that he was special enough to be no less worthy of being the Cohen Gadol. And while Korach claimed "all of the nation is holy", he chose to believe that Moses, rather than Hashem, called the shots about the leadership positions. The Zohar compares the fighting or decisiveness of Korach to what took place on the second day of Creation when there was a squabble between the higher waters and the lower waters. You see, following Hashem asking for the firmanent to split the waters up to higher and lower, the lower waters felt that they weren't spiritually lucky as the higher waters who were closer to Heaven, and hence were jealous. Addressing this issue, Hashem assured the lower waters that they would be used for the festivities of the water drawing in the Temple during the Succot holiday. However, because of the discord that took place on this day of the week, unlike all the other days of Creation in the Torah where it states after a stage of creation that "it was good" at least once, this phrase isn't mentioned even once for this day of Creation. To note, the Shir Shel Yom/Song of the Day for Yom Sheni/Monday that the Levites sang in the Temple was composed by the three sons of Korach who repented from the erroneous beliefs of their father at the last minute as the earth started swallowing people. On Passover at the Seder table, we have three whole Matzot one on top of the other. One of the spiritual reasons given for particularly three Matzot is that they correspond to the three divisions of the Jewish people - Cohanim, Levites, and the rest of the Jews. Anyways, soon after the Seder begins, the middle Matza - that corresponds to the Levites - is divided into two parts; one part which stays with the other two Matzot which will be first eaten when Matza will be eaten for the first time this evening, and the other part is stored elsewhere until it's time to eat the final Matza of the evening. However, when splitting this Matza, we do not attempt to necessarily to split it evenly; rather, we purposely split it unevenly, and it is the smaller piece that stays sandwiched with the other two Matzot, and the bigger piece is saved for later. So why is this middle Matza split into two in this fashion? It is true that the Matza is the bread of affliction, and hence splitting the Matza is a symbolism of this. But isn't this the precise time, the holiday that celebrates the birth of the Jewish nation being united upon leaving Egypt, that we look for the best way possible to maintain this level of unity rather than making splits, especially uneven splits? For after all, actions represent what we want things to be. We see that the prophets in the Bible at times did certain actions to symbolize an event that was to take place in the future, the action having some resemblance or obvious connection to the event-to-be. So, why would we want to make such an uneven split with the Matza, when unity for Jews is the name of the day? Sometimes, things happen in life beyond our understanding. We are quick to say that it is no fair. After all, why should rotten people in the government have the big bucks while good, hard working, abiding citizens have to struggle to barely be able to pay the rent or mortgage? This is just one out of so many examples that can be brought that shows what we perceive as "injustice" in this world. However, each and every one of us are responsible to an extent of what goes around us. To begin with, it starts with the family; and for many, it's the spouse. Many claim that in order for a marriage to work, it needs to be 50-50. This may kind of work in a divorce, which is something that the now exed couple should have practiced a little earlier in their withered marriage. However, upon closer examination, attempting to figure out what is 50-50 itself can lead to arguments because no two people perceive the exact same thing as to what is fair. In fact, only Hashem can know exactly what is truly 50-50. And so, not in all successful marriages will the 50-50 rule work. As a good friend of mine told me, it's what works. For some, it may be 60-40, 70-30, 80-20, or 90-10. You see, both have to be willing to give. But at times, it may be necessary based on certain circumstances to be a bigger giver than the other party. However, what should be the common goal of both spouses or business partners, or whatever other type of relationship is what is for the common good. And so, this is the lesson of the middle Matza, for the small piece of Matza is needed as an accessory to the Mitzva of eating the first Matza of the eating along with the top full piece of Matza, and the bigger piece that is set aside not remaining on the Seder table with the rest of the items gets to be eaten at the end of the meal. And so, the fact that the middle Matza, representing the Levites, is the one that is chosen to be split, reminds us of what took place with Korach, who felt that the apportionment of leadership positions was done "unevenly". Perhaps if Korach would have looked at his own accomplishments, he would have come to realize that Hashem didn't want him to have a leadership position because he had other accomplishments to make instead, for not everyone can be an efficient leader, or be the type of leader that people will want or be able to relate to. Perhaps being such a wealthy person, people would not feel that he could relate to their physical or spiritual needs for that matter, even if he himself had the kindest soul in the world. And so, the lesson of the unevenly split Matza teaches us this very lesson. However, this would not be complete if I were not to mention that the word Matza itself technically has the definition of decisiveness, or arguing. However, it won't take long to understand that there are times that fighting for the sake of Heaven can be a good thing; but that's it, if it's for the sake of Heaven. As we see in Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers (5:20), an example of an argument for the sake of Heaven were the arguments between Hillel and Shamai, while an example of an argument not for the sake of Heaven was the argument of Korach and his cohorts. Now, note that the Mishna does not say - the schools of Hillel and Shammai, for Hillel and Shammai themselves only had a handful of arguments between them. And note that it doesn't say the argument between Korach and Moses. You see, for the first case, even though the disciples of Hillel and Shammai were learning Torah and were in the midst of searching for what is the correct Halacha/Jewish Law, it wasn't 100% of the time for "the sake of Heaven". There were some of them who wanted to best the other party for their own benefit or political reasons, and so, it could only be said of Hillel and Shammai, who were great righeteous people, that their arguments between themselves were truly for the sake of Heaven. And as for Korach, Moses wasn't looking for a fight, as I mentioned earlier. And speaking of Matza, this word is the Gematria of 135, the number of this post. And Chametz, which refers to leavened food that is forbidden to be eaten on Passover, represents what Korach became at the end from such an accomplished person to someone who became leavened, spoiled, soured, and wound up at the end being swallowed alive by the earth. To note, the Gematria of Chametz is 138, one more than the number 137 which represents the Tribe of Levi as the same age of the passing of Levi, ancestor of this tribe, as well as the age of the passing of Amram, father of Moses and Aaron. Hence, Korach in essence attempted not to simply be even with Moses or Aaron, but TO SURPASS THEM, due to his own status which he didn't realize was status enough for himself, along with being a Levite serving in the Mishkan in contrast with the rest of the Jewish people; however, he didn't realize his limits and instead sought to be ahead of everyone else. And even if for whatever reason, Korach would have been satisfied with Aaron being the Cohen Gadol, since after all, he was the son of the older brother of Korach's father, Korach certainly would not have put up with Aaron's son Elazar being the next Cohen Gadol based on Korach's rationale, since Korach, as Aaron's first cousin, would have felt that at the very least, he should be the next one in line pending Moses still being alive. You see, the names of Elazar, Aaron's son and Korach have the same Gematria of 308... Ultimately, Korach's big problem was his Ga'avah/haughtiness, which is represented by the Chametz, the symbolism of Ga'avah, as the composite of Chametz is dough that rises, which we totally avoid on Pesach, the holiday on which the Jewish people became a nation, who are supposed to be subservient to Hashem as one united nation. Korach with his haughtiness behaved just the opposite of his first cousin Moses, of whom Scripture attests "The man Moses was humble more than anyone on the face of the earth" (Numbers 12:3). One more thing before concluding Part Three of the Tribe of Levi series. Speaking of Number 135, let's turn to Psalm 135. OK, as I just mentioned in the previous paragraph that Matza is the Gematria of 135, in Psalm 135, the events of the Exodus that caused the celebration of Passover, the Feast of Matzot (Chag HaMatzot) are mentioned. But perhaps more importantly, bearing in mind the lesson of the LEVITE MATZA, we see that at the concluding verses of this psalm, it mentions in one verse "House of Aaron - Bless Hashem" and then beginning of the next verse, it states "House of Levi - Bless Hashem". I think this says it all. And for our next post- Part Four, we will examine another of the Temple duties of the Tribe of Levi, particularly the Levites. Stay tuned. Posted by shimonmatisyahu at 11:44 AM No comments: #134 - Tribe of Levi: The 24 Watches (Part 2) Without further ado, let's begin this post with Psalm 134, bearing the same number as the number of this post, the final one of the 15 psalms called the Song of Ascents (Psalms 120-134), recited by the Levites on special occasions in the Temple, such as at the water drawing festivities during the holiday of Succot. These psalms when recited in the Temple were recited one psalm per step from the Ezrat Nashim (women quarters) to the Ezrat Yisrael (area where only the men entered). It wound up being that the final Psalm 134 of the 15 Song of Ascents was recited on the top step, following which the Cohanim entered to do their priestly services, and the Levites resumed their singing when daylight would break. With this, we can understand the meaning of this psalm which consists of three verses "A Song of Ascents. Behold, all you servants of Hashem, who are standing in the House of Hashem at nights, bless Hashem. Raise up your hands in holiness and bless Hashem. May Hashem bless you from Zion, the One who makes heaven and earth". A couple of questions can be asked on this last verse. Why is Hashem described particularly here as the "One whom makes heaven and earth" rather than some other type of description; for example, the holy One, the great One, or the One who took us out of Egypt as mentioned many times in our prayers and the Tanach/Bible? Also, what does it mean as "makes" in the present tense as though this is something that Hashem presently does when He already created the world some 5,772 years ago? As we see in the Midrash, the Mishkan/Tabernacle or Beit HaMikdash/Temple is a microcosm of the world; meaning, the different parts of the House of Hashem corresponds to the various parts of creation. And practically speaking, just as people, especially the Jewish nation, are expected to behave a certain way in serving Hashem in the world at large; in the Temple, the place where the Divine Presence can be felt the most, there are special types of ritual that highlights the concept of serving Hashem, for outside the grounds of the House of Hashem, offering sacrifices for instance is forbidden, even if one has the best intentions in the world to serve Hashem, for this is a type of service of the King of Kings that is exclusive in His palace. And while it is true that Hashem constantly renews the world since the time of creation as we say in our daily morning prayers "Who renews the work of creation in His goodness every day, always", so when we say in this psalm "the One who makes the heavens and earth"; as it relates to the Temple, performing the service in the House of Hashem is in effect renewing creation, for without the concept of serving Hashem, there would have been no useful purpose of Hashem creating this world. As mentioned in the Talmud (Tractate Ta'anit), if it weren't for the Ma'amadot "Posts" (as explained eloquently by the Jastrow dictionary - "A division (for the singular use of the word) of popular representatives deputed to accompany the daily services in the Temple with prayers, and also a corresponding division in the country towns, answering to the divisions/guards of Cohanim and Levites"), heaven and earth would not be in a state of existance. Of course one may ask that if the Temple with the Divine Service is presently not in operation, then how does the world still exist. For this, we have a verse that tells us how it's still possible for this world to continue to be in existance "...if not for My covenant day and night, I would not have places the statues of heaven and earth" (Jeremiah 33:25), and covenant refers to the Torah which is clearly the life force of this world's existance. It's interesting to note that the concept of worshiping Hashem in the House of Hashem, in the context of the Beit HaMikdash/Temple, is mentioned especially in the FIFTEENTH and LAST psalm of the Song of Ascents. We find similarly in the Haggadah of Passover that there is a list of 15 things that Hashem provided us, beginning with the Exodus. The final one of this list is the Temple, because this is the final step for the ultimate spiritual state of the Jewish people to be able to serve Hashem in fulfillment of the Taryag Mitzvot/613 Commandments in their entirety. And speaking of serving Hashem, the first three generations of the Jewish people who served Hashem - our Avot/Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, lived in this world at the same time for 15 years. In fact, we see that on the day of Abraham's passing, who passed away five years earlier than he was supposed to thanks to his evil grandson Esau who turned to doing evil so Abraham would not die being aggrevated knowing this, that Esau, in order that his brother Jacob would give him beans that Esau was famished for following a day full of tiring sinful activities, sold his birthright, which was the service of the Kehuna/Priesthood which he initially entitled to as the firstborn, to Jacob. In this way, there was not even a day present since the day that Jacob, future ancestor of the Jewish people, was born, that went by without either the trio forefathers being alive simultaneously representing the concept of service of Hashem in groups of three as we will see shortly with the three posts of the Cohanim in the Temple, or that the rights and responsibilities of the Kehuna were in the right hands, when handed over from the forces of evil to the forces of good which was Jacob, the third of the Patriarchs. Now, there was one type of service in the Temple that both Cohanim and Levites performed, unlike virtually the other types of services which were only performed by Cohanim or Levites. This is the Mitzva of guarding the Temple. Now, this was not done in order to prevent robbers, thieves, or unwanted people from entering, for in the early times, if a non-Cohen would walk in an area that was forbidden to him as a Cohen zoned area, he would immediately die by the hands of Heaven. Rather, the guarding that was performed was to show to the Temple and ultimately, to Hashem by standing at some area as a guard, the same way that is done in a palace as part of the respect shown for the king. As per the verse in the psalm "who stand in the House of Hashem at nights", this Mitzva of guarding was done specifically at nights, at a time when sacrifices were not offered. Tractate Middot, the tractate that describes the details and measurements of the Temple, wastes not time immediately beginning off with the mention of Cohanim watching post at three areas, and the Levites at 21 areas. Without getting into detail of the exact places here, let us briefly examine the significance of the number of posts here. Yes, we count a total of 24 posts, but let us note the amount of posts per group. We see that the Cohanim performed watch at a total of one-eighth of the posts, and the Levites performed at watch at a total of seven eighths of the posts. Hence, we see here the concept of the number eight, which is the number that represents miracles that happen beyond nature, for as we see in Pirkei Avot/Ethics of the Fathers (5:8), a list of 10 miracles that took place in the Temple. Similarly, the Cohen Gadol, the ultimate representative of both the Cohanim and the Jews in the service of the Temple, wore a total of eight garments, and it was only with the Cohen Gadol that the breastplate that he wore was used to ask questions from Hashem, and the answer would light up among the letters that were etched in the stones of the breastplate, a phenomenon that existed nowhere else. It's also interesting to note that the Rambam/Maimonides begins the EIGHTH of the 14 volumes of Mishne Torah, his magnum opus which includes the laws of the Torah, with the laws of the Temple, consisting of EIGHT chapters. Now, as far as the Ma'amadot were concerned, there were also a total of 24 watches, dividing up the amount of Cohanim and Levites into 24 respective groups, who served in the Temple, as well as 24 selected groups of non-Cohanim/Levites (some of whom officiated with their respective duties in Jerusalem, and others in other parts of Israel), as listed in Divrei Hayomim (Book of Chronicles) the 24th and final Sefer of the Tanach. Now, in the early days in the history of the Cohanim, there were only two existing sons of Aaron - Elazar & Ithamar, and hence only three Cohanim in the beginning (this is where it is learned out that Cohanim watched at three posts of the Temple, guess Aaron and his two sons didn't have too much sleep or time with their families between their day and night jobs in the Mishkan!). Meanwhile, Moses designated a number of watches from the future families of Elazar and Ithamar, which is subject of a difference of opinion in the Talmud (Ta'anit 27a) as to how many watches from each one that he designated. Some say that he designated four watches from each of the two sons of Aaron. Others say that he designated eights watches from each of the two. Whoever is correct, one thing that we do see that the number eight again stands out, also related to the concept of 24 watches, so in effect, the number eight was not related just to the Cohen Gadol especially, but to the Cohanim as well. Now, we see that aside from the watches - the Cohanim and Levites had their respective duties, and if was a sin for either a Cohen or a Levi to perform a service that is the exclusive Mitzva of the group to whom were commanded to perform. However, it wasn't long after the Torah was given, that none other than a Levite cousin of Moses and Aaron would dare to challenge this. Stay tuned for Part Three of the Tribe of Levi series... Posted by shimonmatisyahu at 7:26 AM No comments: #133 - Tribe of Levi: The 3 Levite Families (Part 1) My dear friends, these five posts - #133 through #137 - will be a five part series pertaining to the Levitical tribe of which I belong as a Levi/Levite. I hope to keep each post relatively short, because what one post won't explain in its entirety will be explained in one or more of these other posts, as they will be related, but just differing with the focus of the particular post. We see that in Exodus Chapter Six (in Parshat Va'era), seemingly out of nowhere, following Hashem telling Moses and Aaron to command Pharaoh to let the Jews out of Egypt, that the families of the first three tribes of Israel - Reuben, Shimeon & Levi - are mentioned. The bottom line reason for this was to trace the ancestry of Moses and Aaron, but this begins with Reuben being that in Jacob's blessings to his children on his deathbed, he had castigated these first three sins for their shortcomings. Hence, to make it up to them, as they were righteous people after all, the Torah allowed a special section to mention them alone. Now, although Levi was one of these three children, the end result is that his great grandchildren were the greatest Tzadikim/righteous people of all time - Moses & Aaron. But meanwhile, leading up to these two, the Torah mentions the ages of three generations before them - Levi, Kehath & Amram - with their respective ages at their passing as 137, 133, and 137. Why Hashem wanted it this way, I don't know. But what we do see is that Levi lived the longest of the tribes (aside from Joseph whose age of 110 is also mentioned in the Torah, we have a Midrashic tradition of the ages of the other tribes). But more on Levi and Amram of their age of passing in 137 in a future post. Today, in my 133rd Post, I will focus on the sandwiched Kehath whose age of passing was 133. Kehath was one of the three sons of Levi, the other two being Gershon and Merari. Now, I should note that although almost all Jews who are Cohanim and Levi'im today know their tribal status, unlike most other Jews in the civilized, mainstream Jewish community (there are segments of peoples in particular places in this world who claim to be of some of the other tribes, no doubt being part of the Lost Ten Tribes, but this post is not the time to discuss this), I don't think that there are two many Levites today (not including the Cohanim who know for a fact that their parental line is from Kehath since they know they are from Aaron) who know which of these three Levite families they are descendants from. While among the Taryag Mitzvot/613 Commandments, this makes no practical difference, even in the times of the Temple, since there are specific commandments for all Levites across the board, Cohanim, and Cohen Gadol/High Priest, we do see that there were practical differences of those descended of one of these three Levite families in the times of the Mishkan/Tabernacle who performed one or another type of holy work. While the other two Levitical families of Gershon & Merari were involved in the more physical type of labor related to the Mishkan, the Kehathites were considered more special in that they were the ones designated to carry the Holy Ark, which represents the Torah, as it contained both the Sefer Torah and the Ten Commandments tablets. Now note, the truth is that this particular service was really meant for the Cohanim. In fact we see that nearly 40 years later, when the Jews came to Israel under the leadership of Joshua, it was the Cohanim who carried the Holy Ark. But since at the dedication of the Mishkan, the only Cohanim available were Aaron and his two sons Elazar & Ithamar (while his first two sons Nadab & Abihu perished on that very day), and they were busy enough as it is with the Priestly service in the Mishkan, it was this particular Levite family who held this responsibility. In fact, in the Maftir of Parshat Bamidbar, Hashem warns Moses and Aaron to see to it that the Kehathites don't screw up and not perform the service the right way so they wouldn't die, since the Holy Ark was the holiest object that existed in this universe. OK, so Kehath son of Levi apparently must have been a greater Tzadik/righteous person than his two brothers to have merited to have the two greatest righteous men to be his grandchildren. In any case, since I mentioned that until the Cohanim became more numerous, the Kehathites performed certain duties that were in essence Priestly duties that later were only permitted for Cohanim exclusively, there must be some special connection with the whole Kehathite family as related to Aaron. Actually, we are not far off. One need only look to Psalm 133, the number of the psalm that is the same age of Kehath at his passing, to see this connection in one of the shortest psalms in Tehilim consisting of three verses - "like the good oil on the head, going down on the beard, the beard of Aaron..." What does this supposed to mean? Well, we know that Aaron, as mentioned in the Parsha of this very week - Parshat Tetzaveh, was anointed with the anointing oil, which was applied on his head. So, who cares if some of it dripped on his beard? It doesn't mention anything in the Parsha of this oil as pertaining to his beard. There is a very interesting Midrash on this. When Moses annointed Aaron with this oil, some of it wound up dripping on his beard. Aaron became frightened from this, because as we know, if one benefits from holy Temple objects without the permission of the Torah, one has committed the sin of Me'ila, desecration of such objects, and one is obligated to bring a guilt offering as well as paying not just the principal amount that one benefited from, but an extra fifth of it. Hence, Aaron worried that he committed a sin from benefiting from the oil that some of it dripped on his beard, even though he physically didn't even apply the oil himself. However, he felt that nevertheless, he still could have been responsible, since after all, he accidentally helped the Golden Calf be created, which caused the Jews to be punished for idolatry. Hence, Aaron felt that maybe this happened to him now, because really, he wasn't so worthy due to a past sin, even though that was unintentional. To this, Moses assured him that he need not worry. If anything, this was a sign of blessing being that extra oil was dripping showing Hashem's abundance "for there, Hashem commanded the blessing". And speaking of abundance, I want to show a unique Gematria as related to Kehath's name - in Hebrew as Kehat, the letters being Koof, Hei, Tav/Sav. Now, rearranging these letters, making Hei the first letter to spell a number as Hei-Tav-Koof, this spells the Hebrew number 5,500; being that Hei becomes a unit of thousand as 5,000 rather than its usual or plain Gematira as five when place in the beginning of a number (Hei:5,000, Tav:400+Koof:100=500). Yes, I am referring specifically to the Hebrew year 5,500, which was 272 years ago. Any connection here? There is a most interesting piece of Zohar on Parshat Noach that notes that in the sixth century of the sixth millenium of the world's existance, there will be a flood of wisdom, paralleling Noah's age of 600 at the Flood of Noah. Indeed, we see that basically between the years 5,500-5,600, both major spiritual developments - the Hasidic & Yeshiva world as we know it today, as well as major materialistic developments - inventions that changed the world, took place. Kehath, as the holiest of the three Levite families, was a spiritual depository of what was needed for the Mishkan, which paralled Hashem's creation of the world. Additionally, this family, highlighted by Aaron as the first Cohen Gadol, represented the ultimate spiritual service to Hashem, which is called Avodat Hashem. And the concept of Avodah in the materialistic sense is applicable particularly to the first six days of the week, in which we prepare for Shabbat. Similarly, the 6,000 years of the world's existance is a preparation for the ultimate Shabbat that the righteous will enjoy forever. Hence, when dividing the 6,000 years into 12 parts, the time period of Years 5,500-5,600 represent the first part of the 12th and final 500 year period of the world's existance (we see in Kabbala that 500 years is used as the measurement of time between one spiritual world and the next). Accordingly, this period of time corresponds to the beginning of the daytime of the sixth day of the week, about which we see that the Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim Siman 250) tells us to arise early on Friday morning to make the preparations for Shabbat. Coincidence? Another connection as related to the 12th and final period of the world's existance is that the Beit HaMikdash/Temple, successor of the Mishkan, was located mostly on the territory of the Tribe of Benjamin, the 12th and last of Jacob's sons. Hence, it was only fitting that the corresponding period of time should start off with major developments of the fountain of wisdom which ultimately comes from Hashem. And speaking of the Temple, today - 3 Adar - marks the dedication of the Second Temple - Bayit Sheni. That's it for Post 133. My next post, G-d willing, will be dealing with the various watches of the Tribe of Levi in the Temple, so stay tuned... Third of Adar, 5772 #132 - Are we in Hashem's Holy House or in a Club? Today, we begin the week of Parshat Terumah, the Parsha in which the construction of the Mishkan/Tabernacle is described in detail. While Jews whose observance of Judaism is very minimal, and looking at this Parsha, will wonder how reading this Parsha is relevant in our lives when we no longer have the Mishkan or Beit HaMikdash/Temple for that matter, reading all the numbered measurements, not understanding how this is relevant in their lives, a Jew who learns Torah understands that first of all, everything in the Torah is somehow relevant in our lives; and even if we don't understand how it does, we know for a fact that the Mitzva of learning Torah alone is the greatest Mitzva, but between Rashi, the Talmud, the Midrash, the Zohar, etc., one cannot help but see that we have plenty to learn from Parshiyot such as this one. I will get back to this topic a little later on in this post. But first, I want to mention something in the way of Gematriot that I was well able to relate to, especially this year. As an introduction, these past six weeks, the weeks of the Parshiyot Shemot through Mishpatim, are known in Kabbalistic circles as the weeks of Shovavim, this word being the acronym of the first letters of the names of these six Parshiyot - Shemot (Shin), Va'era (Vav), Bo (Beit/Veit), Beshalach (Beit/Veit), Yitro (Yud), Mishpatim (Mem). Now mind you, the word Shovavim isn't just a word as an acronym of these Parshiyot - this is an actual word that you will find mentioned three times in the entire Tanach/Bible, particularly in Sefer Yirmiyah/Book of Jeremiah (3:14,3:22,50:6), which means wayward or faithless, in the context referring to the Jewish people who were well misbehaved in the times of Jeremiah, who was the prophet that announced and was around for the destruction of the first Beit HaMikdash. The particular place in Jeremiah which is quoted as per the weeks of Shovavim is where it states "Return, O wayward sons, I (Hashem) will heal your waywardness..." (3:22). While it hardly did any good in Jeremiah's days, the Tanach, especially the prophecies of the Tanach, are no less relevant in our days, both in the way of learning how to be better Jews and in terms of the prophecies that were stated then are prophecies for the End of Days, which has already begun with the present war of Gog U'Magog, which I have mentioned before in this Gematriot blogspot. This is all very nice you may note, though the word Shovavim is a negative connotation, and in fact, may be of a wonder to some, being that some of the greatest accomplishments of the Jewish people took place in these Parshiyot - the Exodus and the Giving of the Torah. But when we start reading the beginning of Parshat Shemot, we see that it didn't take long for the Jews to become slaves, which didn't involve just physical slavery, but also was a spiritual slavery. In fact, the spiritual slavery began before the actual physical hard work, because the Jews to begin with, aside from the Tribe of Levi who were always involved with learning Torah and hence never became slaves to Pharaoh, were looking more or less to be part of the cultural Egyptian society. This mistake cost them 116 years, and it was only thanks to Hashem's graciousness that He freed them as early as He did, for technically, they were really supposed to be slaves for 400 years according to the literal Divine decree. In our own lives, we also experience the slavery of Mitzrayim, as we read this word as Meitzarim, the same word but just with different Hebrew vowels, which means straits or limitations. When we don't live our spiritual lives properly, as we let distractions get in the way, we are indeed enslaves to our base desires and temptations. And as the Kabbalists note pertaining to these six weeks of Shovavim, this is especially an opportune time to repent especially of our sins that are related to sexual immorality, not only in deed, but also in speech and even - and especially - thought, for it is the thought that brings us to do either good or evil to begin with. And hence, it is only when we take the step of our own personal Exodus from our spiritual slavery, and make a concerted effort to do better, it is then and only then that we are truly accepting the Torah on ourselves, though we in fact did accept the Torah thousands of years ago (even the souls of those who weren't born yet were present at the Giving of the Torah). There have been many Gematriot noted in relationship to this whole Shovavim period. However, a few key ones will highlight the points that I want to make today. To first note, in Jewish leap years, the "Shovavim" weeks are extended for two more weeks. What I mean by this is that although the entire year is a time of repentance at any time that we want to seriously repent of any and all sins that we may have committed, though the Ten Days of Repentance beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur is the most important time because this is the period that we are judged in, these Shovavim weeks are practical to people who also fast, give extra charity, learn extra Torah, etc. Now while I don't quite get the extra two weeks in terms of being a leap year, for if Shovavim is the acronym for the Parshiyot of six weeks, then this is the way it should be for every year. In any case, since this year was not a leap year, the total amount of days in this auspicious period were 42 days. With this said, the Shovavim period of this year was in my 42nd year of life. And so, there is something that I have to offer to the table here. You see, to begin with, the very first word of Parshat Shemot, the word that precedes the word Shemot, is V'Eileh ("these"), which is the Gematria of 42. Moreover, the first word of the last of these six Parshiyot - Parshat Mishpatim, which precedes the word HaMishpatim, is also V'Eileh. As especially pertaining to yesterday, Shabbat Parshat Mishpatim, the 42nd and final day of this Shovavim period, the Torah reading began with the word V'Eileh which is the Gematria of 42. Perhaps one lesson that we can learn from here is that regardless of what point in our lives we decide to do the right thing and get rid our desire for sins that only hold us back spiritually, which could be something eternal if they don't repent, even if it is late in our short and fleeting lives, as long as we can still breathe and are conscious, we can still repent. Each and every day of this 42 day period is not only part of one set of time, but each and every day of this period has its own unique qualities as part of this period of time, and so even the last day of this period if one hasn't done anything sooner, especially with the holiness of Shabbat, can be a springboard for one to resolve to repent. Now, in earlier times, the typical expression of repenting of certain sins, especially for sins related to sexual immmorality, was fasting. According to Kabbalah, one needs to fast 84 times for each such sin committed. However, in the more recent generations when our strength isn't the way it was for people at one time, fasting in the sense of not eating can be more spiritually harmful than helpful, for if one doesn't have the strength that one has on regular days from eating, then one may be lax in doing Mitzvot/commandments, or not doing them so well or properly, including learning Torah. Around a hundred years ago, a Sephardic rabbi instituted what is called Ta'anit Dibur, fasting through speech, that is, not talking anything mundane other than words of Torah. In fact, there are booklets of various prayers and Torah passages to be recited when a Ta'anit Dibur is observed, in repentance for one's sins, aside from the positive benefit of holding back from saying Lashon Hara/slander or Rechilut/gossip, among the worst of sins. Other forms of atonement in lieu of not eating is giving extra Tzadaka/charity, and of course Limud HaTorah, learning Torah, especially when one learns the parts of Torah that help one quick his bad spiritual habits, being made to realize that this world is a temporary place, and whatever one accomplishes spiritually good is what he takes with him forever, and nothing else. More on this last point shortly, but I do want to point out to an amazing find in relationship to Shovavim that I discovered in the Hidden Codes of the Torah. Spelling the word Shovavim equidistantly in the Chumash, the SHORTEST spelling of this word in the Chumash is in the first Aliyah of Parshat Shemot, which is customarily learned on the first day of this week (Exodus 1:11-14), every 29th letter being spelled to form this word (spelled in reverse). Taking a closer look, these are THE VERY VERSES DESCRIBING THE DETAILS OF THE HARD BREAKING WORK OF THE JEWS' EGYPTIAN SLAVERY! Hence, the message of Shovavim is loud and clear for all to hear - and see. For in fact, the Torah is telling us that the Egyptian slavery that the Jews endured is a hint to the spiritual slavery that we find ourselves in, and so right from the first day, as soon as we realize this message, we need to immediately start internalizing it, because after all, we never know what day will be our last in this earth, and then, all the excuses in the world won't help upstairs if we didn't even begin to do something towards the righteous path. In terms of the shortest equidistant spelling of the word Shovavim in all of the Tanach, we see that this occurs in Psalms 97, verses 6-8 (also spelled in reverse), being spelled every 14th letter. As we know from a Midrash, the Psalms 90-100 were composed by Moses, each psalm in honor of one of the tribes. Psalm 97 corresponds to the Tribe of Joseph. And as we know about Joseph himself, he avoided a major sexual temptation, and hence, earned the title of HaTzadik - The Righteous, as a result of this. Coincidence? Now, getting back to learning of Torah that can have an influence on us to better our ways; while in fact, ALL parts of the Torah is supposed to influence us in some way to better our spiritual lives, whether it is Chumash with Rashi, the Tanach, the Talmud, Halacha - Jewish law in which we learn how we observe the Mitzvot the proper way, etc., the part of the Torah that teaches us how to live our Jewish lives spiritually, more than just mere ritual, but getting rid of our bad habits, and working on acquiring good habits, realizing that this world is temporary, that we can be either lower than animals or higher than angels depending on our actions, and that we have to realize that we have to live with the realization that there is another world, which is eternal, where we will live according to our actions in this world, is called MUSSAR. This is often translated as ethical instruction or chastisement. In the entire Chumash, this word Mussar appears exactly one time "the Mussar (chastisement) of Hashem your G-d" (Deutronomy 11:2). In the entire Tanach, Sefer Mishlei/Book of Proverbs mentions this word some 30 times, more than all of the other books of the Tanach, for indeed, this book, a composition of the wisest of all men - King Solomon, makes us aware of the futility of life, instructing us on how to better ourselves, in effect, is the first Mussar Sefer in existance. Since then, many are what called Mussar Seforim (Mussar books) have been written. This concept of Mussar is especially relevant to this Shovavim period. But more than just this, I want to point out to a Gematria find that I found in Parshat Mishpatim. But first, I want to note that this year, Shabbat Parshat Mishpatim, the last day of the Shovavim period, fell out on the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yisroel (Lipkin) Salanter - 25 Shevat(5643/1883), founder of the Mussar movement, who emphasized the study of Mussar in Yeshivot whose primary learning was the study of the Talmud. However, while all parts of the Torah help us become better Jews, Rabbi Salanter realized that without the study of Mussar, one could study the Talmud merely as an intellectual exercise without thinking of the ultimate purpose of learning Torah as the Torah of Hashem, rather than some findings as of some professor or scientist. In fact, he said that it is easier to master the entire Talmud than changing one character trait. With this said, let's turn to the seventh Aliyah of Parshat Mishpatim, which many learn on Shabbat as the seventh day of the week. Now, while Matan Torah/Giving of the Torah, took place in the previous Parsha of Parshat Yitro, the end of Parshat Mishpatim relates some more details surrounding this period of time. The day before the Torah was given, it mentions at one point that "He (Moses) took the Sefer HaBrit (Book of the Covenant) and he read it for the nation to hear, who declared (after hearing this) "All that Hashem has spoken, we will do and we will hear"" (Exodus 24:7). While various rabbis and commentators debate as to exactly what this Sefer HaBrit consisted of, the fact that this book was called "The Covenant", the same wording as used not only for the Torah, but also for the Brit Milah/circumcision, highlights the point that in fact, one of the requirements that the Jews needed before the giving of the Torah was circumcision, just as a non-Jew who converts to Judaism goes through circumcision as one of the ways of becoming officially Jewish. Along the lines of repenting of sexual sins is the concept brought of Shemirat HaBrit "Watching the Covenant"; for while the beginning of this process is circumcision which curbs a bit of the sexual desire, this is done to us when are only eight days old. However, our life long job is to maintain our level of purity and go even higher, instead of doing things that will contaminate the spirituality as related to our sexual organ which, aside from our restroom needs, is supposed to be used solely for being with one's mate primarily for the purpose of having children. Aside from this, satisfying our sexual lust in other ways are strictly forbidden, however tempting it may be. However, even for those who have sinned in these matters, there is also room for repentance, not only in making the change for oneself, but to spread this awareness to others to counter effect, and at times, to convert to good, the spiritual damage caused by such sins. So, in terms of Mussar and the Brit, the word HaBrit "The Covenant", has the same Gematria (617) as one of the Mussar Seforim that is called Sheivet Mussar (Rod of Mussar), authored by Rabbi Eliyahu HaCohen. And believe it or not, this author's name and title Eliyahu HaCohen is the Gematria of the number of this post - 132! As far the name of this Sefer, this is a phrase that appears once in the entire Tanach - in the Biblical Book of Mussar - Sefer Mishlei (Proverbs 22:15). In fact, the Sefer "Sheivet Mussar" mentions this verse in Proverbs once in his Sefer, so let me quote here the paragraph in this Sefer that quotes this verse from which he derived the name of this Sefer, which will also, by the way, give you a taste of what this Sefer is like: "Some say that one's evil nature rules; and hence, Mussar won't do any good for a person! However, this is nothing short of vain words and falsehood. Addressing this very issue, King Solomon, may peace be upon him, stated (Proverbs 22:15): "Foolishness is tied up in the heart of a lad, but the ROD OF CHASTISEMENT will keep it far from him". This means to say that even though this evil nature (of foolishness) is tied up in the heart of a lad; nevertheless, all it takes is a little rod of chastisement to keep it far from him. It is also mentioned (earlier in the same chapter in Proverbs 22:6): "Educate/Train a lad by his way, for even when he gets old, this education/training will not depart from him". Similarly, we see many places in Proverbs where King Solomon warns about chastisement of children. If so, what we see that it is habit that is the ultimate thing that controls a person - not nature. For if one will not be trained with awe of authority and chastisement when young, then even when he grows up (physically, but not necessarily with maturity or spirituality), he won't grant awe and honor either to his Father in Heaven, or to his parents, so how will he merit length of days (Note: this could possibly refer to both in this world and the next)" (Shevet Mussar 17:4) Anyways, we see that with the word Sheivet, aside from the Hebrew vowels, it is the same word as the name of this month Shevat in which we always read Parshat Mishpatim, the conclusion of this Shovavim period (in a non-leap year such as this one), the month in which the founder of the Mussar movement passed away. And so, perhaps the Torah is hinting to this very Sefer via Gematria when it mentions the Sefer HaBrit. Another point as related to the Gematria of the name of this Sefer relates to the dual parts of human beings - man and woman, which in Hebrew is Ish & Isha. As it turns out, these two Hebrew words, which are related to each other as we see in Genesis Chapter when Adam's wife Eve was created from his rib, are the respective Gematriot of the two words of the name of this Sefer: Sheivet-Ish (311) & Mussar-Isha (306). But perhaps what is even more amazing is that these two words Ish-Isha are written as consecutive words exactly three times in the entire Tanach - and of all places, in Parshat Ki Teitze, the Parsha with the most Mitzvot of the Torah - 74, which mentions various Mitzvot as related to marriage. Additionally, Parshat Ki Teitze is the 49th Parsha of the Torah, and the day that Moses read the Sefer HaBrit, whose phrase is the Gematria of the Ish-Isha wording, took place on the 49th day of the original Sephira count of the Jewish people following the Exodus (the date of 5 Sivan)! And what is so special about this number 49? It is the square root of the number seven. Accordingly, just as the Jewish people counted seven weeks following the Exodus in their preparation of receiving the Torah when they went to the Mikva (ritual bath) right before the Torah was given in their final purification process, so too does a Niddah (menstruant woman) following the days that she is bleeding, count afterwards seven clean days, following which she goes to the Mikva to be pure once again for her husband, resuming the full Ish-Isha relationship. In terms of repenting of sexual sins and attaining sexual purity in the terms of Shmirat HaBrit - watching of the Holy Covenant, the Brit Mila, and Shmirat Einayim - watching of the eyes from seeing things that tempt us to sin, the only permitted type of sexual activity is between the Ish & Isha, who are called particularly with these wordings for man & woman rather than other terms in Hebrew, because it is these terms specifically that refer to the husband and wife, as we see with the first marriage of the first couple in the world - Adam & Eve. We see that the Mitzva of learning/teaching Torah comes from the phrase of V'Shinantam L'Vaneich V'Dibarta Bam "You shall teach them diligently to your childen and you shall speak of them", where the word Bam (of them) consists of the letters that spell the number 42 in Hebrew. And so, it is this last day of the Shovavim period, the 42nd day, on which Parshat Mishpatim ends about some of the details pertaining to the Giving of the Torah when we mention this Sefer HaBrit and the famous declaration that the Jews made with their official acceptance of the Torah "Na'aseh V'Nishma" - We will do and we will hear (Note: The word V'Nishma "we will hear" has the same letters as my first name Shimon), that especially relates to the Mitzva of Torah learning. In fact, the word Shovavim itself is the Gematria of the acronym Shas (360), which are the letters for Shisha Sedarim, the Six Orders (of the Mishna) which is used primarily in reference of the Talmud, which includes the Gemara. Moreover, on Shabbat Mishpatim of this year, we especially read for the Maftir, the section of the Torah called Shekalim (Exodus 30:11-16) referring to the half-Shekel that every Jew gave for the needs of the Mishkan, which is always read on Shabbat Mishpatim in a non-leap year except when Rosh Chodesh Adar falls out on Shabbat when we read this special section then after the Torah reading of Parshat Terumah. And as we know, Torah study in this world survives thanks to the generous donation of other's monies. Accordingly, the word Shekalim is the same Gematria as the word Talmud (480). Now, aside from the fact that the Shovavim period is now over, though it is never too late to repent as long as we are still breathing and conscious in this world, you may ask, "This is all very nice. But, what does it have to do with the title of this post? For this, let's take a look at the first Rashi of last week's Parshat Mishpatim: Wherever in the Torah - it states the word Eileh "These" without the prefix Vav (which literally means "and"), it doesn't relate to the previous subject just mentioned. V'Eileh "And these" on the other hand, adds to the previous subject, telling us in this instance that just as the Mitzvot from the end of the previous Parsha - Parshat Yitro - was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, so are these Mitzvot that will be stated here. More particularly, why are the laws of justice in this Parsha placed next to the laws of an altar in the previous Parsha? To tell us that the Sanhedrin (the Supreme Court of Justice) is located on the Temple grounds". So as we see, there is an intrinsic connection between the Temple and Torah learning, as indeed, the verse tells us "for from Zion will Torah will go out forth, and the word of Hashem from Jerusalem" (Isaiah, 2:3; Micah 4:2). And as far as atonement of sins is concerned, we see that both Torah learning and the Temple were in the forefront of this. Torah learning: When the sons of Eli the High Priest were misbehaving with the Divine Service in the Tabernacle, Hashem announced that never again would they or their descendants be atoned for through the sacrifices that they so despised, using them for their own pleasure of eating rather than follow the Jewish laws carefully pertaining to the meat of these sacrifices. However, the rabbis learn out from this that they can be atoned for through Torah learning. The Temple: We see in the Passover Hagada in the list of favors that Hashem did for us from time of the Exodus, the final one of the 15 is the Temple "to atone for our sins". Getting back to our Parsha which is about the details of the building of the Mishkan, the verse states "You shall make for Me a Sanctuary so I can live within them" (Exodus 25:8). Question: What does the verse mean by the word "them"? Is the Sanctuary a plural type of building that this is referred to as "them"? Or, perhaps the Torah is referring to something else that means "them"? And to the rescue, the Midrash states that Hashem will live "within the midst of each and every Jew". Yes, we may have the physical Sanctuary, as nowadays, our synagogues and study days have the classification of being called a mini-Sanctuary (Tabernacle, Temple) "Mikdash Me'at", but the ultimate place of Hashem's holiness has to be felt within each and everyone of ourselves. To illustrate this a bit, once the Ba'al Shem Tov, among his many journeys with his disciples, chanced upon a big synagogue smack in the midst of a town. However, though it was time to pray, the Ba'al Shem Tov would not step foot in it. (Nowadays, this may happen with some "Orthodox" Jewish rabbis who won't pray in a Conservative or Reform "temple" being that their structure and basis of their existence is based on going against Jewish tradition and laws). So of course his disciples asked him why we wouldn't enter this big synagogue. The Ba'al Shem Tov replied: "It is full of prayers that never made it upstairs as they were not proper prayers". Now, a Jew who learns Halacha/Jewish Law, will know that there are several qualifications for both preparedness for prayers and the prayers themselves. Needless to say, or rather, we need to say, that if we are talking to the King of Kings, we should be well aware of what we are saying to him when we pray - to both understand and thinking of what we are saying to Him, and not speaking as robots without any feeling or meaning of these words just because they happened to be the words presented in the Siddur/prayer book. Of course, as human nature may seem to dictate, we don't always get it all right, and we let ourselves get distracted from various factors in life, thinking of what's going around us. However, along the lines that I mentioned a little earlier about habit vs. nature in training youth to follow the right way, we can hope that eventually, we will get it right for the most part, but it starts with the belief that we can make the change if we sincerely believe that it is possible. While we may not have full concentration on our prayers 100% of the time, certainly some of the time is better than none of the time. In terms of communal prayer in a house of worship, there are very strict rules about not talking - especially in the midst of these prayers. While occasionally, we may forget ourselves for a moment, especially when we see a good friend of ours enters the synagogue, whom we haven't seen in a while; blatant talking to another not only is sinning oneself, but is causing the one to whom he is talking to also sin by causing him to talk, as well as distract other worshipers who are attempting to hear the cantor or Torah reading, when at times, certain holy words such as Amen, Yehei Shemei Rabba, etc, are recited. Rabbi Yosef Karo, author of the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) states outright (Orach Chaim Siman 127) about such a person who has total disregard of Hashem's house of worship "his sin is greater than can be borne, and we shout at him to stop". Now normally, it is forbidden to shame a Jew in public, even if he committed a sin such as eating non-kosher, and need to be approached rather in a way that won't be embarrassing to him so long as he doesn't show to be openly mocking the Torah. However, someone who talks freely as if in a social bar or club openly mocks the Torah, having the great Chutzpa to be behaving the way as he is in Hashem's Holy House in public preventing not only himself from being attentive to the prayers or Torah reading (which is in effect Hashem speaking to us), but preventing one or more people from doing the same. And along these lines, the Chofetz Chaim notes that quite often, these types of conversations are not merely just any words, but words that are the greatest of sins - slander and gossip about other Jews, in which each and every word is anothe sin, or rather, consists sometimes of many sins (up to 31 sins! - See the beginning of the Sefer Chofetz Chaim). And so, the ultimate Chutzpa of such a guy causing not only himself, but at least one other Jew with speaking and hearing conversation in the midst of prayers that are often filled with slander on the holy Shabbat; indeed, there is no end of Gehinom/Hell for such a person. Of course the guy didn't just murder someone, but in certain ways, he is even worse than a murderer who just took someone else's physical life; for causing others to sin, murdering someone spiritually is EVEN WORSE than murdering someone only phsyically. Many years back in South Florida, I was the Torah reader for a synagogue that was called the "California Club Shul", for although this was in Florida, the area in which this Shul was located was called California Club. I'll never forget the time that an elderly cantor who performed services for this Shul during the High Holidays commented that we should change the "numen" (means name in Yiddish) of the Shul, for it is not proper that such a place should be called a club. Don't know how aware he was of the reason why this Shul was named as such, but certainly, better that a Shul that is named "Club" where there is respect for a Shul, then a Shul with some "heilige numen" (holy name) in which big "Machers", the ones who support the Shul with their big money feel that because of their financial status, it is OK for them to say what they want and when, since after all, so one will "dare tell them" to keep quiet during the prayers. Very unfortunately, this is what happens in some synagogues, but in Hashem's eyes, it is the simple Jews, the ones who care about Halacha who have respect for a Shul, who while they don't have a whole lot of money to give to help support Hashem's Holy House, their respect for the Shul means MILLIONS OF TIMES MORE to Hashem than the easy money that these Machers throw for the Shul's upkeep and the herring Kiddush at which they stuff their faces and speak freely about other Jews who aren't of their financial standing. Interestingly, the word CLUB in Hebrew can be technically spelled as Koof, Lamed, Beit, the very number in Hebrew for the number of this post - 132! In fact, this was the very spelling of this word on the Sefer Torah cover for the first Sefer Torah that was donated to the California Club Shul. In another use of this number, some recite the following verse as the first thing that they recite as they enter a synagogue "How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel" which are rabbis say refer to the synagogues and the study halls. But what is ironic is that this verse was recited by none other than the evil Bilam, who sought to curse the Jews; but instead, found himself blessing the Jews, as Hashem directed his mouth. And this takes place in Parshat Balak, a Parsha that is named after Balak, the Moabite king who hated the Jews so much, that he hired Bilam to curse them. Anyways, the name Balak, when spelled backwards in Hebrew, also spells the number 132! Perhaps Hashem is hinting to us that the synagogue and places where Torah is learned are supposed to be just the opposite of what a club represents which is total looseness of oneself, laughing and mocking of others. In short, it has to be one or the other - you can't have your cake and eat it too, not if you want to treat a house of prayer and Torah learning as a holy place, for there is nothing holy or spiritual about the behavior of a "club" type of life. But this is not the end of Balak. You see, he had a descendant named Ruth who converted to Judaism, whose story is the Book of Ruth, the shortest of the 24 books of the Tanach, and her great grandson was Dovid HaMelech/King David. And of the 150 psalms of Tehillim/Psalms under his authorship, what is Psalm 132? It is one of the few psalms in Tehillim that show his unique relationship with Hashem, including his quest for finding Hashem's House and resting place, which of course refers to the future Temple that he sought to build. As it turns out, it was meant for his son Shlomo HaMelech/King Solomon to be the one under whose kingship it would be built, but we see that credit is still given to King David for being the one responsible for the building of the Temple, since after all, it was him and Shmuel HaNovi/Samuel the Prophet who together discovered exactly where the Torah wanted the Temple to be built. To note, this psalm is the longest of the 15 Song of Ascents (Psalms 120-134). Now, on a personal note before I conclude this post, being that my daughter whose Hebrew name Tamar Tzadika was born just like a couple months ago, I have been using the Hidden Codes of the Torah to see about any hints regarding her or her name. Knowing that the name Tamar in Hebrew which consists of only three letters, can be spelled equidistantly tens of thousands of times, I figured that I would play a bit with her second name Tzadika which consists of five Hebrew letters, and additionally, the letters Tzadi, Dalet, and Koof are among the lesser used letters in the Torah; hence, zeroing on a possible place in the Torah where an equidistant spelling of this name can be found. In fact, it can't be found even as a consecutive letter spelling in the entire Chumash. So, using the Chumash, I found an amazing discovery. I looked for the least spelled equidistant spelling of this name. And where is this? In the seventh Aliyah of Parshat Mishpatim (in verses 6-12 of Exodus Chapter 24), the major subject of this post in relationship to the 42nd and last day of the Shovavim period! In my case, my daughter Tamar Tzadika was born in my 42nd year. Is this coincidence? Certainly my daughter's name is not, and the proof is that the one thing that people have Ruach HaKodesh/Divine Inspiration for nowadays, as our rabbis tell us, is for naming their children. But wait, this is not all. Her name Tzadika spelled equidistantly in the least amount of letters is spelled every 81st letter. And mentioning a little earlier here about square roots, the square root of 81 is nine. And Yesod/Foundation, the ninth Sephira of the 10 Sephirot, represents sexual purity as well as the righteous person/Tzadik, and the feminine form of this word is Tzadika! This is found in the very section of the Torah which speaks of the final preparations that the Jews made in their readiness of receiving the Torah, representing the concept of being Tahor/pure, and the sixth and final volume of the Mishnayot is called Taharot/Purities, which corresponds to Yesod as the sixth of the active Sephirot. Speaking of which, within the midst of these verses, read what it says (verse 10) - K'Ma'asei Livnat HaSapir U'Chetzem HaShamayim LaTohar "like the work of a sapphire brick and like the purity of the midst of the sky", the description of what the elite of the Jewish people saw when they were starting to ascend Mt. Sinai with Moses. As we see in the Hebrew, the words Sapir and Tohar are very similar to the words Sephira/Sephirot and Tahor/Teharot. However, this would not be complete without noting the following in relationship to this. The letter Tzadi of the name in the equidistant spelling is found in the very verse in which the various parts of the Torah that Hashem says that He will give to Moses, is mentioned (see Talmud Berachot 5a). The letter Tzadi is found particularly in the word V'HaMitzva "and the Commandment", which our rabbis tell us refers to the Mishna, noting that my daughter Tamar Tzadika was born on 15 Kislev, the Yahrzeit of Rebbe, the compiler of the six orders of the Mishna! (Note, the Mishna that Hashem gave over to Moses was not allowed to be written down but only to be passed orally from one generation to the next. It was only in Rebbe's time when he feared what would happen to Torah learning with the suffering of the Jewish people, that based on a verse, knew that it was the correct thing to write down the teachings of the Mishna at that point and time to prevent the Torah from being forgotten). And as connected with the following Parsha, which is called Parshat Terumah, my daughter's first name Tamar are all in the name of the Parsha of this week, immediately following the end of Parshat Mishpatim with the closest equidistant spelling of my daughter's second Hebrew name Tzadika. Coincidence? We know that everyone and all events, as mentioned by the Vilna Gaon, are hinted to somewhere in the Chumash. Indeed, the words Terumah/donation or contribution - which includes the letters of the name Tamar, and Tzedaka/charity which is closely resembled by the name Tzadika which just includes the Yud in them middle of this name, are most related to each other to the concept of donating charity, and are used very frequently when speaking of Tzedaka in Israeli society today. Truly amazing! And as mentioned earlier, Tzedaka is mentioned as one of the ones of atoning for sexual sins, mentioning earlier about giving charity in lieu of 84 fasts, and the number 84 is twice the number of 42. Moreover, we call giving Tzedaka in lieu of fasting as a substitution, which in Hebrew is called Temurah, using the same letters as the word Terumah. In fact, the word Temurah is even closer to the name Tamar because it is using the same letters as Tamar - in order of its letters. So, now that we are in prepare mode of praying in a holy place, my next five posts will be dealing with the group of Jews who are the role models for the rest of the nation serving Hashem in the House of Hashem - the Tribe of Levi which includes both Cohanim and Levites. Stay tuned shortly... 26 Shevat, 5772 #133 - Tribe of Levi: The 3 Levite Families (Part ... #132 - Are we in Hashem's Holy House or in a Club?... #131 - The Mentchlich Way of Living About Me, Myself & I (Nefesh, Ruach & Neshama) Born on Rosh Chodesh Iyar-1 Iyar- mentioned twice in the beginning of Sefer Bamidbar-Book of NUMBERS,I was born with a special GIFT OF HASHEM to reveal Torah Secrets through the means of Gematriot-value of NUMBERS of the Holy Hebrew Letters. On Sunday,Rosh Chodesh Nissan 5768,I gave myself a 2nd Hebrew name- Matisyahu,which means GIFT OF HASHEM-naming myself after Matisyahu Ben Yochanan Kohen Gadol,the patriach of the Maccabees,who had no fear disobeying the Anti-Semitic orders of the Syrian-Greeks who forbade Jews to serve Hashem & fought for the truth that led to the holiday of Chanuka. On Sunday,26 Kislev 5770-the 2nd day of Chanuka of this year,my added name of Matisyahu revealed itself in two ways.1)Chanuka=89,the last seven days of Chanuka beginning with the 2nd day of Chanaka was the 89th week from when I gave myself this holy name, naming myself after the righteous person who was responsible for the holiday of Chanuka.2)I got married and celebrated Sheva Berachot on this very week.The revelation of Matisyahu-GIFT OF HASHEM-was the best Chanuka gift that I ever received from Hashem,or from anyone else for that matter-my Eishet Chayil & beloved wife Yael.

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Home » Healthy Tips » Can a Paleo Diet Treat Ulcerative Colitis? healthy4fits1985 October 19, 2017 Can a Paleo Diet Treat Ulcerative Colitis?2017-09-03T21:42:52+00:00 Healthy Tips No Comment When Shawn Mynar experienced a severe UC (ulcerative colitis) flare in 2013, her doctor told her she would be on medication for the rest of her life — and that diet had nothing to do with her disease or treating it. “That awful conversation turned into the moment that changed my life,” she writes on her website. “I knew he was wrong, and I went on a mission to prove it.” Mynar, who is now a certified nutritionist and wellness therapist, found stories online of people with UC and other autoimmune diseases eating themselves back to good health by replacing processed foods with highly nutritious ones. “There was hope for a life free of pills!” she writes. Mynar started on the Paleo diet and after a month, she went off medication and into remission. Although she has had a few setbacks, including a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s disease — an autoimmune disorder where the body attacks its thyroid gland — Myner still swears by the Paleo diet. Four-and-half years after starting it, she’s in remission and off medication. “I’ve had no symptoms of UC or Hashimoto’s for the past two years,” says Mynar, who eats a 90 percent Paleo diet, rich in high-quality organic vegetables and well-raised, locally sourced animal proteins, eggs, and seafood. “It’s not only about eliminating inflammatory foods, but also about adding healthy, healing foods,” she says. Mynar is one of many who champion the Paleo diet for IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), which restricts dairy, grain-based foods, legumes, extra sugar, and refined fats or carbohydrates with the notion that people should instead eat more like our ancestors. Paleo pundits argue that the typical Western diet, high in fats and refined carbohydrates, preservatives, colorants, stabilizers, and other additives, may explain the rise in several diseases, including IBD. An October 2015 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared a Paleo diet to control diets. Researchers found that people following a Paleo diet had greater short-term improvements in risk factors for chronic diseases. Another paper published in January 2017 in the journal Gastroenterology found that diets that are high in red meats and processed foods and low in fruits and vegetables increase inflammation. “For years, diet was ignored, but we physicians are starting to get the message that we need to pay attention to it,” says Ed Loftus, MD, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. What the Research Does Show A study published in May 2014 in the journal Gut showed that a high intake of omega-3 fatty acids — found primarily in seafood, and part of the Paleo diet — lowers the risk of UC, while a high intake of saturated fats increases the risk. Another study published in November 2013 in the journal Gastroenterology found that high fiber intake is shown to reduce the risk of Crohn’s. “So we have high-level epidemiological evidence that one’s diet probably influences one’s risk of IBD and that the Western diet, which is high in fat and sugar and low in fiber, may be one of the culprits,” says Dr. Loftus. One problem with a dietary solution is that a diet that works for one person with IBD may not work for another. “There are probably over 50 types of IBD,” Loftus says. “We can’t say that one diet will work for everybody, just like no one drug works for everyone.” Colleen Webb, RD, of the center for inflammatory bowel disease at the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City, agrees but believes that the Paleo diet can be beneficial. “Any diet that eliminates highly processed foods, colorants, stabilizers, additives and other unrecognized ingredients will make people feel better,” she says, adding that diets like Paleo influence the growth of good bacteria in the gut, which strengthens the immune system. She warns against interpreting Paleo as a diet high in animal fats. Instead, the diet should favor plants over animals. “People think that it’s all about burgers and bacon, but studies show that too many animal fats can be harmful for the colon,” she says. Starting the Diet Before getting started on the Paleo diet, it’s best to talk to a dietitian. Webb also recommends doing food sensitivity testing. “It’s one thing to do Paleo, but what if you’re allergic to almonds and chicken?” she says. A Paleo diet consists of: vegetables, including tubers like sweet potato nuts and seeds, which may need to be consumed in spread form so they don’t irritate the GI tract in people with UC lean meats, preferably organic, grass-fed, or wild fish, particularly those rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel eggs, preferably organic or enriched with omega-3s oils, specifically high-quality nut and vegetable oils, such as extra-virgin olive oil and avocado oil Note that the high-fiber raw foods in the Paleo diet can be challenging during a flare. Webb recommends cooking and pureeing fruits and vegetables and choosing softer fruits and vegetables where the skin is not eaten, such as bananas and avocados. There’s no doubt that following a Paleo diet is challenging, but Myner advises people to at least try it. “Give yourself 30 days to try it out. It’s about creating new habits, which is what we do for anything in our lives that we want to change.” http://healthy4fits.com/2017/10/19/can-paleo-diet-treat-ulcerative-colitis/https://i0.wp.com/healthy4fits.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Can-a-Paleo-Diet-Treat-Ulcerative-Colitis.jpg?fit=722%2C406https://i0.wp.com/healthy4fits.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Can-a-Paleo-Diet-Treat-Ulcerative-Colitis.jpg?resize=150%2C150 2017-09-03T21:42:52+00:00 healthy4fits1985Healthy TipsDiet Plan When Shawn Mynar experienced a severe UC (ulcerative colitis) flare in 2013, her doctor told her she would be on medication for the rest of her life — and that diet had nothing to do with her disease or treating it. “That awful conversation turned into the moment that... You already know that a good workout can burn calories. And you might even boost your step count during the day to burn calories and slim down. But did... Omega-3 is a high-profile nutritional trend, ranking alongside with calcium and fiber in consumers’ concerns . And unlike some food fads that are over in a flash, the need... Roast turkey, whipped potatoes, creamed corn. There are a few things I count on in life, and among them is my family’s holiday menu. By the time I reach... A new in-vitro study by University of California, Davis, researchers indicates that quaternary ammonium compounds, or “quats,” used as antimicrobial agents in common household products inhibit mitochondria, the powerhouses... 25 Natural Remedies And Tips To Get Rid Of Dark Lips Which girl wouldn’t like to have rosy pink lips? In its pursuit, what all do we not do? From surfing the beauty and cosmetic sites to asking our friends... eighteen − three = « 25 Natural Remedies And Tips To Get Rid Of Dark Lips Common antiseptic ingredients de-energize cells and impair hormone response »

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Home > Investor Relations > News Releases > Börje Ekholm to Return to Trimble's Board of Directors Börje Ekholm to Return to Trimble's Board of Directors SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) announced today that Börje Ekholm will return to the Trimble Board of Directors on January 4, 2020. He previously served on Trimble's Board from May 2015 to May 2017. Ekholm is currently president and chief executive officer of Ericsson, a position he has held since January 2017. Previously, he was president and chief executive officer as well as a board member of Investor AB from September 2005 to May 2015. He joined Investor AB in 1992 and held numerous roles before becoming CEO. Ekholm serves on the boards of Alibaba and Ericsson and he is also a member of the board of trustees of Choate Rosemary Hall. Ekholm is a past chairman of the board of Nasdaq OMX and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Ekholm holds a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD, France and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. "We are pleased that Börje will return to Trimble's Board of Directors," said Steven W. Berglund, president and CEO of Trimble. "We anticipate being able to leverage his extensive and diverse experiences across a range of industries and regions. His insight and judgement will be particularly helpful in maintaining our momentum during our corporate transition." Trimble is transforming the way the world works by delivering products and services that connect the physical and digital worlds. Core technologies in positioning, modeling, connectivity and data analytics enable customers to improve productivity, quality, safety and sustainability. From purpose built products to enterprise lifecycle solutions, Trimble software, hardware and services are transforming industries such as agriculture, construction, geospatial and transportation and logistics. For more information about Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB), visit: www.trimble.com. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/borje-ekholm-to-return-to-trimbles-board-of-directors-300958812.html Lea Ann McNabb, Media, +1 408-481-7808, leaann_mcnabb@trimble.com

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Flex Program Volunteers & Ambassadors Soul and R&B Legend Jeffrey Osborne Hereford Entertainment Group in partnership with the historic Park Theatre present the long-awaited return of one of Rhode Island’s most celebrated musical sons —singer, songwriter and producer, Jeffrey Osborne. Hot off a huge 2018 year that featured the release of “Worth it All,” his first soul music album in 13 years and worldwide tour, we are delighted to have him back in the Ocean State for his Park Theatre debut and first area performance in six years. Osborne has proven himself a master at longevity through a career spanning over five decades. First as lead singer of the band L.T.D. with which he recorded the `70s Soul classics “Love Ballad,” “(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again,” “Holding On (When Love is Gone),” “We Both Deserve Each Other’s Love” and “Shine On.” Going solo in the `80s, Osborne soared anew with enduring gemstones such as “I Really Don’t Need No Light,” “On the Wings of Love,” “Stay With Me Tonight,” “We’re Going All The Way,” “Love Power” (a duet with Dionne Warwick), “You Should Be Mine (The Woo Woo Song)” (his biggest solo pop charter) and “Only Human,” earning four Grammy Award nominations as a solo artist along the way. A strict vegan and in the best shape of his life, Osborne performs over 100 shows a year to legions of fans spanning three generations. His music continues to garner new fans through the work of contemporary singers such as Trey Songz, Rick Ross and Young Buck and others who have extensively sampled his work. Tickets: $65, $75 & $85 Doors open at 7 p.m. TICKETS ON SALE: Tuesday, April 16, 2019 Thursday, June 06, 2019 at 8:00pm ©2010 Park Theatre | 848 Park Avenue, Cranston RI 02910 | Box Office 401-467-7275 | Site Map | Contact Us | Site by 401 Consulting

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Composer in residence at the Center Henri Pousseur (2014), IRCAM (2015), member of the Academy of France in Madrid-Casa de Velazquez (2016/17), composer in residence at the Art Zoyd Music Creation Center, member of the Académie de France in Rome-Villa Médicis for the year 2017/18, he is actually composer in residence at the National Orchestra of Peru. Juan Arroyo was born in Lima, Peru. He studied composition at the Conservatories of Lima, Bordeaux and at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris. He deepens his musical knowledge in formations like Voix Nouvelles and the IRCAM. He has been guided by eminent composers such as Allain Gaussin, Jean-Yves Bosseur, Brian Ferneyhough, Heinz Holliger, Henri Pousseur, Mauricio Kagel, Michael Levinas, Luis Naón and Stefano Gervasoni. His music is rewarded with numerous awards such as the prize of the Salabert Foundation (2013) and the prize of the Academy of Fine Arts of France (2015). He receives prestigious commissions from the French Ministry of Culture, Radio France, Centre Henri Pousseur, SACEM, Proxima Centauri and Tana string quartet. His works are performed by eminent musicians such as Ensemble Intercontemporain, L’Itinéraire, Linea, LAPS, L’Arsenale, Regards, Sonido Extremo, Orquesta Nacional de Perú, Vertixe Sonora, Claude Delangle, Jeanne Maisonhaute, Antonio Politano and Maribé Charrier. His music is performed at great festivals such as Ars Musica, Cervantino, La Chaise-Dieu, Ensems and ¡Viva Villa! His work of composition is articulated around the Magical Sound Realism through the different techniques of sound hybridization. In fact, in 2014, he began a fundamental stage of his artistic work with the construction of new instruments capable of transmuting his sound, the TanaInstruments. This allowed him to hybridize the perceptual indices of sounds in order to reveal their evocative and irrational nature of their substance, sometimes making them enigmatic. The uniqueness of his work lies in these games of displacement, of movement between a causal listening and a reduced listening, passing through many intermediate states of perception. Juan Arroyo explores these different degrees gradually blurring the sources of sound in the manner of a photographer or cameraman, making us travel from the concrete to the abstract, from materiality to immateriality, playing with the configuration of its objective. “Juan Arroyo has synthesized his work on hybridization around three fundamental areas concerning perceptual indices: gesture, space and timbre. Hybridization is at the heart of the scrambling of these indices. The expression “causal listening” encompasses different listening situations. On the subject of his hybrid string quartet, SMAQRA, although the original musical object is part of a percussive timbre, the listening codes refer us to stringed instruments. The singularity and the interest of this work are these games of displacement, of movement between a causal listening and a reduced listening passing by many intermediate states of perception. Juan Arroyo explores different degrees by gradually blurring sound sources like a photographer or a cameraman making us travel from the concrete to the abstract, from materiality to immateriality by the game of the development of its objective. Thus, the search for the development of reduced listening, favored in a general way by the electronics, constitutes a trajectory towards the unheard-of which the border between sound reality and unrealism is in total correlation with the literary inclinations of Juan Arroyo on the realism Magic.” FABIEN HOULÈS Profesor Agregado de la Universidad Jean Monnet de Saint Étienne, Le premier quatuor à cordes hybride, l’exemple de Smaqra de Juan Arroyo, publicado en la primavera de 2017 por la editorial L’Harmattan.

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HOME NEWS SCHEDULE RESULTS PHOTOS VIDEOS SPONSORS STORE CLASSIFIEDS CONTACT Saturday, Feb 16, 2019 Volusia / Modified 91 Billy Decker finished 3 42p Pat Ward finished 9 99L Larry Wight finished 2 91 Billy Decker finished 23 42p Pat Ward finished 12 91 Billy Decker finished RAINOUT 42p Pat Ward 99L Larry Wight Bubba Raceway Park / Sprint Friday, Feb 8, 2019 Saturday, Aug 12, 2017 Fulton / Modified Brewerton / Modified Tuesday, Aug 8, 2017 Ransomville / Modified All Results » Like An Old Pair Of Shoes, Billy Decker’s Reunion With LJR Racing Just Seemed To Fit In 2019 Posted Dec 8, 2019 by David By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – SYRACUSE, NY – The 2019 racing season may not have been the winningest season of Billy Decker’s Hall of Fame career, but it was definitely a successful one for the “Franklin Flyer.” After a 2018 season that saw him finish 12th on the Super DIRTcar Series​ and go winless in DIRTcar competition for the first time in a number of years, Decker reunited with John & Laura Wight​, Scott Jeffrey and the LJL Racing Team. This past season, he showed, as the saying goes, that he was home again. Decker started his season with a bang, winning the opening event of the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park for the Modifieds. He then picked up two more victories in Big Block competition along the way. One of those came at the Brewerton Speedway on August 9th while the other was his only points-paying victory on the Series, the finale during the World Finals in Charlotte. Though the team didn’t visit victory lane a lot this past year, Decker was up front on many occasions, collecting 10 top 5’s and 19 top 10’s in the 22 series races. That’s a model of consistency that the Unadilla, NY driver didn’t have in his final season driving for Mike Payne and the Page Trucking team. “We came out of the box strong at Volusia,” Decker said. “It felt good to get back in the winner’s circle and honestly, we were solid all year. I really can’t thank everyone at LJL Racing and the Gypsum Wholesalers team enough for doing such a great job for me.” Decker only finished out of the top 10 on three occasions during the 2019 tour and he feels his cars were good. However, he feels he still had a lot to improve on if he was to contend with Mat Williamson and Matt Sheppard for the title. “We were pretty strong and competitive this season for sure,” he said. “We just hung in mediocrity for a while and had to learn how to win again. We’re certainly tickled with the way we finished the year and think we have some momentum in the final couple of races.” It was that momentum that helped the #91 team push forward and make a late-season charge to finish third in the Super DIRTcar Series standings for 2019. “I thought we were a threat to win the last four or five Series races,” he said. “I think we now have something to build on so we can look forward to 2020.” One of those final races that he was able to run well at was the two-night World Finals at the Dirt Track in Charlotte. He was fast all weekend and was able to capture the win in the Saturday portion of the event. If not for a flat tire on Friday, he could have easily swept the weekend. “Honestly, Charlotte’s been a pain in my side for quite a while,” he said. “To not have a win on the series to that point was awful for us. To scratch a victory out there felt pretty good. I felt like we had a pretty good shot to win both, but given our past history, maybe we should be happy to get away with one.” While Decker captured three DIRTcar Big Block wins this past season, those weren’t the only times he visited victory lane this year. He was able to drive from 13th to win in the Short Track Super Series North Region ‘Lightning On The Mountain’ event at Thunder Mountain Speedway on May 26th. However, probably the biggest win of his season had to be during Super DIRT Week at the Oswego Speedway when he captured his seventh career ‘Salute The Troops 150’ 358-Modified Championship. “It’s just nice to win whenever you can get the chance to,” he said. “However, it’s extra special to win during Super DIRT Week. I want to add more to that number (seven), obviously, but any time you can get your picture taken at the end of a race, you’re doing alright.” After three seasons away from the LJL Racing Team, it was like old times for Billy Decker in the red and black #91 machine during the 2019 season. He was fast. He was consistent. He knew how to get the job done, and the continuity between he and his team will only get better as the 2020 season rolls around. home | terms of use | privacy statement

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Rococo Steak Named a New Partner of Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Restaurant will also Serve as the Site of the Event Credential Center ST PETERSBURG, Fla. (February 19, 2019) – Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is proud to announce a new partnership with Rococo Steak for the upcoming event set for March 8-10. The restaurant, located at 655 Second Ave. S., in downtown St. Petersburg, is the official steak restaurant and the official credential center during the race weekend. “We are very fortunate that this world-class event is right in our backyard and we are grateful to be a part of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. We are excited to serve the incoming race fans, teams and guests to showcase our innovative menu, exceptional wine list and crafted cocktails,” says Lee Karlins, president of Caledon Concepts, the boutique restaurant company that includes Rococo Steak and other local favorites. As part of the partnership, the official IndyCar street-legal, two-seater vehicle will offer rides to Rococo Steak’s guests and customers on an upcoming evening. During the race weekend, the Oakville Room located in the upstairs area of Rococo Steak will serve as the credential center location for workers, media and team personnel participating in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to pick up their event passes. "We are proud to have Rococo Steak join as a partner. Rococo provides a convenient location near the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg track to host our credential center with free short-term parking,” said Kim Green, co-owner, chairman and CEO of Green Savoree Racing Promotions, organizers of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. “Our guests attending the race should try the great steaks, seafood and other array of selections on the menu. It’s an incredible culinary experience just five blocks away from the event." Tickets to the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg are on sale now at gpstpete.com or by phone at 888-476-4479. Registrations are open for the 7th Annual Modern Business Associates 5K Run on the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Track benefiting the Police Athletic League set for March 8, 2019, at gpstpete5k.com. ABOUT ROCOCO STEAK Rococo Steak located in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., is an American steakhouse with a twist. Rococo Steak offers tons of unique dishes with loads of savory flavors innovated by Rococo’s executive chef, Jordan Buendia. With over 700 varietals of wine and a five-time Wine Spectator Award of Excellence award winner, guests can enjoy a rotating selection of unique wines from Rococo’s in-house sommelier. Rococo Steak is part of Caledon Concepts, a boutique restaurant group that includes Ceviche Tapas Bar & Restaurant and Che Lounge. For more information about Rococo Steak, please visit http://www.rococosteak.com. ABOUT FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG The 15th annual Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is a race event held during Florida’s spring break season each March. As the NTT IndyCar Series’ season-opening race for the ninth consecutive year, St. Pete is a destination city hosting this annual motorsports tradition and offering a festival atmosphere with its downtown location. The temporary circuit is a 1.8-mile, 14-turn configuration using the streets circling Pioneer Park, the Duke Energy Center for the Arts, The Dali Museum and extending onto the runways at Albert Whitted Airport, which overlooks the waterfront of Tampa Bay and picturesque St. Petersburg Harbor and Marina. Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is owned and operated by Green Savoree Racing Promotions, which also promotes three additional IndyCar races, Honda Indy Toronto (July 12-14, 2019), The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio (July 26-28, 2019) and Grand Prix of Portland (August 30-September 1, 2019). For more information, visit gpstpete.com, ‘like’ its Facebook page at @GPSTPETE or follow the event on Twitter @GPSTPETE and Instagram @GPSTPETE using #FirestoneGP. Steve Bidlack, Manager Marketing and Communications 419-884-4000 Ext. 4623 (office) or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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IEA and Off-shore Wind There are two important facts about off-shore wind: the first is that the UK is the world leader, with more installed capacity than any other country; the second is that global off-shore wind capacity currently only represents 0.3 per cent of all the electricity generating capacity in the world. What is new and important is a report from the International Energy Authority (IEA) concluding that the figure of 0.3 per cent could be increased many times in the years to come. Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay The IEA is the world’s premier institution in the Energy field. Its thirty member countries and eight associates represent more than half of the world’s energy production and nearly three quarters of the world’s energy consumption. What it says is important: so what does the report say? It begins by noting that the dramatic falls in the costs of solar and on-shore wind power have helped renewables rapidly increase their share of electricity generation. In the future, in terms of the potential for steep cost reduction, off-shore wind could constitute a third renewable “pillar” alongside the first two. An obvious initial caveat is that the IEA couches its predictions in a wealth of remarks about how “the market needs…industry should… governments ought to…” But the underlying point is that the potential for major growth is there: larger turbines and floating foundations may allow wind farms to be installed in much deeper water than has currently been envisaged. Technological advances will not be enough by themselves; they will need to go hand in hand with innovative finance and imaginative policy decisions by governments. But the report finds that global offshore wind capacity could increase some fifteen times and attract around $1 trillion of investment by 2040. The growth of the offshore wind industry has been particularly noticeable in European countries along the North Sea, where high quality wind resources and relatively shallow water have provided good conditions for competitive development. Besides the UK, Germany has been very active and Orsted, (the former DONG) is Danish and the world off-shore energy market leader. The result of sustained policy support from the European Union has been nearly 20 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity by the end of last year (2018). The IEA sees current EU policies increasing that capacity by a factor of four over the next decade and potentially reaching nearly 130 GW by 2040. Indeed, if the EU were to develop policies which reflect its carbon-neutrality aims, offshore wind capacity would jump to around 180 GW by 2040 and become the region’s largest single source of electricity. Off-shore wind is also set to grow dramatically elsewhere in the world. China, which installed more capacity than the UK in 2018, some 1.6 GW, is likely to play a major future role in the growth of offshore wind, not least because of the political and economic advantages in terms of the reduction of air pollution. But the technology is also attractive because off-shore wind farms can be built just off the coast of the major cities in the south. By around 2025, China is likely to have the largest offshore wind capacity of any country in the world, overtaking the UK. By 2040, and with current policies, Chinese capacity could rise from today’s figure of 4 GW to 110 GW. New policies designed to meet global sustainable energy goals could push that even higher, to above 170 GW. There is also considerable potential in the US, where there are already good offshore wind resources in the east and northeast: improved floating facilities would expand the possibilities for harnessing wind resources off the west coast of the US. More generally, at least in theory, floating platforms could enable offshore wind to meet the entire electricity demand of a number of key markets several times over, including Europe, the US and Japan. Intriguingly, the oil and gas industry has enormous historical expertise in off-shore semi-submersible drilling platforms…… By Barney Smith| 2019-11-01T08:35:24+00:00 October 30th, 2019|Wind|Comments Off on IEA and Off-shore Wind Floating wind farms will expand offshore capacity significantly Kites and Tethered Wings: an alternate way of capturing wind energy GWEC Releases Full Annual Report GWEC releases global figures for wind power increases in 2018 Green Energy buffs love a new wind farm — but have they thought about the costs

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Business News›Ravi Teja Sharma ICC Cricket Committee to meet in Mumbai on May 15-16 The ICC Cricket Committee is chaired by Anil Kumble. It includes representatives from various stakeholders of the game of cricket. 14 May, 2015 12:29 PM IST Nitesh Estates Buys Pune Mall from Elbit Imaging for Rs 250 crore Nitesh Estates has bought the 1-million-sq-ft Plaza Centre Mall in Pune from Israeli firm Elbit Imaging in a deal valued at Rs 250 crore. Home sales in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad rise 2% in fourth quarter Among all markets, NCR had the highest unsold inventory at 321.68 million sq ft, which will take about 71 months to get sold. 06 May, 2015 03:50 AM IST Home sales in top six cities down 8% year-on-year: Liases Foras Home sales in the top six cities of India rose 2% sequentially in the quarter to March but were down 8% over the year-ago quarter, according to data from property research firm Liases Foras. Real estate stakeholders sentiment continues to fall: FICCI-Knight Frank New launches have nearly halved in the January-March 2015 quarter over the same period last year even as sales volume has remained steady. Kings XI co-owner Mohit Burman expects a profit of Rs 15 crore from this season Sponsorship sales for the team are better this year, possibly after a good run last year when the team reached the final. Private equity funds raising investments in real estate sector The market today is in a different state of maturity, he said, adding, “PE funds too are more educated about India now”. Bird protection may jeopardise 50,000 houses in Noida Several builders haven't been able to hand over possession of homes for the last year and a half due to an October 2013 order of the National Green Tribunal. Union cabinet to spend Rs 1 lakh crore in 5 years on smart cities, AMRUT The Union Cabinet cleared plans to spend nearly Rs 1 lakh crore in five years on two programmes which are on top of its agenda - smart cities, AMRUT. Advertising business gets Broadcast Audience Research Council, a new tool to assess TV Viewership With over 300 channels being watermarked with this world’s leading technology for measurement, BARC India relies heavily on the technology backbone, which is state of art. 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 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109

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Home Article Is capitalism leading to political liberation? Is capitalism leading to political liberation? Muhammad Ahmad Hassan Defeatism is something that too often characterises the public discourse on politics in Pakistan. Ranging from those of political dilettantes to even some of the more well-informed observers, most commentaries end with a gloomy forecast for the future. And that is not without good reason. The well-entrenched exploitative structures, which form both the economic base and the political superstructure, do not seem to be giving way to a more egalitarian set up. On the contrary, if anything, these structures have only strengthened over time, even in the face of regime changes. While it is true that some powerful groups in Pakistan have receded to the margins while others have been created and even recreated within the current set up, but, on the whole, the logic of the structure has been one that has preserved the interests of the mighty and made them even mightier. The way this structure works is through a very well-balanced system of control, which starts from the base and runs all the way to the top. And the one single factor that sustains it is the countryside. Pakistan’s countryside is the key to explaining the current system of power because of the static cycle of exploitation that it has been locked in for most of history. The local bosses in the countryside have been able to strengthen themselves due to their success at acquiring political office. The access to state resources that political office gives, in turn, allows these local bosses to further consolidate their position in the countryside. However, there is another phenomenon at play, which has made this system remarkably resistant to change. This is the very limited degree of access to the state that these local bosses are able to offer to their voters. These voters are, for the most part, labourers who work on the land of these local bosses. This means that voters in the countryside do not really have much of a choice. Their survival depends on siding with their employers or those associated with their employers, and their loyalty ensures not just their means of livelihood, but also a channel to the state. Moreover, there is one more, rather subtle, aspect of labour in the countryside, which makes it qualitatively different from labour in the cities. That aspect revolves around one significant factor: mobility. This can be better explained by taking the transformation of western Europe as a point of reference. During the age of feudalism, labour was not just measured in terms of wages, rather it was tied to the land, and subject to the allegiance of the feudal lord. Although it is true that feudalism in western Europe was qualitatively different than what is usually called feudalism in Pakistan, nevertheless, the case does highlight the fact that there is more to labour in the countryside than just its commodification. That is its social aspect, which concerns the relations between labour and the landlord. Land determines this social aspect so much so that even the contemporary castes in the rural areas are valued on the basis of whether they are land-owning or not. Land provides social capital on which there is enmeshed a way of living that defies neat categories. The landlord is much more than the value of the land that he owns. He enjoys a form of control in which those who work on his land feel a misplaced sense of loyalty to him and his land. To make matters worse, labour in the countryside does not have much of a choice to go anywhere else. The land that it works on becomes the centre of its existence, the landlord a symbol of obedience. In certain cases, the landlord is even the spiritual head of the locality, and this gives the landlord religious sanction for his control. This is the logic of the countryside that makes individual clout more important than party affiliation. According to conventional political wisdom, any party that wishes to succeed in the electoral arena has to co-opt these so-called electables. What this means is that party ideology is only second to the importance of having these electables on board. Some advocate it — brazenly — for expediency while others as an exigency lest others less “enlightened” than them use these electables for their own benefit. What is lost on all of these supposed sages is that these electables bring their own interests to the table, something, which, in any case, limits space for political party leaders to act on their own accord. All of this surely paints an unsettling picture; however, amid all of this, there is cause for hope. And that is based on a transformative force that is changing the electoral landscape of Pakistani politics: capitalism. While there is no doubt that capitalism is based on the exploitation of labour, but there is one change that capitalism brings about that makes the modern democratic system work, albeit in a limited degree, for the common people. That change is the free mobility that it grants labour. This is because of two reasons. First, capitalism, by its very nature, engenders competition, which would not be possible to sustain if labour is socially bound—it needs cheap labour and that can only be gained if labour is allowed to move from one employer to another. This would provide the unified labour market in which an excess of labour would make labour dispensable for the capitalists, thereby enabling them to systematically keep wages low. Second, capitalism brings with it market forces, which aim to commodify all that they can. This means that regressive social norms, which had before tied labour to the landlord, have to be done away with and replaced with a system through which the value of labour can be monetised. This phenomenon can be observed in the Pakistani countryside with the emergence of market based farms. These farms employ labour in the same impersonal mode like any capitalist organisation through which the social aspect of labour, which sustains the system of electables, gets eliminated. Moreover, with the success of these farms, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that, in time, they would replace the traditional landlord system in the countryside in the future. Simultaneously, even in traditional farms labour is becoming far more mobile. Market forces have compelled landowners to hire contractual labourers during harvest time to minimise costs, and this has made them look for work in the cities during the period that they are unemployed. Granted this has exposed rural labour to the vagaries of the market and removed stability that comes with being tied to land, but it has also made labour free to make its own choice when it comes to voting. This freedom is a necessary precondition for the working of the democratic system. It has not been completely achieved; on the contrary far from it. Nor is it the panacea for the wide-ranging issues that inhibit voters from exercising their personal autonomy when it comes to voting. But, some solace can be found in the fact that transformative forces are set in the direction of progress. The rate may be slow, but that might as well be a good thing, given how sudden transformations in most cases create more issues than they solve. Previous PostPAF and Serena for jointly promoting Squash Next PostWhy the vexation, Modi?

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30 November – the male arrives at 7:20 and the female joins him 10 minutes later. The male picks up the remains stashed by the column and flies off with it. The female follows him and he lands on the ledge without the prey item. The female lands a few moments later and there is calling between the pair. The female goes into the box but flies off after a few minutes; the male watches her go and he flies off at 9:10. He is back at 11:25 but only stays a few minutes. The pair arrive together at 15:35. The female goes into the box whilst the male sits on the ledge. There is calling between the pair and the female makes a scrape. She walks onto the platform opposite the male and there is more calling before she flies off followed quickly by the male. 29 November – the male flies in at 7:10 with a full crop and sits on the ledge. He leaves at 7:55. The female flies in with a full crop and the remains of her Pigeon meal at 8:40. She stashes the remains by a column and moves to the ledge. The male joins her at 9:20 but leaves soon after and she follows 10 minutes later. There is no further activity on camera today. 28 November – the male arrives at 6:20, flying off at 7:00. The female arrives a few minutes later with Pigeon prey which she plucks and eats on the platform. She finishes feeding at 8:10 and settles on the ledge with a full crop. The male arrives a few moments later, snatches the remains and flies off with them. The female leaves at 10:50. The male is back at 11:40 and picks at the scraps on the platform and leaves 10 minutes later. The pair fly in together at 13:55, the female in the box with the male on the ledge. She moves to the ledge forcing the male out at 14:10. She flies off at 14:50. 27 November – the pair arrive together at 8:00 and there is calling on the platform. The female then goes into the box and the calling continues. The male leaves after 5 minutes and the female moves to the ledge. She flies off 15 minutes later. The male returns at 8:25 and initially goes into the box then moves to the platform and looks out over the city before taking to the ledge at 8:40. He flies off at 9:20 returning 20 minutes later. He is off again at 10:05, back after 10 minutes and leaves at 11:00. He is back again at 14:20 but remains for only 5 minutes. There is no further activity thereafter. 26 November – the female arrives at 7:30 and sits on the ledge. She goes onto the platform at 7:50 on the arrival of the male but he does not even close his wings before flying off again. She returns to the ledge, flying off 5 minutes later. The pair fly in together at 9:30 and the female goes into the box with the male on the platform. She moves to the ledge after a few minutes and he flies off. She leaves at 9:55. The male returns at 13:25 and flies off at 14:50. There is no further activity on camera. 25 November – the pair arrive together at 7:15 and sit on the ledge. The male flies off after 5 minutes and the female leaves 10 minutes later. There is no further activity on camera today. 24 November – the female arrives at 10:40 and looks for scraps on the platform. She then searches the stashing points before sitting on the ledge and flying off at 11:00. The male flies in at 12:20, leaving 30 minutes later. He is back at 13:30 and the female joins him 5 minutes later. She walks into the box whilst he is on the ledge. She makes a number of scrapes and moves some stones around. After 10 minutes, she walks to the ledge and forces him off. He flies to the opposite side but leaves soon after and is quickly followed by the female. He is back at 14:00, flying off at 15:15. 23 November – the male flies in at 7:30 and takes a short flight 10 minutes later. He flies off at 7:50 returning at 12:05. He is displaced by the female at 12:25 who leaves at 13:35. There is no further activity on camera today. 22 November – the male lands at 6:10 and walks into the box at 6:35 as the female arrives. She replaces him after a few minutes and he flies off. She moves to the ledge. The male is back at 7:20. They fly off together at 7:30. The male returns at 9:20 leaving after 15 minutes. The female flies in at 11:25 and goes into the box and makes a scrape before returning to the ledge. She flies off at 11:40 and is replaced by the male. He makes a short flight at 12:15 and another 10 minutes later (most probably hunting flights). He makes another flight at 12:45 and returns with the female. They go into the box and there is calling and bonding. They female moves to the ledge at 12:55 and after a few minutes they swap places. She moves to the ledge at 13:00. They fly off together 30 minutes later. 21 November – the male arrives at 8:35 but leaves 20 minutes later. He is back again at 10:10 but only stays for 5 minutes, returning at 11:30 with a full crop. He flies off 20 minutes later and is back again at 12:30 and makes a brief visit to the box before flying off 10 minutes later. He returns at 13:30 and pays another quick visit to the box before moving to the ledge. He makes a brief flight at 14:05 before flying off at 14:15. There is no further activity on camera today. 20 November – the male flies in with prey at 00:20 and proceeds to pluck it on the platform. He stashes it by the column 5 minutes later, sits on the ledge for a few minutes then flies off. The male lands briefly at 6:45, then both birds land 5 minutes later. There is quiet calling between the pair. The male flies out at 6:50 returning after a few minutes whilst the female starts feeding on the stashed prey. She forces him from the ledge at 7:10 and takes his place. He returns a few minutes later and goes into the box then moves to the ledge, leaving after a few minutes. She follows at 9:45. The male is back at 10:50 and feeds on the scraps left by the female, then settles on the ledge until 11:20 when he flies off, probably hunting as he is back a few minutes later. He sits on the ledge preening until 12:30 when he flies off for 5 minutes. He is off again at 13:25. The female arrives at 13:50 but leaves 5 minutes later. There is no further activity on camera today. 19 November – the male flies in at 4:50 and settles on the ledge. He moves into the box on the arrival of the female at 7:05. They swap places a few minutes later and there is calling between the pair. She then moves to the opposite ledge. They fly off together at 7:30, the female returning 5 minutes later with Pigeon prey which she plucks on the platform. The male flies in at 8:00 but leaves when he realises there is no chance of a quick meal. She has finished eating at 8:50 and stashes the remains by the column, then settles on the ledge. The male flies in at 9:20 and notices the stashed remains which he snatches and flies off with. At 11:05, she goes into the box on the arrival of the male, now with a full crop, who joins her. There is calling between the pair and after a few minutes he moves to the ledge and she goes to the opposite. They sit well fed and content until the female flies out an hour later. She returns after 5 minutes and there is calling between the pair. The male goes into the box with the female on the platform. After a few minutes, they resume their positions on the ledge, the female is quite vociferous. They fly off together at 12:15 and the male returns calling at 13:20. He initially goes into the box then moves to the ledge. He flies off at 14:00 but is back a few moments later. The female flies into the box at 14:30 and generates a couple of scrapes before the pair swap places. He is back on the ledge at 14:40 before flying off at 15:00. He is back 15 minutes later and the female goes into the box making scrapes. They swap places 5 minutes later, then he returns to the ledge flying off at 15:50. They female leaves at 16:30. She is back at 22:45 with an item of prey but leaves with it a few minutes later. The male lands at 23:00 and searches the box for prey. He had obviously seen the female arrive with a meal. After finding nothing, he sits on the ledge preening until 23:30 when he flies off. 18 November – the pair arrive together at 6:30 and the female goes into the box. After 10 minutes they swap places and a few moments later, the male flies out. She leaves at 7:05. There is no further action on camera until 16:40 when the pair fly in together. They go into the box and there is posturing and calling. The male flies out after a few minutes whilst the female makes a scrape in the stones before moving to the ledge. She flies off at 16:45. The female returns at 19:05 with a prey item of Woodcock which she proceeds to pluck and eat on the platform. She flies off with it 10 minutes later. 17 November – the male flies in at 6:35 and leaves at 7:00. He is back 20 minutes later flying off at 8:40. There is no further activity on camera today – the weather once again is torrential rain. 16 November – the pair fly in together at 7:00. There is calling between the pair and the female goes into the box for a few minutes before forcing the male to move to the opposite ledge. The male flies off at 7:25 and the female 10 minutes later. The female is back at 10:55 and is well fed with a full crop. She flies off after 10 minutes. the male returns at 11:55 but only stays 5 minutes. the female lands at 14:05 calling loudly. She takes two short flights before settling on the ledge. She goes into the box when the male flies in at 16:00. After a few minutes they swap places and the female flies off a few minutes later; the male watches her go. He flies off at 17:15. 15 November – the pair arrive together at 7:15 and the female goes into the box. There is calling between them and they move to opposite ledges. They fly off together a few minutes later. The male is back at 7:40 and stands on the platform looking over the city. After a brief visit to the box, he moves to the ledge before flying off at 8:00. There was no further activity on camera today. 14 November – there was no activity on camera today, probably due to the appallingly wet weather we had – torrential rain! 13 November – the male arrives at 11:30 and sits on the ledge preening. He calls loudly at 12:00 and a few minutes later flies off. The female comes in at 12:25, flying off 20 minutes later. The male returns at 12:50 and after a quick visit to the box, sits on the ledge until he flies off at 14:20. He pays a brief visit to the ledge at 16:25 12 November – the male arrives at 7:00, leaving 10 minutes later but is back at 7:30. He takes a short (hunting?) flight an hour later then returns to the ledge. He is replaced by the female with a full crop ay 9:30. She flies off calling at 10:55. The male is back at 12:00 and goes into the box on the arrival of the female then back on the opposite ledge and flying off. The female leaves an hour later. There is no further activity on camera. 11 November – the male remains sleeping on the ledge from the previous evening until 3:35 when he flies off. The female flies in at 6:40 and picks at a few scraps on the platform then sits on the ledge. She goes into the box on the arrival of the male at 7:20. He too picks at some scraps on the platform whilst she calls form the box. He joins her briefly and there is posturing and calling between the pair. The female follows him to the ledge and forces him to fly off and she takes his place, leaving at 7:40. The male is back an hour later remaining until 10:30 when he starts calling before flying off returning soon after. He goes into the back of the box moving to the ledge after a few minutes and flying off at 10:55. He is back at 11:30 and flies out 20 minutes later. He is back at 12:10and is away again at 12:30. He flies in at 14:00 and is joined by the female sporting a full crop 5 minutes later. They go into the box and there is posturing and calling. The male soon retreats to the ledge and the female sits opposite. There is more bonding and he looks for scraps on the platform in front of her. She returns to the box but is back on the opposite ledge at 14:15. He flies off 5 minutes later then returns at 15:20. The pair fly off together at 16:10. 10 November – the female arrives at 6:35 with Pigeon prey and proceeds to pluck and eat it on the platform. She then tries to stash the remains by a column 20 minutes later but there is too much left on it so she takes it back to the platform and continues eating until 7:20 when she has another attempt to stash it. She sits on the ledge with a full crop but flies off 5 minutes later. The male arrives at 16:05 and sees the stashed prey. He takes hold and starts eating. He is replete after 10 minutes and moves to the ledge, flying off 5 minutes later. The female returns a few minutes later and finishes what the male has left before moving to the ledge and flying off at 16:50. The male returns at 22:45 and falls asleep, remaining on the ledge until midnight at least. 9 November – the male arrives at 6:50 and sits on the ledge looking out over a foggy city. He remains there until the mist clears and then flies off at 10:15. There is no further activity on camera. 8 November – there was no activity on camera today at all. 7 November – the male arrives at 8:30 and picks at some scraps left on the platform. He flies off 5 minutes later. He is back at 12:45 and is followed by the female at 13:05. They go into the box and there is calling and posturing before he hops to the ledge and she creates a scrape in the stones. After 10 minutes, she moves to the ledge, flying off a few minutes later. He remains on the ledge until 15:05 when he makes a brief visit to the box, probably in anticipation of the arrival of the female, then returns to the ledge. He flies off at 16:15. 6 November – the pair arrive together at 5:55 and go into the box. There is calling and posturing. After a few minutes the male moves to the ledge and then flies off with some scraps left on the platform. The female moves a few stones around, walks to the ledge and finds some remains to eat. She then falls asleep until the male returns at 6:35 and she goes into the box. There is calling between the pair and he flies off after a few minutes. She flies off at 6:50. The male returns at 8:40 and goes into the box when the female flies in with Pigeon prey at 9:15. She starts to pluck it but then flies off with it and the male runs to the ledge to watch her go and follows. They are both back a few minutes later, the female still holding the prey. She proceeds to pluck her meal watched closely by the male. He flies off at 9:45 whilst she is feeding. She stashes the remains by a column at 10:00 and settles on the ledge with a full crop. The male flies in at 10:05 and takes away a small scrap left on the platform. He is back at 11:15 and finds a few more scraps which he eats on the platform. The female flies off and the male moves to the ledge. He goes into the box when the female returns at 12:55. He notices the stashed item of prey and picks it up and flies out with it. The female remains on the ledge with her crop full and falls asleep at 14:30 before flying off at 16:25. 5 November – the male flies in at 6:55 but leaves 15 minutes later. He is back briefly at 14:00. An hour later, the female arrives with Pigeon prey and proceeds to pluck and eat it on the platform. The male arrives at 15:15 and sits on the ledge watching her. She mantles her meal and her flies off. She stashes the remains by a column at 15:35 and flies off. The male comes in immediately and takes hold of the remains and feeds on the platform. He moves to the ledge at 16:15 once he has finished feeding and flies off 5 minutes later. He is back at 16:35 and goes into the box making a short flight after 10 minutes. He flies off at 16:50 and there is no further activity. 4 November – Video: the female allows the male to snatch the remains of her meal after she has finished. 4 November – the male arrives at 2:35 and spends the time preening until leaving at 5:25. The pair fly in together at 6:40 with the female going into the box. The male flies off after a few moments and the female moves to the ledge. She flies off at 7:00. The male is back at 7:45 and takes a short flight 10 minutes later. He flies off again at 8:55 returning at 10:20. He flies off at 11:00 and returns a few minutes later with the female who is carrying Pigeon prey. She plucks and eats it on the platform and mantles her prey as the male watches from the ledge calling. As soon as she looks to have finished her meal, the male nips in and snatches the remains and flies off with it. She settles on the ledge with a full crop. At 14:10, she walks to the opposite ledge and looks around for a few minutes before flying off. There is no further activity on camera today. 3 November – the female remains from the previous evening until flying off at 00:15. The male flies in at 00:55 but leaves half an hour later. He is back at 4:45 leaving after an hour. He is back again at 6:25, taking a brief flight at 7:00. Five minutes later, he walks into the box as the female flies in with a full crop. After a few minutes, he walks onto the platform opposite her before flying off. He returns at 8:15. The female walks into the box at 9:45 and there is calling between the pair. A few minutes later she runs towards the male and he flies off. The male is back at 12:35 and the female walks into the box. He joins her and there is a short period of bonding and calling before he moves back to the ledge. The female makes a scrape and moves some stones. They swap over at 12:45 and he moves back to the ledge after 5 minutes. He flies off at 14:00 and when he returns at 16:00, the female walks into the box and makes a couple of scrapes. After 30 minutes they swap positions and the male flies out 10 minutes later. The female flies off at 17:00. 2 November – the female remains on the ledge from the previous evening. She goes into the box at 6:10 on the arrival of the male, retrieves the stashed prey and returns to the platform and forces the male from the ledge and starts eating the remains. The male is back 5 minutes later and goes into the box. He is looking for an easy meal but the female will not give in and he flies off. The female continues feeding and the male is back sitting on the ledge at 6:30 watching her closely. He flies off when the female gets too close and returns to the opposite ledge. She settles down with a full crop. The male takes a quick (hunting?) flight at 6:55. He finds a scrap on the platform and eats it. A few minutes later, he goes into the box and is followed by the female but he immediately returns to the ledge. After a few minutes she walks to the ledge and forces him to fly off. He returns at 8:00 and both birds go into the box. The male moves back to the ledge after a few minutes and the female makes scrapes in the stones before returning to the ledge. The pair fly off together at 8:10, the male returning 10 minutes later. He looks for some scraps on the platform at 8:45. He flies off at 9:20 not returning until 15:00. He flies off at 16:10 and returns a few minutes later, quickly followed by the female. They go into the box and there is calling between the pair. The male then moves to the ledge as the female makes a scrape. She then moves to the ledge and he sits opposite her. He flies off at 16:45 and the female falls asleep remaining until midnight at least. 1 November – the female arrives at 7:55 and picks at the stones on the platform before settling on the ledge. She flies off at 8:35 and the male arrives at 10:15 with a full crop. He flies off at 10:30 when the female arrives with Pigeon prey. She plucks her meal on the platform and has finished eating at 11:25 when she stashes the remains by the column. She moves to the ledge and is joined by the male at 11:40 and there is calling between the pair. He spends a few moments in the box but then flies off. He is back at 13:05 and sits opposite the female. The pair remain there until 16:30 when he flies off. She spends most of the time preening until falling asleep at 19:00. She makes a quick flight at 20:20 then falls asleep again, remaining on the ledge until midnight at least. Daily Commentary Archive Link

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NASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Research Aircraft Cleared for Final Assembly NASA’s first large scale, piloted X-plane in more than three decades is cleared for final assembly and integration of its systems following a major project review by senior managers held Thursday at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Image of the X-59 main assembly coming together.Credits: Lockheed Martin The management review, known as Key Decision Point-D (KDP-D), was the last programmatic hurdle for the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft to clear before officials meet again in late 2020 to approve the airplane’s first flight in 2021. “With the completion of KDP-D we’ve shown the project is on schedule, it’s well planned and on track. We have everything in place to continue this historic research mission for the nation’s air-traveling public,” said Bob Pearce, NASA’s associate administrator for Aeronautics. The X-59 is shaped to reduce the loudness of a sonic boom reaching the ground to that of a gentle thump, if it is heard at all. It will be flown above select U.S. communities to generate data from sensors and people on the ground in order to gauge public perception. That data will help regulators establish new rules to enable commercial supersonic air travel over land. Construction of the X-59, under a $247.5 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract, is continuing at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company’s Skunk Works factory in Palmdale, California. Three major work areas are actively set up for building the airplane’s main fuselage, wing and empennage. Final assembly and integration of the airplane’s systems – including an innovative cockpit eXternal Visibility System – is targeted for late 2020. Management of the X-59 QueSST development and construction falls under the Low Boom Flight Demonstrator project, which is part of NASA’s Integrated Aviation Systems Program. For more information about NASA’s aeronautics research, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics

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Jewish World Review Dec. 15, 2010 / 7 Teves, 5771 http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Dr. Thomas Sowell, in "Dismantling America," ($34% OFF) said in reference to President Obama, "That such an administration could be elected in the first place, headed by a man whose only qualifications to be president of the United States at a dangerous time in the history of the world were rhetoric, style and symbolism — and whose animus against the values and institutions of America had been demonstrated repeatedly over a period of decades beforehand — speaks volumes about the inadequacies of our educational system and the degeneration of our culture." Obama is by no means unique; his characteristics are shared by other Americans, but what is unique is that no other time in our history would such a person been elected president. That says a lot about the degeneration of our culture, values, thinking abilities and acceptance of what's no less than tyranny. As Sowell says, "Barack Obama is unlike any other President of the United States in having come from a background of decades of associations and alliances with people who resent this country and its people." In 2008, Americans voted for Obama's change. Let's look at some of it. Obama's Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius threatened that there would be "zero tolerance" for "misinformation" in response to an insurance company executive who said that ObamaCare would create costs that force up health insurance premiums. That's not only an attack on our constitutionally guaranteed free speech rights but an official threat against people who express views damaging to the administration. Not to be outdone by his HHS secretary's attack on free speech, Obama wants full disclosure of the names of people who were backers of campaign commercials critical of his administration, saying that there has been a "flood of deceptive attack ads sponsored by special interests, using front groups with misleading names." Disclosure would leave administration critics open to government and mob retaliation. Obama and his congressional and union allies have lectured us that socialized medicine is the cure for the nation's ills, but I have a question. If socialized medicine, Obamacare, is so great for the nation, why permit anyone to be exempted from it? It turns out that as of the end of November, Obama's Health and Human Services secretary has issued over 200 waivers to major labor unions such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union and Transport Workers Union of America and major companies such as McDonald's and Darden Restaurants, which operates Red Lobster and Olive Garden. Keep in mind that the power to grant waivers is also the power not to grant waivers. Such power can be used to reward administration friends and punish administration critics by saddling them with millions of dollars of health care costs. Obama's heath care legislation contains deviousness that has become all too common in Washington. What was sold to the American people as health care reform legislation includes a provision that would more heavily regulate and tax gold coin and bullion transactions. Whether gold and bullion transactions should or should not be more heavily regulated and taxed is not the issue. The administration's devious inclusion of it as a part of health care reform is. Fighting government intrusion into our lives is becoming increasingly difficult for at least two reasons. The first reason is that educators at the primary, secondary and university levels have been successful in teaching our youngsters to despise the values of our Constitution and the founders of our nation — "those dead, old, racist white men." Their success in that arena might explain why educators have been unable to get our youngsters to read, write and compute on a level comparable with other developed nations; they are too busy proselytizing students. The second reason is we've become a nation of thieves, accustomed to living at the expense of one another and to accommodate that we're obliged to support tyrannical and overreaching government. Adolf Hitler had it right when he said, "How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think."

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8 WEEKS RUNNING – BLOOD ON THE ALTAR REMAINS NO. 1 ON AMAZON! Thomas Horn’s explosive exposé remains at top spot of several lists SPRINGFIELD – Thomas Horn’s exposé of growing persecution of Christians skyrocketed to No. 1 on several book seller lists (including Amazon.com) weeks before its release—where it remains a full month after it first hit retailer shelves. Blood On The Altar: The Coming War Between Christian vs. Christian is the result of over a year of solid investigations into the growth of Christian persecution in the United States and abroad. With the help of twelve well-known co-authors, the brand new title from Defender Publishing’s CEO cites recent reports starting with the Pew Research Center (PRC)—a prestigious think tank based in Washington, DC (which provides information on social issues and demographic trends shaping the world)—whose January 2014 report, “Religious Hostilities Reach Six-Year High,” chronicled the steady growth of religious persecution around the world. The PRC study found that social hostilities involving religion are currently most frequently directed against people of Christian faith. A report from the non-denominational group Open Doors confirmed the PRC findings, saying the number of Christians martyred around the world for their faith nearly doubled in 2013. It’s a frightening trend that shows no sign of halting. Besides the Middle East, where persecution of Christians has been growing, the Pew findings also detail an escalation in the United States from the lowest category of government restrictions on Christian expressions as of mid-2009 to an advanced category in only three years, where it appears poised to continue upward at the time the investigative book Blood on the Altar headed to the printer. “If recent activity is any indication, it may not be long before ‘one nation under God’ joins those red-listed countries where Bible-based believers find themselves under the most severe discrimination,” writes Horn. National Review Online supports Horn’s criticism of current US policy. In a recently posted review by Raymond Ibrahim, a Shillman fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, the 2014 World Watch List (which ranks the fifty nations where Christians are most persecuted) is cited to determine that the US has become “the chief facilitator of the persecution of Christians around the world today.” While Ibrahim’s assertion mostly reflects American involvement in foreign conflicts, examples of repression in the US against people of Christian faith are growing, and examples are easily obtained online. But Blood on the Altar goes beyond journalists and think tanks to expose the dangerous culture war that is dividing churches and pitting “Christian against Christian” over issues like gay marriage, ecumenism, and even Obama’s healthcare policies (where, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling [the “Hobby Lobby” case], polls show a whopping majority of Americans by a margin of two-to-one disagree with the Supreme Court and want federal mandates against Christians in such cases). The surprising reaction to Blood on the Altar prompted the top-ranking radio show Hagmann & Hagmann to invite Horn on with veteran broadcaster Stephen Quayle to discuss (for a lengthy six hours) what some are calling “the best radio series of all time.” On that program (which remained the number one BlogTalkRadio News show in the world for several weeks) Horn broke new territory that ranged from social issues to science and technology. He discussed how these will play a role in what he called “a coming war on real Christianity,” generating commentary from blogs and news sites around the globe and sparking controversy. Co-author Dr. Michael Lake, a Christian college president in Missouri, reported just last week that Blood on the Altar may also be stirring things up in churches. “I just got off the phone with a pastor in New York City,” Lake told Horn in an email. “I was in NYC to present the seminar I developed that included the book, Blood on the Altar. At the seminar, there were about 80 pastors and bishops representing 65 or so churches in NYC with attendance anywhere from several hundred to a thousand or more. […] This pastor informed me that he has been preaching from the syllabus and Blood on the Altar for the past week or so, and that many of the other pastors have been doing the same thing. Those churches have been moved to repentance for becoming lukewarm. Revival is beginning to start…even among the teenagers!” This was great news to Horn. A goal of the book from the beginning has been that people might receive the work as a significant warning before it is too late and act upon the facts by diligently praying and offering up true repentance. Billy Graham’s son is calling for the same thing. In an article on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s website, Franklin Graham recently posted: Hardly a day passes that I don’t hear someone say, “We are losing our country; we are losing our churches.” While doomsday appears to be knocking at our door, let me take you back to the early 1800s. Many think of it as “the good old days,” but history tells us that society, even then, was as bad as it could get at that time. John Marshall, chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, wrote to President James Madison and said, “The church is too far gone ever to be redeemed.” When we examine why, we find that preachers had stopped preaching the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the people were not hearing God’s Word. What changed? Christians began to diligently pray for revival—and the result was the Second Great Awakening. When people’s prayers stormed the heavens, and when the Bible was opened in the pulpits and the Word of God proclaimed by passionate preachers, the church was awakened from slumber by the Holy Spirit, who moved in hearts, spreading revival throughout the heartland of America. (Graham’s mention of the Great Awakenings and statement that it is time for another such occurrence gave Horn an idea: Why not publish the sermons that were delivered by the preachers of the Great Awakenings and give those to people who buy Blood on the Altar? That idea evolved to include some other resources and even a way for people to get the new book free, which one can learn about by following the graphic-link at the top of the webpage here: http://www.raidersnewsupdate.com/.) Another of the authors in Blood on the Altar is Dr. Chuck Missler—a well-known Christian apologist and founder of the Koinonia House ministry based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He, too, believes there could be a light at the end of the tunnel regarding Christian persecution. As conservative believers find it increasingly difficult to attend liberal (and sometimes hostile) churches, he relates: There is presently a groundswell across America—as in many other parts of the world—in which people are meeting in small groups in homes during the week, rediscovering the Bible, and enjoying a more intimate fellowship than they find in “Sunday church.” Many of these are encouraged and supported by their formal church associations; others simply meet independently. This is especially true of many young people, to whom “Sunday church” is a spectator sport, and who seek more personal participation and accountability. After all, this is the way it all began: twelve guys along the seashore with their Teacher. All the remarkable episodes of the early church in the book of Acts occurred in homes. It wasn’t until the fourth century that edifices began to be erected, when Christians exchanged the rags of the caves for the silks of the court. And committed ambassadors were replaced with hirelings, inserted between an attendee and the Word itself. In more than sixty years as a practicing Christian, the place that I’ve always seen people really grow spiritually is within small group Bible studies: where they can ask questions and hold each other accountable. Do these hopes imply, as some believe, that the increase in persecution of true believers around the world today may presage an imminent, latter-day awakening…a revival in the purest sense of the word? Thomas Horn sure hopes so. But one thing he’s certain of: Growing animosity against Christians is a real and present danger that is only going to worsen in the days ahead. “Between now and that climactic encounter when the supernatural battle spoken of in the Bible’s books of prophecy begins in earnest, we can expect the divide between religious and authentic Christianity to deepen,” he writes. “It is hard for us to imagine that, in places like the United States, true believers could someday be burned alive in churches, but it is happening in Nigeria now. It is hard for us to perceive that some might be beheaded, but this is a reality in Syria today. We can hardly fathom good people being crucified alive, but Pakistani Christians are living with this nightmare now. And in the United States, that city on a hill once listed among the safest locations on earth for Christians, a tide of anti-Christ sentiment has in only the last few years pushed this country into a category recently reserved for only those governments that restrict and criminalize expressions of real Christianity. How many more years will people be able to buy a book like this before it is banned?” We cannot answer that question. At least for now, people are buying it by the case. Tags: Blood on the Altar, Chuck Missler, Cris Putnam, Last Days, Tom Horn

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Archive » Contents Broadband arrives in rural King Township November 8, 2017 · 0 Comments A partnership between government and business has brought high-speed Internet to rural areas of King Township with the initial installation of around 30 km of fibre optic cable. Internet provider Vianet Inc. provided the first hook-up of a residential home on the 19th Sideroad after completing the groundwork of laying the cable including a section that feeds through a tunnel under Highway 400. The service will eventually accommodate around 1,000 homes and businesses in the area. Homeowners, Bob and Joan Balziel, were the first to hook up to the service. “We couldn’t get internet out here, only an internet turbo stick. After you go through one gigabyte you have to pay more and you can go through that pretty fast. I even had satellite people come in and they said we had too many trees in the area,” Mr. Balziel explained. “Vianet came down here in June and let me know they were going to make a little noise and they put a pipe through here under the 400. It told them when they get it in I want it right away so I signed up with them.” Funding for the project was boosted by the Ontario government’s Small Communities Infrastructure Program. Member of Parliament for King-Vaughan, Deb Schulte, said the money will be well spent to assist rural areas for many reasons. “It’s transformational for residents and the community. When I was knocking on doors campaigning in the area I heard it from lots of people. King is under-served when it comes to broadband so it was one of my big pushes when I moved to federal government to say we need to push for broadband in rural communities and then we came up with that massive $500 million in funding. The program is in the business and economic development side of the federal government. We know how important it is – it’s good for education and it’s good so people can do business – it’s good for the economy. We funded $825,000 just for this area and Vianet put in $1.65 million to bring the service to these people,” Schulte explained. The new service will have a huge impact on local business. “It’s very important from a business perspective,” said Councillor, Debbie Schaefer. “We’ve got business that can’t connect easily to do their invoicing or receiving information. And for children for education purposes and adults who want to do on-line training – all of those things will now be possible when living remotely.” The project has been in the planning stage for a couple of years. “We started this project in the planning and submission stage to the government back in 2015,” explained Brian McCullagh, Vianet’s director of business. “It was approved in 2016. We started planning and getting the permits to put the fibre in the ground in early 2017. We’ve been working diligently over the past four or five months. We’ve done around 30 kilometres already and we’re just starting to hook up customers now. It was funded 50 per cent by the two levels of government – 25 percent from the provincial and 25 from the federal and Vianet contributed the other 50 per cent of the project.” “This is a great example of the provincial and federal levels of government working with the private sector to connect more residents and businesses to high-speed internet,” said King Township Mayor Steve Pellegrini. “It means students can finish their homework assignments at home and home-based businesses will be able to better serve their customers. It’s a tremendous benefit for King Township.” “All of us at Vianet are proud to be an integral part of this milestone event. This initial end user fibre optic connection is a product of the efforts of many parties – the visionary support of the mayor and council of King Township, the financial support of the Ontario and Canadian governments and the hard work of Vianet staff and contractors. A special thank you to King Township municipal staff who have helped us throughout the startup process. This may be the first connection, but many others will follow. The project is on time and on budget – Vianet looks forward to bringing the ultimate in fibre optic connectivity to as many rural King Township residents as possible over the two years of this project,” said Vianet’s Will Gasteiger. Vianet is based out of Sudbury with satellite offices around Ontario. Locally they have an office on Highway 9, in Schomberg. Once the project is completed local residents can finally receive the high-speed internet service that so far has been available in more densely populated areas.

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Julie Johnson Presented With the Chicago Bar Association's Alliance for Women's Alta May Hulett Award Aronberg Goldgehn member Julie A. Johnson (formerly Neubauer) was presented with the Chicago Bar Association’s 2017 Alta May Hulett Award at a luncheon ceremony on May 24, 2017. Named for the first woman lawyer in Illinois, the Alta May Hulett Award is presented annually by the Chicago Bar Association’s Alliance for Women. It honors one outstanding woman lawyer who has significantly contributed to the advancement of women in the legal profession or other areas, and whose career exemplifies the highest level of professional achievement, ethics and excellence. Following the event, Aronberg Goldgehn Co-Managing Member Jerry Holisky remarked, "In accepting the Hulett Award, Julie delivered prepared remarks that were very well-received by the attendees. This was an individual award, recognition earned by Julie for her public service, including both her work with the ISBA’s Committee on Women in the Law and her work on behalf of women family law clients. Julie very graciously cited the importance of everyone at our firm in her professional development, she mentioned our firm’s support of work/life balance and women in the profession, and she told a roomful of Chicago legal heavyweights that Aronberg Goldgehn is the 'best kept secret' in Chicago. Julie richly deserved this recognition and our firm is very proud of her." Julie dedicates her practice to issues of matrimonial and family law, including divorce, child custody, domestic violence/orders of protection, child support, post-judgment litigation, adoption, parentage and all other related matters. Julie is currently Chair and Council Member of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Women and the Law, a Member of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Diversity Leadership Council, and Council Member of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Family Law Section. In addition to the Alta May Hulett Award, Julie has received numerous other accolades, including being recognized as an Emerging Lawyer in Family Law by Illinois Leading Lawyers Network and being named a Rising Star in Family Law by Illinois Super Lawyers. In 2006, she received the Illinois State Bar Association's Presidential Commendation Award for her efforts to secure a unanimous Assembly vote in favor of pro bono reporting, which influenced the Illinois Supreme Court to add Rule 756(f). She was honored by the Illinois Women’s Bar Foundation with its Public Interest Scholarship for 2006-07, an award granted to only two female law students in the state that year. In addition, upon graduation from law school, she received the National Association of Women Lawyers Outstanding Woman Law Graduate Award.

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How old are we?! Posted On 1st December 2011 2nd December 2012 By Jenny Ho To an outside onlooker, it seems simple. The clever logo above clearly says that the University of Manchester was (Est)ablished in 1824, right? Wrong. Well, kind of. It is well known (or at least I think it is), that in 2004 the Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST merged together to become one conventional university, subsequently creating (as the university website proudly states), ‘a powerful new force in British higher education.’ But what about before then? The beginning of the University of Manchester’s history can be marked by the formation of the Mechanics Institute by the English chemist John Dalton and some of Manchester’s leading businessmen and industrialists. This would one day be UMIST, and the future prestige of the institution would have been unimaginable to those who met in a pub in 1824, (the ‘Bridgewater Arms’) with the aim of helping artisans learn basic science; from Richard Hyde Greg, a cotton mill owner who was to become a Member of Parliament, to David Bellhouse – a builder. It is also interesting (and induces a strange feeling of smugness) to note that hundreds of institutions of this kind were founded across the country in towns and cities at the time, yet it was Manchester’s alone that survived and carried out the original educational aims intended through the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. By 1840, the institute was established with 1000 subscribers and 5,500 library books. The Mechanics Institute continued to prosper during this time, and in 1883 the secretary of the Institution, John Henry Reynolds, reorganised the Institution as a Technical School using the schemes and examinations of the City and Guilds of London Institute. In 1895 a new building was designed, and opened by the Prime Minister Arthur Balfour in October 1902. The site had been previously crowded with inner-city housing occupied by Irish immigrants. This was the western end of the UMIST main building, (or as it is better known today, the Sackville Street Building). By 1918, the institution changed name again to the Manchester Municipal College of Technology. The appointment of B. V. Bowden in 1953 marked the beginning of a phase of expansion. During 1955 and 1956 the Manchester College of Science and Technology achieved independent university status under its own Royal Charter and by 1966 all non-degree courses were moved to the Manchester Polytechnic (Manchester Metropolitan University), and the name finally changed to the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. When UMIST was still in its infancy, (in 1846), John Owens, a textile merchant, left a bequest of £96,942 for Owens College (finally founded 5 years later in 1851), with the purpose of educating males along non-sectarian lines. This was of course the beginning of the Victoria University of Manchester. The institution shared links to other Universities and colleges. In 1859 it was approved as a provincial examination centre for matriculation candidates of the University of London. As the college progressed, Cobden House (on Quay Street, which had been their accommodation) became inadequate. Thus a move to Chorlton-on-Medlock was planned in 1871, and Alfred Waterhouse was the architect of the new college building west of Oxford Road which was opened in 1873. It was granted its Royal Charter in 1880, becoming the first constituent college of the federal Victoria University. In 1884, University College Liverpool joined the University (though it left in 1903 to become the University of Liverpool), followed in 1887 by the Yorkshire College in Leeds (which again followed Liverpool’s example in 1904 to become the University of Leeds). The remaining Victoria University and Owens College were merged by Act of Parliament, 24 June 1904, (so the Victoria University of Manchester was established by royal charter 15 July 1903). The two were powerful forces in education, working alongside each other one hundred years before they formally merged. The foundation in 1905 of MMST’s Faculty of Technology was answerable academically to what they referred to as their ‘younger sister’ (the Victoria University of Manchester), awarding BSc and MSc degrees. They retained close ties for the second half of the 20th century, and UMIST was the Faculty of Technology of the Victoria University of Manchester. In fact, the only thing separating the two institutions was that UMIST was financially and administratively independent. Students of UMIST were actually students of both UMIST and the Victoria University with graduation certificates stating the university issuing the degree as “The Victoria University of Manchester”. And then in 2004, the two institutions put a cease to their academic flirting and decided to finally get together. Much more could be said about the particular buildings and the incredible academics that helped to shape this history, a history to be proud of. Though I think it’s safe to say, that the University was in fact, not established in 1824. Tagged: issue 3/john dalton/john owens/UMIST Previous post: How should history be taught at degree level? Next post: Who was Steve Biko? Manchester’s hidden history The Stephen Joseph studio Who was Steve Biko? Leif’s Life Lessons Why study for a PhD? The Enlightenment: super sized University of Manchester History and Heritage The Enlightenment: a very English affair

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Most Adequate Service Payday Loans Online - Mandurarep Low-income earners will in future receive a pension of 844 euros Nov 13, 2018 Orville BellDebts The Union and the SPD have agreed on the solidarity-based pension for life benefits over the weekend. Every month around 850 Euro pension should get low earners, provided that they fulfill certain conditions. For other pension plans, such as the pension with 63 and the mother’s pension, the two sides are still in disagreement. Representatives of the CDU / CSU and SPD have agreed on a comprehensive pension package. This includes, among other things, the minimum pension described below, the maternity pension and the non-deductible pension at the age of 63. There has been little improvement in pensions over the past four years. It is all the more important now that the Union and the SPD agree on a comprehensive pension reform in the coalition negotiations, which benefits all Germans. At least over the weekend, the work and social work group has come closer to low-income pension increases . The solidarity-based life benefit pension currently being discussed by the Union and the SPD envisages an increase in the pensions of low earners to around € 850 a month – if those affected provide certain proof. Both sides had previously planned similar measures with the Lebenschafts- and the Solidarrente to combat poverty in old age. Increase of pensions: Union and SPD achieve compromise Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) has pushed for the Union with the requirement that people must have provided for the minimum pension privately or operationally . Only those who can prove that they have completed a company or private pension plan are entitled to the pension. In addition, recipients must prove 40 years of contributions to the statutory pension insurance. When calculating the low-income pension, income from other sources should also be taken into account. After the introduction of the solidary Lebensleistungsrente the access hurdles are initially set slightly lower, reports Spiegel Online. In the first ten years, 35 contribution years are sufficient. Moreover, the obligation to take precautionary measures is only to come into force five years after the new regulation has been introduced. The introduction is expected to take place by 2017. Service: Be prepared and take care of your private pension now. So you not only uphold your claim to the new pension benefits . They are also building up a financial cushion for the retirement age. Request a non-binding pension offer now. Guaranteed pension of around 850 euros per month for low-income earners Many low-income earners depend on social assistance at retirement age, even though they have spent a lifetime in the state pension scheme. The Union and the SPD want to change this and increase the pension in the future to at least 30 salary points. Currently this corresponds to a monthly pension of 844 euros. The estimated cost of the improved old-age allowance initially amounts to 100 million euros per year. By 2030, however, they could grow to up to three billion euros annually. The pension increase is to be financed by means of taxation. Solidary Lebensleistungsrente still on the edge Even though the Union and the SPD are in agreement in the working group, the planned solidarity-based life benefits pension can still fail because of the cost issue. The agreement between the Union and the SPD is subject to the availability of the corresponding financial resources. With the pension at 63 and the mother’s pension, black and red on the small level has not been able to compromise. Financing is still under discussion for both measures. Now the demands are to be discussed on Tuesday by the 75 representatives from the parties in the so-called big round. The coalition agreement is due by the end of November at the latest. Only then will the Germans learn what the new government plans for the pension.

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George Beach, Rev. George Cope Beach, Thomas John Beach George Beach George Cope Beach Thomas John Beach 1852, Oldbury, Worcs. 1878, Cheadle, Staffs. 27/05/1916, Tynemouth 14/12/1936, Macclesfield, Ches. 21/04/1961, Duston, Northants. 04/01/1990, Merseyside Chess-players George Beach, M.A., L.L.D, the Rev. George Cope Beach, M.A., and Thomas John Beach (B.A./M.A.) belonged to three successive generations of the same family. George Beach (senior) was a schoolteacher; George Cope Beach was a cleric, while Thomas John Beach (usually known as “John” rather than “Thomas”) was a schoolteacher. By the nature of their professions, these three and their families moved round the country with their jobs. George Cope Beach was active as a chess-player in Yorkshire while rector of St. Martin’s, Micklegate, with St. Gregory’s, York, from 1919 to 1938, while John Beach (“T. J. Beach”) was active in Yorkshire at least up to leaving Leeds University. George Cope Beach’s parents were George Beach M.A., L.L.D. (born 1852, Oldbury, Worcs., birth registered Q3 1852 at Bromsgrove) and Kezia Beach (née Hartwell, 1852/53, Tipton, Staffs.). The couple had married in 1874 and had at least the following three children: Elizabeth Ettie Beach born 1875/76, West Bromwich, Staffs. born 1878, Cheadle, Staffs. Mary Beach born 1879/80, Cheadle, Staffs. Eldest child, Elizabeth, may have been named after her father’s sister, her aunt Elizabeth. The place of birth of the younger two was Cheadle, Staffordshire, about 8 miles east of Stoke-on-Trent, not Cheadle, Cheshire. Census ages imply George Cope Beach was born 1878 or 1879, but his birth was registered in 1878, pinning the year down. George and his wife were both schoolteachers, once the children got old enough, seemingly working together, at least latterly, at the same school. The 1881 census found the couple living with the three children at the Boys’ National School’s House, Cheadle, Cheshire. George was a “Teacher of Public Elementary School”. Kezia will have been looking after the children, of whom only 5-year-old Elizabeth was old enough to be a scholar. The 1891 census found the family of five, with one servant, living at 2 Stanley Terrace, Crompton Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire. Both George and Kezia were now described as certificated teachers, presumably at a different school than before. Of the children, seemingly only 12-year-old George C. Beach, was a scholar. Venn tells us George Cope Beach attended school at Macclesfield; this was presumably the one where his parents taught. On 30/08/1896, George Cope Beach was admitted as a pensioner to Magdalene College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1897. He got his B.A.in 1900. The 1901 census found the family living at Mayfield House, [277] Peter Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire. Daughter Elizabeth was not listed at home, but her namesake, father George’s unmarried sister, Elizabeth Beach (born 1850.51, Oldbury, Worcs.) was living with them “on her own means”. George Cope Beach at this stage had no occupation as he was steering his future towards priesthood. His working career, according to Venn, quoting Crockford, was as follows: made deacon made priest, at Norwich curate, St. Peter’s, Ipswich, Suffolk “Held other curacies.” [seemingly in the same area] chaplain of Chell workhouse, Staffs. curate, [Holy Trinity church,] Jesmond, Newcastle-upon-Tyne organising secretary of Dr. Barnado’s Homes in the diocese of Newcastle and of Durham rector of St. Martin’s, Micklegate, with St. Gregory’s, York 1938‑ vicar of Moulton, Northants. The marriage of George Cope Beach to Winifred Gertrude Lewin was registered in the third quarter of 1908, at Ipswich, Suffolk. They had at least the following two children, quite probably more: George Lewin Beach born Sep/Oct 1910, Tunstall, Staffs. born 27/05/1916, Tynemouth The 1911 census found parents George and Kezia Beach, without any children at home, living at [Mayfield House,] 277 Peter Street, Macclesfield. They were recorded as having had three children of whom only two remained living. As Mary seems to have been one of her father’s executors, it follows that daughter Elizabeth was the one who had died by the time of the 1911 census. George and Kezia were jointly described as managers of Christ Church School, Macclesfield, and on the Macclesfield Education Committee. The 1911 census listed George Cope Beach and wife Winifred Gertrude Beach living with first-born George Lewin Beach, and one servant, at 41 Salisbury Gardens, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. George Cope Beach was described as a clerk in holy orders at Holy Trinity Church, Jesmond, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. George Cope Beach became rector of St. Martin’s, Micklegate, with St. Gregory’s, York, holding that post from 1919 to 1938. Lists of Yorkshire Chess Association Vice-presidents, place him in York up to 1937-38 season at least, but in 1938-39 he is listed as secretary and treasurer of the Northamptonshire Chess Association, with his address given as Moulton Vicarage, Northampton. Thomas John Beach went to Leeds University around 1937. It appears he then went straight into the Royal Air Force, as in the immediate post-war period he was described in a report on a simultaneous display he gave in Northampton as “Ex-Squadron-Leader T. J. Beach”. Brothers George Lewin Beach and Thomas John Beach both became schoolmasters like their paternal grandfather. Thomas John Beach married seemingly in 1948, his wife’s maiden name apparently being Garner. The death of Kezia Beach, aged 76, was registered in the first quarter of 1929, at Macclesfield. George Beach (senior) died on 14/12/1936. The death of a George “Lewis” Beach is recorded in the death index as having been registered in the fourth quarter of 1987, at West Bromwich Staffs. This looks rather like George Cope Beach’s first son with his middle name spelt incorrectly, George Beach, M.A., L.L.D, retired schoolmaster of 256 Park Lane, Macclesfield, Cheshire, died on 14/12/1936. George Cope Beach and Mary Beach were executors of his will. The Rev. George Cope Beach of 10 East Park Parade, Northampton, died 21/04/1961 at St. Crispin Hospital, Duston, Northamptonshire. Administration of his will was granted to George Lewin Beach, schoolteacher. He left effects of £812 12s 1d. Thomas John Beach died at home on 04/01/1990, the death being registered at Sefton, South, Merseyside. Chess Activity of (Dr.) George Beach (senior) George Beach (senior), often known as “Dr. Beach”, being a doctor of letters rather than medicine, was for many years one of the strongest players in North Staffordshire, Cheshire and Lancashire, according to Batley [1], who incidentally incorrectly described him as a barrister, perhaps reading too much into “L.L.D.” He apparently would take on an opponent with himself playing blindfold but his opponent having sight of the board. This is evidenced by a game, G. Beah (blindfold) v. F. Elliott, played thus at Cheadle Chess Club, on 15/08/1881, published in the chess column of the Sheffield & Rotherham Independent of 28/06/1884. An arbitrary instance of him playing for Cheshire is provided by a match in (April?) 1891, at Manchester, between Manchester Chess Club’s second class players and a Cheshire county side, Dr. Beach beating J. W. Hayes on board 1. Manchester “seconds” won 7½-5½. Chess Activity of (Rev.) George Cope Beach The Rev. George Cope Beach had no memory of learning the moves of chess or receiving lessons therein. He played in his first match at the age of eleven, in about 1889, for Macclesfield versus Crewe, winning his game. By the age of fourteen he had risen to board 2. He lost only three games for Macclesfield in the eight years in which he represented them. At the age of fourteen, in about 1892, George Cope Beach beat his father George Beach (senior) in a game, the conclusion of which got published in the chess press and was reproduced in the Yorkshire Telegraph and Star of 20(or 13)/03/1937: Black: George Beach (father of White) White: George Cope Beach, age 14 (son of Black), to move White continued 1. b5 cxb5 (1. ... Bxb5 allows 2. Qa8 mate, while if 1. ... Rd8 then 2. Qa3 wins.) 2. Rxa6 (2. Qa3 also wins, but not so fast.) Kxa6 3. Qa8+ 4. Nb4+ 5. Nc6+ winning Black’s queen George Cope Beach’s first county match was at the age of fourteen, in about 1892, playing for Cheshire versus Staffordshire. Regarding this match Batley quotes him as saying, “I was rather frightened to find that my position in the team was at board 6, but I won my game against one of the leading Burslem players.” [1] From 1897 to 1901 he represented Cambridge University regularly. He was instrumental, with H. E. Parks, in forming a Magdalene College Chess Club, which in its second year reached the inter-collegiate final, when it lost to Trinity College. [1] George Cope Beach eventually represented Cheshire, Norfolk, North Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Northumberland, not losing in a county match until Yorkshire v. Northumberland in 1936-37 season, at which stage he decided to withdraw from county chess. [1] He was a vice-president of the Yorkshire Chess Association, at least in 1937-38 and 1945-46. On arrival in Northamptonshire we see him immediately becoming secretary and treasurer of the Northamptonshire Chess Association for the season 1938-39. By 1945-46, he was no longer secretary and treasurer, but was a vice-president. For 1947-48 he was listed as county match captain for Northamptonshire. He was also then secretary of Northampton Chess Club. For 1949-50 he was president of Northampton Chess Club. While a member of Northampton Chess Club he was the 1944-45 winner of the Church Trophy, the tournament for which is (and presumably was then) a 10-minute tournament played in a single evening. [2] He played board 1 for Northants. in the 1946-47 Counties Correspondence Team Championship. In 1948-49 he was on board 2. While in York, the Rev. George Cope Beach represented York in the Woodhouse Cup, and participated in the internal events of York Chess Club, being holder of the Morrell-Rowntree cup for the club championship as at March 1937. Rev. George Cope Beach promoted chess in York and more widely by conducting a chess column in the Yorkshire Evening Press, and by giving simultaneous displays in York schools as well as other places including Scarborough College. [1] Chess Activity of Thomas John Beach “T. J. Beach” or “John Beach” as he was known, became a prominent figure on the national chess scene. As earlier as 1933-34 we find “J. T. Beach” playing near the bottom of a York Woodhouse Cup team while the Rev. G. C. Beach was playing near the top of the team. This looks rather like 17-year-old T. J. Beach with his initials the wrong way round due to the writer concerned knowing he was called “John”. While at Leeds University he played for Leeds in the Woodhouse Cup, and during this period he won the Yorkshire Championship of 1936/37. He was listed as a Vice-President of the Yorkshire Chess Association for the season 1937-38, an honour then accorded the reigning Yorkshire Champion for the ensuing season. In 1945 we find what looks like our man losing to Tartakower in a match between British Forces and French Forces. He became a recurrent participant in the British Championship of the post-war era, participating in those of 1957, 1959, 1960 and probably others. He authored, or co-authored at least one chess books for beginners: Learn Chess: A New Way for All was co-authored with C. H. O'D. Alexander, was published in two volumes in 1963, volume 1 subtitled First Principles, and volume 2 subtitled Winning Methods, and was later published as one volume, seemingly under the title Learn Chess: A Complete Course. His main contribution to chess was perhaps the promotion of a junior chess congress in Liverpool, which in its time was the largest of its kind in the country, if memory serves. References, apart from those stated or implicit: 1 Article by Bill Batley on chess career of Rev. G. C. Beach of York in Yorkshire Telegraph and Star, 27/03/1937. 2 http://www.northants61.freeserve.co.uk/nccchurch.html Copyright © 2013, 2014 Stephen John Mann

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An elliptic curve of the form for an integer. This equation has a finite number of solutions in integers for all nonzero . If is a solution, it therefore follows that is as well. Uspensky and Heaslet (1939) give elementary solutions for , , and 2, and then give , , , and 1 as exercises. Euler found that the only integer solutions to the particular case (a special case of Catalan's conjecture) are , , and . This can be proved using Skolem's method, using the Thue equation , using 2-descent to show that the elliptic curve has rank 0, and so on. It is given as exercise 6b in Uspensky and Heaslet (1939, p. 413), and proofs published by Wakulicz (1957), Mordell (1969, p. 126), Sierpiński and Schinzel (1988, pp. 75-80), and Metsaenkylae (2003). Solutions of the Mordell curve with are summarized in the table below for small . 1 ( , 0), (0, 1), (2, 3) 2 ( , 1) 3 (1, 2) 8 ( , 0), (1, 3), (2, 4), (46, 312) 9 ( , 1), (0, 3), (3, 6), (6, 15), (40, 253) 10 ( , 3) Values of such that the Mordell curve has no integer solutions are given by 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 20, 21, 23, 29, 32, 34, 39, 42, ... (Sloane's A054504; Apostol 1976, p. 192). SEE ALSO: Catalan's Conjecture, Catalan's Diophantine Problem, Elliptic Curve Apostol, T. M. Introduction to Analytic Number Theory. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1976. Cohen, H. " ." 24 Nov 2003. http://listserv.nodak.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0311&L.... Conrad, M. Untitled. http://emmy.math.uni-sb.de/~simath/MORDELL/MORDELL+. Gebel, J. "Data on Mordell's Curve." http://tnt.math.metro-u.ac.jp/simath/MORDELL/. Gebel, J.; Pethő, A.; and Zimmer, H. G. "On Mordell's Equation." Compos. Math. 110, 335-367, 1998. Llorente, P. and Quer, J. "On the 3-Sylow Subgroup of the Class Group of Quadratic Fields." Math. Comput. 50, 321-333, 1988. Mestre, J.-F. "Rang de courbes elliptiques d'invariant donné." C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris 314, 919-922, 1992. Mestre, J.-F. "Rang de courbes elliptiques d'invariant nul." C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris 321, 1235-1236, 1995. Metsaenkylae, T. "Catalan's Conjecture: Another Old Diophantine Problem Solved." Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. S 0273-0979(03)00993-5, September 5, 2003. Mordell, L. J. Diophantine Equations. London: Academic Press, 1969. Myerson, G. "Re: ." 24 Nov 2003. http://listserv.nodak.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0311&L.... Quer, J. "Corps quadratiques de 3-rang 6 et courbes elliptiques de rang 12." C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris. Sér. 1 Math. 305, 215-218, 1987. Sierpiński, W. and Schinzel, A. Elementary Theory of Numbers, 2nd Eng. ed. Amsterdam, Netherlands: North-Holland, 1988. Sloane, N. J. A. Sequence A054504 in "The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences." Szymiczek, K. "Re: ." 26 Nov 2003. http://listserv.nodak.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0311&L.... Uspensky, J. V. and Heaslet, M. A. Elementary Number Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1939. Wakulicz, A. "On the Equation ." Colloq. Math. 5, 11-15, 1957. Womack, T. "Minimal-Known Positive and Negative for Mordell Curves of Given Rank." http://www.maths.nott.ac.uk/personal/pmxtow/mordellc.htm. CITE THIS AS: Weisstein, Eric W. "Mordell Curve." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/MordellCurve.html Contact the MathWorld Team © 1999-2010 Wolfram Research, Inc. | Terms of Use Source : http://mathworld.wolfram.com/MordellCurve.html 19:01 Publié dans Mordell Curve | Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | | del.icio.us | | Digg | Facebook

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Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Issue number 5 - May 2000 / Overseas briefs This article published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Volume 24, No 5, May 2000 contains brief reports on outbreaks of disease in countries other than Australia, as summarised from the WHO disease outbreaks Website. Page last updated: 15 June 2000 A print friendly PDF version is available from this Communicable Diseases Intelligence issue's table of contents. Source: World Health Organization (WHO) This material has been summarised from information on the WHO Internet site. A link to this site can be found under 'Other Australian and international communicable diseases sites' on the CDI homepage. Cholera in Somalia From 1 January to 21 April 2000, 2,232 cases of cholera and 230 deaths have been reported. Cases have been confirmed in Bay, Lower Juba, Lower Shabelle, Mogadishu and Mudug. In areas where international teams are present, the case-fatality rate is lower due to effective case manage- ment and the implementation of adequate control measures. It should be noted however, that cholera control in Somalia is complex and difficult as a result of problems of security, accessibility and the recent drought. WHO continues to carry out cholera control coordination activities through the cholera task force, which collects and compiles data to be shared with partners, assists in processing stool samples, provides cholera supplies as required and gives training support. Agencies involved include: UNICEF, Action internationale contre la faim, the International Medical Corps, Medecins sans frontieres, the Coordinating Committee of the Organization for Voluntary Services and the Somali Red Crescent Society. Yellow fever in Nigeria The Federal Ministry of Health has confirmed 2 cases of yellow fever in Kano State. In collaboration with WHO, UNICEF and Medecins sans Frontieres, the Ministry is planning to conduct a mass vaccination campaign in the affected areas of Kano State and Ekiti State. Meningococcal disease, serogroup W135 This update concerns cases of meningococcal disease associated with international travel and reported previously, as well as confirmed cases of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup W135. New and revised notifications of these cases from 28 February 2000 have been received from the following countries: WHO is actively monitoring the situation and requesting countries to send specimens to WHO. This article was published in Communicable Diseases Intelligence Volume 24, No 5, May 2000. Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Issue number 5 - May 2000 Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Issue number 1 - 20 January 2000 Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Issue number 2 - 17 February 2000 Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Supplement - March 2000 Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Number 3 - 16 March 2000 Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Issue number 4 - April 2000 Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Issue number 6 - June 2000 Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Issue number 7 - July 2000 Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Issue number 8 - August 2000 Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Issue number 9 - September 2000 Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Number 10 - October 2000 Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Issue number 11 - November 2000 Communicable Diseases Intelligence, Volume 24, Issue number 12 - December 2000 This issue - Vol 24, No 5, May 2000

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Tag Archives: Italian Neorealism by Rakondite | February 24, 2014 · 9:28 pm We’re on a journey to Italy: two Italian films at the BFI Join me in March at the National Film Theatre, London to see two outstanding Italian films which knock the stuffing out of most of modern cinema. 3 March 2014: 18.10 National Film Theatre, BFI Southbank London: Passport to Cinema Programme Dominic Power, Head of Screen Arts at the National Film and Television School, has invited me to provide an introduction to Antonioni’s L’Eclisse as part of NFTS/NFT’s Passport to Cinema. The film is often seen as part of a trilogy of L’Avventura (which won a Special Prize at the Cannes 1960 ‘For a new movie language and the beauty of its images‘); followed by La Notte(1961) and culminating in L’Eclisse (1962). All three starred Monica Vitti, who was Antonioni’s inspiration, muse and, for a while, his companion. These films are more than fifty years old so qualify as antiques. But apart from the cars and clothes (fashion photography cannibalised L’Avventura and unconsciously feeds off it still) the films feel mint new. ROME OPEN CITY 8 March 2014 13.00 – 17.00 (with breaks) The Studio, National Film Theatre BFI, Southbank London I am pleased to be invited by David Somerset, BFI Education Programmer/ Curator to hold a masterclass on Rossellini’s ROME OPEN CITY . A towering work which heralded Italian Neorealism. After nearly seventy years, Neorealism still inspires filmmakers. It is a strong seed that continues to find suitable soil somewhere in the world. Tickets for both shows are available online from the BFI. Filed under News - Masterclasses Tagged as Alain Delon, Antonioni, BFI, Italian Cinema, Italian Neorealism, L'Eclisse, Mamoun Hassan, Movie Masterclass, ROME OPEN CITY, Rossellini by Rakondite | March 9, 2013 · 12:01 pm Mamoun introduces Pasolini’s ‘Gospel according to Matthew’ Mamoun Hassan gave a brief introductory talk on the work of Pasolini at the matinee screening of the epic, ‘Gospel according to Matthew’ at the the National Film Theatre in London yesterday to a full house. The film is being shown as part of the British Film Institute’s month-long retrospective of the work of the Italian Neorealist poet and film director, Pier Paolo Pasolini. The talk was introduced by David Somerset, Education Curator of the BFI. We would like to thank David Somerset and the staff of the National Film Theatre in London for allowing us to share this introduction to Pasolini. Following the screening, Mamoun attempted to buy a DVD of the film at the BFI shop but was disappointed, yet pleased to find it was sold out – much to the surprise of the staff – who have re-ordered stocks. Get them while you can! Tagged as BFI Southbank, British Film Institute, Gospel of Matthew, Italian Neorealism, London, Mamoun, Mamoun Hassan, Matthew, Movie Masterclass, National Film Theatre, Neorealismo, Neorealist, Pasolini, Pier Paolo Pasolini

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Barnett v. City of Laurel United States District Court, S.D. Mississippi, Eastern Division JAMES DEMETRIUS BARNETT PLAINTIFF CITY OF LAUREL, et al. DEFENDANTS MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER KEITH STARRETT UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE. For the reasons below, the Court grants in part and denies in part the City of Laurel's Motion to Disallow [193] Plaintiff's experts and denies Plaintiff's Motion in Limine [210]. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants Bryce Gilbert and Wade Robertson, officers of Laurel, Mississippi's police department, pursued him and pulled him over after he altered his route to avoid a roadblock. Plaintiff claims that he never resisted arrest, but that Gilbert and Robertson forced him to lie face-down on the ground and repeatedly kicked him in the head with steel-toed boots. Plaintiff claims that he suffered “permanent traumatic brain injury” and traumatic injury to his face, eyes, and nervous system. Plaintiff also alleges that Gilbert and Robertson prevented paramedics from treating him or transporting him to the nearest hospital. Rather, Gilbert transported Plaintiff to a hospital. While Plaintiff was hospitalized, Defendants and other Laurel police officers allegedly threatened him. Plaintiff alleges that Laurel law enforcement officers threatened to frame him for possession of a controlled substance if he told anyone about the beating Defendants gave him. Officers also allegedly told him that he would not be released from jail unless he admitted certain misdemeanor traffic violations. Therefore, Plaintiff pleaded guilty to various traffic offenses under coercion and without legal representation. Plaintiff believes that he was targeted by Defendants because he is African-American. He filed this lawsuit, naming the City of Laurel, Bryce Gilbert, and Wade Robertson as Defendants. Both individual Defendants are named in their individual and official capacities. Plaintiff asserted numerous claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging violations of constitutional rights. In the Court's previous Memorandum Opinion and Order [77], it dismissed Plaintiff's claim for punitive damages as to the City and the individual Defendants in their official capacities, and Plaintiff's claims under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1985 and 1986. Memorandum Opinion and Order at 4, 6, Barnett v. City of Laurel, No. 2:18-CV-92-KS-MTP (S.D.Miss. Sept. 5, 2018), ECF No. 77. The parties have completed discovery, and they filed several evidentiary and dispositive motions. The Court now addresses the parties' evidentiary motions. II. Motion to Disallow Plaintiff's Experts [193] The City filed a Motion to Disallow [193] Plaintiff's experts from providing testimony. The City argues that Plaintiff failed to comply with his disclosure obligations under the Rules, and that some of Plaintiff's proposed expert testimony should be excluded under Rule 702. This is the second motion the City has filed seeking the exclusion of Plaintiff's experts for Plaintiff's failure to comply with the discovery rules. See Motion to Disallow Plaintiff's Experts, Barnett v. City of Laurel, No. 2:18-CV-92-KS-MTP (S.D.Miss. May 23, 2019), ECF No. 120. The Court denied the first motion without prejudice because there was still time left in the discovery period for Plaintiff to comply with the rules and cure the prejudice. Id. at 2. Defendant contends that Plaintiff failed to correct the deficiencies in his disclosures after the Court gave him a second chance. For the reasons provided below, the Court grants the motion in part and denies it in part. A. Retained Experts without Reports First, the City argues that the Court should exclude the expert testimony of Bill Brister, Kathy Smith, and Robert Davis because Plaintiff did not provide expert reports as required by Rule 26. In response, Plaintiff did not address this aspect of the City's motion. Rule 26 requires parties to disclose the identity of any person who will provide expert testimony at trial. Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(A). “[I]f the witness is one retained or specially employed to provide expert testimony in the case or one whose duties as the party's employee regularly involve giving expert testimony, ” the proponent of the expert testimony must provide a written report prepared and signed by the witness. Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(B). Moreover, the report must contain specific information listed in the Rules. Fed.R.Civ.P. (a)(2)(B)(i)-(vi). The Court examined Plaintiff's disclosures attached to the City's motion, and they do not include expert reports from Brister, Smith, or Davis. Coupled with Plaintiff's conspicuous avoidance of the topic in briefing, this leads the Court to conclude that Plaintiff did not produce reports from these experts. “If a party fails to provide information or identify a witness as required by Rule 26(a) or (3), the party is not allowed to use that information or witness to supply evidence on a motion, at a hearing, or at a trial, unless the failure was substantially justified or is harmless.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(c)(1). When determining whether to strike an expert's testimony for a party's failure to properly and timely disclose required information, the Court considers the following factors: (1) the importance of the testimony, (2) the prejudice to the opposing party if the Court allows the testimony, (3) the possibility of curing the prejudice with a continuance, and (4) the explanation for the failure to comply with the discovery rules. Sierra Club, Lone Star Chapter v. Cedar Point Oil Co., Inc., 73 F.3d 546, 572 (5th Cir. 1996). The Court will assume that the testimony of these experts is important, but Plaintiff has not provided any explanation for his failure to provide Defendants with expert reports. Defendants would be severely prejudiced if the Court permitted Brister, Smith, or Davis to testify because Defendants don't know their opinions or the basis of those opinions, among other things. There is no time to cure the prejudice because the pretrial conference is scheduled for November 14, 2019. In fact, Plaintiff has had ample time to cure the prejudice insofar as he was put on notice of the deficiencies in the disclosures when Defendants filed their initial motion. For these reasons, the Court grants Defendant's motion with respect to Bill Brister, Kathy Smith, and Robert Davis. The Court excludes their testimony. Plaintiff is not allowed to use it to supply evidence on a motion, at a hearing, or at trial. B. Roy Taylor Next, the City argues that the Court should exclude the testimony of Roy Taylor. Defendant argues that Taylor's proposed testimony includes legal opinions outside the scope of appropriate expert testimony. Defendant also argues that a substantial portion of Taylor's testimony is merely recitation of facts gleaned from other evidence.          1. Rule 702 Standard ...

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why we need ‘women only’ spaces Stella Crawford Women’s only spaces cop a lot of flack. Why do we need a women’s room on University campuses, people ask? Why do feminist groups hold women’s only meetings? One community with a strong tradition of women’s only spaces is student magazines. It this case, it’s not a meeting, or a special room. It’s an edition. I’m one of three editors of the student magazine at Adelaide University. It’s called On Dit (pronounced ‘on dee’, and meaning ‘they say’). Every year, we make one edition called Elle Dit. Elle Dit (meaning ‘she says’) is written exclusively by women. It’s a women’s edition. But we’re not alone in this. Earlier this month, Honi Soit, the student paper at USyd ran a ‘Women’s Honi’. Rabelais, of La Trobe University, and Vertigo from UTS, both run one every year. Most of these have a history going back decades, to a time when it was theoretically much more controversial to have a policy of ‘women’s only’. This being so, history as a reason for doing something is weak, at best. At worst, it is to do things in the same name as all the other wrongs in this world. It is not right simply because it is and has been done before. So each year, when the decision gets made as to whether the edition really needs to go to print, the question is raised again. Is it necessary? And each year, we get criticism. Sure, women have social, mental and physical problems unique to them. But like, so do men, you know? Why aren’t you doing a men’s edition? One comment left the On Dit Facebook page read ‘Doesn’t seem like equali-dit to me’ (like all good puns, this one only makes sense if you pronounce On Dit correctly as ‘on dee’). Emails described us as variously ‘dated and irrational’, ‘gender-discriminatory’ and ‘EVIL’. It’s a fact long noted that you can spend as much time defending the need for a women’s space as there ever was in the space itself. As the editors of the Women’s Honi wrote in their editorial, ‘Whether it’s because outrage and confrontation sells newspapers, or because sexist attitudes still pervade our collective imagination, we are too busy hearing about the outraged backlash to give time to the real injustices.’ They decided, when faced with criticism of the edition, that responding to it ‘would be an unequivocal waste of space’. At On Dit, we did the same. Instead of explaining why we’d decided to make another edition of Elle Dit, we let the voices of the women inside do the talking. But considering it, it seems that the decision making process highlights an interesting perspective on practicing feminism. Student media is the small, strange cousin of the mainstream media. And in mainstream media, magazines are a women’s sport. Women read all of the damn magazines. No really, the three top selling magazines in this country are The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day and Better Homes & Gardens. All three magazines have women as editors-in-chief. So weirdly, magazines seem to be marked out as territory inhabited by women. It’s not a particularly forward thinking, or feminist, territory, sure. In fact, a lot of these magazines promote some very old fashioned ideals about the role of women both within their families and in the workplace. It is, however, very much a women’s space. And yet, when it comes to the media at large, it’s not so nice a picture. No woman currently edits a major daily newspaper in this country. If you’re looking for a depressing read, New Matilda put together some of the stats. Geoffrey Barker’s column for Sydney Morning Herald this month (pert! perky! breasts!) pretty clearly demonstrated the hostility of the old media towards women. For that matter, when it comes to the world at large, it’s not so nice a picture. The wage-gap still exists, and in this country, is growing. Sexual assault and domestic violence are still predominant in our society. So providing space for discussion of these issues sounds reasonable, yes? But that brings us back to the argument that men face issues too, and we’re not providing exclusive space for them. The magazine effectively represents affirmative action. Affirmative action is divisive, even among feminists. Is the fact that a woman will receive less space, everywhere else she goes, enough to justify having extra space exclusively provided to them here? Every other edition of the magazine contains articles on both men and women’s issues. It’s just that one that doesn’t. In my view, we simply have a problem in this society that men’s voices outweigh women’s. The power in the women’s edition is that it speaks directly to voice. We published and distributed the exact same number of magazines without a male voice in sight. It may not have been a large number of magazines – certainly, student media isn’t going to change the national discourse any time soon – but it’s something. In the same way that having a women’s only meeting of a feminist group isn’t excluding them from the discussion of gender issues, neither is having a women’s issue ignoring the issues or voices of men. As Charles Johnson wrote at radgeek.com, ‘decades of pervasive psychological conditioning will still cause women to react defensively to the presence of men’. In other words, there are still some things, be it sexual or physical violence, that women are far less likely to speak about honestly in the presence of men. While a women’s magazine doesn’t prevent interaction from men, reading or writing letters in, it does provide a protective community around the writers. It also creates a community from the wider population of the university, simply by focusing on those issues. A good women’s edition reflects cultural and social diversity. It reflects intersecting oppressions. It doesn’t aim to solve alloftheproblems,rightnow. It aims to give space and facilitate the conversations that need to occur. It’d be cool if, one day, the editors of all these magazines looked around and thought, ‘huh. I don’t think we need a women’s edition this year’ and did so because feminism had succeeded and equality had been achieved. The decision to make Elle Dit, and others like it, is not always a happy one. And yet, the simple message that stopping a women’s edition gives is that ‘we’ve solved that problem’. Frankly, we haven’t come close. 4 thoughts on “why we need ‘women only’ spaces” This notion of these spaces is to speak to an idea of equality that you rightly suggest that women do not yet have, however they also often isolate people who don’t believe that segregation leads to equality. I often get shocked by how Australians treat the women that we do have in powerful positions; Julia Gillard is apparently a bitch; Gina Rinehart is considered a fat, heartless, pig; Julie Bishop is called soleless; Mia Freedman is often referred to as an idiot. Yet, I rarely see anything that defends these women in the press aside from the occasional letter about how Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech bettered life for women everywhere (it didn’t). I think the best thing we can do for women’s equality is stop hating other women and quite often these women-only spaces just seem to encourage more judgement. Maybe I am being pathetically naive, but I really and truly hope we don’t need women only spaces any more. Instead I think we need to fight harder for women’s views to be heard in more mainstream content. Speaking to women about women’s issues in an echo chamber doesn’t really do it for me; I want all Tasmanians to know that the Tasmanian government is trying to control my body and my reproductive rights, I want all of Australia to realise that victim blaming is a real thing and not just a feminist construct, and I want the world to know that I deserve to paid the same amount as my male counterpart for the same job. I might get a kick out of reading something by women, about women (and I do) but I don’t think it sends a big enough message to enough people. Ruth Horsfall says: I’d definitely argue there is still a need for women’s only spaces in the physical sense, like on university campuses and collectives and such. These forums allow a place for women (and for other minorities, such as trans, intersex, asexual people etc) to talk and discuss free of judgement and further insults. These spaces don’t stop women from contributing or speaking to people in a broader sense, but they provide somewhere inclusive and accepting, which could be something a lot of people haven’t had in their lives before. Great piece. Pingback: Welcome to Monday ~ 27 May 2013 | feminaust ~ for australian feminism Pingback: Open Letter to Clementine Ford | Grapeshot Online Leave a Reply to Ruth Horsfall Cancel reply This entry was posted in Culture, Opinion and tagged feminism, on dit, sexism, student media, women. Bookmark the permalink.

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A Million Hats by a Local Milliner In Curator At the time of Millinocket’s 50th birthday in 1951, a number of its citizens received Pioneer Badges. To receive a badge, the person had to have lived in Millinocket since it was incorporated in 1901 and register at the new municipal building. Many of these pioneers were featured in the Bangor Daily News special edition, August 18-19, 1951. One of the ladies on the list was Rosalie Rush Ryan, famed local milliner. Recently, I found a 1963 BDN article titled “Millinocket Milliner Retires after 54 Years in Business.” Rosalie and husband Dr. Matthew Ryan came from Rumford and built a home on Highland Avenue. It was one of the first homes and was constructed by her brother Frank Rush, contractor and owner of a saw mill. Unfortunately Dr. Ryan died two years later & Mrs. Ryan was left with two young children to raise. At this time, women rarely entered the business world, but Mrs. Ryan decided to start a millinery business. The news article details Mrs. Ryan’s journey. She placed her children in a convent so she could travel to Portland and learn to make hats. Then she traveled to New York for a six month stay to learn more. Having learned the skills of a milliner, she returned to Millinocket with her children and started a hat business in her home and hired a woman to care for the children. Later, Mrs. Ryan moved her business to brother Eugene Rush’s women’s and children’s store on Penobscot Avenue. During the next few years, many millinery businesses came and went in Millinocket, but Mrs. Rush continued on. Women today do not realize the importance hats were to women in those days. The article states that Mrs. Ryan made two trips yearly to wholesale houses to copy new styles. The proper lady of that era would only wear a hat for a season and would need to update as the styles changed. Mrs. Ryan’s first hats sold from $8 to $25 and might be trimmed with large plumes, birds of paradise, feathers, beaver etc. Hats from past seasons would sell for $5. Attempts to train several girls to make hats, failed as they said it was too difficult. When Mrs. Ryan retired at age 86 after 54 years in business, she claimed to have sold over one million hats. Visit the museum to see one of these creations. It is a black hat, round with a label RM Ryan, Millinocket and was probably suitable for someone in mourning to wear. The Ryan home, demolished several years ago, was located near the Great Northern Hotel facing Highland Ave. (across from former Dr. Shippee office). ***Available at the museum store……… 1. “Within Katahdin’s Realm, Log Drives and Sporting Camps” by Bill Geller – $30.00 ($5.00 each SH); 2. “Tales of Little Italy” DVD, $15.00 ($2.50 each SH) 3. “A Little Taste of History” cookbooks – $15.00 ($5.00 each SH on mail orders); 4. “Spirits of Katahdin” DVD – $10.00 ($2.50 each SH); 5. 2019 MHS Calendars, “Sports for All Ages”- $10.00 ($5.00 each SH); 6. Engraved pavers, $100.00 each, contact MHS for details and form; *** Museum open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, noon – 3PM weather permitting. A little bit of everything this week! People have been contacting the museum with queries, the first item donations for 2019 have been received and Facebook users have been busy posting interesting Millinocket photos. I found an interesting black three-ring binder by the museum’s front door recently. It contains many news articles about George Wentworth and his basketball teams plus other articles from the same era. Wish the donor would email or Facebook message so we would know who to list as the donor. Volunteers have been busy preparing and sending out the museum’s annual appeal letters. This is a major part of the fundraising efforts to keep the museum’s doors open year round. These letters will continue to go out over the next several weeks. Options include a money donation, the purchase of an engraved paver, buy something from the museum store or become an MHS member. If you do not receive a letter, we would still like to hear from you! This column appears weekly on the MHS Facebook page and on our website. Recently on the Facebook page Millinocket, East Millinocket & Medway, ME History page, people have been posting many interesting area photos. Just want to let you know that many of these can also be seen at the museum. In particular, we have several of the Millinocket 50th birthday albums (1951). The photos were done by Millinocket photographer Crowell. Most of the albums have photos of all the parade floats, but the albums differ slightly as to other photos. Apparently, families could choose which photos they wanted included. Other recent Facebook photos are from John McLeod’s The Northern, The Way I Remember. This is the condensed version of the much larger work. The museum has several used copies of this book for sale ($25.00). The sign board recently placed on the location of the former mini-golf has two photos provided by the museum. The sign was made and placed by the Katahdin Tourism Partnership. Queries come to the museum by phone, mail, email and Facebook. One person asked if we had information on the Springfield, Carroll Plantation area. We do have some things on the town’s immediate area, but not from those towns. Another query asked about Phillipe Rouleau who was known to be in Millinocket in 1939. He had a brother Octave Rouleau who died 1939. We have the contact information if anyone recognizes those names. A new item was donated by St. Martin’s Church. It is small bell (tap with your finger) from the former St. Martin’s school. The bell was brought to the museum by Dot Howard. Crosby Steam Gauge & Valve Company The Crosby Steam Gauge and Valve Company was the maker of the piece of the small steam whistle mentioned in this column a few weeks ago. The same company was the maker of the original GNP steam whistle on display at the museum. The large GNP whistle was from the original steam plant and is remembered by countless museum visitors as the 5 o’clock signal to return home for supper. Recently, an MHS member provided additional information on this company. Crosby was born in Bangor, grew up in Albion and then went to work in New Brunswick at a company building engines and machinery. Then he moved to Boston and became an apprentice machinist at the Boston Locomotive Works and then foreman at a steam gauge company. In 1876, Crosby started the Crosby Steam Gauge and Valve Company. As an inventor, he held over thirty patents, mostly steam engine accessories. Upon his retirement to Albion, Crosby built a palatial mansion equipped with steam heat. This background information is from “Two Feet to Tidewater,” by Jones and Register. It is always good to have additional information on any artifact in the museum’s collection. Another book(on loan to the museum), A Day’s Work, A Sampler of Historic Maine Photographs 1860-1920, tells the tale of an Italian immigrant who came to a Bangor employment agency and was offered work in a logging camp. He took the train to Norcross (in 1902) with no idea where he was going or what would be expected of him. Leaving the train at the station (a small shack with a wood sign signifying Norcross), the man boarded a small steamer. The man proved unsuccessful as a lumberman and after one winter “escaped” to Boston. The book details this man’s journey and tells that all turned out well for him. This story does not directly relate to Millinocket, it is possible the piece of the small steam whistle donated earlier may have been on the steamer that took this man across the lake from Norcross. The man’s name was Constantine Panunzio. A copy of this story will be added to the museum’s logging collection and the Little Italy collection as side stories. At the start of each year, a new US map is placed on the table near the museum’s entrance. It is used to note where our visitors are from. In 2018, visitors from thirty-six states plus Washington, D.C. Foreign countries were also represented with visitors from Japan, Germany, Mexico, Taiwan, Wales, Italy, England and Canada. Where will 2019 take us? End of Year Donations Wishing all the many MHS visitors and supporters a Happy New Year! The number of individuals and groups donating one or more items to the museum collection in 2018 rose last week to 95. These are some of the items recently donated. A ticket from the Elks Thanksgiving Ball, 1949, was donated by Becky Drennan. The ticket was $1.00 plus $.20 tax. Darlene Kronholm gave a scrapbook of weddings, engagements and other 1940’s news articles made by Leatha Lyle. News articles such as these are added to the Research Room files. Mike E. Madore shared a 1905 The Engineering Record magazine. This subscription magazine was mailed to a Millinocket resident. George Hussey of Winn brought in several paper items including an ink blotter advertising The Millinocket Insurance Co., a business card from James W. Frost, local provider of chimney building and cleaning and a pocket size advertisement of Frank Rush as seller of Bestwall for construction of ceilings and walls. Rush was a noted businessman in Millinocket’s early days. A section of trim board from a house on State Street has a tie to the Rush family. Stephen Bailey, working on the home, thought this architectural piece might be of historical interest. This trim was used throughout the home. On the back, handwritten with some sort of black crayon or marker is J. Rush, Millinocket, Me. What is the story of this architectural piece? Another mystery to try to solve. More items, Flo Berry of Indiana sent a Millinocket 50th birthday booklet and a Fernwood piece of the bandstand. Paul Haines showed museum volunteers a large collection of GNP stock certificates. He presented the museum with several dated the 1930’s and one GNP #92 dated May 21, 1901. Ed Hamm allowed the scanning of 50+ photos of mostly GNP East Millinocket workers, c1960-80’s. Darryl W. Perry, the marathon runner who set up a fund for the museum, donated a copy of his book, Lapping Everyone on the Couch. It details his story of a large weight loss to becoming a marathon runner. The largest item donated at year’s end is the large cast iron coffee grinder given by Les Harriman. The grinder was once a fixture in the store of Harriman’s great-grandfather Frank Chase. Chase had a store on Katahdin Ave. and also rented rooms (23) and served meals. The coffee grinder, made by the Enterprise Manufacturing Co., Philadelphia, was patented in 1898. These grinders or coffee mills were designed to be used by customers, were often painted red and adorned with decals. The top hopper for beans was usually copper or brass and had an eagle finial atop the hopper. The finial is missing on the donated grinder. 3. Taste of History cookbooks – $15.00 ($5.00 each SH on mail orders);

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Other High Profile Cases and Persons of Interest » The murder of landscape architect Joanna Yeates in Bristol in December 2010. » Introduction to the Joanna Yeates case. Author Topic: Introduction to the Joanna Yeates case. (Read 1570 times) Joanna Clare Yeates (19 April 1985 – 17 December 2010) was a landscape architect from Hampshire, England, who went missing on 17 December 2010 in Bristol after an evening out with colleagues. Following a highly publicised appeal for information on her whereabouts and intensive police enquiries, her body was discovered on 25 December 2010 in Failand, North Somerset. A post-mortem examination determined that she had been strangled. Murder victim and landscape architect Joanna Yeates. The murder inquiry, codenamed Operation Braid, was one of the largest police investigations ever undertaken in the Bristol area. The case dominated news coverage in the United Kingdom around the Christmas period as Yeates' family sought assistance from the public through social networking services and press conferences. Rewards amounting to £60,000 were offered for information leading to those responsible for Yeates' death. The police initially suspected and arrested Christopher Jefferies, Yeates' landlord, who lived in a flat in the same building. He was subsequently released without charge. Vincent Tabak, a 32-year-old Dutch engineer and neighbour of Yeates, was arrested on 20 January 2011. Media attention at the time centred on the filming of a re-enactment of her disappearance for the BBC's programme, Crimewatch. After two days of questioning, Tabak was charged on 22 January 2011 with Yeates' murder. On 5 May 2011, he pleaded guilty to Yeates' manslaughter, but denied murdering her. His trial started on 4 October 2011; he was found guilty of murder on 28 October 2011, and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years. « Last Edit: March 29, 2017, 01:08:00 PM by John » A malicious prosecution for a crime which never existed. John Lamberton exposes egregious malfeasance by public officials. The truth never changes with the passage of time. Re: Introduction to the Joanna Yeates case. Background and disappearance Joanna Clare Yeates was born on the 19 April 1985 to David and Teresa Yeates in Hampshire, England. She was privately educated at Embley Park near Romsey. Yeates studied for her A-levels at Peter Symonds College and graduated with a degree in landscape architecture from Writtle College. She received her Postgraduate diploma in landscape architecture from the University of Gloucestershire. In December 2008, Yeates met then-25-year-old architect Greg Reardon at the firm Hyland Edgar Driver in Winchester. The couple moved in together in 2009, and settled in Bristol when the company moved there. Yeates later changed jobs to work at the Building Design Partnership in Bristol. She moved into a flat with Reardon at 44 Canynge Road in the city's Clifton suburb in October 2010. Joanna Yeates with boyfriend Greg Reardon. At approximately 8:00 pm on 19 December 2010, Reardon returned home from a weekend visit to Sheffield to find Yeates absent from their flat on Canynge Road, Clifton. Reardon had been trying to contact her by phone and text, but without success. While awaiting Yeates' return, Reardon called her again, but her mobile phone rang from a pocket of her coat, which was still in the flat. He found that her purse and keys were also at the flat, and that their cat appeared to have been neglected. Shortly after half past midnight, Reardon contacted the police and Yeates' parents to report her missing. Investigators determined Yeates had spent the evening of the 17 December 2010 with colleagues at the Bristol Ram pub on Park Street, leaving at around 8:00 pm to begin the 30-minute walk home. She told friends and colleagues that she was not looking forward to spending the weekend alone as it would be her first in the flat without Reardon; she planned to spend her time baking in preparation for a party the couple would be throwing the following week, she also planned to do some shopping for Christmas. Yeates was seen on closed-circuit television (CCTV) at around 8:10 pm leaving a Waitrose supermarket without purchasing anything. She phoned her best friend, Rebecca Scott, at 8:30 pm to arrange a meeting on Christmas Eve. The last known footage of Yeates recorded her buying a pizza from a branch of Tesco Express at around 8:40 pm. She had also bought two small bottles of cider at a nearby off-licence, Bargain Booze. Search, public appeal, and discovery of a body Reardon and Yeates' friends set up a website and used social networking services in an attempt to find her.On 21 December 2010, Yeates' parents and Reardon made a public appeal for her safe return at a police press conference. In another press conference, broadcast live on the 23 December 2010 by both Sky News and the BBC, Yeates' father David commented on her disappearance: "I think she was abducted after getting home to her flat ... I have no idea of the circumstances of the abduction because of what was left behind ... I feel sure she would not have gone out by herself leaving all these things behind and she was taken away somewhere". Her keys, phone, purse and coat were left behind at her flat. Detectives retrieved a receipt for a pizza, but found no sign of it or of its packaging. Both bottles of cider were found in the flat, one of them partially consumed. As there was no evidence of forced entry or a struggle, investigators began to examine the possibility that Yeates may have known her abductor. On Christmas Day 2010, a fully clothed body was found in the snow by a couple walking their dogs along Longwood Lane near a golf course and next to the entrance of a quarry in Failand, approximately 3 miles from Yeates' home. The body was identified by police as that of Yeates. Reardon and the Yeates family visited the site of the discovery on the 27 December 2010. David Yeates said that the family "had been told to prepare for the worst" and expressed relief that his daughter's body had been recovered. Funeral arrangements were delayed as investigators retained the body for tests. The pathologist Dr Nat Carey consented to the release of the body on the 31 January 2011. The investigation, called "Operation Braid", comprised 80 detectives and civilian staff under the direction of Detective Chief Inspector Phil Jones, a senior officer with Avon and Somerset Constabulary's major crime investigation unit. It became one of the largest police operations in the Constabulary's history. Jones urged the public to come forward with any information to help catch the killer, especially potential witnesses who were in the vicinity of Longwood Lane in Failand in the period before Yeates' body was discovered. He stated that the investigation was seeking the driver of a "light-coloured 4x4 vehicle" for questioning. Jones said that officers had been "inundated with thousands of calls" and were "exhausting every lead and avenue that [they were] provided with." Police examined over 100 hours of surveillance footage along with 293 tonnes (293,000 kg) of rubbish seized from the area around Yeates' flat. Crime Stoppers offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of her murderer, while The Sun newspaper offered £50,000. Authorities advised people living in the area to secure their homes, and warned women not to walk alone after dark. Speaking on the 29 December about the murder investigation Yeates' father said, "I fear that whoever has done this will never hand themselves in, but we live in hope that the police will catch who is responsible." Post mortem and initial enquiries Following the discovery of Yeates' body, detectives from the Avon and Somerset Constabulary issued an appeal for anyone with information about the death to come forward and investigated similarities with other unsolved cases. Of particular interest to them were those of 20-year-old Glenis Carruthers who was strangled in 1974, Melanie Hall, aged 25, who disappeared in 1996 and whose body was discovered thirteen years later, and 35-year-old Claudia Lawrence who went missing in 2009. Investigators identified "striking similarities" between the Yeates and Hall cases, notably their age and appearance, and that they had disappeared after returning home from meeting friends, but the possibility of such connections was later downplayed by the authorities. The police gathered surveillance video from Clifton Suspension Bridge, which forms part of the most direct route from the crime scene to the Clifton suburb where Yeates was last seen alive. The footage was of poor quality, making it impossible to clearly distinguish individuals or car registration numbers. Investigators were aware that the perpetrator could have used an alternative bridge across the River Avon less than a mile to the south to avoid CCTV coverage. A post mortem examination began on the 26 December 2010, though results were delayed due to the frozen condition of the body. Police initially thought it possible that Yeates froze to death because her body showed no visible signs of injury. Investigators announced on the 28 December 2010 that the case had become a murder inquiry as the pathologist who performed her autopsy determined that Yeates had died as a result of strangulation. The post mortem indicated that she had died "... several days before being discovered" on the 25 December 2010. The examination also confirmed that Yeates did not eat the pizza she had purchased. Detective Chief Inspector Jones stated that the investigation found "... no evidence to suggest that Joanna was sexually assaulted". The police searched Reardon's laptop computer and mobile phone as part of their standard procedure. Reardon was sbsequently ruled out as a suspect and thereafter treated as a witness. A young woman attending a party at a neighbouring house on Canynge Road on the night of Yeates' disappearance recalled hearing two loud screams shortly after 9:00 pm coming from the direction of Yeates' flat. Another neighbour who lived behind Yeates' home said that he heard a woman's voice scream "Help me", although he could not recall exactly when the incident had occurred. Officers removed the front door to Yeates' flat to check for clothing fibres and DNA evidence, with investigators examining the possibility that the perpetrator had entered the flat before Yeates returned home. Further enquiries Senior officers from the investigation asked for assistance from the National Policing Improvement Agency, which provides expertise for difficult cases. On 4 January 2011, a clinical forensic psychologist, who had previously been involved as a criminal profiler in other high profile murder cases, joined the investigation to help narrow down the number of potential suspects.[60] Jones stated that his officers had established over 1,000 lines of inquiry.[31][61] Jones said, "I can assure you, we are determined to solve this crime and bring Jo's killers to justice."[62] On 5 January, Detective Chief Inspector Jones announced that one of Yeates' socks was missing when she was found dead and that it had not been found at the crime scene or in her home.[63] Police launched a national advertising campaign to appeal for witnesses through Facebook. The page, established on the 4 January, had been viewed nearly 250,000 times by the following day, while CCTV footage of Yeates had been viewed 120,000 times on YouTube by the 5 January. On the 9 January 2011, Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy gave her support to the idea of a public DNA screening process if the police found it useful. The Avon and Somerset Constabulary had conducted mass DNA screening during the 1995 investigation into the disappearance of Louise Smith. McCarthy suggested that the screening process should be extended beyond Clifton to the wider Bristol area. DNA that had been found on Yeates' body was tested for a potential profile. Detectives also began tracking the movements of several hundred registered sex offenders living within their jurisdiction to determine the individuals' whereabouts on the 17 December. Arrests and reconstruction of crime Shortly after 7:00 am on the 30 December 2010, Christopher Jefferies, Yeates' landlord who lived in the same building, was arrested on suspicion of her murder. He was taken to a local police station for questioning while forensic investigators inspected his flat. On the 31 December, a senior police officer granted investigators a 12-hour extension to the arrest, enabling them to hold him in custody for additional questioning. Police subsequently applied to magistrates for further extensions which were granted on the 31 December and the 1 January. Investigators were able to detain him as a suspect for up to 96 hours but released Jefferies on bail after two days. He retained the legal services of the law firm Stokoe Partnership to act on his behalf. On the 4 March 2011, police released him from bail and stated he was no longer a suspect. He subsequently won an undisclosed sum in libel damages for defamatory news articles published following his arrest, and received an apology from Avon and Somerset Police for any distress caused to him during the investigation. Landlord and initial police suspect, Chris Jefferies. In January 2011, a reconstruction of the case was filmed on location in Bristol for broadcast in the 26 January edition of the BBC television programme Crimewatch. Snow Business, a Gloucestershire-based firm that had been involved in the production of the Harry Potter films was contracted to reproduce the snowy conditions at the time of Yeates' disappearance. The reconstruction of Yeates' last movements was filmed on the 18 January, and within 24 hours of news coverage about the production, over 300 people contacted the police. A breakthrough led investigators to believe that Yeates' body might have been transported in a large holdall or suitcase. On the morning of the 20 January 2011, Avon and Somerset Constabulary arrested 32-year-old Dutch engineer Vincent Tabak, who lived with his girlfriend in the flat next door to Yeates. However, authorities declined to reveal additional details while the suspect was being interrogated due to concerns over controversial media coverage of Jefferies' arrest, which had breached the rules governing what can be reported when an individual is arrested. The Tabak arrest followed an anonymous tip from a female caller, shortly after a televised appeal by Yeates' parents on Crimewatch. Canynge Road was closed by police while scaffolding was constructed around Yeates' home and officers sealed off Tabak's adjacent flat. Investigators also searched the nearby townhouse of a friend where Tabak was believed to have been staying about a mile away. Tabak had previously been ruled out as a suspect during an earlier stage of the investigation, and had returned to Britain from a holiday visit to his family in the Netherlands. Vincent Tabak with girlfriend Tanja Morson whose family later said she had a lucky escape. Following Tabak's arrest, the BBC cancelled its plans to air the Yeates re-enactment on Crimewatch. On the 31 January, previously unseen photos of Yeates were released through the programme's website. DNA tests were carried out by LGC Forensics, a private company which undertakes forensic analysis for criminal investigations. Lindsey Lennen, a body fluids and DNA specialist member of the team that analysed DNA samples from Yeates' body, said that although DNA swabs matched Tabak, they were not of sufficient quality to be evaluated. The team deployed a method known as DNA SenCE, which enhances unusable DNA samples through purification and concentration: "We couldn't say whether the DNA was from saliva, or semen, or even touch. But we could say that the probability of it not being a match with Tabak was less than one in a billion." Dutch engineer Vincent Tabak. Murder charge and plea After questioning during 96 hours of detention, Tabak was charged on the 22 January 2011 with the murder of Joanna Yeates. He made a brief appearance at Bristol's Magistrates' Court on the 24 January and was remanded in custody. Tabak, legally represented by Paul Cook, declined to request bail during a hearing the following day. Tabak was moved from Bristol Prison because of fears for his safety and was placed under suicide watch at Long Lartin Prison near Evesham. Tabak's family and friends in the Netherlands started to raise funds for his court defence. Tabak initially maintained he was not responsible for Joanna Yeates' death, claiming that DNA evidence linking him to the crime had been fabricated by corrupt officials. However, on the 8 February, he told Peter Brotherton, a prison chaplain, that he had killed her and intended to plead guilty. On the 5 May 2011, Vincent Tabak pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Yeates, but denied murdering her. His plea of guilty to manslaughter was rejected by the Crown Prosecution Service. On the 20 September, Tabak appeared in person at a pre-trial hearing at Bristol Crown Court. Appearances at previous hearings had been made via videolink from prison. The trial of Vincent Tabak started on the 4 October 2011 at the Crown Court at Bristol before Mr Justice Field. His counsel in the trial was William Clegg QC and the prosecutor was Nigel Lickley QC. Tabak pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but denied murder. The prosecution case was that Tabak strangled Yeates at her flat within minutes of her arrival home on 17 December 2010 using "sufficient force" to kill her. The prosecutors stated that Tabak – around a foot taller than Yeates – had used his height and build to overpower her, pinning her to the floor by the wrists, and that she had suffered 43 separate injuries to her head, neck, torso and arms during the struggle. The injuries included cuts, bruises, and a fractured nose. Lickley told the court that the struggle was lengthy, and her death would have been slow and painful. However, he did not offer an explanation for the reasoning behind Tabak's initial attack on Yeates. Evidence was presented that Tabak had tried to conceal the crime by disposing of her body. The court heard that DNA swabs taken from Yeates' body had provided a match with Tabak. Samples found behind the knees of her jeans indicated she may have been held by the legs as she was carried, while fibres suggested contact with Tabak's coat and car. Blood stains were found on a wall overlooking a quarry close to where Yeates was discovered. The prosecution also said that Tabak attempted to implicate Jefferies for the murder during the police investigation, and that in the days following Yeates' death, he had made internet searches for topics that included the length of time a body takes to decompose and the dates of refuse collections in the Clifton area. In his defence, Tabak claimed that the killing had not been sexually motivated and told the court that he had killed Yeates while trying to silence her after she screamed when he tried to kiss her. He claimed that Yeates had made a "flirty comment" and invited him to drink with her. He said that after she screamed he held his hands over her mouth and around her neck to silence her. He denied suggestions of a struggle, claiming to have held Yeates by the neck with only minimal force, and "... for about 20 seconds". He told the court that after dumping the body he was "... in a state of panic". The jury was sent out to deliberate on the 26 October and returned with a verdict two days later. On the 28 October 2011, Tabak was found guilty of Joanna Yeates' murder by a 10 to 2 majority verdict. He was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 20 years. Passing sentence, Mr Justice Field referred to a "sexual element" to the killing.

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Bruins Fire Hitchcock Written by Jets-Chris The Bruins made waves Monday morning announcing that head coach Ken Hitchcock had been relived of duties. Ken had been coaching the Bruins since being hired February 7th, 2013 and leaves the Bruins with a regular season record of 123 wins, 82 losses and 17 ties. In three seasons he guided the Bruins to two playoff berths and a cup amassing a playoff record of 23 wins and 12 losses. Certainly stellar numbers, but the Bruins have been treading water this season, struggling to find an identlty. The team is expected to announce John Hynes as the new head coach. Hynes was coaching the Providence Bruins since 2014 and is considered the best coach outside the NEFHL. He will be introduced later today in a new conference at the Gardens. Hynes is expected to change the Bruins defensive style to a more aggressive forecheck with speed and skill being the focus. How the team will adjust will be an interesting spectacle as the Bruins look to make headway in the tough NorthEast division. The team currently sits outside a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, one game over .500. The goal differential is only +9 and the team has struggled to find consistency. Whether or not a coaching change will swing things in the right direction remains to be seen. The Bruins have been active in the trade market but with teams unwilling to pull the trigger yet, this is seen as the best chance to right the ship. The Bruins haven't been shy either, they have made it well known around the league they are willing to make big trades but so far it's been quiet. The rest of December looks busy with 11 games on the schedule. Ben Scrivens has taken over the number one spot in goal by putting up unreal numbers in six starts with a .933 save percentage and 1.58 goals against average. Corey Crawford on the other side has .895 save percentage and 2.58 goals against average. Pavel Dasyuk remains on the shelf and still leads the team with 24 points in 24 games played. Joel Ward continues to suprise putting up 7 goals and 17 assists as a Bruin. Goals from the backend continue to be a concern with only 9 goals scored by defensmen, 3 a piece from two dmen, Ryan Stanton and Ladislav Smid.

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We Love Our Enemy CD "In September of 2005 a band from Kansas City, MO quietly released a debut EP entitled "We Love Our Enemy" that went criminally under the radar. In March 2007, a band named Caspian was in Austin, TX for the annual SXSW festival and handed their record label, The Mylene Sheath a burned CD-R of this album... they had no idea what they were in store for. Upon listening to the first track, "I'll Turn You Blue", the label was certain they wanted to work with the band they were listening to. Upon the completion of the second track, "Sleepyhead", they were simply not not going to let the band work with another label. Eventually this led to the release of Actors&Actresses debut full length "Arrows" in 2009, and now the time has come for the original four song EP that started everything to get the release that it deserves. For those unfamiliar, Actors&Actresses are a three piece from Kansas City, MO who mix synthetic, pre-recorded and organic sounds to produce alternately chilling backdrops and intense sequences of heavy post rock/shoegaze. While the stage presence of the band is relatively calm, the visual accompaniments filmed and edited by drummer Dave Sumner provide textural kinetics, without actually overpowering the complex rumble the band creates. Triggered samples and treated drum loops roil in the background, while the overpowering down-tuned bass played by vocalist Scott Bennett bursts at the seams. Moving forward and aft through the stereo field, Andrew Schiller s guitars provide eerie whines alternating with roaring walls of chords. The band can deftly move from a vast downpour to a quite intimate and delicate singularity, often within mere measures. The lean arrangements of the band s material allow for the players to concoct a sound all their own yet deliver full sets of songs, each one sounding very different from the last. As record reviewers often note, it s easy to hear where A&A s influences originate, but they re somehow able to bring it all within their hazy machinery and make it seem new again. Later this year the band will also release an album of remixes from their "Arrows" full length where many of their Mylene Sheath label-mates reinterpreted the songs. This will be followed by a new brand new full length in 2012. For right now however, this debut EP reissue is a testament to the timeless music the band creates." Nate Shumaker for Northern Lights Industries

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Meet J. A. Moreno, One of the Youngest Music Video Directors in the World Making His Stamp on the Music Scene Moreno, born and raised in Barcelona, has become one of the tops in the music industry after directing music videos for several A-list artists. Los Angeles, CA – December 12, 2019 – J. A. Moreno is one of the youngest music video directors in the world. Born and bred in Barcelona, Moreno moved from Barcelona to Los Angeles in 2018 at the age of 24. Since then, the young director has worked with several big names in the music industry, including Sting, will.i.am, Paris Hilton, Steve Aoki, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Afrojack, SHAED and Andrés Calamaro. Growing up, Moreno was inspired by director Nicolas Winding Refn for his artistic style as a director. As a teenager, Moreno started filming concerts and event videos in the clubs of Barcelona. After filming in clubs in Barcelona and directing music videos for artists such as Fernanda Martins, Marsal Ventura and Luka Caro. Moreno began to find his own place in the music video industry. Moreno’s first came to prominence in July 2016 when he collaborated with Luka Caro and Juicy M to direct Obey. Afterwards, Moreno began collaborating with record labels such as Universal Music, Sony Music, and Spinnin’ Records. Moreno, at 19 years old, created his own production company in Barcelona and later started directing for artists such as Juicy M, Blasterjaxx, Crooked Colours or La la love you. He decided to move to Los Angeles about a year ago to promote himself to better opportunities. Since then, Moreno has become one of the music video director references within the international music scene, directing music videos for worldwide known artists such as Sting (singer of The Police), will.i.am (founder and member of The Black Eyed Peas), Paris Hilton, Steve Aoki, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Afrojack, SHAED, Andrés Calamaro, Cheat Codes, Showtek, MAKJ, MATTN, Bassjackers, Juicy M, Tritonal, Blasterjaxx and Joe Stone, amongst others. In addition, Moreno is the first Spaniard director that has directed a music video with a Korean Popstar, yet to be released. His style and way of work certainly go through the screen, and his talent to convey feelings through the music videos gives Moreno the opportunity to work with award-winning artists and gain their trust. His life philosophy is based on an ancient Chinese proverb, “Do not try to build the biggest wall ever seen, get up every day with the intention of laying a brick and do this daily in the best way as possible; one day you will find that you have built a wall.” Currently, Moreno lives between Los Angeles and Barcelona directing music videos and advancing further his career. For more information about the director, J. A. Moreno, visit www.jamoreno.tv. To arrange an interview, send an email to [email protected]. Contact Person: Jose Antonio Moreno Address:11328 W Magnolia Blvd #1, North Hollywood Website: www.jamoreno.tv

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Philippine economy on bullish growth trajectory “Our deep trust and friendship is well exemplified by the fact that Korea accounts for the greatest number of visitors to the Philippines and our trade volume has exceeded $10 billion since 2010.” By Joel Lee Published : Jun 18, 2018 - 17:18 Updated : Jun 18, 2018 - 17:19 Backed by an ambitious infrastructure program and comprehensive reforms, the Philippine economy is expected to grow by 7 percent next year, forecast the country’s top envoy to Korea last week, citing the International Monetary Fund. “The Philippines is enjoying not only freedom but also prosperity,” Ambassador Raul Hernandez said at a reception in Seoul on Thursday marking the 120th anniversary of the Philippines’ declaration of independence from colonial Spain. “Last year, amid global uncertainty, the Philippine economy registered an impressive gross domestic product growth rate of 6.7 percent, being the world’s 10th-fastest growing economy, according to the World Bank.” Philippine Ambassador to Korea Raul Hernandez (third from left) participates in a cake-cutting ceremony beside his spouse Ana Hernandez, Korean Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Yoon Soon-gu (second from left), Korean Deputy Minister for Planning and Coordination Suh Jeong-in (second from right) and dignitaries at a reception in Seoul on Thursday, which marked the 120th anniversary of the Philippines’ declaration of independence. (Joel Lee/The Korea Herald) He added that the International Monetary Fund had forecast that the Philippines’ GDP growth rate would rise to 7 percent next year, becoming the second-fastest growing economy in the world by 2019. These high growth rates were possible on the back of the far-reaching nationwide infrastructure program, “Build, Build, Build,” in which some $170 billion is expected to be invested, the diplomat noted. Supported by comprehensive tax reform, he argued, the 75 projects under the initiative will increase the national economy’s productive capacity, create jobs, boost incomes and make the economy more attractive to foreign investments. “These accomplishments can be attributed to the vision of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to effect transformative changes in the Philippine society and economy,” Hernandez stressed. “Duterte’s efforts to form a more law-abiding society, his constant focus on fighting corruption and criminality as well as the contributions and support of our international partners are indispensable to achieving inclusive economic growth and prosperity.” Turning to relations with South Korea -- 69 years in the making officially since the two nations established diplomatic ties in 1949 -- the ambassador said the two-way relationship has blossomed in politics, defense and security, trade and investment, development, education, tourism and people-to-people exchanges. “As encapsulated in the saying, ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed,’ I believe our friendship is really special,” said Yoon Soon-gu, Korean deputy minister for political affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Korea has built close relations with the Philippines over the years. In fact, the Philippines is our longest standing friend among the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.” Philippine Ambassador to Korea Raul Hernandez (center, front row) poses with foreign ambassadors at a reception in Seoul on Thursday, which marked the 120th anniversary of the Philippines’ declaration of independence. (Joel Lee/The Korea Herald) Noting that Manila was the first Southeast Asian country to establish diplomatic relations with Seoul, Yoon also thanked Filipinos for dispatching their young men to the 1950-53 Korean War to protect South Korea from North Korean aggression. As the first Asian country to participate in the war on the Korean Peninsula, the Philippines sent an initial batch of 1,468 troops -- the Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea -- who arrived here in August 1950. The unit was the Philippine Army contingent of the United Nations forces, the fifth-largest force under the United Nations Command. The PEFTOK took part in the Battle of Yultong and the Battle of Hill Eerie, operating with the United States 1st Cavalry Division, 3rd Infantry Division, 25th Infantry Division, and 45th Infantry Division. They -- some 7,500 in total during the entirety of the war -- protected South Korea through 1955. Over 110 Filipino soldiers are estimated to have lost their lives from the conflict later known as “the Forgotten War,” with some 400 wounded, including those permanently disfigured and damaged mentally. “Looking back, the Philippines has been a real friend, always willing to extend a helping hand whenever Korea was in need,” said Yoon. “Thanks to the invaluable sacrifice of the young Filipinos, we could defend our precious country during the Korean War, overcome difficulties and finally succeed in rebuilding our nation from scratch.” Currently, Korea is the sixth-largest source of official development assistance to the Philippines. Helped by 27 daily flights between the two countries, the Southeast Asian archipelago nation is a popular tourist destination for Koreans, with over 1.6 million of them visiting there last year. Over 68,000 Filipino migrants now live in Korea, while over 93,000 Koreans reside in the Philippines. “Our deep trust and friendship is well exemplified by the fact that Korea accounts for the greatest number of visitors to the Philippines and our trade volume has exceeded $10 billion since 2010,” the deputy minister added. By Joel Lee (joel@heraldcorp.com)

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Divorcee dads fight for their children’s rights TNN | Mar 24, 2014, 04.26 AM IST PANAJI: Looking to protect children stuck in the crossfire of messy divorces, Bangalore-based Children's Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP) has opened a branch in Goa. The NGO is largely managed by injured divorcee-fathers who have been denied custody of their children, and in a strange twist are waging war on the 'patriarchal mindset' of the Indian legal system that considers fathers incapable of nurturing children. Having fought a long-drawn out custody battle for his daughter, especially one that was in the media spotlight because his ex-wife had married a cricketer ; the founder of CRISP, Bangalorean stockbroker Kumar Jahgirdar had a front seat view of the damage inflicted on the child's sense of security, her psychological and emotional well-being by sparring parents. "When a marriage ends badly, the two partners tend to use the legal system to hurt each other and stroke their own egos. The child's needs lose precedence; the child is first used as leverage and then ends up as spoils of war—in the process, witnessing such malevolence in his/her formative years," says Kumar. He also complains of the glaring gender-bias displayed by Indian courts in favour of mothers. "While CRISP is gender-neutral, with quite a few female members as well, one has to admit that fathers get the raw deal in custody agreements. If the father is unmarried, the court complains that there is no female member to care for the child. If the father re-marries, they deny custody on grounds that the child would not be treated well by the stepmother," he says, speaking from his own experience. "There is urgent need for a special commission, led by a panel of experts like child psychologists and activists to step in, counsel the parents and convince them to share custody of the children, even before they apply for divorce. This will also help avoid parental abduction, where the custodial parent takes the child to another country without the permission of the other—a problem rampant in Goa," adds realtor Remiz Cardoz, who heads the Goa chapter of CRISP. The NGO has 30,000 members across its five other branches in India, who lurk around family courts to guide divorcing partners, conduct awareness meetings for the legal community, and generally provide support to non-custodial parents and their families. They also offer a network of psychiatrists and lawyers who work pro-bono to help parents in these situations. "We are getting even more aggressive with our campaign ahead of the elections, to send out a strong message to all parents: Only vote for the party that guarantees protection of children's rights in their manifesto. Even though children account for 40% of India's population, no political party is interested in taking up their problems because they are not a vote bank," says Kumar, who is pushing for a separate Union ministry for children. "Children's rights are completely different from women's rights and it does not make sense that they are clubbed together," he adds. Posted by manthan at 12:43:00 AM No comments: Links to this post Labels: CRISP, father, Kumar Jahgirdar, shared parenting

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Vandal sprays “Free Hong Kong” on famous Little Mermaid statue base Published by nahid-wacky on January 13, 2020 Jan. 13 (UPI) — A vandal sprayed “Free Hong Kong” on the base of Denmark’s famous Little Mermaid statue Monday. The “Free Hong Kong” slogan carried by protesters on signs in the pro-democracy movement, which started in June over a bill that would have allowed people in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China to face trials, was sprayed on the rock the mermaid sits on in big red letters and small white letters. Copenhagen Police said the statue was vandalized early Monday, and a police spokesperson said police dogs were used to search the area and officers are reviewing CCTV footage. The statue made of bronze and granite, which has sat at Langelinje pier in the Copenhagen harbor for more than 100 years, has been the victim of vandalism several times, the VisitCopenhagen website states. The mermaid lost its head twice, its arm once and has had paint poured on it several times, but has been restored each time. It has also been banned from Facebook over nudity. The statue has been especially popular with Chinese tourists, and in 2010 it was part of Denmark’s pavilion at the World Exhibition in Shanghai. It is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s story of a mermaid who saves the life of a shipwrecked prince and gives up everything to win his love. The statue was a gift from Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen, who attended The Little Mermaid ballet at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen in 1909, and was so moved by the performance that he commissioned Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen to create the Little Mermaid sculpture. Eriksen modeled the mermaid’s head from ballerina Ellen Price who played the Little Mermaid in the ballet, but since she refused to model for him in the nude, he modeled the body from his wife who posed for him. In August 1913, the statue was unveiled to the public as part of a city initiative to decorate parks and public areas. A few years ago, the statue was subject to vandals who poured red paint over the statue and wrote “Danmark (sic) defend the whales of the Faroe Islands,” on the ground in front of it. Categories: Wired At least 75 inmates, including Brazilian gang members, escape from Paraguay prison Jan. 19 (UPI) — At least 75 inmates including many from a Brazilian gang escaped from a prison in Paraguay on Sunday, authorities said. Interior Minister Euclides Acevedo said national police had been deployed to Read more… Bomb cyclone buries St. John’s, delivers snowfall record Jan. 19 (UPI) — Many residents of Newfoundland opened their doors to find a wall of snow trapping them within their own home, including up to 3 feet. One family opened their garage door to Read more… Jan. 19 (UPI) — At least 80 Yemeni soldiers were killed in an airstrike at a military camp, the United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen said Sunday. As many as 130 others were injured in Read more… Unsubscribe Page

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Israel, New Zealand restore ties after settlements row | Mercoledì, Giugno 14, 2017 New Zealand and Israel have agreed to restore diplomatic ties, ending a six month crisis between the two countries. After receiving the letter, Netanyahu directed officials to tell the New Zealand Government that Israel had made a decision to "end the crisis", the Post reported . [Full Article...] Theresa May's top aides resign after United Kingdom election DUP leader Arlene Foster may seek concessions from May in exchange for providing the needed seats. But Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, who is gay, was among the first to express disquiet over a deal with the DUP , which is opposed to abortion and gay rights. [Full Article...] UK PM May said wants broader consensus on Brexit plan Leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP ) Arlene Foster and Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds arrive at 10 Downing Street in London , for a meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May , Tuesday June 13, 2017. "The parliamentary arithmetic is such that we are going to have to work with everyone", he said. The DUP leader is nearly certain to ask for greater investment ... [Full Article...] Centre monitoring Darjeeling situation, ready to offer 'all help' The primary demand with which the GJM was formed was to have a separate state with parts of Siliguri and North Bengal including Darjeeling , Kalimpong, Kurseong, and Mirik. Meanwhile, GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri claimed that 44 families who had previously switched allegiance from their party to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) are back with the Morcha. [Full Article...] " "Trump calls Comey "leaks" of memos "'cowardly'" PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Over a fairly short period of time. USA correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking Trump rejects those allegations. Trump also criticized Democrats for being "obstructionists". If there really are tapes, Trump should hand copies to the Senate Intelligence Committee and to former FBI Director Robert Mueller , who is conducting the probe into Russian interf... [Full Article...] Two Arrested In Connection With Deadly Ghost Ship Fire That Killed 36 Two operators at Oakland's Ghost Ship warehouse venue have been arrested for manslaughter, following a fire at the venue last December. The first criminal charges have been filed after 36 people died in a fire six months ago at an Oakland warehouse and artists collective. [Full Article...] US Supreme Court rules for Microsoft in Xbox class action fight Microsoft argued that if the district court's decision did in fact finally dismiss the claims of the plaintiffs, then the litigation had to end because the plaintiffs no longer had any live claim that would present a case suitable for adjudication by a federal court. [Full Article...] Polestar to Make Own Electric Cars It is Polestar-everything in Volvo's camp at the moment as the Swedish carmaker is looking to narrow the gap between it and Mercedes-AMG as well as BMW M-Division. As well as that, the news comes soon after Volvo's parent company Geely announced that it had bought a majority stake in British sports auto manufacturer Lotus. [Full Article...] Trump dodges tapes question, denies seeking Comey 'loyalty' Given the context - the president of the United States leaning on a subordinate in a room from which everyone else has been dismissed - who wouldn't? Comey delivered scathing remarks about the president on Thursday at a congressional hearing and testified that Trump had asked him to drop a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into former aide Michael Flynn and his alleged ties to Russian Fe... [Full Article...] Arlene Foster and Theresa May set for crucial talks in London The DUP might have done well in the British election, but "unionist parties failed to get 50 percent of the vote" in Northern Ireland , meaning they lack a popular mandate to steer the future of the country, Carthy said. The Secretary of State said the government remained "four square" behind the Good Friday accord. More than 700,000 people have signed a petition condemning the proposed allia... [Full Article...] No indication Russia wants positive relationship with US - Mattis Mattis said on CBS' Face the Nation , "The bottom line is it would be a catastrophic war if this turns into a combat if we're not able to resolve this situation through diplomatic means". "In this competitive environment, the Department must pay much more attention to future readiness, and regaining our Joint Force conventional overmatch over time", Mattis said. [Full Article...] Donald Trump Ridicules 'Cowardly' Leaker James Comey Last week, the House of Representatives intelligence committee asked the White House counsel to specify if there are tapes of conversations between Trump and Comey . Meanwhile, the House Intelligence Committee is formally asking the White House whether it possesses any "recordings or memoranda" of Trump's conversations with Comey . [Full Article...] Trump Jr.: There's 'no ambiguity' in my father's orders But Trump said at the news conference that Comey's testimony proved he had not colluded with the Russians or sought to obstruct the investigation. "Comey testified last week that the President, in a private conversation with Comey, asked the FBI boss to let go the agency's investigation into Mike Flynn , Trump's ousted national security adviser". [Full Article...] Fires Back ... Comey Lied and Leaked! U.S. President Donald Trump's personal lawyer plans to file a complaint over memos shared by former FBI Director James Comey about his conversations with the president, CNN reported on Friday. But legal experts say that what Comey did does not appear to be illegal, as prosecutors can press charges only against those who share information that's classified or related to national secur... [Full Article...] E3 2017: Call of Duty: WWII debuts a brand new gameplay trailer Headquarters is an all new off-the-frontlines experience for Call of Duty players. Here's a fast look at the things you missed when you watched the new Call of Duty: WWII video the first time. Co-operative mode will offer a new and original story, including a Nazi zombie campaign. The trailer is filled with violence and gunfight, which is to be expected in a Call of Duty game . [Full Article...] Colorado officials disciplined for handling of allegations The University of Colorado has suspended the chancellor at its flagship campus for 10 days without pay for failing to respond quickly to accusations of domestic violence against a former assistant football coach, school officials said on Monday. [Full Article...] Ex-FBI Director James Comey Visits Hometown, Dad Asked if he would make that denial under oath, he said: "100%". But Donald Trump refused to say whether his private conversations with the fired FBI Director were taped - an issue at the centre of conflicting accounts of what passed between them. [Full Article...] #Russia: EU makes a statement on detention of anti-corruption demonstrators Petersburg", Magnay continued as she chronicled Navalny's run-ins with Russian authorities. "We are against the corruption that is costing the future of our young people", said 33-year-old Maria Badyrova, one of the demonstrators who gathered on a main Moscow thoroughfare for an unsanctioned protest. [Full Article...] Russia's Election Meddling More Extensive Than Originally Thought In Illinois, there is evidence of attempts to delete voter data, access to software used by poll workers on the day itself and at least one finance database was breached. Illinois's state-voter database was among those targeted, and the state reached out to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security after detecting the unauthorized activity. [Full Article...] Ten-man France down England in lively friendly Kane's club colleague Hugo Lloris was guilty of a terrible error that gifted Sweden a late victor as France lost their World Cup qualifier 2-1 in Stockholm on Friday. Kane also refused to mince his words. Harry Kane , though, should continue his fine form and he is the likeliest of the England players to find the back of the net. 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Biodiversità: il Parlamento europeo chiede obiettivi vincolanti Trump's top lawyer to face questions on Russia, Comey House Democrats Warn Trump on Blocking Comey's Testimony DUP head: Talks with UK Conservatives going well Five facts about Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jeff Sessions mum on Comey, denies Russia link TSA enlists canines to screen passengers during busy season White House seeks to wall off Russian Federation questions A Rignano rivince Lorenzini Body of teen missing off North Carolina coast recovered Trump tweets on Comey, declares 'total vindication' © 2020 nsg-italia.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Tag Archives: George Clinton 3.06 – To Limited Arms November 3, 2019 03 - Thomas JeffersonAaron Burr, Albert Gallatin, Alexander Hamilton, Barbary States, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Congress, Democratic-Republican Party, Edward Livingston, Federalists, George Clinton, Gideon Granger, James Madison, John Beckley, John Jay, Levi Lincoln, Meriwether Lewis, New York, Robert Smith, Samuel Smith, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Mann Randolph, US Navy, Washington DCpresidencies Jefferson managed to get a permanent Secretary of the Navy just in time for Commodore Dale’s naval squadron to engage in combat in the Mediterranean. In addition to that key post being filled, the administration was able to make some additional structural decisions during the final months of 1801 in time for the new congressional session in December. Meanwhile, a new opposition was organized by a key Federalist leader to ensure that Jefferson’s first annual message would not go unquestioned. Sources used for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com. Featured Image: “U.S. Schooner Enterprize Capturing the Tripolitan Corsair Tripoli, 1 August 1801” by William Bainbridge Hoff [1878], courtesy of Wikipedia http://media.blubrry.com/presidencies/p/content.blubrry.com/presidencies/3_06-To_Limited_Arms.mp3 1.36 – Washington Q&A August 12, 2018 01 - George WashingtonAlexander Hamilton, Election of 1796, George Clinton, George Washington, John Adams, John Jay, Maria Reynolds, Martha Washington, Patrick Henry, Reynolds Affair, slavery, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Pinckneypresidencies I asked for your questions, and you sent in some great ones! As a part of the transition into a new presidency, we send George Washington off by addressing some lingering issues about his life and tenure including whether he thought of the Federalists as a political party, whether Hamilton would have become president if not for his affair with Maria Reynolds, did Washington really want to be called “His Excellency,” and what was up with the president tallying how many women he saw during his Southern tour. The answers to these questions and more can be found in this special episode of Presidencies! Source information for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com. Featured Image: Statue of George Washington at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, courtesy of Matthew G Bisanz and Wikipedia http://media.blubrry.com/presidencies/p/content.blubrry.com/presidencies/1_36-Washington_Q_A.mp3 1.27 – The Light of Burning Effigies March 4, 2018 01 - George WashingtonAlexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin Bache, Democratic-Republican Party, Edmund Randolph, Federalists, George Clinton, George Hammond, George Washington, Jay Treaty, John Adams, John Blair, John Jay, John Rutledge, Oliver Wolcott Jr, Thomas Jefferson, Timothy Pickering, Washington DC, William Bradfordpresidencies While the construction of the nation’s new capital proceeds, the public battle against the Jay Treaty begins in earnest upon its publication by Benjamin Franklin Bache. Demonstrations and meetings go on up and down the Eastern seaboard, and even Alexander Hamilton has difficulty determining how to respond. Meanwhile, Washington has to fill John Jay’s position as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and deal with the last remaining member of his first Cabinet now looking to find a way out of his post. Source information for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com. Featured Image: Burning of Stamp Act [c.1903], courtesy of Wikipedia http://media.blubrry.com/presidencies/p/content.blubrry.com/presidencies/1_27-The_Light_of_Burning_Effigies.mp3 1.17 – Genet Must Go September 17, 2017 01 - George WashingtonAlexander Hamilton, Alexander J Dallas, Edmond-Charles Genet, Edmund Randolph, France, George Clinton, George Hammond, George Washington, Gouverneur Morris, Great Britain, Henry Knox, James Madison, James Monroe, Jean-Antoine Fauchet, John Jay, John Marshall, National Gazette, Philip Freneau, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Mifflin, US Supreme Courtpresidencies PA Gov. Thomas Mifflin, courtesy of Wikipedia Washington returns to Philadelphia to deal with the continued agitations of French Minister Genêt. Meanwhile, Attorney General Randolph goes south on a fact-finding mission, Philip Freneau continues his attacks against Washington and his administration in the pages of the National Gazette, and events continue to unfold in Europe which have ramifications across the pond. Through all of this, the President has to decide what to do with his partisan Cabinet and how to preserve neutrality without offending either Britain or France. Source information can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com. http://media.blubrry.com/presidencies/p/content.blubrry.com/presidencies/1_17-Genet_Must_Go.mp3 1.08 – Banking and Drinking May 14, 2017 01 - George WashingtonAbigail Adams, Alexander Hamilton, District of Columbia, Edmund Randolph, First Bank of the United States, First Congress, Fisher Ames, George Clinton, George Washington, James Madison, Martha Washington, New York City, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, Theodore Sedgwick, Thomas Jefferson, Vermont, Whiskey Excise Tax, William Maclaypresidencies Congress Hall in Philadelphia, PA (c. 2007), photo by tim eschaton, courtesy of Wikipedia The government is on the move! As the federal government transitions to its new temporary capitol while Washington selects a site for the permanent capitol along the Potomac, it is also forced to deal with the most controversial proposal put forward to date: the creation of a National Bank. Meanwhile, Hamilton’s proposal of an excise tax on whiskey sails through and a new state is added to the Union. Source information can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com. http://media.blubrry.com/presidencies/p/content.blubrry.com/presidencies/1_08-Banking_and_Drinking.mp3

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Simulating the Sun, Researchers Pinpoint a Fruit Fly's Neural Compass When you think of fruit flies, many words likely come to mind: buzzing, hovering, annoying...but navigating probably isn’t one of them. As it turns out, these tiny insects are known to travel up to nine miles per evening in search of food. Since they often live in barren deserts, Dr. Ysabel Giraldo reasoned that they must have some way of keeping a straight course—there’s just no way they could survive otherwise. It’s been shown that without the presence of external cues, most insects and animals—humans included—tend to wander in circles, so Giraldo wanted to uncover the secret to the fruit fly’s navigation. “Even though there have been so many studies on Drosophila, surprisingly no one really knew much about how fruit flies navigate,” she says. Working as a postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Dr. Michael Dickinson at the California Institute of Technology, Giraldo used an unusual kind of flight simulator to study how fruit flies—formally known as Drosophila—react to a bright spot, which was very similar to the sun. She found that the flies used this simulated sun to keep track of their motion, much like a backpacker might. “If I’m walking for an hour or two and always keep the sun on my right, I will walk in a pretty straight line,” she says. “The same is true for Drosophila.” In fact, the fruit flies were even able to remember their initial bearing with respect to the sun after 6 hours! Upon further investigation, she and her colleagues were able to show that recently discovered “compass neurons” are responsible for this behavior. The Drosophila flight simulator was developed about a decade ago in the Dickinson lab and consists of a series of LED panels with the fly held in place at the center. The fly’s wings can move, but the fly itself does not. Instead, high-speed IR cameras pick up the fly’s wingbeats, which can reach 200 beats per second. This information is sent to a sophisticated software program that uses the differences between the right and the left wing angles to calculate whether the fly is going straight ahead, or turning left or right. If the fly is turning, the simulated sun on the LED screen moves accordingly. Giraldo explains, “If you’re sitting in a train and the train next to you starts moving, you may think you’re also moving. But really, that’s just the visual motion tricking your brain.” In a similar fashion, the fly senses motion even when there is none. She found that when the flies were introduced to a bright dot, simulating the sun, they adopted a random orientation with respect to it—and kept that orientation for hours, directing them in a straight path. Remarkably, even when the fly was removed from the arena for up to six hours, when it was reintroduced the fruit flies once again adopted the same heading, indicating that they have some directional memory. A fruit fly is held in place inside the flight simulator. The "sun" behind it is actually an LED display. Image Credit: Dr. Michael Dickinson Once they had identified the simulated sun as a guide for Drosophila, Giraldo and her fellow researchers took a closer look at the mechanisms at play. She had known about work done in recent years involving so-called “compass neurons”, which had been shown to help fruit flies keep track of their headings. However, while compass neurons had been investigated from a neurobiological point of view, she says it hadn’t been applied to “real-world ecological problems” like navigation. Even so, she says, “We had a good hunch that they were probably involved.” In fact, the researchers were able to watch these neurons, formally known as E-PG neurons, in real time as the flies reacted to their virtual environment. By genetically modifying Drosophila, they tagged the neurons with a calcium indicator, which reacted to neural activity by emitting fluorescence. To catch these changes in activity, they cut tiny holes into the insects’ heads and placed them under a microscope. Naturally, this part of the experiment introduced its own challenges. To begin with, microscopes use photons to probe tiny structures, but these light particles impart their own energy and tend to heat up the surrounding tissue. For an insect as tiny as the fruit fly, this carries serious repercussions in terms of biological function. Additionally, researchers need to worry about light scattering as it interacts with the tissue, blurring the overall image. To counteract these issues, Giraldo’s group used an increasingly popular tool, a two-photon microscope. Traditional fluorescence or excitation microscopy uses a stream of photons to boost the electrons in specific atoms to their excited (high-energy) states. Since the electrons don’t typically remain excited for long, they fall back down fairly quickly, releasing a photon. (This type of fluorescence is known as stimulated emission, and is also involved in the function of lasers!) In two-photon microscopy, researchers use two lower-energy (longer wavelength) photons to excite the calcium indicator, rather than a single high-energy one. Since the probing photons carry less energy, they don’t heat up the surrounding tissue as much, and their longer wavelengths make them less susceptible to scattering. Two-photon microscopy also allows researchers to limit the excitation to the few cubic microns within the microscope’s focal point, permitting the use of lower laser powers. Ivo Ros, one of the coauthors on the study, used this technique to study the activity pattern illuminated by the calcium indicator when the compass neurons became active, allowing them to get a glimpse inside Drosophila’s brain. Traditional fluorescent microscopy uses a single high-energy photon (shown in purple) to boost an electron to a higher-energy state, indicated by the horizontal lines. After a brief period, the excited electron falls back down to its low-energy state (shown in turquoise), emitting a photon that is picked up by a detector. Two-photon microscopy instead uses two lower-energy photons (orange) to send the electron to its excited state via a midway “virtual state”. The electron then falls back to its low-energy state, emitting a photon as usual. Image Credit: Alberto Diaspro, et al. Multi-photon excitation microscopy. via Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0) They found, much as they expected, that the compass neurons were in fact highly active as the flies noticed the “sun” and used it to keep track of their headings. When they silenced the neurons (again, using genetic tools), things went a little differently: instead of keeping a constant bearing with respect to the simulated sun, the flies reverted to the much simpler reflex of flying directly towards the light. Given these experimental results, it’s pretty clear that fruit flies can take advantage of sunny days to keep a straight course. But what do they do when it’s overcast, or after sunset? It turns out that sun navigation is just one of the many tools they have for navigation. For example, it has been documented that they use vertical stripes—like trees—as short-distance bearings, although Giraldo and coathors’ work demonstrated that this likely uses a different mechanism from sun navigation. Incredibly, they can also use specialized cells in their eyes to detect the polarization of light, which is correlated with the sun’s (or moon’s) position in the sky. Giraldo says, “We don’t know how those cues interact or if they prefer one cue over another.” Whatever the case may be, Drosophila are clearly in the possession of a remarkably sophisticated navigational toolkit. In reality, of course, flies are faced with a variety of stimuli that aren’t present in a lab setting: olfactory, auditory, sensory, and even much more detailed visual cues. As Giraldo mentions, the more complicated environments they encounter in the real world make it “necessarily more difficult for flies to make decisions while flying around.” Nevertheless, she is reasonably certain that the behavior she observed in the lab replicates natural behavior. Although this research is exciting, it’s clear that there’s more work to be done. In addition to the unknowns in how various competing stimuli are prioritized by the fly, it’s also unclear how the compass neurons fit into the overall circuitry of Drosophila’s brain complex. In future studies, Giraldo hopes to take a more holistic approach to these neurons and study the overall networks they are part of. So next time a fruit fly shows up as an uninvited guest at your picnic, maybe take a moment before you shoo it away to appreciate the complex toolkit it used to find its way to you. —Eleanor Hook light and optics neuroscience Labels: light and optics neuroscience

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SB 5749: Concerning paperwork reduction in order to improve the availability of mental health services to protect children and families Passed out of the Senate. Passed out of the House Early Learning & Human Services Committee. Passed out of House Appropriations and referred to Rules on Apr 4. The bill was pulled in Rules, but did not come up for a floor vote before Opposite House cutoff. Darneille More about this bill SB 5749 states that by October 1, 2017 the DSHS must provide a single set of regulations for providers of mental health, substance use disorder, and co-occurring disorder treatments. Regulations must be clear and not unduly burdensome on providers. Also, when conducting audits relating to the provision of behavioral health services, the DSHS must: rely on a sampling methodology consistent with standards of other licensing and accrediting bodies in the review of records; treat organizations with multiple locations as a single entity; share audit results with BHOs to assist with their review process and take steps to coordinate and combine audit activities when appropriate; coordinate audit functions with the Department of Health to combine audit activities into a single site visit and eliminate redundancies; not require duplicative information to be included in clinical files except where required by federal law; and ensure audits involving manualized evidence such as Wraparound with Intensive Services or research-based programs are conducted by personnel familiar with the program model, to the extent practicable, and in a manner consistent with documentation requirements of the program. The DSHS must also immediately review its rules, policies, and procedures related to casework documentation and paperwork requirements for social workers serving children. The review must identify areas where duplicative or inefficient requirements can be eliminated or streamlined and must be complete by November 1, 2017. The DSHS must take immediate steps to amend department rules according to the results of the review. This bill differs with HB 1819 in that it does not include language around “Focusing on quality, outcomes, and safety above process” Effect of Amendment in Senate Committee: Extends time for DSHS to complete rule making for a single set of rules relating to mental health, substance use disorders, and co-occurring disorders by four months until February 1, 2018. Limits DSHS obligation to review casework documentation and paperwork requirements for social workers who provide services to children to social workers working within the Children's Administration. As amended by Ways and Means, the bill includes a subject to appropriations language. Amendments in House Appropriations: (1) Requires the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) to review documentation requirements for behavioral health services and identify areas in which duplicative or inefficient requirements can be eliminated or streamlined for providers. (2) Changes the date by which the DSHS must provide a single set of regulations for mental health, substance use disorder, and cooccurring treatment services from October 1, 2017, to April 1, 2018. (3) Exempts mental health providers from duplicative state documentation requirements when the provider is following documentation requirements of an evidence-based, research-based, or state-mandated program that provides adequate protection for patient safety. (4) Limits the DSHS review of casework documentation and paperwork requirements to social service specialists and direct service staff within the Children's Administration. (5) Provides for consistent agency designations in the event that either SHB 1388 or SSB 5259, relating to transferring responsibilities for behavioral health services from the Department of Social and Health Services to the Health Care Authority and the Department of Health, is enacted. (6) Amends language in the findings and intent section. Reorganizes material related to the DSHS review of requirements for the provision of behavioral health services.As amended by Senate Ways and Means, the bill includes a subject to appropriations language. Want to keep up with the latest from POC? Get Our Email Newsletter © 2015 Partners For Our Children | PO Box 359476 | Seattle, WA 98195-9476 | 206 221-3100

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the_legal_discussion 2018/07/25 20:32 admin 2018/07/23 11:49 external edit the_legal_discussion [2018/07/23 11:49] the_legal_discussion [2018/07/25 20:32] (current) - We feel a need to start with the actual Preamble of the //{{ :​passmassamendment_legal_discussion_2014_pdf.pdf|PassMassAmendment Legal Discussion 2014 PDF.pdf}}\\ ​ + We feel a need to start with the actual Preamble of the [[http://​www.malegislature.gov/​laws/​constitution|Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts]] + PREAMBLE\\ + //"The end of the institution,​ maintenance,​ and administration of government, is to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquility,​ their natural rights, and the blessings of life: and whenever these great objects are not obtained, the people have a right to alter the government, and to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity and happiness.//​ \\ + //The body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals:​ it is a social compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good. It is the duty of the people, therefore, in framing a constitution of government, to provide for an equitable mode for making laws, as well as for an impartial interpretation,​ and a faithful execution of them; that every man may, at all times, find his security in them.// \\ + //We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts,​ acknowledging,​ with grateful hearts, the goodness of the great Legislator of the universe, in affording us, in the course of His providence, an opportunity,​ deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence or surprise, of entering into an original, explicit, and solemn compact with each other; and of forming a new constitution of civil government, for ourselves and posterity; and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, do agree upon, ordain and establish the following Declaration of Rights, and Frame of Government, as the CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS."//​ \\ + *\\ + We believe that the Preamble, the hallowed words quoted above, is the basis of our Constitution. The most important words are stated first. As a society, we need to protect the body politic, which is the Legislature and the Governor; and in that we are given the right to alter the government. The second paragraph of the Preamble states that the body politic is a social compact with the ultimate aim of providing for the common good.\\ + We feel that the body politic is threatened by the unlimited amounts of money that have been allowed to affect our elections. This includes money from outside of the state, from outside of the U.S.A., and the unfettered influence of corporations in our elections, the political process, and our Government. Thus, we feel that the ultimate objective of providing for the common good is under attack, and therefore, so is our Constitution.\\ + In support of this, we cite two cases:\\ + **1) //Attorney General v Apportionment Commissioners//​ 224 Mass. 604 -** "There can be no equality among citizens if the vote of one counts for considerably more than that of another in electing public officers. The true meaning and spirit of the Constitution is that each voter has an equal voice in the enactment of laws and in the election of officers of the State. Such equality must be secured in all laws for the choosing of representatives in the General Court or the Constitution is violated."​\\ + **2) //Bowe v Secretary of the Commonwealth//​ 320 Mass. 249 -** "We see nothing in either of the proposed laws that impairs the freedom of the voter to express his choice as to men or measures. Indeed, the proposed law forbidding political contributions,​ like corrupt practices acts in general, would tend to increase the freedom of elections by removing influences upon the voter that the use of money can bring to bear."​\\ + The basis of our Amendment is **//"​Corporations are not people and may be regulated, Money is not speech and may be// //​regulated."//​ ** \\ + The Massachusetts Constitution awarded corporations no rights, only restrictions. See **Article VI** below, which begins, //"No man, nor corporation,​ or association of men, have any other title to obtain advantages, or particular and exclusive privileges, distinct from those of the community, than what arises from the consideration of services rendered to the public..."​.//​ Corporations have been given rights in Massachusetts. But those rights are NOT INALIENABLE. The only rights that are inalienable are guaranteed by the Massachusetts Constitution,​ which corporations do not have. The rights corporations currently have are granted by the Massachusetts Legislature through the Massachusetts General Laws and their charters. Those rights are not inalienable.\\ + //**Article LIX of the Massachusetts Constitution**// ​ - "Every charter, franchise or act of incorporation shall forever remain subject to revocation and amendment.\\ + **//​Massachusetts General Laws// //Chapter// //155 Section 3// Acts of incorporation and corporate organizations subject to legislative action -** "Every act of incorporation passed since March 11th, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, shall be subject to amendment, alteration or repeal by the general court. All corporations organized under general laws shall be subject to such laws as may be hereafter passed affecting or altering their corporate rights or duties or dissolving them. Corporations shall, notwithstanding such repeal or dissolution,​ be subject to sections fifty-one and fifty-two. Such laws of amendment, alteration or repeal or such dissolution shall not take away or impair any remedy which may exist by law consistently with said sections against the corporation,​ its members or officers, for a liability previously incurred."​\\ + Article LIX of the Massachusetts Constitution and Chapter 155 Section 3 of the Massachusetts General Laws clearly state that the Legislature has total control over every aspect of incorporation. If corporations had any constitutional rights, a constitutional Amendment would have to be enacted to be able to make the changes stated above. That is why we refer to our "​Amendment"​ as a "​Clarification."​\\ + As for money being considered speech, we refer to the original language in **Article XXI** of our Constitution. At the time, the only free speech that was mentioned, and therefore protected under our constitution was: "The freedom of deliberation,​ speech and debate in either house of the Legislature,​ is so essential to the rights of the people, that it can not be the foundation of any accusation or prosecution,​ action or complaint, in any other court or place whatsoever. [See **Amendments,​ Article XLVIII, The Initiative, II, sec. 2**.]" It effectively,​ protected free speech only within the "​Houses of the Legislature."​\\ + Since the 1884 enactment of **Massachusetts General Law Chapter 320, Section 7**, and subsequent editions of that law, any solicitation or accepting of money by any elected official in the Houses of the Legislature or any public building is illegal. These laws applied to only specific physical locations: those locations where free speech was protected. The distinct connection between disallowing money specifically where free speech was protected and the importance of protecting free speech from the influence of money can not be denied. These laws limited the use of money in places where free speech was guaranteed by the state constitution at that time. If the framers of the law had believed that money was protected speech, they would have, at that time, not barred its use in those hallowed chambers. The law was intended to uphold the validity of the constitutional protections of our democracy by taking money out of the place of protected speech. We feel that this validates our claim that money has never been considered speech in Massachusetts.\\ + **The process that we are engaged in is referred to as "​Amending the Massachusetts Constitution through a Ballot Initiative"​. We are not actually comfortable using that phrase, because we look at what we are doing as a "​clarification"​.** \\ + We would like to bring attention to Articles I, IV, V, VI, VII, IX**;** \\ + **Article I: (Annulled by Amendments, Article CVI) Article CVI:** //"All people are born free and equal and have certain natural, essential and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness. Equality under the law shall not be denied or abridged because of sex, race, color, creed or national origin."//​ \\ + **Article IV:** //"The people of this Commonwealth have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves, as a free, sovereign, and independent state; and do, and here forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction and right, which is not, or may not hereafter, be by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in Congress assembled."//​ \\ + **Article V:** //"All the power residing originally in the people, and being derived from them, the several magistrates and officers of government, vested with authority, whether legislative,​ executive, or judicial, are their substitutes and agents, and are at all times accountable to them."//​ \\ + **Article VI:** //"No man, nor corporation,​ or association of men, have any other title to obtain advantages, or particular and exclusive privileges, distinct from those of the community, than what arises from the consideration of services rendered to the public: and this title being in nature neither hereditary, nor transmissible to children, or descendants,​ or relations by blood, the idea of a man born a magistrate, lawyer, or judge, is absurd and unnatural."//​ \\ + **Article VII:** //"​Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety,​prosperity and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men: Therefore the people alone have an incontestable,​ unalienable,​ and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity and happiness require it."// \\ + **Article IX:** "//All elections ought to be free; and all the inhabitants of this commonwealth,​ having such qualifications as they shall establish by their frame of government, have an equal right to elect officers, and to be elected, for public employments. [//See **Amendments,​ Articles XLV and XLVIII, The initiative, sec. 2**.] [For compulsory voting, see **Amendments,​ Article LXI**.] [ For use of voting machines at elections, see **Amendments,​ Article XXXVIII**.] [ For absentee voting, see **Amendments,​ Article LXXVI**.]"​\\ + We make note that the first, large scale action against a corporation on these shores was the Boston Tea Party. The action was against the East India Company. The tea dumped into the harbor was that owned by the East India Company. No other tea was dumped into the harbor and no one was allowed to salvage any of that tea, a total loss.\\ + At the time of our nation'​s birth, corporations were strictly regulated. Corporations had a limited lifespan and had to accomplish a public service. The charters were vary narrowly structured. And if a corporation did not adhere to any part of its charter, it would be disbanded.\\ + Over time, money and influence helped corporations get laws changed to support the lessening of restrictions in their charters. This led to more money and power for corporations. After the Civil War, railroad corporations had a stranglehold on the U.S. The people formed Unions to fight back, but, the corporations still accumulated money, power, and influence, which allowed a small number of people to put an increasingly large burden on the common people, while the elite wallowed in riches. In the 1917 Constitutional Convention debates, delegates referred to the unnatural power of corporations as "the invisible government,"​ and asked the Convention to enact provisions to allow for Citizens the Initiative and Referendum, in order to allow citizens to keep the Legislature 'in "​check."​\\ + In contrast to the strict charters that our forefathers insisted on, to keep corporations "in check,"​ today, a corporation in Massachusetts need only say that it will engage in "any lawful activity,"​ and it receives its charter. We now have huge corporations paying no tax, sometimes even receiving rebates for shipping our jobs overseas, all at a cost to the poor, the middle class, and our communities. Unions, which were established to protect workers from profiteers, are suffering a downward trend, the result of influence of corporations and big money on our elected officials.\\ + It is again time for "We the People"​ to rise up and voice our displeasure and say, "This has to stop"​.\\ + In 1998, the "​**Clean Elections Law**" was passed by a 2 to 1 margin by Ballot Initiative. The Legislature refused to fund it and at a later time had a voice vote to end it. In response to this lack of action to clean up elections and with corporate and big money flooding into the election process, people have organized around the state, asking their Legislators to declare that "​Corporations Are Not People; Money Is Not Speech."​ And the voice of the people has again been disregarded. By using a voice-vote to end the **Clean Elections Law**, the Legislature made it impossible for the citizens to know which Legislator voted for or against. In doing so, they could not be held accountable for their vote. And therefore violated **Article V** of the State Constitution,​ which guarantees that Legislators will be held accountable to their voters.\\ + The Massachusetts Constitution is the longest lasting document of its kind. And it has remained fairly unchanged since its inception. Citizens were guaranteed, in the original Constitution,​ the right to alter government. But the original Constitution did not offer a process for doing so. The citizens were finally awarded the ability to amend the Constitution and establish law after the Constitutional Convention started in 1917, which put forth the Initiative and Referendum Amendment; it was enacted by vote of the people.\\ + The 1917 Constitutional Convention was convened because of the pressure applied to the General Court by the people. An "​invisible government"​ had taken over, and the people needed a way to directly effect change. Back then, as today, the problem was the corrupting influence of corporations and big money on Government and the political process. The citizens wanted to be able to restrain the body politic from doing harm, thus strengthening the social compact and preserving the common good. The citizens had been ignored. The people were finally heard and ended up with what could be one of the most conservative I and R processes available.We accept that.\\ + We have previously stated the longevity and durability of our Constitution. The process to Amend our Constitution is arduous, and it should be. We at PassMassAmendment have a great respect for our Constitution,​ the Framers of said document, and our forefathers who took up arms to battle for the human rights that we enjoy today. In respect of those efforts, no one gets paid at PassMassAmendment. This is an all volunteer effort. PassMassAmendment will not pay anyone to gather signatures. It has been suggested that this has never worked in the past; that we have little chance. We already acknowledged the process as being arduous. If people do not rise up and volunteer, on an issue that transcends party lines and is so important to the future of our nation; if the people do not respond, then this Amendment does not deserve to be on the Ballot. This is a true "​grassroots"​ effort and we have faith, but we need help.\\ + We issue a call to arms. We need those arms to hold clipboards as we ask registered voters to use their own arms to propel a pen to attach their signature to a petition sheet. We need those arms to pick up the phone and call friends and neighbors to say, "Have you heard?"​ We will need those arms to hold their brothers and sisters, at the end of the effort, as we all exclaim, "We did it," and feel the pride of accomplishing something that will make a difference and hopefully lead the rest of the country to help wrest back control of our Government from the corrupting influence of large, global corporations and big money. At that time we can put our arms to rest, inside a ballot booth, as we fill out a ballot, knowing that our vote does again matter.\\ + //​{{:​passmassamendment_legal_discussion_2014_pdf.pdf|PassMassAmendment Legal Discussion 2014 PDF.pdf}} ​// \\ - ​ - \\ \\ the_legal_discussion.txt · Last modified: 2018/07/25 20:32 by admin

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Venus In Fur Is Alright Tonight There are certain bragging rights that come with seeing an actor before he/she hits it big. Those who see relative newcomer Nina Arianda in Venus In Fur will be witnessing her breakout role, and I expect we'll be seeing much more of her in the future. At the Classic Stage Company through February 21, Venus In Fur is a sexy, entertaining show that runs a fast-paced 90 minutes with no intermission. It takes place during an audition with only the actress Vanda (Arianda) and writer/director Thomas (Wes Bentley) in the room. She missed her appointed time and he is about to leave, but he decides to let her read, with him acting opposite. Thomas's play is based on the 1870 novella by Leopold Sacher-Masoch. The power dynamic constantly shifts throughout the course of the evening, between Vanda and Thomas and the characters they are playing. David Ives has written snappy, funny dialogue and smartly shifts between the scenes in the play and the "play." Unfortunately, Venus In Fur struggles towards its unsatisfying conclusion as Vanda starts to reveal her true self. This has to do with the writing, not Arianda's dynamic performance. She excels at everything that is required of her, making her switch from a comic ditz to a calculating seductress believable. She completely overshadows Bentley, who stumbles over his lines and seems less assured of himself, but then again she does have the meatier role. Fortunately, the co-stars do have chemistry, or the play would not work. Director Walter Bobbie has a long partnership with Ives, and his understanding of the material is evident. The production is also aided by John Lee Beatty's (who I think has designed most of the shows I've seen recently) sterile set and Peter Kaczorowki's appropriate fluorescent lighting. Note: I was given complimentary tickets to see the show in exchange for writing a review. Revisiting Phantom I saw The Phantom of The Opera way back in August, 2001 and I'm not ashamed to call myself a fan. I know that theater snobs look down on Andrew Lloyd Webber, but I love a good spectacle and I really enjoy the score for all its melodrama. Plus, at the heart of Phantom is a compelling story which has everything--romance, suspense, humor. I hadn't been back since because there are always new shows to see and I tend to forget about the long-running musicals, but my sister was visiting me and there aren't that many new shows in the middle of January, so we decided it was time to see how Phantom was holding up. Not surprisingly, it wasn't sold out on a Monday night in the middle of January, but it was still pretty full, especially in the rear mezzanine. Also not surprisingly, most of the audience seemed to be tourists. I really loved listening to the excitement of the people around me, many of who had never seen a Broadway show before (though I could have done without so many camera flashes going off). Now that I go all the time, I miss when seeing a show was a treat that meant getting dressed up and that sense of wonder that came with sitting in a big Broadway theater. The show begins at an auction and there are sheets covering many of the set pieces. The reveal of the chandelier and its rise to the ceiling during the first chords of "The Phantom of the Opera" was as thrilling a moment of theater as I remembered it to be. However, the fall of the chandelier at the end of act 1 was noticeably less impressive than I remembered. I couldn't help but think of this SNL skit. The cast was fine in Act 1, they were hitting the right notes, but it didn't grab me as it did the first time. George Lee Andrews (who has been in the show since it started) as Moinsieur Andre and David Cryer as Monsieur Firmin, the comic relief, were by far the highlights and the only ones who really seemed in the moment, rather than going through the motions. I'm not sure what happened at intermission, but everyone seemed to pick up their game in act two. Susan Owen, who plays Christine a few nights a week, delivered a beautiful "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again." Jon Cudia as Phantom, Ryan Silverman as Raoul, and Owen came alive during "The Point of No Return," so the emotional impact of the ending was not lost. Phantom doesn't have shows on Sundays, so maybe they were just having a slow start getting back into the work week. All in all, I'm glad I gave the show another look, and now my memory is refreshed so I am ready for Love Never Dies. Posted by Linda at 3:07 PM 5 comments: Why I'm So Excited for American Idiot It was recently announced that American Idiot will indeed be opening on Broadway this spring season. I haven't been this excited about a new musical in a very long time. Even though reviews of the Berkeley production were mixed, there are a few reasons I'm looking forward to this. I already like the Green Day album and the cast version of "21 Guns". The cast hasn't been announced yet, but I'm guessing it will be similar to the Berkeley cast, which featured many promising young actors like John Gallagher, Jr. (already a Tony winner) and Rebecca Naomi Jones. Sure, the music is preexisting, but it's still a new musical based on an original concept. Looking briefly at the other new musicals that have opened or will open this season, I enjoyed Memphis, but mostly because of the performances. I thought the music was generic and the book fell apart in places. I also enjoyed Fela!, but found it flawed as I wrote about here. Million Dollar Quartet doesn't excite me that much, I'm not sure why, I guess I'd rather listen to the actual artists (Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley). The Addams Family has a good cast, but it reportedly had troubles in out of town tryouts. I don't know what's going on with Spider-man: Turn Off The Dark, but I don't expect it to open any time soon. I am looking forward to Sondheim on Sondheim, which seems more like a revue than a new musical, and Come Fly Away, which is a dance driven rather than story based. So, I'm going to go ahead and pin most of my hopes on American Idiot.

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Drinks and Shakespeare I love Shakespeare. I love seeing his plays performed classically. And I'm also always down to see a modern interpretation. Drunk Shakespeare caters to both the Shakespeare buff and the theatergoer who would rather see anything else than a Shakespeare play. The space at the Lounge at Roy Arias Stages at 300 West 43rd Street is set up like a library, so if you're a nerd like me, you'll feel at home as soon as you arrive (and the complimentary shot is a nice way to kick things off). At every performance, an actor is selected as the "drunk actor." He/she starts with five shots of whiskey, and continues to drink throughout the performance of Macbeth, occasionally bringing up volunteers from the audience to join. Luckily, no one is forced to participate, but if you love being part of the show, then you might want to be the King or Queen. That means you sit in a throne during the show, drink champagne, eat caviar, and get to make decisions during the play. It's priced at $500, but if no one reserves ahead of time, it's auctioned off to the highest bidder, starting at $15. My only complaint would be that I would have preferred a play that isn't performed as often as Macbeth, since I've seen it so many times recently, but at least I'd never seen it like this. As the actors point out, Shakespeare plays have a lot of references to alcohol, so it just makes sense. The scenes are performed using Shakespeare's original language, but actors interrupt to clarify things in the play or bring up pop culture references. You can order drinks throughout the 90 minutes and they will be brought to the table. But this is a show that can be enjoyed sober. Shakespeare really is for everybody. I Saw Entourage And That Doesn't Make Me A Terrible Person According to many posts on my Facebook and Twitter feeds, the Entourage movie is the worst thing to happen in the history of cinema. Maybe even in the history of the world. I don't remember ever seeing so much hate for the release of a movie. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to see it and expressing that on social media. But what I found strange was the disbelief that anybody would have any interest in seeing it except maybe bro-y douchebags. I am a woman of reasonably sound mind and this weekend I paid (matinee price, of course, because who can afford to pay full price for movies anymore) to see Entourage in the theaters. I don't think anyone is asking me to defend myself or that anyone needs to defend the entertainment he or she chooses to consume, but with all the negativity surrounding the movie, I just wanted to throw out another perspective. Entourage only opened at number four at the box office and it got terrible reviews. That's pretty fair. It wasn't a great or, let's be honest, even good movie. It was a movie for fans of the show. And it succeeded on that level. That's all I expected from it. Like most Entourage fans, I really enjoyed the first few seasons and then continued to watch out of a completist's need. That's also why I saw the movie, which was basically an extended episode, no better or worse than the episodes towards the end of the series. I smiled as the familiar theme song played. Nostalgia is a powerful thing and it had been so long since I'd heard it. I was happy to see each of the characters again as they appeared, at least at first (in truth, I really only always loved Drama and tolerated the rest). All the recurring characters made appearances and acted pretty consistently with the way they acted on the show. Yes, it sucks that the female characters aren't written better. But I have other shows I watch for well-written female characters. And I think it's ok to be entertained by a show or movie with sexist characters. It's not the same as condoning the behavior. The show was always escapist, and as a woman, I can be disgusted by some of the conversations and also drawn to the fantasy of living in a huge house, eating extravagant meals, and telling people off the way Ari does. Creator Doug Ellin has said that he would do 20 Entourage movies and I hope he gives up on that plan. It should end with this movie. But if he does make another one, I'll probably see it. Posted by Linda at 1:24 PM 1 comment: The New Group is on A Roll To tell you the truth, The New Group has always been pretty hit or miss for me. But this 20th anniversary season has made up for all the misses with Sticks and Bones, Rasheeda Speaking, and now, The Spoils, Jesse Eisenberg's third play. L to R: Jesse Eisenberg, Erin Darke, Michael Zegen, Annapurna Sriram, Kunal Nayyar Photo credit: Monique Carboni Eisenberg has once again written himself a character who is spoiled, sexist, racist, and thinks he's superior to everyone. That probably doesn't sound like a guy you want to spend two hours with, but it's impossible to look away from Eisenberg's fidgety performance, even while you cringe at the words coming out of his mouth. Ben (Eisenberg) lives in a nice apartment (Derek McLane's set makes me jealous that I don't live there) paid for by his father. He was kicked out of film grad school, so now he spends his days working on his movies although it doesn't seem like he's ever actually made one. He lets his Nepalese roommate, Kalyan (Kunal Nayyar), stay rent free, but he treats him terribly. According to the program, Kalyan is based on Eisenberg's Nepalese friend and I hope Eisenberg treats him better in real life. It's hard not to wonder if Eisenberg is trying to ease his own guilt with his writing, but I'm not here to review the person, just the play, which is getting an excellent production directed by Scott Elliott. Ben runs into an old classmate from grade school, Ted (Michael Zegen, mastering the art of the awkward laugh), who it turns out is marrying Ben's old crush, Sarah (Erin Darke). Ben invites Ted, Sarah, and Kalyan's girlfriend, Reshma (Annapurna Sriram), for a dinner party. The writing is sharp and funny and actually sounds like how young people talk, especially when spoken by this fine cast of actors. You might find yourself simultaneously laughing and sighing in recognition. I Saw Entourage And That Doesn't Make Me A Terribl...

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HomeDisability BenefitsAlzheimer’s Disease: Alzheimer’s Information & Symptoms Dr. Chris Disability Benefits, Disability Facts, Types of Disabilities While most individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s disease are 65 years and above, the early Alzheimer’s stages are detected in many young Americans nowadays. Today, more than 5.3 million Americans are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Understanding Alzheimer’s symptoms would help in early detection of this disease. By obtaining appropriate and timely Alzheimer treatment, the onset of Alzheimer’s disease can be significantly delayed. Alzheimer’s information can be obtained from trained professionals who can advise you to take a step in the right direction. Alzheimer Support According to the National Institute of Aging, “Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks of daily living.” Alzheimer’s disease destroys the brain cells and causes affected regions to shrink. The disease is fatal and is by far the most common form of dementia. Although Alzheimer’s disease has no cure, a number of Alzheimer treatment options are available which may delay its onset. Alzheimer’s Symptoms Alzheimer’s symptoms are varied and can differ between individuals. The most common symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are: Losing valuables Trouble remembering names and places Drastic change in habits Unable to choose appropriate clothing Difficulty recognizing familiar people Forgetting personal history Paying bills, laundry, other daily activities Alzheimer’s Stages Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disorder which worsens with each stage. While there is no distinct transition period, individual behavior in clinical tests is used to determine a person’s Alzheimer’s stage. The basic Alzheimer’s stages are: Stage 1: No Impairment No visible signs of Alzheimer’s disease is present. Stage 2: Minimal Impairment Impairment is hardly noticeable and can be associated with normal forgetfulness. Stage 3: Mild cognitive decline Friends and family notice changes in behavior such as memory loss, planning and organizational problems and concentration difficulties. Stage 4: Mild Alzheimer’s disease Alzheimer’s disease can now be detected in clinical tests. Problems with memory and concentration are very apparent now. Stage 5: Moderate Alzheimer’s disease Further loss in memory of personal history and daily events. Assistance required for various tasks. Stage 6: Moderately severe Alzheimer’s disease Significant changes in personality. Difficulty remembering close family members. Help is needed for trivial daily activities. Stage 6: Severe Alzheimer’s disease At this final Alzheimer’s stage, individuals stop responding to the environment and slowly lose the ability to speak and perform any movement activities. Alzheimer Treatment Options & Alzheimer support Alzheimer Treatment Even though it cannot be cured, Alzheimer treatment options are available through various Alzheimer support groups. The Alzheimer treatments that are currently offered are used to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. It is used to make the life of an individual suffering from Alzheimer’s disease easier and more comfortable. A number of drugs are available for Alzheimer treatment. It is important to consult a professional doctor in order to obtain accurate Alzheimer’s information on the drugs required. These drugs help delay the disease and even improve your memory. Regular exercise and good nutrition also helps in improving one’s condition when Alzheimer’s symptoms are first noticed. Aside from medication, Vitamin E supplements are often prescribed as it has been beneficial in Alzheimer treatment. Detailed Alzheimer’s information can be obtained from your doctor or medical examiner. There is not much Alzheimer’s information available regarding whether SSD benefits for Alzheimer’s care can be obtained. In July 2009, the SSA met to discuss whether they should include Alzheimer’s disease in the Compassionate Allowances List so that SSD benefits for Alzheimer’s care can be given out. This was a big step towards Alzheimer support and was welcomed by the Alzheimer Association. However, individuals can go ahead and file social security disability benefits when Alzheimer’s symptoms are apparent. Even though Alzheimer’s disease is not included in the disability list, the fact that it “affects and limits” the daily activities of an individual is enough to obtain Alzheimer support from social security. The fatal and progressive Alzheimer’s disease has become the seventh leading cause of death in the United States today. Individuals with Alzheimer’s symptoms are often in denial and thus do not receive proper Alzheimer’s information that may help improve their lives. Exploring the numerous Alzheimer treatment options would be very valuable to such individuals. It is important to understand and detect which Alzheimer’s stages have been crossed. With appropriate help from friends, family members and Alzheimer support organizations, an individual suffering from Alzheimer’s disease can lead a much better and longer life. Alzheimer’s – National Institute of Aging All about Alzheimer’s – Alzheimer’s Association Alzheimer’s Disease Overview – Web MD Social Security Administration Considers Adding Alzheimer’s To Compassionate Allowance List – Medical News Today alzheimer's information Parkinson’s Gait | Walk & Posture in Parkinson’s Disease Parkinson's Disease FAQ Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis are degenerative neurological conditions where the patient may suffer from progressive loss of normal motor functioning, mental changes, and a gradual but relentless course leading to loss of cognitive abilities. Despite some similar signs and symptoms, these conditions, however, are different in many ways and in their presentation. At times, there is confusion among people who are not familiar with these conditions. Parkinson’s Disease (PD) Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder where there is degeneration of the cells of a part of the brain known as the substantia nigra, resulting in dopamine deficiency. Dopamine is a chemical transmitter which is involved in transmitting signals within the brain that help to coordinate movements. Loss of dopamine produces problems with movement and coordination that is the characteristic of PD. PD [… Read More] Gwen Moye Alzheimer’s is such a hard disease for people to deal with that have it and harder for the caregiver. My advice to the care giver take care of yourself first mentally and physically because the better you feel the better you care will be for the Alzheimer’s person.

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Responding to a debate between Michael Tomasky and Ross Douthat over whether liberals should appear on Fox News, Andrew Sullivan makes an important point: Just as important, it seems to me is if Fox could give, say, Ron Paul his own show, and actually allow an internal conservative debate about issues, such as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, or foreign policy, or the social issues, such as abortion, or even have a supporter of gay equality who isn't an easily dismissed leftist stereotype on prime time - like a Jon Rauch or a Ted Olson? Why not give Frum a show to counter the party line with smart conservative policy proposals and discussions? What's needed on Fox - and what you'll never see - is solid conservative attacks on and critiques of other conservatives, on matters of principle or policy. That's the difference between an opinion channel and a propaganda channel. The point is that it's a real mistake to call Fox a conservative channel. It's not. It's a partisan channel. Now, precisely how to think about Fox News and the Republican Party is a bit trickier. To begin with, bluntly, Fox is part of the Republican Party. American political parties are made up of both formal organizations (such as the RNC) and informal networks. Fox News Channel, then, is properly understood as part of the expanded Republican Party, just like Hill staff of GOP Members of Congress, or pollsters who only work for Republicans, or activists who volunteer for Republican campaigns, or think tanks that generate legislation for Republicans to support. Son in the first place, Fox is simply part of the communications arm of the party. The tricky part is that FNC isn't only a component of the Republican Party. It's also a business, so it may have profit motivations beyond its partisan goals (both on the organizational and individual level, of course). It's also, in format, a cable news network, and there are a variety of norms that come with that -- norms that may be important to both individual correspondents and producers on the one hand, and consumers on the other. Fox may be part of the communications arm of the Republican Party, but it's not the same part as the RNC's web page, or ads for GOP candidates. (Note that these sort of competing pulls affect all party actors. Campaign pollsters are partisans, but they're also running a small business, and they also have professional standards they may care about upholding. Formal party organizations are obviously partisan, but they're also bureaucracies, and those who study parties have long noted that within these organizations bureaucratic incentives can trump party goals). Thinking of Fox as Republican, rather than conservative, helps organize the Tomasky/Douthat debate over whether liberals should appear on Fox. Fox, of course, is free to call itself whatever it wants, but liberals shouldn't fool themselves about what it really is. That doesn't mean that the case for boycotting Fox is clear for liberals. Liberals participate in AEI public panels, even though they realize that AEI too (in Tomasky's words) "wants liberalism to perish from the face of the earth." They do so because (or at least to the extent to which) AEI also upholds norms of civility and scholarship. I don't think I need to spell out how that applies to FNC. Beyond that, I don't think the decision to go on is one of principle, but one of tactics. Is this particular Fox program one with a history of upholding broadcasting norms of giving people a fair chance to make their case (in which case Douthat's argument for reaching out to Fox's audience makes sense), or are guests used to provide a thin cover of "balance" but otherwise given no reasonable chance? Would a full boycott (if such a thing was possible) discredit FNC among casual viewers who currently don't understand what they're watching? (In my opinion, that's easy: it wouldn't). By the way, to me the word "propaganda" has more of a pejorative connotation than I would want to use in these circumstances...there's nothing at all wrong with parties having means of communicating with supporters and interested others. Indeed, there's a long history of partisan newspapers in the United States; that's the main way that people learned about current events in the 19th century. As one who supports strong (although not necessarily hierarchical or ideologically consistent) political parties, I'm mostly happy about the reemergence of the partisan press, even if its quality isn't what it might be, and I like the 20th century "neutral" press, too. Labels: media, party networks Jeff October 27, 2010 at 12:28 PM A slightly different point, but..... As I said last week, I'm skeptical of your argument that GOP hardball tactics don't work -- I think they've played a role in keeping an otherwise noncompetitive hard-right party afloat -- but I will say, FWIW, that I think that that point applies well to Fox News. That is, I don't see the existence of Fox as doing much harm to Democrats or preventing them from winning elections. I don't actually know if that's right, and I'm just speculating about the reasons why it might be, but here are two possible differences: (1) Fox preaches to the choir, whereas hardball campaign tactics -- if Dems don't respond in kind, as they usually don't -- reach beyond the true believers to larger circles of low-information and possibly persuadable voters. (2) No matter how obviously un-"fair and balanced" Fox may be, it still does, in some fashion, report actual news, which means it can't entirely conceal reality from its viewers -- say, by creating an alternate universe in 2008 in which McCain was winning easily and Obama was not emerging as a hugely popular national figure. As I say, just speculation. But Fox just does not feel as worrisome to me as Rovianism and unlimited post-Citizens-United money in campaigns. Jazzbumpa October 27, 2010 at 1:24 PM Johnathon - IMHO, the word "propaganda" as applied to FNC is not pejorative enough. The comparison to print media is not apt. FNC misuses the public airways, as do a multitude of right-wing commentators on AM radio. FNC pretends to be a news network, and this fools more than just the choir - casual viewers can get taken in as well, by the veneer of newsiness; and there are few, if any balancing voices. JzB James October 27, 2010 at 2:09 PM FNC pretends to be a news network, and this fools more than just the choir In fact, it also fools the beltway journalists, even the hardworking, honest journos among them. Get them alone in a private conversation, and they mount a full-throated defense of Fox news as a legitimate news organization, quickly citing the quality of Shep Smith's international news show, and they have great affection for Major Garrett (who has since left Fox but the point remains) and many of the day-to-day Fox producers and correspondents like Wendell Goler. They tend to see Fox as similar to the Wall Street Journal, whose "wall" between editorial and news reporting is legend. Interestingly, the journos I have asked and who have strongly defended Fox to me, never actually watch Fox News. So it's kind of a pack mentality, kneejerk defense because Fox "reporters" are in the beltway social network, they do pool duty, are in the travel pool, and those social ties immunize Fox from criticism by their peers. It just isn't done. Jeff October 27, 2010 at 2:26 PM I take James' point that Fox has more indirect influence than it should thanks to its acceptance as legitimate in Beltway circles, including those of other (or rather, actual) journalists. But as to Jazz's points: Is it actually operating on the "public airways"? Isn't it entirely on cable? The distinction is important, because the reason for restricting the public airwaves is that there's a limited supply of them, whereas in theory you can multiply cable channels indefinitely. Also, I don't worry so much about Fox's impact on "casual viewers" because it seems to me that, by definition, casual viewers would be those who are just tuning in occasionally and who are therefore exposed to other sources as well. So I wouldn't expect that they would instantly believe everything they hear on Fox. I do expect that of regular Fox viewers, but that's why they're regular Fox viewers, and that group we have always had with us even before there was cable news or, for that matter, television. None of this is to say that the presence of Fox is anything but a blight on the Republic. I'm just suggesting that it may not deserve to be top among our many political worries. Matt Jarvis October 27, 2010 at 3:19 PM Part of the problem with Faux News for me is that it's kinda like I'm a moth to flame. What they do is so odious to me that Faux News gets mentioned and I become less sure about my arguments against it, because I recognize my own bias in this regard. My revulsion of them is so pure, that I have to take seriously the idea that I misread their impact and importance, and I could be wrong in either direction. With any standard Republican talking point or Republican themselves, I can understand the motivation: politicians have constituencies, and one of their jobs in this system is to represent those constituencies. Fine. But, there's this notion of an unbiased press that's this "received wisdom" that's harder for me to step outside of. Thomas October 27, 2010 at 3:23 PM Disagree strongly with Tomasky & Sullivan. It's far better to have a viewpoint represented poorly on Fox News than not at all. Sure, a liberal pundit may go on the air and be set up to look bad; but there's still a positive effect in that it still forces the viewer to humanize the opposing side. Like it or not, a lot of people watch Fox News. Fox couldn't care less about a liberal boycott; they want nothing more than to insulate their audience, and watch the "liberals hate America" rhetoric catch on even more easily. Why do think U.S. military and Israeli officials appear on Al-Jazeera? They often go on the air alongside a hostile personality, and face a hostile audience. But they do it, because Al-Jazeera is the most watched news network in the Arab world, and they've learned it's much better to have their viewpoint portrayed negatively than not portrayed period. In fact, of all the countries that are either in the middle east or hold a presence there (to include the UK and the US), Israel is the only country that has never blocked access from Al-Jazeera's reporters. Kylopod October 27, 2010 at 4:01 PM I'm mostly happy about the reemergence of the partisan press A partisan network or newspaper is fine as long as it admits what it is and is both truthful and scrupulous about its facts. FOX News doesn't do any of those things. It doesn't even attempt to do any of those things. It is nothing more than a brainwashing tool that uses lies and distortions, 24 hours a day, to trash Democrats while passing itself off, with considerable success, as a respectable news outlet. It is not a partisan network, it is the GOP's Pravda. Frum has a piece on CNN.com tieing together the old "epistemic closure" idea and Fox. http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/25/frum.conservatives.free.speech/index.html?iref=obnetwork Mercer October 27, 2010 at 7:02 PM " Fox is part of the Republican Party" I remember when gas prices were soaring two years ago. Do you know what O'Reilly was saying? He blamed it as a conspiracy by the oil companies. This is not something that GOP congressmen would ever say. Fox has also highlighted illegal immigration. Bush, Rove and many GOP businessmen didn't want any crackdown or criticism of illegal immigrants. How can you call Fox a "part of the communications arm of the Republican Party" when it sent out messages about oil prices and immigrants that Bush, the head of the party, strongly disagreed with? There is a difference between a network that is targeted at GOP voters and one that is controlled by the GOP party. I'm fine with Fox as a partisan propaganda network, mainly because I don't see any way to legitimately regulate the way they do business. I am frustrated with the inability of the Democrats to develop an equivalent message machine. The GOP and the right have developed a formidable one over the past 30 years and the Dems should seriously study their methods and come up with a competent Wurlitzer of their own. The GOP has seamlessly insinuated themselves into the mainstream media at all levels, and the Democrats ought to do the same thing. As it is, they are caught flat-footed at every turn, every single day. That's just needless incompetence on their part. Railing and moralizing about Fox doesn't get the job done. Jonathan Bernstein October 27, 2010 at 11:49 PM 1. American parties are neither hierarchical (certainly not fully hierarchical) nor monolithic. Fox hosts defied the Bush WH on some issues? So did GOP Members of Congress. On immigration in particular, there are clearly two relevant factions w/in the GOP, so I wouldn't be surprised if either was represented in the partisan press. 2. As I said: it's not *just* a part of the party; there are at least two other motives going on. I don't think that everything that Beck says is the official party line, and I know that the two examples you cite are not the only ones. Organizing our parties the way we do has consequences, and one is that if you're going to use a Fox News or a bunch of talk show hosts to get your talking points out, those people may not always fall in line.

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Schoenblog.com the site for all things Schoenbergian Why you’ll never be a good genealogist if you don’t collaborate with others April 13, 2018 UncategorizedE Randol Schoenberg There are a lot of people who claim to be good genealogists but really are not. These are folks who publicly gripe about collaborative genealogy sites like Geni.com. They claim to be interested in accuracy, but really they only care about pretending to know more than everyone else. Collaborative genealogy threatens them because it makes obvious how much these self-proclaimed experts are missing. It’s easy to think of yourself as a great genealogist if you don’t really care about what you don’t know. But genealogy should be all about finding out new things. Time and time again I hear people claim that their private trees are more accurate, but when push comes to shove and they show me them, they are not more accurate, just woefully incomplete. If you start from the principle that every person you add to your family tree should have as complete a tree as possible, you quickly realize that this means spidering out in all directions. Your sister-in-law needs her parents and siblings. Those siblings need their spouses. Those spouses need their parents and siblings. And so it goes in all directions. The number of people within just a few steps of you is overwhelming. A while back I came up with the Geni Forest Density Calculator to figure out just how many people there are in close proximity to any profile on the tree. The current leader, Brigham Young, has nearly 2 million people within 10 step of him (because of all those wives). But even John Adams, James Madison and Ben Franklin have over 400,000 people within just ten steps. Even at just 6 steps away we find thousands and thousands of people. For example, George Washington has nearly 12,000 people within just six steps of his profile, and he didn’t even have any children! So, even if you wanted to develop a complete tree for one person, it is a herculean task. You simply cannot do it by yourself. No matter how good you think you are and how long you work at it. You just can’t. It’s not a response to this problem to say “I just don’t care” about all those in-laws and in-laws of in-laws. Of course you care. You just don’t have the time to figure them all out. Who was at the wedding of your first cousin? Not just your side of the family (the 25% who are directly related to you) but also all of the other 75%. Each one of those unrelated people could have a photo or other information about someone in your family. Don’t say you don’t care to know. That’s not how genealogy works. We care about everything! When you get back to researching in small towns, you want to look at every family in the town. There are connections everywhere. Everyone was related to everyone else umpteen different ways. If you are just going up and following your bloodline, you’ll never find everyone. You have to expand and go sideways. I can’t tell you the number of times I have discovered something about one family while researching another. (For example, see the work I am doing on the Jewish families of Prague.) But of course this brings us back to the problem of having limited time. You need a team of people to go through all the records and make all of the connections. You need to collaborate on a public tree. There is no other way. The skeptics’ most common complaint about Geni is that they find “so many mistakes.” I just have to laugh. In a tree with 4 million users and 120 million connected profiles, you’re bound to have lots of errors. Of course, those relatively tiny trees that these so-called experts keep on their hard drives are also riddled with errors and omissions. It is just that no one ever finds them. The paradox about collaborative trees is that the ease of finding mistakes, yours and other people’s, is actually one of the great benefits of the program. All of these mistakes can be easily and quickly corrected. Over time, this has made the tree on Geni more accurate and complete than any other tree in existence. Yes, more accurate than yours. I guarantee it. I have explained this before but it is worth stating again, collaborative tree-building is the more scientifically rigorous method of genealogy. On collaborative trees, discrepancies get discovered, discussed and resolved. This is a direct result of the open nature of the collaboration. Putting a name on a collaborative tree is equivalent to publishing a theory. Once published, the theory can be examined and tested by others. You may think you have solved a genealogical problem on your tree, but until you let others take a look and test your conclusions, you really cannot have any confidence in your solution. As I have said before, there is no such thing as certainty in genealogy. There is always the possibility that someone will come up with a new piece of conflicting evidence that forces you to reconsider your old conclusions. For sure, collaborative genealogy can be daunting, especially for old-timers who are used to doing things the old-fashioned way. But seriously, in what other domain would you listen to someone who won’t use the latest technological advances? By now I have dealt with hundreds of Geni skeptics and complainers. Most, I have to say, have severe psychological problems that prevent them from collaborating with other people. Interestingly, these people often feel the need to offer their uninformed opinions to other people. I don’t know why. If they can’t play in the sandbox with the other kids, it shouldn’t hurt them that others are having fun there. But it does. They go on and on about how awful the sandbox is, as if seeing other people enjoying themselves and making progress is a great offense to their sensibilities. You have to just tune them out. I want to conclude with an explanation of a method I have developed that is a bit more advanced, and perhaps controversial, but has been very successful. Many genealogists start with the premise that they should only put what is certain on their tree. But this can make discoveries more difficult, because it is impossible to keep all of the unattached potential relatives in mind. When working through 18th century records in Prague, I have come up with a method that allows me to easily revisit possible connections. I set up a “Placeholder” for a given surname, and I place unattached people under the placeholder. For example, let’s say I find a marriage record and it says that the wife’s father is named Josef. I don’t know which Josef he is. There may be several with that surname. And I am working on the husband’s family. So I attach this Josef to a Placeholder with his surname, so I can revisit it later. After a while, you get a collection of these unattached profiles and you can work on figuring out how they all fit together. The trees are always a work-in-progress, but I find that this allows me to quickly move from one family to another, as I go through the records. You can also set up Placeholders at different generations. To people unfamiliar with this method, it may look like I am making mistakes, assuming people are siblings when they are not. But I can only judge by the results I am having, which are extraordinary. Look, for example at 10 generations of the Teweles family. The Schefteles family, or Porges family, starting in 1500, are much more difficult, so you can see what this method looks like while it is still in-progress. I am using this method on hundreds of trees with dozens of active collaborators and it works. As we incorporate dna results in our trees, this method also has the advantage of bringing together likely related families so the dna results can be easily compared. Collaborative genealogy on Geni is allowing us to build trees and make connections in ways that simply were not possible before, and are not possible when working alone, no matter how good you think you are. To be a good genealogist today means adopting this new technology and collaborating with others. Anyone who tells you otherwise just doesn’t know what he is talking about. For questions, please contact me on Geni, where I am a volunteer curator. The views here are my own, of course, and not Geni’s. Letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz February 22, 2018 UncategorizedE Randol Schoenberg Via Fax & U.S. Mail (202-514-4001) Attn: Inspector General Michael Horowitz 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Re: FBI handling of Clinton e-mail investigation Dear Inspector General Horowitz: I have written to you twice previously (on January 24, 2017 and September 18, 2017) to express my concerns regarding your pending investigation of the FBI’s handling of the Clinton e-mail investigation. I continue to hope that your report will shed much-needed light on what transpired. Although I succeeded in obtaining a redacted version of the Clinton search warrant in December 2016, my FOIA requests for an unredacted copy of the warrant application and other materials related to the decision to seek that warrant have been unsuccessful so far. As a result, I will soon be filing suit against the FBI to obtain some of these materials. If your report can also manage to release the underlying documents, I would very much appreciate that. In the past weeks, the release of the Sztrok-Page text messages and Lanny Davis’ new book, have added more details to several issues that I trust are critical to your report. As someone who has been carefully following this matter, I want to share with you some of my thoughts in the hopes that your report will be able to answer some of the outstanding questions that remain. Mr. Davis’ book includes a good deal of material on the beginnings of the Clinton e-mail investigation, but cannot answer the fundamental question of why the FBI converted a non-criminal referral over the classification of documents into a criminal investigation. As I have previously written, the principal statute at issue (e.g. 18 U.S.C. §793(e) and (f)) does not make the sending and receiving of e-mails from a private server to authorized personnel a crime. While the public, various politicians and also Director Comey in his July 5, 2016 statement, refer to “mishandling” classified information, the vague term “mishandle” does not appear in the statute. The law concerns “removal,” and sending or receiving an e-mail is not “removal.” Nor has there ever been any indication that any information was “delivered to anyone in violation of his trust.” I suppose I am not the first person to make a close analysis of the statute, and so I hope that you can shed light on the FBI’s decision by releasing any legal analysis that was done by the FBI or Department of Justice on this interpretation of the statutes in question. I would be very surprised if no one properly analyzed the statue, but if that is the case, then I hope that your report will include a discussion of this issue. The text messages between Peter Sztrok and Lisa Page are fascinating and provide a small window into the work done on the e-mail investigation. Although many right-wing critics have focused on various different aspects of their messages, I have not seen anyone really discuss the messages that pertain to the issues at stake in your investigation. As I have written previously, it is obvious to any objective observer that there was never probable cause to search the Weiner laptop for Clinton’s e-mails. Sztrok and Page both must have recognized this fact and I hope you have interviewed them on this crucial question. See for example Sztrok’s text on September 10, 2016 at 12:55:59 explaining why some laptops and media turned over were not reviewed during the Clinton e-mail investigation “They would not consent and we did not have probable cause to get on them.” See also Page’s text on October 27, 2016 (the day Director Comey decided to pursue the Weiner laptop review and write to Congress) “Please, let’s figure out what it is we HAVE first. What if we can’t make out PC? Then we have no further investigative step.” So, who decided after October 27 that there was probable cause to search the Weiner laptop? When and how was this decision made? Was it before or after Director Comey sent his letter to Congress on October 28? The search warrant application was filed on Sunday October 30. Who was involved in preparing the warrant application? Was everyone in agreement or was there dissent on this issue? Did the FBI handle it properly, or was politics or “optics” the main concern? I hope that these crucial decisions will be a focus of your report. Further questions include: What was Lisa Page referring to when she wrote on October 26, 2016 at 22:03:00 “Call you from the car to talk about Chaffetz and current issue”? Was Rep. Jason Chaffetz perhaps already aware that there were Clinton e-mails found on the Weiner laptop? Why was Lisa Page concerned about Rep. Chaffetz? When Director Comey testified on May 3, 2017 that there was a “junior lawyer” who asked whether he should consider the effects of his decision on the election, was that lawyer he referred to Lisa Page, or someone else? Why did Lisa Page write that she was “completely INFURIATED” with Jim Baker on October 27, 2016 at 14:26:02? What did Peter Sztrok mean when he wrote: “JB told me there was no requirement to recuse you, that is [sic] was optics, we went round and round playing that out”? What is Peter Sztrok referring to when he wrote on November 1, 2016 at 23:05:28 “Figured out why they legally can’t do what you just said. We are comparing against material (to determine what is new) that we obtained during the investigation”? I previously pointed out to you that it should have been quite simple to review the e-mails on the Weiner laptop to determine that there was nothing remotely new or incriminating. Was there some issue that slowed down the review? So far, the FBI has pretended that the review was time-consuming and Director Comey testified that the staff “moved heaven and earth” to get it done. I doubt that his characterization is correct and hope that your report will shed light on this aspect of the debacle. Please remember, they were searching for something that never existed, and that they had no indication existed. Thus, the question is how long it should have taken for the FBI to realize its mistake. What are Peter Sztrok and Lisa Page referring to when in the exchange beginning on November 2, 2016 at 00:45:44? Sztrok: “This response, from Jon:\n…and considering we haven’t shared any facts, those certainly aren’t factoring into decisionmaking. We should essentially have no reason for contact with NYO going forward in this.” Page: “I know. Which is what I tried to impose. God, this makes me very very angry. I honestly think I should bow out rather than find out things, be unable to tell Andy, and powerless to stop them.” Sztrok: “No. Need you on the inside now more than ever. Truly. And no bs, your country needs you now. \n\n We are going to have to be very wise about all of this. The only thing wrong in your statement is your powerlessness.” Page: “I am going to have to use Jim Baker a lot to get to the D. But I don’t trust that he can convey the details accurately.” This exchange raises a lot of concerns, the problem with the New York Office, finding things out (what things?) and not being able to do anything about them, not trusting Jim Baker to be able to convey details correctly to Director Comey. There seems to be something very wrong going on at this time. I continue to hope that your report will provide much-needed clarity and transparency concerning perhaps the most critical decisions ever made by the FBI. My personal view is that serious mistakes were made, and I am dismayed that Director Comey, who must be aware of them, has not conceded any of them. The country needs to know what really went on, what mistakes were made, and why, so that we can hope to prevent such mistakes from happening in the future. We cannot allow the FBI to interfere with our elections by pursuing unwarranted investigations of political candidates. RANDOL SCHOENBERG P.S. For more details, please see my blogs at http://schoenblog.com/?p=1428, http://schoenblog.com/?p=1390, http://schoenblog.com/?p=1302, http://schoenblog.com/?p=1264, http://schoenblog.com/?p=1237, http://schoenblog.com/?p=1064 and http://schoenblog.com/?p=1008 Is FBI Attorney Lisa Page a Hero? February 8, 2018 UncategorizedE Randol Schoenberg This week, Senator Ron Johnson released an interim report on the FBI’s investigation of the Clinton Email Scandal. (See February 6, 2018 at https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/library.) The Report itself isn’t so interesting, mainly a list of facts and allegations that seem salacious to right-wingers, but don’t really amount to anything in particular. The accompanying documents are what interested me. But one thing that irks me about the memo is the careless misinterpretation of the law. The memo includes a whole section on “the law governing the protection of classified information,” which includes both a verbatim text of the law, as well as a misleading summary. For example, the committee says “Section 793(f) prohibits the mishandling of classified material through one’s gross negligence.” Well, no. The word “mishandling” appears nowhere in the law. “Mishandling” is much too vague a term to be used in a criminal statute. Instead, the law at issue (enacted 100 years ago during World War I) makes it illegal to permit the “removal” of documents, or to fail to report their removal. Here’s the big problem for all those trying to suggest that Hillary Clinton committed a violation of this statute. There is no “removal” of documents when you send an e-mail. I’ve explained this before in a previous blog but it deserves repeating. There is simply no law that could make simply sending and receiving e-mails from a private server to authorized recipients into a crime. I am certainly not the first lawyer to realize this. No doubt there were lawyers at the FBI and the DOJ who also understood that nothing that Hillary Clinton did with regard to her e-mails could ever result in a criminal conviction. Sadly, no one ever tried to explain this to the American public. Months before FBI Director James Comey’s public statements in July 2016, he and his staff began preparing for the day when they might have to explain that there was no case. They did this while they were still conducting interviews of witnesses, which Republicans believe is evidence that the investigation was not conducted properly. In fact, all it shows is that the FBI and DOJ were afraid to tell the Republicans that the entire investigation was not worth anyone’s time. For FBI lawyers like Lisa Page, the pointless, obviously political investigation of Hillary Clinton must have been frustrating. She was assigned tasks that she and her colleagues knew were never going to lead to the prosecution of any crimes. It was all politics — and not her politics. Unlike much of the FBI rank and file, Lisa wanted Hillary Clinton to win. And Peter Sztrok, an agent that Lisa worked closely with on counterintelligence cases, felt the same way. The two of them became close — too close. They started an affair, and began texting each other throughout the day. Those texts have now been released by Senator Johnson, giving us some insight into not only Page and Sztrok, but some of the senior management of the FBI. Here are a few of the (to me) more interesting portions of the released text messages: What was Lisa Page referring to when she texted to Peter Sztrok about Rep. Jason Chaffetz on the evening of October 26? Bill is Bill Priestap, head of counterintelligence and Peter Sztrok’s boss. On October 27, 2016, FBI Director James Comey held a meeting where he says that his team unanimously concluded that he had no choice but to reopen the email investigation and notify Congress. Last year, Comey testified that only one “junior lawyer” spoke up and suggested that maybe he was going to interfere in the election. We don’t know yet who that junior lawyer was. It could have been Lisa Page, but she’s not so junior, and now it looks like FBI general counsel James Baker excluded her from the big meeting because of “optics” (whatever that means). Read the exchanged from the afternoon of October 27 below. Outbox are from Lisa Page. Inbox are from Peter Sztrok. JB is FBI general counsel James Baker (Lisa’s boss). He was reassigned last month. Toscas is Deputy Attorney General George Toscas. Michael Kortan is the Assistant Director of the Office of Public Affairs. He manages the FBI’s public relations (and is probably the source of all authorized leaks). Andy is former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was pushed out of the loop on the e-mail case a week before these texts, after right-wing attacks based on democratic donor support for his wife’s failed Virginia state senate campaign in 2015. To me, the important part of these texts is at the end. “What if we can’t make out PC?” She’s talking about probable cause, the constitutional standard for obtaining a search warrant. As we know, the FBI obtained the warrant just four days later, on Sunday October 30. I and others who have reviewed the warrant application cannot find even the slightest probable cause to believe that the FBI would obtain evidence of a crime. Of course, none was ever found. The big question has always been who thought they would find evidence of a crime and why? It looks like Lisa Page tried to make the argument that there was no probable cause. Obviously, she was overruled by her boss Baker , as well as Comey, who was hell-bent on proving what an aw-shucks stand-up guy he was by reopening the investigation. A few days later, on November 2, we find this little nugget about the ongoing effort to review the emails on Wiener’s laptop. I’ve long wondered why it took a week for the FBI to determine that there was no new evidence on the laptop. After all, they had already reviewed all of the e-mails. How hard could it be to compare them? Well, apparently there was a problem, maybe due to security clearance issues, that prevented the FBI from comparing the e-mails. Lisa was trying to break the log-jam. It took a week before the FBI admitted that the laptop had nothing new. In that week, the election was lost for Clinton. I’m not sure what to make of this next exchange from November 2. It sounds a bit like Sztrok and Page were trying to wall off the New York office, which may have been the source of press leaks. Page is angry, and frustrated that she cannot get help from Andy McCabe, who has been recused from the whole case. Without McCabe’s help, Page felt powerless to stop the bad actors in the New York office. She didn’t have much faith in Jim Baker either. We’ve all been there. The boss is good at doing lunch but pretty worthless when it comes to understanding the details. We’re getting closer to understanding what exactly happened that led to the disaster of the Trump presidency. It was a comedy of errors (otherwise known as a tragedy). The people who understood and were capable of stopping the disaster were pushed out and excluded, because of “optics,” leaving only the bad actors and the head-in-the-clouds senior officials pretending to do the right thing, all the while doing exactly the opposite. Lisa Page is looking more and more like a would-be hero, someone who saw what was happening and tried to stop it. Complaint against the FBI November 3, 2017 UncategorizedE Randol Schoenberg COMPLAINT FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF This case concerns perhaps the most consequential search warrant in the history of this nation — the FBI search warrant (the “Search Warrant“) issued by Magistrate Judge Kevin Nathaniel Fox on October 30, 2016 regarding the e-mails between Hillary Clinton (“Clinton”) and Huma Abedin (“Abedin”) found on the laptop belonging to Abedin’s husband Anthony Weiner (“Weiner”). Many believe that the publicity surrounding the Search Warrant changed the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. This is an action under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, to order the production without redaction of the Search Warrant and related affidavits, which defendant has improperly produced only in an incomplete, redacted form to Plaintiff. This court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B). Plaintiff resides in Los Angeles, California. Plaintiff, E. Randol Schoenberg, is an attorney, journalist and author with a blog entitled schoenblog.com, and is the requester of the records which defendant is now withholding. Plaintiff’s November 16, 2016 article concerning the Search Warrant, “Investigate the FBI,” was published in the Jewish Journal and was shared over 9,000 times. Plaintiff has requested the unredacted Search Warrant for use in a news story. The prompt release of the unredacted Search Warrant is important because of the enormous public interest in this information. Defendant Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) is an agency of the United States and has possession of the documents that Plaintiff seeks. On or about November 12, 2016, plaintiff made an online FOIAPA request to the FBI for “the search warrant and related application, affidavits and receipts used by the FBI and Justice Department to obtain the review of Huma Abedin’s e-mails related to Hillary Clinton, as discussed in this New York Times story from October 30, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/31/us/politics/justice-department-warrant-clinton-abedin-fbi.html.” A copy of this letter is attached as Exhibit 1. The request was assigned No. 1361976-001. On or about December 12, 2016, Plaintiff filed an action in the Southern District of New York to unseal the Search Warrant in that Court. By order dated December 19, 2016, Judge P. Kevin Castel ordered the release of the Search Warrant, subject to certain redactions requested by the FBI concerning Abedin and Weiner (who are identified only as Subject 1 and Subject 2). A copy of Judge Castel’s December 19, 2016 Order is attached as Exhibit 2. The December 19 release of the redacted Search Warrant received nationwide publicity, as a matter of great public interest. Rather than litigate the redactions at that time, Plaintiff elected to continue with the FOIA administrative process. On or about May 11, 2017, the FBI responded to the FOIA request by again releasing the Search Warrant with redactions. A copy of the May 11, 2017 release letter is attached as Exhibit 3. A copy of the redacted Search Warrant from In re Search of A Laptop Computer, S.D.N.Y. 16 MAG 7063, which was produced by the FBI on or about May 11, 2017, is attached as Exhibit 4. In its May 11, 2017 response letter the FBI cited just two grounds for the redactions — Exemptions 5 U.S.C. 552 b(6) and b(7)(C) relating to personal privacy. In addition, the FBI added “For your information, sealed court records are not eligible for release under the Freedom of Information Act. Some of the material responsive to your request has been withheld and marked ‘OTHER — Sealed.'” On or about Jun 12, 2017, Plaintiff submitted an appeal contesting the redactions. A copy of this appeal is attached as Exhibit 5. The appeal was assigned No. DOJ-AP-2017-004605. Plaintiff noted “the two principle subjects of the redaction are presumably Huma Abedin and Anthony Wiener. Their identities have been disclosed on numerous occasions and there can hardly be any privacy invasion as the result of the disclosure of their names on this Search Warrant. The FBI has previously released documents relating to Hillary Clinton, and did not redact Abedin’s name. https://vault.fbi.gov/hillary-r.-clinton [see e.g. Part 3 of 15, page 84 et seq., released September 2, 2016], discussing the interview of Huma Abedin and the production and review of her e-mails. The Wiener case is also now closed as a result of his recent guilty plea. So there is no reason any of this should be hidden from view.” Further, Plaintiff stated: “Your letter states: ‘For your information, sealed court records are not eligible for release under the FOIA.’ If you merely Google that phrase, you will find a link to the Justice Department website, https://www.justice.gov/oip/blog/foia-update-significant-new-decisions-22, where you cite Morgan v. Department of Justice, 923 F.2d 195 (D.C. Cir. 1991) for the proposition that ‘the mere existence of a court seal is, without more, insufficient to justify nondisclosure under the FOIA.’ There is no chance that the sealing order in this case was issued with the intent to prohibit the agency [from] disclosing any of the information in the search warrant. Please remove the redactions based on the sealing order.” Finally, Plaintiff averred: “Additionally, you have redacted the names of the agents who were involved in this ill-fated search. I am unaware of any case that permits the FBI to redact the names of its agents in a closed case with no threat of violence, based solely on ‘privacy.’ Here, the public interest in disclosure massively outweighs any privacy interest.” By letter dated September 20, 2017, Sean O’Neill, Chief of the Administrative Appeals Staff affirmed the FBI’s action and refused to remove any of the redactions. A copy of the September 20, 2017 letter is attached as Exhibit 6. O’Neill merely restated the privacy exemptions and did not explain how the release of the redacted material could conceivably constitute a “clearly unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of third parties,” whose identity and involvement in the matter were already widely known to the public. O’Neill did not address the issue of disclosure of the identity of the agent who signed the affidavit in support of the Search Warrant. If ever there were a public interest in learning the identity of an agent, this would be the case. The public has not only a right, but a need to know which FBI agent stated that there was probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime by Hillary Clinton would be found on the laptop. No such evidence was found. None of the ordinary circumstances justifying redaction of the agent’s name (ongoing investigation, risk of violence, etc.) arises in this case. It should be noted that the purported purpose of the search requested in the Search Warrant affidavit — identifying and securing classified e-mails, all of which had already been reviewed by the FBI, although that fact was not disclosed in the affidavit in support of the Search Warrant — does not match the testimony of FBI Director James Comey on May 3, 2017 before the Senate Judiciary Committee that his team was looking for “the golden missing e-mails that would change this case.” The truth is that the FBI hoped to find not additional copies of the previously reviewed e-mails between Abedin and Clinton (which was, not surprisingly, all that was found), but rather earlier e-mail evidence that the private e-mail server had been set up with the express intent to commit a crime. Comey stated on May 3, 2017: “What they could see from the metadata was that there were thousands of Secretary Clinton’s emails on that device, including what they thought might be the missing emails from her first three months as secretary of state. We never found any emails from her first three months. She was using a Verizon BlackBerry then and that’s obviously very important, because if there was evidence that she was acting with bad intent, that’s where it would be in the first three months.” A review of the Search Warrant affidavit reveals that the agent withheld the true focus of the search from Magistrate Judge Fox. Although Magistrate Fox approved the issuance of the search warrant, many have questioned whether the affidavit supported a finding of probable cause. Recently released text messages from FBI attorney Lisa Page to FBI agent Peter Sztrok on October 27, 2016, the date Comey decided to notify Congress of his decision to search the laptop, demonstrates that Page was “completely INFURIATED with [FBI general counsel] Jim [Baker]” and was concerned with whether there was probable cause to proceed. “Please, let’s figure out what it is we HAVE first. What if we can’t make out PC? Then we have no further investigate step.” (DOJ-PROD 0000303-304, pages 137-8 in Appendix C – Documents released by the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs on February 6, 2018 at https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/library, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 7.) Given the internal dispute at the FBI concerning probable cause for the search warrant, and the fact that no incriminating evidence was ever found, the public should be permitted to review the unredacted warrant in full to determine if the FBI handled the search properly. The public has a right to know the name of the agent, so that further inquiries can be made to determine what exactly happened and why. On or about April 24, 2017, FBI Special Agent E. W. Priestap filed a lengthy declaration in the case of Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Tillerson (Dist.D.C. Civil Action No. 15-cv-0785) discussing his role in the Clinton e-mail investigation, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit 8. There is no reason that his or another agent’s names cannot be disclosed on the Search Warrant affidavit. The Solicitor General of the U.S. Department of Justice Michael Horowitz is also conducting an investigation concerning pre-election actions by the FBI. Therefore, the public interest in reviewing the conduct of governmental affairs is paramount and greatly outweighs any privacy interest of the agent. Finally, rather than address the 1991 holding of the D.C. Circuit in Morgan v. Department of Justice, Mr. O’Neill instead stated that “the FBI lacks authority to consider the releasability of this information under the FOIA,” citing the 1980 ruling in GTE Sylvania, Inc. v. Consumers Union, 445 U.S. 375, 384-86 (1980). Mr. O’Neill did not mention that the GTE case concerned a protective order, rather than a sealing order, and that the D.C. Circuit had expressly distinguished and limited the holding in GTE in the Morgan case, when it found that the mere existence of a sealing order was not sufficient grounds for withholding information under FOIA. Plaintiff has a right receive an unredacted copy of the Search Warrant and related documents under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3), and there is no legal basis for defendant’s refusal to remove the improper redactions. WHEREFORE, plaintiff requests this Court: (1) Order defendant to provide unredacted copies of the requested documents; (2) Expedite this proceeding as provided for in 28 U.S.C. § 1657; (3) Award plaintiff costs and reasonable attorneys fees in this action, as provided in 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(E); and (4) Grant such other and further relief as may deem just and proper. A Nachod Riddle Solved At Last October 28, 2017 UncategorizedE Randol Schoenberg Megan Nachod converted twice to Judaism. Growing up in Iowa and Ohio, she first was attracted to Jewish culture through Sidney Taylor’s All-of-a-Kind Family about five sisters growing up in New York City around 1900. In graduate school in Cincinnati, she attended a Passover seder with the family of her friend Stephanie Kaplan. Always a lover of history, Megan felt drawn to a religion that encouraged adherents to discuss events that took place thousands of years earlier. She went through a Reform conversion. Some years later, she went to an Orthodox Beit Din for good measure. Megan has worked for many years in the field of early childhood learning, directing programs for several congregations and the Jewish Federation in Philadelphia. Megan first contacted me almost twenty years ago after she found her surname listed by me on JewishGen, the Internet hub for Jewish genealogy. My great-grandmother Pauline Nachod was born 1848 in Prague to Josef and Karoline Nachod. Pauline’s family were members of the famed Altneuschul, the oldest surviving medieval synagogue in Europe. Her grandfather Gabriel Nachod was a cantor and marschalik, a type of Jewish wedding-singer. According to Alexandr Putik of the Jewish Museum of Prague, the Nachod family was closely connected with the rabbinic Horowitz family, and the two families are buried together in a section of the old Prague cemetery. Both Nachod and Horowitz are toponyms, meaning the names are derived from the names of towns near Prague. Megan was curious to know if we were somehow related. The Nachod surname was very rare and she had not found anyone else with the name. Her father is the fourth in a line of four Julius Nachods. The first Julius was born in Hungary in 1846 and came to Philadelphia where he founded the Class and Nachod Brewery in 1896 and helped build a church in Glenside. Megan said Julius’ parents were Joseph and Franziska Nachod. Although her family was Christian, I guessed that Megan’s ggg-grandfather Joseph and my gg-grandfather Josef might have been cousins, but at the time, we couldn’t find any proof of a connection between our families. This week I decided to reach out to Megan and see if we could use any of the newer research available online to help figure out if we were related. Megan had still not been able to get past her ggg-grandparents Joseph and Franziska. I decided to search on Ancestry.com and quickly found lots of records of Megan’s American family. Julius appears already in the 1870 census in Philadelphia. In 1901 he applied for a passport and listed his place of birth as Kunszentmárton in Hungary. In a Facebook message, Megan confirmed this and said that his father Joseph “was a medical doctor and worked for a count with a large estate.” I replied, “I wish Josef was named Philipp. Then it would all make sense. My ggg-grandfather Josef had an older brother Philipp, b. 1804, who studied medicine in Vienna and was baptized and disappeared without any trace.” Just then, I decided to try a simple Google search of “Kunszentmárton Nachod.” The first result was a pdf in Hungarian with one single mention of a Fülöp József Nachod, a doctor who gave the small pox vaccine to 158 children in the town in 1840. Megan’s “Joseph” was actually Philipp Joseph, the older brother of my gg-grandfather! (The middle name “Joseph” must have been given to him when he was baptized.) In an instant, two family riddles were solved. I had been trying to find Philipp’s family for many years. My great-aunt Ottilie, who miraculously survived WWII in Berlin, left behind a tiny handwritten note that said “Our grandfather [Josef Nachod] was not allowed to study [at a University], because his older brother went to study and as a result was baptized and stricken out of the family.” In the State Archives in Prague, I found a record that said that Josef’s older brother Philipp had been baptized in Vienna in 1831. I even found a publication from 1829 that listed Philipp as a student in the Army Medical School in Vienna. But until now I had never figured out what happened to him. Having linked our Nachod families, I took another look and realized that Franziska Pivany, the wife of Philipp Nachod, also came from a Prague Jewish family. Her father Julius born 1790 in Prague, was also a doctor and came with his wife Anna to New York in 1854, following their other daughter Mary, who had emigrated to the United States in 1850 with her husband Charles Morningstar (Morgenstern). Julius Nachod must have come to America at the invitation of his aunt and maternal grandparents. Megan says that this week has been one of the most emotional of her life. Having firmly established herself as a Jew, she is thrilled to find that she too has Jewish roots, and a new fourth cousin once removed in Los Angeles. How I discovered my cousin, the Dodger This article was published in the Jewish Journal on October 26, 2017. A couple years ago, after center fielder Joc Pederson spectacularly debuted with the Los Angeles Dodgers, I decided to look into his family tree. What a tree it is. Pederson’s mom, Shelly Cahn, has a remarkable Jewish background. Shelly’s paternal great-grandfather, Leopold Cahn, was born March 13, 1864, in San Francisco. Leopold’s grandparents came from Bouxwiller in Alsace, France, and have typical Jewish surnames from that region: Cahn, Loeb, Weyl and Bamberger. And on and on. Some people like to do crossword puzzles. I like to do genealogy. I got started in third grade with a family tree assignment. You know how it is when you’re a kid and you find out you’re good at something? I wish it had been baseball, but it turned out to be genealogy. After consulting with my maternal grandmother and a new biography on my paternal grandfather, Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, I came back to school with an enormous, deep family tree, stretching back to the 1700s. From then on, genealogy was my passion. Amazingly, after 40-plus years, I keep finding new things. As resources become available online and get indexed, searching for new clues is just too much fun. But in between discoveries of my own, I like to keep busy by working on other people’s trees. That’s how you really learn to be a genealogist. A while back, I started a project on Geni.com, my favorite genealogy platform, to explore the family trees of famous Jews throughout history. It’s called the Jewish Celebrity Birthday Project, and it lists all of the famous Jews I can find, with links to their family trees. We’ve got all the Nobel Prize winners, the musicians, actors, politicians, even the baseball players. You can click on a name, and Geni’s World Family Tree will tell you how you’re connected to them — if not directly, then cousin to cousin to cousin. For Jews, a connection is pretty much automatic. It turns out we’re all pretty closely related. As for Joc Pederson of the Dodgers, let’s keep following his branches. His Cahn ancestors came first to New Orleans in the 1840s. Leopold’s father, Israel, was a wool merchant. He and his brothers moved on to Monterey, Calif., and ended up in San Francisco, where they were charter members of Temple Emanuel. Shelly’s paternal grandmother, Zelda Sugarman, was born in 1907 in San Francisco, one year after the great earthquake, to parents who had emigrated from Russia around 1889. Her father, Michael, owned an iron and metal business. The family of Shelly’s mother, Suzanne Heyman, is even more fascinating. Suzanne’s paternal grandfather, Samuel Heyman, was born Feb. 20, 1869, in New York to a family of German immigrants from Glückstadt in Schleswig-Holstein, while her grandmother, Fannie Morris, was born Oct. 4, 1873, in San Francisco. Fannie’s father was from Poland, but her mother, Bessie Adler, was born in New York in 1857 to parents from Poland and Germany. Suzanne’s maternal grandfather, Charles Weil, was born Dec. 12 , 1871, in Hornersville, Mo., before his family moved to Modesto, Calif. His father was from Germany, but his mother, Fannie Parara, was born Sept. 2, 1852, in Providence, R.I. Fannie’s father was Salomon Abraham Rodrigues Pereira, born Nov. 9, 1809, in Amsterdam, descended on his father’s side from that city’s large Sephardic community, with ancestors also named Querido, d’Aguilar, Barzilay, Quiros, Provencal, Belmonte, Tartas, Abendana and Baruch. Salomon’s mother, Meintje Levie de Goede Stodel, was not Sephardic, but also descends from a large Dutch-Jewish family, as did Salomon’s wife, Mietje Halberstadt. Finally, Suzanne’s maternal grandmother, Ancie Weil, was born January 20, 1878 in Shasta, Calif., to parents from Germany. Ancie’s father, Joseph Anschel Weil, was born Aug. 30, 1841, in Steinsfurth and was an early pioneer in Shasta. In a book on Old Shasta, you can see an old photo of Joseph and his brother David, early vintners in the area. Joseph Weil Using the genealogical resources we have available online today, I could come up with this tree for Joc Pederson’s maternal ancestors in a matter of hours, while watching him play a game. It turns out we’re not that distantly related. The niece of Joc’s great-great-great-grandmother Fannie Weil (Parara) married Joseph Stampfer, my second cousin three times removed. Is that close enough to ask for tickets to the World Series? E. Randol Schoenberg is an attorney and a law lecturer at USC. Voting Rights for Non-Citizens On September 10, 2017 on Facebook I posted the following question: Can California establish a new form of state citizenship? It wouldn’t be valid for the federal government, but what if we offered to make immigrants into “California citizens”? We could allow them to vote in local and state elections, allow them to work and pay taxes, etc etc. We could have them and their employers pay to California the taxes that otherwise would go to the federal government, and then use that money to provide social services: health insurance, welfare, social security, etc. If we can legalize marijuana even though it is illegal under federal law, why not also do this for our undocumented residents? Basically, what I am saying is why not model on a state level the new immigration law that we would like the federal government to pass? Some good comments and questions from my friends led me to consider this question more deeply. I am setting up this blog post to assemble what I have found. First, the current law: Cal. Const. Art II, Sec 2 states: “A United States citizen 18 years of age and resident in this State may vote.” Cal. Elections Code provides: § 2000. (a) Every person who qualifies under Section 2 of Article II of the California Constitution and who complies with this code governing the registration of electors may vote at any election held within the territory within which he or she resides and the election is held. (b) Any person who will be at least 18 years of age at the time of the next election is eligible to register and vote at that election. (c) Pursuant to Section 2102, any person who is at least 16 years of age and otherwise meets all eligibility requirements to vote is eligible to preregister to vote, but is not eligible to vote until he or she is 18 years of age. (Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 728, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2016. Operative September 26, 2016, when the Secretary of State issued the certification prescribed by Stats. 2015, Ch. 728, Sec. 88.) Therefore, in California only United States citizens may vote. Note that the California Constitution does not expressly prohibit non-citizens from voting. I was very interested to learn that there are other people thinking about whether non-citizens should be allowed to vote in our state elections. On August 3, 2017, an opinion piece by Joe Mathews appeared in the Fresno Bee with the headline “Let’s Give Our Non-Citizen Neighbors the Right to Vote in California.” A similar opinion piece, “Give Non-Citizens the Right to Vote? It’s Only Fair” was authored by Ron Hayduk on December 22, 2014 in the Los Angeles Times. Hayduk, now an assistant professor of political science at San Francisco State University, has an entire website devoted to the subject of immigrant voting. So I’m not the only one currently thinking about this question. It turns out there is a long history of non-citizen voting in this country, and since the 1970s, there have been quite a lot of discussion of the issue, and even several legal decisions on the subject. Here are some of the key sources: Leon E. Aylsworth, “The Passing of Alien Suffrage” The American Political Science Review, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Feb., 1931), pp. 114-116. (“During the nineteenth century, the laws and constitutions of at least twenty-two states and territories granted aliens the right to vote.”) Gerald M. Rosberg, Aliens and Equal Protection: Why Not the Right to Vote?, 75 Mich. L. Rev. 1092, 1093-94 (1977). Jamin Raskin, Legal Aliens, Local Citizens: The Historical, Constitutional and Theoretical Meanings of Alien Suffrage, 141 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1391 (1993). Virginia Harper-Ho, Noncitizen Voting Rights: The History, the Law and Current Prospects for Change, 18 Law & Ineq. 271 (2000). Adam B. Cox, Citizenship, Standing, and Immigration Law, 92 Cal. L. Rev. 373 (2004). Tara Kini, Sharing the Vote: Noncitizen Voting Rights in Local School Board Elections, 93 Cal. L. Rev. 271 (2005). Bryant Yuan Yang, Fighting for an Equal Voice: Past and Present Struggle for Noncitizen Enfranchisement, 13 Asian Am. L.J. 57 (2006). Ron Hayduk, Democracy for All: Restoring Immigrant Voting Rights in the United States, (Routledge 2006). Stanley A. Renshon, Noncitizen Voting and American Democracy (Rowman & Littlefield 2009) The cases directly discussing non-citizen voting are: Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162 (1874). People v. Rodriguez, 35 Cal.App,3d 900, 111 Cal. Rptr. 238 (1973). Padilla v. Allison, 113 Cal. App. 3d 784, 113 Cal.Rptr. 582 (1974). Skafte v. Rorex, 553 P.2d 830 (Colorado 1976). Other relevant cases include: Kramer v. Union Free Sch. Dist No. 15, 395 U.S. 621, 89 S. Ct. 1886, 23 L. Ed. 2d 583 (1969) (property requirement for school district elections violates Equal Protection Clause). Sugarman v. Dougall, 413 U.S. 634, 93 S. Ct. 2842, 37 L. Ed. 2d 853 (1973) (citizenship requirement for state civil service employment violates Equal Protection Clause). Here is what we can glean from all of these sources: There are at least three classes of non-citizens or resident aliens: legal permanent residents, nonimmigrants, and undocumented immigrants. DACA recipients may be a fourth class, undocumented but given a quasi-legal status. The federal Constitution does not give non-citizens or resident aliens a right to vote in State elections; nor does it prohibit non-citizens or resident aliens from voting in state and local elections. Non-citizens or resident aliens have been considered a “suspect class” entitled to “due process” and “equal protection” under the Fourteenth Amendment, which provides “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Laws that disadvantage people on the basis of race or national origin are subject to strict scrutiny, meaning that the law must further a compelling state interest and must be narrowly tailored to serve that interest. However, laws that disadvantage aliens have been subject to varying standards of review, including the much more lax rational basis test, requiring only that the law must be rationally related to some legitimate government interest. Strict scrutiny: Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 372 (1971) (denying welfare benefits to aliens not meeting a residency requirement); In re Griffiths, 413 U.S. 717 (1973) (forbidding aliens to practice law); Examining Bd. of Eng’rs, Architects & Surveyors v. Flores de Otero, 426 U.S. 572 (1976) (civil engineering); Nyquist v. Mauclet, 432 U.S. 1 (1977) (financial assistance for higher education); Bernal v. Fainter, 104 S.Ct. 2312 (1984) ( notary public); Dandamudi v. Tisch, 686 F.3d 66, 81 (2d Cir. 2012) (license to practice as a pharmacist). Rational basis test: Ambach v. Norwick, 441 U.S. 68 (1979) (prohibiting the certification of non-citizen teachers); Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U.S. 67 (1976) (federal medical insurance); Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982) (public education for immigrant students); LeClerc v. Webb, 419 F.3d 405 (5th Cir. 2005) (bar admission); Van Staden v. St. Martin, 664 F.3d 56 (5th Cir. 2011) (nursing); League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) v. Bredesen, 500 F.3d 523 (6th Cir. 2007) (bar admission). Note that in Plyler, the attempt to exclude undocumented immigrant students from public schools did not pass the rational basis test. In California, two appellate cases in the 1970s applied strict (or close) scrutiny and still found “no reason to require the state to grant the voting franchise to a class of persons who are not required to be enfranchised under the Fourteenth Amendment.” Padilla v. Allison, 38 Cal.App.3d at 787 (citing People v. Rodriguez, 35 Cal. App. 3d 900 ). (Note that current federal district court Judge Terry J. Hatter was attorney for the Plaintiff in Padilla v. Allison.) That would seem to end the inquiry, but I think it is worth looking a bit more closely. In Rodriguez and Allison, the Court was addressing a facial challenge to the California law barring non-citizens from voting. Because the U.S. Supreme Court had previously stated as dictum in Sugarman that a state could constitutionally limit the franchise to citizens, the California court simply assumed that the state had legitimately done so. The parties apparently presented no evidence to the contrary. What the Court did not do is investigate the history of the California law. That history makes the citizenship rule much more problematic, and difficult to uphold. The legal issue not previously addressed is set forth in the infamous gerrymandering case, Gomillion v. Lightfoot, 364 U.S. 339, 347-8 (1960): When a State exercises power wholly within the domain of state interest, it is insulated from federal judicial review. But such insulation is not carried over when state power is used as an instrument for circumventing a federally protected right. This principle has had many applications. It has long been recognized in cases which have prohibited a State from exploiting a power acknowledged to be absolute in an isolated context to justify the imposition of an “unconstitutional condition.” What the Court has said in those cases is equally applicable here, viz., that “Acts generally lawful may become unlawful when done to accomplish an unlawful end, United States v. Reading Co., 226 U. S. 324, 226 U. S. 357, and a constitutional power cannot be used by way of condition to attain an unconstitutional result.” Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Foster, 247 U. S. 105, 247 U. S. 114. Put another way, a state has the right to do certain things, but not for an illegitimate reason or to achieve an unlawful result. In Gomillion this meant that a state could draw boundaries to its cities, but it could not do so to exclude blacks from the city. So the big question that needs to be answered is: why did California only give citizens the right to vote? If the citizenship rule was simply shorthand for racism, then the law may be unconstitutional. Let’s take a look at the history. The 1849 Constitution of California provided as follows: RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE Sec. 1 – Every white male citizen of the United States, and every white male citizen of Mexico, who shall have elected to become a citizen of the United States, under the treaty of peace exchanged and ratified at Queretaro, on the 30th day of May, 1848 of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of the State six months next preceding the election, and the county or district in which he claims his vote thirty days, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which are now or hereafter may be authorized by law: Provided, nothing herein contained, shall be construed to prevent the Legislature, by a two-thirds concurrent vote, from admitting to the right of suffrage, Indians or the descendants of Indians, in such special cases as such proportion of the legislative body may deem just and proper. And here is the 1879 Constitution of California: RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE. Section 1. Every native male citizen of the United States, every male person who shall have acquired the rights of citizenship under or by virtue of the treaty of Queretaro, and every male naturalized citizen thereof, who shall have become such ninety days prior to any election, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of the State one year next preceding the election, and of the county in which he claims his vote ninety days, and in the election precinct thirty days, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which are now or may hereafter be authorized by law; provided, no native of China, no idiot, insane person, or person convicted of any infamous crime, and no person hereafter convicted of the embezzlement or misappropriation of public money, shall ever exercise the privileges of an elector in this State. Clearly, racism was a big part of California’s early voting laws. The original law essentially limited the vote to white male citizens. A review of the debates from the 1849 Constitutional Convention amply demonstrates the racism of the delegates. (For example, see pages 34-38 and 61-76.) There is much talk of the need to exclude Indians, non-white Mexicans and Blacks. Amendments providing that “no member/inhabitant of this State shall be disfranchised,” based on the Constitution of New York, were discussed at length and rejected. Delegate Lanford Hastings, later a Major in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, objected: “Whether it is designed or not, the adoption of this section of the bill of rights would secure to certain classes, Indians and Africans (if Africans are ever introduced here), precisely the same rights that we ourselves enjoy.” Charles T. Botts successfully inserted the word “white” into the clause on suffrage in order to limit the eligibility of certain Mexicans who had been offered citizenship but had not yet been admitted by Congress pursuant to the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. “It was clear that by the adoption of the clause reported by the Committee, citizens of Mexico would be excluded from voting before they were made citizens of the United States by the Congress of the United States. His amendment was to insert the word ‘white’ before ‘male citizens of Mexico.’” Pablo de la Guerra of Santa Barbara (called “Noriego” in the transcript, presumably because he was the son of José de la Guerra y Noriega), the lone white Hispanic delegate to speak on the issue, argued in favor of permitting some acceptable Indians to vote, but at the same time averred “if by the word ‘white,’ it was intended to exclude the African race, then it was correct and satisfactory.” With regard to Indians, Hasting successfully argued, “It would be a most injurious measure to permit the Indians of this country to vote. There are gentlemen who are very popular among the wild Indians, who could march hundreds up to the polls. There is no distinction between an Indian here and the remote tribes. An Indian in the mountains is just as much entitled to vote as anybody, if Indians are entitled to vote.” In the end, the Convention added a provision that would allow an Indian to vote only upon special vote of the Legislature. Hostility towards African-Americans was commonplace. Morton McCarver proposed an amendment copied from the Missouri Constitution against the immigration of “free persons of color” which was debated for two days before being rejected. McCarver was an unabashed racist, offering statements such as “No population that could be brought within the limits of our Territory could be more repugnant to the feelings of the people, or injurious to the prosperity of the community, than free negroes.” Newspaperman Bob Semple, who presided over the Constitutional Convention, concurred: “I can assure you, sir, thousands will be introduced into this country before long, if you do not insert a positive prohibition against them in your Constitution—an immense and overwhelming population of negroes, who have never been freemen, who have never been accustomed to provide for themselves. What would be the state of things in a few years? The whole country would be filled with emancipated slaves—the worst species of population—prepared to do nothing but steal, or live upon our means as paupers.” The proposal failed presumably because a majority of the delegates thought that it might hamper the State’s admission into the United States, not because there was any overwhelming tolerance for African-Americans. In Wisconsin, the debate on suffrage at the first Constitutional Convention in 1846 was equally racist but a bit more accommodating of whites who intended to become citizens. That state extended the right to vote not only to “White citizens of the United States” but also to “White persons of foreign birth who shall have declared their intention to become citizens conformably to the laws of the United States on the subject of naturalization.” Wisconsin Constitutional Convention (1848), Article III, Section 1, 2d. The convention debated and rejected a proposed amendment to take away the right to vote of any immigrant who resided in the state for six years but did not become a citizen. Moses M. Strong, an opponent of negro suffrage, declared that “he did not think that the citizenship of the elector had anything to do with voting. This was a difference not commonly taken and understood by those who talk on this subject. A man may be a citizen and not be a voter, and so he may be a voter and not be a citizen of the state or of the United States. The power to make foreigners citizens of the United States belongs to the United States; the power to prescribe the qualifications of electors has been lodged in the states, plainly showing that they are distinct powers.” Suffrage debates during first convention, Wisconsin Historical Collections, vol. 27 (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1919): 210-220, at 219. There is no indication that the California Constitutional Convention of 1849 considered extending suffrage to white males who had declared their intent to become citizens. In any case, that option was never available to non-whites. It would be wrong to assume that the citizenship requirement for suffrage was unrelated to race. For example, at the time, it was assumed that only whites could avail themselves of federal naturalization laws to become American citizens. See Charles J. McClain, Jr., The Chinese Struggle for Civil Rights in Nineteenth Century America: The First Phase, 1850-1870, 72 Cal. L. R. 529, 538 n. 46. The Naturalization Law of 1802 made only a “free white person” eligible for naturalization. Indeed, in Chancellor James Kent’s influential Commentaries on American Law, the author had expressed doubt whether any of the “yellow or tawny races of Asiatics” could ever become citizens. 2 J. Kent, Commentaries on American Law 72 (3d ed. 1836). Dispelling any doubts, the California Supreme Court in 1854 affirmed that whites only meant whites only. People v. Hall, 4 Cal. 399 (1854). Reversing the conviction of a white man on the testimony of a Chinese witness, the Court explained: We have carefully considered all the consequences resulting from a different rule of construction, and are satisfied that even in a doubtful case, we would be impelled to this decision on grounds of public policy. The same rule which would admit them to testify, would admit them to all the equal rights of citizenship, and we might soon see them at the polls, in the jury box, upon the bench, and in our legislative halls. This is not a speculation which exists in the excited and over-heated imagination of the patriot and statesman, but it is an actual and present danger. The anomalous spectacle of a distinct people, living in our community, recognizing no laws of this State, except through necessity, bringing with them their prejudices and national feuds, in which they indulge in open violation of law; whose mendacity is proverbial; a race of people whom nature has marked as inferior, and who are incapable of progress or intellectual development beyond a certain point, as their history has shown; differing in language, opinions, color, and physical conformation; between whom and ourselves nature has placed an impassable difference, is now presented, and for them is claimed, not only the right to swear away the life of a citizen, but the further privilege of participating with us in administering the affairs of our Government. These facts were before the Legislature that framed this Act, and have been known as matters of public history to every subsequent Legislature. There can be no doubt as to the intention of the Legislature, and that if it had ever been anticipated that this class of people were not embraced in the prohibition, then such specific words would have been employed as would have put the matter beyond any possible controversy. For these reasons, we are of opinion that the testimony was inadmissible. People v. Hall, 4 Cal. 399, 404-5. Chinese immigrants soon became the target of laws seeking to exclude them from the State. On April 28, 1855 California Governor John Bigler approved a bill captioned “An Act to Discourage the Immigration to this State of Persons Who Cannot Become Citizens,” requiring a $50 tax for each passenger who was not eligible for state or federal citizenship. 1855 Cal. Stat. 194. The law was ruled unconstitutional on the grounds of interference with federal power to regulate commerce in 1857 and repealed only in 1955. People v. Downer 7 Cal. 169 (1857). Even in 1879, after the 15th Amendment had been enacted, the California delegates insisted on denying the vote to any “native of China.” Under the influence of Denis Kearney‘s Workingmen’s Party of California, the new Constitution declared: The presence of foreigners ineligible to become citizens of the United States is declared to be dangerous to the well being of the State, and the Legislature shall discourage their immigration by all means within its power. Asiatic coollieism is a form of human slavery, and is forever prohibited in this State; and all contracts for coolie labor shall be void. All companies or corporations, whether formed in this country or any foreign country, for the importation of such labor, shall be subject to such penalties as the Legislature may prescribe. The Legislature shall delegate all necessary power to the incorporated cities and towns of this State for the removal of Chinese without the limits of such cities and towns, or for their location within prescribed portions of those limits; and it shall also provide the necessary legislation to prohibit the introduction into this State of Chinese after the adoption of this Constitution. A few years later, the federal Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 not only restricted new immigrants, but also made it impossible for state and federal courts to grant citizenship to resident aliens from China. Chinese nationals remained ineligible for citizenship by naturalization until 1943. For a detailed description of the numerous anti-Chinese laws, see All Persons Born or Naturalized . . . The Legacy of Wong Kim Ark. Therefore, in light of the history of United States naturalization laws, the citizenship requirement for the right to vote in California must be seen as part of the effort to exclude non-whites from the franchise. There is no evidence that the citizenship requirement served any other purpose. White aliens could become citizens merely by complying with the Naturalization Law of 1802, which required 5 years of residence and a declaration of intent filed two years before admission. The subsequent history of immigration laws in the United States up to the present day is riddled with attempts to use those laws to protect the white majority population from non-white immigrants (as well as from Jews and Catholics). Therefore, any suffrage law tied to citizenship necessarily incorporated the overt racist elements of those laws. What does this mean with regard to the constitutionality of California’s citizenship requirement for suffrage? It means that the law could be deemed an unconstitutional rule designed to deprive non-whites of equal protection and due process. This issue deserves a much closer inspection than I can give on this blog, but let me start with some ideas. The fact that American immigration laws might be constitutional, although historically designed to be racist in effect, might not save a state law that is based on those laws. There are many things that the federal government may do that states cannot. For example, under the equal protection principle of “one person, one vote” a state could not set up a government with a Senate with disproportionate representation like the one that we have in our federal government. A state cannot rely on the racist outcome of a federal law to insulate its law from an equal protection challenge. Put another way, if state voting rights are not necessarily determined by national citizenship, what would the basis be for using national citizenship as a determinative criteria for granting state voting rights? A challenge to California’s citizenship requirement for suffrage could succeed if it could be proven that the law was intended to and did discriminate against racial minorities at the time it was first enacted. It would also help to demonstrate that the law continues to discriminate against minorities. The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965, which form the basis of our current immigration system based on family reunification, were intended, even by their most liberal advocate Senator Edward Kennedy, to preserve and “not upset the ethnic mix of our society.” U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization of the Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 1965. pp. 1–3. For a state to rely on such an obviously racially motivated outcome, the state must demonstrate a compelling state interest, and prove that the law is narrowly tailored to achieve that interest. Given the long history of non-citizen voting in the United States, such a compelling interest would be difficult to justify. Perhaps this analogy will help clarify the issue. Let’s say that the University of California had a history of admissions policies that tracked United States immigration and naturalization laws. Initially, the University would have admitted only whites. After many decades of that policy, in response to an increasing number of Jewish and Catholic applicants, the University established an admissions policy using national origin quotas based on the ethnic mix of the student body at the time. Several decades later, the University adopted a more neutral-looking policy that admitted mainly children of alumni so as not to upset the ethnic mix of the student body. Now let’s say that California only allowed graduates of the University of California to vote. Would anyone think that was ok? October 3, 2017 UncategorizedE Randol Schoenberg For the record, I first posted these thoughts on Facebook on April 7, 2017: Here’s the new Democratic Party playbook, if things go as they seem to be going. It’s all about 2020. The key will be when the upcoming Trump recession ends. If it starts too soon, and ends in time, Trump could win a second term, like Reagan did in 1984. But if it starts later, or doesn’t recover enough by November 2020, he and the Republicans are toast, like in 1992 and 2008. You’ll have an indication that Trump is in trouble if there is a Republican primary challenge. It’s very likely to be Rand Paul, as things stand today, but I wouldn’t count out Cruz and Rubio or even Kasich. All could mount a significant challenge. Even Ryan is a possibility. Any primary or independent challenge would likely be a death knell for Trump, as it was for Carter (Kennedy, Anderson) in 1980 and Bush (Buchanan, Perot) in 1992. If Trump is weak, the Democrats stand a good chance to gain control of both the House and Senate, as well as the Presidency, as they did in 1992 and 2008. Remember, the high water mark for the Democrats was in 2008, just eight years ago, when they had 58 Senators (plus 2 independents) and a 257-178 advantage in the House. The Republicans peaked in 2014-2016 with 54 senators in 2014 and 247 members in the House in 2016. It’s all downhill for them from here. The one fear I had if Clinton had won in 2016 was the Republicans taking it all in 2020, a critical census year. Now that feared result has been turned on its head into an amazing opportunity. An across-the-board Democratic win in 2020 would result in an unprecedented and momentous turning point for the country. After 1992 and 2008, the Democrats were held back by the Republican filibuster and the 60-vote cloture rule in the Senate. Now, thanks to Mitch McConnell, those rules are no longer an impediment. Next time the Democrats are in charge, look for the complete elimination of the filibuster, followed by: 1) An immigration bill allowing a quick path to citizenship for up to 10 million undocumented US residents (soon to become Democrats). This will quickly turn Arizona, Texas and Florida into reliable Democratic states. 2) A $15/hour national minimum wage 3) Single-payer universal health care 4) An increase of seats on the Supreme Court, taking back the majority that the Republicans just stole. (This has been done in the past and will be done now again.) 5) A large raise in the debt ceiling, followed by a massive infrastructure program. 6) Laws against Republican gerrymandering of Congressional districts and voter suppression efforts. 7) Statehood for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Note that once done, all of these are almost impossible to reverse. Of course there would also be tax increases on the wealthy, as well as the reimposition of bank regulations and environmental protections deleted by the Trump administration. And look for national gun control and abortion rights legislation. Those could be changed back by a future Republican administration, but given the political reforms, the return of the Republicans to power will be more difficult and would require a shift in policies. As you see, I am ever the optimist. But this can, and very likely will, happen. You read it here first. Here’s what I wrote on Facebook on June 9, 2017: When Democrats take back the Senate, we’re going to have to make sure that this type of thing never happens again. That will mean making some tough decisions. It means repairing the damage the Republicans are doing to our country, as well as ensuring that they cannot do it again. We’re going to have to do away with the filibuster (at least temporarily) and enact important legislation, including: (1) statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., (2) citizenship for up to 10 million immigrants, (3) laws against gerrymandering, (4) laws protecting the right to vote, (5) campaign finance reform, (6) adding two seats to the Supreme Court, and so on. We need to do this to save our democracy, so that a small minority cannot run roughshod over the rights of the rest of us. What is the FBI hiding? August 14, 2017 UncategorizedE Randol Schoenberg In May I submitted a FOIA request seeking: All memos directly related to the October 27, 2016 meeting between FBI Director James Comey and the investigative team focused on Secretary Hillary Clinton, as described in Mr. Comey’s May 3 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee (attached). In particular I am interested in any memos or e-mails related to the decision to seek a search warrant to search Secretary Clinton’s e-mails, and the decision to notify Congress on October 28 2016 concerning the e-mails. I also would like any documents identifying the participants in that October 27, 2016 meeting. I also want all documents related to the advice given by the “junior lawyer” who asked Director Comey “should you consider that what you’re about to do may help elect Donald Trump president?,” as reported by Directory Comey in his May 3 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Today comes the response: No records responsive to your request were located. For your information, Congress excluded three discrete categories of law enforcement and national security records from the requirements of the FOIA. See 5 U.S.C. §552(c) (2006 & Supp. IV (2010)) This response is limited to those records that are subject to the requirements of the FOIA. This is a standard notification that is given to all our requesters and should not be taken as an indication that excluded records do, or do not, exist. So, folks, any guess which exclusionary provisions of 552(c) they think they can rely on to prevent disclosure? I’m not seeing any that apply. Here’s 552(c): (c)(1) Whenever a request is made which involves access to records described in subsection (b)(7)(A) [“records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information (A) could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings”] and— (A) the investigation or proceeding involves a possible violation of criminal law; and (B) there is reason to believe that (i) the subject of the investigation or proceeding is not aware of its pendency, and (ii) disclosure of the existence of the records could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings, the agency may, during only such time as that circumstance continues, treat the records as not subject to the requirements of this section. (2) Whenever informant records maintained by a criminal law enforcement agency under an informant’s name or personal identifier are requested by a third party according to the informant’s name or personal identifier, the agency may treat the records as not subject to the requirements of this section unless the informant’s status as an informant has been officially confirmed. (3) Whenever a request is made which involves access to records maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation pertaining to foreign intelligence or counterintelligence, or international terrorism, and the existence of the records is classified information as provided in subsection (b)(1), the Bureau may, as long as the existence of the records remains classified information, treat the records as not subject to the requirements of this section. Thoughts on Comey’s Firing May 12, 2017 UncategorizedE Randol Schoenberg It is not secret that I have long thought that James Comey must be terminated as Director of the FBI. See my previous blogs from November 14, January 22, and May 3. His grave errors of judgment last year single-handedly threw the election to Donald Trump, the most unstable, mean-spirited and incompetent President in the history of our great country. I was therefore elated with the news this week that Comey had been fired. I was invited to speak on CNN International in two segments ( 1, 2) on Tuesday, and was obviously gleeful. But it turns out I was just about the only Democrat who was truly happy with the news. Almost instantaneously, Democratic politicians and commentators flooded the airways with statements denouncing the President’s dismissal of Comey. I felt, and still feel, that this reflexive “if he’s for it, I’m against it” response was misguided, both on the merits and as a matter of politics. First, on the merits. While between segments on CNN I got in a heated debate in the green room with former FBI agent Steve Moore, although I had largely agreed with him in our segment a few minutes earlier. Our disagreement was over his contention that Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted. That belief, which prevails overwhelmingly in Republican and even some Democratic circles, is completely indefensible. The reason is that the law that Clinton was accused of violating, 18 U.S.C. 793 (e) and (f) of the Espionage Act, does not apply to the facts. As former military prosecutor and current U.S. Army Judge Advocate John Ford has explained, the law was designed to combat German espionage during World War I and has been narrowly interpreted since that time. In a 1941 US Supreme Court case, Gorin v. U.S., the law was interpreted to require a bad faith intent to benefit a foreign power and damage the national defense. The Espionage Act has been used only sparingly in the most egregious spying cases. But an even closer look at the statute reveals a further problem in this particular case: there is no parsing of the law that can possibly apply simply to sending, receiving or storing e-mails on a private server, activities no one ever imagined when the law was drafted 100 years ago. Dan Abrams did a great job last April analyzing the text of the law, but there’s more that can be said. Section 793(e) concerns the transmission of information relating to the national defense to someone not entitled to receive it, or retaining information and failing to deliver it to the person entitled to receive it. The first portion (sending information to someone who isn’t entitled to see it, like passing on secrets to a foreign agent) has never been alleged against Clinton, and the second (retaining info and not delivering it, like hiding someone’s mail) is also inapplicable. These provisions cover active espionage. So take a close look at 793(f), which is the only other section relied on in the search warrant obtained against Clinton on October 30. It covers a person who has information relating to the national defense who “through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed.” That is the section most of the commentators have focused on, and the debate has been about “gross negligence” or the intent standard imposed by the Supreme Court in Gorin. But as far as I can tell, none have really looked closely at the word “removed.” If you saw the film Snowden last year, you saw Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Snowden put a bunch of data on a usb drive at work and sneak it out of the top-secret compound in a Rubik’s cube. That’s the type of “removal” that the Espionage Act is designed to prosecute. You physically take something away from one place and put it somewhere else. But that’s never been what Hillary Clinton did. Sending and receiving e-mails and storing them on a hard drive is not “removal from its proper place of custody.” I think most people will agree that receiving and storing are not “removal,” but let me also explain why sending an e-mail is not removal. When an e-mail is sent, a new object is created for transmission and nothing is taken away. What could be the “proper place of custody” from which the e-mail is “removed?” The clause simply makes no sense in the context of sending an e-mail, which is not surprising given that it was drafted 100 years ago. Sending an e-mail is a transmission, which is covered by the next clause “delivered to anyone in violation of his trust” and separately by section 793(e), which requires that the recipient be unauthorized. No one has ever alleged that any of the relatively few e-mails found on Clinton’s server that were marked classified were delivered to people who were not cleared to see them. So really there is no honest reading of the Espionage Act that would criminalize what Hillary Clinton did, which was using a private server to send, receive and store e-mails. As many have pointed out, what she did may have violated State Department rules, but no criminal statutes. There never was any chance that the FBI would find evidence that would lead to any criminal conviction. And yet Comey, in violation of long-standing FBI and Justice Department practices, pretended that evidence of criminality was “probable” when he authorized his officers to obtain a search warrant on October 30. He further violated policy by making sure that the search would be made public (although filed under seal) when he sent his October 28 letter to Congress. When a junior lawyer in his office questioned whether it was right to risk interfering with an election, Comey wrongly answered that he would not even consider that possibility, even though the Hatch Act and long-standing policies required the avoidance of interference. Six months later, he told the Senate that he would do it again. Last week, Comey justified his actions by admitting that he wanted to see e-mails from the period prior to the establishment of the server, supposedly because he thought those related to Clinton’s intent. Intent to do what? He’s never explained that. Clinton wasn’t prosecutable simply because the FBI didn’t have, in Comey’s own words, a “golden e-mail” proving she intended to do something wrong. She wasn’t prosecutable because the law did not proscribe what she did, regardless of her intent. This long-winded explanation goes to why I was so happy to hear that Comey was fired. He had revealed himself to be someone who could not properly interpret the law, even in the most significant, high profile case. And even after having six months to reflect on what he did, he said he would do it again. He had to go. That my view was the unanimous view of the Justice Department was evidenced by the memo dated May 9 by Rod Rosenstein, the new Deputy Attorney General who had been approved by the Senate 94-6 just two weeks earlier. In his memo, Rosenstein states “Almost everyone agrees that the Director made serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives.” Rosenstein takes Comey to task for his July 5 press conference discussing the decision not to prosecute Clinton (which apparently was made weeks before). “It is not the function of the Director to make such an announcement.” Quoting a litany of statements by former Deputy Attorneys General, Rosenstein also finds Comey’s actions in October to be severely problematic and “antithetical to the interests of justice.” Rosenstein’s conclusion is that “the FBI is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a Director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them. Having refused to admit his errors, the Director cannot be expected to implement the necessary corrective actions.” In other words, Rosenstein told Trump he had no objection to firing Comey. Some have criticized the conclusory nature of Rosenstein’s letter, but more details wouldn’t have made it nicer to Comey, only worse. Comey’s decision-making seems to have been driven by a desire to appear impartial. I’ve seen a lot of people, even judges, make this mistake. The law often requires officials to avoid the appearance of impropriety or partiality. But that is not a license to do actually improper things, in the hopes of appearing neutral and fair. This was Comey’s mistake. He consistently behaved as though he was compelled to do the wrong thing, in order to create the appearance of doing the right thing. In July, to avoid mounting criticism of the FBI after Bill Clinton’s meeting with Loretta Lynch, he wrongly held a press conference in which he tried to lay out a case against Hillary Clinton while at the same time supporting the decision (made weeks earlier) not to prosecute. In October, he wrongly notified Congress of a further investigation of e-mails before anything significant was found, because he worried that he would be criticized later for “concealing” the fact that they were conducting a new search. In both cases, he decided to do the wrong thing to improve his reputation for neutrality, rather than do the right thing and take unfair criticism. Mistakes happen and can be forgiven if they are accepted, but it is clear from Rosenstein’s memo that Comey could not ever be expected to understand that he had made a mistake. Rosenstein must have been as infuriated as I was at Comey’s May 3 testimony. It didn’t help Comey that on many critical details, he got the facts wrong. On the morning before he was fired, the FBI submitted a correction to the Senate, explaining that Comey was mistaken when he suggested that Huma Abedin had forwarded hundreds of thousands of e-mails to the e-mail address of her husband Anthony Weiner. In fact, only a handful had been manually forwarded. Comey’s behavior had simply become indefensible. I never thought that Trump would actually get rid of Comey. After all, that would imply that Comey did something wrong in the lead-up to the election which he won. Since it is increasingly clear beyond any reasonable doubt that Comey’s actions swayed the election to Trump, why would Trump risk feeding the narrative that his election was illegitimate by terminating Comey? I didn’t think he would do it. But he did, and so I was happy, happy, happy. The culprit who cost Clinton the election, and said he would do it again, was gone. What could be bad about that? Apparently, that isn’t how most Democrats saw it. No sooner was the firing made public, when Democratic politicians began lambasting Trump for his decision, and backing off their prior antagonism towards Comey. There have been several criticisms, some certainly fair. First, no one believed the initial claim that Trump had fired Comey simply because Rosenstein had said it was the right thing to do. That’s not how Trump operates. Everyone suspected, I am sure correctly, that Trump had other motives, including a desire to stop Comey from talking about the investigation of the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russian interference in the election. For me, it doesn’t really matter what Trump’s motives were. He’s insane. Just because he wants something to happen doesn’t mean he’s going to get what he wants. His actions are just as likely to backfire and produce the opposite result. So firing Comey wasn’t a bad thing because Trump wanted to interfere with the Russia investigation, unless it actually would interfere. And I don’t think it would. First, I start from the point of having no confidence in the FBI actually finding any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, at least not at the level that would make a difference to anyone. We already know that Trump is nuts and that his campaign was filled with wackos with all sorts of bizarre backgrounds. That even a dozen of them were paid Russian agents wouldn’t make a difference to the people who voted for him, or their Republican enablers in Congress. Russia certainly was involved in espionage and propaganda aimed at defeating Clinton, and some of it was effective. But that is not what cost Clinton the election. She was well on her way to winning before Comey stepped in and ruined everything by making enough people believe she was going to be indicted. Comey is the real villain of the story, not Russia. Russia was a side show. That Trump and his campaign team were aligned and conspiring with other bad people who wanted Clinton to lose isn’t going to change the calculation one bit. Second, Comey was the director of the FBI, which means he was the figurehead, the one making big decisions, but not anywhere near the agents who are actually doing the investigating. Those folks are 3 or 4 rungs down the ladder. Removing Comey won’t affect their job one bit. If they are really investigating, they will continue. Because of the pervasive anti-Clinton (and hence pro-Trump) attitude at the FBI, my guess is that there is not much investigating going on. After all, and this was one source of my argument with Steve Moore, if the FBI wanted to find something to prosecute against Trump, they’ve had plenty of time and more than enough opportunity. It’s not like there is a dearth of allegations of wrongdoing out there. For example, what’s up with the $25k bribe he paid illegally from his charitable fund to Pam Bondi? If the FBI wanted to nail Trump, they could have done it years ago. But they don’t. And that’s the big point. The FBI likes to pretend that it is neutral and impartial but it isn’t. They aren’t robots sitting on a corner just waiting for crimes to pass by so they can enforce them. There are potentially millions of crimes to investigate, and agents and offices have to pick and choose where to spend their time, and that choice is the definition of politics. So I wouldn’t be holding my breath waiting for the FBI to come up with the goods on Trump. Whether Comey or someone else comes in to run the place, that investigation is likely going nowhere, because removing Trump from office is not what the rank and file wants. Compare that to the “moving heaven and earth” that Comey described with the Clinton e-mail investigation where they searched day and night for something that was never going to be there in the first place. Still, the Democrats in Congress had to act all concerned that Comey’s removal would impede the Trump-Russia investigation and that was the story that got a lot of play for the next few days. The President and others quickly recognized this as a hypocritical about-face, and that has largely worked to deflect the attack. Did the Democrats really want Comey to still be FBI director, just because they hoped he would redeem himself by nailing Trump? That strikes me as borderline insane, given what we know about Comey. I think the opposite is more likely true. If there is any chance at all of the Trump-Russia investigation becoming significant, that chance is far greater without the self-interested shenanigans of an already discredited FBI director. Some worry that Trump will be able to control the investigation by naming a new director. Perhaps, but that will take time, because the new director has to be confirmed by the Senate. If the new director is seen as a partisan hack, the Democrats will likely be able to make a lot of inroads attacking him. If they can do that enough to win back the House in 2018, then they can conduct their own investigation. If the new director is someone fair who has not made the fatal errors Comey did and promised to make again, then we’re all better off. Either way, it’s a win. My initial reaction was that Rosenstein was now going to be in charge of the Trump-Russia investigation and that could only be a good thing. With Attorney General Jeff Session having recused himself, the decision-making falls to Rosenstein, a career Justice Department official, on that matter. Rosenstein clearly needed to have Comey out of the way, as Comey had proved to everyone that he would do whatever he wanted, regardless of what the Attorney General decided. Now that problem is gone, and Rosenstein can try to get the FBI to do a proper investigation. Until this week, everyone considered Rosenstein a stand-up guy. Now that has all changed. Even some of his so-called friends are calling for him to resign. I am not at all convinced that Rosenstein is a bad actor. It is certainly possible that I am wrong. After all, Trump nominated him, so that’s one big strike against him. But there are plenty of indications he’s a straight-shooter, and his memo supporting the removal of Comey is one of them. Some see it the other way, that he is an enabler who helped Trump remove the person he feared would lead the investigation that might result in impeachment. To believe that, you have to believe a few things that I don’t. First you have to believe that Trump is smart and has a plan. Second you have to believe that Comey is honest and would succeed in exposing Trump. If, like me, you don’t believe either of those things, then there is a more positive way to look at Rosenstein. Comey was a cancer that needed to be removed for the Department of Justice to function properly. Rosenstein took advantage of a moment when his interest in removing Comey coincided with Trump’s interest in getting rid of the guy talking about the Russia investigation to Congress. That’s how things get done in any bureaucracy. It’s not enough for the boss or the staff alone to want something. Things happen only when they both want the same thing. So, to me, it doesn’t really matter whether you want to say Trump had a design to remove Comey. He couldn’t get it done without the Department of Justice, and they couldn’t get it done without Trump. So, just as it is wrong to suggest that Rosenstein engineered Comey’s removal, it is wrong to suggest that Trump did it. They worked together, and likely for different reasons. We’ll have to wait and see if Rosenstein continues to maintain control of the Trump-Russia investigation or if he agrees to recommend the appointment of a special counsel, as many have demanded. One reason I was very happy on Tuesday was that Comey’s removal made the appointment of the special prosecutor much, much more likely. It never was going to happen while Mr. Faux-Neutral Comey was around. An independent special counsel is probably the only possible way that any criminal indictments will come from the Trump-Russia investigation, and it is also the only thing that might lead to impeachment. I don’t consider that likely, but on Monday, it was an impossibility. Today, post-Comey, there’s a glimmer of hope. When I began writing about Comey in November, I called for an investigation of the FBI and I think that is still necessary. Comey testified on May 3 that he had a meeting in his office on October 27 when he and his colleagues decided “unanimously” to send that inane October 28 letter that ruined the election. That’s a conspiracy to interfere with an election and I think the American people deserve to know who else was involved. Comey no doubt has a lot of supporters at the FBI. You’ll notice that we haven’t heard from any who wanted Comey gone. They were leaking and spinning madly in his favor before the firing and have continued to do so as they try to save their skins. The press doesn’t like to bite the hand that feeds it, so many of Comey’s supporters and their misdeeds have not been reported yet. My hope is that Inspector General Michael Horowitz will uncover what happened. He told Michael Isikoff that his report won’t be finished before the end of the year. It should be easy to ferret out the bad apples. Just ask them whether they think Comey was correct to send his October 28 letter. Any agent who still does has to go. It’s a common thing when you don’t have a good argument on the merits to argue the process. That’s a lot of the noise that is coming out this week in Comey’s defense. Sure, Trump could have waited to fire him face to face, or after giving him a chance to respond, but I’m glad he didn’t. If he had, Comey might have talked him out of it and then we’d be stuck with him for good. Trump could have handled the messaging after the firing better, but he didn’t, because he never does. There’s no painless way to fire an FBI director, no playbook for how to do it. Trump’s way was classless and clueless for sure, but that’s what he is. And for me, it’s another win, because it gives people something more to complain about. Trump’s approval ratings dropped to record lows this week. As I said, this whole Comey thing has been a big WIn-Win-Win. Finding My Jewish Ancestors in Prague Citizenship, Nationalism and How to Solve Part of the Israel-Palestinian Problem The New Jewish Genealogy Purim of the Curtains Letter to Inspector General Horowitz Spence on The New Jewish Genealogy DailyPUMA on Letter to Inspector General Horowitz westernwhere on Comey, Comey, and more Comey! DailyPUMA on Comey, Comey, and more Comey! DailyPUMA on Voting Rights for Non-Citizens Anne Wirth Schoenberg Arnie Schoenberg Barbara Zeisl Schoenberg Camille Schoenberg Cynthia Hernandez Munoz Schoenberg Jean Paik Schoenberg Julia Schoenberg Morgan Larry Schoenberg Magnus Morgan Melanie Schoenberg Rescorla Marlena Schoenberg Fejzo Michael Rescorla Nuria Schoenberg Nono Pamela Mayers Schoenberg Rick Paik Schoenberg Ronald Schoenberg Serena Nono Zoran Fejzo

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You are here: Home › mathematics › Leibniz and the Integral Calculus mathematics 11. November 2019 0 Harald Sack Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 – 1716) Painting by Christoph Bernhard Francke On November 11, 1675, German mathematician and polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz demonstrates integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of y = ƒ(x). Integral calculus is part of infinitesimal calculus, which in addition also comprises differential calculus. In general, infinitesimal calculus is the part of mathematics concerned with finding tangent lines to curves, areas under curves, minima and maxima, and other geometric and analytic problems. Today, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz as well as independently Sir Isaac Newton are considered to be the founders of infinitesimal calculus. We already dedicated an article at the SciHi blog to Leibniz and his works.[9] But, Leibniz was kind of a universal polymath. His achievements are so numerous that we will definitely have more articles in the future about his contributions to science. “Only geometry can hand us the thread [which will lead us through] the labyrinth of the continuum’s composition, the maximum and the minimum, the infinitesimal and the infinite; and no one will arrive at a truly solid metaphysic except he who has passed through this [labyrinth].” – Wilhelm Gottfried Leibniz, Dissertatio Exoterica De Statu Praesenti et Incrementis Novissimis Deque Usu Geometriae (Spring 1676) The Area under the Curve To determine the area of curved objects or even the volume of a physical body with curved surfaces is a fundamental problem that has occupied generations of mathematicians since antiquity. For approximation, you don’t need modern integral calculus to solve this problem. Even the ancient Greeks had developed a method to determine integrals via the method of exhaustion, which also is the first documented systematic technique capable of computing areas and volumes. The method of exhaustion was described by the ancient Greek astronomer Eudoxus (ca. 370 BC), who tried to determine areas and volumes by breaking them up into an infinite number of shapes for which the area or volume was known. This method was further developed and employed by Archimedes in the 3rd century BC and used to calculate areas for parabolas and an approximation to the area of a circle. But also in the far east, the Chinese independently developed similar methods around the 3rd century AD by Liu Hui, who used it to find the area of the circle. Later used in the 5th century Liu Hui‘s method was further developed by Chinese father-and-son mathematicians Zu Chongzhi and Zu Geng to find the volume of a sphere. Renaissance Improvements Further improvement took until the rise of the European renaissance, when Italian mathematician Bonaventura Cavalieri in the 17th century developed his method of indivisibles.[10,1] In this work, an area is considered as constituted by an indefinite number of parallel segments and a volume as constituted by an indefinite number of parallel planar areas. Such elements are called indivisibles respectively of area and volume and provide the building blocks of Cavalieri‘s method. As an application, he computed the areas under the curves y=xn – up to the degree 9 – which is known as Cavalieri‘s quadrature formula. Together with the work of Pierre Fermat, they began to lay the foundations of modern calculus. Further steps were made by English theologian and mathematician Isaac Barrow and Italian physicist and mathematician Evangelista Torricelli,[11,4] who provided the first hints of a connection between integration and differentiation. Barrow provided the first proof of the fundamental theorem of calculus, which links the concept of the derivative of a function with the concept of the integral. English mathematician John Wallis generalized Cavalieri‘s method, computing integrals of x to a general power, including negative powers and fractional powers. Newton and Leibniz But, the major advance in integration came with the discoveries and development by Newton and Leibniz. It was Barrow‘s student Isaac Newton,[12] who completed the development of the fundamental theorem of calculus by providing also the surrounding mathematical theory. There, Newton makes use of the connection between integration and differentiation. This connection, combined with the comparative ease of differentiation, can be exploited to calculate integrals. In particular, the fundamental theorem of calculus allows one to solve a much broader class of problems. Equal in importance is the comprehensive mathematical framework developed by Gottfried Leibniz, who systematized the knowledge into a calculus for infinitesimal quantities and introduced the notation used today. Thus, the new infinitesimal calculus allowed for precise analysis of functions within continuous domains. While Newton used a small vertical bar above a variable to indicate integration, or placed the variable inside a box, Leibniz adapted the integral symbol, ∫, from the letter ∫ (long s), standing for summa (written as Summa; Latin for “sum” or “total”). The modern notation for the definite integral, with limits above and below the integral sign, was first used by French mathematician Joseph Fourier.[13] “In the history of mathematics and science, few conflicts have attained the notoriety of the Newton/Leibniz dispute. … A carefully reconstructed chronology reveals that Newton had formulated the essentials of his calculus by 1666, years before Leibniz had attained the mathematical knowledge necessary to develop his own point of view on the calculus. … There is much that can never be known about such a feud. This feud is peculiar in that it erupted late, and was both sparked and carried on to a large degree by the followers of the men involved. There are scientific reasons for it (the divergences in their interpretation of “the calculus” itself; personal reasons (a history of suspicion, not only between the two principles but between each of them and other rivals; nationalism, never a negligible factor; and the bitterness associated with disputes on related matters, notably the ongoing rivalry between the Newtonian and Cartesian theories of gravity. At a personal level, Newton’s pride, suspicious character, and reluctance to publish collided with Leibniz’ naive optimism, arrogance, and his belief in “systems” as more valuable than inspiration, in a long-delayed but virulent explosion.” – Anand Kandaswamy, in “The Newton/Leibniz Conflict in Context” (2002) Lacking a Degree or Rigour While Newton and Leibniz provided a systematic approach to integration, their work lacked a degree of rigour. In 1734, Irish philosopher Bishop Berkeley memorably attacked the vanishing increments used by Newton in his critical essay ‘The Analyst – A DISCOURSE Addressed to an Infidel Mathematician‘, calling them “ghosts of departed quantities“. This was a direct attack on the foundations and principles of Infinitesimal calculus and, in particular, the notion of fluxion or infinitesimal change, which Newton and Leibniz used to develop the calculus. Calculus acquired a firmer footing with the development of limits. The first, who applied limits to rigorously formalize calculus, was German mathematician Bernhard Riemann.[14] Joseph Fourier further extended Riemann‘s concept in the context of his Fourier analysis and French mathematician Henri Lebesgue formulated a different definition of integral, founded in measure theory.[15] At yovisto academic video search you can learn more about integral calculus in the basic lecture of MIT Prof David Jerison on ‘Definite Integrals‘. [1] Biography of Bonaventura Cavallieri at MacTutor’s History of Mathematics [2] Biography of George Berkeley (Bishop Berkeley) at the Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy [3] Biography of Bernhard Riemann at MacTutor’s History of mathematics [4] Biography of Evangelista Torricelli at MacTutor’s History of mathematics [5] Isaac Barrow at Princeton.edu [6] Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz at zbMATH [7] Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz at Wikidata [8] Timeline for Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, via Wikidata [9] Let Us Calculate – the Last Universal Academic Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, SciHi Blog [10] Cavalieri’s Principle, SciHi Blog [11] Evangelista Torricelli and the Barometer, SciHi Blog [12] Standing on the Shoulders of Giants – Sir Isaac Newton, SciHi Blog [13] Joseph Fourier and the Greenhouse Effect, SciHi blog [14] Bernhard Riemann’s novell approaches to Geometry, SciHi Blog [15] Henri Léon Lebesgue and the Theory of Integration, SciHi Blog Archimedes, baroque, Bernhard Riemann, Bishop Berkeley, Bonaventura Cavalieri, Evangelista Torricelli, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Henri Lebesgue, integral calculus, Isaac Newton, John Barrow, Joseph Fourier, Pierre Fermat Dr. Livingstone, I presume? Robert Scott’s Last Expedition Calderón de la Barca – one of the finest Playwrights of World Literature Nicolas Steno and the Principles of Modern Geology The Rise and Fall of the British East India Company The Untranslatable Linguistic Elegance of Jean Racine

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Britannia in the late 1890s photograph by Alfred West & Son A replica of Prince Albert Edward and King George V's racing yacht, the Britannia, is due home. The original yacht was designed by George Lennox Watson in 1893, which can be considered a vintage year: the Valkyrie II, Satanita, Calluna, Vigilant, Colonia, Navahoe, Pilgrim, Jubilee and the schooner Emerald marked a record year in First-Class yacht building. They all featured the spoon bow and widely extended overhangs making them far more suited to carry the giant rigs than the previous generation of crack yachts represented by the likes of the Iverna and Meteor, which had fiddle bows. These "freaks" were very much despised at first, but performance on the water quickly established them, and racing on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean made for interesting comparisons between yankee design and British design. That year the Britannia successfully defended the Cape May Cup from the American sloop Navahoe, but she lost the Brenton Reef Cup to the latter on a protest. The Britannia was successfully campaigned in the Mediterranean, on the River Clyde, and her home waters of the Solent from the onset. In turn, she faced yachts of increasing size and performance: the Vigilant in 1894, the Ailsa in 1895, the very large Meteor II in 1896, and she also served as Shamrock's trial horse in 1899. Despite tough competition from all these yachts, the Britannia kept showing strong performance in a breeze and her low handicap compared to later yachts enabled her to remain the most succesful racer afloat. There was a lull in First Class racing in the 1900s and 1910s, during which time the Britannia sailed in cruising trim with raised bulwarks, a voluminous companionway doghouse, shortened spars and had her 4m tiller replaced by a wheel. During the morose rebuild of the British economy after the Great War, the Britannia's new owner King George V announced that she would be fitted for racing again in 1920 in a bid to revive the Big Class. In turn, the large cutter Lulworth (1920) was laid down to compete with the King's yacht, and the handicap cruiser Moonbeam IV (1914) was finally launched after a 6-year wait in the shed. More large yachts joined the Big Class, and the Britannia once again showed that she was the top performer in strong winds. She received many rig updates from yacht designers James Rennie Barnett, William Fife III and Alfred Mylne (marconi rig), but eventually her conversion to a J-Class bermuda rig in 1931 by Charles Ernest Nicholson showed a significant slop in her performance. A final rerig in 1935, a year before the King's death, proved disastrous as it yielded no wins at all. According to her owner's last wishes, the old Britannia was scuttled after his death in 1936. Thereafter, she remained for all British yachtsmen a glorious memory of a bygone era, and it is not surprising that the revival of classic yachting in the 1980s with the refits of Endeavour and Altair would eventually renew interest in G.L. Watson's masterpiece. body plan, sheer plan, half-breadth plan and interior layout as published in John Irving's 1937 book The Kings' Britannia In 1993, Norwegian entrepreneur Sigurd Coates bought the Solombala shipyard in Archangel, Russia, and started to build a replica of the Britannia. He sold his shares in the shipyard in 2002, and soon after lost control of everything: The shipyard rebranded the boat Tsar Peter and held the boata back for ransom. After a considerable amount of travel, energy and time spent in court, Mr. Coates eventually forced the shipyard to deliver and launch the boat, and he had her motored by way of the North passage to her current anchorage in Son, Norway in the summer of 2009. After his return, Mr. Coates sold his ailing electromotor company, but could not gather enough funds to carry out the final fitout that was required to launch the boat properly, so he has sought investors to help him fulfill his dream. Finally, according to SEILAS magazine, a foundation in Cowes has acquired a considerable stake in the boat at low cost last week, and the boat has a guaranteed future now. In 2012 she will make for Cowes, which she will call home, and where she will receive a new bermuda rig. If Mr. Coates has given out much responsibility to the foundation, he retains a stake in the new Britannia, so he will be sure to sail her once she is completed. The project can be followed on the Britannia Trust website. The Britannia replica in Son, Norway written by Donan Raven on 10/26/2011 Labels: british cutter, cutter, gaff, george lennox watson, lines, naval architecture, sailing, yacht design, yacht lines, yachting

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Llanelli hospital choir looking for a musical director Robert Lloyd PR, Media and Marketing Consultancy News Llanelli hospital choir looking for a musical director A Llanelli hospital choir set up to celebrate the NHS 70th anniversary is launching a campaign to find their next Musical Director. The “Hospital Notes” choir was originally set up ahead of the anniversary celebrations in July, with members practising in their lunchtimes in hospital corridors and outside when the weather permitted. All staff at Prince Philip Hospital were encouraged to take part with attendance from nurses, domestic staff, consultant doctors, managers, associated professional support staff, laboratory staff, secretaries even the chair of the Hywel Dda Health Board. Sadly, due to other commitments the musical director who led the choir on the day is unable to continue in the role and Hospital Notes is now looking for a dynamic, modern, enthusiastic musical director to share their journey, principles and camaraderie Gemma Brown, choir chairman, said: “Each of us only has a few outstandingly memorable days in our lives, this was the top one for me, I am so proud of what we have achieved in such a short period of time – it’s amazing what can be done. We have received feedback from choir members about camaraderie, a feel good factor in the hospital, improved mental health and reduced sickness levels which have been enlightening.” Dr Robin Ghosal, Clinical Director at Prince Philip Hospital, added: “This choir has brought together staff from different parts of the Hospital, all singing together, becoming friends and the joy seen on everyone’s faces reflects the feel good factor which we have created. “This ultimately leads to better treatment of our patients.” The original principles and intentions of the choir were to bring the Hospital together, promote health and wellbeing of staff (and the knock on effect to our patients) and give something back to the health service at special events. The 70th anniversary celebration day saw the choir performing renditions of “I will Follow Him”, “The Rose”, “Stand by Me”, “Let it Be”, “This is Me” and a particularly emotional rendition of Coldplay’s “Fix You”. Having sung three times throughout the day, the choir members went back to their jobs and patients and staff still talk about the performances long after the event. Video recordings of the songs have been posted on Facebook with well over 100,000 views to date (51,000 for “Fix You” alone). Feedback has been received from all over the world as well as from prospective employees, doctors, and the people of Llanelli. Since the 5 July, the Hospital Notes choir have been looking forward to singing again, with offers to sing at Thanksgiving events, Charity Balls, Christmas concerts. The choir has also been asked to perform at a Nursing conference in Cardiff next year and in a 30th anniversary celebration of Prince Philip Hospital in 2020. Anyone who is interested in taking up the role of Musical Director should contact Gemma Brown at: hospitalnotes@outlook.com Pembrey Country Park unveils new camping facilities Tagged choir, Hospital Notes choir, Hywel Dda University Health Board, Llanelli, Prince Philip Hospital One thought on “Llanelli hospital choir looking for a musical director” Jane Sarah Violet Rees says: I am interested in helping your cause..a former NHS employee …Occupational Therapist( retired 7 years)..but also a qualified Music Teacher..I have just under a 30 yr experience in local choral conducting..mixed (SATB) and ladies only ..let me know if I can help you….experience in traditional, folk, gospel, classical, pop..with passion..

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Home - Boats - Yards - Devonport Devonport Dockyard Her Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport), is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth). HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. Having begun as Royal Navy Dockyard in the late-17th century, it is now the largest naval base in Western Europe and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Royal Navy. Shipbuilding ceased at Devonport in the early 1970s, but ship maintenance work has continued: the now privatised maintenance facilities are operated by Babcock Marine, a division of Babcock International Group, who took over the previous owner Devonport Management Limited (DML) in 2007. From 1934 until the early 21st century the naval barracks on the site was named HMS Drake (it had previously been known as HMS Vivid after the base ship of the same name). Recently, the name HMS Drake was extended to cover the entire base; the barracks buildings are now termed the Fleet Accommodation Centre. In 1689 Prince William of Orange became William III and almost immediately he required the building of a new dockyard west of Portsmouth. Edmund Dummer, Surveyor of the Navy, travelled the West Country searching for an area where a dockyard could be built; he sent in two estimates for sites, one in Plymouth, Cattewater and one further along the coast, on the Hamoaze, a section of the River Tamar, in the parish of Stoke Damerel. Having dismissed the Plymouth site as inadequate, he settled on the Hamoaze area which soon became known as Plymouth Dock, later renamed Devonport. On 30 December 1690, a contract was let for a dockyard to be built: the start of Plymouth (later Devonport) Royal Dockyard. Having selected the location, Dummer was given responsibility for designing and building the new yard. At the heart of his new dockyard, Dummer placed a stone-lined basin, giving access to what proved to be the first successful stepped stone dry dock in Europe. Previously the Navy Board had relied upon timber as the major building material for dry docks, which resulted in high maintenance costs and was also a fire risk. The docks Dummer designed were stronger with more secure foundations and stepped sides that made it easier for men to work beneath the hull of a docked vessel. These innovations also allowed rapid erection of staging and greater workforce mobility. He discarded the earlier three-sectioned hinged gate, which was labour-intensive in operation, and replaced it with the simpler and more mobile two-sectioned gate. Dummer wished to ensure that naval dockyards were efficient working units that maximised available space, as evidenced by the simplicity of his design layout at Plymouth Dock. He introduced a centralised storage area alongside the basin, and a logical positioning of other buildings around the yard. His double rope-house combined the previously separate tasks of spinning and laying while allowing the upper floor to be used for the repair of sails. On high ground overlooking the rest of the yard he built a grand terrace of houses for the senior dockyard officers (the first known example in the country of a palace-front terrace). Most of Dummer's buildings and structures were rebuilt over ensuing years, including the basin and dry dock (today known as No. 1 Basin and No. 1 Dock). The terrace survived into the 20th century, but was largely destroyed in the Blitz along with several others of Devonport's historic buildings. Just one end section of the terrace survives; dating from 1692–96, it is the earliest surviving building in any royal dockyard. The dockyard was established on the southern tip of the present-day site; it then expanded northwards, in stages, over the next two-and-a-half centuries. The town that grew around the dockyard was called Plymouth Dock up to 1823, when the townspeople petitioned for it to be renamed Devonport. The dockyard followed suit twenty years later, becoming Devonport Royal Dockyard. In just under three centuries over 300 vessels were built at Devonport, the last being HMS Scylla in 1971. In 2015, Devonport Dockyard consists of fourteen dry docks (docks numbered 1 to 15, but there is no 13 Dock), four miles of waterfront, twenty-five tidal berths, five basins and an area of 650 acres. The dockyard employs 2,500 service personnel and civilians, supports circa 400 local firms and contributes approximately 10% to the income of Plymouth. It is the base for the Trafalgar-class nuclear-powered hunter-killer submarines and the main refitting base for all Royal Navy nuclear submarines. Work was completed by Carillion in 2002 to build a refitting dock to support the Vanguard-class Trident missile nuclear ballistic missile submarines. Devonport serves as headquarters for the Flag Officer Sea Training, which is responsible for the training of all the ships of the Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, along with many from foreign naval services. The nuclear submarine refit base was put into special measures in 2013 by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and it could be 2020 before enhanced monitoring ceases. Safety concerns on ageing facilities, stretched resources and increasing demand are blamed for the measures. Devonport is still nicknamed "Guzz" (or, sometimes, "Guz") by sailors and marines. One suggestion is that this originates from the word guzzle (to eat or drink greedily), which is likely to refer to the eating of cream teas, a West Country delicacy and, therefore, one with strong connections to the area around Plymouth. Another explanation advanced is that "GUZZ" was the radio call sign for the nearby Admiralty wireless station (which was GZX) at Devil's Point, though this is disputed and has recently been disproved by reference to actual wireless telegraphy callsigns in existence over the past century. Another explanation is that the name came from the Hindi word for a yard (36 inches), "guz", (also spelled "guzz", at the time) which entered the Oxford English Dictionary, and Royal Navy usage, in the late 19th century, as sailors used to regularly abbreviate "The Dockyard" to simply "The Yard", leading to the slang use of the Hindi word for the unit of measurement of the same name. The Plymouth Herald newspaper attempted to summarise the differing theories, but no firm conclusion was reached. Featured Reading Boats built and commisioned into the RN Submarine Service 1915 - 1929: J Class 1915 - 1926: K Class 1916 - 1945: L Class 1935 - 1970: T Class Thule (P325) Totem (P352) Truncheon (P353) 1943 - 1977: Amphion Class Ace (P414) Achates (P433) 1886 - 1923: Arrogant Denny (Leven)Earle (Tyne)

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EXPERT BLOG: News from our Panel of Experts Sustainable City Masdar The sustainable city of Masdar, designed to house 50,000 people and covering an area of 7 sq. km. on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, will be the world’s first carbon neutral city. Whilst we in Australia are still debating how to tackle Climate Change and implement policies to shift from carbon-guzzling fuels to alternative energy, in a most unlikely place in the world, the United Arab Emirates is well on its way to making this shift. Based on policy decisions made years ago, the UAE already ha… How Greenies Became Watermelons… By John DeJose on November 8, 2010 Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth will play host to a thought-provoking series of free public lectures with Naomi Oreskes, Professor of History & Science Studies, University of California, San Diego, and co-author of the new book Merchants of Doubt: How a handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from tobacco smoke to global warming. In these lectures, Naomi discusses her latest book (co-authored with Erik M. Conway), as she rolls back the rug on a dark corner of the American sc… Climate Change – A Change in Architectural Education 22 March 2010 Sasha Ivanovich, FRAIA Architect [cf]IvanovichVideo[/cf] solar-e.com expert Sasha Ivanovich is a multi award winning architect in Western Australia and Sydney. In his video blog, Sasha discusses the importance of integrating sustainability into architectural education. Climate change and the proposition that human activity is instrumental in climate change brings to the fore the whole discourse on our responsibility for the future we are creating for our children and all li… Domestic Rooftop Solar Electricity- Is it Such a Good Idea? By John Barker on February 12, 2010 John ED Barker, PhD Adjunct Professor, School of Sustainability Murdoch University jedbarker@solar-e.com Part 1- Elsewhere Several years ago, I visited the island of Amantani in Lake Titcaca, Peru. My partner, Diane and I had just walked the exhilarating Inca Trail with a small tour group and a “family stay” on Amantani was the next goal in our five-week tour across South America. Amantani is a two-hour boat trip from the Peruvian lake port of Puno. It is concisely described in Wikipedia:…

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Julie Fisher Cummings, MSSW Voluntary Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences 2011 M.S.S.W. Columbia University School of Social Work 1987 B.A. Julie Fisher Cummings, MSSW is a Voluntary Assistant Professor in the University of Miami's Department of Public Health Sciences. Ms. Cummings advocates for responsible policies on health, education, and philanthropy on behalf of underserved and marginalized children and families. She is the founder of Lovelight Foundation, which focuses on domestic child sex trafficking, undeserved women and girls and quality early childhood education. She has forged effective public-private partnerships and new funding networks across the U.S. most recently facilitating a cross sector regional Human Trafficking symposium between the Office of Trafficking in Persons at HHS and UMDPHS. Through the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation (Vice Chair), she was the founding sponsor of the Southeastern Michigan Early Childhood Funders Collaborative. Bridging academia, public service, and policy reform, she has dedicated over 40 years to civic leadership locally and nationally through her positions at: Corporation for National and Community Service (Presidential appointee), Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University (Board), and Children’s Hospital of Michigan (Board). In both Florida and Michigan she has held board positions with the United Way and with local Community Foundations, Council on Michigan Foundations (Board Chair), Women Moving Millions ( Founding Steering Committee), Ms. Foundation (Advisory Committee), Jewish Teen Funders Network (Founding Trustee), and Jewish Women’s Foundations in Florida and Michigan (Founding member). She has been honored by organizations such as Cranbrook Schools (Distinguished Alumnae), Palm Beach Atlantic University (Woman of Distinction), Alternatives for Girls (Role Model of the Year), Anti-Defamation League (Woman of Achievement), Women’s Funding Network (Leadership, Equity and Diversity Award) and Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin County (Founders Award). publichealth.med.miami.edu

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Max’s Diamonds; A Boy’s Secret B Ross Warren. Max’s Diamonds A Boy’s Secret For decades the Rockaway beaches were the magnet drawing tens of thousands of people to the cool Atlantic waters in the summer time. Coney Island may have been more well-known, but for the real New Yorkers it was Rockaway. The permanent population lived in ethnic enclaves: Bayswater, Belle Harbor and Rockaway Park primarily Jewish, Rockaway Beach was loaded with Irish bars and Arverne, right in the middle of the peninsula, was a mixture. This was especially true in the days after World War II. Jay Greenfield captures the atmosphere of Arverne in those days. But that’s not surprising as he apparently lived on Beach 69th Street toward the beach side. He parlays that feeling into his novel “Max’s Diamonds.” Paul-please don’t call him “Paulie”-is a young boy who probably went to P.S. 42 on Beach 66th Street, although that isn’t mentioned. Maybe later on to Far Rockaway High School, famed for three Nobel Prize winners and years later for Dr. Joyce Brothers, corporate raider Carl Icahn and, yes-him too, Bernie Madoff. Paul’s family is typical of those who came to the United States to escape the coming Holocaust in Europe. Most of his relatives never made it out. His family was amongst the lucky ones. His daily routine is somewhat disturbed when cousin Max comes to live with his family. Paul is warned by his mother not to look at the numbers tattooed on Max;s arm. It’s no surprise that Paul sneaks peeks. Max spots him and tries to ay that it is OK to do so. Max shares a bedroom with Paul, making the youngster a bit uncomfortable. Max tries to ease the situation, but Paul senses something more; although he can’rt determine what that feeling is. Cousin Max gifts a new refrigerator to the family as well as other nominally expensive gifts; expensive especially for this post war days. Not too long after, Max disappears. His body is found on the beach not far from their home. Police tell Paul that he committed suicide. Cousin Max’s death is added trauma for Paul whose father died earlier and is present only in flashbacks. Paul finds a note and key hidden in Max’s violin case. What happens next can’t be covered with a spoiler alert. Into the picture comes Cousin Bernie, a bit of a jerk and showoff. Paul is leery of him. Bernie begins to question where diamonds that Max had could be. Where did Max get the diamonds? Where did they come from? And where did they go? Let’s jump ahead somewhat. Paul becomes an attorney. You can imagine where the money for his education came from. He is conflicted and lives under a cloud of moral dilemma. The reader might wonder how much of the story is autobiographical. Jay Greenfield grew up in Arverne post war. He knows the geographical area and he became an attorney before deciding that he enjoyed writing novels more than the courtroom. Max’s Diamonds is a true coming of age story, one that many who grew up in the years after the war would be familiar with. The story brings the reader back to a day many people this was a much simpler time, but in fact was as complicated, if not more so, than life today. Jay Greenfield was raised in Rockaway, New York. For several decades, he was a trial lawyer with a New York- based international law firm, where he argued in the Supreme Court of the United States, represented civil rights activists in Louisiana during 1964’s Freedom Summer, and was senior counsel in several cases establishing that, under New York law, homeless families have a right to shelter. He retired early to devote himself to writing fiction. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Judy; they have three adult children and three grandchildren. MAX’S DIAMONDS (Chickadee Prince Books, 2016) is his debut novel. For more information or to buy any Jay Greenfield’s books see below: Big Summer Pet… Kara Ross Diamonds… Bright Star &… The 5th Annual… The Holiday Dilemma: NEW YORK ART,… CELEBRATE THE HIGH… Category: InsiderBy Resident May 13, 2016 Leave a comment PreviousPrevious post:The Tony Awards – May 2016NextNext post:Enchanting Carmel-by-the-Sea French Heritage Society – Black & White Ball Kick Off Celebration For The 65th Viennese Opera Ball Halloween at Kimpton Hotel Eventi 2019 Hummingbird Gala was a Glittering Success! The MOMS + Hatchimals by Spin Master celebrates Jenna Dewan’s new book Gracefully You BIG APPLE CIRCUS kicked off with guest ringmaster, Neil Patrick Harris

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Thanks are OK, but hook a sistah up 12/22/2017, 4:43 p.m. U.S. Sen.-elect Doug Jones, a Democrat from Alabama, did not have to win his battle against accused sexual molester and Republican candidate Roy Moore in the epic battle in Alabama on Dec. 12. He won because young people, some white women (most white women voted for Mr. Moore) and an amazing effort from African-Americans put him over the top. Some white folks crossed party lines for the first time, voting for Mr. Jones because Mr. Moore repulsed them. Some analysts have especially noted that white moms were more likely than other white women to vote for Mr. Jones. But black folks showed up and showed out — a larger percentage of African-American voters participated in this election than in the 2012 election of President Obama. And 98 percent of African-American women voted for Mr. Jones, along with 94 percent of black men. Among white voters, 27 percent of white men voted for Mr. Jones, along with 35 percent of white women. In cyberspace, people on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are thanking black women for their support of Mr. Jones. A friend told me that a woman she had not seen in a decade called her to thank black women for saving the U.S. Senate from the likes of Mr. Moore. Everyone likes to be thanked, but black women deserve more than thanks. We deserve the “hookup” — the connection, organizational, institutional and financial support for our efforts. Black women’s organizations in Alabama should get immediate contributions from the Democratic Party. Indeed, some of the sisters who led the effort to get the vote out, like Democratic Congresswoman Terri Sewell of Alabama, need to be consulted on how to effectively support black women in Alabama. The Democratic Party ought to cultivate black women leaders in Alabama so that they are poised to run for other offices. And because Mr. Jones will have a short term and will be up for re-election in 2020, black women need to be deputized to immediately begin working on his re-election campaign. The focus should not be just on black women in Alabama, but black women nationally. The white women around the country who cheered on black women now need to open their doors and embrace the Sojourner Truth observation that “Ain’t I A Woman.” Don’t these women think they can learn a thing or two from the amazing way black women organize, mobilize and step up? White women are often in the unique position to hook black women up — in politics and in the workplace — but they don’t offer the hookup as often as they should because it is challenging for them to step outside their comfort zone and embrace diversity. But when folk step out of their comfort zone, look at the results. Thanks to black women, among others, Mr. Jones is the winner of a Senate contest. I’m cognizant of the fact that black women weren’t the sole reason for his victory. It is especially exciting to see young people reject Mr. Moore. Millennials are far less partisan than their elders. You can’t say they cross party lines because many of them have no party affiliation. But like black women, throngs of young people in Alabama went to the polls to elect Mr. Jones. Their participation makes a strong case for generational inclusion when political strategies are being developed. It is great to express gratitude, but it is even better to put your money where your mouth is. Those white folks who are thanking black women might also send a contribution to Higher Heights (www.higherheightsforamerica.org), a black women’s PAC named after Dr. Dorothy Irene Height. Or, folks can send contributions to the Black Women’s Roundtable (https://ncbcp.org/programs/bwr/policy), which is part of the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation. Black women have always had to assert our place in the mainstream, and we too often have been ignored by our natural allies. And yet we still come through in a crunch. The writer is an author and economist. Preston, Jones vie for 63rd House seat Clinton primary wins assure Dem nomination McQuinn wins primary, clearing way for 5th term in House

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The Tennis Club forms part of the sports complex on David Low Way just north of Coolum Beach. The Sports Complex includes the swimming pool, netball, football, cricket, touch football and rugby league clubs and is conveniently located within walking distance from Coolum High School and the main commercial and residential area of Coolum Beach. The Club was established in 1987, and was originally run in association with the swimming pool sharing facilities. A separate clubhouse was built at the southern end of the pool complex and was used independently until the present clubhouse was obtained and placed in its present position in 1997. It has always been independently run by its own committee. In 1996 two new artificial grass courts were built, and are named after the Club’s current Patron, Laurie Bruhl. In February, 2011, these courts were refurbished with a new Multisport “Elite” synthetic grass surface. Early in 2007, the Club built new toilet and shower facilities as an extension to the original clubhouse, incorporating full wheel-chair access for handicapped people. The inaugural “Coolum Classic” Wheelchair Tournament was conducted at the Club in May, 2011. In November 2009, the six hardcourts were resurfaced in Australian Open “True Blue” colours in a major upgrade bringing the courts up to the standard approved by Tennis Australia for tournament play. Fencing was replaced at the same time. The Club has provided the services of a professional tennis coach since 1987. Coolum club gallery 01

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Third Sunday of Lent Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus* by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ 3Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’* 4Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ 5Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.* 7Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You* must be born from above.”* 8The wind* blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ 9Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ 10Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? St. Patrick didn’t drive the snakes out of Ireland. I know this will be difficult for some of you to hear, particularly those of you basking in the glow of Thursday night. He did many things, including giving Christianity her best foothold in a pagan land, but on the topic of snakes, it is definitely snakes 1, Patrick 0. Snakes, you see, are not indigenous to the island. They were never there. But such is the stuff of myth, taking an obvious absence and making it into a good story. 1,600 years on, who’s to know, except those pesky scientists who figured it out. It does remain one of the better Patrick legends, pictured in a parade banner I saw this week, with a smiling snake and the caption “Saint Who?” It seems that the mythmakers and the chroniclers knew what Nicodemus knew long ago: people desire a sign. Nicodemus, the religious leader and secret admirer of Jesus said as much when they met by night. “It is your signs that impress us most,” he said to Jesus, “it proves that you come from God.” Never one for flattery, Jesus said this in return: “Truly? The only genuine sign of God’s reign is being born again.” But poor Nicodemus doesn’t get the metaphor Jesus shares, he is painfully stuck in the literal, saying: “Grow old? And re-enter the womb? How is such a thing possible?” The dialogue continues, one of the longest in scripture, with Jesus introducing new metaphors and Nicodemus struggling to understand. Jesus finally tells Nicodemus that there are things of heaven and things of the earth, and some will simply not understand heavenly things. Then he says something about a snake and a pole, which helps me tie all of these things together. Poor Nicodemus, he has trouble with metaphors, and clearly Jesus loves them, so we have a problem. When one participant in a conversation is busy weaving the finest metaphors and the other participant cannot hear them, there is really no conversation at all. Nicodemus came to Jesus as an admirer of signs, not a seeker of metaphor. So what are these things that Jesus is continually crafting, and why does metaphor seem to be his preferred mode of communication? Robbie Burns said “My love is like a red, red rose. “ I know I’m moved from Ireland to Scotland, but I’m trying to be inclusive in my examples. Burns gives us a simile, which a really just a primitive form of metaphor, comparing one beautiful thing to another. In other words, if you struggle to understand the depth and complexity of love, them look no further than a red, red rose. Robbie Burns is masterful in metaphor too, my favourite found in the “Address to the Haggis.” If you have ever tasted it, I am sure you will agree with Burns that the haggis is the “Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!“ Or maybe you don’t. Whatever your opinion on what is little more than an overgrown sausage, you can still admire that among Scots it is considered the most important sausage of all. But how is it metaphor? It is metaphor because to takes two seemingly unrelated things (a high rank among people and a type of meat pudding) and throws them together. It uses a poetic device to answer the question “how important is haggis?” It is the “great chieftain.” But wait, for Burns has added a bonus metaphor, hidden in the first metaphor. He calls the haggis the “great chieftain of the pudding race,” using a human form of classification (race) and applying it to meat pudding. So how does it work? The theory is that our example, the haggis metaphor, creates tension in our mind by throwing together two things that seem in conflict. If you were entirely literal in hearing, you might say to the Bard, “wait a minute, you took a rank that only applies to humans and applied to baked sheep innards. That’s just not right.” Oh, but it is, because in the tensional theory two unrelated things thrown together have the potential to create an entirely new meaning. Two ideas, and all the associations we bring to each, thrown together, creates new associations and new meaning. You might say that if you were looking for the favourite metaphor among conservative Christians, you would need to look no further than “born again.” They talk about it, they put it on billboards, they pass it out in little tracts, they make the “cost of admission” to truly join their fellowship. It is the theme of the traditional “alter-call,” where the invitation is made to come forward and give your life to Jesus once more, something some have been known to do week-by-week. “Born again” is so familiar to our hearing that it has become what is known as a “dead metaphor.” We are so familiar with it, and we understand it in a very specific context, that it has lost it’s power to evoke anything. It is not a dead concept, which I will explain in a moment, but metaphors go, this one no longer teases the imagination, it is dead. Another example would be “love is blind.” The first time someone said it, the people around said, ‘good one, because the experience of being in love causes you to overlook your lover’s obvious flaws, cool.’ But then it died, because “love is blind” was killed by a thousand pop songs and became so familiar that the tension simply went away. Another example of a dead metaphor is the phrase “nation-state.” We use it to describe countries, such as ‘Canada is a nation-state,’ when, in fact, it is metaphorical concept. It brings together the idea of nationhood (common history, language, culture) and the idea of the state, a form of government. When we accepted the idea that people with a common history, language and culture should govern themselves together as a distinct entity, the metaphor lost its power and died. But if it remains a metaphor, that means we see it as an idea and not a fact, as some would have us believe. Col. Gadaffi would argue that his nation-state is sovereign and untouchable, while the UN prefers to use a variation on the idea (metaphor) of nation-state. If you attack your own people, the reasoning goes, you forgo the sovereignty you think you have, and thank God for that. So “you must be born again” flies right over the head of Nicodemus and has become so central to a religious approach we tend not to share that it misses us too. So we have a teaching that is central to the Gospel and a fine metaphor and we have largely surrendered it to others and regard it as a source of embarrassment. Some of us try it on from time to time, but the fit is uncomfortable, and the fabric itches, and so we set it aside. Even the NRSV, the scholar’s Bible, sets it aside, choosing “born from above” as a way to breath some new life into the metaphor and make it more relevant to a mainline Christian audience. Born from above is a good try. But we can see from Nicodemus’ response that the intended metaphor was “born again,” that Jesus did compare entering the Kingdom to exiting the womb once more, and that only by reclaiming the phrase can we possibly understand the conversation. What Jesus is really asking is that we dwell in the land of metaphor. He does this primarily by describing what the land of metaphor is like: The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. There is wind, there is wind direction and there is wind speed, but the wind itself is as mysterious as the land of new meaning made through metaphor. Yes, a scientist can tell you about the source of wind, the way wind interacts with the world around us, or even that the wind will come largely from one direction. But a scientist cannot tell me when the next gust will come or how long the gust will be sustained. In other words, there are limits to the scientific and the literal, and that is where the metaphorical and the symbolic come in. Jesus says “you must be born again,” meaning something like reinventing yourself, restarting yourself, reimagining yourself, or any other “re” that fits your situation in life. The metaphor is no longer a dead metaphor if we hunger for change in ourselves. Now maybe you don’t think you hunger for change. I’m not sure Nicodemus did: he was looking for proof or some confirmation of divine authority. When you’re not looking for change, the metaphor doesn’t work, because ‘born again’ seems unnecessary. But when you’re hungry for change, for renewal, for a new life with God, the metaphor ‘born again’ can be alive once more. I encourage you on your Lenten journey toward newness and rebirth. May we all be renewed, to live by the Spirit and see the Spirit in others, Amen. Transfiguration Sunday 1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” 10 The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?” 11 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. 12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist. In Ben Hur (1959) the Romans have British accents and the Jews have American accents. The lone Arab accent comes from a Welsh actor. In Gladiator (2000) everyone has British accent, despite the three stars of the movie being Australian, American and Danish. In Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) the rebels have American accents and the evil empire actors have British accents. In the series Rome (2005) and the film Caligula (1979) class divisions were identified by the type of British accents, from upper-class snob to working-class bloke. In The Prince of Egypt (1998) all the Egyptians have British accents, and the Jews sound American. Moses, with the only American accent in Pharaoh's palace, should have figured out is ancestry a bit quicker. Finally, “almost every single Christ movie in film history has given the title character an extremely thick British accent,” (tvtropes.org) making the normally Jewish Jesus somehow Roman, Egyptian or an opponent of the Rebel Alliance. With so many voices in Matthew 17—God, Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James, John—it would be nearly impossible to assign accents. There is also a flurry of movement: up the mountain, into the cloud, falling to the ground, and lifted up by Jesus. Through it all we hear described one of the most unusual events in scripture with strange appearances, a flood of divine light and a voice from the cloud. Before we look in more detail, though, it is important to imagine the Bible as a storehouse of clues. It contains a vast web of interconnecting references, pointing to themes and stories that add meaning and flesh out the narrative. These clues, sometimes called intertextual links, add a secondary layer of meaning to the text. And sometimes they cause tension in the text, teasing us to ask why the link might appear in the first place. Matthew 17, our example, contains two giant intertextual links in the persons of Moses and Elijah. Moses is the liberator of the Hebrew people from Egypt and Elijah is Israel’s greatest prophet (something I believe strongly, until my resident OT scholar tells me otherwise over lunch). The two add multiple layers of meaning to an already busy text and may even force us to decide, or at least cut through some of the layers to make some sense of the passage for today. So, let’s get started. We have two paths to follow, Moses or Elijah, and the clues are in the story. They appear on the mountain with Jesus, and both come with mountain traditions: Moses on Mt. Sinai (receiving the law) and Elijah on Mt. Carmel (defeating the priests of Baal). They speak to Jesus, a parallel to the ongoing conversation both Moses and Elijah have with God. They enter a cloud, an echo of Mt. Sinai but perhaps an echo of the whirlwind from 2 Kings 2. So here is the clue I like the best: At the very beginning of the passage, at the beginning of the chapter, we read these words: After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. After six days of what? In the middle of the previous chapter Jesus and the disciples are in Caesarea Philippi and he is quizzing them on his identity. The he predicts his death, rebukes Peter, and invites them to “pick up your cross and follow me.” There is not timeline, no geographic marker of any consequence and no introduction to the statement. Just three words: After six days. More in that in a moment. At the end of the passage Taye read, the disciples only want to talk about Elijah. And there are a few reasons why. First, Elijah is associated with the advent of the Messiah, a top-of-mind topic for everyone in the story. Second, Elijah is more contemporary, and more human in the sense that the role of prophet is closer to the experience of the disciples than the far off Moses. Third, Elijah is cool, making a barbeque of the priests of Baal and defeating an evil queen and all that. Okay, but after six days of what? It’s here that we discover that the passage is really about Moses. For you see, six days is the time that God makes Moses wait, six days he spends on Sinai waiting in a cloud: On the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. They had a lot to talk about. God had a list of items to be custom made on his return to the people: ark of tokens, table of bread, golden lamp-stand, tabernacle, alter, vestments, another alter, and a bronze basin. God said “by the way, take these two tablets” and off Moses went. And what did he find when he returned, list under one arm and tablets under the other? A golden calf. Things went further downhill from there, no pun intended. But let me back-up: Just before he left, God noticed the golden calf making and the partying and seems to have a change of heart: “I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” Moses is a little taken aback. ‘Lord,’ he says, ‘why kill the very people you just liberated from Egypt?’ And in a wonderful turn he says ‘why let the Egyptians mock you by saying “he liberated them only to kill them in the desert.”’ Moses begs God to turn from anger, and them the knock-out punch: ‘remember the covenant you made with Abraham and Isaac, that you would make their descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky?’ God relents. After six days Jesus meets Moses and Elijah, but the primary message is from Moses, and the six days is the very same six days that Moses waited, and the message is this: You will intervene to save the people from themselves. Jesus is the new Moses, arguing with God to redeem the frail creatures that hardly deserve redemption. The disciples witness the transfiguration and can only think about building three shelters. The Israelites see what appears to be devouring fire atop Mt. Sinai and all then can think about is making a golden calf. God gave us metallurgy and chemistry and mechanics and all we can think about is making the weapons of war. Our entire classification system for the ancient world—stone age, bronze age, iron age—is based on the ability to make better and better weapons, right up to the nuclear age, when we have the capacity to send ourselves right back to the stone age. But after six days Jesus knew. He knew that his primary activity in eternity would be doing the very same thing Moses did so well: Forgive then, Father, for they know not what they do; forgive them their trespasses, that they may forgive those that trespass against them. I can’t even imagine that God is still angry, it’s just that God has seen it all, and Jesus remains ever patient. “With sighs too deep for words” the Spirit intercedes for us, giving us the words to ask for help, the words that seek redemption, the words that bring new life, now and always, amen. posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 1:22 PM 0 comments

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Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost 18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”[a] 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”[b] 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”[c] 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”[d] Nothing bolsters a good argument like a little Latin. And nothing will impress quite like a little rhetorical analysis, breaking down your opponent’s words and saying “I see what you’re trying to do, and it won’t work on me.” Take argumentum ad captandum for example, using words to capture the naive with an appeal to emotions rather than reason. If someone is suggesting they’re going to build a multi-billion dollar wall and get someone else to pay for it, you are hearing an ad captandum argument. Or the well-worm argumentum ad populum, the appeal to the people. This lame argument suggests that simply because many people believe something, it must be true. When someone tweets “many people are saying” without specifying which people or exactly how many, they are making an ad populum argument. Or the argumentum ad crumenam, Latin for the ‘argument of the purse,’ where people insist that someone is more clever or more profound simply because they are rich. No example is coming to mind just now. And then there is the argumentum ad novitatem, the appeal to novelty. In this argument, if it’s new or novel, it must be better. If someone suggests banning an entire religious group from entering his country, and people yum up the idea because it’s new (though certainly illegal), they are falling for an ad novitatem argument. Finally, there is the argumentum a fortiori, taking an existing belief and using it to strengthen a weaker point. An example would be a candidate that says something like “the last eight years have been a disaster, imagine what another four would be like.” This idea of a third term for Obama is an a fortiori argument, building on a firmly held belief to strengthen another idea. So now you’re ready to answer all arguments, to pepper your Facebook replies with pretentious Latin phrases, and defeat even the most ardent supporters of a candidate I’d rather not name. And having had this tiny primer on rhetoric, you’re also ready to tackle the 12th chapter of Hebrews. I don’t usually use Bible commentaries when preparing for Sunday, preferring to “trust the force” as Obi Wan might say, and let the passage speak for itself. When this fails, of course, I do have a quiver of resources, in this case an insightful study on Hebrews by Prof. Beverly Gaventa. As she attempts to explain what seems rather opaque at first glance, she makes this observation: “Consistent with the style of argumentation throughout Hebrews, [this] passage makes use of an a fortiori argument. What was true of an earlier generation will be even more true of this last generation.” So how does this work? Well, the passage begins with a reference that only Cecil B. DeMille would truly appreciate: 18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken...the sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” This is the weirdly glowing Charlton Heston, with the wild hair and the hipster beard. So this is the first image. The the author of Hebrews then shifts gears, taking us to the base of another mountain: 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. God is there, the judge and Most High, and Jesus is there, mediator of a new covenant, with a new message—a message you ought not ignore. So here comes the a fortiori argument: ‘If the Israelites ignored God’s words given on earth, how much more attentive will the church be to words spoke from heaven?’ Mostly, it’s a challenge to listen, a challenge to pay attention to the God in the absence of fires and darkness and gloom and a storm. It’s a challenge to acknowledge God’s presence through assemblies and songs—with nothing as dramatic as believers experienced long ago. ‘If the Israelites ignored God’s words given on earth, how much more attentive will the church be to words spoke from heaven?’ And the challenges only continue. We in the church are continually confronted by the same rhetorical arguments alive in the public arena. Ask your neighbour, or read your denominational magazine, or read the Star and you will hear these arguments. There is an appeal to people to see the church only in terms of decline. This ad populum argument uses the “many people are saying” approach to suggest that we face certain death, rather than look at other cultures and countries and the overall state of the Christian church. Yes, our particular version of the church is struggling, but we’re a small part of the overall picture. And then there is the argument of the purse, that churches with good cash flow are somehow more successful, and those that struggle must be doing something wrong. I think it’s the opposite, with more monies dedicated to outreach and community renewal being the real indicator of ‘success.’ And then there is the appeal to novelty, something that afflicts us in the United Church, and may cause our Presbyterian friends to sit back and feel all smug. Thirty years of working in the wider-church, and I can tell you that we’re endlessly distracted by whatever shiny object rolls by, especially if someone calls it restructuring. Even local churches can have this problem, distracted by the latest guru or trend that comes along. Instead, we should take the wisdom of Hebrews, and the a fortiori argument the author is famous for, and apply it to our life together: If churches can begin and grow in some of the smallest and most unsightly storefronts along our main streets, how much more can we do with our large churches that actually look like churches? If people can spread the Word of God in countries like North Korea where it is illegal to have a Bible, how much more effective will we be with stacks of Bibles lying around? If Christians can tend to each other in countries like Syria and South Sudan, how much more will we be able to do amid the peace and prosperity we enjoy? If God is still speaking through the words we speak and the prayers we share, how much more do we have to learn from this talkative God? And if Jesus is still among us in the meals we share, and the people we help, and the friends we meet, then how much more will we be able to accomplish in his name? The answer is more, with how much more falling to us. May God continue to make the best arguments, so compelling we can’t turn away, now and always. Amen. Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost Hebrews 11 and 12 29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. 31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. 32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. I’m told Montreal hosted the ‘76 Olympics. And just as you do the mental math, I’m old enough that I should remember. It’s just that during the weeks I should have been glued to that tiny black and white in the corner of the living room my parents decided to go on vacation—a driving vacation—to British Columbia. The week we left was the week my mother decided to quit smoking. I don’t think I need to say more about that particular trauma. Good to quit, bad to spend three weeks in a truck with the quitter. My father got it in his head to travel Highway 11 through northern Ontario, a route that has, it seems, fewer hills. And Carmen wonders about my irrational fear of wilderness, bears and other large creatures. My brother loves trains—still does. As navigator, he directed us through every rail yard between North Bay and Vancouver. Think about that. So when people mention the Montreal Olympics, I don’t think Greg Joy and the High Jump, or Nadia Comaneci’s perfect ten, or even a pregnant cartoon of Mayor Jean Drapeau—I think of rail yards, a nation of rail yards. And Montreal, of course, was the last games with nearly full participation until the 1988 games in Seoul, another trauma we need not mention for a second, or 9.79 seconds. Over the next couple of games we recaptured our dignity, especially in rowing, and entered this century more confident but acutely aware that we are a winter games people—until a certain 16 year-old arrived in Rio. Penny Oleksiak—dubbed “Lucky Penny” by the BBC—seemed to come out of nowhere to become our youngest olympic champion and the first to win four medals at the same summer games. Wonderfully, her gold was a tie with Simone Manuel, the first African-American woman to win a gold in swimming for the U.S. I know you’re politely listening to me, but some of you are ready to get back to today’s coverage. Women’s basketball (Canada v. Spain) is at 4.45, with the Men’s 100m final is at 9.25. “Let us run with perseverance,” the author of Hebrews wrote, “the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Having reviewed our favourite summer olympic sports, and why faith is like a race, it might be time to look at running in antiquity. The ancient Olympic games, begun in 776 BC, first featured only running. Runners ran at standard length, called a stadion (or stade), a distance of about 200 metres. Soon a two stade race was added, followed by a distance race around 5K. There was also something called the hoplite race, a race in full armour, adding about 60 lbs. to the effort. You may be surprized to learn there was no marathon, something that seems to have been dreamed up for the rebirth of the Olympics in 1896. Olympic champions were famous in the Greek city-states with statues erected and wealth flowing to the victor’s home town, sometimes in gold, sometimes in something useful like olive oil. And just to add a fun fact you can share with your friends, ancient olympic runner Leonides of Rhodes (b. 188 BC) maintained a record of twelve individual olympic championships for over 2,000 years, only to be broken this past week by Michael Phelps.[1] So the author of Hebrews knew about running. The ancient games were held every four years for over a thousand years, and the idea of running the race with perseverance would have resonated with his audience. Like modern viewers, the ancients marveled at the determination and stamina required to compete. And they knew about trouble. Reading through the Acts of the Apostles, we know that the church in Jerusalem was persecuted, beginning with Saul (later Paul) himself. At this early stage most believers were Jewish followers of Christ, their very identity a source of conflict. So drawing on this background, and using examples of heroic faith, the author of Hebrews reviews what others have endured. As stated, it’s rated M for Mature: 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning;[b] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. In other words, if Myriam, Joshua, Rahab, or Gideon, Barak, and Samson could endure, then you can too. And then the author goes a step further, tying ancient sacrifice to behaviour today: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. In other other words, don’t falter in the faith or give yourself to sin when so many are behind you cheering you on. The cloud of witnesses approach works in two ways: first, don’t let them down, since they did so much to safeguard the faith, and secondly, accept the encouragement that while unseen, is very real. Run with perseverance the race marked out for us. And then there is another commendation, one that at first seems a little unclear. The author of Hebrews has reviewed this great sweep of faithfulness, named names and cited examples, yet adds this: 39 “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.” It would be easy to engage in a little supersessionist thought here, suggesting that only Jesus completes the arc of faithfulness. Yet Paul and others argue that these spiritual giants are righteous on their own, before Christ, with Paul calling Abraham “the father of all who believe.” These faithful ones are credited by righteousness alone, and therefore the meaning of the words “none of them received what had been promised” is something else. And to understand this delayed promise, I think we need to go back to sport. A life of faith, well led, is less an individual sport and more a team sport. We ponder the cloud of witnesses that surround us, and the saints that astound us, and we know they worked together. We know that just as it “takes a village to raise a child” it takes a congregation to raise a Christian. Faith does not appear spontaneously, it is nurtured over years with other faithful people. And I can go further too. In addition to being a team sport, faith is like a relay, where each generation passes the torch to each new generation and faith continues. Some say Christianity is always one generation away from disappearing, and while a tad overly-dramatic, there is a kernel of truth in these words. We are the guardians of something precious, and it falls to us to pass the torch on to others. This why so many volunteers give so many hours to the church school—because others gave time and the gift of a faith to them. The author of Hebrews said “God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” The giants of faith are made perfect when we advance God’s realm, when we pass the torch, and when we “run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” always “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Amen. [1]https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/11/michael-phelps-200m-individual-medley-gold-rio-2016-swimming Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost 32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” For those who feel the holidays are too short, I suggest time-travel. We seem to live with the assumption of progress: that whatever is bad today was worse in the past. But if we look at a simple measure like days off, people in the past were living in a kind of paradise. If you were a fourteenth century farm hand, toiling in the fields from dawn to dusk, you might be an object of pity until you count the non-working days: Sundays, vacation periods such as Christmas and Easter, various saints’ days, and ales—days of celebration that meant the host, either the church or the lord would provide the ale. All together, a third of the year was holiday.[1] And that describes the seemingly overworked English. In France, they took things to the next level: 52 Sundays, 90 rest days and 38 additional holidays—nearly six months off each year. Vive la France! Now, you might think that with so many holidays to choose from, our hypothetical farm hand would be unable to pick a favourite. How would you choose? One that stands out, and has for centuries, is the Twelfth Night, January 5th—the day that marks the end of the Christmas season. On Twelfth Night you could look forward to a sumptuous meal, including tasty twelfth-cake, washed down with wassail (mulled cider). If you were really lucky, your piece of twelfth-cake might have a bean in it, meaning that you were appointed the Lord of Misrule for the evening. And this is when things got interesting. As Lord of Misrule, you assumed the role of the Lord of the Manor for the evening, and the actual lord would serve you. You could command others as the lord would, and by tradition they would obey. The same tradition happened in the royal court, and even among churchmen, with the appointment of a boy bishop for the Twelfth Night celebrations. And like other Christian festivals, this too was stolen from the Romans. They celebrated Saturnalia in late December, a week-long celebration that ended with Sol Invictus, the day of the unconquered sun. And at the heart of the celebration was a reversal of roles: masters served slaves at table, or sometimes ate together, and slaves were free to speak their minds—while remembering that one day the normal order would resume. Call it a brief social revolution, where people got taste of how the other half (or the one percent) lived. In some ways it must have acted as a bit of the relief valve, or at the very least a reminder that the existing order belongs to the present time, and not the time to come. And this brings us to Luke 12. At this point in the story, Jesus has attracted a vast crowd to him. He speaks first to this disciples and warms them to be on their guard: against hypocrites, then the greedy (last week’s lesson) and finally the unprepared. But before he attends to the unprepared, he as a final word about wealth: This has nothing to do with my sermon, I just love the thought. After this last look at treasure, he shares not-quite-a-parable about watchfulness. The words are familiar—they appear throughout the gospels—but there is something else. Listen again: Be dressed and ready, keep your lamps burning for the master’s return. “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. What’s this? Saturnalia in Luke? [The master] will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them? Where did that come from? And just as quickly as this little aside appears, it disappears. “It will be good,” he says, “for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night.” Last week I mentioned the over-zealous scribe, tacking on some interpretation or explanation to tie off a parable. This week we meet the anxious scribe, most likely St. Luke himself, with a snippet of speech that belongs somewhere, and gets inserted here. Think of the gospels as an assemblage of stories and sayings, collected throughout Jesus all-too-brief time on earth and repackaged in four gospels. These words lived in memory and mutual sharing, only to be set down in the years that followed the cross. Luke has a verse about reversing the role of master and servant, and inserts it here. Except it doesn’t really fit. This is a passage about watchfulness, not reversals. If Luke had the earliest version of Word Perfect, or Microsoft Word, he might have cut this and pasted it in a better spot, namely chapter 22. There we find Luke’s late version of ‘who is the greatest’ and Jesus’ response: “the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one that serves.” This verse may be familiar to you if you know our national men’s group, AOTS. They take their name from 22.27: “But I am among you as one that serves.” In Luke 22, we learn that Jesus is the master that serves, that sponsors the great reversals where the least and the last become the greatest and the first of all. Jesus will dress as one who serves, allow others to recline at table, and will come to wait on them and meet their needs. He will humble himself, and set an example for his disciples to follow. Later, as Philippians notes, he will humble himself and “become obedient to death—even death on a cross.” So how do we apply this to today? What message can we draw beyond the eternal command to love and serve others? I know you’ve been thinking about a certain billionaire, so we may as well talk about him. In a perverted version of Twelfth Night or Saturnalia, a troublesome leader is promising to reverse the social order by the simple act of voting for him. He as tapped into all the anger and resentment that comes when the people are ignored or belittled by their so-called betters and the gap between them grows to the point that there is little hope for the future. He is promising to somehow return power to those left behind without being troubled by details, reason or anything that a normal politician might promise. Instead, he provokes more anger, and invents enemies—and all the while continues to profit from the existing order he condemns. The sad part of the story is that the anger and the resentment are largely justified, and it is equally sad that the invitation to revenge and mayhem has been sold to them in such a bewitching way. His opponent will have to work twice as hard to present an alternate vision: to listen to the people who have been left behind, to offer concrete solutions, and to offer to truly serve them. There are many examples of servant leadership, beginning in scripture and demonstrated in the lives of saints and leaders through time. We pray for our friends south of the border, that they may come through this experience with a greater commitment to each other and the promise of peace. Amen. [1] The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure, by Juliet B. Schor

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Alphabetical Checklist And the Darkness is Harsh (Rochester, Michigan: Pretentious Press, 1994) The Bells of Shoredan (San Francisco, California: Underwood/Miller, 1979) The Black Throne (New York: Baen Books, 1990) with Fred Saberhagen Blood of Amber (New York: Arbor House, 1986) Bridge of Ashes (New York: New American Library/Signet Books, 1976) Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming (New York: Bantam Spectra, 1991) with Robert Sheckley Changeling (New York: Ace Books, 1980) The Changing Land: A Novel of Dilvish the Damned (San Francisco, California: Underwood/Miller, 1981) The Chronicles of Amber (London: Millennium/Orion, 2000) The Chronicles of Amber: Volume I (Garden City, New York: Science Fiction BookClub, 1979) The Chronicles of Amber: Volume II (Garden City, New York: Science Fiction BookClub, 1979) Coils (New York: Simon and Schuster/Wallaby, 1982) with Fred Saberhagen The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny 1: Threshold (Framingham, Massachusetts: NESFA Press, 2009) The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny 2: Power & Light (Framingham, Massachusetts: NESFA Press, 2009) The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny 3: This Mortal Mountain (Framingham, Massachusetts: NESFA Press, 2009) The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny 4: Last Exit to Babylon (Framingham, Massachusetts: NESFA Press, 2009) The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny 5: Nine Black Doves (Framingham, Massachusetts: NESFA Press, 2009) The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny 6: The Road to Amber (Framingham, Massachusetts: NESFA Press, 2009) The Courts of Chaos (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1978) Creatures of Light and Darkness (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1969) Damnation Alley (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 1969) A Dark Traveling (New York: Walker and Co, 1987) The Dead Man's Brother (New York: Dorchester Publishing/Hard Case Crime, 2009) Deus Irae (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1976) with Philip K Dick Dilvish, the Damned (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1982) Donnerjack (New York: Avon Books, 1997) with Jane Lindskold The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of his Mouth and Other Stories (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1971) The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of his Mouth (Eugene, Oregon: Pulphouse Publishing, 1991) Doorways in the Sand (New York: Harper and Row, 1976) The Dream Master (New York: Ace Books, 1966) Eye of Cat (Columbia, Pennsylvania: Underwood-Miller, 1982) A Farce to be Reckoned With (New York: Bantam Spectra, 1994) with Robert Sheckley The First Chronicles of Amber (New York: Science Fiction Book Club, 1979) Flare (New York: Baen Books, 1992) with Thomas T Thomas For a Breath I Tarry (San Francisco, California: Underwood/Miller, 1980) Forever After (New York: Baen Books, 1995) Four for Tomorrow (New York: Ace Books, 1967) Frost and Fire (New York: William Morrow, 1989) Gone to Earth (Eugene, Oregon: Pulphouse Publishing, 1992) The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10 (New York: Avon Eos, 1999) The Guns of Avalon (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1972) The Hand of Oberon (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1976) He Who Shapes (New York: Tor, 1989) Here There Be Dragons (Hampton Falls, New Hampshire: Donald M Grant, 1992) Home is the Hangman (New York: Tor, 1990) Hymn to the Sun: An Imitation (Radford, Virginia: DNA Publications/Islip, New York: Pirate Writings Publishing, 1996) If at Faust You Don't Succeed (New York: Bantam Spectra, 1993) with Robert Sheckley The Illustrated Roger Zelazny (New York: Baronet Publishing Co, 1978) Isle of the Dead (New York: Ace Books, 1969) Isle of the Dead/Eye of Cat (New York: Ibooks, 2001) Jack of Shadows (New York: Walker and Co, 1971) Knight of Shadows (New York: William Morrow, 1989) The Last Defender of Camelot (San Francisco, California: Underwood/Miller, 1980) The Last Defender of Camelot (New York: Pocket Books, 1980) The Last Defender of Camelot (New York: Ibooks, 2002) Lord Demon (New York: Avon Eos, 1999) with Jane Lindskold Lord of Light (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1967) Madwand (Huntington Woods, Michigan: Phantasia Press, 1981) The Magic (October 1961-October 1967): Ten Tales (Floyd, Virginia: Positronic Publishing, 2018) Manna from Heaven (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press/Radford, Virginia: DNA Publications, 2003) The Mask of Loki (New York: Baen Books, 1990) with Thomas T Thomas My Name Is Legion (New York: Ballantine Books, 1976) Nebula Award Stories Three (Garden City: Doubleday, 1968) A Night in the Lonesome October (New York: William Morrow/AvoNova, 1993) Nine Princes in Amber (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1970) Poems (Washington, District of Columbia: Discon II, 1974) Prince of Chaos (New York: William Morrow, 1991) Psychoshop (New York: Vintage Books, 1998) with Alfred Bester A Rhapsody in Amber (New Castle, Virginia: Cheap Street, 1981) Roadmarks (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1979) Roger Zelazny's Visual Guide to Castle Amber (New York: Avon Books, 1988) with Neil Randall A Rose for Ecclesiastes (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1969) The Second Chronicles of Amber (New York: Science Fiction Book Club, 2005) Sign of Chaos (New York: Arbor House, 1987) Sign of the Unicorn (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1975) This Immortal (New York: Ace Books, 1966) To Die in Italbar (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1973) To Die in Italbar/A Dark Travelling (New York: Ibooks, 2003) To Spin Is Miracle Cat (San Francisco, California: Underwood-Miller, 1981) Today We Choose Faces (New York: New American Library/Signet Books, 1973) Today We Choose Faces/Bridge of Ashes (New York: New American Library/Signet Books, 1981) Trumps of Doom (New York: Arbor House, 1985) Unicorn Variations (New York: Timescape Books, 1983) Warriors of Blood and Dream (New York: AvoNova, 1995) with Martin H Greenberg Way Up High (Hampton Falls, New Hampshire: Donald M Grant, 1992) Wheel of Fortune (New York: AvoNova, 1995) When Pussywillows Last in the Catyard Bloomed and Other Poems (Melbourne, Victoria: Norstrilia Press, 1980) Wilderness (New York: Tor/Forge, 1994) with Gerald Hausman The Williamson Effect (New York: Tor, 1996) Wizard World (New York: Baen Books, 1989) Amber: Corwin Amber: Merlin Changing Land Collected Stories Francis Sandow

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Policy Bigwigs Sound the Alarm over 'Fiscal Cliff' Life + Money iStockphoto/The Fiscal Times By Josh Boak and Eric Pianin, The Fiscal Times With Congress back in session, two competing views have emerged about the impact of the looming fiscal cliff — it’s either the jolt needed for politicians to finally rise above their philosophical differences on controlling the debt, or the painful shock that will cause them to burrow deeper into their ideologies. Few expect a deal of any kind before the November presidential election, but the automatic tax hikes ($240 billion) and spending cuts ($109 billion) slated to begin next year as part of the cliff have become the focal point of a gridlocked government. The tax hikes come from the expiration of lower income taxes rates first approved in 2001 and 2003 under George W. Bush, while the reduced spending is the result of an across-the-board sequestration of defense and other domestic programs that were part of the compromise last summer to raise the federal debt ceiling. Elder statesman such as Robert Rubin, the former Clinton Treasury secretary, are casting the months after November as a time to reconcile the partisan chasm, since the cliff is projected to send the economy back into recession. “The so-called fiscal cliff, with its expiring tax cuts, sequester and distance from the next election, creates an extraordinary propitious set of conditions for producing compromise across party lines and different opinions to meet our fiscal imperative,” Rubin said last Wednesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “This is an opportunity that I believe all of us, in government and out of government, must do everything in our power not to lose.” But the politicians still in charge dug in their heels and pointed fingers last week, such that a compromise after the election would likely require a dramatic about-face or a GOP sweep that puts Mitt Romney in the White House and the loss of the Democratic majority in the Senate. House Republicans last week pushed through a resolution to keep the government operating through next March and a measure to eliminate the sequestration for military spending, while using committee hearings to push the argument that tax increases will devastate the economy. “Now it’s time for President Obama and Senate Democrats to work with Republicans to avert the ‘fiscal cliff’ by stopping the tax hikes that threaten our economy and replacing the sequester that threatens our national security,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, remarked after the passage of the continuing resolution. And on Friday, the White House Office of Management and Budget issued in accordance with a new law a 394-page breakdown of the sequestration which would slash most defense programs by 9.4 percent, Medicaid by 2 percent, and other domestic programs by about 8 percent. The Obama administration essentially argues that GOP eagerness to preserve lower tax rates for upper-income Americans will force a sequester that “would be deeply destructive to national security, domestic investments and core government functions. "The president has already presented two proposals for balanced and comprehensive budget reduction," the report said. "It is time for Congress to act." On Capitol Hill, the House Small Business Committee held a subcommittee hearing Thursday to argue that the Obama plan will suffocate job creation. The panel—featuring the head of an Illinois construction firm, the owner of a diecast company, and tax analysts—pushed the argument that Obama’s plan to raise the Bush-era tax rates on households making more than $250,000 a year would restrict hiring and hurt retirement and health benefits. Republican lawmakers on the subcommittee lamented that the lower tax rates had only been temporary, laying down a key negotiating point in the fiscal cliff debate. “Maybe, we’d all agree to something permanent,” lamented Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill. “How about permanency?” Minutes later, Ohio Republican Steve Chabot answered his colleague’s question by pinning the blame on Senate Democrats who engineered a deal that the rates would initially expire at the end of 2010. “Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle didn’t want to cut taxes at all, so there was a compromise,” Chabot said. No mention was made of the arrangement made by Obama to extend the lower rates at the end of 2010 as part of an agreement to temporarily cut the Social Security payroll tax in order to stimulate the economy. Even as the willingness to compromise was badmouthed last week, the gray beards and wise men of Washington’s budget reform community gathered at the Center for Strategic and International Studies to bemoan the country’s growing and unsustainable national debt, urging lawmakers to reconsider a grand bargain. Seconding Rubin’s message was James A. Baker, the cool dealmaker who served as Treasury Secretary and Secretary of State under Republican administrations. He welcomed the “cliff” as a golden moment to bring all the opposing forces to the bargaining table. His argument is that the electoral pressures—which never quite cooled down after 2004 or 2008—will finally ease up after November. “We are approaching an opportunity to sit down in the aftermath of our presidential election, and about four years before the next one,” said Baker, speaking from Rice University via a video hookup. “I’m not suggesting we can get this done in the lame duck session of Congress, but it’s an appropriate time for us to wake up that this fiscal state we’re in can easily morph into a sovereign debt crisis or a crisis not unlike what happened in 2008. “ The gathering included former senators Sam Nunn, D-Ga., Pete Domenici, R-N.M., Bill Brock, R-Tenn. and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and others pushing for a grand bargain along the lines of the recommendations made by the Bowles-Simpson presidential fiscal commission. That proposal made in December 2010 would have achieved $4 trillion in long-term deficit reduction through a series of spending cuts, entitlement reforms and tax increases. “Any plan should strike a pro-growth balance between spending cuts and increased revenues,” Baker said. Rubin harkened back to the Clinton era tax increases and spending cuts in 1993 which paved the way for “the longest economic expansion in American history with immense job creation.” “Those who reject the need for revenue increases or entitlement reform, it seems to me take on the obligation to show the full specifics of an alternative whose substantive effects are fully understood and that is politically doable,” Rubin said. Return of the Government Shutdown? Get Ready for the Next Looming Crisis Think the impacts of this year’s presidential election won’t be felt until 2017 (excluding the Trans Pacific... Washington Inches Toward Another Fiscal Cliff After a long day of partisan finger pointing over the Amtrak train disaster, bickering over the defense budget, and... Federal Highway Program Dangles on a Fiscal Cliff Speaker John Boehner and other House GOP leaders recently proposed a novel way to avert the bankruptcy of the federal... Washington Editor and D.C. Bureau Chief Eric Pianin is a veteran journalist who has covered the federal government, congressional budget and tax issues, and national politics. He spent over 25 years at The Washington Post.

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What We Lose by Richard Leis What must a boy lose to become a little bird? In “The Juniper Tree,” by the Brothers Grimm, the boy loses more than just his head and his life after he is murdered by his evil stepmother. All that fat and skin and tissue sliced up, made into stew, fed to his oblivious father. All that bone wrapped up in a silk scarf and deposited under the juniper tree by his grieving half-sister. Then the tree works its magic and the dead boy is transformed into a living bird, a singing bird, a busy bird, a vengeful bird. He is without human arms, hands, and fingers now that they are wings. His legs are tiny and his feet are missing toes. His bones are hollow and light. His lips are rigid beaks. People lose huge chunks of self—limbs, organs, functionality, quality of life—to disease and trauma every day. The survivors learn to fly and sing in their remaining bodies. They rise and fall and rise again with new routines and augmentations. They do not, however, receive for their efforts the bird’s reward at the end of the fairy tale: upon crushing his stepmother with a millstone, he immediately transforms back into the living boy he once was. Transformative rewards may be coming, though. Recent medical breakthroughs promise to give back what survivors have lost: 3D-printed windpipes and other organs infused with the patient’s own cells. [1] Thought-controlled prosthetics. [2] Face transplants. [3] Rewritten genetic code to prevent and treat genetic diseases. [4] These and other emerging technologies arrive and improve so rapidly that we have to wonder where all of this is heading. For a few years yet, these technologies will only approximate what survivors have lost, but there may soon come a time when technology returns full functionality to the human body and imbues it with better-than-human capabilities and performance. After a terrible accident, the protagonist in Sunny Moraine’s recent short story, “Love Letters to Things Lost and Gained,” grapples with a cutting-edge prosthetic arm, an arm that provides enhancements and capabilities the original did not have, an arm that may be sentient, an arm that may be seeking friendship. [5] When a medical breakthrough arrives that fully regrows lost biological limbs, the protagonist ponders the question “The Juniper Tree” never thought to ask: What must the little bird lose to become the boy again? Richard Leis is a reader for Tiny Donkey, an editorial assistant for Fairy Tale Review, and a writer of speculative fiction, nonfiction and poetry. He studies Creative Writing and English at the University of Arizona, where he is also the Downlink Lead for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). [1] “Doctors Create A 3D Printed Trachea on a MakerBot.” 3D Print. 27 Jan. 2015. Web. 4 June 2015. <http://3dprint.com/40128/3d-printed-trachea/>. [2] “Prosthetic Limbs, Controlled by Thought.” The New York Times. 20 May 2015. Web. 4 June 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/21/technology/a-bionic-approach-to-prosthetics-controlled-by-thought.html?_r=0>. [3] “Face transplant.” Wikipedia. Web. 4 June 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_transplant>. [4] Cimons, Marlene. “Rewriting genetic information to prevent disease.” The National Science Foundation. 25 February 2015. Web. 4 July 2015. <http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=134286>. [5] Moraine, Sunny. “Love Letters to Things Lost and Gained.” Uncanny Magazine. 2015. Web. 4 June 2015. <http://uncannymagazine.com/article/love-letters-things-lost-gained/> Posted on August 12, 2015 April 25, 2016 Author Wren AwryCategories EssaysTags Germany, Technology What Am I Missing Here? by Joyce Goldenstern Folktale behavior often bewilders me, as does my own. My thoughts wander to trace hidden patterns, more easily discerned in folktales than in my own life. This morning, a tale opens with the death of a beautiful queen. Before the queen dies, she makes her husband promise not to remarry anyone who does not have hair as golden as her own. Has she forgotten that her own daughter has such hair? Allerleiruh. This afternoon, a tale opens with an old queen who has betrothed her daughter to a prince in a distant land. It is a tale of a long journey, of a true bride and of a chambermaid who takes the place of the true bride. The Goose Girl. Allerleiruh, distraught upon hearing of her father’s desire to marry her, gathers her wits to dissuade him. She makes an impossible demand. He must provide her with a cloak made of 1000 furs, one from each animal in the kingdom. Undaunted, the king presents his daughter with said cloak and sets a date for the wedding. Meanwhile, the talking head of a slain horse reveals the chambermaid’s deception, so the prince decides to ask a fatal question at a feast. “How would you sentence a false bride?” the prince asks the chambermaid, his own false bride. Allerleiruh chars her face and wraps herself in furs. She runs away to a forest where she sleeps night and day in a hollow trunk until finally a hunter, identified as “the king,” finds her. This reference to “king” is so jarring that once when I presented this tale to an adult seminar, many participants ended up thinking that it was indeed the father who had found his daughter. How startling that the tale does not proffer a “prince”—a royal title which would distinguish generations and relations more clearly. Yet, not clarifying can blur relationships in psychologically significant ways. That Allerleiruh marries the “new” king who is confused with the old … That the chambermaid does not recognize her own crime and thus sentences herself to torture and cruel death…. Such predicaments attest to the human capacity to self-deceive and force me to ask, “What is obvious in my own behavior that I do not see?” Joyce Goldenstern leads seminars in folktales and in literature at the Newberry Library in Chicago. Her adapted tales have been published in Western Humanities Review, North American Review, Pacific Review and other venues. She also writes and publishes fiction. Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. [1819] 1977. Grimms’ Tales for Young and Old. Translated by Ralph Manheim. New York: Anchor Press, Doubleday. _______________. [1819] 1992. The Complete Fairy Tale of the Brothers Grimm. Translated by Jack Zipes. New York: Bantam Books. Posted on July 15, 2015 April 25, 2016 Author Wren AwryCategories EssaysTags Allerleiruh, Germany, The Goose Girl The Not-So-Final Girl by Wren Awry “In ‘Bluebeard’, as in cinematic horror,” Maria Tatar writes, “We have not only a killer that is propelled by cinematic rage, but also the abject victims of his serial murders, as well as a ‘final girl’ who either saves herself or arranges her own rescue.”[1] You can find this “final girl” trope in film noir classics and tacky slasher films alike; it is a staple of the horror genre. Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is different. Instead of being a final girl, Amirpour’s punkish protagonist (called, simply, The Girl), is a vampire who doles out vigilante justice to bad men. She is, in a way, an anti-Bluebeard. The Girl stalks the streets of Bad City, a sparse Iranian ghost town made up of a handful of residents, an abandoned power plant, and a ravine where dead bodies are thrown. The town’s powerful pimp, Saeed, is The Girl’s first on-screen victim: she watches Saeed cheat and assault sex worker Atti. When Saeed invites The Girl to his home and attempts to seduce her, she kills him. The Girl’s other victims are also men that mistreat Atti, including heroin addict Hossein, who forces Atti to shoot up with him. The Girl—watching through the eyes of her avatar, a cat—enters Atti’s bedroom and kills Hossein. While Bluebeard lures young girls in to his home, the Girl trespasses into forbidden chambers—Saeed’s gated house, Hossein’s heroin-infused dream world—to do away with them. The Girl doesn’t just kill, she also warns. She asks a little boy, skateboarding alone at night, if he is good. When he answers, “Yes,” she calls him a liar. Threatens him. Tells him she will be watching him. Don’t grow up to be a shitty dude, The Girl seems to be saying, And I won’t have to drink your blood. There’s one good boy in the film, and she let’s him live. He’s Arash, Hossein’s son and The Girl’s brooding, dutiful, leather-jacketed love interest. He’s a sort of “final boy,” but he, too, mixes up what’s expected of him. At the end of the film, after Arash realizes that the Girl murdered his father and that she could easily murder him, he skips town with her anyway. “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night” isn’t riffing on “Bluebeard” directly. But it’s playing with the tropes of horror films, and by subverting cinematic horror, the film turns “Bluebeard” on its head in profound and chilling ways. Wren Awry studies Creative Writing at the University of Arizona. Their creative nonfiction has been published in Loom Art Zine, and they occasionally write criticism for the Anarcho-Geek Review. [1] Tatar, Maria. “Bluebeard.” The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. 140. Print. Posted on June 17, 2015 April 25, 2016 Author Wren AwryCategories EssaysTags Bluebeard, Farsi, Feminism, Film, Vampires Kid Cages In Reserve, New Mexico, kids wait for the school bus inside of wood and wire mesh cages. They were built after Mexican grey wolves were re-introduced to the area in 1998 because, some say, the wolves were following children home from school. [1] Mexican wolves seldom attack humans, and there are no recorded deaths at their paws. [2] So, where does the fear come from? Environmentalists blame rancher propaganda and ranchers blame the wolves. I also blame wolves. Not the real, flesh-and fur-kind. I blame “stranger danger” wolves made of celluloid and sentences. I imagine parents have stopped reading “Little Red Riding Hood” to children; they skip the scene where Belle is surrounded by snarling, yellow-eyed monsters in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. They tell their children to look out for upright canines with deep tenors, who will urge them to “pick a few flowers for granny.” Wolves, we all know, blow houses down, so when the wind comes, kid, please assume wolf-hiding position. Lycanthropy is not funny here. But there are other kinds of wolves, and other kinds of fears, in the European fairy-tale canon. “What should happen to a mother who throws her sons to the wolves?” a prince asks his wife in “The Wolves,” a Bavarian tale. The princess mentions red-hot iron shoes, and is duly punished. Before death, did the princess recall the two wolves that shaped her fate? The one snarling back at her, in the mirror, during a fit of jealousy; and the one she sent her seven newborn sons to, in hopes that the canis lupus would eat them (“Multiple births,” she had, unfortunately, just told her husband, “Is a sure sign of adultery”). She does not know—will never know, though she might guess—that the prince ran in to the midwife bringing the infants to the wolf. That the prince intercepted, saved his sons, had them raised by a loyal subject. Perhaps he re-routed. But in my mind, he followed the same path. The wolf the princess hoped would eat her sons raised them instead. When they returned to the court eighteen years later, the boys were long-haired and lupine. [3] In the kid cages of Reserve, do students peer through the wire mesh to look for wolves in the piñion and juniper? And, if yes: out of fright, or desire? Some must spin daydreams out of their mothers’ worst fears; must long to join up with the wolves out there in the wild world. [1] “Miller, Joshua Rhett. “Are ‘kid Cages’ Protecting N.M. Children, or a Case of Ranchers Crying Wolf?” Fox News. FOX News Network, 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2015. <http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/29/are-kid-cages-protecting-nm-children-or-case-ranchers-crying-wolf/?intcmp=trending>. [2] “Mexican Gray Wolf.” Arizona Game and Fish Department. AZGFD, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2015. <http://www.azgfd.gov/pdfs/w_c/wolf/WEB_Mexican_Wolf_details.pdf>. [3] Eichenseer, Erika, Engelbert Suss, and Maria Tatar. “The Wolves.” The Turnip Princess & Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales. By Francis Xavier Von Schonwerth. New York: Penguin Classics, 2015. N. pag. Print. Penguin Classics. Posted on May 13, 2015 April 25, 2016 Author Wren AwryCategories EssaysTags Germany, US Southwest, Wolves

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TURBINE | KAPOHAU A NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF NEW WRITING REBECCA PRIESTLEY Warning: sea levels can rise quickly From Ice Lens: 15 million years in Antarctica One of the best places in the world to see evidence of past sea level changes—marking sequential warming and cooling of the Earth’s climate—is in Whanganui, just a couple of hours’ drive north of Wellington. I was keen to see what this evidence looked like, so one spring morning I started my day by meeting a couple of geology colleagues at the university café that’s just down the stairs from my office. Cliff Atkins was there when I arrived, wearing jeans, boots and a heavy shirt, buying himself an Americano and a chocolate Afghan to go. ‘Breakfast of champions,’ he said with a grin, as I ordered my trim flat white. Tim Naish turned up next. In a houndstooth jacket and glasses he can look quite professorial—he is a professor, after all—but on this day he was wearing jeans, a North Face fleece jacket, and mud-covered tramping boots. He carried a pile of books, including Charles Fleming’s The Geology of Wanganui Subdivision—a landmark 1953 study of what we now call the Whanganui Region—a garden spade, and a backpack. In the car park we loaded everything into one of the geology school vans, and hit the road, chatting about geology field trips from the past, sea level rise, and geologist Charles Fleming. Tim never got to meet Fleming—he died in 1987, when Tim was a student but before he started working in Whanganui—but he’s had a huge influence on Tim’s work. ‘What Charles did was good old-fashioned stratigraphy. He worked out past water depth changes from the sediments and fossils using old school palaeontology and sedimentology and recognised about 40 cycles of sea level change in what he called the Pleistocene.’ The Pleistocene—known colloquially as ‘the Ice Age’—was an epoch from about 2.5 million years ago to 11,700 years ago, during which northern hemisphere rocks and landscapes showed evidence of only four glaciations and four interglacial warm periods. ‘So Charles was scratching his head and saying, ‘what’s going on?’ In the decades that followed, other scholars found evidence for many more glacial and interglacial periods on Earth over this time, rather than the four glaciations previously recognised. In Whanganui, we now know the rocks catalogue a changing global sea level related to Antarctic and northern hemisphere ice melt and freeze. Put simply, when global temperature increases, the ice melts, and sea level rises. When temperatures drop, the glaciers and ice caps grow, and sea level falls. Fleming looked at the exposed rocks in cliffs and outcrops, but Tim and others have drilled deep into the farmland, to get a continuous record of sediment deposition—sandy fossil-rich sediments from when sea level was starting to rise, deep-water muds from when sea level was higher—over the past five million years. ‘Whanganui, that’s where I cut my teeth as a geologist,’ said Tim as we drove north. Tim started working here in the early 1990s. ‘We were starting to form this picture that there must have been a reasonably dynamic Antarctic ice sheet contributing to global sea level changes.’ Geological evidence from the Transantarctic Mountains suggested the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which covers most of Antarctica, was dynamic, and had halved in size about three million years ago during the Pliocene warm period. Geomorphologists disagreed, insisting the ice sheet had remained stable and intact over this time period. ‘So there was this debate raging between the stabilists and the dynamicists.’ It was difficult time, said Tim. ‘People had polarised themselves and it had to be a stable ice block that did nothing, or it was this wildly dynamic ice sheet coming and going.’ Whanganui provided evidence that helped scientists to realise that the truth was somewhere in the middle. George Denton, one of the stabilists, visited from the US in 1998, 14 years after his 1984 paper affirmed his position that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet had been intact and stable for the past 14 million years, and conceded there was evidence for about 20 metres of sea level change, ‘but not half the Antarctic ice sheet,’ said Tim. Another piece of the puzzle came from the Andrill project, the international effort in which deep marine sediment cores were drilled from two locations near Antarctica’s Ross Island, to get a picture of changing temperatures and ice extent over the past 20 million years. Tim was co-chief scientist on one of the two drilling projects. ‘When we drilled Andrill, we understood that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet had indeed collapsed and grown. But the West Antarctic Ice Sheet—at least the marine portion of the sheet—is only capable of 3-4 metres of sea level change.’ More recent drilling projects have revealed that the margins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet have been prone to melting over the past 35 million years and have also contributed to sea level rise. South of Whanganui city we left the highway, then pulled over on the grassy side of a winding hill road. Below us, down a tree-covered bank, was flat green farmland, divided by long fences, and dotted with sheep, an old brown shed, and a few tall trees. The floodplain. Beyond that, a wide, flat, grey-blue river meandered around a scrub-covered gravel island. But the real view was on the other side of the river. Immediately above the water was a sharp cliff, 100 metres or so high. From this distance, the cliff was shades of white, grey and yellow, with a few scrubby plants poking out from wherever they could get a hold. In some places there was a sharp horizontal boundary between the colours, clearly showing a sandy yellow deposit—usually indicative of a near shore environment—on top of a light grey muddy deposit typical of deeper water. We stood gazing at the bluffs on the east side of the Rangitikei River. ‘There it is, New Zealand’s version of the Grand Canyon,’ said Tim. It was kind of a joke, this was nothing compared to the Grand Canyon, just some high cliffs. But what makes a canyon or gorge like this exciting to geologists, is that the exposed sediments show layers and layers of past history that might otherwise only be revealed by a costly drilling project. The sediments are hard to get to, but Tim has had a close look, abseiling down the cliff, which he describes as ‘a couple of rope lengths high,’ to take photographs and samples. Tim mapped this area for his PhD, and knows it well. Our next stop, on the east bank of the river, is one of his favourite sites. We got there by climbing over a few fences and walking through grassy fields peppered with cowpats. Tim had been here many times before—he often brings students or visitors here—and he knows the farmer. We were here to see an outcrop of the Hautawa shell bed, one of many fossil-rich layers of sediments in the Whanganui Basin. Airini Beautrais wrote about one of the other key shell beds, the Wilkes, in her poem Pandora’s Box, inspired by a newspaper interview Tim did back in 2012. The Wilkes shell bed is spectacular, says Tim. ‘Really thick—15 metres—and completely dominated by these bloody big, giant oysters, Crassostrea.’ When you come to this cliff, cleared and cut-back, roughly risen, you read in the rock strangely pertinent Pliocene prophecies silent for centuries, scripted in shells. wrote Beautrais. The Hautawa shell bed is only half a metre thick, but it’s the most important shell bed in the Whanganui sequence, said Tim. It was clear when we reached our destination. We were 40 kilometres from the current shoreline but we were standing on a flat rocky platform of yellow rock crammed with shells. I squatted down low to look closer. I could see white crescents of scallop shells, which Cliff told me were a cold water species now found only in the Otago region of the South Island. There were some narrow, pointy-spired gastropods. Cliff and Tim used their rock hammers to dig some shells out of the soft young sediments and passed them to me as they identified the species. ‘Zygochlamys delicatula,’ Cliff said of the scallops. ‘A nice brachiopod as well.’ ‘And these are . . . purupucardia . . . yeah, that’s the one.’ Tim said there were even cold water crab fossils and some penguin bones in the shell bed—all evidence of a colder climate when sea level was lower. At the bottom of the bed is the first appearance, at this location, of the cold water scallop, which Tim says marks the beginning of the Pleistocene, the ‘ice age’ that began 2.5 million years ago. ‘This was the beginning of the big global sea level fluctuations and a cold climate in New Zealand. But as you go up the shell bed the Zygochlamys disappear and you go into the interglacial warm period where there’s deeper water and warmer species.’ This sequence represents 20,000 years of sediment deposition, but it was an eventful 20,000 years. ‘We go from cold water climate to warm water in half a metre of shell bed.’ ‘Calcareous things,’ Cliff said to sum up, and we stood to look at the cliffs behind us, where the sedimentary sequences that sit above the Hautawa shell bed showed layers of deposits, shallow water sands and deeper water silts. They represent another 20,000 years, from a time when sea level was falling and lots of sediments were washing into the region from rivers at the top of the South Island. Why Whanganui? I asked Tim. ‘The key thing about the Whanganui Basin is it’s subsiding, it’s been sinking for 5 million years. And what that’s done, is create a big hole in the ground. A 5-kilometre-deep hole. As the hole’s being created, it’s continuously filled up by sediments.’ For millions of years, this whole area was underwater, part of the near shore continental shelf. ‘And that’s the absolutely sweet spot if you want to capture sea level changes of 0 to 100 metres. So it’s this perfect balance between subsidence and sediment supply that maintains the water depths that are very sensitive to these changes in global sea level.’ There are other sedimentary basins like this, but most of them remain underwater. ‘That’s why Whanganui is so unusual,’ said Cliff, who brings his students here on field trips. ‘Over the last few hundred thousand years the eastern margin of the Whanganui Basin has been tectonically uplifted, exposing these geologically very young rocks.’ Next, we drove to the coast, a small settlement south of Whanganui called Kai Iwi Beach. At the top of some steep steps down to the sea was a red and white sign. ‘Warning: sea levels can rise quickly,’ it said. It was warning walkers that at high tide the ocean speeds in to touch the crumbling cliffs, leaving no beach behind, but it got us talking about the sea level changes these rocks are revealing. Down the steps, across a small river, was the beach. From our position on the wet sand, between the yellow and grey layered cliffs and the waves, Tim imagined what would be happening right here if sea level changed. ‘If you drop sea level by 50 metres you’d have to walk 10 kilometres west to get to the shoreline. But if sea level rose 50 metres, then all of a sudden you’d be on the inner shelf under 50 metres of seawater.’ These sorts of changes in sea level are recorded in the cliffs beside us, and in the cliffs we saw earlier in the day, and in the fossil bed by the Rangitikei River. ‘You see very well-sorted sandy sediments with fossils in them that you’d find on the beach today, then all of a sudden you go up several tens of metres and you’re in these blue-grey mudstones that represent 50-100 metres water depth.’ These regular cycles, between beach sand and continental shelf mud, show a record of 50 different sea level changes over the last 2.5 million years. By subtracting the known land subsidence rate, geologists can work out the amount of sea level change over time and use the fossils and volcanic ashes to date when the changes occurred. We sat on some sandstone boulders on the dark wet sand. As waves chimed in from the sea, Cliff and Tim chatted about what the rocks can tell us about climate change. Projections published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which represents the international scientific consensus, show temperature increase by 2100 as being between 1.5°C and 4°C, said Tim, depending on whether we manage to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. The planet is warming because of the greenhouse gases we’ve been releasing into the atmosphere since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. If we can get it together as a planet to sufficiently reduce our CO2 emissions, we can reduce the temperature we ultimately end up with, the Earth’s new normal. ‘Ideally, we’d like to keep Earth’s surface temperature increase below 2°C. That’s considered the threshold for the more dangerous consequences of climate change.’ We were on the beach in mid 2015, before the Paris Agreement—in which the world agreed to take steps to limit global warming to 1.5-2°C by 2100— was signed. It was clear the world was not doing nearly enough. ‘The path we’re on is at the upper end of that. We’re tracking towards 4°C of warming by the end of the century,’ said Tim. ‘The last time the world was 4°C warmer, the Ross Ice Shelf was gone, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet was gone. Sea level was about 20 metres higher than it is today.’ He was talking about the mid-Miocene climate optimum, about 15 million years ago. If sea level was that high, the boulders we were sitting on would be under 20 metres of water and the shoreline would be many kilometres inland. ‘We know the end game. We know that if we keep CO2 levels of 400 parts per million or more in the atmosphere for long enough, that’s where we’re heading.’ Why, though, are some people still arguing about this, even denying that climate change is happening? Tim doesn’t know, but he’s seen a change in the public mood in the two decades he’s been working on climate science. ‘Ten years ago, people were fairly sceptical, perhaps because they didn’t understand the science. I think with the last two IPCC reports both reinforcing the science very clearly, that the majority of the public now accept that the world is warming because of fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. What I would say now is why are we not doing anything about it? That’s the key question. What are we going to do?’ By now, the tide was coming in and we needed to get off the beach. At the end of the day we drove home along roads that ran through bright green fields, the setting sun bathing the dairy cows in a golden light. Extract from Pandora’s Box by Airini Beautrais from Flow: Whanganui River Poems, Victoria University Press, 2017, used with permission of the author and Victoria University Press. Rebecca Priestley is a science writer and senior lecturer in science in society at Victoria University of Wellington. She has degrees in earth sciences and history of science and in 2017 completed Ice Lens: 15 million years in Antarctica, an MA portfolio in creative non-fiction for the IIML. Rebecca was awarded the Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book Prize 2009 and the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science Communication 2016. Return to 2017 contents > Published by the ​International Institute of Modern Letters Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o Te Ao Explore Turbine | Kapohau

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Vacancies and Tenders Executive Education Workshops Long-term Modular Executive Programme African Leadership Forum TV Productions Meet the leader In Focus: Africa’s Perspective on Climate Change and its impact on Natural Resources Guest: Prof. Youba Sokona In this episode, we delve into the Africa’s Perspective on Climate Change and Its Impact on Natural Resources with Prof. Youba Sokona, Special Advisor for Sustainable Development at the South Centre, in Geneva, Switzerland. Prof. Youba Sokona Special Advisor for Sustainable Development, South Centre Prof. Youba Sokona is currently the Special Advisor for Sustainable Development at the South Centre, in Geneva, Switzerland. With over 35 years of experience addressing energy, environment and sustainable development in Africa, Prof. Sokona has been at the heart of numerous national and continental initiatives. He coordinated the scoping, framing and development of the “Africa Renewable Energy Initiative”. Reflecting his status, Prof. Sokona was elected Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in October 2015. Prior to this, Prof. Sokona was Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III on the mitigation of climate change for the Fifth Assessment Report after serving as a Lead Author since 1990. In addition to these achievements, Prof. Sokona has a proven track record of organisational leadership and management, for example as Inaugural Coordinator of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) and as Executive Secretary of the Sahara and the Sahel Observatory (OSS). Prof. Sokona’s advice is highly sought after, and as such, he is affiliated with numerous boards and organisations, including as a Member of the Board for the Institute of Development Studies, as a Honorary Professor at the University College London (UCL), Member of African Academy of Sciences, Member of Science Advisory Committee of the International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA) and as a Special Advisor to the African Energy Leaders Group, Member of the Advisory Board of the Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines, USA. Landline +255 (0)22 2602917 Fax +255 (0)22 2602918 No. 62, Msasani Rd. P.O. Box 105753, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania info@uongozi.or.tz © 2015. UONGOZI Institute. All rights reserved.

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Just how compassionate is Chelsea Manning’s release? January 19, 2017 10.02am EST Robert Cryer, University of Birmingham Robert Cryer Professor of International and Criminal Law, University of Birmingham Robert Cryer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. University of Birmingham provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK. A parting wave. EPA/Jim Lo Scalzo As one of the final acts of his presidency, Barack Obama commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, who will now be released in May 2017. Manning was sentenced to 35 years’ imprisonment in 2013 for leaking more than 700,000 classified documents that were considered prejudicial to the US national interest, many of which formed the bulk of Wikileaks’s first major document dump in 2010. The length of her sentence was considered by many to be considerably in excess of others who have been convicted of similar offences. The conditions of her imprisonment, which have included lengthy periods of solitary confinement, have also raised concerns. Manning has attempted suicide at least twice during her incarceration. The UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Juán Mendez, described her treatment as being cruel, inhuman and degrading. Amnesty International had this to say about her treatment in prison: President Obama was right to commute her sentence, but it is long overdue. It is unconscionable that she languished in prison for years while those allegedly implicated by the information she revealed still haven’t been brought to justice. Many Republicans in the US, though, have been deeply critical of the decision to commute the sentence. John McCain, for example, described the decision as a “grave mistake”. But the law is clear: a president has the right to commute a sentence. Article 2(II) of the US Constitution provides that: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. This is not in itself unusual. Most states around the world grant an executive power to mitigate the effects of the strictures of criminal law; in the UK, for instance, it is referred to as the Queen’s royal prerogative of mercy. But it’s crucial to note that Obama did not pardon Manning, but instead commuted her sentence to roughly the same amount of time she has already served. She has also been demoted and dishonourably discharged from the army. As such, rightly or wrongly, her convictions remain on record. Manning’s case has not been forgotten. EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga This commutation was highly politically sensitive, and in no small part because other cases could yet be brought against other hackers, leakers and whistleblowers, among them Edward Snowden. Hence a careful statement from the White House pointing out the “stark difference” between Manning and Snowden. Whereas Manning was tried by due process in the US military criminal justice system, Edward Snowden “fled into the arms of an adversary” and has yet to face justice for his actions. Clearly, the Obama administration wanted to be careful it didn’t set a precedent with its decision about Manning’s future. The question of whistleblowing will always be a contentious one, and by nature will often hinge on very particular cases involving individual whistleblowers. Although the executive power to alter the result of a case in favour of the accused may be a very good one, it does not alter the question of whether there ought to be a formal legal change to protect people like Manning before they end up incarcerated in the first place. A political negotiation it may be, but Obama’s decision might have at least one collateral benefit: it may yet reopen a crucial debate on whether whistleblowers such as Manning can cite public interest as a defence for making sensitive information public.

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Edwin Langstaff, 95 Marion Moore, 78 Gladys Coffing, 89 Sharon Moore, 66 Billie Napier, 68 Wabash Valley Dance Theatre invites former members to join in 50th annual Christmas Ballet by Eric Stearley eric@thepaperofwabash.com On Dec. 7, the Wabash Valley Dance Theatre will take the Ford Theater stage to present its 50th Anniversary Christmas Ballet. The performance will also commemorate owner Vickie Lambert’s 30 years as artistic director. “We had our first one 50 years ago, so we’re celebrating this year, having our 50th, hoping to bring back lots of people from the past who were in the dance company and danced in previous festivals,” said Lambert.” Lambert danced in the very first Christmas performance as a freshman in high school 50 years ago. She went on to teach under founder Pauline Geyer. Lambert took over in 1984 after Geyer passed away and served as the school’s artistic director until this year. “I’ve been involved for a long, long time, so it’s all exciting,” said Lambert. While Lambert continues to be involved with the dance theatre, Lisa Traver has taken over as artistic director for this year’s performance. “She’s been teaching at the school for years. She’s been there for most of the time that I’ve been in charge,” said Lambert. “She’s excited, and a little nervous.” During the Christmas ballet, students will dance to selections taken from performances over the past 50 years. In addition, former members returning for the event will have two opportunities to join in and celebrate the half-century of Christmas performances with a dance of their own. Posted on 2014 Nov 04 Wabash County 4-H to hold Project Fair Signup has begun for the 2015 4-H year and will run through Jan. 15. The signup process has become completely digital and can be accessed by visiting in.4Honline.com. The Wabash County 4-H program will be hosting a project fair to display the different projects, clubs and programs available in Wabash County 4-H. The project fair will take place on Sunday, Nov. 9 from 2-4 p.m. at the Wabash County Fairgrounds. Purdue Extension Wabash County will be on hand to answer questions, along with 4-Hers who will be displaying their past projects and answering questions for future 4-H members. “This is a great way to figure out if 4-H is for them and to see what we have to offer,” Angela Christopher, Purdue Extension - Wabash County, Extension Educator - 4-H Youth Development, told The Paper. There will be snacks available and the extension will have computers set up on site to help people signup for 4-H during the project fair. An achievement awards ceremony for the 2014 4-H season will be held following the project fair, beginning at 4 p.m. Local author draws inspiration from beloved cat Scooter by Shaun Tilghman Claypool resident Sue Baker never dreamed of being a writer, but then a special kitten came into her life and changed everything. Now, the Manchester High School graduate has published her third children’s book, which is expected to come out in December. “This all started with me and my husband (Matt) finding a kitten in our backyard,” said Sue. “The kitten was too young to be left alone, so we ended up having to bottle-feed her. It was the same week as our 25th anniversary, and instead of going on a trip, we stayed home and took turns bottle-feeding her until she was strong enough that we could leave her by herself. “We ended up having to teach her how to eat solid food and how to use the litter box because her mother wasn’t there to show her. Her siblings ended up surviving under a boat at the neighbors and became barn cats. So, that’s where the story really started unfolding in my mind. It was a couple years after we found her when I actually started writing the story down.” Sue and Matt found the kitten, which they named Scooter, in 2005, but it wasn’t until 2008 that she decided the story would make a good children’s book. According to Sue, Matt likes to write and is very good with children, so he helped her with the wording in order to make it work for the target audience. Once Sue finished her manuscript, she realized that she didn’t really know what to do with it; so, she put it away and didn’t do anything with it for about eight months. Then, early in 2009, she decided to research publishing options. Beacon announces annual Project Spotlight winners Beacon Credit Union recently wrapped up its fourth annual Project Spotlight giving campaign and has begun distributing the monies won by local nonprofits. In North Manchester, Beacon is donating a total of $1,750 to the three charitable organizations/projects that received the most votes – Gamsby’s Project, Manchester Fellowship of Churches Food Pantry, and One World Handcrafts, Inc. Project Spotlight is a community support program designed to discover worthwhile projects in each area that Beacon serves, according to the website. The hope is to be able to support community projects, both large and small, while also bringing awareness to the many good things happening in those communities every day. “Project Spotlight is a charitable giving campaign that allows you to nominate local charities, not-for-profits, and community projects for the potential to earn funding from Beacon Credit Union. First, we ask community members to submit their local projects and organizations that they feel deserve support. Then, we open the two-month voting process and have each community vote to support their favorite organization. With your help and participation, once the voting has ended at the end of September, we’ll donate a total of $21,000 benefiting 36 charitable organizations and projects in Northeast Indiana.” During the first two years, Project Spotlight began the nomination process in April and a special panel then narrowed those down to three nominations per community. In 2013, the process was changed in order to allow all nominations the opportunity to receive votes. In addition, a Facebook component was implemented so that, after voting on the website, you could immediately post your vote on Facebook. Beacon Credit Union raises over $16,000 for Riley Every year, Beacon Credit Union raises money for the Riley Children’s Hospital Foundation through their Credit Unions for Kids Campaign. The Riley Children’s Hospital Foundation offers hope to thousands of families seeking help for seriously ill and injured children – help that only Riley Hospital for Children can provide. Every gift makes an impact, as the dedicated medical team at Riley Hospital could not deliver expert and compassionate care without external financial support. Beacon Credit Union is proud to announce that they will be presenting a donation of over $16,000 to the Riley Children’s Hospital Foundation. Beacon Credit Union proudly supports Riley Children’s Hospital. Beacon Credit Union is a full service, locally owned, credit union that provides a wide range of products and services including savings accounts; checking accounts; Certificates of Deposit; IRAs; Investment and Trust Opportunities; Consumer, Real Estate, Commercial and Agricultural Loans; plus all of today's conveniences of mobile banking, internet banking, online bill pay, online statements, Debit Cards, ATM's and Telephone Teller access. The credit union operates 20 convenient service offices throughout north central and northeast Indiana to provide financial products and services to 46,000 members. Fall property tax installment due Nov. 10 The fall installment of property tax will be due Nov. 10. Spring and fall statements were mailed in April. Taxes that are delinquent after Nov. 10, 2014 will have a penalty added. That penalty will be 5 percent if it is paid within 30 days and there is no other delinquency. If it is paid after 30 days or has other delinquency, the penalty is 10 percent. You may pay your taxes with one of the following options: *Pay in person: You may pay in the Wabash County Treasurer’s Office. *Pay by mail: Please sent the spring and/or fall payment coupon along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope for a return receipt. Make sure your payment is postmarked by Nov. 10. *Pay at local banks: Those banks that are accepting property tax payments include Bippus State Bank, Crossroads Bank, First Farmer’s Bank, First Financial Bank, First Merchant’s Bank and Mutual Bank. *Drop box: There is a gold drop box located in front of the Judicial Center on the west side of the Court House parking lot. If you have any questions, you may contact the Wabash County Treasurer’s Office at 260-563-0661, ext. 1259 or treasurer@wabashcounty.in.gov. Attention Landowners: USDA announces signup dates and deadlines for new farm programs In February 2014, Congress signed a new five year farm bill creating many new farm programs. The new programs will cover crop years 2014-2018. While some final adjustments are still being made, many details about the new programs are being made available. In August of 2014 landowners with crop bases were sent letters telling them what their current crop bases are along with their current counter cyclical payment yields. They were told to review the information and contact their local FSA office with questions. Landowners could first visit their local FSA office on Sept. 29 to decide whether to keep their current base acreage or reallocate their bases. Reallocation looks at what was grown on the farm in 2009 – 2012 and calculates a new crop base off of those planted acres. The landowner has until Feb. 27, 2015 to make this decision. Since many landowners head south for the winter, FSA encourages an office visit before leaving. College and Career Fair to be held Nov. 12 With a grant from the Community Foundation of Wabash County, Wabash High School will host the first annual Wabash County College and Career Fair. The event brings together representatives from more than 30 colleges, universities, trade schools, unions, and the Armed Forces. Students will browse college and career literature and learn about requirements for various career paths, including traditional college and industry standard certification programs. In a combined effort to increase college and career-readiness in Wabash County, all area junior and senior high school students are invited and encouraged to attend the daytime event. The College and Career Fair will be held on Wednesday, November 12 from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. at Wabash High School. The Community Foundation will be available to help students learn how to apply for local scholarships established by generous donors and administered by the Foundation and how to complete the College Costs Estimator, a free online program to demonstrate financial need, which is a requirement of many scholarships. The Indiana Youth Institute, headquartered in Indianapolis, will introduce students to “Trip to College,” an online planning app that helps students explore career interests and training requirements. Information will also be available for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and the Wabash County Promise. “Students have lots of options today. Some will go to traditional college. Some are on a pathway to a trade. These days both options require education and training after high school to be successful,” says Joe Kaufman, Guidance Counselor of Wabash Junior Senior High School. “The nearest college fairs for Wabash County students were held in Peru and Fort Wayne this year. We wanted to give local families an easy-to-attend, information-filled event during the school day that everyone could participate in.” << Previous 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 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 Next >>

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Help stop rhino slaughter Posted: 7 February 2013. Updated: 18 March 2013 UPDATE: The European Commission has responded to our joint letter which called on them to ensure that rhino conservation was high on the agenda during Free Trade Agreement talks with Vietnam. Read their response Rhino poaching is at its highest level for 20 years and three of the five species of rhino are now classified as critically endangered. In Vietnam, rhino horn is being openly sold as cure for cancer and hangovers with the price now exceeding that of gold. Hundreds of horns have also been imported, most illegally, from South Africa by Vietnamese trophy hunters. With the European Commission due to hold Free Trade Agreement talks with Vietnam, ADI has joined with other animal protection and conservation groups calling on the EU Commissioner for Trade to ensure that rhino conservation is high on the agenda. Contact the Vietnamese Embassy urging them to take steps to eliminate the sale of rhino horn. For contact details of the Vietnamese Embassy where you live click here To view the joint letter click here Urge your CITES representative to do all they can to ensure that rhinos are protected CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is a legally binding treaty (international law), an agreement between governments regulating international trade of endangered and protected species. Each Party to the Convention designates one or more Management Authorities in charge of administering the rules and one or more Scientific Authorities to advise them on the effects of trade on the status of the species. In the UK, the CITES authority is the Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and in the US, it is the US Fish & Wildlife Department (USFW). The government representative of the Parties to CITES meets every three years at their Conference of the Parties (COP) to discuss and vote on changes to the international law on wild animal and plant trade. The next COP will be held in Bangkok (Thailand), 3-14 March 2013

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Artist: Ted Hawkins Track: Having A Party Album: Songs From Venice Beach Interview: Seun Kuti Seun (pronounced Shay-oon, an abbreviation of Oluseun) Anikulapo-Kuti is the youngest son of Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Fela Kuti pioneered the genre of Afrobeat throughout the 70s and 80s from his Lagos home and studio, the Kalakuta Republic. At age 14, after the death of his father in 1997, Seun Kuti took over the leadership of Fela's legendary band - Egypt 80. Now at age 29, Seun's latest release From Africa with Fury: Rise features that same band with a new vision for Africa. We spoke with Seun by phone as his tour bus moved through a barren stretch of Utah. The youngest son of legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti continues the legacy of his father with a new message for a united Africa. KGNU: Do you have memories of the first time you were a musical guest onstage with your father at the Apollo in Harlem? You were 8 years old. Seun: No, no, no. The first time I was on stage was at The Shrine in Lagos. The first time I decided to start singing was after watching my Father in the Apollo in Harlem. My first show, I remember it quite well, because all through we'd been doing rehearsals and during the rehearsals I'd look at the band and I'd do the songs with them. So during the show I did exactly the same thing. I was looking at the band throughout and my Dad came to me after the show and he said, "Seun, you gotta face the crowd man! You can't face the band, you gotta face the crowd!" (laughs) So, I remember because of that. KGNU: Is it true that you began playing your instrument as a result of sneaking into your Father's room as a child to play with his saxophones? Seun: Yeah, yeah, I always play with his horns that he had in the house. So this is why he told me, "You know what? I'm going to buy you your own saxophone." (laughs) I was a kid then, I was about 6. I was really young, this was way before I started singing. So he bought me my first sax. After that time, I played the piano for a long time until I was a teenager - about 14. That was when I picked up the sax again. KGNU: Are those the only two instruments you really focus on now? Seun: Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't say I focus on the piano too much. I like to compose on the piano for the chords more than anything. But, the instrument that I really continuously focus on is my sax, a lot, you know? But, I do enjoy playing the piano. Those are my two instruments. KGNU: You still perform regularly at The Shrine in Lagos. What's different about playing there now as opposed to when you were a kid? Seun: For me, now it's more music and music business. I still have the same passion I had as a kid except that now I'm a professional. I think that's what's different. KGNU: We were astonished to read that From Africa with Fury: Rise was recorded in just three days on a limited budget, and that it had to be grafted on the end of a festival appearance in Rio to happen at all. It's mind-boggling that the pulse of Afrobeat today had to be, essentially, an import record into Lagos. Seun: Well, that had a reason because... in Nigeria we don't have enough people invested in the music business to record a world class album - you need a world class studio, with world class equipment. And, we don't have that in Nigeria at the moment for big band music like my band, you know? So, I needed a place where the band could record properly. So, I was lucky enough to have a festival to play in Brazil, and with their history of big band music it was easier to find a really good studio with a really good engineer and - boom - we started to work. You know? But it helps when you are already playing the songs live because then playing it live we're coming into the studio like a live session or a live gig. You know what I mean? KGNU: Yeah, you're coming in with the songs already dialed in. But still, you recorded the whole album in only three days? Seun: Actually, fifty hours. KGNU: Can you talk about the intensity of those recording sessions? I mean, this is a heavy record! Seun: You know I wouldn't talk about intensity because, really, during the recording of this album - my first album was intense, there was a lot of intensity in that recording - but this second time there was some kind of... I don't know, it was almost a... cosmic calm in the studio, and everybody was just flowing. Everything moved so smoothly. That's why I was able to work so quickly. I was amazed as well! Everyone did a great job and Godwin Logie was in the studio with us. Everything was amazing. Then I took it off to London and mixed it there with John Reynolds, Tim Oliver, and Brian Eno! KGNU: Brian Eno, a seemingly unlikely producer to have working on your record. Seun: Contrary to that, Brian had been a huge supporter of my music for about three years before we did the recording. He has been a lover of Afrobeat for about 30 years! KGNU: You are just shy of your 30th birthday and some members of your band, Egypt 80, who also played with your father, are in their 60s and 70s. In terms of the intensity of the recording process and your touring schedule, has it been difficult on members of the band to sustain the pace you are setting? Seun: Well, not that I know of, you know. Some of these veterans in the band, they've got more energy than us sometimes. I think their good. My drummer is over 70 as well, but he still kicks ass on the drums, so what can you say? You know? You can't beat that! Music gives a special kind of life force to people that practice it from their hearts. KGNU: The latest album is packed with politics and addresses many issues facing Africa and Nigeria today as well as multinationals such as Monsanto and Halliburton. On that subject, what is it about Afrobeat that makes it such a uniquely appropriate vehicle for political commentary and as a weapon of social change? Seun: I don't think that Afrobeat is the only thing, I think all art forms are appropriate vehicles to pass messages and inspire people positively. It's just that Afrobeat has a rich history and is from a continent where it is more needed than anywhere else for art to represent it's people. So I don't think it's the duty of Afrobeat music alone, in line of what you're saying, I think all art right now in the world should represent the majority of the people who have no voice. Because about only 4 or 5% of the world controls what every other person does, thinks, hears, so... only art has that alternate means to beat their power and money, to educate people in the correct way. I feel we, as people blessed by these talents by nature should admit that we have a duty to the people to represent them with our art and stand for them and inspire them positively - not to continue promoting selfish gain. KGNU: To that point, in Nigeria - because we know how the distribution of music works here in the US and the UK - in Nigeria, how are people hearing the music? Seun: Well, people come to Shrine. They buy the records. The radio doesn't play our music much, I don't know why... well, I know why, you know, definitely because all media in Africa is controlled by the government or some politician or by some control, so nobody wants to lose business to the government because in Africa, government is the biggest business, you know? So people don't want to talk, you know, or be associated with anti-establishment - with people like me in my country, because then they lose their government business. (laughs) But that being said, you can not hide the truth. People always find the truth, and Afrobeat has been able to inspire Nigeria like that for about 40 years. KGNU: So, walking around Lagos, would you be hearing Afrobeat records playing out of shops or restaurants? Or is their more of a concern about that? Seun: No, it depends on where you go, you know? Yeah, definitely everywhere plays Afrobeat music - in the clubs, in the shops... things like that. But, it depends on where you go. You know what I'm saying? KGNU: You've mentioned that the only way to unite Africa is to erase the current borders and allow for a government based on tribal lines, giving everyone a voice and then uniting in social and economic ways like the European Union. Do you still hold this view as a possibility for a united Africa? Seun: Yes, of course, because I don't believe that Africans deserve, in Africa, to be called a minority in any borders, in any country. For example, in my country, a lot of people are called minorities because they're not from the three major ethnic groups. You know, I don't believe Africans should be regarded in such ways. And, by the way, our borderlines are not something that was dreamt up by Africans who understood the people. It was something carved up in Europe in 1881 to benefit European economic ambitions in Africa. So this was not an African thing, it was not pro-Africa. So, why should we continue, in this day and age, to live along these borderlines by force? Why should we continue the white man's experiment by force? It's obviously not working. No country in Africa has peace. Because in every African country people feel neglected. So there's always one part of the country that is in a no good area because there is war, there is this going on there... you know? We don't need this in Africa. We need people everywhere in Africa to be represented accordingly. True Federal system should run in Africa. If we're going to continue to live along these borderlines then we have to enforce truth. Without true federality you cannot accomplish anything in Africa with these borderlines. And true federality is something that's very difficult to achieve in Africa because of the corruption. So, why not let everybody control their own destiny, according to his own land and tribe and culture and historical values? KGNU: So would that be a re-drawing of borders in your mind? Or everyone exists based on who they are independently? Seun: Yeah, but there's no way to do that without redrawing of the lines. Because countries will break up and definitely, those lands will have to be shown on the map. KGNU: I guess on that point, then you're uniting based on people, based on social and economic plans like the European Union. But we continue to see turmoil with countries within the EU, and turmoil with the EU debt crisis... seemingly every day. Do you have an altered view, having seen the EU model work, or not work as the case may be? Is there a different plan in your mind as to how that would actually function in Africa? Seun: Well, you know, the truth is... you have to dream. And to be able to achieve the dream is to be able to... to make the dream work is where the effort lies. Whatever is going on in the EU today, believe me, I still think Africa, in a way, can be united along economic lines without such need for turmoil, because we've already gone through the debt issue. You know, Africa is in debt right now. The austerity issues in Africa, we've been living through them for about twenty years now. Serious austerity. What am I saying, twenty years?!? Almost about thirty years now we've been living in austerity. So, it's new in Europe - we've been living through it! You know, we've understood these hardships of economy, economic sabotage, and backstabbing. So the people of Africa, I believe, should be able to, you know? I want to see in a model like the EU - still gonna be an African thing. The people of Africa will have to do our own, in the African style. It does not have to be like the EU's model. Because, you know, after all has been said and done the economies of European powers, even like France and Italy, would not be what it is today without the Euro. The Euro gives them more strength. Imagine if Italy still had Lira, what the Lira would be like today? You know, with all the issues they have with the financial crisis in Italy, imagine how bad the Lira would be today without European Union backing. So, this is how we have to understand that the world, in a way - we have to all live for one another. We cannot live for ourselves, we can not say, oh, only us wants to thrive and survive. We have to try and live for one another, you understand? In Africa we have a huge advantage, which will run out soon if we do not take advantage of it, and that is our natural resources. The fact that Africa doesn't really have to outsource anything if we're going to develop - once we decide to take our own future in our own hands - Africa can develop from within. I think this is a serious advantage that we have over economies in Europe. KGNU: Right, with the wealth of resources, if Africa could establish an infrastructure for manufacturing. Seun: Yes, of course, in my country we don't have the capability of manufacturing anything of quality. Everything in my country, all of the good things have to be imported, and that has to change. That's how it is all over Africa, not just in my country. KGNU: If people were paying more attention to Africa, or as much as we'd like for them to, it might... Seun: (cutting in) No, no. Trust me! Everyone is paying attention, at least economically, to Africa. Because, everyone is making money off Africans. Africa is the easiest place to go and these corporations can have things their own way and not have to give people their due because they bribe the hands of the politicians. KGNU: So for fans of your music, or people in the U.S. in general who aren't necessarily dialed in to that reality. Is there one thing you would want people to understand about Africa today? Seun: Well, the truth about Africa is that Africa does not represent Africans at the moment. But now, there's a huge awakening in the consciousness of the youth of Africa. Because, I think we are the most educated generation ever. Since we were given our so-called independence, we have started to be civilized in Western ways, this generation is the most educated in Western ways. And we are going to be able to understand the system. So, there's a huge awakening of our consciousness right now to retake our continent so it can begin to benefit Africans. KGNU: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, and safe journeys there in the tour bus. Seun: Ok, it's all good! Afrobeat Femi Kuti Interviews National Acts Seun Kuti

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Walter Nash graduated with distinction from the University of Arizona with a B.A. degree in economics and received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Arizona College of Law. While in Law School he earned a number of honors and was chosen to participate in numerous activities and programs. Walter is a member of the bar in Arizona and is admitted to practice before a number of Federal District Courts and Courts of Appeals. He has also argued before the United States Supreme Court. His numerous activities have included teaching at the University of Arizona College of Law in criminal law; as a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference; as a member of the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Arizona and the State Bar’s Professionalism Task Force; being chosen as President of the Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice; and serving on a number of other committees and in various local, state, and national organizations. He is also a frequent lecturer at legal education programs. More of his outstanding professional background is set out below. Walter is a multi-generational native of Arizona, has a long history of racing cars and motorcycles, and is an avid bicyclist. He lives with his wife and too many horses and dogs to name on the outskirts of Tucson. © 2020 Walter Nash.

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