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North Carolina's statewide school board wants to strip three taxpayer-funded charter schools of their ability to operate separately from traditional public schools.
The State Board of Education on Wednesday voted to revoke the operating charters of Bridges Charter School in Wilkes County and Highland Charter School in Gastonia. They would be the first to lose their state-granted charters purely for failing to educate students.
Fewer than 60 percent of the students attending the schools were proficient in required subjects and children failed to meet learning targets.
The state board also revoked the charter of Cape Lookout Marine Science High School in Morehead City because of financial problems.
Nearly four dozen charter schools have had been disbanded since the mid-1990s, when they started operating free of rules governing most public schools. | <urn:uuid:42415db3-bef0-45bf-a017-b7c3d8def6fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wxii12.com/news/local-news/north-carolina/Wilkes-County-school-among-3-that-could-lose-charter/-/10622650/15480248/-/2ymqw5z/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974278 | 157 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Another big news item this week was Greece’s continued slide down the scale of Transparency International’s Perceptions of Corruption Index to the dubious accolade of ‘most corrupt EU country.’ I simply cannot summarise my impressions on this better than the inspired Twitter user @divinejudge1 [note by ‘lower corruption’ he means ‘lower transparency score]:
But that’s just perceptions. How about a stab at the facts? Well, there's no facts to be had about corruption but as readers may recall, I am particularly fond of a particular methodology for measuring the size of the shadow economy, which I also cite here.
According to Schneider (here), after a bumper year in 2009 when it grew by 0.3%, the Greek shadow economy is due to shrink by 3.2% this year, on the optimistic assumption that GDP is going to fall by 4%. Schneider’s estimate is that Greece’s shadow economy should reach 25.2% of GDP this year – still comfortably the largest in the EU in relative terms but also just barely over 2007 levels.
These figures underscore the point made by the IMF in its recent review of our adjustment programme: the resilience of the shadow economy is no insulation from the pain of recession or fiscal austerity. When the informal sector is large enough, it invariably comes to depend on the formal sector for demand. Fans of decoupling narratives always come to grief in this way and when they are governments the implications can be severe. I remember being subjected to this narrative by some of our leading lights back in 2008 – the same people that told me to stop worrying and learn to love the deficit.
Of course some academics will rush to explain that these ‘perceptions of corruption’ are just another bourgeois construct, or a way for the Americans to put us down and that the formality of economic activity is irrelevant.
To this I can only say: try to read through this without rolling it into a joint. | <urn:uuid:3e047d2f-0431-48dc-a5d3-557f54173505> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lolgreece.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-can-haz-gunz-and-gucci-jeans.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942548 | 409 | 1.742188 | 2 |
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It was a usual hustle and bustle after the morning bell at Leihoku Elementary. As I made my way towards my second grade homeroom class, I noticed the other kids suddenly clinging to the walls. Not fully understanding what was going on, I followed suit to this parting of the Red Sea type of movement. “Frances Pinaro,” someone shouted. Suddenly the situation became clear. Frances Pinaro was the school’s shishi girl. Before I knew it, she came running barefoot through the hallway with her arms extended. Had she physically touched anyone, they would temporarily be infected with her shishi girl cooties. He/she would therefore have to pass it on in a tag-like game to regain social acceptance. Idiotic rules but rules, nonetheless.
During my time at Leihoku Elemtary, I witnessed a hierarchy of doodoo boys and shishi girls. Frances was the school shishi girl, therefore her jurisdiction affected all grade levels. She was at the top. Below her, existed sub-genres ranging from being the doodoo boy or shishi girl within their grade level and for some, just within their classroom.
Having my mother teaching at the school I attended pretty much kept me immune to any type of doodoo boy status. But who then were eligible for the title? I’m starting to ask myself this question as my daughter is beginning to socialize with other toddlers at the playground. Is there anything I can do to keep the shishi girl title away from her? I reflected on those days of playground politics and also asked for the opinions of friends of mine who admit to being bullied at one time or another.
My school was in a lower income community. What seemed to drive the doodoo boy and shishi girl status was income, which seemed to directly affect hygiene. Frances always had clumpy hair and always seemed barefoot. Her siblings, who were grade level status doodoo boys and shishi girls, also didn’t dress so well. I remember her brother wearing bellbottomed jeans to school, which must’ve been a hand-me-down because we were already well into the 1980s.
My school was predominantly Polynesian and Filipino and so being outside of the ethnic scene also easily made one a candidate of being bullied with the aforementioned titles. African Americans, Caucasians, and Laotians all had it pretty hard in my school. The race card falls into place with the experiences of my friends Kehaulani and Jonathan.
Kehaulani went to a private school for Hawaiian students. However with red hair and freckles, being Hawaiian wasn’t enough to save her from being bullied. Jonathan is also part Hawaiian but having fair skin and being chubby set himself up for bullying as well.
I asked them both how/if the bullying in their youth has affected their adult life. Like myself, Kehaulani is a concerned parent and tries to focus more on the current state of bullying. She realizes that the name-calling that she endured as a child is minor in comparison to what some others had/are going through. Jonathan believes that the bullying has made him more of a shut-in, a loner and extremely sensitive. However he says that his experiences have made him a more tolerant and open-minded person as well.
So where does that leave us for the kids of today? Personally I think ethnicities are considerably more mixed now than before so hopefully the race card or a fair complexion is no longer a red flag for bullying. I’ll be keeping my daughter well groomed and supply her with an endless amount of love and support so that her confidence level will be off the charts.
As far as former bully victims, Jonathan advises today’s youth to find their strength in themselves and simply be yourself, even if it has to be through solitude. Kehaulani admits that learning to laugh at yourself is a temporary fix, however verbal abuse will eventually sink in. She advises to confide in someone they trust for help. | <urn:uuid:bfdc9765-be59-4a1f-8a5d-d70c13b84191> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fernrocks.wordpress.com/tag/violence-and-abuse/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983672 | 843 | 1.71875 | 2 |
By winning the annual Hunger Games, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have secured a life of safety and plenty for themselves and their families, but because they won by defying the rules, they unwittingly become the faces of an impending rebellion.
AgeAdd Age Suitability
Team_One_Direction thinks this title is suitable for 16 years and over
indigo_raven_13 thinks this title is suitable for 11 years and over
Ballerina_Grrl thinks this title is suitable for between the ages of 11 and 20
blue_panda_786 thinks this title is suitable for between the ages of 12 and 99
Green_Turkey_2 thinks this title is suitable for between the ages of 11 and 16
olive_lion_9 thinks this title is suitable for between the ages of 12 and 12
erinelaine thinks this title is suitable for 11 years and over
eric2727 thinks this title is suitable for 11 years and over
white_wolf_318 thinks this title is suitable for between the ages of 12 and 8
caro_woz thinks this title is suitable for 12 years and over
SummaryAdd a Summary
Katniss Everdeen had survived the Hunger Games along with her "boyfriend" Peeta Mellark! She hopes that once she returns home, her life can get back to normal. But things will never be the same for Katniss ever again. Prim is more adult than tween, Gale holds her at an icy distance, and Peeta pretty much ignores her. While living in her new home in the Victor's Village, Katniss learns about the "change" in this year's Hunger Games. Instead of having a new boy and girl tribute from each district compete in the Games, a boy and girl victor from each district will be submitted into one big battle to see which victor survives. Katniss enters the Hunger Games devoted to protecting Peeta's life rather than hers, because this time, there will be only one victor. Katniss may have survived the last Hunger Games, but this time, the odds are most definitely not in her favor.
Katniss and Peeta have come out of the hunger games alive. katniss must convince all of Panem that she loves Peeta when she goes on the victory tour. But president Snow annouces the third Quarter Quell a fight to the death between a female and male victor of the hunger games of each district and Katniss know shes going back into the arena, and this time she must save Peeta.
Katniss and Peeta must once again try to survive in a newly connived arena in the next year's Hunger Games. Love, betrayal, and hurt...amazing book!!
the journey continues as katniss everdeen and peeta continue the survival to fight in the arena....
Katniss Everdeen is returning home after winning the 74th annual Hunger Games with her "boyfriend" Peeta Mellark. They visit the other districts on a victory tour, and each make speeches about the fallen tributes. When they finally arrive home, Katniss meets two girls from district 8 planning on going to a bombed district, district 13, where it is said survivors live underground. On the 75th annual Hunger Games on the Quarter Quell, tributes who have the Hunger Games in the past are chosen to participate, instead of all new tributes. Katniss is chosen by default and Peeta volunteers for Haymitch when he is chosen. In the beach-like arena, Katniss discovers it is set like a clock. When the Hunger Games is finally over, she discovers that her home, district 12, has been bombed and destroyed.
The book "Catching Fire" is about katniss and peeta and how their life changes after they get back from the Hunger Games as the new victors .
Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark believe they are finally safe from the Hunger Games, after winning. Until, the president warns Katniss, that her act of desperation to save Peeta's life during the previous games, has led to uprisings in many of the districts and that she must quiet these rebellions during her victory tour. Inadvertently, she and Peeta are achieving just the opposite when they find out that, for the 75th Hunger Games (The 3rd Quarter Quell), they will need to return, along with a man and woman victor from the other districts. They, once again need to fight to stay alive in a new arena with all new enemies.
The book that I have finished is called "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins a science fiction/fantasy book. The main idea of this book is that in the begging Katniss had met the president Mr.Snow had a talk or meeting. Katniss and Peeta had been resubmitted into the hunger games for the second time. During the hunger game Peeta got hurt and Katniss is trying to rescue Peeta from dying from the poisonous gas and the injury that Peeta had. At the end someone had died from district 12... (*I am not trying to mess up the ending!).
Katniss Everdeen goes back into the arena with peeta and fight for survival.
in the incredible secong book of the "Hunger Games" Catching Fire by suzanne collins, Katniss Everdeen has to battle in the 75th hunger games. But every 25 years there is what they call a quarter quell. A quarter quell is when there is a twist to the games made by the gamemakers. in the 75 hunger games (the 3rd quarter quell) all the winners of past hunger games (1 boy and 1 girl) that are still alive, must be thrown into the arena once again to fihgt to the death... who will win? What will happen? I'll tell you this: THis hunger games is like no other ever before... Read to find out why!
NoticesAdd a Notice
Frightening or Intense Scenes: People getting killed
Coarse Language: They make up there own swear words.
Other: Nothing special, everything happen in the story are happening in the real world . Books like this should be read as early as possible to learn how life function. for example: you can only reach the top by stepping over other people. Life isn't fair.
Frightening or Intense Scenes: Very graphic scenes with people being killed, an axe flies into someone's head...etc. etc.
Sexual Content: Man half naked, woman takes her clothes off in front of Katniss and Peeta, Kat. & Peet. kiss and sleep in same bed (though no sex was involved).
Violence: Lot of killing, lot of death, lot of bloodshed.
Frightening or Intense Scenes: be warned..........
Sexual Content: I'm pretty sure somebody kisses someone is this book, but I'm not really sure.
Frightening or Intense Scenes: Lots of violence.. and killing.... and blood..
QuotesAdd a Quote
So girl on fire, what secrets do you have for me? -Finnick
"On the 75th anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from their existing pool of victors."
"Tick tock" said Wiress "Yes tick tock the areas a clock" says Katniss
"Let the 75th Hunger Games begin!"
“Really, the combination of the scabs and the ointment looks hideous. I can't help enjoying his distress. "Poor Finnick. Is this the first time in your life you haven't looked pretty?" I say. "It must be. The sensation's completely new. How have you managed it all these years?" he asks. "Just avoid mirrors. You'll forget about it," I say. "Not if I keep looking at you," he says.”
" So girl on fire, what secrets do you have for me?" -Finnick
This is the first that makes me want another. | <urn:uuid:871614cf-0f50-4aed-b012-5ca578179d05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sccl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1356556016_catching_fire | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954685 | 1,708 | 1.789063 | 2 |
^Memphis and UCF would establish the Big East as a Southern Conference.
1/2 of the conference members in such an alignment would be in the shadows of very major football powers in competing BCS conferences --> SEC, ACC, and the Big 10. The following schools, which are powerhouses, will overshadow them quite a bit:
Thats a big load to overcome.
Memphis is a market of 1.5 million people (West Tennessee, all counties west of the Tennessee River in Tennessee). Memphis does not demonstrate that it would have much of a following east of that River. There is no statewide overlap for that school in market. It may have a small handfull of followers in the nearby Arkansas and Mississippi suburbs, but conventional wisdom demonstrates that Ole Miss, Miss State, U Ark, Ark State would dramatically overshadow a Memphis following outside the state's boundaries. If the U Memphis was a NFL Team, then it would go deep into Mississippi and Arkansas for following, picking up the mid-major metro of Little Rock (~600K and 140 miles to the west). But it is not and its way bigger competitors is at Memphis doors (state lines).
In 30 years it will have about 1.9 million people. The area between Memphis and Nashville is predominantly rural and will not grow, and perhaps may even lose people. The only place that this market will grow is around the City of Memphis, and the Memphis suburbs.
But this market isn't purely Memphis. You have Tennessee that is on the same footing as Memphis, as it has a statewide overlay (+ the UTenn Medical School is located in Memphis -- may be big allumni base there), plus Vandy may have some following there, as well as a very small followings for UT-Martin and perhaps Austin Peay (located just outside West Tennessee in the North in Clarksville), as well as Tenn State, and Tenn Tech, and MTSU that pick up a bit of following just immediately west of Nashville.
Now how does Memphis compare to Marshall?
That 1st or 2nd or even 3rd Team status in a broad market of 1.5 million that could grow to 1.9 million.
Not much different. Slightly bigger, but not much different.
West Virginia is 1.8 million. It won't grow much, that is true. Marshall is its 2nd Team. It would be in the shadow of WVU, that's true. But with this 2nd status, it being in the 2nd largest metro area of the state (Huntington at 280,000) and within 1 hour of the largest market (Charleston at 300,000), and as WVU is a small state, that 1.8 million is not far from Huntington. It has more potential to go statewide as a pure 2nd Team. I would conclude that their immediate market is 280,000, their regional market is ~600,000 (Hunt/Charleston), and their share of West Virginia is 900,000, with it being a 2nd Team throughout this 1.8 million populated state -- about the same status as Memphis.
They get ~30,000 at their games, about the same as Memphis. Their academics isn't much different, Memphis is a 4th Tier school, and Marshall is a Regional University. Both don't fit academically. But Marshall has demonstrated that it can put forth good football teams, beating #6 KSU, as well as an undefeated season. Memphis has had 1 bowl season in the last 30 years, and can demonstrate that attendance will be down in the down years.
Memphis is 800 miles from the NE Footprint. Marshall is in the near-northeast footprint. Bottom line is Marshall is more advantageous than Memphis, because of this.
UCF presents another issue. It too doesn't have good institutional fit. Its near USF. But in a combined coast to coast Central-Tampa Bay-Orlando greater market of 4.9 million, and it will grow, it will be competing against USF for promenence. This added to the sublime status of the triad -- UFla, FSU, and Miami. Texas has 4 BCS schools, 3 that are competitive, and one that's iffy, and 1 program that is non-BCS that is competitive. California has 4 BCS schools and 1 competitive non-BCS school. But it has twice the pop of Florida. Can Florida have 5 BCS schools? 4, yes, but I can't see 5.
UCF had a good record in bball, last year, but that was in the A-Sun. Its football team was not good last year, and they haven't had a good year since the late 90's with Duante Culpepper. They are not really as competitive since. Last year there attendance was ~24K. Less than Marshall. In 2002 it was 22K. In 2001 ~20K, There were 27 K in 2000, 22K in 1999, and 23 K in 1998. Its attendance isn't that much better than U Delaware, or for that matter, like Temple.
It advantages are its market and being a travel partner. Its disadvantages is that it would be Florida's 5th team (and Texas and California, which are quite bigger, demonstrate that 4 to 5 is the max you can have in their states). There's a potential that they could be another Temple or another Baylor. And also it would be a competitor to USF. Its also not a good institutional fit.
If the Big East drifts further into the south, it becomes a Defacto CUSA. It will be a shadow of three of the other 5 conferences. There will not be a majority of the teams out front in their region and could become more obscure.
I think there is actually more risk to expand 5 years from now, then there is to wait for 10 years to expand, and begin to plan for that expansion in 2010. You may just be interchanging one Temple for another. If this is the case, might as well keep them as they offer the advantage of the Philly market, even if they are a 2nd team, as well as the northeast footprint and a better institutional fit. | <urn:uuid:74a5119c-8c91-46cc-b1a3-17be6da07fda> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://collegesportsinfo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=18408 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984144 | 1,275 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Celebrating 100 years: Daughters remember growing up on Belfield farmsteadBelfield pioneer Bertha Obrigewitch is within days of achieving her lifetime goal. She will celebrate her 100th birthday Friday during a family get-together at St. Benedict’s Health Center in Dickinson.
By: Linda Sailer, The Dickinson Press
Belfield pioneer Bertha Obrigewitch is within days of achieving her lifetime goal. She will celebrate her 100th birthday Friday during a family get-together at St. Benedict’s Health Center in Dickinson.
Many of her 13 children, 42 grandchildren, 83 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren will join in the celebration.
“That’s quite a family stemming from one 100-year-old lady,” said daughter Juanita Talkington of Belfield. “That’s quite a lineage.”
Obrigewitch traces her family heritage back to Macachin, Argentina, where she was born June 1, 1912, the oldest daughter of Liberatus and Celestina Schaeffer. One of her siblings, Ida Schaeffer is still living.
The family immigrated to Nebraska in 1914, and moved to North Dakota in 1916. She grew up in Slope County north of Amidon.
She married Tony Obrigewitch Nov. 24, 1931, at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Amidon. They settled on a farm and ranch in Billings County, northeast of Belfield.
“She went from horse and buggy days to cars,” daughter, Rosemary Obrigewitch of Seattle said. “She was one of a few young women who learned to drive a car in those days.”
The eldest daughter, Charlotte Hlebechuk, Belfield, remembers her mother working in the fields.
“She had poultry and milked cows,” she said. “I was a second mother — I took care of the kids.”
“She was like Dad’s hired man, and she raised every kind of flower,” Rosemary Obrigewitch added.
Talkington remembers her mother had two large gardens.
“She did a lot of canning, and even canned the meat,” she said.
The sisters remember their mother carrying water in the house to wash the clothes. In the early days, she heated the house with a coal stove, getting up in the middle of the night to add coal.
“The water would freeze in the water pail,” Hlebechuk remembers.
“I remember Mom baked bread twice a week,” Talkington said. “All the kids in school wanted to trade sandwiches because she had the best bread.”
Obrigewitch was 19 when she was married, just with the start of the Depression years.
“We had lots of jelly bread,” Hlebechuk said. “The neighbor kids ate plain syrup sandwiches in school, but Mom made chokecherry syrup.”
Hlebechuk also remembers dipping fresh bread into cream.
“Now if we try it, we get a heartburn,” she said. “When we were kids, that was a treat.”
The children attended country school, sometimes walking, and sometimes getting a ride with horse and wagon or sleigh.
The family attended Mass in Belfield, with everyone piling on top of each other in the car.
“Then Dad would stop and pick up a hitchhiker,” joked Rosemary Obrigewitch.
Tony died in 1980, and she continued to live on the home place until 2010.
She left her daughters with a lifetime of values.
“Definitely faith,” Talkington said. “I think we all have a certain down-to-earth quality.”
“I think family is important,” Rosemary Obrigewitch said.
“And an appreciation of hard work,” added Hlebechuk.
The family includes nine sons, Clifford, Sentinel Butte; Gerald (deceased); Claude, Maurice and Bertram (Bud), Belfield; Val, Sentinel Butte; Tony, Belfield; Tim and Terry, Meadows, S.D.
Gloria Weber, Joliet, Mont., rounds out the four daughters.
Because of medical difficulties, Obrigewitch was unable to comment about her upcoming milestone. | <urn:uuid:49b12f23-9452-4a0f-b4d7-ab0a8ca3be3a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/event/article/id/58513/publisher_ID/6/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965099 | 957 | 1.757813 | 2 |
The Germany-based company, whose North American headquarters are in Portland, announced Friday that it will sponsor a dozen students in a three-week footwear design class taught by a former Nike designer.
The class will beJune 4-22 at Pensole, the footwear design school that D'Wayne Edwards opened this year in Old Town/Chinatown.
"They see it as an opportunity to take a new approach to talent recruitment and talent development," said Edwards, the former Nike designer.
The class will mark the first time a shoe brand has formed a partnership with Pensole for a session of classes. Creating such a partership has been a goal of Edwards since he started Pensole in 2010. It also falls in line with his vision of creating the equivalent of baseball's minor league farm system for the next generation of footwear designers.
The curriculum will feature guest speakers and instructors from Adidas as well as members of the marketing and branding industry.
"Building and cultivating the global design community is an important part of our leadership role in footwear design," said Rob Lee, Adidas vice president of design for sport performance, "and supporting young designers is fundamental to the growth and progress of our industry."
Applicants can find information at pensole.com. Adidas will provide scholarships for tuition and housing for selected students. At the end of the three-week program, students will present footwear designs to Adidas design executives, who may opt to put them into production.
Before opening his own location, Edwards taught classes at host schools, including Parsons The New School for Design in New York City, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., and the University of Oregon College of Architecture and Allied Arts in Portland.
More than 20 former Pensole students are working for footwear companies such as North Face, New Balance, Under Armour, Jordan Brand, Nike and Adidas. | <urn:uuid:eb3873c3-e3cd-4dc9-af7e-eeba3b8965d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oregonlive.com/playbooks-profits/index.ssf/2012/04/adidas_portland_footwear_desig.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96588 | 377 | 1.5 | 2 |
from wikipedia, regarding Kit Carson.
Marriage to Josefa Jaramillo
By 1842 Carson met and became engaged to the daughter of a prominent Taos family: Josefa Jaramillo. After receiving instruction from Padre Antonio José Martínez, he was baptized into the Catholic Church in 1842. At 34, Carson married his third wife, 14-year-old Josefa, on February 6, 1843. They had eight children together, the descendants of whom remain in the Arkansas Valley of Colorado. | <urn:uuid:11ccad26-b893-459f-b470-4cf63ca6ad28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.jaramillo/241/mb.ashx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974047 | 108 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Did you know that cleaning your lint trap with a dryer sheet can ruin it? Dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that’s what burns out the heating unit.
You can’t SEE the film, but it’s there. It’s what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free, and smell good. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box? Apparently that stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it!
You can test it by running the lint trap under water. If the water goes through you are good. If not then you need to clean it.
The best way to keep your dryer working for a long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. via | <urn:uuid:1bd26445-5111-4646-ae2c-b5dce23a74fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://doitandhow.com/2012/01/30/wash-your-dryer-lint-filter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952561 | 213 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Current News & Issues
See below for current news about scholarly communications issues, with emphasis on news from and affecting the University of California.
News and events from previous years can be found in the News Archive.
- The Taxpayer Access to Publicly Funded Research Act (AB 609) was introduced in the California Assembly on February 20, 2013 by Assembly Member Brian Nestande. This bill would require researchers who receive state agency-funded research grants to make copies of peer-reviewed manuscripts resulting from those grants freely available to the public. On April 26, the University of California Office of State Governmental Relations released a letter supporting the bill. The full text and current status of the bill can be viewed at the State Assembly's website.
- The UC Libraries announce campus-based open access fund pilots to support UC faculty who wish to make their research findings immediately and freely available to the public.
- In May, 2012, the UCSF Academic Senate voted to adopt an open access policy that will help make electronic versions of current and future scientific articles freely available to the public. UCSF is the largest scientific institution in the nation to adopt an open-access policy and among the first public universities to do so.
On February 7, the California Digital Library (CDL) announced that it is joining the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) as a major development partner in open access scholarly publishing. More information is available here and on the CDL's eScholarship website.
On January 9, the Council of University Librarians submitted comments in response to two Requests for Information from the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy. The RFI's, released in November, 2011, asked for public input on long term preservation of and public access to the results of federally funded research, including digital data and peer-reviewed scholarly publications. See the CoUL responses here.
The Google Book Search Settlement Agreement was rejected by Federal Judge Denny Chin on March 22, 2011. Judge Chin concluded that the Agreement was not "fair, adequate, and reasonable," per legal standards. He suggested that an "opt-in" settlement, rather than the proposed "opt-out" arragement, might ameliorate objections. The full decision can be found here.
Read the UC Libraries Statement regarding the federal court decision on the proposed Google Books Amended Settlement Agreement.
The UC-Springer Open Access Pilot has ended effective March 1st, 2011. During the two-year pilot negotiated between the California Digital Library (CDL) and Springer, UC-authored articles accepted for publication in 2009 and 2010 in most of the 2,000+ Springer journals were published as open access under Springer’s Open Choice program. Unfortunately, Springer has decided to discontinue this arrangement. Articles published as part of this pilot remain fully accessible through CDL’s eScholarship publishing platform as well as on the Springerlink platform. An assessment of the pilot will be conducted this spring.
UC authors wishing to make their Springer articles open access can choose to pay Springer’s standard article publication fee or submit their work to one of Springer’s new open access journals published under the SpringerOpen imprint, which offers discounted fees. Authors may also wish to consider other open access venues for disseminating their work.
Please feel free to contact Ivy Anderson at the California Digital Library with any questions.
Representatives from the University of California and Nature Publishing Group met on August 17, 2010, to discuss the organizations' current licensing challenges and the larger issues of scholarly communication sustainability. Read the full statement, released on August 25.
- Information about the University of California and Nature Publishing Group negotiations can now be found on a dedicated web page.
A June 4, 2010, letter to UC Faculty describes a proposal to quadruple the price of a UC license for Nature and its 67 affiliated journals. The letter, authored by the executive director of California Digital Library (CDL), the chair of University Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication of the Academic Senate and the convener of University Librarians Council, is an informational update about the UC Libraries' pricing challenges with the Nature Publishing Group (NPG) and the likelihood that the libraries will have to cancel some or all NPG titles in light of the University's current budget challenges. The letter also describes a potential boycott that some faculty are proposing if the dispute cannot be satisfactorily resolved.
Read more about the UC and NPG negotiations.
- UC Provost and Executive Vice President Lawrence H. Pitts, along with 26 other university presidents, provosts, and research vice presidents, signed an An Open Letter to the Higher Education Community affirming UC's support for increased public access to federally-funded research results. The letter, which endorsess the Federal Research Public Access Act (S.1373 and H.R.5073) was issued on April 23, 2010.
- October 19-23 marks the first annual Open Access Week (http://www.openaccessweek.org/), which is designed to raise awareness of this growing international movement that uses the Internet to throw open the locked doors that once hid knowledge. Open access encourages the unrestricted sharing of research results with everyone, everywhere, for the advancement of science and society. Read more...
- In August 2006, the University of California became the sixth library to partner with Google to digitize volumes from UC's extensive print collections as part of the Google Book Search Library Project. In October 2008, Google announced a settlement of a class action lawsuit by the Authors Guild of America and a separate suit by representative members of the Association of American Publishers, both of which sought to bar Google from scanning copies of in-copyright books held in the collections of major U.S. libraries. A court hearing on the settlement, which must be approved by the courts in order for it to take effect, is scheduled for October 7, 2009.
- The California Digital Library (CDL) and Springer have signed a ground-breaking agreement in which UC-authored articles accepted for publication in most of the 2000+ Springer journals will be published using Springer Open Choice, which brings with it full and immediate access to all readers. This means that UC authors will pay no additional publication fees in order for their articles to be immediately and fully open to all. Under the agreement, articles will be published under a license in which authors retain the right to distribute and re-use their articles freely.
For more information, see the UC/Springer Open Access Pilot or talk to a librarian on your campus. | <urn:uuid:6f3474c8-7377-4fbe-b826-ed7ec2b62825> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943107 | 1,337 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Chicago School Puts a Ban on Packed LunchesPosted on by Billy D (lockheed40)
URL for sharing: http://thisorth.at/57wk
If a certain Chicago school district gets its way, brown bag lunches (including lunch boxes and those goofy zip-up lunch carriers as well) will be a thing of the past. That's right, every student will be getting their lunch from the cafeteria. I don't know about you, but I don't have any fond memories of school lunches. I never find myself with a hankering for mystery meat or the unrecognizable meal of the day. I know school lunches have come a long way, but I don't think they've come that far.
I know that it's a lot cheaper and easier for the school to make one meal for the entire student body, and that the cost goes down when there are more students sharing the meal, but that doesn't automatically make the meal healthier. I don't know about you, but I never felt healthy after a school lunch. I wonder if school officials (or the First Lady) would be so excited about pushing school lunches on our children if they were the ones who had to actually eat them. I'm working as a substitute teacher at several schools, and I'm not very impressed with the lunches I've seen.
Apparently this Chicago school knows more about taking care of your child than you do. Parents can't be trusted to provide a healthy meal for their children. In some cases that is true, but that doesn't make every parent unfit for the job. Another concern for parents? The cost. Sure, lots of students qualify for free or reduced meals, but what about the parents who don't qualify? The school in question charges $2.25 per meal. A thrifty parent can pack a lunch for a lot less than that on average. Is it fair to add this kind of expense just so the school can decide what makes a healthy meal?
Honestly, there are bigger problems than what kids are eating for lunch. Schools across the country are cutting back on 'special' classes like art, music, and gym. Students have less and less activity in their lives. More and more spend time sitting in the classroom and playing video games or using the computer. I think there are bigger concerns about why our kids are getting bigger in the wrong way. | <urn:uuid:02d6bc26-f3ed-48df-ab2f-f2c45162f806> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thisorthat.com/blog/chicago-school-puts-a-ban-on-packed-lunches | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982403 | 488 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Dates hold an important place in Arabian heritage as a vital source of nutrition
Patchi chocolate display
Edible souvenirs include delicious Lebanese sweets (most often made from pastry, honey, ground nuts and dates). Iranian caviar is widely available and good value for money, as it is sold without import duty or any added tax. Chocolate made from camels' milk is a luxurious treat with a smooth texture and a unique flavour that comes from blending camel milk with vanilla, honey and cocoa beans. It is sold in bars, pralines and as camel shaped figurines, and is available from many souvenir shops, as well as supermarkets such as Abu Dhabi Co-operative Society, Lulu and Emirates General Market.
Perhaps the most classic edible souvenir is dates; this distinctive fruit holds an important place in Arabian heritage as a vital source of nutrition. Today, dates are available in many modern varieties, with each having its own distinct colour and flavour. They are even available dipped in chocolate or stuffed with almonds or candied orange peel. Bateel, the renowned dates delicatessen, has an amazing selection of luxury dates and date produce sparkling date juice, date jams and preserves and even balsamic vinegar from dates.
Guides, maps and wallpapers
Click, view and download all the essential Abu Dhabi information | <urn:uuid:53ad2605-2428-4815-bc0e-6bf81c92e73b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.visitabudhabi.ae/en/What.to.do/shopping/souvenirs.you.can.eat.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946776 | 268 | 1.703125 | 2 |
A member of our Financial Services staff will meet with you personally to help you determine the financial assistance that may be available to you. The college currently participates in Federal Pell Grants, Direct Loans, Plus Loans, SEOG and private programs to help students defray the cost of their education.
The primary purpose of financial aid is to provide monetary assistance to students who can benefit from a post-secondary education, but who cannot do so without financial assistance. It is believed that when an individual has the opportunity to develop his or her capacity, that person not only enhances him or herself, but contributes greatly to our society.
Speak with your admissions representative about setting up your personal financial aid interview when you come in for a tour of the campus.
Attention Students and Parents!
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's (ARRA) newly created American Opportunity Tax Credit, textbook and other course material expenses - along with tuition and fees incurred in 2009 and 2010 not covered by scholarships or grants - may be claimed as a tax credit on that year's tax return! | <urn:uuid:808d9bc0-14ed-4232-9c26-376660371d14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deltacollege.com/financialaid | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963989 | 216 | 1.742188 | 2 |
He didn't say good-bye. He didn't leave a phone number. And he didn't plan on coming back - ever.
In Wisconsin, Rico could blend in. His light hair and lighter skin wouldn't make him the "dark dude" or the punching bag for the whole neighborhood. The Midwest is the land of milk and honey, but for Rico Fuentes, it's really a last resort. Trading Harlem for Wisconsin, though, means giving up on a big part of his identity. And when Rico no longer has to prove that he's Latino, he almost stops being one. Except he can never have an ordinary white kid's life, because there are some things that can't be left behind, that can't be cut loose or forgotten. These are the things that will be with you forever.... These are the things that will follow you a thousand miles away.
For anyone who loved The Outsiders -- and for anyone who's ever felt like one -- Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos brings to life a haunting choice and an unforgettable journey about identity, misidentity, and all that we take with us when we run away.
Lori Marie Carlson is the author of two novels, two landmark bilingual poetry anthologies, and many other young adult and children's books. Oscar Hijuelos is a first-generation Cuban American and the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. He has written six novels, the most recent of which is A Simple Habana Melody. They live in New York City.
"Dark Dude's journey toward self-discovery is a compelling read. Today's teens will be thrilled to discover a voice as authentic and accomplished as Oscar Hijuelos's" - Ellen Hopkins, New York Times bestselling author of Crank and Glass | <urn:uuid:23a23cc0-915c-42dc-8497-5461df852b07> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.skylightbooks.com/ebook/job4eyWVXZQC | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967553 | 366 | 1.617188 | 2 |
It was a rough night to be a tea partier in the Peace Garden State. North Dakota voters Tuesday rejected two controversial ballot measures that would have eliminated property taxes and strengthened the rights of religious groups, and agreed to allow the University of North Dakota to retire its “Fighting Sioux” nickname.
Measure 2, which would have eliminated all property taxes in the state, was soundly rejected, with 77 percent of voters opposing the measure and only 23 percent supporting it. Measure 3, which would have prohibited government from “burden[ing] a person’s or religious organization’s religious liberty” unless it had a “compelling government interest,” received support from only 36 percent of voters, with 64 percent opposing it.
Measure 3 had been created in response to government initiatives that supporters said infringed on religious liberty, such as the government requiring health insurance companies to provide reproductive health care to policyholders. In an interview with the Huffington Post, Tom Frier, president of the North Dakota Family Alliance, said the measure was necessary “Because of what we see around us … that level of intrusion by the government.”
Opponents of the measure included women’s groups and groups that support victims of child abuse. On the website of North Dakota Against Measure Three, opponents said the measure was overbroad, and that “Measure 3 could allow a person to take advantage and use personal religious beliefs to claim the right to break important laws that are meant to protect all of us, like laws against child abuse, domestic violence and discrimination.”
Tom Fiebiger, chair of North Dakotans Against Measure Three, praised the outcome. In a statement given to Care2 Causes, Fiebiger said, “Tonight, North Dakotans of all faiths and all walks of life voted no on Measure Three. We are grateful North Dakotans did the right thing and rejected this unnecessary and potentially dangerous Measure.”
Measure 2 was straightforward. It would have eliminated all property, acreage, and poll taxes, blowing an $800 million hole in North Dakota’s budget. The measure was promoted by Ron Paul supporters, and even drew video support from Rep. Paul himself. Nevertheless, the measure was opposed by almost everyone not on the libertarian fringe, from the North Dakota Chamber of Commerce to the North Dakota Public Employees’ Association to the state PTA to the North Dakota Soybean Association.
Fighting Sioux Nickname Retired
North Dakota voters also voted to let the University of North Dakota retire its “Fighting Sioux” nickname. The university had planned to do so after facing pressure from the NCAA, but a series of legislative changes had cast that in doubt. The issue was ultimately thrown to the ballot, where voters supported the measure by a two-to-one margin, with 67 percent of voters in favor of retiring the name, while only 33 percent were opposed.
Berg, Heitkamp Advance to General Election
November’s general election matchup for U.S. Senate was officially set, with Rep. Rick Berg, R-N.D., winning his primary over Duane Sand, the former Dakotas director of Americans for Prosperity. Berg will face former Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp, who was running unopposed for the Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party nomination.
Polls have shown a close race to replace retiring Sen. Kent Conrad, D-NPL-N.D. A June Mason-Dixon poll showed Heitkamp with a slim 47 percent to 46 percent lead over Berg, while a Forum Communications poll in May gave Berg the lead.
In the race to replace Berg, Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer defeated Public Service Commissioner Brian Kalk for the GOP nomination, winning 54 percent of the vote to Cramer’s 45 percent. Former State Rep. Pam Gulleson, D-NPL-Rutland, was running unopposed in her primary.
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers. | <urn:uuid:025937e2-e337-4ff3-b736-43906241c2cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.care2.com/causes/north-dakota-retires-fighting-sioux-nickname-rejects-conservative-measures.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966554 | 851 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Invite a friend
EMERGENCY BLOOD SHORTAGE – PLEASE DONATE
EMERGENCY BLOOD SHORTAGE – PLEASE DONATE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2012 AT GROVER CLEVELAND MIDDLE SCHOOL FROM 3pm – 8pm
The Blood Center of New Jersey (BCNJ) is in an Emergency Blood Shortage situation and need all those who are eligible to please donate.
Since the onset of the superstorm, BCNJ has reported a loss of over 1,950 donations of blood. The 60 drives BCNJ have had to be cancelled due to the devastation of the storm. These cancellations are a direct result of building damage, no power and water damage at the drive sites. Additional blood drive cancellations are predicted.
The standard daily orders, of blood and blood products to our New Jersey hospitals, has been reduced to less than one quarter…..and BCNJ predicts this situation will get worse in the coming days.
Please donate for the patients in our New Jersey hospitals we require life saving transfusions.
If you are ineligible to donate blood but would still like to donate to the relief effort, donations of food will also be collected for the Community Food Bank of New Jersey.
We are seeking donations of:
- Meals in a can
- Canned tuna
- Peanut butter
- Canned Fruits
- Canned Vegetables
- Canned Soup
- Shelf-stable Milk
- Baby Food – No Glass Jars
These donations will be delivered to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and from there will help the relief efforts of the American Red Cross, FEMA, and the Salvation Army. Through the Community Food Bank, 100,000 lbs of food are distributed each day to families in need of recovery assistance from the Storm. They also produce over 50,000 meals each week for delivery to those victims. Every donation to this organization will directly help victims of the superstorm that has devastated New Jersey.
Please do your part to help New Jersey recover from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy with donations of blood and goods at our drive on November 27.
More About Grover Cleveland Middle School
Small group learning activities, guidance services and a variety of special interest club programs all serve to encourage creative expression in an environment that is supportive and caring.
Training in interpersonal, decision-making and coping skills, with stress conflict resolution and tolerance, help students to resist pressures from peers and develop healthy lifestyles.
The curriculum in the middle school takes into consideration the student's need to develop his/her self-esteem and self-responsibility. A variety of teaching methods and a balanced curriculum of core subjects with an emphasis on depth and quality of understanding of the major concepts in each subject area, as well as the connections between them help to create a meaningful interdisciplinary curriculum where students can cultivate their intellectual curiosity. Common planning time and flexible scheduling enable teachers to work and plan collaboratively. This organization provides an intellectually challenging program that helps students to recognize the complexity of knowledge and ideas while being supportive of their need for individual attention. Field trips, museum visits, guest speakers and assembly programs add another dimension to students' learning experiences in the middle school. The library, which has been renovated and computerized, continues to serve as the hub of the middle school's learning environment. A network of computers in the library as well as three computer labs helps to facilitate each student's ability to access information quickly and effectively.
Each grade level is now also housed on one of the three floors in the building. | <urn:uuid:d278a005-f7e9-41f8-89ee-4b6926ef228a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://verona.patch.com/events/emergency-blood-shortage-please-donate | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938335 | 722 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Condoms don't make sex suck after all, study finds1/23/2013
There goes that excuse: Condoms don't make sex less enjoyable for either men or women, a new study has found. Americans ages 18 to 59 who completed an online questionnaire about their sex habits consistently rated safe sex to be equally "highly arousing and pleasurable" as unprotected sex. The nationwide study also found that men had no trouble maintaining erections while putting on condoms and that many women couldn't perceive the difference between lubricated and nonlubricated condoms in the heat of the moment. If you have any other objections to safe sex, these experts would probably be happy to shoot those down, too. [Source]
Click to see more on msnNOW.com, updated 24 hours a day.
Do you think sex is better with or without condoms? | <urn:uuid:8d5b6834-3cb4-48d0-b895-506da576ed9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://now.msn.com/condoms-dont-make-sex-less-pleasurable-study-finds | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964118 | 174 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Backgrounder on Cosponsorship:
Part I: What is Cosponsorship?
Part II: Do Political Players Believe Cosponsorship Matters?
Part III: Is Cosponsorship A Consequential Congressional Activity?
Cosponsorship is not only important by reputation; the act has also been demonstrated to have a consistent legislative impact (Campbell 1982; Wilson and Young 1997). The number of cosponsors for bills passing the House is greater than the number of cosponsors for bills that were voted down (Wilson and Young 1997: 32). This should not be taken as an indication that cosponsorship leads directly to bill success. Rather, cosponsorship seems to help grab the attention of fellow legislators at a particular stage of the legislative process. The number of cosponsorships of a bill is positively and significantly associated with the probability that a bill gains some consideration by a committee rather than simply being “killed” (taken out of consideration). However, the number of cosponsorships is not significantly associated with the probability of a bill’s passage out of the House when the passage of a bill out of committee is controlled for (Wilson and Young 1997: 35-39).
There are two implications of these findings about cosponsorship. First, such findings are not surprising when considering that cosponsorships occur during committee consideration but are not allowed during consideration by the entire House. If cosponsorships represent the pattern of growing support during the period of committee consideration, they should be more associated with committee decisions than full decisions of the House. Second, in conjunction with the finding that cosponsorship activity decreases with House seniority (Campbell 1982; Krehbiel 1995), this finding suggests that the ultimate importance of cosponsorship may be as an exercise in coalition-building to produce change outside the traditional power structure of party and committee leadership. By this definition, cosponsorship efforts are analogous to social movements, even though these efforts occur in the very halls of power from which traditional social movements are often excluded.
As David Mayhew has pointed out, the coalitions represented by cosponsorships could conceivably be simple “paper” coalitions, in which the addition of support is a costless activity requiring little follow-up (Mayhew 1974). To the contrary, however, cosponsorship often seems involve the dedication of time and effort by cosponsors to the passage of the bill of focus. During one hearing alone, six cosponsors of the Marriage Tax Elimination Act rose to speak in its favor (Hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee, 1/28/98). Although it has been said that talk is cheap, the energy spent on the writing and delivery of speeches and on other communications by legislators or their staffs is taken from a limited reserve that could be expended elsewhere. That multiple sponsorship was a common occurrence (especially in an age before easy photocopies, when its practice meant the drafting of an entirely new bill) also suggests that cosponsorship has some importance worthy of effort. The sacrifice of this energy for the cause of a bill indicates the existence of a meaningful coalition.
In sum, evidence of cosponsorship’s substantive importance in congressional politics takes a number of forms. Before the legalization of cosponsorship, legislators devised elaborate and expensive forms of multiple sponsorship that fulfilled cosponsorship’s function. Cosponsorship is an activity that occurs rather often, although the frequency of cosponsorship varies widely from bill to bill and legislator to legislator. Both members of Congress and those that petition them regularly express their belief in the importance of cosponsorship to the legislative process. Finally, the number of cosponsorships of a bill has been shown to be positively and significantly related to the probability of a bill’s passage out of committee. It is fair to conclude that cosponsorship is a significant political event.
Campbell, James. 1982. “Cosponsoring Legislation in the U.S. Congress.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 3: 415-422.
Krehibel, Keith. 1995. “Cosponsors and Wafflers from A to Z.” American Journal of Political Science 39: 906-923.
Mayhew, David. 1974. Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Wilson, Rick K. and Cheryl D. Young. 1997. “Cosponsorship in the U.S. Congress.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 12: 25-43 | <urn:uuid:4d37750c-ce19-478f-a601-71196ed27f27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thatsmycongress.com/index.php/2006/08/10/is-cosponsorship-a-consequential-congressional-activity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958668 | 916 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The Japanese compact cars have surpassed the popularity of the American cars of similar types, and General Motors doesn't like the situation. That's why they introduced the Oldsmobile Achieva, a car aimed on competing with the Japanese compact cars of the same 4-cylinder engine configuration. And it was competitive at first, but such competitiveness didn't last long.
The Oldsmobile Achieva was introduced in 1992 as a front-wheel drive compact car based on the General Motors N Body platform. It shares the same body platform and has the same wheelbase length of 103.4 inches as with similar Buick Skylark and Pontiac Grand Am. It was manufactured and sold by General Motors for six years until it was dropped for the 1998 model year.
Upon introduction, the Oldsmobile Achieva was sold in four trim levels: S, SL, SC and SCX. Both S and SL trims were available in two and four door models while the sportier SC and SCX trims were sold only on coupe body styles. There were also four engine options starting with a 120 hp 2.3 liter 4-cylinder engine for the S trim. The other engine options include a 160 hp 2.3 liter 4-cylinder engine (standard on SL but optional on S), 160 hp 3.3 liter V6 (optional on SL), and a 180 hp 4-cylinder engine (standard on SC and SCX coupes). Standard transmission is a 5-speed manual while a 3-speed automatic shift is available as an option.
The Oldsmobile Achieva is clearly more competitive than the Oldsmobile Calais it replaced. But such competitiveness was not enough and the car didn't show any exceptional features or character to make it surpass the popularity of its Japanese rivals. The early 4-cylinder engine powered cars accelerates quickly and moves fast, but are extremely noisy and unrefined, making the costlier V6 option the engine of choice. The interiors, however, are comfortable and would give you a pleasurable ride. Compared to its Japanese rivals, the Oldsmobile Calais is also priced affordably, making it the choice for low income car buyers.
It has a low level of refinement and the later models have poor engine performance, but with the right auto parts, the Oldsmobile Achieva can be the best compact car there is. Here at Parts Train, we have a complete and comprehensive inventory of high quality but affordable Oldsmobile Achieva parts that can make this idea become a reality. We have high performance and highly refined engines, engine parts and other body parts and accessories that would make your car perform at its best and look definitely better. Every Oldsmobile Achieva part you can find here at our 24-hour online shop are DOT-approved so you can be assured of its safeness and quality. | <urn:uuid:d5b8ceb8-3252-40e4-83e4-d0f9317eae44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.partstrain.com/ShopByVehicle/OLDSMOBILE/ACHIEVA | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963158 | 588 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Search for Cases and Other Legal Resources
Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation vs Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation Workers Association
Labor Relations – Categories of Illegal Strikes
In May 2000, Mediator-Arbiter Ma. Zosima Lameyra issued an order certifying Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation Workers Association as the exclusive bargaining agent of all Toyota rank-and-file employees. Toyota filed a motion for reconsideration assailing the said order. Lameyra denied the motion and Toyota eventually appealed the order before the DOLE Secretary.
Meanwhile, the Union submitted its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) proposals to Toyota but the latter refused to bargain pending its appeal before the DOLE Secretary. The Union then filed a notice of strike with the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB). The NCMB converted the notice of strike to a preventive mediation considering that the DOLE Secretary was yet to decide on Toyota’s appeal.
In relation to Toyota’s appeal, the parties were invited to a hearing. Union members were not allowed to attend the hearing as they were aptly represented by the Union. But despite this, many Union members and officers failed to render overtime and work on the following day which caused Toyota to lose P53,849,991.00. The union members went to the hearing and assembled before the Bureau of Labor Relations.
Subsequently, Toyota terminated 227 employees. The terminated employees allegedly abandoned their work.
This resulted to another rally within Toyota’s premises as the strikers barricaded the entrances of Toyota preventing non-strikers from going to work.
In April 2001, the DOLE Secretary assumed jurisdiction over the labor dispute and issued a return-to-work order. The Union ended its strike in the same month. However, in May and June 2001, union members still conducted rallies and pickets.
ISSUE: Whether or not the strikes conducted by the Union on different occasions are illegal.
HELD: Yes. The strike conducted before the BLR as well as the strike conducted when the 227 employees were terminated is illegal because both did not go through the proper procedure required by the Labor Code. It cannot be said that the strike conducted before the BLR is beyond the ambit of the strikes contemplated in the Labor Code. The Union argues that the “strike” is actually a protest directed against the government and is covered by their constitutional right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. The SC disagreed with this argument because the Union failed to provide evidence that the Mediator-Arbiter was biased against them. Further, if this were the kind of protest they were claiming, they should have secured a rally permit. Further still, this case involves a labor dispute. The employees may shroud their “strike” as mere demonstrations covered by the constitution but in reality these are temporary work stoppages.
The strikes conducted after the DOLE Secretary assumed jurisdiction over the labor dispute are illegal for they violated the return-to-work order.
The Supreme Court also cited the 6 categories of illegal strikes which are:
1. When it is contrary to a specific prohibition of law, such as strike by employees performing governmental functions; or
2. When it violates a specific requirement of law, [such as Article 263 of the Labor Code on the requisites of a valid strike]; or
3. When it is declared for an unlawful purpose, such as inducing the employer to commit an unfair labor practice against non-union employees; or
4. When it employs unlawful means in the pursuit of its objective, such as a widespread terrorism of non-strikers [for example, prohibited acts under Art. 264(e) of the Labor Code]; or
5. When it is declared in violation of an existing injunction, [such as injunction, prohibition, or order issued by the DOLE Secretary and the NLRC under Art. 263 of the Labor Code]; or
6. When it is contrary to an existing agreement, such as a no-strike clause or conclusive arbitration clause.
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Digests and other resources within this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License unless otherwise indicated. | <urn:uuid:53949fd3-1c12-4dd6-95ce-e555aa986d39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uberdigests.info/2012/03/toyota-motor-philippines-corporation-vs-toyota-motor-philippines-corporation-workers-association/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958551 | 861 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Local citizens graduate From Douglas Border Patrol Station Citizens AcademyBy Trisha Maldonado
Several local citizens and community leaders from Douglas, Elfrida, McNeal and Sierra Vista successfully completed the first Citizens Academy held by the Customs and Border Protection U.S. Border Patrol Douglas Station on Nov. 27.
The 15 academy participants received a behind the scenes tour of the station and learned the history of the U.S. Border Patrol, its mission, and the role that CBP U.S. Border Patrol plays in protecting the border.
Participants also learned about technologies utilized by Border Patrol agents as well as defensive tactics, maritime operations, and collaborative operations including the Integrated Border Enforcement Team and Operation Stonegarden.
Partakers were given lessons on the history of the Border Patrol; criminal and immigration law; tracking skills; firearms, as well as horse patrol and interdiction scenarios. The course is offered at no charge to any resident who would like to attend, and is an added opportunity for agents, assigned to the academy to foster community relations.
“Every academy evolves from the past one. The next academy will be better; we build on what we achieve. This class was diversified, it was an honor to teach this class,” CBP U.S. Border Patrol Agent, Community Liaison, Edguardo Garyua said. “The important thing is that all the people who attended the academy enjoyed it. By all of the questions that were asked and participation I feel they did, we enjoyed doing all of these blocks of instruction.”
These classes are just the beginning; the Douglas Border Patrol Station will host another Citizens Academy in January.
If you are interested in attending future sessions of the Douglas Patrol Station Citizens Academy, please contact CBP U.S. Border Patrol Agent, Community Liaison, Edguardo Garyua at (520) 805-8011. | <urn:uuid:ce1bbfa9-c29f-4b17-bfd6-77c199ec6ebd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.douglasdispatch.com/articles/2012/12/05/news/doc50bf8ea9e493c024766108.prt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953498 | 389 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Total assets of the global fund industry, including hedge funds and private wealth, are worth around $120 trillion, with conventional assets under management up 5 percent in 2012 to $84.1 trillion, the report by TheCityUK said.
"The fund management industry has recovered quickly from the sharp fall in assets under management at the outset of the credit crisis, with most of the recovery coming from market performance rather than new inflows," TheCityUK, a London-based group tracking the financial services industry, said.
It said conventional assets under management by pension funds, mutual funds and insurance companies had risen 5 percent in the first three quarters of 2012, and 13 percent from pre-crisis levels, and were set to end the year at $85.2 trillion.
The United States was by far the biggest source of funds, accounting for nearly a half of conventional assets under management or some $36 trillion. The United Kingdom and Japan accounted for around 8 percent each.
Pension assets accounted for nearly 40 percent of conventional funds, with the remainder split almost equally between insurance companies and mutual funds, the report found.
Alternatives, including hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds and exchange-traded funds had over $10 trillion in assets. Sovereign funds' assets under management jumped 9 percent in 2011 to a record $4.8 trillion and TheCityUK forecasts this to rise above $5 trillion in 2012.
Private wealth assets totalled $42 trillion by end-2011, a fall of 1.7 percent on the year, though a third of this was incorporated in other forms of investment management, the report said. There was no data for 2012.
The weak spot was private equity where TheCityUK estimates $93 billion in global investments during the first half of 2012 compared with $246 billion in 2011. That in itself was down 6 percent on 2010 and two-thirds below the 2006-2007 peak.
(Reporting by Sujata Rao; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Copyright 2010 by Reuters. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click For Restrictions | <urn:uuid:b66db9ce-22f8-4c7e-9ba8-99413fa3f5ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.advancedtrading.com/infrastructure/global-fund-industry-rebounds-total-asse/240124919?cid=SBX_advancedtrading_related_news_default_quickview&itc=SBX_advancedtrading_related_news_default_quickview | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962935 | 423 | 1.5625 | 2 |
PARIS—Mauna Kea Technologies, which develops optical biopsy products, announced today that one of its products, Cellvizio, has received State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) approval in China, one of the fastest growing, largest medical-device markets in the world. Mauna Kea also announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with FUJIFILM (China) Investment Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corporation. The partners will work together to develop the Cellvizio market throughout China in various indications.
"We are pleased to add Cellvizio to our broad portfolio of endoscopic products that we offer physicians throughout China," said Koji Yokota, president of Fujifilm China. "Optical biopsies allow physicians to diagnose and treat their patients in real time and are a true differentiating factor in endoscopy. Cellvizio will complement and enhance our own proprietary suite of advanced endoscopic imaging devices and systems."
Fujifilm benefits from an exponential growth in its endoscopy market in China and has established strong distribution network all over the country. There are 800 advanced endoscopy centers in tertiary referral hospitals in China, which will constitute the primary target for Cellvizio.
"Fujifilm is the ideal partner to help us penetrate the Chinese market and offer physicians across the most populous country in the world access to Cellvizio," said Sacha Loiseau, CEO of Mauna Kea Technologies. "Chinese endoscopists have been eagerly waiting for Cellvizio to be available in China. SFDA approval is a significant milestone for the company and strengthens our footprint around the globe, since Cellvizio is now available in more than 40 countries and used by hundreds of physicians."
Mauna Kea Technologies researches, develops and markets tools to visualize and detect cellular abnormalities during endoscopic procedures. Its flagship product, Cellvizio, a probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) system, provides physicians and researchers high-resolution cellular views of tissue inside the body. Cellvizio can be used with almost any endoscope. Cellvizio has 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European CE-Mark for use in the GI tract, biliary and pancreatic ducts and lungs. | <urn:uuid:fc40eae8-00a2-46a2-884b-f2efa82f4f09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.endonurse.com/news/2012/12/china-approves-endoscopy-device-from-mauna-kea.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93825 | 498 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Miniseries such as "Roots," "Rich Man, Poor Man" and "The Thorn Birds" mastered the art of storytelling. With their epic sagas, these television events kept America riveted night after night. Revisit famous scenes and hear actors talk about the impact of their miniseries on their own lives and on the world.
Visit the Website: http://www.pbs.org/pioneersoftelevision/
Episode #304 / Length: 56 minutes | <urn:uuid:7b4bcb7d-fd04-4d77-b625-7e48fe9e7ed9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.klru.org/episode/pioneers-of-television/miniseries/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959399 | 100 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Sources: BBC News, Electronista
quote: "Unrealistic" is a relative term. Everyone and their brother were hyping finfets/3d transistors as being the next coming/the best thing since sliced bread
quote: when at best it is an incremental improvement
quote: It is. It's pushed back Moores Law. If you can't understand that, I don't know what to say.
quote: And SOI? Where are you getting this stuff from? SOI is a whole lot more expensive to produce than building a finFET based processor currently. SOI has always been more expensive thus why Intel has never used SOI in their processors. Why don't you actually read about the problems that AMD has had with SOI and compare Bulldozer to Ivy Bridge. Notice something?The two aren't even at odds anyway. SOI is a materials change while finFet is a structural improvement. In theory you could have finFET processors on SOI, which would pretty much rock.
quote: That's by design of course. Hello? This is the first Ivy Bridge chip.
quote: You people can be Tri-Gate deniers if that makes you happy, whatever. It's willful ignorance in my opinion. It's like arguing that fuel injection isn't all that great, and carburetors are almost as good lol.
quote: SOI, HKMG and tri-gate transistors are all targeted at one thing: improving transistor performance, whatever the metric you choose to measure "performance". Also, I'm simply comparing the impact of the move to these different techniques
quote: That being said, I'm judging the technology as it is currently implemented, and the results are (again) an incremental improvement.
quote: This sounds like a case where people were hyped due to misinformation. | <urn:uuid:77c6c535-e5a0-4937-a0a4-127c0b68f2d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=24523&commentid=766632&threshhold=1&red=3732 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973079 | 381 | 1.617188 | 2 |
May 15, 2005
Minneapolis, Minn. — For Gerardo Cajamarca, it was his fight against globalization that brought him to Minnesota.
Cajamarca organized labor unions in his native Colombia and protested against Plan Colombia, the United States' proxy war on coca growers and traders in Colombia.
He says it was after fellow dissidents were killed and he received death threats that he sought political asylum here.
Cajamarca arrived in Minnesota in 2003. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife and two sons.
He says living here is bittersweet. He holds the United States responsible for aiding corruption in his country, where he says government leaders are complicit in drug trafficking. But he also enjoys the liberties of being able to speak freely here and live without fear of retribution.
Cajamarca is a member of the Steelworkers Union, and spends his time speaking around the country against Plan Colombia, globalization, and the Coca Cola Corp. | <urn:uuid:b00565ce-178c-4c46-8a3a-837ed98aa42f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/05/16_tonessb_globalcolombia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985124 | 201 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Boric acid for yeast
Boric acid is a very helpful treatment for chronic and resistant yeast infections.
Taken internally, it is toxic, so I'm inclined to be really explicit - YOU DO NOT SWALLOW IT - you apply the powder to your vulva or insert it into your vagina.
Naturopaths have suggested it for years. The reason why it works is that many women who are prone to yeast infections have neutral or high vaginal pH, whereas it should be slightly acidic (around 5 on the pH scale). Yeast can't thrive in an acidic environment. Boric acid has the right pH to make your vagina mildly acidic. I think that's why drinking cranberry juice works, too.
You can apply some of the power directly - it doesn't take much. Or, you can fill a gel cap about 1/3 of the way with the powder and insert that. It only costs about $6 for a three month supply, and many pharmacies carry it. I buy caps, and fill enough for a couple of months at a time.
Initially, you may want to use it for about one to two weeks every night (while wearing a pad). Then, just use it for a few days out of the month - when you're on your period, for example.
Stop using it if it makes you more irritated. Always wash your hands really well after touching the powder - and don't let anyone have oral sex with you until you've had a chance to completely rinse it out in a bath. Don't use it on open wounds.
With all those warnings, it sounds kind of scary, but it's really harmless and totally effective when used externally - and it's effective for strains of yeast that are resistant to other treatments. Now, I just use two or three caps a month, and it keeps the yeast at bay. I wish I'd known about it 15 years ago. Could have saved me a lot of frustration, pain (and money).
Just remember that vulodynia can have a lot of other causes than yeast (for example, sometimes foods high in oxalic acid can cause vulodynia... cranberry juice could be making it worse) . Make sure you know what you're treating before you start trying various remedies.
If it still makes you nervous, read the info on these links about using boric acid to treat yeast:
[url]http://www.med.umich.edu/obgyn/vulva/yeast.htm[/url] and [url]http://www.uhs.wisc.edu/ex/selfcare...tion.php#recurr[/url]
Hope that helps. Lena | <urn:uuid:6a402048-8dec-474b-97c4-922742f924ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthboards.com/boards/709014-post2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958082 | 552 | 1.554688 | 2 |
"A report by US-based group Human Rights Watch says the deaths [on Gaza beach] were likely to have been caused by Israeli shelling.
An expert working for the group said the Palestinians' injuries were not consistent with an explosion taking place beneath them.
"All of the evidence is pointing to a 155mm shell as having killed and injured the Palestinians here on the beach," Mark Garlasco said.
"My assessment [is] that it's likely that this was incoming artillery fire that landed on the beach and was fired by the Israelis from the north of Gaza."
From the Guardian:
"...a former Pentagon offical sent by the New York-based Human Rights Watch to investigate the death of the family has concluded that there is little doubt they were killed by an Israeli shell. "All the evidence points to the fact that it couldn't have been a mine," said Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon expert on battlefields who led the US military's battle damage assessment team in Kosovo and worked for its intelligence wing, the Defense Intelligence Agency.
"You have the crater size, the shrapnel, the types of injuries, their location on the bodies. That all points to a shell dropping from the sky not explosives under the sand."
"The 155mm shell is what Israel uses in the howitzers that regularly shell northern Gaza," he said.
"The Israelis have been postulating that it's a land mine. I've been to hospital and seen the injuries. The doctors say they are primarily to the head and torso. That is consistent with a shell exploding above the ground not a mine under it." Palestinian doctors agreed.
Mr Garlasco said the crater where the family was killed closely resembles others scattered the length of the beach caused by Israeli shells. Each is lined with a white power left by the explosion, including the one where the family died.
A crucial weakness in the army's version is its inability to account for the sixth shell in the barrage that hit the beach. The Palestinians and Mr Garlasco say it would be a remarkable coincidence for the army to drop five shells in the area and within minutes for a Hamas land mine to have exploded just 120 metres away.
"To say you have five or six rounds in an area and coincidentally there's a land mine next to it and it goes off at the same time is asking a lot," he said." | <urn:uuid:e41752bc-dc90-4638-97b3-7743b765005b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arabwomanprogressivevoice.blogspot.com/2006/06/human-rights-watch-israel-is.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983 | 492 | 1.695313 | 2 |
SARANAC LAKE - Homeward Bound Adirondacks is throwing in the towel on creating its first retreat center for veterans at 124 Glenwood Drive.
In a press release sent to the Enterprise Tuesday, Bob Ross, president of the organization's board of directors, said Homeward Bound is dropping the plan due to opposition to the project from neighbors.
"HBA indicated that it would not attempt to force its way into a community that did not support and desire the project in their community," Ross wrote. "As a consensus of support is not now available, HBA is, with great disappointment, withdrawing from pursuit of the 124 Glenwood project. HBA especially regrets the lost opportunity for veteran and community volunteers to work together on restoring an historic house for use as HBA's home base."
Homeward Bound had put down a $12,500 deposit on the vacant home, which Ross said it will now lose. The sale of the property, which is currently Thomas and Richard Trepanier of Mamaroneck, was supposed to close on Tuesday.
Homeward Bound had been promised $125,000 in funding from a foundation headed by Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, who grew up in Saranac Lake and is a Homeward Bound board member, to purchase the eight-bedroom home, which at one time was owned by his grandfather, Dr. Francis Berger Trudeau. Ross has said it would have been home to an office and a small retreat center that would host programs for veterans and their families.
The official end of the project comes less than a week after Homeward Bound, at Wednesday's village Planning Board meeting, withdrew a request to have 124 Glenwood and an adjacent vacant parcel rezoned from residential to institutional use due to strong opposition from neighboring property owners. Ross described it as "the best of a poor set of choices" that were recommended by the village for converting the home to a retreat center. Just rezoning 124 Glenwood was ruled out because it would have been spot zoning and subject to a potential legal challenge.
Earlier this month, some neighbors had gone on record supporting the rezoning of 124 Glenwood, as long as a number of conditions restricting the use of the property were adhered to, only to turn against the project after learning Ross had actually sought rezoning of two parcels.
Esther Arlan, one of several Glenwood-area residents who spoke at Monday night's village board meeting, said promises made by Ross and other Homeward Bound supporters several weeks ago to keep the community and neighbors informed about the project in a timely fashion were broken.
Arlan said she's not opposed to serving veterans, but she noted that this is the second time in six months that a rezoning in the area has been proposed for a veteran-related project spearheaded by Ross, who is also the CEO of St. Joseph's Addiction Treatment and Recovery Centers. Earlier this year, the village board approved the rezoning of a parcel of St. Joseph's land for a 25-bed community residence for veterans suffering from substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder, but only after St. Joe's made a series of concessions to the neighbors, including relocating the building and creating a permanent buffer on the property.
"How many more properties will be rezoned and removed from the tax rolls?" Arlan asked.
Speaking at Monday's meeting, Ross said he hoped for a continued dialogue among the neighbors, the Planning Board and Homeward Bound on finding another way to convert the house to a retreat center.
"It's not the desire of Homeward Bound to impose ourselves on the community, but if there was a way in which something could be worked out collectively, we certainly would be pleased to have such an opportunity," Ross said.
Kiwassa Road resident Steve Erman said he supported Ross' approach to see if "there's a legal way the project could be accommodated in that neighborhood." He urged the village board to have a lawyer, seasoned in planning and zoning, participate in that conversation.
But other neighbors were still concerned. Jon Vinograd said Ross was trying to "shoe horn" the project into the Glenwood neighborhood without changing the zoning.
"The zoning law and the master plan says this is an area for single-family residences only," said Glenwood resident George Nagle. "What part of 'only' don't some people understand?"
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Ross described the opposition as the product of "a serious misunderstanding" about what Homeward Bound had proposed. He said he had talked to one resident of the neighborhood, after the rezoning application was submitted, and described that two parcels were needed to accomplish the rezoning.
"I would take some exception to the notion that we didn't communicate at all," Ross said. "Did we discuss it? Yes. Could the conversation had been more extensive? Undoubtedly."
Ross said he didn't know if the $125,000 in funding from Trudeau's Grandison Foundation for the purchase of the house would still be available to Homeward Bound.
While the Glenwood project is now off the table, Ross said Homeward Bound will continue to focus on developing and implementing its veteran reintegration programs, fundraising and finding another site for its activities. The organization will soon be announcing the receipt of a "major grant," Ross said. | <urn:uuid:f32b2809-f31d-41bf-ab94-f109b7a3b31d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/531547/Homeward-Bound-drops-plan-for-Glenwood-home.html?nav=5008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97974 | 1,113 | 1.648438 | 2 |
In one of his characteristic conniptions about people who frustrated him, Theodore Roosevelt, progressivism’s first president, said of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, “I could carve out of a banana a judge with more backbone than that.” TR was as mistaken about Holmes’ spine as are various progressives today about Chief Justice John Roberts’.
They are waging an embarrassingly obvious campaign, hoping he will buckle beneath the pressure of their disapproval and declare Obamacare constitutional. The crucial question is whether Congress exceeded its enumerated power to regulate interstate commerce when it mandated that individuals engage in commerce by purchasing health insurance.
Justice Anthony Kennedy is generally considered today’s swing vote, but his acerbic first question to the administration’s lawyer during the second day of oral argument changed assumptions: “Can you create commerce in order to regulate it?”
Concluding that Kennedy might be disposed to overturn the mandate, some Obamacare defenders decided that Roberts’ vote will be decisive. They hope to secure it by causing Roberts to worry about his reputation and that of his institution.
Recently, for example, Vermont’s Pat Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, delivered a Senate speech defending the constitutionality of what he calls the “personal responsibility requirement.” (This is his Orwellian appellation for the mandate, whereby government coercion nullifies personal choice regarding insurance.) After 37 years in the Senate, Leahy probably no longer knows when he sounds insufferably patronizing, as he did when he said that during oral argument he thought Roberts “seemed well aware of the significance of [the Obamacare] decision.” And “I thought I saw a chief justice who understands the importance of this case to all Americans.” And Roberts “seemed to understand” the deference owed to Congress.
Leahy intimated that overturning Obamacare would be as momentous, as divisive of the nation and as damaging to the court as was Bush v. Gore, which he asserts “shook the confidence of the American people in the Supreme Court.” But surely a striking fact about that decision is how equably Americans accepted it. This testified to the court’s durable prestige, which is a function of the court’s immunity to pressures from politicians. Public approval of the court is above 50 percent, that of Congress below 20 percent.
Leahy unsubtly intimated that to avoid “another 5-4 decision” Roberts should emulate “the leadership that Chief Justice Warren provided in the unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education.” It is, however, passing strange to compare the Obamacare case with Brown, implying that a less-than-unanimous decision would be dangerous.
The school desegregation case overturned the social order of an entire region and accelerated the transformation of the nation’s cultural norms. Obamacare is just an unpopular law enacted by grotesque logrolling (securing three Democratic senators’ votes with the “Louisiana Purchase,” the “Gator-aid” and the “Cornhusker Kickback”). Furthermore, Obamacare passed because grossly corrupt conduct by Justice Department prosecutors in the trial of Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska had cost him re-election.
Leahy tutored Roberts about “appropriate deference” to “the elected branch,” vacuously admonished him to be “a chief justice for all of us,” and absurdly asserted that the mandate is “consistent with the understanding of the Constitution” that “the American people have had for the better part of a century.” Jeffrey Rosen of George Washington Law School, writing in The New Republic, topped Leahy’s rhetorical extravagance by saying this is Roberts’ “moment of truth” because if the court overturns Obamacare 5-4, Roberts’ “stated goal of presiding over a less divisive court will be viewed as an irredeemable failure.” | <urn:uuid:e48e5164-ad8d-4654-8cbc-40ddb7b0a2df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/may/27/tp-george-will-a-liberal-squeeze-play/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961072 | 836 | 1.5625 | 2 |
State Comptroller Susan Combs said while the Texas economy is in recovery it still faces some hurdles.
The Texas Comptroller says the economic recovery is taking hold, producing higher than expected tax revenues.
State Comptroller Susan Combs said that could lead to a $1.6 billion budget surplus for the fiscal biennium ending in 2013. According to data she released Monday to the Legislature, the state is on track to collect $82.7 billion over the next two years. The 2012-2013 budget is only $81.1 billion.
In the last two budget cycles, lawmakers were forced to slash government spending to make up for budget deficits and tap the Rainy Day Fund.
But Combs says the national economic recession is over and the economy is again expanding. | <urn:uuid:03df4477-a486-465e-bedc-49d56fba89e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Texas-Comptroller-Declares-Economic-Recession-Over-135511073.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955141 | 158 | 1.546875 | 2 |
RBS boss Stephen Hester has accepted his bonus of £963,000 on top of his annual salary of £1.2 million. RBS is 80% owned by the UK taxpayer. This image represents his annual income as 2.2 million pixels, comparing it in ‘income parade’ style with other taxpayer-employed workers.
An analysis of campaign contribution records by the Sunlight Foundation reveals that the number of donors in the FIRE sector giving at least $10,000 (in 2010 dollars) per cycle to political candidates, parties, and independent expenditure groups has increased from 1,091 in 1990 to 5,510 in 2010 (a 405% increase). These elite FIRE sector donors’ combined contributions have increased even more dramatically, growing by $162.8 million (a 700% increase, controlling for inflation) to $178.2 million in 2010.
The Occupy movement is in need. What that means, exactly, depends on where you look.
Explore the occupations and industries of the nation’s wealthiest households.
Accompanying an article on the variations of the wealthiest one percent, The New York Times provides this interactive map to see what percent you’re in. Simply enter your household income and see how you compare in metropolitan areas with over 50,000 households.
In the 2010 election cycle, 26,783 individuals (or one in ten thousand Americans) each contributed more than $10,000 to federal political campaigns. Combined, these donors spent $774 million. That’s 24.3% of the total from individuals to politicians, parties, PACs, and independent expenditure groups. Together, they would fill only two-thirds of the 41,222 seats at Nationals Park the baseball field two miles from the U.S. Capitol. When it comes to politics, they are The One Percent of the One Percent. | <urn:uuid:fcc5617e-3e6e-41af-a5be-adc51b059b69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sunfoundation.tumblr.com/tagged/99%25 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95301 | 380 | 1.796875 | 2 |
I’ve written before about brothers André and Jacques Rodrigue. George painted his boys many times, and the paintings, including Kiss Me I’m Cajun with André and Paint Me Back Into Your Life with Jacques, are classics among his oeuvre.
(For a look at those iconic works, along with a collection of family photographs, see the story, “André and Jacques: The Rodrigue Brothers.”)
However, for this post, in celebration of Father’s Day, I asked George Rodrigue’s sons about their dad.
“My dad is one of the most interesting cats I’ve ever known,” says André Rodrigue, age 37, “and I intend that statement as objectively as possible.”
(pictured, Three Amigos, part of the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts’ Print Donation Program, raising funds for other non-profits, and spearheaded by GRFA’s Executive Director Jacques Rodrigue; ...note: it is so like André to refer to the Blue Dog Man as a cat- )
“My interest in so many things is because of his interest in so many things,” continues André, a lifetime scholar of history and science. “When I was ten, he handed me a Stephen Hawking book and said, ‘Here, read this.’”
I asked George for a memory, and he laughed.
“André was smart even as a baby. I remember years ago when a dinner guest, a university professor, challenged him,
‘André, what will happen to the earth when the sun burns out?’
“My intense son, age four, replied,
‘By that time scientists will know how to move the earth, and we’ll be saved.'"
(pictured, André and George recently at the Mission San Juan Bautista near George’s California studio)
Jacques’s broader interests developed later. Whereas a young André and his dad discussed space travel and politics, Jacques and his dad shared the lighter side.
“As a kid I hung out in his studio late at night,” says Jacques, “and we played pool when he paused at painting. Sometimes he set me up with paints and a canvas. I worked alongside him while we watched Johnny Carson and David Letterman.”
“They were completely different as kids,” explains George, “and they were seven years apart, so they rarely wanted the same toy.
“One time in the car, André read while Jacques, wanting his brother’s book, threw a tantrum. I told an irritated André to share the book, hoping to quiet his three-year old brother. Jacques opened the book, looked at André and asked, verbatim...
‘How you read?’”
(pictured, André, Brandon Poirot, George, Jacques, Shawn Poirot at the Big Texan, Amarillo, Texas during a road trip, 1995; click photo to enlarge-)
“My dad traveled often to shows and visited clients around the country,” recalls Jacques, “and during the summer, my friends and I tagged along in his van. He was always so great and wanted us to see the coolest sights like the world's largest thermometer, the dinosaurs in Arizona, Route 66 and the Grand Canyon.
“My friends and I cherish those memories and appreciate how hard he tried to make us happy even when we occasionally killed the car battery in the middle of the night by watching our movies or playing Nintendo when the car was off. Sorry about that Dad!"
(pictured, Jacques Rodrigue pulls prints earlier this week as his dad signs Big Texan Sky, an original silkscreen celebrating George's upcoming exhibition at the Amarillo Museum of Art; click photo to enlarge-)
This summer the Rodrigue family, these three amigos, hits the road again, returning to Amarillo as we open “Blue Dogs in Texas,” an exhibition at the Amarillo Museum of Art, August 10 – October 14, 2012. We’ll also celebrate Jacques’s 31st birthday, by his request, at the nostalgic Big Texan.
“Do you think André will try again for the free 72-oz steak?” asked George, as we planned our trip.
But we all knew his question was rhetorical.
-pictured above, George Rodrigue and his sons celebrate Father's Day 2012 in Houston, Texas
-also in honor of Father’s Day, a tribute to my dad, John Wolfe, in a story for Gambit Weekly, linked here-
-read about George Rodrigue’s love of Texas and the West in the links under “Rodrigue on the Road,” listed to the right of this story-
-for availability and pricing of George Rodrigue’s newest print, Big Texan Sky, email [email protected] | <urn:uuid:e57840c8-bea3-487f-8fb5-cd06d526a058> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wendyrodrigue.com/2012/06/happy-fathers-day-george.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959257 | 1,068 | 1.515625 | 2 |
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Square Expands Retail Footprint in Wal-Mart Deal
October 24, 2011
The number of locations where you can buy a Square card reader has just surpassed 9000 with the latest retail distribution deal inked by the company. Wal-Mart will now carry Square readers in all U.S. locations, joining Apple, Target, Radio Shack, and Best Buy in physical-world distribution arrangements with the company, according to Bloomberg News. Bloomberg's reporter, however, seems to confuse mobile payment acceptance with NFC-based contactless and other types of mobile payment on the consumer side of the transaction. Citing stats from Juniper Research and PayPal, Bloomberg grabs this wrong end of the stick and then proceeds to beat around the bush with it.
Square is targeting small businesses that may not be able to afford machinery that handles credit cards, Chief Operating Officer Keith Rabois said in an interview. The company is vying with EBay Inc.’s PayPal as well as providers of so-called near field communications to help consumers pay for things on the go. At stake is a mobile commerce market that Juniper Research predicts will surge to $670 billion in 2015.
“Payments have a lot of friction, a lot of distraction,” Rabois said. “We can’t eliminate all of that this month, but our mission is to make Square ubiquitous.”
Square’s technology lets U.S. businesses handle payments via Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad, as well as devices running on Google Inc.’s Android software. The card reader plugs into the headphone jack of the mobile device and lets merchants swipe customers’ credit and debit cards.
The device can be ordered free on the Web. The reader is sold at stores for $9.99, a cost that can be refunded online. Square makes its money from each transaction, with merchants paying 2.75 percent of the amount paid.
Square publicly launched last October and has about $140 million in funding, according to regulatory filings.
The company is betting that consumers will choose its system over near field communications, which lets phones function like credit and debit cards by waving them in front of a reader. The process requires customers to take out a phone and place it near a reader, much like they already do with a credit card, Rabois said.
“We don’t currently believe that NFC as a payment technology is likely to improve either the merchant’s experience or the buyer’s experience,” he said.
More than 800,000 of Square’s devices have been shipped to merchants. The company says it is processing more than $2 billion in payments on an annual basis. PayPal expects more than $3.5 billion in mobile volume this year and processed $29.3 billion total in payments in the third quarter, according to a statement by the San Jose-based company last week.
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Make Us Your Homepage | <urn:uuid:bfcdaac3-af9f-4719-83cc-8bd872965b6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.paymentsjournal.com/Page.aspx?id=8242 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932725 | 688 | 1.570313 | 2 |
PVC trim boards, trim and sheets are a low maintenance alternative to exterior wood trim. Unlike wood, the dimensions of Restoration Millwork PVC trim boards, trim and sheets are consistent from piece to piece. They do not warp, cup, or bow. Also, they have superior nail-holding strength and do not require on-site finishing.
PVC trim boards can be used for any trim application, including soffit, fascia, rakes, frieze and band boards, column enclosures, corners, window trim, and door surrounds. Sheets can be used for large installations like soffit, pop-out bay windows, raised panels, dormers, custom designs, or anywhere builders need a smooth, low-maintenance flat surface. PVC beadboard and beadboard panel are used for wainscoting and hot tub surrounds, porch ceilings, and soffit.
PVC trim boards include inside and outside corners and specialty profiles. Each profile has been created to be the perfect solution to any trim application. Because they eliminate the need for field cutting, ripping, or routing PVC trim boards, specialty profiles speed installation and create a finished look in any exterior application.
Before, during, and after they are manufactured, PVC trim boards, trim and sheets are tested against a set of manufacturing and product specifications. These specs define the minimums, maximums, and tolerances that a raw material or sample of a finished product must meet to satisfy local and national building codes. While some of these tests don’t appear to directly relate to the conditions the trim, PVC trim boards, and sheets are exposed to during installation and use, they all contribute to the quality and durability of the final product.
PVC trim boards trim and sheets are preferable to alternative products because they have less effect on human health and the environment when compared to wood, stucco, and brick. This Environmental and Economic Sustainability encompasses the life cycle of the products, from raw materials to manufacturing, use, recycling, and waste management. In addition, unlike wood and fiber cement, PVC trim, trim boards, and sheets can be cleaned with a mild soap and water, thus eliminating the environmental impact associated with some paints and cleaning products.
Unlike brick, stucco and many other building products, PVC trim boards, trim and sheets can also be recycled at the end of their life to create new products. CertainTeed is working to develop an efficient process to close the loop and develop a cradle-to-cradle system that will reduce landfill waste, save resources, and reduce the overall carbon footprint of our operations and products
For more information please visit CertainTeed’s trim products page.
More on Trim | <urn:uuid:5f2bd14d-63f8-487f-8b4c-181267f662c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.certainteed.com/products/Trim/more-info/PVC-Trimboards.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930061 | 555 | 1.820313 | 2 |
HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc
He said the project, which will substantially increase the 405,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Whiting plant's ability to process cheap Canadian heavy crude, remains on target to wrap up in the second half of 2013. The restart and commissioning process will take six to nine months after that, he said.
The plant's largest crude distillation unit shut in November as part of the upgrade project and remains on schedule to be out "until the middle of the year," Dudley said.
The Whiting refinery, the largest in the U.S. Midwest, is the centerpiece of BP's strategy to focus on its three U.S. Northern Tier refineries that can tap cheap inland U.S. crude and even cheaper Canadian crude.
Marathon Petroleum Corp
The Whiting upgrade will allow the refinery to run up to 350,000 bpd of heavy Canadian crude, up from about 80,000 bpd. The plant's overall capacity will remain the same.
(Reporting By Kristen Hays; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Jim Marshall) | <urn:uuid:e0c3ce20-fc58-4c9d-a0c4-e434548a70ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://q106fm.com/news/articles/2013/feb/05/bp-expects-whiting-refinery-upgrade-benefits-in-2014/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935385 | 229 | 1.679688 | 2 |
It was my pleasure yesterday to go caving with Sharrah, the new environmental education person on the island. Sharrah makes the rounds of the island's eight settlement schools, teaching the kids about the natural world and reasons for protecting it. Exuma has been launched on a period of rapid development with the arrival of a first large resort and environmental protection is suddenly a priority.
My own priority has been -- in writing and a teacher workshop -- to make the case for dark skies. Most of the new artificial lighting is decidedly unfriendly, and the island has begun to show up on nighttime satellite imagery from space. Any light we can see from up there is doing nothing down here but obliterating the stars. | <urn:uuid:cc429060-be39-4ce9-ac86-cc54d983c684> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.sciencemusings.com/2005/01/protecting-dark.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959744 | 143 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Paying Lip Service To 'Consumer Control'
MANAGED CARE January 2007. ©MediMedia USA
If patient involvement is to be a driver of cost containment and improved outcomes, we'll need to think more about what that really means
Editor's note: In this article, Lucy Johns points out a disconnection between the evolution of a necessary technology and the grand vision of a new era in health care in which patients have all the information they need and the economic power to make decisions in their own interest.
"Consumer control" is a prominent theme in current discussion of strategies to control inflation in the cost of health care. Management of supply has failed, whether as regulation or as managed care. Certificate of need, public reporting of quality information, gatekeepers, utilization review, formularies – all fail. A new source must be found to block spiraling costs. Let it be a demand-side strategy. Let it be "consumer control."
Can providers support consumers empowered to influence decisions about their care? Can providers work with patients who want to manage their health and health care far more than they do now? Surely they can, if that is what the policies and technologies actually do.
The theory is that once consumers feel the financial consequences of their decisions, demand will moderate. The theory also posits that once consumers have information they need to make the right decisions, their behavior will change at the source, where it must, to improve health status. People will eat better food, drink less alcohol, exercise more, turn off the TV, put safety latches on their guns. Wouldn't it be wonderful if medical care and public health goals converge at the level of individual decision-making, where they belong? Nirvana!
Will "consumer control" as touted by many in the health sector be an effective driver of cost containment and reliable energy for improved health status?
It is timely to apply a "consumer perspective" to two products currently most representative of the theory: consumer-driven health insurance (CDHI) and the electronic medical record (EMR).
The consumer's perspective on the EMR — drop the quotation marks, assume there is such a thing — might be summarized in two alternative approaches: consumer control or consumer compliance.
Consumer control implies that the consumer of health services controls the information available to the providers that the consumer is now paying for. The consumer decides what is in the record, who can view it, who can write in it, where it is located, and what the terms of access to it are.
Consumer compliance implies that the EMR is a means for providers to enlist consumers in making decisions, that the EMR is a more efficient form of the traditional medical record whose use can be expanded to entice consumers into paying more attention to their health status and its management.
The distinction between control and compliance in conceptualizing the consumer perspective points to a possible split between consumer and other interests in development of the EMR. There is no a priori reason to assume the EMR will or should reflect needs that are the same for consumer and other players in the health system. (For more on this, see "What If the EMR Were to Serve the Purpose of Consumer Control".)
A great array of products now exists to establish the computerized medical record. The EMR designed for providers, health plans, and others to automate a consumer-compliant record dominates the market. Products called PHRs — personal health records — are also available. Only one product is known to the author to be based explicitly on the consumer-control approach to the EMR: The MiVIA Personal Health Record, developed by a consortium of nonprofit agencies for a population with urgent continuity-of-care needs, is currently in use by 2,300 migrant farm workers. Similarly customized PHRs are in development by the MiVIA vendor for other target populations that have requested them.
Of course, consumers need a lot more than a PHR to make informed decisions about their health care. They need information on quality and cost of individual physicians, hospitals, and other providers; they need information on quality and cost of organized health systems like HMOs; they need an advance directive; they need comparative information about treatment options, including complementary medicine and support groups; they need access to over-the-counter drugs that don't need oversight by physicians. As the consumer perspective matures, it is bound to demand more and more from health services not historically shaped to this point of view.
Consumer perspective on CDHI
The essential feature of CDHI is a connection between decisions by those covered and the money left in their account to pay for future decisions. No longer is medical care to be experienced as "free" because someone else pays the bills no matter what the decisions concerning use of services.
There may be some consumers who will appreciate and learn from, and not be harmed by, the resulting "discipline." There will be others who will suffer, perhaps grievously. Without control of their own records and the education to understand long-run implications of their decisions, however, there will be virtually no consumers able to use CDHI rationally. CDHI is the cart before the horse of adequate information relevant to personal decisions about use of health resources.
So what's really going on here?
Both CDHI and the EMR are being promoted as innovations that will enhance consumer control and thereby curb health sector inflation and motivate better self care. Both fields are crowded with commercial entrants evoking the control theme: "consumer-centric," "consumer-directed," "consumer-driven." The reality, however, is that current products primarily serve the needs of employers and the insurance, technology, and finance industries. There is no call from consumer organizations to shift the risk for health expenditures into the hands of individual consumers. There is no pressure from consumers to make personal medical information instantly available to anyone who happens to have — or hacks — the right password. The overriding goal of interests touting consumer control is consumer compliance and shifting of risk.
If consumers are to benefit from these products — to ensure their access to health services, to manage their health and care, to protect the uses of health information collected in their name — then "the consumer" needs to play a stronger role in their design and use. And providers who understand the benefit of real patient participation in care can get serious about empowering patients by insisting on consumer input for every board and committee now grappling with EMR standards and use. Providers also need to demand that CDHI products be evaluated from outside the insurance industry and be regulated, if indicated, to protect consumers and their providers from unrealistic product designs. Otherwise, the theory and results of "consumer control" will continue to serve powerful agendas having little to do with the needs of real consumers or their most enlightened providers.
The author greatly appreciates the assistance of Ann Donovan, Margaret O'Kane, and Cynthia Solomon. | <urn:uuid:b25b9e61-ab34-47ea-bd34-2c88da137fe5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.managedcaremag.com/archives/0612/0612.johns.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950898 | 1,403 | 1.773438 | 2 |
In New York City's Harlem circa 1987, an overweight, abused, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.
An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African-American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.
Bryce Dallas Howard
At the edge of adolescence, Tracy is a smart straight-A student--if not a little naive (it seems...she smokes and she cuts to alleviate the emotional pain she suffers from having a broken home and hating her mom's boyfriend, Brady.) When she befriends Evie, the most popular and beautiful girl in school, Evie leads Tracy down a path of sex, drugs and petty crime (like stealing money from purses and from stores). As Tracy transforms herself and her identity, her world becomes a boiling, emotional cauldron fueled by new tensions between her and her mother--as well as, teachers and old friends. Written by
One of the most common criticisms of "Thirteen" is that it is 'unrealistic'. However, "Thirteen" never claims to portray all thirteen year olds, hell, it doesn't even claim to portray a significant number of them. This film is about the select few who choose to take a certain path in life. They have no true parental figures, their lives are in shambles, and they are making a quick and painful transition into supposed adulthood. Notice the other people in the school scenes, they're normal, they're just studying, hanging out with their friends, and going through the motions of school life. Those aren't the people that are being portrayed here.
Nikki Reed, an immense young talent, plays Evie Zamora, the hottest and arguably most popular girl in school. Evan Rachel Wood plays Tracy, a girl who still keeps her stuffed animals and Barbie dolls on her bed, and whose parents have divorced recently and whose mother works as a hairdresser out of her home to support the family. Tracy goes to junior high completely oblivious of any of the social pressure that's present, and begins to idolize Evie, obviously a terrible role model. In an outstanding early scene, Tracy follows Evie into a shopping mall and is initially appalled at the idea of shoplifting, but in a desperate attempt to fit in with the 'cool' crowd, she steals a purse from a woman who sat next to her, and finds Evie again, at which point she is accepted. Sooner rather than later, Tracy is drawn into a terrible depression which she deals with by using drugs, cutting herself, and being sexually promiscuous. She does all this completely uncertain of whether she wants to, and mostly because she's following Evie's lead. To say that no 13 year olds have experiences similar to this is pure ignorance, and if you're a parent who thinks this is unrealistic- think again, and think hard. In today's world, narcotics are available as easily as candy bars, and pop stars are more like porn stars, putting pressure on today's teens to become promiscuous sooner in life.
Wood is a terrific, terrific actress who has made some questionable career choices before and since this, but I hope to see her continue to star in films like "The Upside of Anger" and "Down in the Valley". However, in this particular film, even her tremendously powerful performance pales in comparison with Holly Hunter's Oscar-nominated supporting role as Tracy's mother, and by Nikki Reed, who, in her first ever acting role, is nothing short of stunning. This role is very, very racy for any 15 year old to take on, and Reed, who also co-wrote this film's terrific script with Catherine Hardwicke, takes it on with maturity I've never seen before from an actress of her age. First time director Catherine Hardwicke does a great job here, her work is inventive and adds real grit to this tale.
The bottom line is, "Thirteen" is a great, realistic, disturbing urban drama that you should watch with an open mind and with knowledge that it is based in fact. This is a challenging and brave film, and everyone involved has gained immediate respect from me. One of the best of 2003.
54 of 59 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you? | <urn:uuid:bb938fb9-d936-4c28-b497-f77855089293> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328538/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974497 | 919 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Looking forward to your turkey dinner? Think twice. It's time, argues Jonathan Safran Foer, to stop lying to ourselves. With all the studies on animal agriculture, pollution, toxic chemicals in factory-farmed animals and exposes of the appalling cruelty to animals in that industry, he writes in "Eating Animals," "We can't plead ignorance, only indifference. Those alive today are the generations that came to know better. We have the burden and the opportunity of living in the moment when the critique of factory farming broke into the popular consciousness. We are the ones of whom it will be fairly asked, 'What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals?' "
Some of our finest journalists (Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser) and animal rights activists (Peter Singer, Temple Grandin) -- not to mention Gandhi, Jesus, Pythagoras, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke and Immanuel Kant (and so many others) -- have hurled themselves against the question of eating meat and the moral issues inherent in killing animals for food. Foer, 32, in this, his first work of nonfiction, intrepidly joins their ranks, inspired by fatherhood, the memory of his grandmother (who survived the Holocaust by scavenging her way to freedom) and something else.
This something else is what made critics of Foer's fiction, the novels "Everything Is Illuminated" (2002) and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" (2005), fall over themselves to praise him. It is a kind of fearless modernity: one part "whatever," one part descendant of Holocaust survivor (we've only got this one life, if that, to get things right) and one part soaringly beautiful, annoyingly entitled liberalism. What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals? There's no hiding behind culture in Foer's postwar, post-9/11, square-framed modernism: "Food is not rational. Food is culture, habit, and identity. For some, that irrationality leads to a kind of resignation." Think your way through it, Foer warns. Define the terms. Choose your priorities. You have that luxury.
You have that luxury because doctors and health advocates agree that vegetarianism is more than adequate (many say more healthful) than a meat-eating diet, especially meat tainted with toxic pesticides, hormones and other chemicals. You have that luxury because so many foods are now available. You have that luxury because there is now so much information on how to live and care for your loved ones without supporting animal agriculture and factory farming.
That said, this book, its author warns, is not a case for vegetarianism. It's a case for being informed and taking responsibility. In the process of asking questions, Foer "came face-to-face with realities that as a citizen I couldn't ignore, and as a writer I couldn't keep to myself."
After a brief, Swiftian modest proposal on our relationship to animals (including a "classic Filipino recipe" for stewed dog), Foer launches into the various sectors of the animal agriculture industry: chickens, fish, pigs and cattle. Some sections are so overwhelmingly violent as to be unreadable. Many readers, especially readers of the work of Grandin, a designer of livestock handling facilities and author of several fascinating, enduring, groundbreaking books on autism and animal rights, will have read passages like this before. For those who haven't, especially those who eat meat, the feeling is not unlike gagging, like being the poor sop in a horrible Greek fable who has just unknowingly eaten his family members.
Even, for example, if you thought you were right in buying free-range chickens, you can stop patting yourself on the back. "To be considered free-range, chickens raised for meat must have 'access to outdoors,' which, if you take those words literally, means nothing. Imagine a shed containing thirty-thousand chickens, with a small door at one end that opens to a five-by-five dirt patch -- and the door is closed all but occasionally."
A reader is reminded of the debate over the first photographs from the Vietnam War. We don't want to look. Should we or shouldn't we?
Can one person make a difference? Certainly, he writes. Our food choices matter: "We eat as sons and daughters, as families, as communities, as generations, as nations, and increasingly as a globe. We can't stop our eating from radiating influence even if we want to." Or else he says: "Cruel and destructive food products should be illegal." These are Foer's conclusions. | <urn:uuid:6e868b33-71d4-40bf-8683-59f131ce0de8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/08/entertainment/ca-jonathan-safran-foer8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965222 | 961 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Mosaica by Dapper Vision Inc allows you to take pictures of a scene and turn them into a mosaic. A mosaic, since you’re wondering, is similar to a panorama except for a few major differences. In a mosaic, the pictures are not stitched together to make a bigger image. Instead, they are overlaid, where they overlap, and are then presented in an interactive manner in which the viewer can navigate the series of images. Mosaica for iPhone brings mosaic imaging and building to your iPhone and allows you to share them on http://m.osaica.com. The app also allows you to view other shared mosaics from the same website.
I recently took the app on a test run in our neighborhood and made a couple of mosaics. The app performed as I would have expected and allowed me to easily make the mosaics, upload them to m.osaica.com and share them. I was also able to easily view mosaics from other users, which was much more fun than making a mosaic.
To create your mosaic, assuming you’ve already found an interesting subject, you simply start the app, select My Mosaics then new and touch the camera icon on the bottom of the screen. Take your first image, touch use in the bottom right and while it is processing the image touch the camera icon to take another image. Repeat the steps as many times as you would like to add more images to the mosaic. As soon as you’ve taken an image the app will start processing it against the other images taken, but don’t worry, just keep taking more images.
In reality, the app is fairly simple, so there’s really not that much to write about. If you enjoy panoramas or mosaics or even just some cool imaging effects, then Mosaica by Dapper Vision is a must have app. I find myself on occasion starting up the app just to check out the current popular mosaics as I find it kinda fun and interesting to see what others have created. There’s also currently no reason not to get this app since it recently dropped to Free on the iTunes App Store.
- To toggle between edit and view mode just remember: portrait mode (phone is vertical) is edit while landscape mode is view. This took some getting used to in order to get the controls back. If you’ve lost the controls, turn the phone vertical.
- Adding pictures to a mosaic is a bit confusing. The trick is to just keep pressing the camera icon after each photo (regardless of the fact the app looks like it’s busy) and keep taking and adding pics.
- Remember, this is not a panorama. Mosaics are intereactive and my contain several overlapping images that can be the center of attention in your mosaic.
- When creating your mosaic overlap your pictures buy big amounts. If your pics just overlap by a bit (say 20%) then your mosaic can be a little boring. The better mosaics have several images that overlap by more than half.
- Now that you have your first creative mosaic, share it. Mosaica adds its own URL shortner that you can use as a unique link to your mosaic. Twitter anyone?
Developer’s Website: http://m.osaica.com/ | <urn:uuid:9f527c2c-422d-40e5-bc91-c19707e1a9f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.appchatter.com/tag/mosaica/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963476 | 687 | 1.796875 | 2 |
I’m going to share with you excerpts from a report that was sent to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explaining why it should practice an asset size-based exemption for its regulations. The executive summary opens:
This paper contends the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) should exempt or provide targeted compliance requirements for small federally insured depository institutions based on asset-based thresholds. Without asset-based exemptions, the smallest and most vulnerable banks and credit unions, termed micro depository institutions (MDIs), are likely to exit critical product lines, become less financially sound and ultimately provide fewer services to customers and members. The use of asset-based exemptions for MDIs will not meaningfully disadvantage consumers.
The report continues on to mention that MDIs have “limited managerial and financial capacity” but may offer a wide variety of products and services that require them to check their compliance across the spectrum as opposed to larger, single-service financial providers.
“A broad array of services results in MDIs facing a large cumulative compliance burden,” the paper states. Yet, as defined in the paper, this group of financial institutions of less than $30 million in assets serves 1% of the consumer market share of financial institutions nationwide. Nearly all of these MDIs, 92%, are credit unions.
It also notes that the median annual earnings at these MDIs tallied $3,071, and nearly 42% of these institutions had negative earnings in 2011. Adding $40,000 to their compliance burden, which is well below the CFPB’s collection request for Reg Z amendments, would move that 42% to a whopping 72.5% of MDIs with negative earnings.
Setting aside the arguments that undoubtedly arise every time the value of micro-institutions comes up, the government and not the marketplace is creating safety and soundness concerns for this subset of institutions, in addition to the compliance burden on all institutions to regulate a few bad actors among the already regulated institutions and the previously unregulated brokers that contributed to the housing crisis.
In addition to the cost, compliance efforts will take away from time devoted to serving consumers. Moreover, many of these financial institutions are serving areas that would not otherwise be served.
A fine analysis for a trade group to submit, but it didn’t come from a trade association. This particular analysis was penned by the NCUA to the CFPB. Irony aside, it’s a real eye opener and demonstrates the primary federal regulator is aware of the issue of the cumulative effect of regulations on the credit union community.
Imagine the regulators’ savings if they did not have to ensure that more than 3,000 tiny little institutions serving just 1% of consumers were compliant with certain, or even certain parts of, CFPB regs. Or carefully selected NCUA regs for that matter.
Following its own advice, the NCUA raised the asset-size threshold for a small credit union to $50 million in assets as it relates to its regulations at last week’s board meeting. The move was long overdue and should be applauded as it will exempt these credit unions from the interest rate risk rule and risk-based capital rules as well as providing these credit unions access to assistance from the Office of Small Credit Union Initiatives.
I fully support consumers being protected from greedy financial institutions that are in business to take advantage of them, but first we need to look at the regulations already in place rather than layering on.
“When consumers sit down at the closing table, they shouldn’t be set up to fail with mortgages they can’t afford,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in the bureau’s announcement regarding it’s ability-to-repay standards.
For those that enjoy irony: Part of the safe harbor for a qualifying mortgage is that it be eligible for Fannie or Freddie to buy, despite the fact that those two haven’t seen a complete overhaul yet after their complicity in the mortgage crisis. But I digress.
I’m in 100% agreement. They also should not get whacked with the copious, ridiculously worded disclosures consumers face when they’re trying to perform a financial transaction.
One has to wonder whether the regulators have ever sat through a mortgage closing. Borrowers are presented with a two-inch high stack of mostly government-required documentation that very few bother to read, and even those that do attempt it go cross-eyed at the legalese. If every bit of information in that mammoth stack is important, then nothing is important.
Regulatory agencies in general need to strive for better transparency rather than more. One thing any writer should do is tailor his or her piece to the audience. A 1993 study by the Department of Education found that the average American reads on an eighth-grade level. Regulators should require that disclosures be written at that level and even provide sample disclosures as a safe harbor option for financial institutions. | <urn:uuid:c7ca6bcc-fd9c-4648-a52e-e45d62c22283> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cutimes.com/2013/01/10/one-regulatory-size-does-not-fit-all-editor-publis?t=online-mobile-banking | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960845 | 1,021 | 1.648438 | 2 |
On September 8, 2011, Emergency Regulations went into effect by the NYS Department of Health to expand the definition of estates beyond assets passing under the terms of a valid will or by intestacy.
A Medicaid recoverable "estate" is an estate where assets can be recovered to repay NYS for Medicaid funds paid on behalf of an individual.
The definition of a Medicaid recoverable "estate" used to be limited to a Medicaid recipient's probate estate, meaning the real and personal property passing under the terms of the deceased's will or by the laws of intestacy, if he or she does not have a will. As a result, life estates in real property, property in certain trusts, as well as assets passing in joint accounts were not recoverable by the agency. However, this has now been changed to include some assets which pass outside the probate estate.
The cause of concern is the expansion of the definition to include recovery of interest in life estates in real property. The regulation states "A life interest that was created by a recipient or the recipients spouse, in property in which the recipient or spouse held interest at the time of life estate was created, or a life estate interest that was created for the benefit of a recipient or the recipients spouse in a property in which the recipient or the spouse held any interest within (5) years prior to the creation of the life estate is subject to recovery." 11 ADM-8. So, if someone transferred their home ten years ago and reserved a life estate, although the five year look back period has expired for Medicaid eligibility, the value of the life estate retained is now subject to recovery.
For example, an individual dies August 2011 at the age of 85 while retaining a life estate interest in real property with a fair market value of $200,000, as of the date of death. Even if the property was transferred prior to the five-year look-back period, the retained life estate ownership in the property is now available for an estate recovery equal to the value of the ownership interest. Thus, using the appropriate IRS tables under the new regulations, Medicaid would be entitled to a recovery against the estate of the life tenant of approximately $24,498.00.
There are still be some planning options available for those who have reserved a life estate as well as a number of other techniques that can be utilized to preserve your assets. Please contact Michael McConville at [email protected] or 585-512-3517 if you would like to further discuss assets preservation planning.
This publication is intended as an information source for clients, prospective clients, and colleagues and constitutes attorney advertising. The content should not be considered legal advice and readers should not act upon information in this publication without individualized professional counsel. | <urn:uuid:efd7f62d-0baa-4863-be23-c899c11ee552> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mccmlaw.com/attorneys/michael-mcconville/articles/2012/01/08/life-estate-interests-are-now-recoverable-by-new-york-state | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964851 | 567 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions
The Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions is the official journal of the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions, the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education, and the Council on CME, the Association for Hospital Medical Education.
The Alliance is a community of professionals dedicated to accelerating excellence in health care performance through education, advocacy, and collaboration.
The Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education promotes research, evaluation, and development of effective continuing medical education intended to improve the health of North Americans.
The Council on Continuing Medical Education, Association for Hospital Medical Education develops professional education programs to enhance the knowledge and skills of CME educators/administrators and facilitate the continued development of continuing medical education as a value added educational activity that provides a positive measurable impact on the quality of health care. | <urn:uuid:5aab9295-9575-41ed-a453-e652cf953a16> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-CHP.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931849 | 169 | 1.546875 | 2 |
"We will not allow negative form of extremism and terrorism to cow us down," he said.
In a significant speech on Wednesday, Pakistan Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani invoked Jinnah and Iqbal as he spoke about the national will to restore the “rightful identity” of the country by standing up to “internal and external” threats.
While he identified the “internal” threats as terrorism and extremism, Gen. Kayani outlined the external threat in a thinly veiled but surprisingly aggressive reference to India as “an adventurous” and “hostile” neighbour that was constantly threatening Pakistan.
The Army and the government have in recent weeks repeatedly accused India of involvement not only in the troubles in the Balochistan province, but also of funding the Taliban and providing them with medicines and weapons as Pakistan’s armed forces take them on in South Waziristan.
Chief Minister of Punjab Province Shahbaz Sharif, speaking in the Balochistan capital Quetta on Wednesday, also repeated the allegation of the “Indian hand” in Balochistan and Waziristan. Even though Gen. Kayani did not name the “hostile neighbour” in his speech once, there was little doubt he meant India.
A reported line in the speech that the Army would go “to any lengths” to protect the sovereignty of the nation had created its own buzz in Pakistan’s politically volatile atmosphere.
The Army Chief was addressing the passing-out parade at the Air Force Academy in Risalpur.
“Today, we have been challenged as never before,” he said. “I have full faith and conviction that we, as a nation of 170 million people have the will and resolve to surmount these challenges. The nation stands fully united to confront these challenges and ensure that Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Muhammad Iqbal is restored to its rightful identity.”
The armed forces were “fully alive to the complete spectrum of threats that confront the nation,” Gen. Kayani said. “Let no one misjudge our resolve, we will Inshallah protect and defend Pakistan.”
There was no contradiction in the practice of true religious values and progress, Gen. Kayani noted.
“However, we will not allow negative form of extremism and terrorism to cow us down,” he said. | <urn:uuid:4802a94a-cd45-4782-b182-96fa84fbeeec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/will-overcome-internal-and-external-threats-says-kayani/article51024.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962733 | 506 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Nearly one in three teachers say their school is not safe from gun violence, a recent survey shows. / Spencer Platt, Getty Images
Post-Newtown suggestions about arming teachers haven't gained much traction with teachers themselves, a new nationwide survey suggests: Nearly three in four educators say they would be unlikely to bring a firearm to school if allowed to do so.
Even among the 36% who say they own a gun, only about one in three would be likely to bring it to school.
The online survey of 10,661 teachers and administrators from all 50 states, due out Wednesday, was conducted in late January by the School Improvement Network, a large Utah-based teacher-training company.
In the wake of the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, many experts have pushed to improve school security, with wide-ranging proposals including arming teachers, banning guns and increasing police presence in schools. But no one was asking teachers what they thought, CEO Chet Linton said. "They are the ones that are living with the risk as it relates to school safety and violence, so we thought it would be good just to share what they had to say."
Johnny Price, owner of Big Iron Concealed Handgun Training in Waco, Texas, said that since late December, he has trained more than 1,100 teachers to carry a concealed weapon under Texas law, which restricts permit holders from carrying guns on campus but allows school districts to override the restriction.
Even with the certification, he said, teachers need more training. "Most of these teachers that come through, I've told them, 'Y'all aren't ready to carry in a school because we don't want a child hurt - period.'"
Lawmakers in several states this winter hope to broaden mostly restrictive state laws that don't allow armed teachers on campus.
In Arizona last week, Attorney General Tom Horne and state Rep. David Stevens introduced legislation that would allow school districts to designate staff members to carry a firearm on campus.
The survey finds that the overwhelming majority of educators, 92%, feel their schools are safe. But nearly one in three says their school is not safe from gun violence. Nearly 90% say having an armed police officer in school would improve safety, while 12% say armed cops in schools would make schools less safe.
A week after the Dec. 14 shootings that killed 20 children and six school staff members, National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre called on Congress to "appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every school - and to do it now, to make sure that blanket of safety is in place when our children return to school in January."
Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com
Read the original story: Teachers not gung-ho on guns at school | <urn:uuid:6efcdcf0-6d91-4540-ae85-7d9592846e82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/usatoday/article/1947841 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980148 | 569 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Mr George Barlow
When he signed-on to the Titanic, on 4 April 1912, he gave his address as Carminster (?), Foundry Lane, (Southampton). His last ship had been the Olympic. As a bedroom steward he received monthly wages of £3 15s.
Barlow died in the sinking. His body, if recovered, was never identified.
Philip Hind (Editor)
Titanic Passenger and Crew Summary
Name: Mr George Barlow
Contact us if you have new information.
Search now for more on George Barlow
Join our group on Facebook for the latest discoveries. | <urn:uuid:2d202578-249c-4345-9061-bf5cab741465> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/george-barlow.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951093 | 129 | 1.5625 | 2 |
More than half a million people live with multiple sclerosis, yet conventional medicine still has little to offer patients. There is no known cure-and even recent breakthroughs in drug therapy do not work to control many of the symptoms or promise any degree of recovery.
But there is an alternative to drugs that can stop and reverse the ravaging symptoms of MS-the MS Recovery Diet. As this book explains, there are five common food triggers that can set off the symptoms of MS-dairy, grains containing glutens, legumes, eggs, and yeast. Yet because MS is such a complex disease, other foods play a role, as culprits or aides. The MS Recovery Diet explains the background, science, and development of this treatment in one source for the first time, and shows readers how to pinpoint their specific problem foods and sensitivities. It also offers more than one hundred simple recipes, as well as strategies to improve digestion, balance the immune system, and repair the body's myelin-crucial steps toward healing the body.
Both of the authors, Ann D. Sawyer and Judith E. Bachrach, who had been diagnosed and disabled by multiple sclerosis, have experienced incredible recovery on the diet. Within the first three months on this program, Sawyer was able to stop the disease progression and begin to walk short distances with an even gait. Bachrach, whose health has been declining because of MS for thirty- eight years, regained feeling in her toes in one week and after one year on the diet, has stopped taking all medication. This book shares the treatment plan that has dramatically changed their lives, and the lives of others who have discovered it. With inspiring personal stories throughout, it offers real help- and hope-for sufferers of MS.
Could have been a 6-page booklet
By David Spero "David Spero RN" - May 19, 2009
The Art of Getting Well: Maximizing Health and Well-being When You Have a Chronic Illness
I was excited when I saw the strong customer reviews for Ann Sawyer's book, but disappointed to actually read it. (Judith Bachrach is also listed as author, but it seems to come mostly from Sawyer.) Her claim is that finding the right diet can resolve nearly all MS symptoms, but she doesn't tell you how to do it. It's not really a diet; it's an approach to figuring out your own healthy diet. This is a good idea; I just don't think it will work for many people in this form.
Could be I'm a bit jealous. I've had MS for 30 years, and it's kicking my butt pretty good right now. My first book, The Art of Getting Well, is largely based on my experiences with MS (along with interviews with 30 other people with chronic illness.) My book has never sold in anything like the numbers that MS Recovery Diet is... read more
Hope for those with MS, their loved ones, and anyone who is interested in Wellness...
By a reader - October 24, 2007
In its graceful, readable style, The MS Recovery Diet offers a powerfully healing path. Though I don't have MS myself, I have watched one of my closest friends save her own life through this diet. From being barely able to sit up for any length of time, my friend now walks with me in the woods. Each step is a miracle and a testimony to the efficacy of this diet. Bachrach and Sawyer offer not only the diet itself, but a thorough and accessible understanding of the biochemistry of how it works as well as many personal stories that infuse the information with humanity and humor. Best of all, for me, was the cookbook, which will prove indespensible not only to those who have MS, but to anyone who is interested in addressing physical challenges through diet. I was so inspired by my friend's recovery that I went on the diet myself and find that much of the chronic pain and digestive ailments in my own body have diminished radically. This book is a gift, not only to those with MS, but to all... read more
By Tara Burns - September 27, 2007
With this diet I am winning the fight against MS. I am grateful that I found this diet and implore any one with MS to try it! What a difference that it will make for you. Especially since all you have to do is eat well. I know that I love the fact that I now have more energy than my two year old!
Maybe a suspicious angiogram has the doctor suggesting bypass surgery. Maybe a major heart attack has you confined to the ICU. After a heart attack or heart surgery, you have a hundred questions and ... | <urn:uuid:2defb4e0-358c-4e5d-9e78-2a181da5e728> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pdfcast.org/paid/9781583332887 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974177 | 958 | 1.617188 | 2 |
A British woman whose son faces a court-martial for desertion from the Israeli Defence Force is set to cause controversy by claiming rules on olim serving in the military should be changed.
Emma Caplin made aliyah from Oakwood, London, in 2005 and settled in Kfar Saba, near Ra'anana, with her son Adam and daughter Nicol.
Adam, 18, was drafted into the Israeli Defence Force in February 2010 to do his compulsory military service.
After running away "once or twice" during his 10 weeks of basic training, Adam, who suffers from dyspraxia
(difficulty with motor skills) and depression, was given a job maintaining aircraft.
But the former King Solomon High School pupil deserted, running away for 45 days before giving himself up last week.
He is now awaiting
Ms Caplin said: "Adam's dyspraxia means he cannot set boundaries. He has been to 10 schools and couldn't settle and did not really finish school.
"I knew the kids would have to do military service, but I did not really think about it when we moved.
I didn't know how long we would be staying here." Ms Caplin said she was not allowed to visit her son for the first eight days of his detention. She expected him to be held for another fortnight before his court-martial.
Nicol, 20, returned to England six months after arriving in Israel and now cannot return to visit her family for fear of being arrested for avoiding her own military service.
Ms Caplin said: "I do not think the law is clear enough about it and it needs revising, but I understand Adam has to be punished.
"I feel like it is not Adam's fault. I brought him here and he wants to go back to England. Perhaps when his case comes to court he will be let off for medical reasons."
Ms Caplin said she plans to go back to England next January, but is worried Adam will not be free to join her.
Rafi Nassi, director of the Jewish Agency in the UK, said: "I'm not familiar with the details of the Caplins' case, but we give our olim all the necessary information about aliyah including about their rights, benefits
"Olim serve in the military for different periods depending on their personal situation and age. Sometimes people do have difficulties but every oleh gets additional support from the army."
Mr Nassi added that military service was "one of the best ways to integrate" into Israeli society. | <urn:uuid:6a344c4a-f9ff-47df-b1e9-d5f7e29038b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thejc.com/print/35751 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981873 | 527 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Dr. Shannon, widely recognized in the scientific world for his original research in kidney function, chemotherapy, and malaria, is Director of the National Institutes of Health, the major research division of the U.S. Public Health Service, at Bethesda, Maryland. As an Assistant Surgeon General, Dr. Shannon carries a special responsibility for the formulation of broad national research policies and the coordination of the various research activities of the Public Health Service.
Dr. Shannon's career has been devoted to medical research, teaching, and public health service. Born in Hollis, New York, in 1904, Dr. Shannon graduated from Holy Cross in 1925, received his medical degree from N.Y.U. in 1929, and his Ph.D. in physiology from N.Y.U. in 1935. In 1931, he entered medical teaching at N.Y.U. and in 1942 , he became Director of Research Service at Goldwater Memorial Hospital, a medical division of New York University. He has served as guest investigator in physiology at Cambridge University, and as a member of the staff of the Marine Biological Laboratory at the Woods hole, Massachusetts. From 1946 to 1949, he was Director of the Squibb Institute for Medical Research. Dr. Shannon has been associated with the U.S. Public Health Service since 1949, and in 1955 he received the post of Director of the National Institutes of Health at Bethesda.
During World War II, Dr. Shannon played a prominent part in malaria research activities of the National Research Council, and was a consultant on tropical diseases to the Secretary of War. In recognition of this work he received the Medal of Merit, one of the highest awards for civilian service in government.
In view of these accomplishments, Villanova University chose this truly deserving Catholic layman, scientist, and father as the recipient of the Mendel Medal award, given in memory of another great Catholic man of science.
The Mendel Medal Bulletin. Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania. XXVI: 42 (1962). | <urn:uuid:db5f948a-71ce-4c86-a5d3-b944f5cdcf78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/vpaa/mendelmedal/pastrecipients/james_shannon.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967099 | 410 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Last time I checked in with Comprenew, the youth were excited to be the first team to lay the groundwork for an urban garden. I recently received these photos updating me on their progress this summer. Enjoy!
Age: 16 Age: 17
School: East Kentwood High School: Ottawa Hills High School
Summer Job: Comprenew Summer Job: Comprenew
Dream Job: Record Producer / Athlete Dream Job: Engineer / Architect
Favorite Subject: English Favorite Subject: Math
Yesterday I had a chance to talk to Jalen & Ciara, two youth employees at Comprenew Environmental, about what they like so much about taking apart computers and how this unique job will help them in the future.
More from them in a moment, first a little more about their employer…
What I didn’t know when I arrived was that while Comprenew has often served as a work site for other youth employment programs [like for fellow grantees at the Hispanic Center and Steepletown], this is the inaugural year for Comprenew’s own program.
When Comprenew learned of this grant opportunity just last month, they had to scramble a bit to put something together. Now, less than a month since receiving the grant, they have gone through stacks of applications, conducted interviews and orientation and have 12 new youth employees on the payroll as of July 11. And that’s not all. The group will also go on “field trips” to a water treatment center and a landfill to expand their knowledge of sustainability, they have laid the foundation for an urban garden out back that will continue to be a part of the program in years to come and in a few weeks they will have the opportunity to build resumes and cover letters with the help of their supervisors Kyle & Blake.
As for the normal work days, Jalen, Ciara and their 10 teammates work from 10-3:30, Monday through Thursday disassembling computers so the parts can be properly recycled Talking to Jalen & Ciara, it was very clear how much they enjoy working at Comprenew…
Why do you like working here?
Ciara: It’s productive. I’m a hands-on person and this work is very hands-on. There’s always something to do.
What important things did you learn about interviewing? [This was their first interview experience]
Jalen: Eye contact, stay positive with everything you say, answer questions right on target
In your next interview, what will you be able to tell them you learned here that will apply at a new job?
Jalen: Responsibility, coming here on time, punching in, punching out & being alert
Ciara: Communication skills & being respectful
Jalen: The field trips, and I like working with computers and taking stuff apart
Ciara: I like everything about the job. You get to meet new people, take things apart and you’re learning at the same time.
Will this job help you in school this year?
Ciara: Yes, because it keeps me motivated. Get up, go to school, go to work. It’s getting me ready for the real world.
How do you think this will help you in the future?
Ciara:I want to be a mechanical engineer and an architect. We do landscaping and disassemble computers… so, this helps me a lot.
What have you learned this summer about balancing work with the rest of your life?
Ciara: Work is a priority to me. School and work. And family, that’s important.
Jalen: Work is a priority for me too. I’m going to be 17 in September and when I’m working and have money I can help my mom. Instead of asking her to give me money, I can help her pay the bills. I’m getting to that age, I need to help her out.
What is your ultimate goal? What do you want to get out of working here this summer?
Jalen & Ciara: A sense of accomplishment. We worked here every day and started the garden that will be here for a long time. We set a record for most disassembled computers in a week.
The work seems to be paying off already. With Comprenew now on his resume, Jalen just had an interview for another job. So good luck to him with his latest job opportunity! Although I know there is another job he would be interested in. Both Jalen and Ciara expressed interest in working at Comprenew full-time or during the school year.
And supervisor Kyle hopes this will be a possibilty:
“We would like to extend this, if we can, to an after-school program. As long as we can continue to fund this project, I want our own youth in here that we can kind of teach and mold and steer along, and that will open up more opportunities throughout the school year to talk about college and ask them “what do you want to do when you get out of high school?” | <urn:uuid:4da0ffe8-69da-4a37-afaa-99a20eda75fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://summerjobsgr.wordpress.com/tag/comprenew/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967129 | 1,070 | 1.539063 | 2 |
“If it weren’t for those __________ churches…”
I will never forget that statement.
I was in my mid-twenties, serving on a board of the local non-profit. We were discussing how we could raise more support for the organization. I had participated most of my working career (which was obviously short at that point), financially contributing personally and helping them raise funds. Every year we had the same discussion. How could we raise more money to do more good?
In the middle of our discussion, a greatly respected and leading businessman in our community made that statement. “If it weren’t for those _______churches we would have plenty of money. All churches do is take from the community, serve their own interests, and rob the community of needed money for charity.” The room instantly echoed and agreed with his bold remark. I was young and intimidated, so I said nothing.
Honestly, however, those words stung. As an active member of one of the largest church in town, I didn’t believe anything he was saying. Our church, along with most churches in our community, were doing good things to help people. If all we did was change people’s lives and send better people back into the community, we would be doing good things, but there were many church-connected ministries helping people in our city. Not to mention, many of the top contributors to this organization were active members of some of those same churches. (I was one of them.)
I never forgot those words though. It shaped me and my view of ministry.
Years later, when God placed the dream on my heart to plant a church in my hometown, I knew some of what that church would look like. Not that I seek the approval of man, but I wanted to be a part of a church that reversed that paradigm some have from the outside looking into the church. I wanted to be part of a church that would truly make a difference in our community, so much so that if we were gone, people would miss us.
One of the first things we did as a church was to partner with our city to reach some low income, impoverished areas of the community. For the past several years, once a year, we have put together as many as 1,400 people to invest in people outside the walls of our church. We sent over 800 people into our schools to meet the requests of principals in teachers completing things their budgets couldn’t afford to do. We participated with local radio stations to gather thousands of pounds of food for the poor. We’ve helped to launch a ministry to homeless people and one to military wives. We’ve been consistently called upon by our community to help with local festivals and events, and even by our mayor to help in flood recovery efforts.
My wife, who works in a local credit union and is active in the community is frequently asked, “Are you part of that church that’s always helping people?” We love that question. We both get it often.
I think our intentional investment is one of the primary reasons our church has grown into one of the fastest growing churches in America in a little over 6 years.
Please understand, I’m not trying to brag about what we are doing. I believe other churches are making a huge difference in their community; certainly many more than ours. I simply want to encourage any church I lead to show our city the love of Jesus and maybe even encourage your church (and mine) to do more. I think we have a better chance of reaching our cities for Christ if they know we care. The more we get out of our buildings and meet real needs, the more we’ll have opportunities to share the hope we know is in Christ.
In my time at Grace, we’ve tried to be intentional about letting our community know we love them…and so far…it is working. I’ve got a new assignment in ministry ahead and in my discussions so far, I’m encouraging this church also to greatly invest in it’s community.
Share with me. What is your church doing to display the love of Christ to your community in a practical way? | <urn:uuid:a1e25c65-5caf-48e1-99e1-b4b6e9149c63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ronedmondson.com/2012/05/a-story-a-shaping-of-my-ministry.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98694 | 879 | 1.523438 | 2 |
New York's 27th congressional district elections, 2012
November 6, 2012
June 26, 2012
|Candidate Filing Deadline||Primary Election||General Election|
Primary: New York has a closed primary system, meaning only registered members of a particular party may vote in that party's primary.
- See also: New York elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent is Brian Higgins (D), who was first elected to the House in 2004. Due to redistricting, Higgins is running in the redrawn 26th district, and 26th district incumbent Kathy Hochul is running in the new 27th.
This will be the first election using new district maps based on 2010 Census data. New York's 27th congressional district is located in the western portion of the state and includes Niagara, Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, and Livingston counties and parts of Ontaria and Erie counties.
New York is one of eight states that have "electoral fusion" -- which allows more than one political party to support a common candidate. This creates a situation where one candidate will appear multiple times on the same ballot, for the same position. Electoral fusion was once widespread across the United States, but is now commonly practiced only in New York.
Opponents of fusion voting argue that the process results in dealmarking to ensure that patronage is rampant. Proponents maintain that fusion voting allows for minor parties to actually make a difference during the election, allowing voters the opportunity to vote for a minority party platform but still affect the general election result.
Candidates appearing in the general election will be listed below with colored dots corresponding to any party they will represent on the ballot.
Note: Election results were added on election night as races were called. Vote totals will be added when official election results are certified. For more information about Ballotpedia's election coverage plan, click here. If you find any errors in this list, please email: Geoff Pallay.
General election candidates
June 26, 2012 primary results
|U.S. House, New York, District 27 General Election, 2012|
|Democratic||Kathy Hochul Incumbent||47.4%||156,219|
|Source: New York State Board of Elections "U.S. House of Representatives Results"|
New York's 27th is considered to be a Tossup according to the New York Times race ratings. Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul is challenged by Chris Collins (R) in a more conservative district than she won in 2010. Collins is a well-known Republican and is hoping to seize the seat for the GOP.
Republican challenger Chris Collins has been included in the National Republican Congressional Committee's Young Guns program. The program highlights challengers who represent the GOP's best chances to pick up congressional seats in the general election.
Using the Federal Election Commission's October Quarterly campaign finance filings, the Brennan Center for Justice at The New York University School of Law published a report on October 22nd focusing on the 25 House races rated most competitive by The Cook Political Report, including the race for New York's 27th. The report examines the relative spending presence of non-candidate groups, candidates, and small donors in these races - "which will likely determine which party will control the House."
|List of 25 Toss Up Races from the Cook Political Report:|
Republican and Conservative Party primaries
David Bellavia and Chris Collins contended in the June 26 Republican primary to see who would face incumbent Kathy Hochul (D) in the general election. With redistricting reforming Hochul's territory to favor Republicans, the Republican nominee has a serious shot at winning in November.
Bellavia is an Iraq War veteran and Tea Party activist, and Collins is a former county legislator. Bellavia sought to win as a more conservative candidate than Collins. He pointed out that the former Erie County Executive praised incoming federal stimulus funding when he was in office. Collins, however, did receive the Conservative Party endorsement. State Party Chairman Michael Long commented: "He had a proven record.... Collins would be more competitive against the congresswoman."
According to the Buffalo News, Bellavia was the underdog and rarely recognized by Collins. Bellavia, who wrote a book and subsequently sold the movie rights about his experiences in Iraq, said in taking on Collins he took on the "Erie County (political) machine."
Both candidates were largely self-funded, with Collins self-funding $250,000 and Bellavia $45,000. Reports also show that Collins raised another $5,750, and Bellavia raised $50,000 in addition to his own contribution.
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in New York
Following the results of the 2010 Census, New York lost two congressional seats, bringing its total number of representatives down from 29 to 27. According to a report in the Washington Post political blog "The Fix," New York was one of the top 10 redistricting battles in the nation.
Redistricting has made Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul extremely vulnerable -- the most vulnerable Democrat in New York and one of the most threatened in the nation, according to The New York Times. The Center for Politics places New York's 27th as leaning Republican. Hochul won in a special election in 2011, capitalizing on a Republican plan to reform Medicare in order to address the deficit. The long-shot challenger leveraged concerns in the elderly district to beat New York Assembly member Jane Corwin (R).
- 51 percent from the 26th congressional district
- 29 percent from the 27th congressional district
- 9 percent from the 28th congressional district
- 10 percent from the 29th congressional district
As of October 29, 2012, District 27 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the New York State Board of Elections:
|New York Congressional District 27|
|Congressional District||District Total||Democrats||Republicans||Other & Unaffiliated||Advantage||Party Advantage||Change in Advantage from 2010|
|"Party advantage" is the percentage gap between the two major parties in registered voters. "Change in advantage" is the spread in difference of party advantage between 2010 and 2012 based on the congressional district number only.|
FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012 study
- See also: FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012
In 2012, FairVote did a study on partisanship in the congressional districts, giving each a percentage ranking (D/R) based on the new 2012 maps and comparing that to the old 2010 maps. New York's 27th District became more Republican because of redistricting.
- 2012: 42D / 58R
- 2010: 43D / 57R
Cook Political Report's PVI
In 2012, Cook Political Report released its updated figures on the Partisan Voter Index, which measures each congressional district's partisanship relative to the rest of the country. New York's 27th congressional district has a PVI of R+7, which is the 143rd most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by John McCain (R), 55-45 percent over Barack Obama (D). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 57-43 percent over John Kerry (D).
|U.S. House, New York Congressional District 27 General Election, 2010|
|Democratic||Brian Higgins Incumbent||57.8%||119,085|
|Republican||Leonard A. Roberto||37.1%||76,320|
- United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in New York, 2012
- ↑ York ABC News "2012 General Election Results"
- ↑ New York State Board of Elections "Voting Deadline Page," Accessed June 30, 2012
- ↑ New York Redistricting Map "Map" Accessed September 25, 2012
- ↑ Electoral fusion ruins elections
- ↑ Working Family Party: Fusion voting
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 New York Board of Elections "Filings for June 26, 2012 Federal Primary," April 18, 2012
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 New York Board of Elections "List of Filings for June 26, 2012 Federal Primary," Accessed May 30, 2012
- ↑ New York Board of Elections "2012 Candidate List" Accessed October 17, 2012
- ↑ New York Times "House Race Ratings," Accessed August 10, 2012
- ↑ NRCC "Young Guns 2012"
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Election Spending 2012: 25 Toss-Up House Races," October 22, 2012
- ↑ The Cook Political Report, "House: Race Ratings", updated October 18, 2012
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 [LimLim New York Times "Redistricting Poses New Challenge for Incumbent," May 27, 2012]
- ↑ The Batavian "Bellavia knocks Collins for seeking funds from Obama's stimulus package," June 20, 2012
- ↑ US News "In New York 27th, a Fierce GOP Congressional Primary Rages," May 30, 2012
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Buffalo News "Battle-tested underdog David Bellavia is on a mission," June 19, 2012
- ↑ Buffalo News "Bellavia, Collins, largely self-financed," June 16, 2012
- ↑ Washington Post, "The Fix," "Redistricting battles hit a fever pitch," June 3, 2011
- ↑ Sabato's Crystal Ball "2012 House Ratings," June 13, 2012
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer "New York's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ New York State Board of Elections, "District Active Enrollment 2012," April, 2012
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in New York," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" Accessed October 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010" | <urn:uuid:06f579ec-4445-429a-9433-6e7303e18db1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/New_York's_27th_congressional_district_elections,_2012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934224 | 2,099 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Media professionals interested in reporting on university-related stories are encouraged to visit the media newsroom.
September 4, 2012
By John Trent
The University Quadrangle has borne witness to much history and has possessed the echoes of many important words during its long history. It has played host to sitting presidents - Ronald Reagan - and presidents-to-be - Barack Obama. Each May, it serves as the culminating University of Nevada, Reno moment for undergraduate and graduate students during Commencement.
On Friday, Sept. 28, the Quad will again provide the perfect backdrop, this time for a beginning: The inauguration ceremony of Marc Johnson as the institution's 16th president.
The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on the Quad, and will include an inaugural reception in the Joe Crowley Student Union.
The Nevada System of Higher Education's Board of Regents appointed Johnson to serve as the 16th president of the University of Nevada, Reno on April 20. Johnson previously served as interim president, executive vice president and provost at the University since 2008. | <urn:uuid:d735e5d7-8f99-4f42-8d0c-eaaa365a26f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2012/inauguration-is-coming | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961419 | 216 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Kidnapping is a powerful image for us because it includes strong victimization and loss-of-power issues. Someone who is kidnapped goes from being in control of their own destiny to being completely in the hands of another.
If you are dreaming of being kidnapped, the obvious questions are: "What is the condition of your captivity; and by whom are you held?"
If you cooperate with your captors, you may be wanting someone to take control of an untidy section of your life. However, you may feel as though your autonomy has been so severely compromised that you lack the ability to manage the situation.
If your captors are somehow familiar, this may reflect a sense that life has entrapped you. Where did your abductors take you and how? Your subconscious may be showing you an area where your life has become excessively entangling to your autonomy.
It may be that somehow your kidnapping allows you to separate from your environment and start again. Perhaps you are wanting a second chance and do not have the courage to take one. By having yourself kidnapped, you have an excuse to act or behave unusually and blame you captors for it. | <urn:uuid:74f00a0d-cffb-49b1-95cc-7318bcef7d09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.astrology.com/dreams/kidnapping/2-d-r-154515 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978295 | 235 | 1.773438 | 2 |
(Page 2 of 2)
While I don’t find the SCAN study itself concerning—again, I think it would be stunning if the typical 12-year-old’s brain showed more response to a BMW or FedEx logo than to a McDonald’s logo—it’s probably no surprise that I do find these policy implications inapt. And unlike Lazarus, I won’t save the First Amendment implications of the policy he suggests for another day. They’re unconstitutional.
Interestingly, some research that would appear to counter arguments about the particular nefariousness of food advertising and logos comes from a 2010 study by some of the same authors as the SCAN study (including lead author Bruce).
That research, published in the International Journal of Obesity, found that obese children are “hyper-responsive to food stimuli as compared with [healthy weight] children.” It also concludes “that many areas implicated in normal food motivation are hyper-responsive in obese groups.”
In other words, obese people are probably more likely than is the average person to respond to food imagery writ large—from McDonald’s logos to unbranded cheeseburger photos, and from Gogurt ads to Pinterest donut porn.
So it’s not food logos (or ads) that’s the problem. Kids eat what their families feed them. In spite of the arguments of Bruce, Lazarus, and others, policy change in this area should begin—and end—at home. | <urn:uuid:a9488ed2-735f-449c-845e-f1bcfde39e29> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reason.com/archives/2012/10/06/know-logo/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948459 | 312 | 1.804688 | 2 |
About this audio file: On March 10, 2006, Christopher F. Bachelder, communications director for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, was interviewed on the air by WWJ Newsradio reporter Marie Osborne. During the interview, Bachelder discussed efforts to raise the minimum wage in Michigan. The Legislature this week passed a bill that will raise the minimum wage by $1.80 on Oct. 1. Gov. Jennifer Granholm is expected to sign the measure. There is also an ongoing petition drive to establish an annual minimum wage increase through a November ballot initiative. In his interview, Bachelder debunked claims that minimum wage increases lift workers out of poverty and pointed out that the end result may be fewer opportunities for low-skilled workers. The clip is three minutes and 40 seconds long. | <urn:uuid:a15ac939-51a2-47cf-9e55-196e83fc13f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://secure.mackinac.org/7648 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94503 | 161 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Please contact us to request a quote.
Web designing is an art blended with the touch of science and technology. It is of great importance as it decides the fortune of your online business existence. To have your own website does not end up by simply adding pages to it, just like adding numbers in an abacus math game. It requires much more and only a professionally designed and developed website can fulfill the needs and preferences of the client as well as the customer. You need to keep a lot of things in your mind before deciding the launch of your brand new website or the amendment of your existing one. Here are few tips that could guide you in getting the most from your web designer.
Be a smart client; know about the latest trends and technology: The magical mantra of today's generation is "Latest Is Always The Best". This applies to every single specification in this modern era and website designing is not an exception. Prove your elegance by being smart enough. Do a thorough analysis and learn about the latest technological evolution and the recent trend in the market. As and when you get to know each and everything do remember to list them in your pocket diary. Learning needs no age and by doing this you can prevent the mishap of being driven by the words of the Web designer.
Sketch before you implement: It is always advisable to record and register everything that you come across in your daily life with respect to your business and your website. It is not necessary to note down only your favorite things, you can also write down the things that you dislike and those things that you want to avoid in your website. This can help you far better to explain your thoughts and ideas about your website. There can be no business without a short-term goal and a long-term vision. Add your vision and goals as well to this detailed record and use it while discussing with your web designer. This would be the best way to express your interest and let the designer know "What you want and what you need".
Do research and know about your audience: Each and every business revolves around the customer. Right from the Stone Age to this Digital Epoch "Customer is the majestic King" without any doubt. You are the only preeminent person who knows best about your products/services and about the suitable mass that require them. Analyzing the taste and preference of the potential customers and acting accordingly will delight your customers and even a one time visitor would potentially get converted as your reliable patron. Do a complete research on your target audience and know the kind of blogs they read, the social networking media they use and the kind of look and feel they prefer. The time invested in this is worth than any other investments in your business.
Trust Your Designer: Every individual in this world is unique and the real beauty gets revealed only when its originality is expressed. You should give full freedom to your Web designer so that your website design would be the splendid one cherished with his artistic freedom. You should never force or induce your thoughts on him. Let him know your needs and preferences and just remind him to avoid any deviations. Keep in touch with your web designer and know what is being done to your website. Trust him and feel free to ask him about your doubts. Never give room for second thoughts and clarify things then and there to avoid future uncertainties. Mutual trust is highly significant and at the end of the day that will be the major factor contributing to the tremendous victory of your website design.
With these noteworthy tips, you are certain to get the most out of your web designer and your success will be the result of your determined teamwork.
Forix is a Website Design Portland company offering web design and development services. The Portland Web Design is highly experienced in design of informational & eCommerce websites for small businesses and startups. Call toll free 1-800-818-2361 for details today!
Please contact us to request a quote. | <urn:uuid:5c4e4c30-7f22-41ab-a291-ec4bf4e28a62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.xoomdev.com/index.php?design-seo-iphone-android-page=view-web-design_article&view=2227&title=How%20to%20Get%20the%20Most%20From%20Your%20Web%20Designer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951287 | 793 | 1.765625 | 2 |
It has always been good common sense to research the background of anyone who will be interviewing you for a job. Now there is also a scientific reason to pay close attention to your interviewer's academic background, volunteer experiences and leisure pursuits.
People like people who are similar to themselves, but personality or comfort is not the key driver, says Lauren Rivera, an assistant professor of management and organizations and sociology at Northwestern University.
It's having similar experiences, said Rivera, whose study was recently published in the American Sociological Review. Think of it as "cultural matching."
When a company doesn't have specific measurement tools - and a surprising number don't - hiring managers tend to define success by looking in the mirror, Rivera said. If they think, "I understand what it's like to be editor in chief of the school newspaper," they may look more favorably at applicants with that kind of experience.
If that same hiring manager hasn't had a similar experience as the applicant - for example, having never done volunteer church work - that cultural match is missing. And the applicant is less likely to get the job.
When Rivera set out to study the hiring practices of three elite, well-paying industries - law, investment banking and management consulting firms - she assumed she'd end up studying gender issues to explain why some top graduates get the top-tier jobs and others don't.
But it didn't turn out that way, according to Rivera, who interviewed 120 hiring managers and set up shop at one of the human resource departments to get a front-row seat.
Once it was clear the applicant passed the chief hurdles - generally smart, intellectual prestige (where they got their degree) and good grades - it often came down to a matter of shared leisure pursuits and common experiences, Rivera said.
Companies with a more structured interview process, however, don't tend to rely as much on cultural similarities, she said. Nor do employers in which technical skills are critical. Bridge-building engineers are not hired for their golf game. Neither are neurosurgeons.
Sharon Birkman Fink isn't surprised by the research findings. Shared experiences are important to people, said Fink, president and CEO of Birkman International in Houston, which designs psychological workplace assessment tools.
But Fink advises hiring managers to make the vetting process as structured and systematic as possible. For example, you have to be able to gauge a candidate's interests in the job at hand.
Fink was asked recently to assess the performance of a corporate management team. Things weren't clicking, and it turned out that everyone was suited for their roles with one exception, the director of finance.
"I could see that in two seconds," Fink said.
The role demands strong interest in numbers, administration and clerical work, but the finance director had none of that. Nor was the director detail- or task-oriented.
In hindsight, that wasn't a surprise to company officials, who understood at that moment why their finance director couldn't come up with a financial plan, Fink said. Without a passion for detail and data, the fit would never be a good one.
Keep it real
So what can a job seeker do to improve the chances of getting hired? If you want to work on Wall Street or at a big law firm, you need to cultivate your extracurricular life, Rivera said. And be prepared to answer the question, "What do you do in your spare time?"
When you go for an interview, look for cues. If you see a hiking photo on the desk and you like hiking, you can start the discussion there.
Some companies give candidates background information on everyone they'll meet in the interview, Rivera said.
"Those are gold mines" because of the details on leisure activities and other seemingly random nuggets,she said.
Of course, the cultural connections have to be genuine. Don't claim you run marathons or go hiking if you don't. | <urn:uuid:dc0224ec-8f73-4c02-9a89-5f54a09c6134> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Job-applicants-know-your-interviewer-4283736.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970876 | 811 | 1.726563 | 2 |
NDP to introduce 'net neutrality' private member's bill
The federal New Democrats will introduce a private member's bill on Wednesday that would entrench the principle of "net neutrality" and enact rules to keep the internet free from interference by service providers, an NDP MP told a rally Tuesday in Ottawa.
Charlie Angus said the bill would protect Canadian consumers from having their internet speeds "throttled" by service providers.
"You are citizens of the digital realm and you have rights," he told about 300 protesters at the rally on Parliament Hill.
At issue in the net neutrality debate are the actions of big internet service producers (ISPs), such as Bell Canada Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc., that have been slowing down the internet speeds of customers using certain applications, such as peer-to-peer software used for file sharing.
Bell and Rogers, Canada's two largest ISPs, as well as others including Videotron Ltee and Cogeco Inc. say they need to slow such traffic down — or "throttle" it — because a small percentage of customers are abusing these peer-to-peer applications and causing network congestion, affecting the speeds of the majority.
That practice has angered smaller ISPs, including rally organizer TekSavvy Solutions Inc. of Chatham, Ont., that have complained to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that Bell is being anti-competitive by expanding its throttling practices to its members. | <urn:uuid:907d4788-e1e3-4c44-aaec-78b730adc3c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/ndp-introduce-net-neutrality-private-members-bill | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959762 | 293 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Arts Courses at Parish
From Pre k through twelfth grade, our students are given the opportunity to explore the world through many mediums and disciplines. Visual and Performing Arts classes are a part of the school day for all students, and dedicated and advanced students can find many creative outlets in our after school and enrichment offerings. In theatre, Parish offers classes in acting, directing, technical, and musical theatre, including several open audition performance opportunities. Our visual arts students have the opportunity to work through the AP level, with trips to museums and galleries occurring at most grade levels. our vocal department supports 4 choirs, ranging from 1st-12th grades, enriching our Chapel experience and participating in concerts and competitions both on campus and around the city. Instrumental classes begin at 5th grade and remain available through senior year of high school. Our bands perform several concerts annually and support our Chapel program. Parish dancers are showcased at sporting event half time shows and various performances throughout the year. Wherever you are at Parish, the Arts are in action! | <urn:uuid:2e764a3b-2525-4a13-9913-4d2e9edf3e59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.parishday.org/page.cfm?p=760 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972717 | 213 | 1.804688 | 2 |
"What are we to learn by contrast? The answer to this is; to learn what to avoid and what to seek. That part of our SELF which is deluded, the separate Self, knows this only too well. So, in line with every other truth, it was turned into a farce. The seeking now becomes not one between dream and reality but one between polarities themselves, whcih are but part of the dream. Thus the choice, the freedom of choice the Ego offers, is the choice between a dream and a dream. A rock and a hard place.
So, now the picture looks like this: we religiously avoid the Bad and seek the Good or avoid what is Good and seek the Bad as we 'avoid' and 'seek'! It does not really matter which way the pendulum swings, as long as it rmains within 'opposing forces', within polarities; this way escape is made impossible, illusion reassured. As long as we are guided by false perception, we see the cintrast as the contrast between polarities themselves and believe we must choose between poalarites.
Source: God I Am: From Tragic to Magic, Pages: 144 & 145
Contributed by: Nara-Narayana | <urn:uuid:bddb38d4-22af-4ebd-aebe-b6734b0ebca8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.gaiam.com/quotes/topics/dream?page=9 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969805 | 259 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Are the Jews the Chosen People?
Are the Jews the Chosen People?
By Dennis Prager
I assume that the type of person who reads columns such as this one has wondered at one time or another why, for thousands of years, there has been so much attention paid to Jews and why, today, to Israel, the one Jewish state.
But how do most people explain this preoccupation? There is no fully rational explanation for the amount of attention paid to the Jews and the Jewish state. And there is no fully rational explanation for the amount of hatred directed at Jews and the Jewish state.
A lifetime of study of this issue, including writing (with Rabbi Joseph Telushkin) a book on anti-Semitism ("Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism") has convinced me that, along with all the rational explanations, there is one explanation that transcends reason alone.
It is that the Jews are God's chosen people.
Now, believe me, dear reader, I am well aware of the hazards of making such a claim.
It sounds chauvinistic. It sounds racist. And it sounds irrational, if not bizarre.
But it is none of these.
As regards chauvinism, there is not a hint of inherent superiority in the claim of Jewish chosen-ness. In fact, the Jewish Bible, the book that states the Jews are chosen, constantly berates the Jews for their flawed moral behavior. No bible of any other religion is so critical of the religious group affiliated with that bible as the Hebrew Scriptures are of the Jews.
As for racism, Jewish chosen-ness cannot be racist by definition. Here is why: a) The Jews are not a race; there are Jews of every race. And b) any person of any race, ethnicity or nationality can become a member of the Jewish people and thereby be as chosen as Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah or the chief rabbi of Israel.
And with regard to chosen-ness being an irrational or even bizarre claim, it must be so only to atheists. They don't believe in a Chooser, so they cannot believe in a Chosen. But for most believing Jews and Christians (most particularly the Founders who saw America as a Second Israel, a second Chosen People), Jewish Chosen-ness has been a given. And even the atheist must look at the evidence and conclude that the Jews play a role in history that defies reason.
Can reason alone explain how a hodgepodge of ex-slaves was able to change history -- to introduce the moral God-Creator we know as God; to write the world's most influential book, the Bible; to devise ethical monotheism; to be the only civilization to deny the cyclical worldview and give humanity belief in a linear (i.e., purposeful) history; to provide morality-driven prophets and so much more -- without God playing the decisive role in this people's history?
Without the Jews, there would be no Christianity (a fact acknowledged by the great majority of Christians) and no Islam (a fact acknowledged by almost no Muslims). Read Thomas Cahill's "The Gifts of the Jews" or Paul Johnson's "A History of the Jews" to get an idea about how much this people changed history.
What further renders the claim for Jewish chosen-ness worthy of rational consideration is that virtually every other nation has perceived itself as chosen or otherwise divinely special. For example, China means "Middle Kingdom" in Chinese -- meaning that China is at the center of the world; and Japan considers itself the land where the sun originates ("Land of the Rising Sun"). The difference between Jewish chosen-ness and other nations' similar claims is that no one cares about any other group considering itself Chosen, while vast numbers of non-Jews have either believed the Jews' claim or have hated the Jews for it.
Perhaps the greatest evidence for the Jews' chosen-ness has been provided in modern times, during which time evil has consistently targeted the Jews:
-- Nazi Germany was more concerned with exterminating the Jews than with winning World War II.
-- Throughout its 70-year history, the Soviet Union persecuted its Jews and tried to extinguish Judaism. Hatred of Jews was one thing communists and Nazis shared.
-- The United Nations has spent more time discussing and condemning the Jewish state than any other country in the world. Yet, this state is smaller than every Central American country, including El Salvador, Panama and even Belize. Imagine if the amount of attention paid to Israel were paid to Belize -- who would not think there was something extraordinary about that country?
-- Much of the contemporary Muslim world -- and nearly all the Arab world -- is obsessed with annihilating the one Jewish state.
In the words of Catholic scholar Father Edward Flannery, the Jews carry the burden of God in history. Most Jews, being secular, do not believe this. And many Jews dislike talk of chosen-ness because they fear it will increase anti-Semitism; they may be right.
But it doesn't alter the fact that the obsession with one of the smallest countries and smallest peoples on earth, and the unique hatred of the Jews and the Jewish state by the world's most vicious ideologies, can be best explained only in transcendent terms. Namely that God, for whatever reason, chose the Jews.
To read another article by Dennis Prager, click here.
Posted by Brett at 12:34 PM | <urn:uuid:11a009dd-46d2-4ce7-969b-e9fa415c0722> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bcfoley.blogspot.com/2011/05/are-jews-chosen-people.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949235 | 1,119 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The Campus Technology 2011 confererence opening keynote from Michael Wesch was as good as I hoped it would be.
For those who might not be familiar with Mr. Wesch, below you will find his video, “Web 2.0 … The Machine Is Us/ing Us”, which went viral soon after he uploaded it in early 2007.
In his speech, Wesch explained how he and his wife quickly became enthralled with the rapid rise in viewership that was happening so shortly after he published the video, and sat in the basement of their house in Kansas and hit ‘refresh’ repeatedly to watch the number climb! Within days, the video made it to the position of the 4th most watched video on the Internet, and their desire on Superbowl Sunday was to see it hit No. 1 before the Superbowl Ads knocked it off. It did.
This video has now been viewed over 11 million times. The experience of publishing this video and watching as viewers across the world embraced it and made it a phenomenon was the first of several entertaining and insightful anecdotes Wesch shared. Throughout his narrative he wove a tale of Web 2.0 and it’s tremendous potential to change us as a society and as individuals, while also revealing a contrasting dark side that we must strive to avoid.
There was a lot of dichotomy revealed in Wesch’s discussion – the Web can open us up to tremendous learning opportunities and offer the possibility of achieving a global consciousness, but at the same time it often seems like it is facilitating a move towards an encapsulated, eyes-down society. Are we losing our capacity for vulnerability because of our increasingly over-exposed, media saturated lives?
Wesch expressed his concern about how today’s students often feel uninspired in the classroom. He has found that if he asks his students, “How many of you do not like school?”, about half raise their hands, but when the question is changed to, “How many of you do not like learning?”, no one raises their hands. Clearly these students are not simply uninterested. Rather, they are disengaged by the “be quiet and sit there and listen and learn” model upon which much of today’s classroom learning is based. Fortunately, today’s Internet technologies offer so many ways in which that model can be tweaked, evolved, and made to be more fun, more engaging.
During the presentation, the Kansas State University professor offered many inspiring examples of how people across the globe have leveraged digital media to make a difference in the world around them. One of the stories that blew me away was about a spoof video based on a Dove commercial that messaged, “talk to your daughters before the beauty industry does”. Dove’s video suggested that we strive to help young girls understand that there is much more to who they are than their outward appearance. This seemed more than a bit hypocritical, given that Dove is a major player in the beauty industry. In this spoof video, we learn that Dove had been the cause of major environmental problems in Indonesia due to their Palm Oil production and harvesting. Within a short time after the viral spread of that video, Dove met with the video’s makers (Greenpeace) and agreed to set a moratorium on Indonesian palm oil harvesting. Greenpeace explained that it was the single most impactful thing they had ever done.
Wesch shared many more stories about how digital media has been used to make a tremendous impact. Many of these were cases in which it cost the developer of the media next to nothing. We’re not talking about Hollywood productions here. I can do this – you can do this – today, with a computer, a webcam, and a wealth of tools available to us on the Internet for little or no cost.
One of Wesch’s key messages is that when we help students become information media literate, we give them tools that can help them shape their lives and their world in a meaningful way. We need to keep striving to evolve education to keep students engaged and help them achieve the digital literacy that is essential to enabling them to make a real difference in their increasingly web-enabled world.
Related Posts (if the above topic is of interest, you might want to check these out):
8 Great TED Talks About The Future Of Education And Teaching
Great Ed Tech Story: K-5 Summer Tech camp changes lives for low SES students
Campus Technology 2010: Time and Money Well Spent | <urn:uuid:33a96a82-5c06-442a-bd58-8d8b22c496a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.emergingedtech.com/2011/07/michael-wesch-new-learning-environments-for-new-media-environments/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97389 | 935 | 1.664063 | 2 |
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|Chief Shonekan Addresses Habitat Conference in Abjua|
|By Chief Ernest Shonekan, GCFR, CBE|
|Tuesday, October 04, 2011|
Abuja, Nigeria -UPF Global Peace Council member Ernest Shonekan addressed a conference in Abuja on "Shelter and Urban Renewal," in commemoration of World Habitat Day, October 3. World Habitat Day is a day set aside for commemoration by the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT), to ensure that everyone in the world lives in decent houses and environment.
SPEECH DELIVERED BY
May I on behalf of the Governing Board and Management of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Media Trust Limited, and their co conference organizers, Legend Leaders welcome you all to this conference on “Shelter and Urban Renewal” to commemorate the 2011 World Habitat Day.
The theme for this year’s conference is: Mass Housing and Urban Renewal:—Imperative of Public-Private sector Partnership.
As you are aware, the World Habitat Day is observed every year on the first Monday of October throughout the world. It is a day officially designated by the United Nations for reflection on the state of our cities and towns and the extent to which they meet the basic human right to adequate shelter. It also aims to remind the entire world of our collective responsibility for the habitat of future generations. It was first celebrated in 1986.
In line with the Habitat Day’s objective, it is pertinent for us to remember that our National Housing Policy document of 2006 defines housing delivery as the process of providing functional shelter in a proper setting in a neighborhood supported by sustainable maintenance of the built environment for the day-to-day living and activities of individuals and families within the community.
In view of all the above, this specific conference on this day for habitat reflection and its particular focus on shelter and urban renewal is so appropriate; coming at a time when our country - Nigeria - is grappling with the twin challenges of affordable housing provision and urban renewal. Shelter has been universally accepted as the second most important essential human need, after food.
The challenges of housing in Nigeria have been with us for a long time. Our shelter/housing problems are most pronounced in our urban areas where it takes significant qualitative and quantitative dimensions. Rapid urbanization and explosive population growth are twin problems, which in combination result in the serious housing deficit we are experiencing in Nigeria.
These problems have indeed led to the emergence of squatter camps in and around our cities, under bridges, etc., with grave implications for disease outbreaks and high crime rates. It must then blight our common conscience when we see shacks in our urban cities and fellow Nigerians living is squalor and unhygienic conditions with inappropriate housing, no water and sanitation.
Furthermore, this lack of decent affordable public housing and livable environments in our big cities has consigned hundreds of thousands of aspiring middle-class families to deplorable living conditions and crippling rents around our major population centers. This results in long travel times to work, congestion on our roads, family dysfunction, and loss of precious productive man-hours.
This unfortunate tendency to totally neglect low-income shelter provision is really not equitable and is certainly undesirable because of the possible long-term social and security consequences. It’s not rocket science to predict that trouble makers and terrorist groups will prey on the sufferings and emotions of vulnerable youths being raised in these insecure and hostile housing environments.
Nigeria’s housing deficit has been estimated by the Federal Housing Authority as 16 million homes annually. Thus, there must be an urgent focus by all towards the massive construction of homes to accommodate our growing population.
The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria currently estimates that we need about Naira 56 trillion to meet our Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for the housing sector. This is a huge opportunity for the public/private sector especially via public/private partnerships. However, many challenges connected with mass housing provision which include land acquisition, titling, property development approval processing, and lack of long tenor finance and in some cases non-existence of critical primary/secondary infrastructure exist.
Unblocking of these issues by the relevant agencies of government will form a big stimulus package that would incentivize the private sector to participate actively in housing provision. Other critical challenges in providing mass housing/shelter in Nigeria include the inadequate capital and resource base of our primary mortgage institutions and the continuing large importation of building materials, which affect housing delivery and affordability.
Let me at this junction remark that in most countries of the world, the bulk of housing provision including public good social housing is mainly delivered via public/private partnership with the public sector providing appropriate framework and guarantees to incentivize private sector investment towards providing affordable shelter. The challenge for us, therefore, is how we make the private sector in Nigeria respond to the housing needs of Nigerians in an affordable and sustainable manner, given our economic situation and with our population growing at about 2.5% per annum and urbanization, which is currently at circa 48% growing at about 3.8% per annum.
Furthermore, our present macro- and micro-economic conditions mean that disposable incomes are low for a majority of our population; this is compounded by our current low income country GDP per capita of less than US$2,000. All these are serious shelter provision showstoppers that must be addressed. For Nigeria as in most developing countries, the housing crisis is most critical in urban areas like Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt, etc., where a continuous population surge due to rural-urban migration has given rise to various slums and squatter settlements.
Following the policy failures of the past, we must now re-focus our national housing delivery efforts to be dominantly private sector driven. In this mode, the government will create win/win alliances with private developers to develop affordable housing estates through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and associated infrastructure. A current good example is the recently signed PPP contract between the FCT and Deanshanger Projects for primary and secondary infrastructure development in the Katampe District of Abuja.
It is my prayer that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)/Federal Housing Authority (FHA) will work further with the ICRC to develop public/private partnerships for the urgent provision of affordable mass housing in Katampe and other districts of the FCT. The ICRC is willing and able to play a catalyzing role in facilitating this mass housing provision thrust. It must be said again that mass housing provision as noted earlier can become an important contribution to national economic development (job creation, skills development, industrialization, etc.) and give rise to new asset classes and prosperity for all Nigerians.
As I have said on several occasions, and I will repeat it here, I truly believe that PPPs can play a key role in transforming Nigeria’s infrastructure, and we must begin to look at innovative ways of meeting the challenges we face in our national housing sector.
We, in the ICRC, have been working hard at the federal level to develop world-class policies that will ensure that we properly prepare infrastructure projects for PPP procurement. We are also setting-up a Viability Gap Fund (VGF) to provide additional upfront public funding for projects that require on-going support from the federal budget especially if these projects such as shelter provision have a high social rate of return. The VGF funding will make these projects bankable and attractive to the private sector. We are also working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on a number of initiatives, to ensure that our local financial markets have the depth and liquidity to finance a growing portfolio of PPP projects including the setting-up of additional mechanisms for financing PPP infrastructure and housing projects. Mass housing could and would benefit from these schemes.
Rural Housing - Provision of rural housing is of course more challenging and is in fact the most neglected form of housing. This is due to the fact that it is predominantly informal, largely unregulated, and unable to attract formal financing. In order to address this, we urgently recommend that the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, State Governments/LGAs, Federal Housing Authority/Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, NAPEP, and other relevant agencies of government jointly initiate an Accelerated National Rural Housing and Infrastructure Development Program as a public/private partnership to deliver decent shelter as a social good to millions of Nigerians living in the rural areas. The ICRC would be pleased to partner with these agencies to structure this initiative in full compliance with the national PPP policy. Furthermore, an initiative like the rural housing delivery project will lead to massive job creation; as you are aware, over 22 skills (masons, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, iron mongers, glass cutters, tillers, excavation personnel, painters, etc.) are needed to construct a single house; as such, several million young Nigerians will provide their labor and skills towards providing shelter for millions of Nigerians in our rural and urban areas. Creating a conducive housing environment in our rural areas will play a strong role in reversing rural-to-urban migration in our country, which is rapidly creating an underclass of slum dwellers with massive potential negative social implications.
Delivery and development of sustainable mass housing and urban renewal projects will help alleviate poverty; I therefore challenge all of us present here today to assist the government to create the necessary enabling environment for public/private partnerships in mass housing in Nigeria and propose innovative ways through which these objectives could be achieved.
At this juncture, I enjoin all present today to use the opportunity of the high levels of discourse that would naturally occur at a forum of this nature to properly diagnose, identify, and situate the opportunities and challenges inherent in addressing Nigeria’s shelter and urban-renewal challenges. As Franz Fanon said years ago – every generation must out of relative obscurity discover her mission; fulfill or betray it.
My generation focused on the fight for independence and making the nation of Nigeria a reality. I believe the challenge of this generation is to provide adequate infrastructure stock including affordable housing that will provide a decent life for present and future generations of Nigeria.
Our national pledge demands and we promise to “To serve Nigeria with all our strength, to defend her unity and uphold her honor and glory.” Shall we all agree to uphold the honor and dignity of all Nigerians via the provision of affordable housing? I am sure we can and mm sure we will.
I hereby declare this conference open and unequivocally raise my voice and advocate for positive transformational change to help those in our country of Nigeria and around the world who do not have a decent place to live.
God bless Nigeria and you all.
Note: This year, World Habitat Day falls during the month when demographers predict our planet’s seven billionth inhabitant will be born," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement on World Habitat Day. "The future that this child and its generation will inherit depends to a great degree on how we handle the competing pressures of growing population growth, urbanization and climate change." | <urn:uuid:386efea5-89ab-4f7e-84ac-26e500a90247> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.upf.org/upf-news/141-africa-middle-east/4046-chief-shonekan-addresses-habitat-conference-in-abjua | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935153 | 2,347 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Don't Be a Martyr! 10 Steps to Letting Go
Photo: Brand X Pictures/Thinkstock
Finding a balance between what you give and what you get in your relationships is essential to your happiness, health and well-being. From co-workers to friendships to family, take Dr. Robert Holden's Sacrifice Test to identify the key reasons behind the sacrifices you're making in your relationships. Once you have your results, use these 10 powerful exercises to help you let go so that you can finally say yes to a more beautiful life.
There are two types of sacrifice: unhealthy sacrifice and healthy sacrifice. In my work, I have seen people try to use unhealthy sacrifice to save a marriage. It appeared to work at first, but love and dishonesty are not good bedfellows. I have seen lovers try to play small in a relationship so as to heal power struggles and avoid rejection. I have seen children get ill in an attempt to heal their parents' relationship. I have seen business leaders nearly kill themselves for their cause. Unhealthy sacrifice is often well-intentioned, but it never really works.
Healthy sacrifice is a different story. To be happy in a relationship, for instance, you have to be willing to sacrifice fear for love, independence for intimacy, defenses for joy and resentment for forgiveness. To be successful at work, you have to be willing to sacrifice being in control to allow for innovation and sacrifice chronic busyness for genuine success, for instance. Healthy sacrifice helps you to let go of what does not really work in order to embrace what does work.
So, how much unhealthy sacrifice are you in right now? Sometimes the habit of unhealthy sacrifice is so unconscious we are the last to recognize it in ourselves. Would you be willing to sacrifice unhealthy sacrifice so as to shift your life and experience greater joy, love and abundance?
Next: Are you true to yourself?
Published on August 06, 2010 | <urn:uuid:11bc2dd7-f8b4-466f-a1c5-103299b0f380> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/10-Steps-to-Letting-Go-of-Unhealthy-Sacrifice | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950218 | 392 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. announced on November 26 that it had signed a long-term transport contract with Brazilian mining giant Vale International SA, a subsidiary of Vale S.A., for two very large ore carriers (VLOCs) on November 18. Two 300,000 DWT-class newbuild VLOCs, which will be constructed at Japan's Universal Shipbuilding Corporation and slated for completion in 2012 and 2013, will serve the Vale-China shuttle service, transporting iron ore for 25 years.
Long-term contracts with stable and large iron ore mining companies will help secure cash flow stability for MOL and allow the company to develop more stable portfolio strategies as it moves ahead.
Vale is the second largest metals and mining company and among the 30 largest publicly traded companies in the world. Vale is also the largest iron ore producer in the world with an expected production of 311 million tons in 2011 and the largest private sector company in Latin America.
MOL, as one of the world’s largest Cape-size bulker operators, already operates five 300,000-class VLOCs, including the 320,000 dwt Brasil Maru, says it will continue to take a proactive stance in VLOC operation to meet the growing demand of iron ore transport and optimize the use of large vessels. MOL operates 861 vessels and employs more than 9,200 people worldwide. | <urn:uuid:051c0165-52d7-4e8e-91fd-5d633793237f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marinelog.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=228:j2010nov00262&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=195 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943098 | 289 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Oceans Consultation Coming to Capital City
16 July 2001
Wellington: Level 5 Committee Room,
Wellington Regional Council,
142-146 Wakefield Street,
Wednesday 18 July, 5.30pm
Customary fishing rights, coastal erosion, and farming run off are some of the issues discussed at public meetings over the past month - all of which impact on our oceans.
It is now the turn of capital city citizens to attend the Wellington City public meeting for Oceans Policy to be held in the Level 5 Committee Room, Wellington Regional Council, 142-146 Wakefield Street on Wednesday 18 July, 5.30pm.
Mr David McDowell, Deputy Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee responsible for conducting public consultations on the formulation of an Oceans Policy, will chair the meeting.
It is the first time New Zealanders have been formally asked to not only think about, but also to submit views on their values and vision for an Oceans Policy. It is an opportunity for every New Zealander to contribute at the very start of a process, and this fact makes the committee's consultation process different.
"New Zealand needs an Oceans Policy to help resolve conflict between different human uses of the oceans. The laws that currently relate to the use of the oceans are complicated, piecemeal and contradictory," Mr McDowell said.
The committee is halfway through the consultations. Some of the issues that have come up so far include the polluting effect of run-off from farms and storm water systems, coastal erosion, conflicts between commercial fishers, recreational fishers and Maori customary gatherers of seafood over the use of coastline resources and the sea, and standards for any mining activity on the seabed.
"To stimulate new thinking we have developed a booklet with a seven question guide to making submissions. New Zealanders are invited to attend the public meetings so they can get a feel for how the process works and then the next step is for them to submit a submission," Mr McDowell said.
Other elements of the consultation campaign are: a schools' campaign, a website and a 0800 number so people can request a copy of the booklet or details on public meetings.
The deadline for submissions for stage one is August 17, 2001.
For further information on the Oceans Policy and the public meetings in your area call 0800 001461 or check www.oceans.govt.nz
For further information please contact:
Carolyn Risk Oceans Policy Secretariat 021 501 667 | <urn:uuid:64610db1-8cd4-4222-93ca-c4c618a8d439> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Press/Press+Releases+2001/July+2001/Oceans+Consultation+Coming+To+Capital+City.htm?WBCMODE=presentationunpublished%23MainContentAnchor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931347 | 515 | 1.671875 | 2 |
There is nothing more faddish than economic development.
Cities centralize economic development, cities decentralize economic development, cities create five-year economic growth plans, cities renounce five-year economic growth plans, well, you get the picture.
But one thing is undeniable: there is no substitute for an actively involved city mayor. That’s why Memphis paid a high price for the last lethargic Herenton years.
We’ve seen what happens when the mayor isn’t interested in staying engaged in economic development. We are now beginning to see what it looks like when we have just the opposite.
As Kip Bergstrom, a really smart thinker about economic growth, said in a recent video conference with Leadership Memphis: “Nothing is more potent than a visionary mayor – an entrepreneurial, visionary mayor – because it gives a city its strongest competitive advantage.”
In other words, there is nothing as important as a city mayor who sees himself as the chief economic development officer for his community. The fact that we have a county mayor who also sees himself the same way is producing big results, according to people on the inside of recent economic development projects.
It’s the ultimate “one stop shop.” Once given the pledge by the leaders of both city and county governments, corporate leaders have a higher degree of comfort that promises will be met and that the full resources of government will come to bear to make the project a reality.
It’s pretty obvious that something different is going on. A few weeks ago, 1,300 jobs were announced for the Electrolux project, and what wasn’t announced at that time was equally impressive – three impressive projects in the pipeline, including Mitsubishi and Kruger Inc.
It’s rare – although not unheard of – for the first calls from a prospect to go to the mayor’s office, but what’s rarer – and the impact is never lost on corporate officials – is a mayor who’s willing to pick up the phone to promise help or to fly to company headquarters to personally try to close the deal. In our case, both Mayor Wharton and Mayor Luttrell have been willing to do this in recent weeks.
The fact that two mayors are making these calls and demonstrating the most cooperation that’s been seen here since the days of Memphis Mayor Dick Hackett and Shelby County Mayor Bill Morris gives us a potent one-two punch. That said, the current collaboration is much different than the effective one forged by the past mayors, which was forged largely on a sense of competition.
The most convincing evidence of the involvement of mayors was seen between 1979 and 1991 when Memphis became a hub of Japanese business. Newly elected Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander took office in 1979 and set Japan as a key economic development target for his administration. Mayor Morris, who was the first leader here to talk about the emerging importance of international business, saw it as a key opportunity for Shelby County and joined with Governor Alexander in becoming active members of the S.E.U.S/Japan Association, a trade, investment, and understanding association established in 1975.
Mr. Morris became an expert in Japanese protocol and customs – like identifying shared symbols like the iris flower, family values, and work ethic – and got on a first name basis with a number of leading Japanese CEOs, including a personal friendship with the head of Sharp Corporation worldwide. When Mr. Hackett took office in 1982, he assumed a strong supporting role, and between them, they became a tough act to beat, as proven in the fact that Tennessee became a big winner in attracting Japanese companies and Shelby County had more of them than any other place in the state.
The SEUS/Japan Association met alternately in Japan and in the U.S., and the Shelby County delegation led by Mayor Morris became a fixture at the meetings. When held in Japan, the Shelby County delegation also traveled the length of Japan to meet with executives of the parent company for every operation located in our community. These visits yielded even more investments.
It was an exciting era for Memphis and Shelby County as economic strategies was creating jobs, attracting new business investment, and most of all, creating a buzz that attracted national attention. Of course, a number of factors influenced the decisions of nationally prominent companies to invest in Memphis, but at the top of the list was the leadership of both mayors.
That same type of partnership seems to be coalescing again, and the best thing about it is that we’re just on the front cusp of what can be accomplished when city and county mayors are working together to fight for business investment and new jobs. As they do, Mr. Bergstrom said they should focus on “what you do have, not what you don’t have.” In other words, Memphis should resist the temptation to play copy-cat and promise things that aren’t authentic.
Most of all, Memphis must show that it wants, cares, and honors entrepreneurs, and that it will do what it takes to put the whole ecosystem for entrepreneurs in place – access to capital, specialized services, incubator space, and champions for them. Finally, the mayors should think in a non-linear ways, ready to call audibles and to adapt rather than stick rigidly to a five-year plan. | <urn:uuid:9b9ece56-4338-4259-aba0-1b60c4c913f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2011/01/mayors-a-must-in-job-chase/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968789 | 1,099 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander has appealed to United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon to go in person to the region for last-ditch talks to avert full-scale conflict.
There is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Over the decades violence has only led to more violence.
What is needed now is an immediate end to the violence. We urge the UN Secretary General to visit the region this week to begin talks with all parties, and with partners in the region.
There must now be a full-scale diplomatic initiative, led by the UN Secretary General himself, to try and bring this conflict to an end.
The only hope for peace and security for the citizens of the region will be through re-starting the stalled negotiations towards agreeing a two state solution. | <urn:uuid:d16257ef-31d1-4381-88c0-45ab99bf4559> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itv.com/news/update/2012-11-17/shadow-foreign-secretary-appeals-to-un-leader-over-conflict/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940298 | 159 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Located near the University of Texas, Austin, Hyde Park is a bustling area, full of young people, shoppers and businesses. The park also features many historical landmarks. The Col. Monroe M. Shipe House, where the designer of Hyde Park lived. The Elisabet Ney Museum, a showcase of the sculptor's work in her studio, is also located in Hyde Park. The Shadow Lawn Historic District within Hyde Park showcases amazing works of early, yet advanced, architecture.
Attractions & Landmarks | <urn:uuid:51ddd365-71dd-4be8-bd89-6cbcf4576420> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states/texas/austin/hyde-park-thingstodo-detail-362041/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963813 | 102 | 1.6875 | 2 |
For Immediate Release: April 16, 2007
Senator James A. Williamson
Full Senate Approves Illegal Immigration
On Monday, the evenly divided Oklahoma Senate
passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill by a 41 to 6 vote.
If the House of Representatives accepts the Senate’s amendments
to House Bill 1804, the legislation could be on Gov. Brad Henry’s
desk by the end of the week.
Sen. James A. Williamson is the Senate author of HB 1804, “The
Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007.”
He said the bill is designed to protect jobs for citizens as
well as addressing concerns about taxpayer supported benefits.
“The failure of the federal government to address the
problem of illegal immigration has brought this issue before
us,” said Williamson, R-Tulsa. “HB 1804 represents
our effort to deal with the areas we can through legislation
at the state level.”
The bill would prevent illegal immigrants from taking advantage
of taxpayer funded services except in cases such as a medical
emergency or natural disaster. The legislation also includes
language that mirrors federal law on transporting or hiding
illegal immigrants. That language would give state law enforcement
the authority to take action in such cases.
Williamson said the bill addresses another area of concern for
Oklahomans—protecting the jobs of American citizens.
“Under this bill, if an employer releases a U.S. citizen
while retaining an illegal immigrant, the citizen could file
a discriminatory practice claim and seek to have both his job
and back wages restored,” Williamson said. “In addition,
businesses contracting with state agencies that do not use an
online program to verify the immigration status of employees
would forfeit the ability to do business with the state. Businesses
acting in good faith to verify status would be protected against
Children of immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for at least
two years and graduated from an Oklahoma high school would still
be eligible for in-state college tuition under the legislation,
but the bill includes provisions to ensure those students are
taking steps to become citizens. Students currently in college
would not fall under the new provisions.
Williamson said the legislation now goes back to the House for
consideration of Senate amendments.
“I believe this is a fair, even-handed approach to problems
Oklahoma is facing as a result of illegal immigration,”
Williamson said. “It is my sincere hope that when this
reaches Governor Henry’s desk, he will sign HB 1804 into
For more information contact:
Senator Williamson's Office: (405) 521-5624 | <urn:uuid:94bd5d1b-2ec9-42db-8ef6-a124762fd0fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oksenate.gov/news/press_releases/press_releases_2007/pr20070416b.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933065 | 574 | 1.539063 | 2 |
U.S. Widens Terror War to Yemen, a Qaeda Bastion
Yemeni protesters staged a demonstration in the southern part of the country on Thursday after a raid against Qaeda militants.
A year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency sent several of its top field operatives with counterterrorism experience to the country, according a former top agency official. At the same time, some of the most secretive Special Operations commandos have begun training Yemeni security forces in counterterrorism tactics, senior military officers said.
The Pentagon is spending more than $70 million over the next 18 months, and using teams of Special Forces, to train and equip Yemeni military, Interior Ministry and coast guard forces, more than doubling previous military aid levels.
The country has long been a refuge for jihadists, in part because Yemen’s government welcomed returning Islamist fighters who had fought in Afghanistan during the 1980s. The Yemen port of Aden was the site of the audacious bombing of the American destroyer Cole in October 2000 by Qaeda militants, which killed 17 sailors.
Qaeda militants have made much more focused efforts to build a base in Yemen in recent years, drawing recruits from throughout the region and mounting attacks more frequently on foreign embassies and other targets. The White House is seeking to nurture enduring ties with the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and prod him to combat the local Qaeda affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, even as his impoverished country grapples with seemingly intractable internal turmoil.
“Yemen now becomes one of the centers of that fight,” said Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut and chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, who visited the country in August. “We have a growing presence there, and we have to, of Special Operations, Green Berets, intelligence,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Yemen’s security problems won’t just stay in Yemen,” said Christopher Boucek, who studies Yemen as an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. “They’re regional problems and they affect Western interests.”
The United States believes that Yemen is becoming Al Qaeda's next operational training hub, rivaling the tribal areas of Pakistan where Al Qaeda leaders have been operating. Saudi Arabia is similarly concerned given the resurgent Islamist extremism in nearby Somalia and East Africa.rganization’s top leaders operate.
Although the most important intelligence has come came from the United States and Saudi Arabia, other countries in the region have increased their financial assistance to help Yemen. There is a pervasive fear both inside and outside Yemen that Al Qaeda is staking new ground, establishing training centers,and making some parts of Yemen no-go areas. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are providing assistance because they believe they will be targeted in the future.
This is an expansion of the Yemen story and updates found in
Yemen and Updates by snuffysmith | December 20, 2009 at 09:21 am[q url="http://my.nowpublic.com/world/yemen-and-updates"] | <urn:uuid:7939f57a-084e-4b5a-86d7-351255df2e0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nowpublic.com/world/u-s-widens-terror-war-yemen-qaeda-bastion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946942 | 637 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Reports say that by 2014, over half of the internet connections around the world being devoted entirely to mobile devices; it is hard to turn away from the facts, and ignore mobile as an important marketing outlet. Even more-so for small businesses, having clear and concise mobile website can distinguish you from your competition, and become a useful sales tool.
For most people the mobile web will be their primary, if not their only, way of experiencing the internet. For a lot of business, that’ll mean designing for the mobile web first and for the regular web second.
Peter Rojas, co-founder of Gdgt, co-founder of Engadget and Gizmodo
The people using mobile devices are much different than those using desktop, or non-portable computers- they are a crowd that is most likely on-the-go, with very little attention span, and have a very specific reason to be visiting your mobile website. Having the right features on your mobile website is important to satisfy the needs of mobile users, and here are some of the “core” ones to think about:
The priorities on a full website are much different than those on a mobile website. On your full website, it may be okay to tuck the phone number in the footer or on a secondary page, because it is unlikely a person wants to call from their computer; however, if you are on a mobile device, like a cell phone, calling with a single touch (or “click”) may very well be the only thing you want to do! Similarly, your hours of operation are not as important on the desktop computer, but for someone driving who needs to see if you are open, it is important to make them a forefront.
The most important thing to keep in mind, is that a mobile website is a sales tool for small businesses, it is something that should entice, inform, and engage users. In “The ROI of Mobile”, Julie A. Ask identifies the benefits of a mobile presence, and lists those for “Increased Consumer Purchases” as the following:
Basic features are no the only thing that will help you turn a mobile website into dollars, sometimes it is the special features that can separate a good product from a bad one. Some features that fit in this category are the following:
There is nothing worse than not knowing if your hard earned money is going towards something that is working or not, so it is really important that you have a strong analytics tool to keep track of it. Also, as many mobile strategies somehow believe that just because you are on a mobile device, it is okay to make your brand look like garbage- we disagree! Your mobile website should carry over the same brand experience as the full website, as it is not a very effective marketing tool if it doesn’t. The final mentioned feature is about discovery (how do people get onto my mobile website?), and because it is such an important topic, we have dedicated an entire article to that topic- Tips for Discovering your Mobile Website.
Owner of Solid Grounds Coffee House in Northville, Teresa Berent, agrees that mobile devices will continue to play a bigger part in the future of her commerce.
With the barcode scanning apps coming out for everything, it will all go paperless- all discounts or coupons will be digital. I do have many parents or older customers who prefer paper, but that too will go away soon.
Teresa Berent, Owner of Solid Grounds Coffee House
However, we often run into people who say, “I am not a retail shop, is a mobile website going to help me?”. This is completely valid, because most of the features we have mentioned suggest that someone is either walking by, or driving to your location. However, lets consider some other situations where a “virtual”, or work-from-home small business might find themselves in:
1. You are at a networking event, and want people to remember you.
If you hand out a business card with a QR code, or link to your mobile website, people are now enticed to find out more about you. There are a lot of benefits to being instantly engage-able from a mobile device at large events that offer some down time. If you can capture a lead “right here, right now”, and not get lost in a pile of business cards for later sifting, then job well done.
2. Because you are not a place people can walk into, you must be more accessible.
A mobile website broadens the amount of people who connect with your small business, because your brand is now at the fingertips of all mobile device users. With a mobile website, people can feel safe that if they need help, or need to contact you, they always have that connection to you in the palm of their hands.
The last thing you or your small business need is another over-priced tool, that becomes too complicated to manage. There are a lot of tools to help with mobile out there, but it is important to evaluate their features, their uses, and the quality of not only the product, but your experience with it. On the other side of the fence, there are some people who can talk some pretty high priced jargon with you when it comes to mobile solutions, so if your ever having questions, we are happy to field a phone call or email, just get in touch with us. | <urn:uuid:501e1fba-1e55-4faa-90ee-3aecb9431893> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://landr.co/blog/articles/mobile-websites-for-small-business-what-do-you-need | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968195 | 1,125 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Typically calm Brits played their role with pride, patience and good humor.
LONDON - At the end of two weeks of competition -- not to mention seven years of preparation -- Olympic host cities often feel as anyone would after a two-week party. They will miss having the world hanging out with them, but they're ready to see everyone off and tidy up.
Britain seemed to have a much different reaction Sunday, when the curtain fell on the London Olympics with a riotous closing ceremony. When it was announced that it was time to extinguish the Olympic flame, 80,000 people in Olympic Stadium audibly sighed. A country that fretted over how it would pull off the Summer Games had embraced them thoroughly, so much so that it wasn't ready for them to end.
The London Olympics produced 44 world records, 117 Olympic records and an outpouring of national pride that caught many Brits off guard. A people known for their reserve found themselves painting their faces to cheer on equestrians and kayakers. They lined up in small towns to have their photos taken with mailboxes painted gold, in honor of their home-grown Olympic medalists.
The enthusiasm of the Brits put an Olympic spin on their favorite slogan, Keep Calm and Carry On. They carried on, all right, enveloping Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre and every other venue in a deafening din every time a British athlete appeared. By the end, it seemed impossible that this country had ever been unsure of its place in the world, or too reserved to step up and claim it.
"We lit the flame, and we lit up the world,'' said Lord Sebastian Coe, head of the London Olympics organizing committee. "The British people got behind London's bid, and they got behind London's Games. Our opening ceremony proclaimed these would be a Games for everyone. At our closing ceremony, we can say that these were a Games by everyone.''
Nearly 8 million spectators attended these Olympics, quieting the skeptics who predicted they would be a debacle. The worries about security never materialized. Public transportation ran smoothly most of the time, and the occasional bottlenecks were met with patience and good humor.
British athletes were overwhelmed by the ovations they received everywhere, from a public that embraced even those in the most obscure sports. There was some debate over whether it was unseemly to cheer for Brits to win; traditionally, this is a society that has always celebrated the effort rather than the outcome. That seemed to go out the window as soon as cyclist Bradley Wiggins and rowers Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won Great Britain's first gold medals of the Games.
The home team's haul -- 29 golds and 65 medals overall -- placed it third in the medal count. The Americans, who led the medals table with 46 golds and 104 total medals, said the noise in some venues was the loudest they had heard -- and that it required a bit of imagination to keep from becoming unnerved. "You have to pretend they're cheering for you,'' said swimmer Missy Franklin, who did draw plenty of applause as she won four gold medals and one bronze in a star-making performance. Also representing well: nine of the 14 Team USA members with Minnesota ties are coming home with medals.
The Olympics showcased a modern, multicultural Britain. Its most celebrated athletes included the Somalia-born Mo Farah, who could be knighted after winning both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters and being hailed by Coe -- a two-time Olympic champion in the 1,500 -- as the greatest runner in British history. Aristocrats and commoners cheered side by side, and even the royals got into the act, as Queen Elizabeth, Princes William and Harry and other members of the royal family turned up at many venues.
There were still a few naysayers. The singer Morrissey asked whether "England had ever been quite so foul with patriotism,'' yet others saw the Olympics as a means to move past some of the issues that have divided the country. Only a year ago, there was widespread rioting in London, set off by the shooting of a man by police.
Coe, Mayor Boris Johnson and others hoped the Olympics could bridge some of the social and economic rifts that troubled the country.
On Sunday, Britain came together one final time at the Olympic stadium to listen to the Who, the Spice Girls, Annie Lennox and other Britpop favorites. One of the highlights of the show came when comedian Eric Idle, of the Monty Python troupe, sang "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,'' and 80,000 people in the stadium whistled along with him. The Olympics were ending, but Coe and other Olympic officials hope the happy hangover lasts.
"We have seen in these days what tenacity can do, what ambition can do, what imagination can do,'' Coe said. "We know more now, as individuals and as a nation, just what we are capable of. I said that these Games would see the best of us. On this last day, I can finish with these words: When our time came, Britain, we did it right.''
|Seattle - LP: F. Hernandez||0||FINAL|
|Cleveland - WP: J. Masterson||6|
|Arizona - LP: W. Miley||1||FINAL|
|Miami - WP: R. Nolasco||2|
|Cincinnati - LP: A. Chapman||2||FINAL|
|Philadelphia - WP: A. Bastardo||3|
|Houston - LP: L. Harrell||0||FINAL|
|Pittsburgh - WP: J. Locke||1|
|Los Angeles - LP: K. Jansen||2||FINAL|
|Atlanta - WP: L. Avilan||5|
|Tampa Bay - WP: M. Moore||3||FINAL|
|Baltimore - LP: C. Tillman||1|
|Boston - WP: J. Lackey||5||FINAL|
|Minnesota - LP: P. Hernandez||1|
|Milwaukee - LP: K. Lohse||2||FINAL|
|St. Louis - WP: J. Gast||4|
|NY Mets - WP: S. Rice||4||FINAL|
|Chicago Cubs - LP: K. Fujikawa||3|
|Chicago WSox - LP: J. Peavy||2||FINAL|
|LA Angels - WP: J. Vargas||6|
|Kansas City - LP: K. Herrera||3||FINAL|
|Oakland - WP: J. Blevins||4|
|Washington - LP: D. Haren||4||FINAL|
|San Diego - WP: A. Cashner||13|
|San Francisco - LP: B. Zito||0||FINAL|
|Colorado - WP: J. Nicasio||5|
|Detroit - LP: J. Ortega||8||FINAL|
|Texas - WP: R. Ross||11|
|Red Bull New York||1|
|Sporting Kansas City||1||FINAL|
|Real Salt Lake||4||FINAL| | <urn:uuid:75016605-886f-4295-9125-4aee97052cdb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.startribune.com/sports/165901206.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949638 | 1,513 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Barclays boss quits amid scandal
FG_AUTHORS: Super User
Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond has resigned with immediate effect.
The move comes less than a week after the bank was fined for trying to manipulate inter-bank lending rates, sparking a government inquiry and calls for criminal investigations.
Mr Diamond said he was stepping down because the external pressure on the bank risked "damaging the franchise".
Chancellor George Osborne said he hoped it was the "first step towards a new culture of responsibility" in banking.
"It is the right decision for the country," Mr Osborne said, saying the country needed a strong Barclays concentrating on lending and contributing to economic recovery.
Chairman Marcus Agius, who had announced his own resignation on Monday, will now take over the running of Barclays until a replacement is found.
"I am deeply disappointed that the impression created by the events announced last week about what Barclays and its people stand for could not be further from the truth," Mr Diamond said in a statement.
He will still appear before MPs on the Treasury Committee on Wednesday to answer questions about the Libor affair.
How Libor scandal developed
•27 June: Barclays fined £290m by US and UK regulators for attempting to manipulate Libor rates
•28 June: Barclays shares plunge 15%
•29 June: Bank of England governor calls for change in banking culture
•1 July:It emerges that RBS has sacked four traders over Libor and there are calls for changes in the law to cover Libor-rigging
•2 July:Barclays chairman Marcus Agius resigns and the government launches two inquiries into Libor and banking standards
•3 July: Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond resigns
"I look forward to fulfilling my obligation to contribute to the Treasury Committee's enquiries related to the settlements that Barclays announced last week without my leadership in question," Mr Diamond said.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, told the BBC that Mr Diamond's resignation was "the right decision".
"There are many questions to be answered about the rate fixing and Barclays will have to answer many of those questions," said Mr Alexander.
"Responsibility has been taken in the right way. Hopefully this will help Barclays to establish the right culture in the future."Resignation calls
Last week, regulators in the US and UK fined Barclays £290m ($450m) for attempting to rig Libor and Euribor, the interest rates at which banks lend to each other, which underpin trillions of pounds worth of financial transactions.
Libor is to banking what the Millie Dowler case was to phone hacking”
Staff did this over a number of years, trying to raise them for profit and then, during the financial crisis, lowering them to hide the level to which Barclays was under financial stress.
The chairman of the City regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), noted the public outrage at the bank's actions.
"The cynical greed of traders asking their colleagues to falsify their Libor submissions so that they could make bigger profits - has justifiably shocked and angered people, in particular when we are facing hard economic times provoked by the financial crisis," Lord Turner told the FSA's annual meeting.
After Mr Agius announced his resignation on Monday, politicians and shareholders continued to call for Mr Diamond to go.
It is a soap opera like no other I can remember in my 30 years of reporting on the City. ”
Responding to news of his departure, opposition leader Ed Miliband said: "It was clear Bob Diamond was not the man to lead the change that Barclays needed."
He repeated Labour's criticism of the terms of the parliamentary inquiry, to be led by the head of the Treasury Committee, that the government announced this week.
"This is about the culture and practices of the entire banking system which is why we need an independent, open, judge-led, public inquiry."
Mr Diamond is one of the UK's highest paid chief executives, earning £20m last year, and was described as "the unacceptable face" of banking by the then business secretary Lord Mandelson in 2010. The details of any severance package are not yet known.
He was head of Barclays Capital, its investment bank division, when his staff were trying to manipulate the key inter-bank rates.
"He maintains that he didn't know what was going on," says BBC business editor Robert Peston. "He feels he was hounded out."
It emerged over the weekend that Mr Diamond spoke to the deputy governor of the Bank of England Andrew Tucker about Barclays' Libor submissions at the height of the credit crunch in 2008.
The details of that telephone conversation will be an important area of questioning at this week's hearing of the Treasury Committee.
Barclays' managers came to believe, after the conversation between Mr Diamond and Mr Tucker, that the Bank of England had sanctioned them to lie about what they were paying to borrow when providing data to the committees that set the Libor rate. | <urn:uuid:de0dd43b-486c-4b7d-893a-f2450393ff7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wirralbiz.biz/9-business-news/1129-barclays-boss-quits-amid-scandal.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973977 | 1,036 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Facebook founder’s rock bottom mortgage rate all relative, say experts
By Al Barbarino
News that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, 28, obtained an obscenely low mortgage rate of 1.05 percent on his $6 million Palo Alto pad left everyday homeowners with their mouths ajar.
Why, they asked, can a billionaire obtain a lower rate than everyday Jack and Jill can on their mortgages? Others asked why a billionaire — nearly 16 times over — would even need a mortgage on his home.
The answer to the latter is this: he absolutely doesn’t need a mortgage.
To put it into perspective, Zuckerberg’s home is worth roughly 0.04 percent of his total wealth of $15.6 billion. Taking the median net worth for an individual in Zuckerberg’s age range (25-34), a mere $8,525, according to data from CNN Money, an equivalent purchase equals roughly $3.41. That’s three dollars and forty one cents.
Most 28-year-olds don’t take out a mortgage loan before they buy a Starbuck’s Caffe Latte. And any individual with a net worth of $8,525 would have a tough — if not impossible — time obtaining a mortgage, much less at a 1.05 percent rate.
But Zuckerberg is able to fetch such a low rate because a billionaire poses virtually no risk to a lending institution, especially when taking out a comparatively tiny loan.
“What he borrows at is somewhat irrelative to the 99.9999 percent of the planet,” said Billy Procida, president of Procida Funding and Advisors.
There are reasons Zuckerberg may have opted for a mortgage on his new home — other than a simple desire to fit in.
First, it costs him nothing to take out the mortgage. So long as the inflation rates sticks around 1.7 percent — as it did in June, according to data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics — the mortgage makes more sense than storing bags of money in his closet.
But most of Zuckerberg’s money probably isn’t stashed away at all; while he may be worth $15.6 billion, much of that is tied up in stock, with restrictions on pulling funds, experts said.
“Cash is always a good thing to have, even if you are a billionaire,” Procida said.
A recent study from Environics Analytics of Toronto calculated the net worth of the average American household at $319,970. That family can certainly get a mortgage more easily than the starving, hypothetical 28-year-old with a $8,525 net worth, but still nowhere near the rates that a billionaire would.
“That family can probably get a rate between 3.5 and 3.8 percent,” said Kyle Funsch, a principal at Procida, adding that “certain banks offer better deals to high net worth individuals who keep their money within the bank.”
Another thing to note is that Zuckerberg’s mortgage is a 30-year adjustable loan, which poses greater risk than a fixed loan. Borrowing costs and rates are lower if an individual is willing to bear the risk of monthly interest rate adjustments. But it’s not recommended for your average homeowner.
“Higher net-worth individuals are more likely to take out an adjustable rate because they can react accordingly and take the bet that rates are going to stay similar to what they are now,” Funsch said.
Other posts by REW Staff | <urn:uuid:d5a86e71-9696-431b-9789-bf05ddf87449> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rew-online.com/2012/08/01/facebook-founders-rock-bottom-mortgage-rate-all-relative-say-experts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954804 | 736 | 1.609375 | 2 |
The Commerce Department has upwardly revised third-quarter real GDP to 3.1 percent. Previously, third-quarter growth was reported as 2.7 percent. With this revision, the third quarter of 2012 becomes the strongest quarter of the year and the third strongest since the economy began picking up in the summer of 2009.
As James Pethokoukis suggests, the increasing strength of the economy during this summer likely played a significant role in President Obama’s reelection. Perhaps Obama’s campaign machine, the Republican “war on women,” and Hurricane Sandy would have put Obama over the top had real GDP growth been, say, 2.1 percent. But Obama is no doubt happy he didn’t have to find out.
The third quarter figure has some relevance for the politics of the “fiscal cliff.” If fourth quarter growth is in line with the third quarter, the Democrats will have this potential narrative in the event no deal is reached: the economy was picking up steam in the second half of 2012 until we went over the fiscal cliff because Republicans wouldn’t agree to restore the Clinton-era tax rates for the very wealthy. It’s a narrative that could fuel a Democratic takeover of the House in 2014. | <urn:uuid:7c97831f-d8c2-4043-b739-4171d2c827ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/12/the-economic-uptick-that-may-have-saved-obama.php?tsize=large&tsize=large&tsize=small&tsize=large | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977159 | 258 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Cutting-edge designs focusing on ergonomics and rigid materials like carbon fiber are changing the face of the professional window cleaning sector.
For the 71 percent of Americans that a recent survey from SCA Tissue says actually wash after using the restroom — not just the quick rinse-and-dash, that doesn’t count — a solution is needed for removing moisture from their hands.
With the cost of electricity one of the biggest pieces of any facility's budget, and with economic times as in flux as they have been in recent years, it is important that facilities do everything they can to ensure they’re not flushing good money after bad.
Test your knowledge and complete a quick, eight-question quiz developed by Klaus Reichardt of Waterless Company Inc. to ensure retention of the main points from his November 2012 article, "The Flow Of Restroom Technology."
Walk into just about any new or recently retrofitted commercial facility and you are likely to see sensor-controlled, low-flow restroom fixtures and dispensers. After reading more, take a quiz on the content herein.
With the OmniFlex Crossover Cleaning system from Kaivac Inc., you can clean restrooms and other hard surfaces quickly, effectively and for less money than you ever imagined possible.
December 6, 2012 in Orlando, Florida, will mark CMI's second session of the Sustainable Cleaning for Educational Facilities program held in partnership with Cleaning Consultant Services Inc.
Instead of trying to get more people to come the ISSA/INTERCLEAN trade show and fudging the numbers when they don’t show up, we should take the show to the masses via live streaming video on the Internet.
The idea of someone watching over us or our things has always been a part of the human culture, usually found in the science fiction section of the bookstore or movie selection.
Many states have laws requiring lamp recycling and the proper disposal of ballasts, batteries and electronic waste. Make sure you are compliant with your state regulations. | <urn:uuid:248791b0-d437-4052-b8dc-84e8166418d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cmmonline.com/articles/topic/16330-equipment-tools?page=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937319 | 414 | 1.625 | 2 |
10 Steps for a Successful Hunt
I have been hunting big game, mostly deer, for over forty years and I am still surprised by the lack of preparation most hunters take before the season starts. Most of my buddies simply throw some gear in the back of a truck on opening day and head for the woods. By the way, most of my friends are not very successful hunters either, because they don't do their homework or fieldwork. See, some serious planning is needed to insure your hunting efforts pay off and you get that big buck you've been after. Well, I suggest we prepare for our big game hunt both at home and in the field, and perhaps months in advance.
For me, the time before the hunt at home is as important as the time in the field, and maybe even more so. Now, keep in mind, not all the time before the hunt is spent at home, because some fieldwork is required if you want to be successful. I have discovered, mostly through trial and error, ten steps that usually make my hunt productive and safe.
1. Determine where you will be hunting and who you will be hunting with. Both of these considerations are important and we will look at them individually. Where you hunt, has a lot to do with the gear you take along for the trip, because a short afternoon hunting trip close to home will require less gear than extended treks into remote backpacking sites.
- Additionally, for those hunting for two or three day trips near the house you may be able to load up your car or truck with gear and not be worried about weight or what to take. On the other hand, if you have to walk to your hunting site, select your gear with a critical eye, because unused gear is just additional weight you don't need to pack on your back.
- Now, who you hunt with is important because, as most of us know, not all hunters are created equal. I have found experienced hunters will usually require less gear than a hunter with limited awareness of the sport, so it is important for you to plan your whole hunting trip around the weakest member of your hunting party. By weak, I am speaking of outdoor experience and overall knowledge of hunting, not necessarily a physical condition, but that should be a consideration as well.
- Make sure you always tell someone where you'll be hunting, who is going with you, how long you will be gone, when to expect you back, and what to do if you do not return on time. Carry a cellular phone if you have one, but for emergency use only. In addition, I suggest you never ever hunt alone because it is simply unsafe to do so.
2. Decide if special permission is required where you will be hunting. If the area is on private property or posted you should get permission before you hunt. Many good hunting trips have gone sour because folks were hunting on land clearly posted "no hunting". Besides being illegal, it is plain common courtesy to ask permission before you enter someone else's property. Keep in mind, some special state hunts may require you to submit a request form (for controlled hunting areas) prior to the season starting, so check on your states regulations early in the year. Some selected spots are hard to get into because they are quality-hunting areas and the competition to gain access is high. Additionally, check with your state and determine if any special permits are needed for your trip.
3. Home preparation is the easiest task to accomplish, but often done incorrectly. Besides checking your guns and ammo (bow and arrows), also check all of your gear. I check each piece of equipment closely to make sure it is still in good condition and works as it should. Nothing is more frustrating than getting in the field and finding you have a piece of gear that no longer works. It means you have to do without the gear or perhaps find an alternated method of doing something. Remember to check out your new gear, so you understand how it is used and are capable of using it safely and properly. I once went on a hunting trip with a man that brought along an unopened (new) tent, only to discover it was a pink child's play tent. Some other considerations are:
- Foods can be a real problem, depending on how you travel to your hunting site. If you take a vehicle then the transportation of heavy foods may not be much of a problem, and you can even bring an ice chest. However, if you're backpacking weight is always a serious consideration. If you will be carrying your meals on your back, take most of the foods out of boxes and place them in zip-locked bags (label the contents with a permanent marker). Carry dehydrated foods as much as possible, though fresh foods can be used for a few days if they are kept cool. I do not recommend canned goods (heavy and hard) or rigid containers (hard) because they both have the tendency to dig into your back if packed for very long. I suggest military Meals Ready to Eat (MRE's) which are military surplus and available at most surplus stores or they can be ordered online. Then again, there are many commercial dehydrated foods on the market that are available in most sporting goods stores. The food you take is an individual preference, but remember weight if you will be backpacking.
- If you are under a doctor's care and taking prescription medication make sure you bring them along with you. It is very important that you stay on any prescription medication, even when in the field. Additionally, it would be a good idea to discuss your hunting trip with your medical professional to see if you are in sound enough condition to do the outing. I once had to cut a caribou trip short because my hunting partner had left his medication at home, so ask your friends before the trip about their medication.
- Make sure you have a survival kit and first aid kit along with you at all times. You can buy commercial survival and first aid kits in most large sporting goods stores, but I would suggest you avoid military surplus kits, unless you know what you're looking for. Often these surplus kits may have outdated components in them and may even have items you don't need. I once bought a surplus survival kit that had outdated water purification tablets in it and a first aid kit that had a snakebite kit. Neither one of those items would have done me any good (cutting and sucking a snakebite as part of treatment is no longer a suggested procedure). If you would like more information about what should be in a survival kit visit my site at http://www.simplesurvival.net.
4. Item four is very important, though often forgotten, and it is getting your hands on a map of the area you'll be hunting in. Your local Geological Survey should have maps of any areas you'll need, if not contact your fish and game department for suggested locations to purchase topographical maps. A good map is needed not only for navigation, but also for you to take a long look at to determine where the deer or other game may be. Large game will need food, water, shelter, and a good detailed topographical map will should you where all three areas may be located. The map should be used only as a guide to let you learn about the area without ever leaving your kitchen table. I once discovered a prime hunting spot by studying a detailed map that indicated a small river, a heavy wooded area, and a farm (which I discovered later was planted with alfalfa) in the area. After scouting the area, I simply moved in, put up a tree stand between the water and food source (above a heavily used deer trail), and had my buck by midmorning. I did have to scout the area first to determine what trails were being used most frequently, but animals will usually move between food, water, and shelter, so know where they're moving.
5. Another important consideration is thoroughly knowing the area you'll be hunting. If there are homes, domestic animals, or roads nearby you need to know this prior to shooting at your big game for safety reasons. I have seen arrows go right through a deer and of course, bullets will do the same, so make sure the area behind your target is clear and not endangering property or life. Also, spend as much time as possible scouting your hunting area prior to the actual hunt. I often start months before season starts looking for sign of deer movement, both coming and going. I will regularly track the movement to see where the animal was coming from or going to. Deer don't usually travel very far from their home turf, so this is not as time consuming as you might think. They will bed down in good cover and then leave to drink or eat. At the same time, remember to take your map and mark it with trails, water and food sources, as well as any building or other obstacles not on the map. Once you've looked the area over, spend a few early morning and late evenings in a tree stand checking for time of movement. Many times, I've spent an exciting dawn watching a big buck moving down a tail toward food and once the season started I had this valuable information available to me and it greatly increased my success rate.
6. Once you have done your work at home and in the field, you can decide what type of hunting technique you want to use. Some folks like to sit and wait, others prefer to stalk, and many more prefer a tree stand. Me, I prefer a tree stand for a number of reasons.
- I rarely sit very still and I suspect most hunters are the same way, so sitting at ground level is not a good option for me. I have discovered that I make too much noise as I stretch my tired (and old) limbs or move to get comfortable on hard, wet, or rocky ground. I imagine I am often heard by a deer way before I see them. Furthermore, there is something about being at ground level, when the bullets and arrows start to fly from other hunters, that makes me very uncomfortable.
- Now, stalking is very difficult for all but the most experienced hunters under most circumstances. Often a stalker will jump big game and then have only a running shot at it, which is difficult to make and yet kill the animal cleanly and quickly. I suspect many "Texas Heart Shots" (in or up the rear side of the deer) are made by inexperienced stalkers. While stalking can be done, it takes a good eye, perfect timing (you must move forward when the animals head is down or turned away from you), and you should be prepared to freeze in position at any moment. Nope, this type of hunting is too much work for me, so I don't use it often. Nonetheless, I do keep my gun or bow ready at all times when I move on the ground.
- In a good quality tree stand, I can relax and do what I am there to do, watch the area for movement. I strongly suggest the use of a safety strap and harness at all times to avoid injury, because more than one hunter has gone to sleep and fallen from a tree, not to mention those who have just fallen for one reason or the other. My stand is very comfortable and I have found I move around less sitting in it than when I am on the ground. Another key consideration is that your scent and small noises are often masked, or carried overhead by the wind, which makes it harder for the animal to determine where you are. And, like most animals, deer will rarely look up because fewer threats are found there (in most states). Finally, make sure the area around you is clear enough to fire your weapon of choice and hit your target cleanly. I once missed a huge buck because my arrow struck a small branch on a bush and was deflected away from my intended target. From that point on, I made sure my "field of fire" was clear. Small limbs or brush can deflect even rifle bullets.
7. Agree with your hunting partners to meet back at your base camp at certain times of the day (lunch or dinner for example) for safety reasons mainly, though it can also be used as a time to discuss what has been seen or heard during the hunt. I have had many lunches were the movement of deer was discussed and it was always good information to know. Now, I usually hunt with a partner fairly close by and we always agree to climb from our tree stands at noon on the dot for lunch. We agree to this to avoid scaring game that may be near and as an added safety factor. If I expect the person at a certain time, then I am prepared for their arrival. I once had a nice buck sighted in when my hunting partner neared my stand at midmorning and scared the animal away, but I won't tell you what I said to him. Your partners still might scare game away if they arrive at a given time, but at least you'll know they're coming.
8. One area most hunters never consider is the campsite. Often we just find a good spot, put up a tent, build a fire, and then forget about it. I used to do exactly that, but not any longer. By doing both my homework and fieldwork, I now place my base camp away from where most of the deer travel (trails). I always will find a spot away from the animal's food, water, and shelter sources to make my camp. I have found it to my advantage not to stress the deer in the area by making my camp to close to where they move and bed down. Besides the normal camp, make sure you have a nice spot picked out well in advance where you will hang your big buck to do the skinning and bagging. Keep in mind you want a shaded area (warm or hot meat will turn bad quickly due to bacterial growth) and I prefer a big oak limb that I can throw a rope over to hoist my game up to make skinning easier. Then again, some folks prefer to wait and skin when they get home, so that choice is yours. I suggest you skin in the field to cool the meat quickly, but use a game bag in either case.
9. Once your animal is down for good, as soon as possible follow your states requirements for tagging. Some states require the tag on the horns, some on a leg, and the there may be others in different states, so know what your state requires. Failure to tag or mark your tag per your states game laws can cause you big legal problems, and I'm not even going to bring up what it might end up costing you in the long run. As quickly as I discover my animal is dead, I tag it before I do anything else. Tag and then start to work.
10. After you have got your animal back at camp and dressed, you need to discuss the situation with your hunting partners. If all were successful, then the trip home will be almost immediate, but if some have not done well so you may have to stay in camp a bit longer. Make sure you keep your animal completely covered with a game bag, hang it up and off the ground, and watch the temperature. If you have a vehicle parked near your hunting camp, then leaving will not be a problem, but if you backpacked in you might have some serious talking to do in order to get some assistance in getting your game home from the field. I have seen plastic sleds, portable carts with wheels, and other devices made for transporting game from the field and all may work, but unless I am on a fly-in hunting trip I usually hunt where my car is within a mile or so. The way you get your game from the field to waiting transportation is the individual hunter's choice, but I always put some international orange on the deer's horns and on the game bag for safety reasons (as well as wear it). Oh, and if required by your state do not forget to check your animal in.
As you can see, there are many things you can do before the hunt that can assist in making your trip a successful one. Rare is there a hunter who goes to a new area, climbs just any tree and bags a huge buck on the first day, though I have seen it done. Most good deer hunters start to work well before the season starts and they stay busy up until they down the big one. Remember to do both your homework and your fieldwork, and I am confident I'll meet you at the check-in station on opening day. | <urn:uuid:bfcdfcae-b69c-4480-9ea0-f6f8b23ebe89> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biggamehunt.net/articles/10-steps-successful-hunt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973984 | 3,399 | 1.515625 | 2 |
One of the most misunderstood abilities in Magic is Protection. The problem with it is that most people tend to think of Protection as a total immunity - which it isn't. To make matters worse, 99% of the time thinking of Protection that way will get the right result but for the wrong reason - which means most people who misunderstand it never realize it (they'd probably make good Managers).
But like Nair on Chewbacca, I'm here to reveal things to you! I'll show you exactly what the Protection ability really is, and I'll point out common misconceptions about it. I've also included several "real-life" examples detailing just what can and cannot "get around" the Protection ability.
So, your first question is probably "if Protection isn't a total immunity, then what is it?" Well, simply put, it's actually four different abilities in one. For clarity, let's use a real world example - Thermal Glider Buy. I could rewrite Thermal Glider's rules text so that instead of reading "Flying. Protection from Red" it read "Flying. Prevent all damage dealt to Thermal Glider by Red sources. Red creatures cannot be assigned to block Thermal Glider. Thermal Glider cannot be the target of Red spells and abilites. Thermal Glider can't be enchanted by Red enchantments."
Those four abilities are exactly what the protection ability grants - and nothing more. While that might seem to be a total immunity, there are weakpoints. For example, red spells or abilities that don't target and don't do damage will affect a "Pro Red" creature just like any other - like Flowstone Slide Buy. Flowstone Slide says all creatures get +X/-X - it doesn't use the word target (that means that Flowstone Slide doesn't target the creatures that it affects because in order for a spell or effect to target something it must actually use the word "target" in it's text) and since Flowstone Slide doesn't do damage either(+X/-X isn't damage, it's just a direct change in toughness) it doesn't target or damage any creatures at all - so Pro Red creatures are affected just like any other.
When blocking, Thermal Glider has better luck|
with salamanders than with basilisks.
Once again, you have to understand what it means for a spell or ability to be "targeted." Basically, if the actual word "target" is used - then the effect is targeted - if the actual word "target" isn't used - then the spell or ability is not targeted. Pretty simple. Since neither Flowstone Slide nor Wrath of God use the word "target" - they aren't targeted spells and can thus get around the Protection ability (since Protection from Red doesn't prevent an effect from affecting a creature - it just prevents an effect from targeting that creature).
The other parts of Protection are easier to understand. If I attack you with a Thermal Glider - you can't block it with a red creature. But, if you attack me with a red creature - I can choose to block it with my Thermal Glider. Any damage that your creature deals to mine would be prevented - but non-targeted abilities could still be used. For instance, if your red creature had the ability "Any creature blocking or blocked by this creature is destroyed at end of combat" - then my creature would be destroyed at end of combat just like any other. However, if your creature had this ability instead "2: Target creature blocking or blocked by this creature is destroyed at end of combat" - then my Thermal Glider would be safe since you couldn't target it with your red creature's ability.
Thermal Glider also cannot be enchanted by Red Enchantments. This may seem like a strange ability since if Thermal Glider can't be the target of Red Spells - then how would a Red Enchantment ever end up on it anyways? Well, in Magic - strange things can happen all the time! A good example is what if instead of a Thermal Glider I had a Grizzly Bears Buy. I could enchant my Grizzly Bears with a red enchantment no problem - but what if I then play a spell that gives my Grizzly Bears protection from red? Well, the fourth ability of Protection kicks in the enchantment is destroyed. The important thing to remember about this is that Thermal Glider can't be enchanted by any Red enchantment - not even your own. So, you can forget about putting that Firebreathing Buy on it. Likewise, you can't Blood Lust Buy your Thermal Glider because it can't be targeted by Red spells.
If you still have any questions about Protection, then feel free to visit our Rules Questions Forum (which just happens to have a Protection FAQ). Our rules gurus are always happy to answer any questions you have about Protection (or anything else for that matter).
Article Written By:
Special thanks to the rest of the eM Rules Team. | <urn:uuid:75881eaf-faf4-45f1-a76f-e156db6dec10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://essentialmagic.com/articles/Protection.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954722 | 1,016 | 1.765625 | 2 |
by Gary North
by Gary North
In every economic boom and bust, there are winners and losers. Never before in American history, or any other history, have the winners won so much.
The big winners were in the financial industry. They profited enormously from the expansion of the money supply from August 1982 until March 2000. They rose in the corporate ranks during this period.
The stock market boom ended in March 2000. But the Federal Reserve continued to inflate, beginning in June. The federal funds rate was at 6.25% in June 2000. The FED forced it down to 1% by June 2003.
With this next wave of monetary inflation by the FED, the really big money began to be made by the financial industry. Profits became astronomical. So did CEO compensation.
Cracks in the system began to be apparent in mid-2007. In August, the credit markets suddenly seized up internationally. There had been little warning. This was as a result of the reduction of monetary inflation by the Federal Reserve, which had begun in February 2006, when Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as the chairman of the Board of Governors.
It was clear to me by late 2006 that there was going to be an economic crisis. The expansion of money had lowered interest rates too far, and the semi-stabilization of the monetary base would inevitably produce a recession when rates rise, as they did. The recession took longer to arrive than what I had thought. I had expected it to arrive in 2007. It arrived in 2008. I had believed that real estate prices had peaked sometime in late 2005, and that prediction turned out to be true.
The wizards of finance got a wake-up call in August 2007. Nevertheless, they did not take it seriously. Within a month, stock prices resumed their upward move. They peaked at the end of October.
On November 5, I told my GaryNorth.com subscribers it was time to short the S&P 500. I told them that the end of the era had begun. When the S&P 500 fell from 1550 to 1500, I believed that this was the end of the line. Really, the end of the line had taken place in March 2000, when I issued by warning in "Remnant Review" that it was time to sell the NASDAQ. I was convinced then that stocks would not recover in this decade. If we discount the rate of price inflation since 2000, my expectation has proven to be correct. The S&P 500 index briefly exceeded the March 2000 figure — 1550 vs. 1529 — in late October, but price inflation of 20% had eroded the value of that later index.
But the wizards of finance did not believe this. They continued to receive their huge salaries and stock option bonuses. We have never seen a period in American history that matched the increase in executive pay that we saw from 2001 to 2007. It is mind-boggling.
In 1976, the total compensation for the average CEO in the United States was about 36 times the compensation of the average worker in their companies. This moved up steadily until 1993. In 1993, the average CEO was paid 131 times what the average worker was paid. At that point, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a new rule. The new rule specified that companies release figures on what their CEOs were paid. The belief of the SEC bureaucrats was this: as soon as the disparity was visible to shareholders, CEOs would not continue to receive these high salaries and bonus packages. As with almost everything the government does, the result was exactly the opposite. Compensation for CEOs began to shoot upward. It became a matter of pride of a company that it paid its CEO more than some other company paid its CEO. By 2007, the average CEO made 369 times what the average worker made. This story appears in Prof. Dan Ariely's book, Predictably Irrational (2008), pp. 16—18.
Nevertheless, most Americans paid no attention. The annual issue of "Forbes" in which executive pay is revealed to the public is probably the most popular issue of "Forbes." Everybody wants to see who is being paid what. There were very few calls for reform of the system. The public perceived that it was not a matter of any concern to the Federal government. It was a matter of concern to the shareholders.
Today, however, there is outrage concerning the compensation packages that were given to the CEOs who led their companies into bankruptcy, merger, or government bailout. There are several of them who have received considerable attention. I intend to give them even more attention. But the reality is this: the reason why these men were given such outrageously high compensation is because the Federal Reserve System had pumped in so much money, and financial services had become wildly profitable because of this subsidy. CEOs began to be paid enormous amounts of money to supervise ever more arcane and complicated systems of debt-based finance that were cooked up by their high-paid economists. The Federal Reserve System was subsidizing financial services by providing fiat money at interest rates that were lower than the free market would have established, had there been no fiat money. The CEOs in the financial services industry saw their opportunities, and they took them.
In retrospect, these people have turned out to be blithering idiots. They are singled out by the financial media and the general media as being overpaid, blind, greedy, and destroyers of capital. They were all of these things. But why did they get away with this now? Why did the markets seem to validate what they were doing?
Warren Buffett identified derivatives as weapons of mass destruction. He was right. But he was ignored on this point for years.
What I find interesting is that the media keep blaming the securities regulatory agencies for having failed to call this process what it was, and to take steps to stop it. What we do not see is a detailed discussion of Federal Reserve policy under Alan Greenspan. Greenspan was hailed as a genius, the Maestro, the greatest Federal Reserve chairman of all time. Yet it was Greenspan, as no other Federal Reserve chairman before him, who was the architect of this gigantic failure of the financial markets. It was the Federal Reserve System, far more than the regulatory agencies that supervise stocks and bonds, that caused the boom, which has now turned into a bust. But the Federal Reserve System remains sacrosanct in the media. To call it into question now is to call into question the financial markets since 1914. To call it into question, and to identify it for what it is — the enforcement arm of the commercial banking cartel — would be to identify the heart of modern state capitalism. State capitalists own the media, and we are not about to get this story regarding the Federal Reserve System. Instead, we get stories of CEOs who made fortunes, received large severance pay, and walked away multi-multimillionaires. This makes for great news bites, and it also makes for exceedingly bad policies passed by Congress and enforced by the regulatory agencies from this time on.
The winners in this process I call the bluffers. To them I attach the phrase blind man's bluff. They bluffed. They won personally, but their companies are destroyed or tottering. The shareholders lost. But that was the fault of the shareholders. To blame the government at this late date is silly. The shareholders did not complain for as long as they appeared to be getting rich from the rise in the value of their shares. It was only when share prices collapsed that shareholders became incensed.
The bailouts began in September 2008. The general public chimed in. How could these men have made so much money? The answer is simple: Federal Reserve inflation caused an economic boom in financial services.
These men were blind because they had been blinded. As early as 1912, Ludwig von Mises identified this process. He said that it is central bank policy to distort interest rates by creating new fiat money. This distortion leads entrepreneurs into making uneconomic allocations of capital. The blindness that afflicts entrepreneurs is caused by central bank policy. They are blind as a group, they prosper as a group, and they fail as a group, because they have been blinded as a group. In September 2008, the blindness was exposed for what it was. What was not exposed was the cause of their blindness.
If you want to see what CEOs have made, you can read the 2008 report in Forbes. The alphabetical list is here.
THREE BLIND MICE
In early March, a week before the Bear Stearns bust and forced sale, three former CEOs appeared before a Congressional committee. They had been subpoenaed. They were Angelo Mozilo, former CEO of Countrywide Financial, Charles Prince of Citibank, and Stanley O'Neal of Merrill Lynch.
The day before, the committee had released a report that their combined compensation, 2002—2006, was $460 million. This did not count 2007, which was an even bigger bonanza for them. This was reported in a March 7 story on CNN/Money.
Their compensation was tied directly to the performance of the company, via stock and options that the executives have held over time. Prince, O'Neal and Mozilo argued that their pay was buoyed by impressive profits the companies delivered in the years leading up to the mortgage crisis. They also said that they have lost millions since as their companies have seen the price of their stock plummet in recent months.The Congressmen were not sympathetic.
But also in focus were the cozy relationships between the directors responsible for determining pay and compensation consultants who get hired by directors to advise on executive pay, which was the centerpiece of an earlier hearing sponsored by the committee in December. Lawmakers have argued that these consultants are merely getting paid to tell the board and CEO what it wants to hear.The pay consultants have been described by Buffett as the firm of "Ratchet, Ratchet, and Bingo." Yet the fact remains that the CEOs' companies went along with this. Shareholders could have sold at any time.
I recommended that they sell on November 5, 2007.
The article continued.
In December, Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein took home nearly $68 million in restricted stock, options and cash, making it the largest bonus ever given to a Wall Street CEO.
Chrysler Chairman and CEO Robert Nardelli made headlines when he was forced out of Home Depot (HD, Fortune 500) in January of last year and left with $210 million in cash, stock options and retirement benefits.
FANNIE AND FREDDIE
The story of Franklin Delano Raines was the first one to penetrate public consciousness when he left Fannie in 2004 under a cloud because of accounting irregularities. He later paid the government $24 million, $15 million of which was worthless stock options.
The most recent occupant at Fannie was Dan Mudd, son of Roger Mudd, and great-great something or other of Samuel Mudd, who treated John Wilkes Booth when he escaped from Washington. Dr. Mudd went to prison for this. Ever since, the phrase "his name is Mudd" has been handed down from generation to generation.
Dan's name is still Mudd, but he will not go to prison. He walked away with $9.9 million for his leadership.
Richard Syron of Freddie did much better: $14.1 million.
These men were in charge of the biggest joint failure in American history, a loss so huge that no one can calculate it yet. If 20% of the $5 trillion portfolio is bad, this will require a trillion dollar bailout by the government.
Richard Fuld ran Lehman Brothers Holdings . . . into a brick wall. He refused to sell in the crisis. He refused to admit defeat. On September 15, Lehman declared bankruptcy when a $70 billion bailout attempt failed when Barclays said no. Recently Barclays bought remnants of Lehman for pennies on the dollar. Fuld took home almost $170 million in 2005 to 2007.
Lehman's filing wiped out as much as $13.7 billion in company stock held by employees, who owned 30 percent of the shares when the stock peaked at $85.80 last year. Lehman encouraged stock ownership and has said about 20,000 of its 26,000 workers got at least some equity in 2007.But the market got its revenge. Fuld at one point was worth $1.2 billion in stock. He recently sold 2.8 million shares for $500,000.
Then there was Bear Stearns. Same story, different numbers.
After Bear Stearns collapsed in March, its acquirer, JPMorgan Chase & Co., offered employees it kept shares in the combined bank equal to their 2007 pay. Workers owned a third of Bear Stearns, and they saw the value of the stake drop to $393 million at the sale price of $10 a share. That compared with $6.7 billion at the $171.51 peak last year. Former Bear Stearns CEO James "Jimmy" Cayne sold a holding once worth $1 billion for $61 million in March.
Lesson: when the CEO says you should invest in the shares of the company that employs you, think "Enron," "Bear Stearns," and "Lehman."
"AND THE ALL-TIME WINNER IS. . . ."
These guys were all pikers. Why? Because they did not know when to sell. You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run.
Henry Paulson knew when to walk away.
He had been the CEO of Goldman Sachs until he accepted the call to become Secretary of the Treasury.
Maybe you did not know the following. When you become Secretary of the Treasury, you must divest yourself of stock holdings. Not to do so would be a conflict of interest. Make sense?
But how could anyone be lured into this office who is a big player? Think of the capital gains taxes! So, the government passed a law that exempts Federal appointees from taxes if they sell their holdings before they take office.
Paulson sold his shares. I would call this very good timing. Because he had a reason for selling, the sale did not depress the share price. He got out. None of the others did.
He owned half a billion dollars in Goldman Sachs shares.
Nice work if you can get it. If you can get it, tell me how.
The taxpayers now get to bail out Fannie and Freddie. The Big 3 American auto companies will get $25 billion. AIG will get its $85 billion.
It will never happen again. Next time, it will be different. Congress will make sure of this.
October 1, 2008
Copyright © 2008 LewRockwell.com | <urn:uuid:1d41b975-cbb1-47f2-8035-84ab0e2f7be6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north658.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984797 | 3,065 | 1.609375 | 2 |
With no leadership and lots of guns, there is nothing romantic about the ‘revolution’ in Syria
Wissam Hassan would never commit murder in private life, he had no aspiration of taking a weapon either. Fourteen months ago, the discontented and frightened youth crossed over from Syria into Turkey traversing the dense yet porous terrain. He fled for his life, he told me in our first meeting in Yayladag˘i, Turkey, and transcended into a new state of being.
As a refugee of the “Arab Spring,” unwilling to submit to Assad’s regime, he found home in one of the many rebel safe houses in Turkey’s Hatay province. Fourteen months ago he held his first automatic weapon and six months ago he fired his first bullet. He hasn’t stopped since. “The guns keep flowing,” he said. In a society ruled by the sword, might had to be matched with might and as lawlessness gripped the Syrian state, he became a foot soldier in the battle for power determined to rid Syria of a decaying political leadership.
Now the battle cries have been sounded from other quarters. The Obama administration has abandoned dialogue and has upped the aid to rebels, following in the footsteps of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Policy rooms in Washington discuss policies to safeguard Syria’s chemical weapon arsenal while an official in the Syria’s Intelligence Ministry calls this chapter of the Syrian misadventure “a battle to create chaos.”
Damascus is petrified: hardly a soul stirs on the streets, shutters to already struggling businesses are now drawn and the sanctions imposed by the U.N. have crated a fragile economic calamity. Gunfire reverberates, armed thugs in uniform and the army in choppers battle each other and rebels egged on by the recent suicide attacks that took from Assad members of his inner circle create havoc placing Syria on the edge of anarchy. Yet the international community continues to ballyhoo the crisis in leadership in Syria under the guise of the Arab Spring; are they unaware? Do they not realise that seasons change?
Let us first rid ourselves of delusions. There is no Arab Spring, the term itself coined in Washington to reflect a period of openness in the Middle East in 2005 is an immensely popular and appealing gimmick-ridden campaign. There indeed was a bona fide revolution in Tunisia, but the Egyptian, Yemeni and Libyan cases have brought the sweetness of the Arab Spring into question. There has been no fundamental shift in power; people’s power has failed to replace the old system where powerful generals continue to preside over power in Egypt and thugs run Libya into the ground.
Indeed there is a discontented youth frustrated with the constipated view of life and chronic discontent with the existing order has allowed for new stakeholders to stoke already rife tensions. Take Turkey for example. The state with a “zero-problem” foreign policy not so long ago now houses the opposition to the regime in refugee camps found along the Syrian-Turkish border. It also makes forays into the international arena with a policy that can be likened to a sort of neo-Ottomanism. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have channelled funds for the uprising allowing a ragtag militia to morph into armed gangs with an agenda of open rebellion. NATO and the U.S. have allied themselves with peoples, the Syrian National Council (SNC), who live in a world of ideas with little contact to physical realities. The highbrow benefactors of aid, the Europeanised opposition, rule from five-star hotels in Istanbul and bicker among themselves, each motivated by his own political agenda.
Now a Libyan style intervention into Syria is on the table for discussion. This would be a misguided strategy, the Libyan case should be proof enough. In the last days of the Qadhafi regime, a senior aide to the Brother Leader asked who we reporters would speak to when the night sky was calm. Today, armed thugs united to defeat Qadhafi, battle each other pushing Libya towards civil war. Syria has ushered many comparisons, parallels have been drawn to the Balkans yet the closest comparison is Iraq, its weakened neighbour where Sunni and Shi’a and Kurd jockey for power unwilling to share authority resulting in political deadlock.
Let us not love the dictator but let us also avoid romanticising the revolution. Assad has indeed clung onto unabashed privileges, and hammered political dissent creating a system where organised alternatives, so-called governments in the waiting like Tunisia’s Ennahda and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood do not exist. Yet a stalemate has been reached with neither side, rebel or government, willing to engage in constructive dialogue.
Recent efforts at diplomacy by Kofi Annan and the blatant disregard to his calls for ceasefire push a country further towards an all-out civil war. Another stalemate in the Security Council — Russia and China have vetoed further sanctions — creates a space for another push at diplomacy. Would it not be wiser for foreign powers meddling in the region to back off and push for dialogue?
In a recent conversation with Adib Shishakly, once a Gandhian philosophy-espousing founding member of the opposing SNC, I was alarmed at his request. “What we need are anti-tank missiles. There is no space for dialogue,” he said. Would the rebels he helped arm lay down their weapons once the conflict was over? He had no definitive answer. Would he and other members of the SNC genuinely unite to lay the groundwork for a new Syria? He hoped so but Wissam Hassan, the rebel with the gun, wasn’t as optimistic. To him the opposition are disconnected Europeanised technocrats incapable of leading and not worthy of leadership.
Tragically, one cannot simply change from one system to another. In the Syria of today, no leader has emerged from the ranks of the rebels, no flag-bearer of the opposition has won the people over and Bashar continues to rule with his eyes shut.
(Alia Allana is a Mumbai-based journalist working on a book on the Arab Spring.) | <urn:uuid:ba3baeb6-8c0d-4a46-8e47-da7d3560380c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/arab-spring-the-season-has-turned/article3675361.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957695 | 1,262 | 1.703125 | 2 |
CAMDEN —Rutgers School of Law–Camden scholar Kimberly Kessler Ferzan has been honored by the American Philosophical Association with its prestigious Berger Memorial Prize for her published article at the intersection of law and philosophy.
Ferzan’s article, “Beyond Crime and Commitment: Justifying Liberty Deprivations of the Dangerous and Responsible,” examines when and why it is permissible for the state to intervene to prevent someone from committing a crime. The article was published in the Minnesota Law Review.
Ferzan’s article responds to a theoretical gap in how the state prevents harm. She says many theorists have argued that although the state may confine irresponsible persons, such as the mentally ill, responsible but dangerous persons must be dealt with by the criminal law.
She says that this means the state cannot do anything until a potential offender commits an offense. What has resulted, according to many scholars, is a contortion of both civil commitment laws and criminal offenses to fill the gap.
Ferzan argues that the way to bridge the gap is through a theory of self-defense. Just as a person may defend himself against an aggressor who plans to harm him, the state is permitted to prevent the commission of an offense. She argues that in both cases the person is “liable to preventive interference.”
“Right now, our criminal law is being contorted so that we can stop people we fear,” Ferzan says. “My goal is to show that there is a different way to think about preventive justice. Shifting many acts that are currently improperly deemed to be criminal offenses to the preventive regime in which they belong will ultimately lead to more just interactions between citizen and state.”
The Berger Memorial Prize is awarded to an outstanding published article in philosophy of law by a member of the American Philosophical Association. It is named for Fred Berger, a University of California at Davis professor who passed away in 1986.
“I am incredibly excited and honored to win this award,” Ferzan says. “At the end of the day, this award is given in the name of a first class philosopher, and it is humbling to receive the award. Moreover, as someone who works at the intersection of law and philosophy, but lacks formal training in philosophy, I find it professionally rewarding to be recognized by the APA.”
The American Philosophical Association will discuss Ferzan’s paper during a special session at its Pacific Division annual meeting.
Ferzan is serving as a Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Faculty Fellow at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton for the 2012-13 academic year. She is co-founder and co-director of the Rutgers Institute for Law and Philosophy and served as a Scholar-in-Residence at New York University School of Law’s Center for the Administration of Criminal Law.
A reviewer for a number of legal journals and publishing companies, Ferzan speaks nationally on issues related to criminal law and evidence. She is the co-author of Crime and Culpability: A Theory of Criminal Law (Cambridge University Press, 2009).
Ferzan earned her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina and her juris doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
For more information about Rutgers–Camden news stories, visit us at news.rutgers.edu/medrel
Media Contact: Ed Moorhouse | <urn:uuid:8b26c228-9a36-4a0f-a8a5-7918184d6af6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/news/rutgers-camden-law-scholar-wins-berger-memorial-prize-legal-philosophy-article?page=17 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957792 | 702 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Social care revolution will help families in Bournemouth and Poole
Conor Burns MP has welcomed the Government’s proposals to transform social care, which were published last week. The current system is variable, with different services and standards in different parts of the country, and it can place huge financial obligations upon families.
When the new measures are introduced:
- Nobody will have to sell their home in their lifetime to pay for social care.
£200 million will be invested to create specialised housing for the elderly.
Patients will be given access to personal health budgets to improve choice and entitlements to care.
More care workers will be trained to ensure all elderly people are treated with the care and dignity they deserve.
Although deferred payments for social care are available in some parts of the country, recent figures show that this only applies to 14.7 per cent of those paying for social care in Bournemouth and 8.8% in Poole. From 2015, everybody will be able defer the costs of their residential care.
Commenting, Conor Burns MP said: “Almost every family is aware of the costs of care in old age. Once these changes are implemented, we will no longer see local people being forced to sell their homes to pay for residential care.
“It’s the biggest overhaul of the social care system in more than 60 years and it will make a huge difference to vulnerable patients here in Bournemouth and Poole.” | <urn:uuid:cfd5c1ad-97d8-4741-bcc2-c8a7a35bb59f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.conorburns.com/news/social-care-revolution-will-help-families-bournemouth-and-poole | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953132 | 303 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Jamie Willey/Sun photo
Parsons High School junior Libby Hizey hands senior Jarett Taylor a tote full of canned food to load into a U.S. Postal Service truck Thursday in front of the school. PHS challenged Oswego High School in the Battle of the Cans for the 20th annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers. OHS won the challenge by donating 289 pounds of food. PHS donated 188 pounds of food. Garfield School donated 95 pounds. “I always like to get kids involved in our food drive. Hopefully, they will learn there is always someone less fortunate than you. I want kids to realize they can help and make a difference,” letter carrier Caroline Peters said. Postal patrons wanting to donate food can put non-perishable items on, in or near their mailboxes, preferably in grocery bags, before their mail arrives on Saturday. All of the food will be donated to the Labette Emergency Assistance Center food bank to be distributed to people in need in the county. The local drive collects an average of about 4,000 pounds of food a year for the LEAC pantry and is the center’s biggest source of food. | <urn:uuid:fa20f3b5-948e-4d59-9d02-ddd2d3f8ed49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://parsonssun.com/pages/gallery/push?per_page=10&class=prev_page&x_page=45&rel=prev | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958478 | 254 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Amanda Marcotte’s article in Slate about World Youth Day is making the rounds this week. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by suggesting that she was very upset when she wrote it. What was it about the event that got her so flustered? There’s not a clear thesis to the piece, but it seems that the Church’s anti-abortion stance, emphasized when Pope Benedict offered forgiveness to women who have had abortions, is what triggered most of her angst.
I get it. When I was pro-choice, I would have been upset too. The foundation of the pro-choice position is that access to abortion is necessary in order for women to have control over their bodies. Abortion = freedom. It’s that simple. Without it, the thinking goes, women have almost no control over when they have children. And, let’s face it, pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood are no joke. Your body is transformed almost beyond recognition in pregnancy, you experience some of the worst pain known to mankind in labor, and then you have a newborn who’s dependent on you for everything. It’s a physically and emotionally challenging process that alters your life down to the core of your being.
So, yeah, it’s the kind of thing you want a little control over.
But let’s take a closer look at this worldview. Implicit in the “abortion as freedom” stance is the idea that women don’t have much control over getting pregnant in the first place, thus they must resort to violating medical procedures once the pregnancy has already occurred.
That’s kind of a crazy idea, when you think about it. And, like a lot of crazy ideas in our culture, we have contraception to thank for it. Now that there’s widespread access to contraception, our young women are told not that sex creates babies, but that unprotected sex creates babies. They’re assured that sex can be safely separated from its life-giving potential, as long as they use artificial birth control. From a secular point of view, it might sound like a nice, pro-woman message.
The problem is that it’s not true.
According to Family Planning Perspectives, a publication of Planned Parenthood’s Guttmacher Institute, a woman using a method of birth control with a 99 percent success rate has a 70 percent chance of experiencing an unexpected pregnancy over a 10-year period. Again from the Guttmacher Institute, more than half of the woman who get abortions were using contraception when they conceived their child. And, anecdotally, anyone who knows many women who have had abortions knows that contraception failure is very often behind it.
So, let’s summarize the situation: Women are handed contraception and assured that they need not have a second thought as to whether they’re ready for pregnancy. Then, when their birth control method fails, they’re encouraged to undergo a painful medical procedure performed on the most sensitive part of their bodies. Also, in order for the “sex doesn’t have to have consequences” view to hold up, life within the womb cannot be human—otherwise, when a woman’s contraception fails, she just became a mother, and abortion won’t change that. And so women are discouraged from seeking accurate information about the new life within their bodies, fed insulting euphemisms about what the abortion procedure involves, and shouted down when they speak up about personal negative experiences with it.
Anyone who cares about women should be outraged.
And so, to Amanda Marcotte and others like her, I would say, as I’ve said before: You’re right to be angry. You are correct in sensing that women’s freedom is being taken away. You’re just wrong to blame the Church. Not only does it not “punish female sexuality,” but it’s one of the few voices in our culture that respects it.
The Catholic Church is the only institution that consistently proclaims the truth that the bonding and pleasurable aspects of sex cannot be severed from its life-giving potential. The Church advocates for methods of birth control that keep couples mindful of the possibility that each sexual act could create a pregnancy, even if they’re trying to avoid it, and thus encourages women to be completely bought in to the entire process. If it seems to be a killjoy, it’s only because it’s telling you the full truth.
I encourage Marcotte to take another look at the situation, and to carefully trace where the threat to women’s reproductive freedom really begins. It’s not with the Catholic Church’s stance against abortion. Women’s freedom was gone the moment our society bought into the lies of contraception. | <urn:uuid:4349ab1c-17f2-4479-b444-13cfbbb4a730> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jennifer-fulwiler/amanda-marcotte-is-right-to-be-upset | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964619 | 1,012 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Following the International Soccer League’s solid beginnings in a New York relatively starved of sporting competition in the summer of 1960, the nascent league consisting of the New York Americans and a variety of high-profile visiting international clubs had begun 1961 with expanded horizons. This including growing the league from 12 to 15 teams, and moving beyond its home at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan by setting up a second location in Montreal, Canada.
The 1960 season had featured network television coverage on Saturday nights, and a crowd of 25,000 for the final, won by Bangu of Brazil at the Polo Grounds. Its appeal had been high-quality soccer aimed at ethnic audiences who retained a love for the sport and would cheer on teams often billed by nationality (“Italy”, or really, Sampdoria for example).
In a lengthy interview early in the 1961 season, the league’s impresario Bill Cox was interviewed by Arthur Daley of the New York Times. Cox was described as “polished and urbane”, a man who “communicates confidence in success with the convincing assurance of an astronaut.”
Cox explained that though he was not making money from the league, he saw the ISL as a “long-term investment.”
In this vein, Cox asked “How do you define success? Is it measured by profits or by the fact you broke even and can see a bright future ahead? Everything included, gate receipts and television income, made us quite happy with our first year of results.”
Cox was open and honest about exactly what the league needed to do in order to be sustainable fiscally. An average crowd of 8,500 would be needed, he said, at an average ticket price of $3.25 per spectator – good value given most match-ups were double-headers. Cox compared this favorably to a game in Milan he had seen – $8 a head, and featuring teams “that couldn’t win a game in our league” – or $8 for a Broadway show.
The expensive business of flying in teams from around the world was also revealed by Cox: totaling $800,000, $100,000 of that went on chartered planes alone. The ISL covered hotel bills, and $6 a day per man for meals: “They can eat well enough at that price,” Cox said, “because we have the recreation director we assign to the hotel supply them with lists of restaurants catering to each nationality. Only the French might find it low and only if they insist on fancy wines with their meals.”
Wages for each game well-exceeded the $1,000 per game foreign teams had been used to in the days before the ISL, and reports from various teams suggest they were paid somewhere between $1,500 and $3,000 per game, while Cox said his New York Americans made more than $100 a man each per week.
Overall, the New York Times concluded that for Cox, “the launching of the soccer capsule went off beautifully.” The only doubt in Cox’s mind, it seemed, was “how soon he’ll get into orbit.”
Once again, in 1961 the league was divided into two separate mini-leagues, with the winner of each playing in a grand final – though this time, the final would be contested over two games instead of a single game.
The first mini-league, section one, contained defending champions Bangu of Brazil, who were joined by a strong Everton team from England, West Germany’s Karlsruhe, Romania’s Dinamo Bucharest, Turkey’s Besiktas, Scotland’s Kilmarnock and two North American representatives: Montreal Concordia of Canada and the New York Americans.
It was Everton – the “Merseyside Millionaires” – who came most feted, and with a match fee of $2,500 per game, a considerable amount at a time that England had only just ended its restrictive maximum wage for players.
In the early weeks, Everton took charge of the league with a string of victories. Meanwhile, the Romanians quickly earned a reputation as a physical and aggressive team. These might be summer exhibition games for the Europeans in theory, but the practice of the ISL was for tough games marred by expulsions and with rowdy crowds sometimes interfering with the play on the field. Their opening game, a 0-0 draw with Bangu, saw the Romanians called for 22 fouls.
Yet they were hardly alone in their rough approach to play. On June 11th, Everton suffered a 2-0 loss to Bangu at the Polo Grounds, in a game that saw 34 fouls called. The physical play resulted in Darcy de Faria, Bangu’s left-back, fracturing an ankle: he was rushed to Columbia Medical Center. Everton’s Northern Irish international, Billy Bingham, was sent-off for punching Bangu’s Carlos Beto.
“Bangu’s infractions,” the New York Times commented, “were not nearly so glaring as Everton’s.”
Perhaps there were scores to be settled: the two teams had actually met two months earlier, at Goodison Park in Liverpool, a 1-1 tie.
This, after all, was an era when international club play was still feeling its way; there would be many more, higher profile violent battles between European and South American clubs with their different understandings of “fair play” to come later in the decade.
When Everton faced Dinamo Bucharest, sparks inevitably flew. A 4-0 win for the Liverpudlians was described as a “very brutal affair”, with fisticuffs breaking out more than once. Both teams had a man expelled, Everton’s Bobby Collins and Bucharest’s Ivan Dimitru.
This was hardly the sort of play that Cox was paying good money for. Meantime, the New York “Americans” were still little more American than they had been in 1960, mostly made up of British players on tour for a dollar, though they did include some players from the American Soccer League: Ukrainian Nationals’ Gene Vinyei and New York Hakoah’s Alex Chantraire and Ben Zim.
The Americans achieved a mediocrity that was hardly likely to win over a New York enthralled by a magical season for the Yankees, on their way to a World Series win, with Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record. ISL games often went up against Yankees’ games on Sundays.
Meantime, there were problems in Montreal. Crowds were poor at Molson Stadium, with one rain-sodden game between Concordia and Karlsruhe seen by less than 1,000 fans in June. The home team, Concordia, won only two of its seven games.
Section one’s limited excitement ended in Montreal in mid-June with a one-sided affair. Everton crushed the New York Americans 7-0, sealing the section one title before the mini-league’s final two games with six goals in the second half. Bangu, in second place, could not catch Everton whatever they did in their final game the next day, the defending champions unseated.
Cox’s high hopes had taken a hit in the first section. Most talk had been about foul play rather than good soccer, and crowds had been sparse at times. The North American teams had performed without distinction. Would the second section and the grand final revive the prospects for America’s major soccer league?
To Be Continued . . . | <urn:uuid:06e67d6d-ea43-41e9-8c69-ca79bdee12f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2011/12/09/struggling-towards-orbit-the-international-soccer-league-part-four/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976941 | 1,624 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Cristina Odone: a carol service ‘too Christian’ for church?
While Cranmer is more than a little perturbed that the singing of Advent carols should be considered a multi-faith occasion at all (since the Incarnation is unequivocally concerned with the coming of the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God, which other faiths refute), he is more incensed that this gathering was to be in a church – St Martin in the Fields – yet the message had to be ‘suitable’ for followers of minority faiths, atheists, agnostics, diplomats and politicians.
Cristina Odone had been asked to write a brief speech on ‘opportunities for all’ that could be ‘political and controversial’, and so she developed the theme of secular intolerance towards believers of all faiths, from the British Airways worker suspended for wearing a cross to the Muslim schoolgirl banned from wearing the veil – distinctly multi-faith and PC, you might think.
But not for the Royal Commonwealth Society, who said her words were not appropriate ‘because the congregation would include people of little or no faith who would be upset’. Instead, she was asked to read a passage from Bertrand Russell, a militant atheist, irrespective of upset this might offend her or other Christians.
And so Ms Odone has pulled out of the event, accusing the society of demonstrating exactly the kind of intolerance she had planned to criticise. Communicants a readers may decide for themselves, for here follows the full text of her speech deemed possibly offensive to those attending a Christmas church service:
’I wonder what the Christian children at Portree Primary school in Skye would say about equal opportunities.
Their local authority had forced them to drop the word "lord" in the grace before meals, as it was deemed offensive.
I wonder what Shabina Begum would make of equal opportunities. She was the young Muslim girl who took her school to court when it banned her from wearing the veil.
And what of Nadia Eweida? Does she think this is a country of equal opportunities? She was the woman, you may remember, who learned the hard way that a Christian may not wear a crucifix when working for BA.
When it comes to expressing their faith, this country's believers have found that opportunities are blocked. Whether it is the boss at work or the head at school, the local authority or the chattering classes, people of faith know that their worldview is under siege, and their allegiances under suspicion.
To parade this allegiance by wearing a cross, a cap or a veil is red rag to the secularist bull. For these God-bashers, it doesn't matter if you belong to the Christian majority or the Sikh minority.
Their beef is with any belief system other than their own Godless one. For them, it is not enough to exclude those who do not subscribe to their soulless scientism or their one-dimensional rationalism. Pariah status is only the first step in the punishment they mete out to those who refuse to follow their lead. There is also mockery - in public as well as in private; and outright hostility.
But ultimately nothing short of censorship will do. Secularists may criticise religions as oppressive, dogmatic and self-righteous, but this is precisely how they themselves act. They have moved to introduce bans: wearing the hijab is forbidden, ditto the use of the word Christmas, ditto the cross, and countless other symbols of belief. And we have the atheists' Newspeak, a poisonous drip-drip that tries to brainwash us into seeing people of faith as idiots, despots, bigots.
What little opportunity believers have to bear witness to their faith is being quashed. If you are black or gay or female, your plea for equal opportunity is met with respect, and your campaign is applauded by supporters. But not if you are a believer.
In a culture increasingly hostile to God and his followers, expressions of faith have become taboo. The only opportunity we have is for silence.’
Stuart Mole, the director-general of the Royal Commonwealth Society, insisted that they needed ‘to be mindful of the congregation, which will probably include quite a few drawn by the occasion and by the carols but who do not hold a deep (or even a shallow) faith’.
Well, the British Commonwealth includes Muslim countries, so when will Mr Mole insist on a multi-faith Eid Service in Regent’s Park Mosque? And when will he instruct the speakers at such an occasion that nothing from the Qur’an may be quoted in case anyone be offended? And why should the secularists freely propagate their hopeless gospel of materialism while the Church is silenced into timidity? Why should the pursuit of prosperity at any price, to material well-being as the chief goal of earthly existence, be lauded, while believers in the Lord Jesus Christ cower in passivity and retreat.
It is a topsy-turvy world indeed where expressions of faith are banned from a Christmas carol service because secularists might be offended; where the naming of Mohammed Bear results in imprisonment; where a small piece of jewellery results in losing one’s employment. With so much suffering, poverty and loneliness all around, it is time to consider the real meaning of the Incarnation during this Advent season.
Cranmer calls on the invertebrates in the Church of England to inform the Royal Commonwealth Society that Christmas carols are not merely a good sing-song on a par with ‘Down at the Old Bull and Bush’, and to remind them that their patron is Her Majesty the Queen, who is a devout believer herself and swore to uphold all the foundations of the Church of England at her coronation.
And Cranmer calls on the ecclesial authorities of St Martin in the Fields to cancel this service on the basis that it is too secular for a church. | <urn:uuid:00ed1c59-b9a6-44d1-a1ae-c209d2e93500> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960892 | 1,230 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Despite recent drier weather, much of the Thames Path is still affected by flooding. The upper reaches in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire are particularly sodden, but reports indicate further areas downstream are flooded. Do not use the Thames Path during a flood event or walk through flood water as the river bank may not be visible. We are unable to give up to date reports on the condition along the whole 187 miles trail. For local flood warnings please visit the Environment Agency website. For weather updates please visit the Met Office website. | <urn:uuid:80549de9-e7b1-4287-ab33-b8cd8df23be3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/thamespath/article.asp?PageId=3&ArticleId=106 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944186 | 108 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Verses with the word astrologers in the Old Testament (8 verses):
Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.
Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.
Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king;
Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.
The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;
And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing: | <urn:uuid:6d4a0c64-9bf6-4a62-ae10-139c5df5c556> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artbible.info/concordance/a/12128-1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939048 | 453 | 1.695313 | 2 |
|I think you've hit the nail on the head. The U.S. successfully picked apart the EU when it came to the invasion of Iraq, revealing the EU to be far less than unified even when it comes to the most important of international issues- war.|
I think one should be careful here. That statement is perfectly correct, as long as the EU is taken to refer to the political leadership; the actual citizens of the EU were pretty much united in their opposition (I think the UK and Poland were the most pro-war, though I'm not sure it ever reached a majority of the population...I could be wrong). So while Slim may be right about a divided EU trying to reassert its principles, this is in the context of fairly widespread doubts about TWAT.
Having said that, I doubt that the EU politicians have particularly strong convictions against the use of torture, for instance, but it is unclear what there is to gain by supporting US imperialism. That is, I think that Slim's argument as regards to the ICC is refreshingly candid and, I'd say, accurately reflects US policy. Human rights, international law and terror(ism) are either irrelevant or are at the very least subservient to the goal of maintaining US hegemony. That doesn't leave much of an incentive for housing secret CIA prisons. | <urn:uuid:f9e1733a-32ff-462f-852d-d2932f4f6459> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.barbelith.com/topic/23101 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981421 | 271 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Cape Town, or the Mother City, is South Africa’s oldest and arguably most stunning city. It lies in a basin at the southern tip of Africa, surrounded by dramatic mountains that rise regally from the waters of the Atlantic Ocean with the legendary Table Mountain standing at its center. This cosmopolitan city has earned the honor of South Africa’s number one tourist destination, and for good reason. The city’s unrivaled beauty, temperate climate, stunning sunsets and historical significance offer something for everyone and ensures that no one leaves disappointed.
Table Mountain, the center of Cape Town’s city’s scenic landscape, is the most photographed and visited tourist sight in Cape Town. This majestic mountain, long believed to be a powerful world energy center, lies at the foot of The Cape Peninsula’s mountain range which comprises Table Mountain National Park. The Park itself is a scenic drive down Cape Town’s stunning coastline. After taking a cable car to the top of Table Mountain for a 720 degree view of Cape Town and the peninsula, head south, to explore some of the city’s most famous and beautiful attractions en route to Cape Point, home of the Cape of Good Hope, the southwestern most point of the African continent.
The coastal drive is a treat for the senses. After rounding Hout Bay, with its magnificent cliff roads built into the mountain with plunging seas below, you will encounter Boulder Island, home to the African penguin colony. Spend time watching the penguins frolic with their human onlookers, and don’t miss the photo ops as the penguins seem to pose for the camera. Back on the road, keep a look out for ostriches, zebras and chacma baboons which populate the landscape and make for spectacular game viewing without leaving your automobile. Once you arrive at Cape Point, take the cable car or walk up to the lighthouse for spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean. On the drive back, stop into the Twelve Apostle’s Hotel and catch the spectacular sunset from their Leopard Bar.
Cape Town’s 3,500,000 inhabitants are a varied lot. Marked by Dutch, British and Malaysian influences, this city is a multicultural melting pot. Not far from Table Mountain you will find Bo-Kaap, home to many of the Cape Muslim population (or Cape Malay as they are sometimes referred) who are chiefly descendants of African, Indian and Malaysian slaves. This neighborhood, buttressed by Signal Hill, is a unique and vibrant area identified by its colorful houses dating back to the 1700s and home to many of the city’s mosques, including Auwal Mosque, Africa’s oldest mosque built in 1794. As you wander through the neighborhood, stop and sample traditional Cape Muslim cuisine, which has heavily influenced traditional South African fare. As an added treat, arrange a driving tour of the Cape Town and Cape Peninsula with Escape to the Cape and ask Shaheed, the owner, to arrange a private cooking class at the home of Latiefa Larney, a celebrated long time Bo-Kaap resident whose cuisine and dinners are legendary.
V&A WATERFRONT, ROBBEN ISLAND
The next morning, head down to V&A Waterfront and take a 30 minute ferry ride across the Atlantic to Robben Island, the political prison that housed Nelson Mandela for 18 of his 27 years. When you first land on Robben Island, you are sheparded to waiting buses and taken on a tour of the island’s famous landmarks. After the bus tour, you are greeted by a former inmate and embark on a guided walk to Nelson Mandela’s former cellblock by way of a tour of Mandela’s garden. It was here, in this small strip of flora amidst concrete, that Mandela secretly stashed his manuscript, “A Long Walk To Freedom”, penned during his imprisonment.
Upon your return from Robben Island, quickly explore the V&A Waterfront and its touristy shops, then head north, about an hour’s drive outside of Cape Town to the Winelands. Here, in Stellenbach, the first town established on the Cape’s wine route, you will find an abundance of wineries and vineyards nestled in the valley, complimented by Dutch architecture. Don’t miss Tokara (www.tokara.com), a winery as renowned for its famous art collection as it is for its sumptuous wines. Have lunch at Tokara’s restaurant, surrounded by magnificent views of their vineyards. Indulge in a uniquely South African lunch of King Klip, a meaty white fish indigenous to South African waters, and sip a glass of Pinotage, a wine produced only in South Africa.
There are many specialty tours in Cape Town that cater to the interest of every traveler. Choose from jazz tours, which visit famous jazz clubs for the jazz lover, to township tours for those who want to get up close with Cape Town’s historical segregated shanty towns and their residents. If your visit is on a Sunday, you can | <urn:uuid:337b436a-407f-41e7-b7a5-258c732a20b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ebony.com/life/travel-cape-town-south-africas-oldest-city | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945929 | 1,060 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Monopods are a great way to help stabilize your camera without carrying around a bulky piece of equipment. A good one can be expensive, but you can build one yourself and save a bunch of money.
DIY magazine MAKE offers a quick solution that you can make out of a broom handle. Here's what you'll need:
- Broom handle, or 1"-diameter wood dowel
- Hex nut, ¼"-20 thread
- Hanger bolt, ¼"-20 thread
- Spiral nail, 8"
You'll also need some basic tools like a saw, electric drill, hammer, wrench, and sandpaper. This may seem like a lot for a little monopod, but the project should be pretty easy. All you're really doing is mounting a threaded screw on a broom handle so you can easily attach your camera and stabilize it while you shoot. If you've got the tools handy, you should be able to knock this one out pretty fast. Alternatively, this string "tripod" is a cheaper and smaller solution that requires less work (although it's likely to be less effective).
World's Cheapest Monopod | MAKE Projects | <urn:uuid:1f3086f3-4392-4641-be81-78e2f9144a4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lifehacker.com/5925724/make-a-monopod-out-of-a-broom-handle?tag=Photography | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943262 | 239 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Podcasts & RSS Feeds
Tue October 25, 2011
Occupy Wall Street's Most Unlikely Ally: The Pope
Thomas J. Reese is a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, and a former editor of America, the national Catholic weekly magazine.
The Vatican released a document on the world economy on Monday that will cause heartburn in the Tea Party, but will be cheered by the folks occupying Wall Street.
This will surprise most Americans who think the pope is a Republican because he opposes abortion and gay marriage. But when it comes to economic justice, Pope Benedict XVI is to the left of President Obama. Heck, he is even to the left of Nancy Pelosi.
Those who read the pope's 2009 encyclical "Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth)" will not be surprised by this new document. In that encyclical, the pope decried "corruption and illegality" among economic and political elites in both rich and poor countries. He told financiers they must rediscover the ethical foundation of their activity and stop abusing savers. He wants a radical rethinking of economics so that it is guided not simply by profits but by "an ethics which is people-centered."
Benedict notes that economic "inequalities are on the increase" across the globe. He does not accept the trickle-down theory, which says that all boats will rise with the economic tide. Benedict condemns the "scandal of glaring inequalities" and sees a role for government in the redistribution of wealth.
Yes, you heard that right. The pope favors the redistribution of wealth. When was the last time you heard a liberal Democrat use those words?
The pope also disagrees with those who believe that the economy should be free of government regulation. An unregulated economy "shielded from 'influences' of a moral character has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way," he writes. This has "led to economic, social and political systems that trample upon personal and social freedom, and are therefore unable to deliver the justice that they promise."
Critics have complained that the Occupy Wall Street movement has no program. The people in the movement could do a lot worse than to study what the pope has said about the economy. Sadly, few Catholics know of the church's teaching on economic justice, which has been called the church's best-kept secret.
The pope does not have a magic plan to restore economic prosperity, but he does focus on the values that a political and economic system must support. The priority, he says, must be "access to steady employment for everyone." And that means not just here in the United States, but also in the developing world, where we must rescue "peoples, first and foremost, from hunger, deprivation, endemic diseases and illiteracy."
So if you are having a tea party, don't bother inviting the pope; he won't come. But if you see a white, solar-powered car heading toward Wall Street, it might just be the popemobile. | <urn:uuid:a1857197-b420-4591-ae67-09b31c6ae935> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kbia.org/post/occupy-wall-streets-most-unlikely-ally-pope | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964879 | 627 | 1.75 | 2 |
I have a James Randolph (1889 - 1948) who married Mincie Cutshall (1885-1940), and lived in Greene County, TN. Mincie's parents were Amos Cutshall & Ellender Tweed. Ellender Tweed's grandfather was William Duckworth Franklin Shelton and he may have been half-Cherokee, as his Mother was a Cherokee Indian. They lived in Madison County, NC. Is this the same family?
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|© 2007 The Generations Network| | <urn:uuid:03a1a797-8a80-4165-8c45-d3da178321c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.genforum.genealogy.com/cutshall/messages/299.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953515 | 131 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Working the school system
Meet six parents who beat the odds and got their child into a dream public school. Here are their tips and tales from the trenches.
By Leslie Crawford , GreatSchools Staff
Los Angeles, CA
Tip #2: Be patient – sometimes the impossible happens.
Suzie Kane's eldest son Elliot had just graduated middle school and was already enrolled in a Los Angeles public high school when she and her husband began worrying that their son "couldn't survive the massive LAUD school" he was assigned.
It was more than a long shot, but they went ahead and put in their application to High Tech La School, a public charter, in June after all the spots had been assigned. They were number 90 on the waiting list. Still, she, her husband, and son toured the small, project-based high school and decided it was the one for Elliot. "We were definitely praying hard!" says Kane
Although it seemed like they didn't stand a chance, Kane didn't give up. Throughout the summer, she called the school to see to see if they'd moved up on the list. "I kept calling and would say, 'How is the list looking? Have we budged?'" While Kane doesn't know if it made a difference to check in with the school, still she wanted to make the personal connection and remind them that she remained hopeful and determined. After all, the same approach had worked when she gently persisted for both elementary and middle school.
Their hope had all but faded by summer's end. Then two days before school was to start, while she and her son were out buying school clothes, she got a call from the school saying Elliot had a spot. "We were shocked. We absolutely thought we weren't getting in." Kane says they were so ecstatic they began dancing in the store. "That phone call has changed our whole lives. My son has found the school that is perfect for him."
Kane's words of wisdom:
"It's important if possible to connect with an administrator or staff and put a voice to your name. And be nice."
Next: Cheryl Pope » | <urn:uuid:1a9e5687-c936-4ad8-8ebf-6b65b9db5196> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greatschools.org/students/slideshows/3004-working-the-schools.gs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992504 | 438 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Friday, April 3, 2009 at 3:25 PM
On Google Earth for iPhone we already have Panoramio pictures all over the globe and Wikipedia articles for many locations, letting you explore interesting places by reading about them and seeing what they look like.
Today we are going to help you explore even more deeply by introducing the "Places" layer into the Google Earth for iPhone experience. This new layer uses the same data you're used to seeing in the "Places" layer on the desktop Google Earth client, but with a brand new styling designed to fit better to the iPhone.
To use the "Places" layer, just open up the Google Earth for iPhone client and fly to your favorite location. "Places" are marked by a icon.
Tapping on a place brings up a details page for that location. Without leaving Google Earth you can read articles, view photos, and watch videos about a location or its nearby areas.
We are very excited by this new layer. We hope you enjoy it as well! | <urn:uuid:43514893-c541-4e15-bd3b-f2bd769b51ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/04/learn-more-about-your-surroundings-with.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939108 | 212 | 1.835938 | 2 |
"Any other drug" is allowed to be prescribed by any licensed physician, for any purpose that he sees fit, to any patient. With drugs like Tylenol, you can get a prescription from just about any physician with nothing more than mentioning you have pain. The doctor really isn't even required to see you or review your medical records.
Tylenol and similar drugs kill thousands of people per year. Marijuana kills none. If that is the standard for prescribing dangerous drugs like Tylenol, then it seems it would be OK for much less dangerous drugs like marijuana.
The short history of the marijuana laws at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm - the marijuana laws were absolute lunacy from the very beginning. Congress didn't even know what they were voting on when they passed the law. One doctor testified in court, under oath, that marijuana would make your fangs grow six inches long and drip with blood. He served as US Official Expert on marijuana for 25 years.
Seriously, the real story of how we got these laws just makes people laugh out loud. Anyone who thought there was ever any logic or good reasoning behind the laws has been badly fooled. The whole story is unmitigated stupidity, ignorance, and bigotry from beginning to end.
The largest study of the health effects of mj to date was done by Kaiser Permanente. They surveyed the health records of 65,000 people over a number of years. They found no significant differences in the health records of pot smokers versus those who did not smoke pot.
This is consistent the findings of every major government commission report on the subject from around the world over the last 100 years. You can find the full text of those at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer under Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy.
But the reasons you mentioned never had anything to do with the laws, anyway. Now, if you are worried about mj turning people into bats, then we have a reason for the law.
That's funny. One doctor injected cannabis directly into the brains of 300 dogs, and two of them died. When they asked him what he concluded from this, he said he didn't know what to conclude because he wasn't a dog psychologist.
This same doctor testified in court, under oath, that marijuana would make your fangs grow six inches long and drip with blood. He also said that, when he tried it, it turned him into a bat. He then described how he flew around the room for two hours and then found himself at the bottom of a 200-foot-high inkwell.
Who was this scientist? As it turns out, he was the only doctor in the US who thought mj should be illegal, so he was appointed US Official Expert on marijuana, where he served for 25 years.
So, it appears you were wrong. Scientists really do incredibly stupid "experiments". That one was the guy who was the chief marijuana scientist for the government. How stupid is that?
You can read the story at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm
BTW, that's not the only such incident. It is just one of the more obviously ridiculous.
Do any of these people who are complaining about the "fakers" have access to anyone's medical records? No, they clearly do not.
Would any of these people have the qualifications to judge anyone's medical records and determine which drugs they should use? No.
Is it even any of their business? No, it is none of their business. That is between them and their doctor.
Consider for a moment that you can call a doctor and he will give you a prescription for NSAIDs if you just tell him you have pain. You ask, you get the script. NSAIDs kill thousands of people per year. Marijuana kills none.
So, if the medical standard for prescribing dangerous NSAIDs is just a complaint of pain, then what should be the medical standard for recommending a drug that is even safer than NSAIDs?
OK, so you didn't know that the Institute of Medicine Report, by the US Drug Czar -- the offical report to settle the issue -- disagreed with you. And you apparently didn't know that most drugs don't work equally well for everybody -- which is why there are multiple drugs on the market for just about every conditions.
Not that you knew anything about any of the medical problems of people you never met, or were even qualified to judge them if you did, anyway.
But thanks for demonstrating the prejudice behind marijuana prohibition.
You can read a good short history of the marijuana laws at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm
The reason for the hysteria is that the marijuana laws were passed by lunatics who gained control of a government agency and were able to use the agency to spread their hysteria.
One doctor testified in court, under oath, that mj would make your fangs grow six inches long and drip with blood. He also said that, when he tried it, it turned him into a bat. He was the only doctor in the US who thought mj should be illegal, so he was appointed US Official Expert on marijuana, where he served for 25 years.
The US Government drug agencies have had an openly admitted policy of lying about drugs since at least 1925.
"And I maintain that 25 years ago weed was the only solution to many medical issues, and that since then "legit" medicine has addressed many of those needs (chemotherapy side effects, for instance)."
Just as a point of fact, the Institute of Medicine Report (1999) disagreed with you. That was the "official" definitive report on the subject, commissioned by the Drug Czar himself.
Also, just FYI, most drugs only work for some people, and not others. Therefore, the existence of one drug on the market isn't a good reason to eliminate all the others.
But, whatever you feel about it, it doesn't make any sense to punish sick people who have done nothing more than try to relieve their own suffering, even if you don't agree with their choice of medicine.
You may be right that the law may be poorly worded, but that's because the Feds would stand in the way of the most sensible solution -- plain legalization.
While you are at it, tell us what standards the doctors should use for prescribing. You can call up any doctor, even one you don't know, and tell him that you have pain. He will give you a prescription for NSAIDs with nothing more than your report of pain. NSAIDs kill thousands of people per year in the US -- as opposed to none for marijuana.
Now, if the doctor will give you drugs that can kill you when you just ask, then what should be the standard for recommending (not prescribing) a drug that is far less dangerous?
There is no "probably" about it. The courts have already ruled the laws constitutional. You see, just because the Federal Government has laws against something doesn't mean the states have to have laws against the same thing.
For further information, refer to alcohol prohibition, when a number of states repealed their own alcohol prohibition laws in precisely the same way.
And, just fyi, we had the same problems during alcohol prohibition. Alcohol prohibition allowed for "medical" prescription of alcohol. As a result people went to doctors to get prescriptions for whiskey, and then trotted down to the "medical" alcohol stores that were all over the place. People had the same complaints they have today about the mmj stores - traffic, neighborhood nuisances, obnoxious drug users, etc., etc. As it turns out, "medical" drunks are far more obnoxious than medical pot users.
If you aren't familiar with what happened, Federal prohibition went to pieces after the states started changing their laws. It seems the Feds don't have anywhere near the forces necessary to enforce the laws by themselves.
Therefore, national alcohol prohibition was repealed shortly after the state laws were repealed.
The problem is that the Feds won't allow the use of prescriptions for mmj. They take this stance even though the US Federal Government itself supplies marijuana to a number of medical patients.
As for the "real" doctors thing - how many visits does it take to the doctor to establish a relationship? What is the arbitrary number you pick? And why shouldn't all the other drugs - the vast majority of them far more dangerous than mj - be restricted the same way?
Doc, I agree with every point you make until you get to the thing about "abuse". I tend to think that idea is pretty overused and counterproductive to the whole discussion. It comes down to "How do you define abuse?"
You probably know the old joke about what the doctor will tell you if you call him in the middle of the night. "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning." The doctor hasn't seen you, hasn't taken your temperature or even thumped you on the chest. Yet he will give you a prescription for aspirin (or, in more recent times, other NSAIDs) any time you have a complaint. You ask, you get it.
I have even seen doctors prescribe ibuprofen and other similar drugs when they haven't seen the patient, don't know anything about their history, and haven't even looked at their medical records. I complained to the administrators of a nationally known hospital on one occasion when I saw that, and I was told that such behavior was perfectly within the accepted standards of medicine.
Now, if that is the accepted standard for prescribing NSAIDs, which kill thousands of people every year, then what should be the accepted standard for a drug that has never killed anyone?
Note that I am not arguing with your personal high standards, which I presume include good medical examination. I am just saying that even among the lesser doctors, they would have to go a ways before we really had a problem with "abuse" if you compare to other medical standards.
I would suggest that you continue to promote good medical standards. At the same time, I would suggest that you not wail unnecessarily about "abuse" - which only winds up giving ammunition to a lot of really ignorant people who don't understand medical marijuana at all. People in other states have done that and wound up regretting their own words when those words were used against them.
Required reading for anyone who wants to post an opinion:
The short history of the marijuana laws at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm - funny, fascinating, and surprising.
Licit and Illicit Drugs at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cumenu.htm - the best overall review of the problem ever done.
Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer - the full text of every major government commission on the drug laws from around the world in the last 100 years. They all reached similar conclusions.
The Drug Hang-Up by Rufus King at http://druglibrary.org/special/king/dhu/dhumenu.htm An excellent history of the subject, written by a former president of the American Bar Association.
Additional very interesting historical references on the drug laws can be found at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/history.htm The history is fascinating, and not what you expected.
Opium smoking was originally outlawed because of the fear that Chinese men were luring white women to have sex in opium dens. Cocaine was outlawed because of the fear that superhuman Negro Cocaine Fiends would go on a violent rampage and rape white women and shoot white men.
They were outlawed in 1914. Before they were outlawed, they were not considered to be a major problem - even though they were sold over the counter without any restrictions at all. Heroin was included in baby colic remedies and cocaine was found in everything from toothache drops to soda pop. Kids could buy them and even the Pope was in ads telling people to drink cocaine wine.
The problems happened as soon as the laws were passed. Within six months of the passage of the laws, medical societies across the nation were calling the laws a medical, social, moral, and criminal disaster. In response to the failure, lawmakers made the laws tougher.
You can find a good history of the subject in Licit and Illicit Drugs at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cumenu.htm
So, yes, you are correct - we should take a fundamentally different approach to hard drugs, too. I have always said that and I have been one of the leaders of the marijuana law reform movement for more than 20 years. I happen to know that the vast majority of the major reform groups agree with me. See, for example, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition at http://www.leap.cc | <urn:uuid:776e34a3-6909-4439-af4e-88fb78d01691> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://connect.mlive.com/user/wm97/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97792 | 2,685 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Contributes to well-being**
Includes important vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients
Liquid formulas mix readily into your favorite drinks for easy consumption
Helps promote healthy digestive function**
Aloe Vera has been taken internally by people the world over for thousands of years. It has many uses, including its ability to support a healthy digestive system.** Aloe Vera contains a host of nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, polysaccharides and phenolic compounds to promote overall well-being.** Our Aloe Vera liquid and gel formulas make it easy for you to get your daily dose of this important nutrient—they mix easily into water, or your favorite fruit or vegetable juice. No pesticides have been used on the Aloe Vera plants we rely on for the production of our products, and the inner gel has been only minimally processed, so you are guaranteed an Aloe Vera that is as thick and as potent and nature intended it be.No Artificial Color, Flavor or Sweetener, No Sugar, No Milk, No Lactose, No Soy, No Gluten, No Wheat, No Yeast, No Fish, Sodium Free. | <urn:uuid:a7d44a28-6f9d-4afc-a189-185304cecd8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.puritan.com/liquid-vitamins-106/aloe-vera-gel-993-percent-001600 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933183 | 234 | 1.554688 | 2 |
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