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WEST OCEAN CITY — Charges are pending this week against two Wilmington mothers for allegedly neglecting and abandoning their young children at a West Ocean City motel while they went to the Boardwalk. Around 9:40 p.m. last Saturday, Maryland State Police responded to the Bed Time Inn in West Ocean City in reference to an allegedly abandoned 3-year-old girl located by a waiter in the hotel restaurant. The waiter located the child after she approached him and clung to his leg. The investigation revealed the girl had walked from her first-floor room through the parking lot adjacent to Route 50, passed the swimming pool and into the restaurant. While troopers were looking into the whereabouts of the child’s parents, a 10-year-old child approached them and told police she was the cousin of the 3-year-old and that they were staying in the same room. The girl told police she had just awoken and found her cousin missing. The investigation revealed there were three related families staying in three separate rooms in the motel. In one of the rooms, there were five unattended children ages 8-13, which is not a violation of Maryland state law because of the presence of the 13-year-old. However, troopers went to the room where the 3-year-old and 10-year-old girls were staying and found it unoccupied with the door open. The mothers of the two children were contacted by cell phone and were found to be on the Boardwalk in Ocean City. They were instructed to return immediately to the Bed Time Inn in West Ocean City. Through the investigation, troopers learned the two mothers planned to leave the children after they had fallen asleep. The investigation is ongoing and charges are pending. Social Services also responded and interviewed the two mothers, identified as Adrian Henry, 31, and Sharon Henry, 23, both of Wilmington, Del. Child Protective Services, Social Services and the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office are involved in the investigation. First Of Three Alleged Armed Robbers Sentenced SNOW HILL — The first of four men arrested in January for a spree of armed robberies in northern Worcester County and Wicomico County last December pleaded guilty this week in Circuit Court to armed robbery and the use of a handgun in the commission of a felony and was sentenced to a combined 20 years in jail, all but five of which were then suspended. Last Dec. 2, Worcester County Bureau of Investigation (WCBI) detectives and deputies from the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Shore Stop convenience store on Route 589 near Ocean Pines for a reported armed robbery. The investigation revealed two suspects, later identified as Akeem Mason, 17, of Painter, Va., and Dalton Entzminger, 17, of Accomack, Va., entered the store with Mason armed with a handgun and robbed the clerk. The two suspects stole an undetermined amount of cash and cigarettes from the clerk before exiting the store and fleeing in a vehicle. A short time later, the same suspects, along with Jordan Criner, 23, of Berlin, and Takeyah Mason, 21, of Melfa, Va., robbed the Dash In convenience store in Willards in Wicomico County using the same basic method. Wicomico County Sheriff’s deputies apprehended the four suspects a short time later and held them on charges related to the Willards armed robbery. The four suspects were then connected to the armed robbery of the Shore Stop near Ocean Pines. Each was charged with 16 total counts including armed robbery, assault, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and handgun charges. After the arrest, WCBI detectives were able to connect Criner to a pair of armed robberies in the area in August, including the same Shore Stop convenience store on Route 589 near Ocean Pines. Around 1 a.m. on Aug. 25, two masked men entered the Shore Stop on Route 589, brandished a handgun and demanded money from the clerk. The clerk complied and the suspects fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash. About a half an hour later, the same suspects entered the Shore Stop store in Pittsville and robbed the clerk. Detectives were able to connect Criner to the August armed robberies in the same areas. On Wednesday, Akeem Mason pleaded guilty to armed robbery and the use of a handgun in the commission of a felony. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail for each conviction, with all but five years of the combined sentence suspended. He was also placed on probation for three years upon his release. Criner, Takeyah Mason and Entzminger are each scheduled to appear for trial next week in Worcester County Circuit Court for their roles in the numerous armed robberies. Guilty Plea For Armed Robber SNOW HILL — An Ocean Pines man, one of two arrested in January on armed robbery and other serious charges after a joint investigation by the Ocean City and Ocean Pines Police departments connected him to a pair of strong-armed robberies of taxicab drivers last December and now awaits his fate pending the outcome of a pre-sentence investigation. Around 1:15 a.m. last Dec. 30, Ocean City police responded to the area of 5th Street and Edgewater Ave. in the resort in reference to an armed robbery that had taken place. The victim, an on-duty cab driver, told Ocean City police he had received a call from a restricted number requesting a taxi from Ocean Pines to Ocean City. The victim told police he had picked up two unidentified individuals on Marview Drive in Ocean Pines about 25 minutes earlier and brought them into Ocean City. The driver dropped the two suspects, later identified as Thomas Scaniffe, 17, of Ocean Pines, and Joshua Hohman, 19, of Marion Station, off in the area of 5th Street, at which time the two suspects allegedly assaulted the victim and stole money and other belongings. A second similar incident took place later on Dec. 30. Around 9:30 p.m., a taxicab driver responded to Brandywine Drive in Ocean Pines to pick up a fare bound for Ocean City. Two males entered the cab at that time and demanded money before assaulting the driver with an unidentified weapon. Two days later, on Jan. 1, after a joint investigation conducted by the Ocean City and Ocean Pines Police departments, Ocean City Police were able to identify Scaniffe as one of the suspects wanted in connection with the two taxicab armed robberies. Hohman was later arrested for his alleged role in the cab robberies. On Wednesday, Scaniffe pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery and a pre-sentence investigation was ordered. Each conviction carries a maximum penalty of 25 years. Sentencing has been set for July 15. State Police Busy With Drug Arrests BERLIN — During routine traffic patrols throughout northern Worcester County last weekend, Maryland State Police (MSP) arrested 10 individuals on drug charges including seven in the span of a couple hours on Saturday. Around 1:50 p.m. last Saturday, an MSP trooper stopped a Dodge Ram pick-up on Route 113 at Harrison Rd. for speeding. When the officer approached the vehicle, he detected the strong odor of marijuana coming from the passenger compartment. A probable search turned up three Baggies of marijuana on the person of the suspect, identified as Cory Hendricks, 20, of Dagsboro. Hendricks was arrested and charged with possession. Around 2:30 p.m. last Saturday, a MSP trooper stopped a vehicle for speeding on Route 50 near Route 346. During contact with the occupants, the trooper detected the strong odor of marijuana. A probable cause search revealed marijuana in the glove compartment along with more pot on the person of a suspect identified as Khalifa Woods, 19, of Glen Burnie. The driver, Jeremy Harsanyi, 20, of Pasadena, and passenger Matthew Polm, 18, also of Pasadena, were arrested for possession. At about 4:30 p.m. last Saturday, a MSP trooper pulled over a van in the parking lot of the Sunoco station on Sunset Ave. in West Ocean City for a traffic violation. Upon contact with the driver, identified as Carl Sickler, 35, of Berlin, the officer observed drug paraphernalia and burnt crack cocaine residue in the vehicle. Sickler was arrested and charged with possession of crack cocaine and paraphernalia. At 6 p.m. last Saturday, an MSP trooper stopped a vehicle on Route 50 near Route 346 in Berlin for following another vehicle too closely. As the trooper approached the vehicle and made contact with the driver, identified as Mark Wade, 23, of Landover Hills, he detected a strong odor of burnt marijuana. A probable cause search turned up an undisclosed amount of marijuana. Wade was also found to be wanted on a fugitive warrant through the Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office for failing to appear on traffic charges. Around 7 p.m. last Saturday, an MSP trooper pulled over a vehicle on Route 50 and Main Street in Berlin for going 76 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone. The trooper learned the vehicle was a rental and the operator was in violation of the rental agreement because he was not the authorized driver. A K-9 scan of the vehicle was positive and an undisclosed amount of marijuana was discovered under a large speaker in the trunk. The driver, identified as Presley Burnett, Jr., 24, of Laurel, Md., was arrested for possession. Shortly before 4 p.m. last Sunday, a Maryland State Police trooper pulled over a 2005 Jaguar on Route 50 at Dale Rd. for going 70 mph in a 55 mph zone. As the officer approached the vehicle, he detected an unusually strong odor of air fresheners. The officer asked the driver, identified as Joseph Nkata, 23, of Beltsville, Md., even he had any illegal drugs in the vehicle, to which he replied, “a little bit,” according to police reports. A subsequent search revealed marijuana in the vehicle as well as in a backpack belonging to the passenger, identified as Phillip Springs, 23, of Bowie. Both Nkata and Phillips were arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and were later released. Alleged Stabber Charged As Adult SALISBURY — A 17-year-old juvenile was arrested on first-degree assault and other charges last week after allegedly stabbing an adult male during a domestic argument. Shortly after 2 a.m. last Saturday, Salisbury Police responded to PRMC to meet with a stabbing victim. The victim told police he had been involved in a domestic argument with the suspect, later identified as Shatazia Monique Driggins, 17, of Salisbury. The argument turned into a physical altercation during which Driggins allegedly obtained a small knife from her residence and stabbed the victim in the back. The victim was treated for a wound determined not to be life threatening. Driggins is a juvenile, but is being charged as an adult because of the severity of the crime. She has been charged with first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. SALISBURY — A Hebron man was arrested on assault and other charges last week after allegedly attempting to slash a man with a knife on the victim’s porch following an earlier altercation. Around 5:15 p.m. last Saturday, Salisbury Police responded to a residence on Homer Street for a reported assault. The victim told police he was in his residence when he heard a lot of banging and noise at the front door. The victim went to the door and found the suspect, later identified as Paul Joseph Kelly, 24, of Hebron, trying to force his way in. The victim allegedly told Kelly to quit banging on the door and to leave the property. Kelly then allegedly produced a knife from his pants pocket and slashed at the victim, attempting to cut him. Kelly was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree assault, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and carrying a dangerous and deadly weapon. Alleged Counterfeiter Nabbed SALISBURY — A Willards woman was arrested on counterfeiting charges this week after passing a phony $20 bill to a victim in a convenience store parking lot for change early Monday morning. Around 12:48 a.m. on Monday, Salisbury Police responded to the Wawa on S. Salisbury Blvd. for a report of a suspect passing counterfeit currency. Police met with the victim, who said a woman later identified as Brooke Joseph, 20, of Willards, approached her and asked for change for a $20 bill. Only after the trade did the victim realize the $20 bill she had just obtained was counterfeit. Police located Joseph still on the convenience store property and arrested the suspect on charges of theft and possession of counterfeit currency. The authentic currency was returned to the victim. Traffic Stop Yields Loaded Guns SNOW HILL — A Georgia man was arrested on possession of concealed deadly weapons charges last week after a cache of loaded guns was found in his vehicle during a speeding stop on Route 113 in Snow Hill. Around 2:15 last Thursday, a Maryland State Police trooper pulled over a Ford pick-up truck bearing Georgia tags on Route 113 in Snow Hill for a speeding violation. As troopers approached the driver, identified as Jeremiah Smith, 30, of Haddock, Ga., they noticed a rifle lying on the passenger seat. Troopers asked Smith if he had any other weapons in the vehicle and he told police he also had a Glock handgun. The handgun was also located and Smith was placed under arrest. Troopers conducted a search, which revealed a total of five rifles and four handguns. Two of the rifles and three of the handguns were loaded. Smith was arrested and charged with possession of a concealed deadly weapon and wearing and carrying a concealed weapon. Smith was held initially on a $10,000 bond, but was later released after posting bail. Copper Wire Thief Nabbed SALISBURY — A Salisbury man was arrested on burglary and theft charges last week after maintenance workers caught him allegedly stealing copper wire from a vacant property. Around 1 p.m. last Friday, a Wicomico County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to a vacant property on Nokomis Ave. in Salisbury for a reported burglary. The deputy met with a representative from a local property management company who said they arrived at the property earlier to do maintenance work when they discovered a suspect, later identified as Paul D. Green, 51, of Salisbury, inside attempting to steal copper wire. Green attempted to flee from the building, but maintenance workers were able to detain him until police arrived. The investigation revealed Green had entered the building by breaking a rear window. Green was arrested and charged with first-degree burglary and theft. He was taken before a District Court Commissioner and was ordered held on a $50,000 bond.

Obama’s Hot War July 23, 2014Posted by rogerhollander in Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Imperialism, Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel, Gaza & Middle East, Libya, Palestine, Syria, Ukraine, War. Tags: foreign policy, gaza, glen ford, Iraq, israel, libya, obama's hot war, pakistan, roger hollander, Syria, U.S. imperialism, ukraine coup, ukraine separatists, war add a comment Roger’s note: Glen Ford tells it like it is with no apologies. A refreshing contrast to the mealy mouthed mainstream corporate media and much of the progressive Blogosphere. A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford The deeper the U.S. slips into economic decline, the higher it ratchets up the pace and stakes of armed conflict. Washington appears to have crossed some kind of Rubicon, to embark “on a mad, scorched earth policy to terrorize the planet into submission through relentless escalation into a global state of war.” “Washington’s policy is the constant fomenting of war for the subjugation of the planet – or the world’s destruction, if the U.S. cannot remain Number One.” The United States has set the world on fire. It is nonsense to talk of a “new” Cold War, when what the world is witnessing is multiple conflagrations as intense and horrifically destructive as at any period since World War Two. Virtually every one of these armed conflicts has been methodically set in motion by the only power capable of perpetrating such massive, simultaneous mayhem: the United States, along with its underlings in London, Paris and Tel Aviv – the true Axis of Evil. Washington is embarked on a mad, scorched earth policy to terrorize the planet into submission through relentless escalation into a global state of war. Unable to maintain its dominance through trade and competition, the U.S. goes beyond the brink to plunge the whole planet into a cauldron of death. As Russia is learning, it is extremely difficult to avoid war when a great power insists on imposing it. That was a lesson inflicted on the world 75 years ago, by Nazi Germany. Whoever coined the phrase “No Drama Obama” should be sentenced to a lifetime of silence. The First Black U.S. President systematically brought swastika-wearing fascists to power in Ukraine to start a war on Russia’s borders. The passengers of the Malaysian airliner are victims of Obama’s carefully crafted apocalypse, a pre-fabricated conflict that could consume us all. Obama methodically and without provocation laid waste to Libya and Syria, and now the jihadists unleashed by the United States and its allies are destroying Iraq all over again and threatening to erase Lebanon and Jordan and even the oil kingdoms of the Gulf. Obama has signed yet another blank check for Israel’s ghastly war of ethnic annihilation in Gaza – a crime against humanity for which the U.S. is fully as culpable as the apartheid Jewish State, which could not exist if it were not part of the U.S. superpower’s global war machine. Wars “R” Us Those who say the United States is adrift or has no coherent foreign policy are colossally wrong. Washington’s policy is the constant fomenting of war for the subjugation of the planet – or the world’s destruction, if the U.S. cannot remain Number One. The Americans have made Africa into a killing field. Somalia and its people have been smashed and dispersed, setting the whole Horn of Africa ablaze. Ethiopia commits multiple genocides under U.S. sponsorship, while Washington’s mercenaries in Rwanda and Uganda grow fat on the bones of six million Congolese. South Sudan thrashes in agony, the result of dismemberment by American, European and Israeli ghouls. The sounds of chaos and mass murder reverberate from the Magreb in the North, through the vast Sahel region, and now deep into West Africa, a direct result of criminal U.S. aggressive war and regime change in Libya. Obama “pivots” to East Asia with the goal of turning Japan into a militaristic state with an invitation to rejoin, after all these years, the game of global conquest. Poor Afghanistan and Pakistan have no future at all, unless the U.S. leaves their region and allows them to develop an organic partnership with China. But a world based on mutually beneficial relations among peoples has no room for empire – which is why the empire wages war against the world. For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com and sign up for email notification each Wednesday, when a new issue of BAR appears. BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com. Anne Frank Is Palestine’s Child, Too July 15, 2013Posted by rogerhollander in Israel, Gaza & Middle East, Palestine. Tags: anne frank, anti-semitism, fascism, gaza, gaza children, gaza massacre, israel military, Palestine, palestinian children, Palestinians, racism, roger hollander, vacy vlazna add a comment The Suffering of Palestinian Children Is Not Unlike Anne Frank’s In the context here of youthful suffering, let us consider the similarities between the Nazi victimising, traumatising and slaughtering of Anne Frank to the victimising, traumatising, mutilating and slaughtering of the teenagers and children of Gaza. The children of Gaza have also been trapped, or, as Anne may have put it, “chained in one spot, without any rights” for seven years in the largest concentration camp in the world. “Who has inflicted this upon us? Who had made us Jews different from all other people? Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now?” “In the Shifa hospital I saw a sight I will never forget. Hundreds of corpses, one on top of the other. Their flesh…their blood, and their bones all melting on each other. You wouldn’t know the woman from the man or even the child. Piles of flesh on the beds, and lots of people screaming and crying, not knowing where their kids are, their men or their women. “Mr Dussel has told us much about the outside world we’ve missed for so long. He had sad news. Countless friends and acquaintances have been taken off to a dreadful fate. Night after night, green and grey military vehicles cruise the streets.” Today, the roundups dreaded by Anne Frank find new forms in the West Bank of Palestine. There, Israel systematically ramps up the state of anxiety and fear with night-time raids and violent home invasions. Arrests of children and adults occur mainly at night, when the whole family is suddenly awakened and their home invaded by armed soldiers shouting and ransacking the family’s possessions. This leads to the kidnapping of the family member, or members, targeted, leaving the family distraught and their lives devastated. Reuters reported that, according to UNICEF, “approximately 700 Palestinian children, between the ages of 12 and 17, are kidnapped, detained and interrogated by the Israeli army, the Police and security agents in the West Bank every year, and are subject to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in direct violation of the Convention on the Right of the Child, and the Convention against Torture.” In both the West Bank and Gaza, the effect of unending oppression has become tragic for Palestinian children. The respected Gaza journalist Mohammed Omer points out in “For Gaza’s Children the Trauma Never Ends”: “The Nazi persecution and World War II in Europe, which lasted from 1933 to 1945, affected an entire generation of children. By contrast, Israel’s dispossession and occupation of Palestine has lasted some six decades–and counting. Generations of Palestinian children have been affected physically, psychologically and materially.” For Anne Frank, the experience of Nazi oppression had the effect of making her former life seem surrealistic. She wrote: Anne then lists the humiliations Jews were subject to under the Nazi’s apartheid regime. Interestingly, her experience can easily be reworded, as follows, to reflect the Palestinian experience: “Freedom was severely restricted by a series of anti-Palestinian apartheid decrees that violate international law: –Palestinians live under military law, while Israelis live under civil law. –Identity cards only for Palestinians. –Segregation between Jewish and Palestinian communities. –Jews-only roads and transport. –Movement restrictions for Palestinians. –Unequal access to land and property. –Forcible eviction and home demolitions for Palestinians. –Palestinians forbidden the right of return, while Jews anywhere in the world have the right to live in Israel. –Deportation of Palestinian prisoners. –Palestinians are forbidden from living with Israeli Arab spouses. –Separate and unequal education systems. –Forced resettlement of Bedouins.” In addition, Adalah reports that “In the four short months since the current Knesset came to power, MKs have proposed as many as 29 new discriminatory bills that attack the rights of Palestinians in Israel and the OPT.” Even though for Anne “t he approaching danger [was] being pulled tighter and tighter,” and she felt “like a songbird whose wings have been ripped off and who keeps hurling itself against the bars of its dark cage,” we Palestinian young people share with her that confounding universal metamorphosis of the human teenager into a young adult overflowing with the same heartfelt reflections, confessions, emotional struggles, lamentations, loves, fears, hates, and hopes. Palestine’s wandering poet May 12, 2011Posted by rogerhollander in Art, Literature and Culture, Iraq and Afghanistan, Palestine, Political Commentary. Tags: gaza, israel, mahmoud darwish, Middle East, mike marqusee, national poet, Palestine, palestine poetry, palestine's poet, palestinian people, plo, Poetry, protest poet, west bank add a comment Mike Marqusee on Mahmoud Darwish, the poet of the Palestinian people On a bright winter morning we made a pilgrimage to the hill of Al Rabweh, on the outskirts of Ramallah, where the poet Mahmoud Darwish is buried. An ambitious memorial garden is planned, but at the moment it’s a construction site littered with diggers and cement mixers. The oversize tombstone is crated up in plywood. We were welcomed by cheerful building workers and joined by Palestinian families paying their respects and taking snaps. Sitting amid the pines overlooking the tomb (and a nearby waste ground populated by stray dogs), we spent an hour reading Darwish’s State of Siege, a sequence of poems he wrote in response to Israel’s 2002 assault on the city. Here he called on poetry to ‘lay siege to your siege’ but observed bitterly that: This land might just be cinched too tight for a population of humans and gods Darwish was six in 1948 when his family fled their village in western Galilee. When they returned a year later they found the village destroyed and their land occupied. Since they had missed the census they were denied Israeli citizenship and declared ‘present-absentees’, an ambiguous status that Darwish was to transform into a metaphor for Palestine and much more. He was 22 when he read his poem ‘Identity Card’, with its defiant refrain ‘Record: I am an Arab’, to a cheering crowd in a Nazareth movie house. Repudiating Golda Meir’s assertion that ‘there are no Palestinians’, his poems played a key role in the Palestinian movement that emerged after 1967, fashioning a modern Palestinian identity using traditional poetic forms in a renewed, accessible Arabic. Repeatedly arrested and imprisoned, Darwish left Israel in 1970 and remained in exile for more than a quarter of a century. His political journey led from the Israeli Communist Party to the PLO, which he joined in 1973 (penning Arafat’s famous ‘Don’t let the olive branch fall from my hand’ speech to the UN). He settled in Beirut, from which he was expelled along with the PLO following the Israeli invasion of 1982, the subject of his inventive and harrowing prose memoir, Memory for Forgetfulness. In the years that followed, Darwish wandered – Tunis, Cyprus, Damascus, Athens, Paris – broadening his poetic scope and deepening his insight. He was elected to the PLO executive committee in 1987 but resigned in 1993 in protest at the Oslo accords. ‘There was no clear link between the interim period and the final status, and no clear commitment to withdraw from the occupied territories,’ he explained. It’s said that when PLO leader Yasser Arafat complained to Darwish that the Palestinian people were ‘ungrateful’, the poet (remembering Brecht) snapped back, ‘Then find yourself another people.’ Oslo did allow Darwish to return to Palestine and in 1996 he settled in Ramallah, only to find himself under siege again six years later. In his last years he wrote more prolifically than ever, responding to the tragedies of Iraq, Lebanon and the violent conflict between Palestinian factions: Did we have to fall from a tremendous height so as to see our blood on our hands … to realise that we are no angels … as we thought? Did we also have to expose our flaws before the world so that our truth would no longer stay virgin? How much we lied when we said: we are the exception! When Darwish died in 2008, thousands joined the cortege and there were candle-lit vigils in towns across the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian Authority declared three days or mourning and issued a series of postage stamps in his honour. Being the Palestinian national poet was a heavy burden, one that Darwish bore from an early age, and though he chafed under it he never shirked the load. Instead, he succeeded in transforming the Palestinian experience into a universal one. The themes of loss, exile, the search for justice, the dream of a homeland, the conundrum of identity: all became, as his work evolved, human and existential explorations, without ceasing for a moment to be rooted deeply in the vicissitudes of Palestinian life. For decades he mourned Palestine’s losses, denounced its tormentors, celebrated its perseverance, and imagined its future. And we have a land without borders, like our idea of the unknown, narrow and wide … we shout in its labyrinth: and we still love you, our love is a hereditary illness. Though preserving Palestinian memory and identity was his life’s work, Darwish conceived of this as a creative act of self-renewal: ‘Identity is what we bequeath and not what we inherit. What we invent and not what we remember.’ Among his last verses was this admonition: We will become a people when the morality police protect a prostitute from being beaten up in the streets We will become a people when the Palestinian only remembers his flag on the football pitch, at camel races, and on the day of the Nakba Darwish was a ‘national poet’ who challenged as well as consoled and inspired his national audience. As he moved away from his earlier declamatory, public style towards a more personal idiom, elliptical and oblique, and at times (unpardonable sin for a ‘national’ poet) obscure, he met resistance. ‘The biggest achievement of my life is winning the audience’s trust,’ he reflected in 2002. ‘We fought before: whenever I changed my style, they were shocked and wanted to hear the old poems. Now they expect me to change; they demand that I give not answers but more questions.’ Even in translation, where we miss so much, Darwish’s voice rings clear. In his mature style there’s a seductive fluidity: he moves lightly from realm to realm, pronoun to pronoun (‘I’ to ‘we’, ‘I’ to ‘you’, ‘us’ to ‘them’), from the intimate to the epic, past to future, abstract to concrete. Metaphors topple over each other, abundant and inter-laced. This is poetry that fuses the political and the personal at the deepest level. Throughout, his evocation of loss and exile, of coming from ‘a country with no passport stamps’, is poignant, elegiac but open-ended, conjuring resolution from despair: ‘We travel like everyone else, but we return to nothing’; ‘There is yet another road in the road, another chance for migration’; ‘Where should we go after the last border? Where should birds fly after the last sky?’; ‘In my language there is seasickness. / In my language a mysterious departure from Tyre’. Guests on the sea. Our visit is short. And the earth is smaller than our visit … where are we to go when we leave? Where are we to go back to when we return? … What is left us that we may set off once again? Yet, convinced that ‘Out of the earthly/ the hidden heavenly commences’, Darwish affirmed the richness and beauty of life, especially life in its ordinariness: We have on this earth what makes life worth living: April’s hesitation, the aroma of bread at dawn, a woman’s point of view about men, the works of Aeschylus, the beginning of love, grass on a stone, mothers living on a flute’s sigh and the invaders’ fear of memories In one of his late poems, Darwish pays tribute to his friend Edward Said, putting this advice in Said’s mouth: Do not describe what the camera sees of your wounds Shout so that you hear yourself, shout so that you know that you are still alive, and you know life is possible on this earth. Mike Marqusee writes a regular column for Red Pepper, ‘Contending for the Living’, and is the author of a number of books on culture and politics

Whitney Houston's 20-year-old daughter secretly got married to the man her mother informally adopted when he was 12, according to Us Weekly. This should last. Bobbi Kristina Brown tweeted Thursday she and Nick Gordon are "happily married." The daughter of the late Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown posted a photo of the couple's wedding rings. "@nickgordon! #HappilyMarried," she captioned the photo. "SO #Inlove. If you didn't get it the first time that is." The picture shows Brown's hand resting on top of Gordon's hand, with their weddings bands on display. Brown and Gordon announced their engagement in October 2012 during their short-lived reality show "The Houstons: On Our Own." The two reportedly called it off a month later, after Houston's family made it clear they didn't approve of the relationship. Gordon lived with Houston and her family throughout his teen years. Brown announced in July 2013 they were engaged again. "Yes, me and Nick are engaged," she wrote on Facebook. "I'm tired of hearing people say, 'Eww you're engaged to your brother' or 'If Whitney was still alive, would we be together or would she approve of this? Let me clear up something, we aren't even real brother and sister, nor is he my adoptive brother. My mom never adopted him. In fact, mommy was the one who even said that she knew that we were going to start dating." This is weird. Bobbi Kristina also hinted on Twitter on Thursday she'll have other news soon. "BIGGGG things in store guys . . . I'm so excited!" she wrote. "We bouta change the world babbbbby! #bringEmOut! #Getready! xO!" Yes, they will most certainly change the world. No comments yet from Houston's family or from Bobbi Kristina's father, singer Bobby Brown.

January / December 1996 Hollywood Shuffles AIDS by Richard Natale "Hollywood often leads the way for America." This past fall marked the 10th anniversary of Rock Hudson’s death from AIDS and the true beginning of Hollywood’s AIDS activism. It is a milestone of sorts for the entertainment community and an appropriate moment to pause and measure what has been accomplished, as well as what still needs to be done. On the plus side is the tireless work performed by certain industry leaders: From the more visible like Elizabeth Taylor and Judith Light, to the no-less-dogged efforts of behind-the-scenes leaders such as Sidney Sheinberg, David Geffen, Steve Tisch and Barry Diller. The AIDS organizational infrastructure in Los Angeles, while not without its growing pains or down periods, now spans an impressive range of essential services. They range from the broader-based organizations such as AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) and the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center to the more specific Project Angel Food, Shanti, Hollywood Supports, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Aid for AIDS, to the even more narrowly targeted services like PAWS (pet care for PWAs) and Aunt Bee’s (laundry). Hollywood’s support has been crucial to the survival of these organizations, not only via the hundreds of star-studded fundraisers but literally as the conscience of many of these organizations. So much so that the rest of Los Angeles seems to be lagging seriously behind. Thanks, Hanks: “There’s been a refocusing in Hollywood.” “There’s been internal criticism that we don’t do enough to reach the downtown and business community, that we concentrate too much on the entertainment business,” says Diana Miller, executive director of APLA. “That’s bunk. The industry has been the hardest hit, and from day one, they’re the ones who’ve been writing the checks. I’m proud to say that 80 percent of our funding comes primarily from people in the entertainment industry.” All this energy and effort has been played against a background of devastating loss. A roll call of talent that has succumbed to the epidemic cuts a wide swath across the industry. The resulting grief has served both to galvanize and obstruct the continuing efforts to keep Hollywood focused on AIDS. “If Hollywood has made it safer, why do so many remain in the closet?” It has helped, because with each passing year, more and more people in the industry are personally affected by HIV. That’s one of the reasons that this year’s AIDS Walk in September was APLA’s most successful ever, raising $3.2 million, according to Forrest Gump Steve Tisch, former board chair for the organization. But it has also manifested itself in bouts of extreme burnout. “There’s only so much mourning you can do,” says Neil Tadken founder and coordinating director of Day of Compassion, the organization which encourages daytime TV shows to include AIDS in their storylines or segments one day in June each year. “Then you go away for a while, refocus and come back.” Another facet of the burnout has less to do with Hollywood than a general sense of pessimism because the prayed-for magic bullet for AIDS has not materialized. “It’s the American way of wanting something cleared up quickly,” says openly gay Fraiser actor Dan Butler. “It’s been 15 years since the epidemic began and people don’t want to be reminded it’s still there.” Disappointment over an elusive cure, however, has obscured significant inroads that have been made in HIV treatment, says Richard Jennings, executive director of Hollywood Supports, the entertainment industry’s activist conscience on AIDS and lesbian and gay issues. And part of the blame for that falls on the industry itself. As one of the nation’s two major media capitals, Hollywood has a responsibility to inform the public of the many fronts on which the battle against AIDS is being successfully waged—but too often does not. “There are treatments that are helping people live demonstrably longer,” says Jennings. “We have many more long-term survivors and non-progressors volunteering with us all the time. But the media just reports a discouraging blurb from the International AIDS Conference and think that’s indicative of the real state of things.” While all these reactions are understandable, says openly gay Dream Works principal David Geffen, they fly in the face of an epidemic that shows no signs of peaking. “I know some people are burned out,” says Geffen, who in August donated $4 million to Gay Men’s Health Crisis and God’s Love We Deliver (the largest-ever single gift for AIDS services). “But I don’t know that burnout is permissible. It’s precisely burnout that leads to things like unsafe sex. And therein lies a great tragedy.” According to Tisch, however, the burnout factor has abated somewhat. “[APLA] experienced a downward trend [in fundraising] over the past two years, which obviously made us nervous. There was a natural cycle of ‘we’ve had enough and we’re on to other issues,’ especially in the Hollywood community. But John Gile, executive director Project Angel Food, which delivers hot meals to Los Angeles PWAs and opened a new kitchen in October, 1994, says it has leveled off in 1995, in part because “the old guard has been joined by a younger group of volunteers, some openly HIV positive.” The mid-term elections and the conservative swing in the country have also helped Hollywood AIDS leaders remarshal their forces. “We’ve been renewed since the November elections,” says actor Judith Light, an indefatigable AIDS activist. “It stepped up people’s consciousness. Since then there’s been a refocusing in Hollywood. And Hollywood often leads the way for the rest of America. The conservative swing, however, has made the media more gun-shy about controversy, according to KNBC entertainment reporter Garrett Glaser, especially subjects like AIDS and safer sex. But overall, AIDS activism in Hollywood is no longer a fledgling movement, and—hand-in-hand with lesbian and gay activism—has moved on to a more mature phase. After Hollywood Supports co-founder Sidney Sheinberg added sexual orientation to the antidiscrimination policy and extended health benefits to the domestic partners of lesbian and gay employees at MCA/Universal, the studio he headed, the floodgates seemed to open. Many of the major studios, networks, unions and production companies followed suit. At present every major studio except MGM/United Artists and 20th Century Fox provides domestic partner benefits. And, Jennings adds, “MGM is on the verge.” Legal recognition has visibly improved the lives of gays and lesbians in the industry, especially those with HIV. Christopher Laabs, assistant director for script clearance at Sony Pictures, has known he’s HIV positive for 11 years and has found his work environment “highly supportive.” Since the studio extended benefits to gay and lesbian employees’ domestic partners, he says, two of the three gay employees who applied have HIV positive partners. “It hasn’t been a problem. Our human resources department has some of the best benefits in the industry,” he says. Steve Smith, former editorial director at KNX Newsradio, was out as an HIV positive gay man at work for several years before going on disability in late 1994. “I told people at work as early as 1988,” says Smith. Officially he received a great deal of support. In fact, when his initial claim for disability was denied, CBS (which owns KNX) intervened and the decision was overturned. The reaction of co-workers, however, “was all over the map,” he says. “Some were cool, some awkward and others uncomfortable.” He found it particularly interesting that journalists who report on the AIDS epidemic displayed the san discomfort as employees of any other industry. Being in an executive position afforded Smith the opportunity to be an educator over the past seven years. “At the margins, I think I made a difference both in the way AIDS is covered by KNX and how the company became involved on a corporate level.” And even when he went on disability, he continued to broaden his colleagues’ perspective by explaining that “just because I couldn’t work 9 to 5 anymore didn’t mean I was going to die soon. Instead, it was that I was taking care of myself and putting my health issues first. There was a great sense of closure when I left. I wasn’t slinking away into the night with a big, dark secret.” Unfortunately, on the more visible level, even though several working actors have come out as HIV positive in the past several years—Michael Kearns, Lee Mathis, Keith Christopher—none who are household names have done so. The legacy of actor Brad Davis’ sad, posthumous disclosure remains. And Davis’ fear of never being cast again—or of being typecast—if he revealed his HIV status has proven in some ways to have been well-founded. “Why do HIV positive actors have to play HIV positive characters?” asks KNBC reporter Glaser. “Is it just so the show can trot him out for the press as a way of meeting diversity guidelines?” Michael Kearns, one of the TV and film industry’s first actors to publicly announce his status, has played several such roles. But he says, “My days in a wheelchair on TV are over.” He thanks those who hired him to play those roles, even if they only did it because it was hip. But if Hollywood has truly made it safer for gays and lesbians to come out or reveal their HIV status, he asks, “why can we cite so many people who remain in the closet?” The answer seems obvious, but it goes to the heart of Hollywood’s more ingrained attitudes towards homosexuality and AIDS. Progress in the areas of civil rights and empathy have not erased persistent opinions about gays and the epidemic. “Strides toward the sure for AIDS are directly proportional to the degree of homophobia that exists,” says Kearns. One of his targets is agents and managers, who while wearing red ribbons in public, encourage their HIV positive, lesbian or gay actor clients to remain hidden. “Their actions belie what Hollywood is saying.” Butler concurs. “Being out and visible is interlinked to fighting AIDS.” Since he officially came out last year when his one-man show The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me… debuted in Los Angeles, he has continued to play a rabidly heterosexual character on Frasier. “The real difference has been in how I feel about myself,” he says. “I have more energy to put elsewhere. If that helps other people, I’m grateful.” And while Hollywood pats itself on the back for Philadelphia, the fact remains that, in 15 years, it has been the only major studio film about AIDS. Two more, Boys On the Side and The Cure, floundered at the box office. The fourth, It’s My Party, was independently financed but will be released early next year by MGM/United Artists. The drama, which stars Eric Roberts, Gregory Harrison, Margaret Cho and Olivia Newton-John among others, has taken director/writer Randal Kleiser (Grease, The Blue Lagoon, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure) three years to get made, despite its bare-bones $3 million budget (only $1 million more than the independently produced and released groundbreaker Longtime Companion). No studio would touch Party, even with a bevy of stars (all working for scale) attached and with a soundtrack donated by songwriters and performers. But, sighs Kleiser philosophically, “there haven’t been many movies about caner either. The premise [of Party] sounds like a downer and Hollywood is in business to entertain.” Screenwriter Ramsey Fadiman is currently waiting for the green light on the long-ingestation The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer’s 1985 AIDS play for which he’s written several drafts over the past two years. To date, two other projects with AIDS themes on which he’s worked have never reached the screen, he says. “Unfortunately, this has less to do with “the quality of the script than with the elements: Who’s producing, who’s starring, etc. All I can say is that Barbra [Streisand] has committed to getting this film made, and I believe she will do that.” But first Streisand will film The Mirror Has Two Faces, which went into production this fall. The earliest start date on normal is mid-1996. At Hollywood Supports, Rochard Jennings is sent most of the AIDS scripts in development and says there’s been no significant increase in their number, though there has been a more dramatic rise in the number of projects which deal with gay issues. “They’ve gone from zero to 60 in the past couple of years.” Adam Shulman, literary agent for Agency for the Performing Arts, says, “there’s a real gay chic happening. Studios and financing entities are interested in gay projects—but outside the AIDS arena. In terms of HIV-related projects, even with independents it’s a hard to sell. Executives and financiers don’t believe people will buy tickets to an AIDS movie. It’s said that that’s true because there are some great stories concerning HIV that should be told.” Even within the narrower scope of gay independent cinema, at this year’s Outfest in Los Angeles most films did not deal with the issue of AIDS. “People are tired of dealing with the issue of AIDS. “People on Screen’s executive director Morgan Rumpf, “and the films reflect that.” Or perhaps, he suggests, filmmakers may be in transition, moving into another phase. “Maybe we’re on the cusp of new kinds of films that deal with AIDS, not as an issue but as a continuing part of our lives.” Changes in Hollywood’s attitudes toward gays and lesbians in general, and HIV in particular, are likely to continue to require patience and perseverance. Events such as June’s Day of Compassion and World AIDS’s Day provide the industry with platforms around which to build original programming and public service announcements to focus on HIV. Neil Tadken, who founded the Day of Compassion, made a quantum leap this year with the backing of Hollywood Supports. In its first two years, Day of Compassion was limited largely to daytime soaps and talk shows. This year ore than 45 cable networks participated, says Molly Padian, executive director of Cable Positive, that industry’s commitment has broadened, which led to Padian being brought on this year in a full-time position to better “match the cable industry’s resources to groups that need their help.” A crying need for more effective education is perhaps the most repeated demand made of the entertainment industry by members of LA’s AIDS activist community. With AIDS spreading rapidly among African-Americans, Latinos, teens and women, as well as with the younger gay population, there is a sense of discouragement about how effective the HIV prevention messages have been so far. Through his volunteer work, Sony’s Christopher Laabs has found that the hardest areas in the entertainment industry to crack have been the rank and file—particularly film and TV crews. For instance, as a facilitator Laabs has encountered problems with wardrobe personnel who are afraid of being infected through safety pins or straight pins. “They don’t know that HIV doesn’t work that way. Non-hollow needles can’t spread the virus.” One solution would be for industry leaders to take an hour out of the production day to reach these neglected pockets—with mandatory attendance. “It would be more cost-effective in the long run,” Laab says, “Because it’s precisely the people who resist these meetings the most who wind up asking the most questions.” Some have even come out as HIV positive in the seminars, but Laabs estimates that there are still six times as many people in the industry who are infected than will admit to it—or may even be aware. Far too many new AIDS cases are still detected only after the onset of a major opportunistic infection, he says. Beyond that, Hollywood Supports’ Jennings would like to see the institution of friends and family seminars in the industry to spread the worth farther into the general L.A. population. After a brief flurry of condom ads on TV last year, they’re suddenly vanished Jennings says this reflects the conservative swing after the November election. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which had cajoled the networks into carrying spots, has recently backed off. An alternative means of getting condom ads back on the air would be through consumer activism, Jennings suggests, by approaching the condom companies and urging them to advertise. “Condom companies could be putting more ad dollars into TV advertising. Fox Broadcasting, for instance, is supposedly open to showing them. I think they would see results, both in awareness and in sales.” The more immediate battle is in the everpresent need to raise funds for AIDS organizations. If a cure for AIDS were found today, says APLA’s Miller, his organization would still need to keep its doors open another 20 years, serving the needs of people who are already infected. Today APLA is a $22 million corporation serving 5,300 men and women—adding 7 new clients each day—the largest AIDS organization west of Mississippi. “It’s not cool being No.1,” says Miller. “We’re always thinking of new ways to make more money because if we make the same as last year we have to cut out client load. That’s part of the growing pains of a corporation and an epidemic.” Their attempts at streamlining services by not duplicating those available elsewhere (food delivery, legal assistance, etc.) only goes so far toward saving money. The problems of constantly returning to the same well of supporters has been complicated by the fact that other causes—breast cancer, for instance—have adopted the rhetoric and style of AIDS fundraising. Another problem is that the larger AIDS organizations are more organized, but the smaller, yet equally important, group operate on a narrower margin. “It’s harder to give more to AIDS charities,” admits literary agent Shulman. “Some people aren’t even aware of worthwhile organizations such as Shanti, Aid for AIDS and Project Angel Food.” That reality doesn’t cow David Geffen. “The fact that we have to go back to the same people and they’re tired of hearing from us, whether it be for AIDS or for Democratic candidates, well, it’s just too bad.” For all the encouraging news about renewed vigor in the AIDS fundraising community, however, there is little ease or comfort about the year ahead. In particular, the current political climate is not propitious, and Steve Tisch doesn’t expect it to get better. “The Republicans have made AIDS an issue, not because they’re interested in doing anything about it, but because it scores votes,” Tisch says. “It’s likely to be a big issue in the 1996 campaign—as a negative, not as a positive.” Scroll down to comment on this story. Show comments (0 total)

ABC ANNOUNCES MAY SWEEPS PROGRAMMING, INCLUDING THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED SERIES FINALE OF "LOST" AND THE SEASON PREMIERE OF "THE BACHELORETTE" The ABC Television Network announces highlights of its upcoming May sweeps programming, with finales of some of television's biggest hits, including the groundbreaking series finale of "Lost" and the season premiere of "The Bachelorette." Editors please note: What follows is a chronological listing of programming highlights (all times Eastern); this is not a complete list of all programs airing during the May sweep. FLASHFORWARD -- "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" - Janis continues to thwart her fellow FBI agents as an inside mole to a mysterious employer; Olivia is given some disturbing news by Gabriel (James Callis, Gaius Baltar on "Battlestar Galactica"), who has been subjected to numerous flashforwards; and Aaron's life is in danger in Afghanistan when he tries to blend in with the locals as he continues his search for his daughter, on "FlashForward," THURSDAY, APRIL 29 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). GREY'S ANATOMY -- "Hook, Line and Sinner" - Sloan returns to Mark's apartment, just as she's going into labor, and Teddy, Mark and the still-fighting Callie and Arizona are there to help with the birth and to get Mark through his grandson's pending adoption. Meanwhile Teddy sees Derek's invitation to illustrious cardiothoracic surgeon Tom Evans' as a threat to her future employment at the hospital, and the team work on a crab boat captain who has been stabbed with a giant shark hook, on "Grey's Anatomy," THURSDAY, APRIL 29 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET). PRIVATE PRACTICE -- "War" - After Violet files for joint custody of Lucas, an embittered Pete voraciously fights back by hiring a tough attorney for the trial, forcing their fellow friends and co-workers to choose sides and have their personal lives dragged onto the stand and into the public eye, on "Private Practice," THURSDAY, APRIL 29 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET). Guest stars include Caterina Scorsone as Amelia Shepherd and Frances Fisher as Ruby Broome. WIFE SWAP -- "Schroeder/Wardle" - An artistic Goth family that encourages the kids to talk to the dead swaps with a family of hockey fanatics that doesn't hesitate to call kids losers when they play badly, on "Wife Swap," FRIDAY, APRIL 30 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). Each week two very contradictory families from across the country participate in a two-week-long challenge: The wives exchange husbands, children and lives (but not bedrooms) to discover daily life in another woman's shoes. This astonishing experiment repeatedly changes lives and redefines families. WIFE SWAP -- "Adams/Hess" - A reptile and animal-obsessed family with no rules or fashion sense swap with a strict family who can't stand animals and say that "fashion is more important than air," on "Wife Swap," FRIDAY, APRIL 30 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET). Each week two very contradictory families from across the country participate in a two-week-long challenge: The wives exchange husbands, children and lives (but not bedrooms) to discover daily life in another woman's shoes. This astonishing experiment repeatedly changes lives and redefines families. AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS - "Episode 2022" -- This season's three $100,000 prize winners compete for the Grand Prize, on "America's Funniest Home Videos," SUNDAY, MAY 2 (7:00-8:00 p.m., ET). The final three videos: "Laser Chasers," a Great Dane and a toddler are equally obsessed with a laser pointer; "Boogie Baby," a baby rocks out with a musical doll; and "The Great Escape," Junior the Chihuahua leads an escape from the utility room. The episode features footage shot at the Walt Disney World� Resort in Florida, at Epcot� and the Magic Kingdom� Park. Tom Bergeron is host. EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION -- "Carr family" - "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" travels to rural Mineola, TX, to meet Katrina and Mike Carr and their four adopted children (who are from Kazakhstan and were abandoned at birth), an inspiring family who strive every day to overcome severe physical challenges while living in a cramped and dangerous home. This is a Texas-sized opportunity to give back to a family who have become models of spirit and resilience. Comedian, actor, producer and author Bill Engvall is the "Get on the Bus" volunteer, while Bethany Hamilton, a surfer famous for losing her arm in a shark attack, spends time with the Carrs on their vacation, on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," SUNDAY, MAY 2 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES -- "A Little Night Music" - Angie comes face to face with her ex, Patrick Logan (John Barrowman), after years on the run, SUNDAY, MAY 2 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET) on "Desperate Housewives." Meanwhile, Gaby and Susan plan an elaborate scheme against their husbands, Lynette sees a darker side of Eddie, and Bree meets a woman who knows Sam all too well. BROTHERS & SISTERS - "Love All" - The Walkers seem to all be going through an adjustment period: Cooper acts out against Sarah as Luc becomes a member of the family, Justin has trouble finding the same passion for medicine he had while serving in Iraq, and Kevin struggles with his newfound unemployed status, on "Brothers & Sisters," SUNDAY, MAY 2 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET). ROMANTICALLY CHALLENGED -- "Perry and Rebecca's High School Reunion" - When it's time for Rebecca and Perry to go back to their high school reunion, Rebecca is ready to confront Jesse, the guy who publicly humiliated her by standing her up at the senior prom. But Perry knows the real reason why she was stood up and tells a preposterous lie to keep Rebecca from discovering the truth. Meanwhile, avid hockey fan Shawn is devastated when he finds out that the local cable company won't be carrying the championship games. When he learns further that Lisa's friend, Vanessa, has the games on her cable station, he has to hide his real motive for romancing Vanessa from both women, on "Romantically Challenged," MONDAY, MAY 3 (9:32-10:00 p.m., ET). CASTLE -- "Food to Die For" -- A high profile chef is found frozen in the kitchen of a hot New York restaurant. Complications ensue when Castle and the restaurant owner, an old high school girlfriend of Beckett's, share an attraction. Meanwhile, Beckett's relationship with Detective Demming (Michael Trucco) continues to grow, on "Castle," MONDAY, MAY 3 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET). Rocco Dispirito, a fan of the dead chef and a fan of Castle's books, guest stars in the episode. LOST -- "The Candidate " -- Jack must decide whether or not to trust Locke after he is asked to follow through on a difficult task, on "Lost," TUESDAY, MAY 4 (9:00-10:02 p.m., ET) V - "Hearts and Minds" -- Erica, Ryan, Father Jack and Hobbes learn that Anna has sent a V shuttle with a deadly V tracker team to find them, and must figure out how to stop the shuttle from landing. Meanwhile, Anna gives Tyler his invitation to the Live Aboard Program, and Chad confronts Father Jack on what he knows about The Fifth Column, on "V," TUESDAY, MAY 4 (10:02-11:00 p.m., ET). THE MIDDLE -- "Mother's Day" - Mother's Day for Frankie is anything but serene when she finds herself doing more for Mike and the kids and less for herself. But she learns that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when she escapes the family for a few hours to go to her mom's (Marsha Mason, "The Goodbye Girl," "Chapter Two") and ends up acting like a child by making her mom wait on her hand and foot. Meanwhile, Sue feels guilty when she shoplifts a motivational magnet whose message actually enticed her to steal it, on "The Middle," WEDNESDAY, MAY 5 (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET). Marsha Mason guest stars as Frankie's mom, Pat. MODERN FAMILY -- "Airport 2010" - For Jay's birthday, Gloria gives him the best surprise, a romantic birthday getaway to Hawaii. The only kicker is that she invited the entire family along. Everyone arrives at the airport, and it's a maddening scene with forgotten I.D.'s, security breaches and flying phobias, on "Modern Family," WEDNESDAY, MAY 5 (9:00-9:30 p.m., ET). COUGAR TOWN -- "Feel a Whole Lot Better" - Jules and Grayson consider the notion of FWB, friends with benefits. Meanwhile Andy hires a nanny for Ellie, and Travis benefits from Bobby's unconventional plans to make some extra cash, on "Cougar Town," WEDNESDAY, MAY 5 (9:30-10:01 p.m., ET). HAPPY TOWN - "I Came to Haplin for the Waters" - Shaken by a grisly murder at the local pond and his father's bizarre, self-inflicted injury, Deputy Tommy Conroy reluctantly accepts the title of Sherriff bestowed on him by town matriarch Peggy Haplin. However Tommy's shocking discovery of Jerry Friddle's murderer forces him to keep yet another of the town's secrets with mixed emotions. Meanwhile, Henley appears to know a lot more about Haplin's dark side than she's letting on - drawing Merritt Grieves closer - but she's determined to get access to the forbidden third-floor room of the mysterious boarding house, no matter what it takes, on "Happy Town," WEDNESDAY, MAY 5 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET). FLASHFORWARD -- "Course Correction" - Demetri and Agent Banks (Alex Kingston) attempt to track down a killer as questions arise about the universe course-correcting itself, when people who thought they'd escaped their fates are found dead; Mark reluctantly agrees to help Simon find his sister, Annabelle, but discovers he's withholding the truth about her true circumstances; the FBI discovers the identity of Suspect Zero; and Nicole learns the whereabouts of Keiko - the woman in Bryce's flashforward - but struggles with whether to share this information, due to her growing feelings for him, on "FlashForward," THURSDAY, MAY 6 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). James Callis guest stars as Gabriel. GREY'S ANATOMY -- "How Insensitive" - Bailey preps the team with a mandatory sensitivity training prior to admitting a 700-pound patient with compounded medical issues, and the case proves to be challenging in every sense. Meanwhile Derek has to come face to face with a former patient's husband in a wrongful death deposition, and spending time with a heart patient's daughter opens up some old wounds for Cristina, on "Grey's Anatomy," THURSDAY, MAY 6 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET). PRIVATE PRACTICE -- "In the Name of Love" - Naomi puts Fife in a conflicted position when she begs him to help William's advanced ALS with his still experimental treatment. Meanwhile Violet and Amelia (Guest star Caterina Scorsone) treat a woman with a brain tumor who has to choose between life or quality of life, and Sheldon decides to officially throw his hat into the ring for Charlotte's affections, on "Private Practice," THURSDAY, MAY 6 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET). WIFE SWAP -- "Beauvais/Clayton" - A successful family of inventors and entrepreneurs living their dreams swap with a family who, despite becoming unemployed, maintain a cheerful outlook while struggling to live in a trailer park on a low income, on "Wife Swap," FRIDAY, MAY 7 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). Each week two very contradictory families from across the country participate in a two-week-long challenge: The wives exchange husbands, children and lives (but not bedrooms) to discover daily life in another woman's shoes. This astonishing experiment repeatedly changes lives and redefines families. AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS - "Episode 2023" -- Part One of a two-part series -- "America's Funniest Home Videos" counts down to "the 20 videos that changed the world" - features the funniest and most unique videos the show has received in its two decades on television, on "America's Funniest Home Videos," SUNDAY, MAY 9 (7:00-8:00 p.m., ET). The top video, to be named in the season finale, will win the entrant a cruise for four anywhere in the world that Disney Cruise Line sets sail (with choices including the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Mexican Riviera and Alaska), between June 2010 through September 2011. Tom Bergeron is host. The episode includes footage shot aboard the Disney Magic on an Eastern Caribbean cruise. EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION -- "Starkweather family" - In this special story for Mother's Day, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" travels to Tulsa, OK, to meet Toen and Amy Starkweather, whose nine-year-old son, Ethan, suffers from a rare disorder called Prader-Willi syndrome. This incurable disease causes low muscle tone, labored speech, troubled breathing and a malfunctioning hypothalamus, which results in extreme and constant hunger. Because Ethan requires 24-hour care, the mounting list of necessary home repairs has been left on the back burner. The Starkweathers' small home is very old, riddled with foundation, electrical and plumbing problems, and is barely accessible for Ethan. Also in the episode, the Make-a-Wish foundation will have a special guest on hand -- aspiring interior designer Callie London, 11, of Farmington, UT, who suffers from cystic fibrosis. Callie's wish to do a makeover on a kid's room will come to life as she works with Paul DiMeo in designing Ethan's new bedroom. Lilith Tour 2010 artists Sheryl Crow and Miranda Lambert are the "Get on the Bus" volunteers working and singing, while Sarah McLachlan also delivers a special message to the family, on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," SUNDAY, MAY 9 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES -- "The Ballad of Booth" - Lynette comes to a shocking realization about Eddie, on "Desperate Housewives," SUNDAY, MAY 9 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET). Meanwhile, Angie discreetly relies on Gaby for help when Patrick threatens the life of her son, Bree offers Sam a generous payoff to walk away, and Susan and Mike's financial woes result in the ultimate sacrifice. BROTHERS & SISTERS -- "Lights Out" - The Walkers are heartbroken as they prepare to shut the doors of Ojai Foods for good, but new opportunities and secret alliances develop as a result of the family's loss, on "Brothers & Sisters," SUNDAY, MAY 9 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET). CASTLE -- "Overkill" -- A robbery-homicide prompts Beckett to invite Demming to assist on a case, giving Castle a ringside seat to their budding romance. When it becomes clear that the two men have very different ideas about how to proceed, the investigation becomes an unspoken competition for Beckett's attention. With each of them racing to be the first to solve the case, Beckett must referee between her two admirers, on "Castle," MONDAY, MAY 10 (10:02-11:00 p.m., ET). LOST -- "Across the Sea" -- TUESDAY, MAY 11 (9:00-10:02 p.m., ET). Copy TBD. V -- "Fruition" - After a violent attack on someone very close to Anna, she delivers a message that the Vs don't feel safe and will be leaving; and Anna also gives a list of possible Fifth Column members to Chad, hoping he'll investigate to help in finding them. Meanwhile, Erica and the team try to track down a scientist who may have created a weapon that the Visitors are afraid of, on "V," TUESDAY, MAY 11 (10:02-11:00 p.m., ET). THE MIDDLE -- "Signals" - The Heck family BBQ is being planned as spring rolls around, and Mike decides it's time for him and Brick to try to be more social at the event, since Frankie has pointed out that Mike's own social ineptness has been passed on to Brick. Meanwhile, Axl sets out to clean the family pool to entice the girls to stop by for a swim -- in their bikinis -- and Sue finally finds someone who totally understands her, church youth group leader Reverend TimTom. But when she learns he may be leaving the parish due to budget cuts, she tries to raise money to help finance his stay, on "The Middle," WEDNESDAY, MAY 12 (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET). MODERN FAMILY -- "Hawaii" - Jay could not be happier to do nothing but relax in this tropical paradise, but an unexpected reality check dampens his plans. Meanwhile, Phil is determined to make this trip romantic for Claire, Mitchell and Cameron have opposing views on whether to sightsee or not to sightsee, and the kids get into a little bit of mischief when left to their own devices, on "Modern Family," WEDNESDAY, MAY 12 (9:00-9:30 p.m., ET). COUGAR TOWN -- "Breakdown" - Jules encourages Travis to submit a graduation speech, on "Cougar Town," WEDNESDAY, MAY 12 (9:30-10:01 p.m., ET). Despite Grayson's warning, a curious Jules reads the speech without permission and is crushed when she finds she has not been acknowledged. Meanwhile, Ellie uncharacteristically does something nice for Laurie, and Bobby tries to restrain himself from embarrassing Travis on his big day. HAPPY TOWN -- "Polly Wants a Crack at Her" - An ominous fearsome hawk soars over Haplin�s unsuspecting residents as the Thaw Fest celebration is about to start. Tommy must walk a precarious line when it comes to Friddle's murder, as a state investigator moves in to assist him. Andrew Haplin, still upset over girlfriend Georgia's assault, exacts revenge on the person he believes to be the perpetrator -- and pays for the consequences. Meanwhile, when Henley is a victim of a bizarre car accident, a handsome stranger not only comes to her rescue but lures her into a surprising, sensual relationship. And when Thaw Fest finally arrives, it comes with chilling and tragic consequences, on "Happy Town," WEDNESDAY, MAY 12 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET). FLASHFORWARD -- "The Negotiation" - It's April 28 - the day before the prophesized flashforward date - and as the world waits to see if their future visions will come true, Mark must do everything in his power to protect Gabriel (James Callis, "Battlestar Galactica"), who is the bridge between Dyson Frost and the Global Blackout; Aaron locates his daughter's captors and puts his life on the line in order to rescue her; Janis is tasked with killing a fellow agent; and Simon comes face to face with the head of the nefarious organization that may be responsible for the blackout, on "FlashForward," THURSDAY, MAY 13 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). Guest stars include Gabrielle Union as Zoey and Annabeth Gish as Lita. GREY'S ANATOMY -- "Shiny Happy People" - An elderly patient admitted into the E.R. for a heart condition sees a familiar face, a long lost love who happens to be in the E.R. as well for a fractured arm, and the staff find themselves caught up in their love story. Meanwhile, Karev treats a troubled teenage patient (guest star Demi Lovato) whose parents brought her in for schizophrenia, and Meredith can't help but tell Cristina about her suspicions of Owen -- which inevitably messes with Cristina's head -- on "Grey's Anatomy," THURSDAY, MAY 13 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET). Marion Ross guest stars as Betty. PRIVATE PRACTICE -- "The End of a Beautiful Friendship" - Maya and her unborn baby are fighting for their lives on the operating table, and Addison, Amelia (Guest star Caterina Scorsone) and Fife try everything humanly possible to save them. Meanwhile, Sam operates on an incoming crash victim and later makes a grim discovery, Cooper makes an ill-timed but valiant effort with Charlotte, and the staff's world is rocked by an unexpected death, on the SEASON FINALE of "Private Practice," THURSDAY, MAY 13 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET). WIFE SWAP -- "Haller-Wren/Spencer" - A macho family of football players who expect their trophy wife mom to serve their every need swap lives with a happy hippie family whose feminist mom believes in breaking accepted gender roles, on "Wife Swap," FRIDAY, MAY 14 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). Each week two very contradictory families from across the country participate in a two-week-long challenge: The wives exchange husbands, children and lives (but not bedrooms) to discover daily life in another woman's shoes. This astonishing experiment repeatedly changes lives and redefines families. AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS - "Episode 2024" -- In part two of a two-part series -- the top videos "that changed the world!" - the funniest, the strangest, most unusual video the show has received in its two decades on television is revealed, on the SEASON FINALE of "America's Funniest Home Videos," SUNDAY, MAY 16 (7:00-8:00 p.m., ET). The top video will win the entrant a cruise for four anywhere in the world that Disney Cruise Line sets sail (with choices including the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Mexican Riviera and Alaska), between June 2010 through September 2011. Tom Bergeron is the host. The season finale includes footage shot aboard the Disney Magic on an Eastern Caribbean cruise. EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION -- "Williams family" - In the SEASON FINALE, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" travels to Pine Mountain Valley, GA, to meet Jeremy and Jennifer Williams, whose son, Jacob, was diagnosed with Spina Bifida before he was born. Then, several years after Jacob's birth, Jeremy was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. The home Jeremy and Jennifer bought 13 years ago is falling apart around them; in addition to mounting repairs, the home is too small to accommodate two disabled family members. NFL Super Star Michael Oher and the Tuohy Family ("The Blind Side") are the "Get on the Bus" volunteers, while ESPN football analysts Herm Edwards, Mark Schlereth, Mark May and Desmond Howard are special guests, plus Demi Lovato (sings) and Wilmer Valderrama (with "Handy Manny") also make appearances, SUNDAY, MAY 16 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES -- "I Guess This is Goodbye" - As a season of mysteries are resolved, new ones emerge on the explosive SEASON FINALE of "Desperate Housewives," SUNDAY, MAY 16 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET). Gaby risks her safety to help Angie, the fates of Lynette and her unborn child lie in Eddie's hands, Susan comes to grips with her financial woes, Bree considers confessing a secret she's harbored for years, and Angie must submit to Patrick's demands in order to protect her son. BROTHERS & SISTERS -- "On the Road Again" - As the Walkers try to cope with the sadness and financial ruin that lingers as a result of the closure of Ojai Foods, they discover a small ray of hope in one of William Walker's many secret investments. Meanwhile, Robert's health and the safety of his family are compromised when he finds himself in way over his head in a subversive business deal, and newlyweds Justin and Rebecca consider a trial separation, on the SEASON FINALE of "Brothers & Sisters," SUNDAY, MAY 16 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET). CASTLE - "A Deadly Game" - In the SEASON FINALE, nothing is as it seems when Castle and Beckett investigate what appears to be the assassination of an intelligence operative. Meanwhile, Beckett's romance with Demming threatens her relationship with Castle, forcing them to confront their feelings for each other, on "Castle," MONDAY, MAY 17 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET). Guest stars include Stephen J. Cannell, Michael Connelly and James Patterson as themselves. LOST -- "What They Died For" -- TUESDAY, MAY 18 (9:00-10:02 p.m., ET). Copy TBD. V -- In the SEASON FINALE, "Red Sky," the episode opens with the V soldier still on the hunt for Val, whose water breaks and whose baby (with Ryan) will soon be born. Meanwhile Erica, tired of being on the defensive, decides to go on the offensive: She gets herself and Tyler invited up to the Mothership for a get-to-know-everyone-better dinner, but she has more than food on her mind; she's really there to find Anna's soldiers and destroy them. And Chad, after Father Jack asks him to help get a message on the ship to Joshua, discovers the awful truth that Anna's been using him, on "V," TUESDAY, MAY 18 (10:02-11:00 p.m., ET). THE MIDDLE -- "Average Rules" - After attending year-end school parent-teacher conferences, Frankie and Mike are shocked to discover that Brick may be held back from going to the third grade because the school librarian, Mrs. Nethercott (Guest star Betty White), has it out for him due to his 31 unreturned books. Meanwhile, as Axl's aptitude test results reveal that he's academically gifted, Frankie makes it her mission to get an overlooked Sue the recognition she deserves when her teachers don't even realize she's in their classes, on the SEASON FINALE of "The Middle," WEDNESDAY, MAY 19 (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET). MODERN FAMILY -- "Family Portrait" - Claire painstakingly plans for a new family portrait to be taken, but it seems everything and everyone is working against her. Meanwhile Gloria and Manny go with Phil and Alex to a Lakers game and end up having a very awkward moment on the jumbotron, Luke interviews Jay for a school project, and Cameron gets a wedding singer gig while Mitchell is home alone with Lily and a wayward pigeon, on the SEASON FINALE of "Modern Family," WEDNESDAY, MAY 19 (9:00-9:30 p.m., ET). Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant Makes a Cameo Appearance. COUGAR TOWN -- "Finding Out" - Jules and Grayson hatch an elaborate plan to break the news to Bobby they're dating, and Travis sees the wrath of a truly angry woman for the first time when he forgets his momentous seven-month anniversary with Kylie, on the SEASON FINALE of "Cougar Town," WEDNESDAY, MAY 19 (9:30-10:01 p.m., ET). HAPPY TOWN -- "Slight of Hand" - When Rachel Conroy mysteriously vanishes, an eerie cloud settles over Haplin, as clues point to the return of the elusive Magic Man. Surprisingly, Tommy finds an unlikely ally while desperately searching for his wife. Meanwhile, Handsome Dan announces he has to leave Haplin, then unexpectedly turns up elsewhere. Henley manages to get her stolen property back from Greggy Stiviletto and uses it to blackmail a member of Haplin's powerful "first" family. Finally, Tommy investigates some gruesome evidence that ironically could mean good news for many of Haplin's families, on "Happy Town," WEDNESDAY, MAY 19 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET). FLASHFORWARD - "Countdown" -- TUESDAY, MAY 25 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). Copy TBD. GREY'S ANATOMY -- "Sanctuary" - In the first hour (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) of a two-hour SEASON FINALE, Seattle Grace Hospital is hit with a crisis like no other in its history, on "Grey's Anatomy," THURSDAY, MAY 20. In the second hour (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET), "Death and All His Friends," Cristina and Meredith's surgical skills are put to the ultimate test. Mandy Moore ("A Walk to Remember") guest stars. WIFE SWAP -- "Herrington/Trevino" - A clean-cut family who perform a wholesome variety show swap with a rules-free family of low-riders who let their girls wear and say anything they want, on "Wife Swap," FRIDAY, MAY 21 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET). Each week two very contradictory families from across the country participate in a two-week-long challenge: The wives exchange husbands, children and lives (but not bedrooms) to discover daily life in another woman's shoes. This astonishing experiment repeatedly changes lives and redefines families. LOST RECAP SPECIAL -- ABC offers new and avid "Lost" viewers a final glance at one of television's most talked about and critically acclaimed shows. The "Lost" Series Finale Event begins with a two-hour special that takes a look back over the past six seasons of this groundbreaking series. "Lost Recap Special" airs SUNDAY, MAY 23 (7:00-9:00 p.m., ET). LOST - "The End" -- SERIES FINALE, SUNDAY, MAY 23 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET). Copy TBD. "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE" -- Throughout sweeps, Jimmy Kimmel hosts an all-star lineup of guests including, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Ryan Phillippe, Michael Douglas, Josh Holloway, Jake Gyllenhaal, Teri Hatcher and Courtney Love, and will also have the first interview with the winner of "Dancing with the Stars." In addition, after the final episode of "LOST," longtime fan Jimmy will host an hour-long analysis of and farewell to one of television's most beloved series, with appearances from executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, alternate endings, and live interviews with cast members, SUNDAY, MAY 23 (11:35 p.m. - 12:35 a.m.). The month of May also brings musical performances from Hole, Stone Temple Pilots, Tim McGraw Godsmack, Angels and Airwaves, Dirty Heads, Slayer, Damian Marley with Nas and Massive Attack, who are making their only U.S. TV appearance. "Jimmy Kimmel Live" airs MONDAY-FRIDAY (12:05 a.m. - 1:05 a.m., ET). THE BACHELORETTE - Ali Fedotowsky has finally decided to risk it all for love. The energetic and charismatic career-oriented woman from San Francisco has re-prioritized her life - and now love comes out on top. She will have her own opportunity to find her soul mate when the sixth edition of "The Bachelorette" PREMIERES MONDAY, MAY 24 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET), and moves to its regular time slot (8:00-10:02 p.m., ET) on Monday, May 31 Ali, 25, has been a fan favorite from the moment she stepped out of the limo with her sexy raspy voice and a peacock feather to meet Jake Pavelka on the last season of "The Bachelor." She became the front-runner for Jake's heart, but instead they found themselves in a heartbreaking situation when she made a gut-wrenching decision to choose a job she loved over the man she loved. Ali made the surprising safe choice to go back to work, but regretted it immediately. By the time she sorted out her work affairs, Jake had already moved on with his search for love with the three fabulous women who stayed with him, and he did not allow Ali to return. But it's not too late for Ali now. Admitting that she made one of the biggest mistakes of her life, she has let go of everything this time - her apartment, her job, her stability - to really make a life-changing commitment to put her heart first. DANCING WITH THE STARS - 1010A" -- SEASON FINALE airs on TUESDAY, MAY 25 (9:00- 11:00 p.m., ET).

Newspaper Page Text ROCK ISLAND ARGUS. S1I SIXTY-SECOND YEAIL NO. 104. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1913. TEN PAGES. PRICE TWO CENTS. REBELS FORCE 1 Army Weakening, He Con sents to a President NUMBER OF MEN KILLED Troops Becoming Demoralized, One Detachment Quitting Capital Under Fire. Mexico City, Feb. 18. While desul tory firing of cannon still wm In prog, resa t noon, the belief wai gaining ground that a settlement of some kind would be reached before nightfall. Washington, Feb. 18. Many feder als were killed in heavy fighting In the vicinity of the American embassy In Mexico City. Many bullets entered the embassy, but caused only slight i Washington, Feb. 18. Diaz and the rebels may soon be in full control of the residential section of Mexico City, according to a despatch from Ambas Mexico City, Feb. 18. President Madero agreed today in principle to the appointment of a president ad In terim. The announcement that Madero liad agreed to the appointment of a provisional president was made on the authority of Mexican Foreign Minister I.asouraln. The news of Madoro's de piston became known early In the fore neon. At that hour the position of 'he government was weakening; and the federal troops apparently were be Tli" situation of the federals became bo rriticu". that one strong detachment f troop retired from the capital be-I ford no.-in una was marching In tne d'rertlnn of Cuernavaca, 40 m'.les Klrlnc went on practically the wliole f.Uht from both federal pi;-! rebel positions. In the total iliirk'i'-KH it w& Impossible to uncertain whether any advantage was Rained by either side. At 5:15 the artillery duel ceased. No reason for lb,' cessation of hostilities la known. to ram dyamitb shells. It was thought the break la the bat il meant merely a change of tactics. The federal ommander s'ated authori tatively that no truce had been ar ranged. Th government. It la said, Intends to throw dynamite shells. The federals today obtained posses sion of the T. M. C. A. building, held by rebels since the cond day of flirlit'nir. A rebel battery ha been . ed In position within one block of t . rnlt-d States embassy. :), S:li fipbting was not renew lOUi day of the civil war found virtually no change In the po sitions of the antagonists, hut it Is un derstood tb federals have received re inforcements. GrW Tl'RJfED OJI POI.1CB. At 10 o'olock the big guns of the rebels at the arsenal were brought Into play on tho national palace with fierce fire. Federal troops are con- cantraMa in mo ?iuuii ui ace. The palace u threatened by bodie of rebel, who mad a sortie. Silas Gtlmore, an elderly American, manager of an Important mechanical works here, rwolved three bullets In the right forearm while walking along Collr.a KreeC He ran Into the middle of a skirmish. taft rsusacDir. sat kadbro. Mexico CUT. Feb. 18. President Madero yesterday received the roply o President Taft to his telegram pro testing against posN Intervention. In which PeMnt Taft asuurwd Mm that the reports of the Intention of the United State to land troops were "1 dw expected any lees than this." bommected Madero on Tart's mesaa. "I regard tt aa satisfactory The flgntln continued throughout the day, but tha federal guns were quite aa lnoffeotlvo aa over In dis lodging the rebels from their en trenched ana fortified positions. Fur thermore, tho federals did not sh&w the earn aggressiveness which char acterize their action in tha early days of the battle. Thla la believed to be due to the fact that they real Ire that for the preeent the govern ment force ara not of sufficient strength to defeat the rebels. BOMBS AT SHORT B.AMGE. General Huerta announced. ever, that he expected soon to begin rn encircling movement in which bombs would be used at short range, General Blanquet is loyal to the gov- ernment sod will be placed In com- r:rnd of the reserves at the national , pr.lare. Both Sunday and yesterday Madero appeared sanguine of the ul- tlmate success of the federal army, He declared that the outlook was op - MISS EMERSON IS JAILED IN LONDON London, Feb. 18. Miss Zelie Emer son, a militant sufTraget of Jackson, Mich., was arrested today and sen tenced to two months at hard labor. Miss Emerson, and her companions broke all the windows of the Liberal association's building at Bow last night. Mlaa Sylvia Pankhurst was alEO given two months at hard labor. tlmlsUo and that he bad been offered support of all kinds. la his opinion. Zapata, the guer rilla, is not in favor of Diaz. Nearly all the non-combatants have moved out of the danger sone. Dread and cornmeal are abundant In the capital and are being distributed among the WO KITES VIOLATED. Washington, Feb. 18. Secretary Knox told President Taft and the cab inet today that notwithstanding all the fierce fighting in the city of Mexico the last eight days, there had been no Infraction of the ruleB of civilized war fare or the principles of international law to warrant any interference by tb United States. The responsiveness of Madero and Diaz, he said, to the suggestions of Am bassador Wilson had been so com plete and satisfactory as to Justify of ficials in their opinion for a strictly neutral attitude to be observed by the United States. During the past week ! Knox talked to several European am bassadors. 0 CRITICISM HEARD! In no instance had there been a dis position to crlttclzj the administration for not intervening. He declared to day that the steady progress of move-1 , mnnts in concentration of ships, sol- aims and marines was not designed to raoet existing condition, but only to 1 The resolution provides for an amend guard against unexpected and graver j ment to the constitution. of foreigners in Mexico beyond tie ability of the defacto government of the country to insure. IS SHIP'S AT GCAXTAAMO. Four battleships under repair at At lantic coast navy yards are expected to follow the Connecticut, which sail ed thla morning from New Tork for Gnantanamo. and which will give Rear Admiral Badger 15 battleships at that M1UOV ESTABLISHES KEXJEP. With, sickness and famine con front lag the ptople of Mexico City, Am bassador Wilson has established an embassy relief organization. WUaon reports many killed In yesterday's fighting. Hundreds of Americans and other foreigners are prevented from leaving becanae firing makes it impos sible for them to make necessary prep aration. XAcnrvE era stolen. 13 Paso. Feb. IS. A machine gun of the Thirteenth cavalry at HachiTa, X. M disappeared Sunday night. It la believed rebels came across the border and stole the piece. LECISLATOtt TSGES ACTIO. Lansing. Mica, Feb. IS. A reeohj tion was Introduced in the Michigan legislature by Dr. PJon Wheeian of Hallsdale urging President Taft and Wood row Wilson to take action to re- store peace and protect American Uvea 1q Mexico. Wheelan's Bon Arthur is employed la Mexico City. He baa not teen heard from in two weeks. Receivers tor Rubber Firm. Boston, Feb. 18. Receivers were ap- pomtM today ror the crude robber j firm of George A. Alden company, one i of the oldest rubber houses in the THE SPIRIT OF 1913 Fcrecast Till 7 p. m. Tomorrow fer Rock Island, Davenport. Molina, Unsettled weather, with snow or rain late tonight or Wednesday; colder to night, with lowest temperature slightly below the freezing point. Temperature at 7 a. m., 39. Higliest yesterday. 49; lowest last night, 38. Velocity of wind at 7 a. m., 5 miles Relative humidity at 7 p. m., 60, at 7 a. m.TTff'. ' J. M. SHERIER. Local Forecaster. (From nodu today to noon tomorrow.) Sun sets rises C:"0. Evening star: Venus. Morning Ntars: Jupiter. Murs. Charleston, W. Va.. Feb. IS. Charg es that William Seymour Edwards, one of the republican candidates for Unit ed States senator, tried to buy the votes of members of the legislature, were dismissed today by Justice Gil christ. WOULD END BOOZE MAKING IN IOWA Des Moines, Iowa, Feb. 18. Repre sentative, Dawson introduced a Joint resolution asking prohibition of the manufacture or sale of liquor in lowa. WITH SIMPLE CEREMONY Paris. Feb. 18. The inauguration of President Potacare took place today with very simple ceremonies. , There was great display of popular enthus iasm as the chief proceeded to the palace to take offlcs. Premier Brian d at 2 o'clock tbis afternoon called at the private residence of tb president elect. The two proceeded in a four horse open carriage, with an escort, to the palace. In spite of aero weather the streets were lined with people. M'KEEN, FORMER HEAD OF VANDALJA RAILWAY, DEAD! Terra Haute, Ind, Pen. 18. W. R. I McKeen, former president of the Tan- j dalla railroad, and one of the beat j known fimmderB In the state, died j today following a loopy ears' Illness. I He had been a delegate ta all repub lican ooffvantlone from 1872 to 1904. He was the only civilian in the state to be made a member of the Legion NEW YORK LEGISLATURE "?Vatlngcm, FU It. The yerwport ORDERS PDUCE IWQUlRYlfiSBSr Albany, -K. m. OB. Tb leglala- ture adopted. mwnrtTTmutfy a reeolu- tkm providing tor m seaxnhmg lnveti- gatkm of ton Kew Yurfa pottos situa tion by a Joint wimmUWB of senators vviiaon mcvpra rwmier rreotoency. Trenton, N. J., Feb. 18. Governor Wilson has accepted the honorary presidency of the national peace con- WILSON'S 7 BILLS PASS THE HOUSE Trenton. N. J., Feb. 18. Objections to seveu anti-trust bills fathered by Governor Wilson came to him from an unlooked for quarter today, when a group of state labor leaders suggest ed a possibility that the bills might be construed as affecting labor unions. They called the governor's attention to a provision which would prohibit "any pnmhtjifttjnii o. agreement between two of more corporations, firms or per sons to create restrictions in trade, '.imlt production or increase prices." The governor pointed out that the act restricts "persons dealing in com modities.'' and said the courts of New Jersey had consistently held labor was not a commodity, so there could be no application to the labor question. Wilson's seven anti-trust bills pass ed the house this afternoon exactly in the same form as they passed tha sen ate last week. Hilles Gets New Job. Albany, N. Y.. Feb. 18. Charles D. Hilles of Dobbs Ferry, secretary to President Taft, and chairman of the republican national committee, was appointed last night by Governor Sulzer as a member of the board of managers of the New York training school for girls at Hudson. When the nomination was received In the sen ate the democratic leader; Wagon, moved immediate consideration. "In view, not only of the distinction Mr. Hilles has gained as one of the citi zens of the state," said Senator Wagon, "but also because of the very valued and valiant service he rendered the democratic party In the laat cam paign, I move his immediate confirma tion." The nomination was con firmed. Many Escape Bomb. Chicago, Feb. 18. A bomb, believed to have- contained dynamite, was ex ploded last night in front of a saloon owned by Emanuel Abrahams. No one was injured, but the windows in the front of the building were shattered. Abrahams, who has been active in lo cal politics, told the police he believed a political enemy was responsible for Pana Rejects Commlaalon Rule. Pana, 111., Fib. It. The commission form of government lost by a vote ot 226 to 634 in a special election yes terday. Of 150 voters la one ward only 12 votes were registered for it All five wards went against the pro Janvtus Under Knife. St. Lou la. Pen. 18. Tony Jann-us, the aviator, la 111 of appendicitis and will be operated on. ' nought Peansrlvmnia, with Curtias tor bine engine, was the lvwvst of all pro ponds opened at lbs aavy department It tO Ve not a&r de "biggest anlp in the American xtsrr, bat as far as known -wm exceed in size any Uhip bo far laid down by a xorelsn ! power. The tonnage wffl be 15,000, al- i most three times timt at the old fa- mons Oregon. The ccrst complete will 87 TO LEWIS ON 4TH VOTE Deadlock in the Illinois Assembly is Tight STILL TALKING DEALS Judge Sherman Serves Notice That He Will Not Accept the Short Term. Springfield, HI, Feb. 18. The fourth joint ballot today for the long term Lewis, democrat, 87. Sherman, republican, 76. Funk, progressive, 19. Berlyn, socialist, 4. Raymond Robins, progressive, 1. Not voting, 3. The fourth Joint ballot for the short term senatorship resulted in no choice. The vote was scattered among a score of candidates. Boeschenstetn, demo crat, and Sherman, republican, led, LO!0 TERM IS BARRIER. Lawrence Y. Sherman, republican senatorial primary nominee, told the managers of James Hamilton Lewis, democratic primary nominee, today that he would not consent to a pro posed combination involving his elec tion as the short term senator. The Lewis managers informed Mr. Sher man and his friends with equal em phasis that they would not agree to the proposal that the republican nom inee get the long term. Both sides are standing firm. If one or the other gives in and is willing to take the short term a republican- democratic combination for the elec tion of the two primary nominees ap pears a certainty. LEWIS MEN FAVOR DEAL. Governor Dunne still stands for two democratic senators, but his friends, who are looking out for the interests of Colonel Lewis, are out in the open for the Sherman-Lewis deal. The Lewis managers would like the assur ance of Presldent-elct Woodrow Wil son that under the circumstances the election of one republican senator will be justifiable. Democrats who profess to have a line on Governor Wilson's opinions believe he would never con sent to giving up the long term. j WHIP HAND TO REPI BI.ICAXS. The republicans insist upon having the long term because they believe they can force the democrats to take the short term or nothing. Less than half a dozen republicans have balked on the proposed election of Sherman and Frank H. Funk, progressive. They have taken the stand that any combi nation should involve the election of the two primary nominees, ITSt if it proves impossible to put through the Lewis-Sherman combination they will abandon their opposition. The pro gressives ask only for the short term. Representative Joseph Carter and two other progressives were in con ference last night with Governor Dunne. The progressives have sug gested that they might be willing to vote for two democrats if, in addition to getting all the minority patronage. they were permitted to name the sec ond democrat It Is understood Gov ernor Dunne would not consent to their naming the second democrat. Furthermore, it is believed he would prefer to make a bargain with fne re publicans, as he then would be more certain of sufficient votes for the con firmation of his appointments. ASK BOEJCHEJTEIS TO O.C1T. A committee of democrats compos ed of Representatives W. A. Hubbard and Charles A. Karon and Senators W. A. Compton and W. D. Piercy is seek ing to convince Charles Boeschenstein, democratic caucus nominee for tire short term, that he should withdraw Mr. Boeschenstein's managers, how ever, declare their Intention to pull votes away from Lewis Ju?t as long as the Lewis managers seek to elect the colonel without giving any con sideration to the caucus nominee n.OOD OF RILLS. A flood of bills, the first to be intro duced In the house since the conven ing of the legislature six weeks ago, today swamped the reading clerk of the house, when, by the adoption of a oet of temporary rules, the members made the introduction of bills legally possible. Nearly a hundred bills were Raid Chicago "Fences." Chicago, Feb. 18. Raids on "fences' and arrests of a number of business men aald to have profited more by raids of auto bandits than the bandits themselves, were planned today by the police. Names and addresses were, ob tained from Robert Webb, confessed slayer of Detective Hart. Upper Berth Law Upheld. Madison, Win., Feb. 18. The su tireme court upheld the constitution ality of the "upper berth law." It pro vides the upper berth shall be closed when not occupied. EXPECT TO PASS BILL OVB VETO Washington. Feb. 18. Friends of the Burnett-DllUngham 'literacy test" immigration bill claimed to have enough votes to repass the measure over Taft's veto when the senate re convened today. A vote on the meas ure was scheduled for 3 o'clock. Stone, in a speech, said literacy was not a good test of citizenship. The blackhand and similar organizations were composed largely of people who could stand a literacy test. "Who murdered Garfield? Who as sassinated McKlnley? Who commit ted these frightful crimes?" demanded Stone. "Every one of them could take this test and enter the country." The senate passed the immigration bill over Taft's veto, 72 to 18. An at tempt will be made to repass the bill in the house. The senate committee agreed to fa vorably report the bill prescribing eight hours as the maximum time oi a day's work for women In the District Senator Kenyon will introduce a bill restricting employment of women throughout the country to eight hours by prohibiting their employment be yond that time in any industrial con cern engaged in Interstate commerce. 200 HOMES BURN IN TURK CAPITAL London, Feb. 18. A conflagration which threatened to wipe out most of Constantinople was under control at an early hour today. More than 200 houses and shops surrounding the great mosque of St. Sophia were de stroyed. The mosque appears to have suffered no serious damage. News of the Balkan war is becoming extremely scarce. Meagre dispatches from Constantinople are subjected to long delays and strict censorship. Enver Bey, the young Turk leader, reported yesterday as severly wound ed, telegraphed friends today denying $640 MORE FINES FOR AL TEARNEY Chicago, Feb. 18. Alderman Al Tearney, president of the Three-Eye league, today was fined 8640 on 82 charges of violating the 1 o'clock clos ing law at bis saloon. FATHER AND SON Do Not Speak for 19 Years Be cause of Beating Adminis tered to Boy in 1893. Harboring In his mind the memory of a trouncing administered him by his father 19 years ago, Richard Hlnk ley, who left hia home at the age of five, yesterday broke the long silence for the first time. Hot words were exchanged between father and son which resulted in the former's arrest on a disorderly conduct charge, the warrant being sworn out by the boy. This morning in police court the charges against the prisoner, Albert Hinkley, were dismissed. It appears that when Richard was five years of age he ran away from home and was lost over night. When be returned to his home, the father beat the lad until his body was cov ered with great welts. This happened In Chicago. The authorities removed the lad from his home and placed him in an orphan's home, contending that the father was an improper guardian. Some time afterward Richard was tak en from the Institution and since has been making hia home with relatives. Father and son have met each oth er frequently, but during all this time, the memory of that beating years ago has rankled in the son's mind and he has steadfastly refused to recog nise his father. This morning the Judge asked the young man If he would not return to reply his ratners home. "ro, was the reply, "I will never go back to him or speak to him. I can never forget the way he treated me when was a boy." The father, who ! an aged man, upon hearing his son's words, bowed his gray head and breaking down completely, wept. The court dismiss ed the charges. Herbert Laneton Dead. Washington, Feb. 18. Herbert Lanston, Inventor of a typesetting ma chine which bore his name, is dead. Popuar Eleotion Approved. Madison, Wis., Feb. 18. A Joint res olution providing for the popular elec tion of United State senators passed the assembly. It already had passed Kansas City Further testimony tending to show the use of cyanide of potassium la tne Swope home by Dr. B. Clarke Hyde, accused of murder, was given by Miss Lou E. Van Nuys, who waa a nurse In. tho Swop horn during the illness of Margaret Swope. Big Eastern Strike is Prevented by Commit MADE UNDER PROTEST Requested Also That All of the Hearings Be Open to the New York. Feb. IS. Eastern rail roads agreed today to arbitrate the demands of the Brotherhood of Loco motive Firemen and Englnemen under the Erdman act. This breaks the deadlock. The decision of the roads was announced in an official state ment issued by Chairman Lee of the conference committee of managers. "The managers feel." says the state ment, "that the public will not tol erate a strike." Lee's communication was addressed to Judge Knapp of the commerce court and O. W. Hangar, acting United States commissioner of labor, who have been acting as mediators In tho In part .it said: "At the urgent request of you, as representatives of the government, and under the strongest protest we are able to voice, the managers' com mittee agrees to arbitrate the fire men'B controversy under the Erdman act. The managers shall earnestly request that the hearings be open to "The managers feel the public will not tolerate a strike. Realizing tha three-fold responsibility to the public, their men and their shareholders, they only agreed to arbitrate under the Erdman act when It seemed the only way to avoid the calamity cf a strike. The question tho public should serious ly consider 1b whether. In compelling the railroads to arbitrate under a curing temporary convenience and ao curing temporary convenience and ac commodation, they are not sacrificing their permanent welfare. 1VAIIXS OF OTHER DEMANDS. "The manage ra" committee wishes to warn the public at this time of another and similar ' demand for Increased wages made by conductors and train men. We desire to put the publlo on notice as to the crisis that will con front them when these demands are considered by the railroads." WAGES MAIN aiKSTlOW. The question to come before the ar bitrators is principally ono of wages. The railroads have already expressed a willingness to raise wages, but not to the maximum demanded. To grant this, they assert, would cost $12,000,- 000 a year. The firemen themselves admit the defects of the Erdman act. and while the present dispute will bo settled under the existing law after wards. President Carter of tho Broth erhood will meet with the heads of other railway and labor organizations and representatives of railroads and request congress to amend the law in CARMEN STRIKE R.XDR. Kansas City, Feb. 18. A strike call ed In September, 1911, Involving 11,000 carmen throughout the Missouri, Kan sas ft Texas railroad system, ceased at noon today. The strike followed the refusal of the company to honor the contract with the carmen as laid down by a committee of the union as a whole. President Ryan of the In ternational Brotherhood of Railway Carmen said the company had now, agreed to recognize the actions of the committee as a whole as binding over the entire system. The principal shops affected by the strike were Sedalla, Mo., Fort Worth and Denison, Texas, and Parsons, Kan. Qulncy Has $500,000 Fire. Quincy, 111., Feb. 18. The Daytoi tablet factory was destroyed by Are last night. The plant covered an en tire block 'and the fire threatened to spread. The loss to the tablet factory Is estimated at $500,000. 8uffrageto Leave Cheater. Chester, Pa., Feb. 18. With their ranas unnroxen tne iitue Dana or sur fragets walking to Washington started southward at 10 o'clock this morning. Cairo, Egypt, Feb. 18. J. P. Morgan continued to improve in health today, according to a cablegram to his son. 3 ASSASSINS ARE SLAIN IN PUBLIC San Salvador, Feb. 18. Three of the assassins of the late President Araa-, Jo were shot by a platoon of soldiers thla morning in tho preaano et a large concourse of people

'Real Romney' Authors Dissect His Latest Campaign In The Real Romney, Boston Globe reporters Michael Kranish and Scott Helman examine Mitt Romney's political rise since 1994, when he ran for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. They explain how Romney shifted from supporting abortion rights to heavily courting social conservatives in the 2008 Republican primary. "When he looked at the race, he saw Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and John McCain, the senator from Arizona — they were the big boys in the center, if you will, in the Republican Party," Helman tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "There was no room for Mitt Romney there. Where there was room was on the right." As Romney prepares to accept the official Republican nomination in Tampa this week, Kranish and Helman talk about the latest developments in the campaign, Romney's finances and experience at private equity firm Bain Capital, and his recent remark in Michigan that "no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate." Shifting right is in sharp contrast to Romney's father's politics. During the 1964 convention in San Francisco, a young Mitt Romney watched his father, George Romney, try and fail to get the Republican platform committee to reject extremists and support civil rights. George Romney represented the moderate wing of the Republican Party, says Kranish, and thought it would be "political suicide" if his opponent Barry Goldwater — also known as "Mr. Conservative" — was the presidential candidate. Although George Romney dropped out before the first primary, when Goldwater eventually won the nomination, he "walked out of the convention, very upset," Kranish says. Mitt Romney represents the "Barry Goldwater wing of today," Kranish says. While his father was more of an "outspoken moral leader," he is "more of the technocrat, the competent executive, the manager," Helman adds. Kranish and Helman's book, The Real Romney, is now out in paperback with a new afterword. On Romney's pragmatic politics Scott Helman: "Certainly there are some consistencies that we see. In '94, when he first ran for Senate, and now, he's a man who cares very much about his family and his faith and so forth. There are certain bedrock principles that to him have not changed, but when you think about him politically, they're two completely different Mitt Romneys. "The Mitt Romney who ran in 1994 started out as a political independent. He's somebody who railed against the Contract With America, which of course was the big Newt Gingrich GOP revolution that year. He was a strong supporter of abortion rights. He was very outspoken in favor of gay rights, even writing this famous letter to the Log Cabin Republicans, a Republican gay rights group, talking about how he could be more effective than Ted Kennedy could be, his opponent, on gay rights. "So you go up and down the line and it's a very, very different political profile. So I think the one thing ideologically almost that's consistent from then to now is he's a pragmatist. And at the time, he was running against a very liberal senator, with an impressive civil rights record and he was in very blue Massachusetts, so he had to be a certain type of candidate to be successful — and to a large extent that continued in his gubernatorial run in 2002. After that, when he starts to run for president, it's a very different environment and he realizes he has to be someone completely different to succeed in a Republican primary." On Romney's experience at Bain Capital Helman: "Whatever you think of Mitt Romney, whatever you think of his tenure at Bain, whatever you think of Bain Capital or private equity, I think we have to stipulate that Mitt Romney certainly has some economic fluency. He has trafficked in this world for years, and I think there is certainly some truth to his statement that he knows how jobs come and he knows how jobs go. So I think he is largely correct to say that he has some significant understanding of how the American economy works, but I think it's a different question entirely, when we're saying, 'Do we want this kind of man to be our leader? Do we want somebody who is very successful making money for very wealthy people running the economy that's supposed to be for everybody?' And I think that's where his pitch is a little less persuasive. "Certainly, there is an argument to be made — and we're hearing it a lot from President Obama and his re-election team — that Mitt Romney has been really good for the 1 percent and he'd be really good for the 1 percent if he were president. He knows what these guys want and need. He wants deregulation. He wants lower tax rates for the wealthy. He wants smaller government. "So I think connecting those policy prescriptions to his Bain tenure, I think that is politically problematic for him. And I think that's one of his big challenges at this convention, is how he's going to cast that experience. Because the fact is the polls that I've seen suggest that Americans still believe that Obama identifies with them more than Mitt Romney does, and that Obama would be better for the middle class. And I think Mitt Romney can't win if it stays like that. So he has to find some way to say that, 'Even though pretty much everything I've done in my business career has been to make money for largely wealthy investors, that I can apply that expertise and experience to everybody else.'" On how Romney's Mormon faith figures into the campaign Michael Kranish: "Mitt Romney does not want to talk about the tenets of Mormonism. He's made that clear that this should not be something that he should have to discuss, that you should go to his church and so forth. "And yet at the same time, you've had many people ... who have said you can't understand Romney without understanding what his faith means to him. He has said that his Mormon faith is 'one of the most important treasures of my life.' So you do need to understand that. Plus, he was a leader of the Boston-area Mormon churches for a number of years. This was practically a second full-time job. So he wasn't just a member, he was a very strong leader of that church. "And I think what you've seen very recently is that they've come to the conclusion that [his campaign] needs to find a way to talk about what his faith means to him without talking about the individual tenets. And what'd they like to do — and I know what they're talking about doing — is talk about how as a church leader, he helped people who were disadvantaged, that this was the way this very, very wealthy man heading a private equity company in Boston was able to meet with people who might have been poor or disadvantaged in various ways — as a church leader." On Romney's comment "no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate" Kranish: "Mitt Romney has stayed away from this issue entirely. He well knows that there are plenty of other people in the party who are happy to take it on and that he can maintain his distance. Although obviously, he's appeared on stage with Donald Trump who's endorsed him. And the reason I was particularly surprised is that it was Mitt's father, George, who ran for president despite being born in Mexico and did not come to this country until he was 5 years old. At the time, his father's campaign took some questions about that and it never really came to complete conclusion because George dropped out before the first primary. "But I looked back at newspaper stories of the time and there were serious questions being raised about whether George was qualified since he was born in Mexico and didn't come here until he was 5, whether he could fit the definition of being a native-born citizen and so forth. And their explanation was that George's parents had lived in the U.S. at a certain time and that he was therefore qualified under that. But I think he's been particularly sensitive because his father went through some of these same questions when his father ran for president." TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. As Mitt Romney prepares to accept his party's nomination, we're going to talk with the authors of the book "The Real Romney," which has just been published in paperback with a new afterword. Michael Kranish is deputy chief of the Boston Globe's Washington bureau and a former White House correspondent. Scott Helman is a staff writer at the Globe and former political editor. He was the lead writer on the 2008 presidential campaign. Their book covers the role of Romney's ancestors in the history of the Mormon faith, his own leadership within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his father George Romney's political career as governor of Michigan, Mitt's career as a venture capitalist with Bain Capital, and his political career. I recorded this interview with Kranish and Helman yesterday. Kranish was in Tampa, where he's covering the Republican convention. Helman was in Boston planning to get on a flight to Tampa after our interview. Michael Kranish, Scott Helman, welcome back to FRESH AIR and thank you so much for coming. So Michael Kranish, you wrote on Sunday about the 1964 Republican convention, where George Romney, Mitt's father, was a player. He had briefly been a contender in the Republican presidential primary, and you write about how he tried to get the Republican platform committee to adopt an amendment rejecting extremists. Who were the extremists that George Romney was worried about at the 1964 Republican convention? MICHAEL KRANISH: Well, it's very interesting, and I see these two conventions as bookends in Mitt Romney's life. Mitt was there with his father, George, in 1964 in San Francisco, and at that time his father George represented the moderate wing of the party. Barry Goldwater, of course, became the nominee. And George thought this was a mistake. He thought it would be, quote, political suicide for Barry Goldwater to be the nominee of the Republican Party. So he tried at the platform committee, with his son watching, to have them adopt a platform plank that would basically support civil rights legislation. Barry Goldwater had voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act. And that failed. And then George tried to get them to adopt a plank rejecting extremism because there was concern at the time that the John Birch Society was having too much influence in the party. That plank was rejected. And then Barry Goldwater became the nominee, and as Mitt later recalled it, his father walked out of the Republican convention in 1964, very upset, never endorsed Barry Goldwater. What's so striking is that now Mitt Romney is coming in, calling himself severely conservatively, and he's not, you know, the moderate like his father walking in. He is now representing, if you will, the Barry Goldwater wing of today. So it really is a turnabout, and I really think it gives you a sense of the long, ideological winding path that Mitt Romney has traveled to get to this moment. GROSS: And Goldwater lost the election really badly to Lyndon Johnson. KRANISH: That's right, and Governor Romney, you know, no doubt felt that he was right, that he thought this was a big mistake, and Barry Goldwater was rejected. You can look back now in history and say the way that Goldwater was steering the party towards a more Southern strategy is where the party is today. So now Mitt Romney in essence is coming along all these years later, 48 years later, and he is sort of more in line, I guess, with that Southern strategy, if you will, that the parties are very different than they were in his father's day. So obviously the party has changed, the Republican Party has changed dramatically, and Mitt Romney has changed dramatically in his views as well. GROSS: After Barry Goldwater lost the presidential election in '64, he wrote an angry letter to George Romney asking why didn't you support me. And you quote what George Romney wrote in response, and I want to read that. George Romney wrote: Dogmatic, ideological parties tend to splinter the political and social fabric of a nation, lead to governmental crises and deadlocks, and stymie the compromises so often necessary to preserve freedom and achieve progress. How do you think that reverberates today? KRANISH: I have read that quote to some audiences, and I read it recently, and to my surprise the audience started cheering. They just felt that summarized, at least that's the way I took it, the problems of today, that George Romney way back those years ago has summarized views that are even more relevant today perhaps than they were then, because that seems to be where we are. And so I do wonder, as Mitt Romney is taking the stage here, what voice he'll hear in his ear. Will he hear the echo of what his father said all those years ago? And you know, will he act on that? Will he - and that is, there is a sense among those who know him that he will try to reach back to that to some degree, to, you know, as traditionally is done, he'll say I want to work with Democrats. Obviously, you know, we'll have to see what happens if he's president. But it is something that is a strong echo in the Romney family legacy, and we're looking to see how and whether Mitt embraces that same kind of viewpoint and concern. GROSS: So your book is called "The Real Romney," and Scott, I want to ask you: If you compare how Romney is running now in his presidential campaign to how he ran in his gubernatorial or Senate campaigns, are they all - is he consistent in those campaigns, or are there things that lead you to ask who is the real Romney, comparing those campaigns? SCOTT HELMAN: I think it's incredibly inconsistent, actually. I mean, certainly there are some consistencies that we see. I mean, in '94, when he first ran for Senate, and now, he's a man who cares very much about his family and his faith and so forth. There's certain bedrock principles, I think, to him that have not changed. But when you think about him politically, they're two completely different Mitt Romneys. I mean, the Mitt Romney who ran in 1994 started out as a political independent, he's somebody who railed against the Contract with America, which of course was the big Newt Gingrich GOP revolution that year. He was a strong supporter of abortion rights. He was very outspoken in favor of gay rights, even writing this famous letter to the Log Cabin Republicans, a Republican gay rights group, talking about how he could more effective than Ted Kennedy could be, his opponent, on gay rights. So you go up and down the line, and it's a very, very different political profile. So I think, you know, the one thing ideologically almost that's consistent from then to now is he's a pragmatist, and at the time, I think, you know, he was running against a very liberal senator with an impressive civil rights record, and he was running in very blue Massachusetts. So he had to be a certain type of candidate to be successful. And to some extent that - to a large extent that continued in his gubernatorial run in 2002. You know, after that, when he starts to run for president, it's a very different environment, and he realizes that he has to be someone completely different to succeed in a Republican primary. And I think we're still seeing the result of that shift. And all these things that we hear Mitt Romney say, and we sort of compare them to how he said them before, you have this kind of puzzled look on your face because you think, well, how could the same person say this and also say that. And I think the answer is, he, you know, just like he did in business, he looks at each situation that he's in and figures out how to be successful in that situation, and in many cases part of that consideration was who do I have to be politically to win. GROSS: In your book "The Real Romney," you write a lot about not only Mitt Romney's commitment to the Mormon Church but the history of his family in the church. His great-great-grandfather was a part of the church back in the Joseph Smith era. Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So, he's been very private about his faith. However, last week he invited some members of the press to come to his church and observe him at a service. Michael Kranish, were you one of those journalists who was there? KRANISH: No, this was a pool. So there were a couple of reporters that are allowed to represent the rest of the press, who happened to be on duty that day up by his summer home in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. I did write about this issue a couple days later, however, and Terry, I think what you're seeing is that Mitt Romney does not want to talk about the tenets of Mormonism. He's made that clear, that this should not be something that he has to discuss, that you should go to his church and so forth. And yet at the same time, you've had many people, and I think we may have talked about this last time we were on your show, who have said, you know, you can't understand Mitt Romney without understanding what his faith means to him. He has said that his Mormon faith is, quote, one of the most important treasures of my life, unquote. So you do need to understand that. Plus, he was a leader of the Boston area Mormon churches for a number of years. This was practically a second fulltime job. So he wasn't just a member; he was a very strong leader of that church. And I think what you've seen very recently is that they've come to the conclusion that they need to find a way to talk about what his faith means to him without talking about the individual tenets. And what they'd like to do, and I know what they are talking about doing - is talking about how as a church leader he helped people who were disadvantaged, that this was the way this very, very wealthy man, heading a private equity company in Boston, was able to meet with people who might have been poor or disadvantaged in various ways - as a church leader. And so one of his aides have said a couple days ago that some of those folks might get up on the - at the convention and talk about how Mitt Romney helped them. Obviously, as Scott wrote in the book, there are also some other cases where there are some controversial things that Mitt Romney as a church leader advised some people to do. So I don't know that those people would talk. But they are trying to use his church leadership days in a different way to hopefully, in their point of view, seal some of the connection that Mitt Romney seems to have been lacking in some of his prior appearances. GROSS: How did Mitt Romney handle his faith in previous campaigns? HELMAN: When Mitt Romney first ran for office in 1994, his faith did become a big campaign issue, in large part because his opponent, Ted Kennedy, and his family, made it an issue. There was a lot of controversy around Ted Kennedy's nephew, Joe Kennedy, who had said that, you know, he thought it was outrageous that the Mormon church prevented women from holding leadership roles and that they excluded blacks from holding the priesthood. And it was a big moment, I think, for Mitt Romney and a big wakeup call that suddenly this faith that he had known had been seen skeptically, but I think this was the first time he got a taste of just how politically sensitive this was. And in fact Ted Kennedy himself at one point said that he thought that some of these things that Mormons believed, and particularly the point about not letting blacks in the church until 1978 - or hold leadership positions until 1978, that that was something that should be examined in a political context. Now, he later backed off from that, but of course there was a great irony for the Romneys, that here you had the Kennedys, you know, Ted Kennedy, whose own brother, Jack Kennedy, in 1960 had given this famous speech in running for president saying that, you know, he wasn't going to speak for Catholicism, and Catholicism didn't speak for him, that it was, you know, here they were kind of invoking that legacy in a very perverse way. And in fact there's a great story of a press conference that Mitt Romney was giving when he was really burned up about how this faith issue had come up. George Romney, his father, was actually there, in his 80s at the time, sort of advising his son's campaigns. And he was circling the gaggle of reporters and just fuming at this and how the Kennedys had brought this up and made it a part of the campaign. At one point, in true George Romney fashion, he bursts into the press conference, interrupts his son and sort of starts shaking his fist and saying, you know, this is outrageous what the Kennedys are doing and this should have no place there. And, you know, of course it was a great TV moment, right, so all the TV cameras went right from Mitt Romney right over to dad, because it made for a much better story. But I think that gave you a sense of how much this really bothered them, that it had become an issue. And in fact, even after the race, after Mitt Romney had lost, he said one of the things that really ate at him was the way that the Kennedys had brought up the faith issue and made it part of the conversation. So that was, you know, a bad, a sour experience, I think, if you will, for Mitt Romney. Fortunately for him, and I think for a lot of other Mormons, certainly in Massachusetts, it was almost nonexistent as an issue in 2002 when he ran for governor. And then we see it crop back up again when he first runs for president in 2008, and of course that's when he really starts to court social conservatives. He's trying to talk to all these evangelicals, and of course a lot of them, as we know, have - are very skeptical, or worse, about Mormons and what they believe. GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guests are Scott Helman and Michael Kranish of the Boston Globe. They're the co-authors of the book "The Real Romney," which has just been published in paperback with a new afterword. And Michael Kranish is speaking to us from Tampa, Scott Helman from Boston; he's on his way to Tampa. Let's take a short break here, then we'll talk some more about Mitt Romney. This is FRESH AIR. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guests are Michael Kranish and Scott Helman of the Boston Globe. They're co-authors of the new book "The Real Romney"; it's just been published in paperback with a new afterword. Michael Kranish, you've been writing about Mitt Romney and his finances, taxes and Bain. He released his 2010 tax returns, and Gawker just released - Gawker just got their hands on a bunch of financial documents from Bain Capital. What are some of the key things you've learned about Romney and his personal finances from these documents? KRANISH: Well, let me provide some perspective. There's been a lot of talk about the last 10 years of Mitt Romney's tax returns because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has alleged, without providing evidence, that Mitt Romney paid no taxes for 10 years. So the context for this and the paradigm that really should be set is Mitt Romney's own words. He said in 1994, in running for the U.S. Senate against Ted Kennedy, that Kennedy should release his tax returns to show that he had nothing to hide. Kennedy refused, and Romney as a result did not release his own tax returns. So Romney's the one who set this up, that this should be done. And then in 2002, when Romney's opponents did release their tax returns and said, OK, now you release yours, at that time he refused to release any tax returns and said it was a privacy issue. So this time around, it shouldn't be surprising that there was a lot of pressure for him to release his tax returns. And what he has said is he would release - he has released his 2010 tax returns and so far a summary of the 2011 information. Frankly, that doesn't tell us an awful lot about his time at Bain Capital. He was at Bain Capital running that company from 1984. And then through '99 he was directly controlling a lot of the deals, and then he stayed as CEO until 2002. So the 10 years after that are the years that Harry Reid's talked about, which is when he basically got a severance deal. But, you know, the real issue, if people are looking at, you know, going back to Romney's own words about what's going on about do you have something to hide, would go back to the time when he's at Bain Capital, because seeing those early tax returns are the ones that would show you how much money he made on certain deals and if those deals were the same deals that were good for the companies that were bought or if factories were shut down in those deals and he profited to a certain degree. Those are the kind of things that you might want to see. So whatever is released in more recent years wouldn't show a lot of that. What the more recent documents have shown, they are not Romney-specific documents, but they're documents about various Bain funds that Romney at this time has some investments in. And some of those funds are held in the Cayman Islands and other places like that. They're - a lot of the investments are not in a company stock A or B. As Romney has said, they're - it's all managed by a blind trust. The blind trust person running that decided to invest in Bain Capital funds. And in some cases those are hedge funds. They're various things that in fact might bet on whether a company does poorly. But those are investments, you know, much later, and they're run by a blind trustee. So my overall point is that really by not releasing the earlier tax returns, there's a lot that we don't know and apparently we won't because he doesn't intend to release them. And the other point is that his tax rate has been very low because as a person in the private equity business, he gets a break from the get-go, and that is that instead of most of his income coming and taxed by salary, it's taxed at what's known as carried interest, which is essentially the capital gains tax rate, which is about half the tax rate of, say, someone, you know, in a middle-class situation. So it's just like Warren Buffett has said that his tax rate is lower than his secretary. Mitt Romney in the private equity business, it's the same thing. I don't know how much his secretary made, but from the get-go he was paying a very low tax rate. And so one of the things I wonder, President Obama in his budget had proposed that that be eliminated, that he felt that was an unfair break, and I wonder if that kind of issue also will become something we'll hear more about in the campaign. GROSS: One of the questions that has been raised based on the Bain financial records that were released is that there were investments that, you know, the partners, and I think Romney would be included in these investments, investments in funds that hold complex securities that can profit from downturns in the economy like by shorting stocks, by betting against interest rates in foreign currencies, credit default swaps, which can bet that something's going to lose, and you gain if they lose. So in terms of his experience, his financial experience showing him how to boost the economy, if he's had investments that have bet against success, bet against the economy, what does that say? Or does it say nothing? Is that just what investors do? KRANISH: Right. The dilemma in discussing this is that these are funds that his blind trustee person decided to invest in. GROSS: I see. KRANISH: So Romney can say, you know, look, I didn't invest in those funds, the trustee invested in those funds. And it's hardly uncommon. I'm not excusing anything or saying this is fine or bad, just making the general point that a lot of funds, you know, have that, that use short stocks and so forth. I've spent a lot of time talking to Romney's Bain partners over the last year or so, and every single one of them that I've talked to have said their job was not necessarily to create jobs, their job was to make as much money for their investors as possible. And some of them take a little bit of umbrage at the idea that Bain has now been cast as this job-creating machine. They say they think in the end that more jobs are created than lost, but they say their fiduciary duty was to their investors to make money, and if that meant that jobs were cut in certain deals, then jobs were cut. If that meant that factories had to be closed because it could be more profitable to do it in some other way, then factories were closed. Those were decisions that Mitt Romney would have been more directly involved with, which is a little different than a fund that a blind trustee person, you know, may have invested in. So as someone who's spent a lot of time looking at this, the deals that Romney was directly involved in, which have plenty of upsides and downsides that we can talk about, probably are the most relevant to talk about in terms of what he did, what his decisions were and whether those were good for the economy or not. And there are plenty of deals. There are about 100 deals made over 15 years, a lot of which we write about. Plenty of those, you know, are controversial. But the bottom line is they ran a fund that was basically a fund for very wealthy people to invest in. That was his job, and typically it a million dollars or more to get into those funds. It's not like a typical mutual fund. So these individuals who invested in that fund, they did very well. Oftentimes their money doubled or almost doubled every year. It's a different matter about how that profit was made. In some cases it was made because businesses were turned around, or maybe there were things that were shut down or changed. It's a - each deal is different, and there are many different ways in which they made money for their investors. Michael Kranish and Scott Helman will be back in the second half of the show. Their book "The Real Romney" has just been published in paperback. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross back with Michael Kranish and Scott Helman, authors of the book "The Real Romney," which has just been published in paperback with a new afterword. Kranish is deputy chief of the Boston Globe's Washington bureau and a former White House correspondent. Scott Helman is a staff writer at the Globe and former political editor. He was a lead writer on the 2008 presidential campaign. We recorded our interview yesterday. Kranish was in Tampa, Helman was in Boston preparing to leave for Tampa. So, Michael Kranish, one of the things you've written about regarding Romney's finances is how he and other partners at Bain used their IRAs both to invest but also perhaps to shield money from having to pay taxes on - that is perhaps stretching what an IRA is supposed to be able to do. Could you describe what questions you have about Mitt Romney's IRA? KRANISH: Right. Well, a lot of people in this country have IRAs; they were set up by Congress to help average working people save a modest amount for retirement. And the average amount that an individual has in IRAs in this country is about $90,000. Mitt Romney in his financial disclosure report said that his IRA was worth between 20 million to $100 million. And as you know, an IRA, when you put money in there, it's shielded from the initial taxation and then you pay taxes when you are in retirement and take it out and presumably at a lower rate than you would have otherwise, and in the meantime a lot of money can accumulate. I asked an independent research group to analyze where Mitt Romney's IRA stood in relation to the rest of the country and they came back and said that his IRA, even at the lowest estimate of 20 million, would have been in the top one-100ths of one percent of IRAs in this country. So by any measure, his IRA is extraordinary. Very few people have an IRA of 20 million, not to mention the possible topside of 100 million. So how did he do that? How did you get an IRA so large if there are restrictions on how much you can put into IRAs every year? Depending on how it's done, the restriction might be $5,000 a year or in some kind of corporate plans it could be up to $50,000 a year. But still, how would it grow so large so quickly? So I and another reporter at the Globe, Beth Healy, looked at this and talked to Bain partners, other folks, and part of the reason is is that they use these IRAs that were established with a certain amount of money to make side investments in deals that Bain Capital already thought were pretty good or sure winning deals. So they would use their own personal funds from the IRA to then invest in the same deals that Bain Capital was investing in. Some of these deals were extraordinarily successful. So there was a deal for, for example, where Bain put in $50 million into an Italian Yellow Pages company and got back a billion dollars. Separately, Bain partners invested in that same deal and deals like it. And so you can imagine they put in a somewhat modest amount of money personally and they got back a big return. Those returns accumulated exponentially. So over time, you have the IRA really exploding in the amount of money that's in there, and it's a - I think a large part of the explanation as to how an IRA all these years later could be worth between 20 million to $100 million. It's not what Congress envisioned obviously, when they set up IRAs, but the Romney campaign and the people that I've talked to, they say this is all legal and that when the money is withdrawn upon retirement, then Romney would pay some kind of a tax rate on that. GROSS: I don't know a lot about what you can and can't do with an IRA. But is it legal to take the money in your IRA and just choose what investments you want to make with it? KRANISH: Well, sure. I mean you can have what's called a self-directed IRA and so with your IRA you could say now I want it in, you know, Fidelity's X fund and then later on say, no, change that to the Fidelity Y fund. It can't... GROSS: Right. But that's different than - I mean isn't that different from saying we're going to invest in this like new company that Bain's investing in? Because I understand having your retirement money in one of the funds in the larger company that your workplace uses as, for its retirement funds. But that's different from just choosing individual places to invest in with your IRA money. That's OK? KRANISH: Right. Well, I asked the same question. And as it turns out, the Bain Capital IRAs are held by Merrill Lynch and there's a individual who has to be responsible for making sure that the deal is appropriate under the way the plan was set up, so every plan might have different particular rules. You couldn't go out and invest, for example, in tulips, but in this case, the person overseeing the IRA can say, you know, this seems like a reasonable investment and go ahead. So there are various restrictions on that that's set up plan-to-plan but in this case they were allowed under this plan to invest in side personal investments in Bain deals. GROSS: Now Scott, you recently wrote a piece trying to investigate this question. Mitt Romney says that his experience at Bain has taught him what you need to know to create jobs and to fix the economy. So picking up on what Michael said earlier, how related is his experience at Bain to creating jobs and fixing the economy? HELMAN: I think it's undeniable, whatever you think of Mitt Romney, whatever you think of his tenure at Bain, whatever you think of Bain Capital or private equity, I think we have to stipulate that Mitt Romney certainly has some economic fluency. He has trafficked in this world for years and I think there is certainly some truth to his statement that he knows how jobs come and he knows how jobs go. So I think he is largely correct to say that he has some significant understanding of how the American economy works, but I think that's a different question - it's a different question entirely, when we're saying, well, do we want this kind of man to be our leader? Do we want somebody who is very successful making money for very wealthy people running the economy that's supposed to be for everybody? And I think that's where his pitch is a little less persuasive. I mean certainly, there is an argument to be made - and we're hearing it a lot from President Obama and his re-election team - that Mitt Romney has been really good for the one percent and he'd be really good for the one percent if he were president. He knows what these guys want and need. He wants deregulation. He wants lower tax rates for the wealthy. He wants smaller government. So I think, you know, connecting those policy prescriptions to his Bain tenure, I think that is politically problematic for him. And I think that's one of his big challenges at this convention, is how he is going to cast that experience. Because the fact is the polls that I've seen suggest that Americans still believe that Obama identifies with them more than Mitt Romney does, and that Obama would be better for the middle class. And I think Mitt Romney can't win if that stays like that. So he has to somehow find a way to say, even though pretty much everything I've done in my business career has been to make money for largely wealthy investors, that I can apply that expertise and that experience to everybody else. KRANISH: Terry, if I could just add, you know, one of the most interesting things that Romney said about this time was something he wrote - if I can just quote it. He said, quote, "I never actually ran one of our investments. That was left to management." And the reason that's important to understand is that he was running an investment fund. It wasn't like his father, George, who went in to run American Motors Corporation and turn it around. Mitt Romney would be the first person to say, and as I quoted, he did, that that's not what he did. He ran an overall investment fund. Deals were proposed and brought to him. He would say yes or no, and then a couple of cases he was on the board. For the most part that was the major part of his decision-making, let's invest or not invest. And so people can look at that and with the 30-second ads it can be hard to understand that because it sounds like he may have gone in, you know, and directly run this company or that company. Most of what he did, he made most of his money in leveraged buyout deals that were basically investments in existing companies and he got paid management fees, there were loans taken that the company that was being bought had to pay back. So it's a more nuanced story that we really did try to take a lot of time to explain exactly what he did. And I think that quote that I read you gives you a little bit more perspective as to what he did and didn't do. GROSS: Mitt Romney very recently wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece that was called "What I Learned at Bain." And he wrote, my presidency would make it easier for entrepreneurs and small businesses to get the investment dollars they need to grow, by reducing and simplifying taxes; replacing Obamacare with real health care reform that contains costs and improves care; and by stemming the flood of new regulations that are tying small businesses in knots. And he goes on to say, I'm not sure Bain Capital could have grown or turned around some of the companies we invested in had we faced today's anti-business environment. Andy Puzder, the chief executive of CKE Restaurants Incorporated, which employs about 21,000 people at Carl's Jr. and Hardee's restaurants, has said that quote, "the current unfriendly economic environment perhaps best explains why American companies are sitting on over $2 trillion which they could invest," unquote. So it seems to me there's maybe two separate thoughts on here. One is making it easier for entrepreneurs and small businesses, and the other is a favorable economic climate for companies that have 21,000 employees and their needs might be very different from the small entrepreneur. KRANISH: Well, it goes to his overall belief - his overall belief as in the theory of, quote, "creative destruction," and that the private economy will find what works and what doesn't - and this is what led to the famous op-ed he wrote about the auto bailout, where it was headlined "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt"- that that is part of what he believes in. And if you are a supporter of Mitt Romney that's something that, you know, you may well believe in yourself - that this idea that there's too much regulation and that business is not investing. There are certainly plenty of business people who would say, you know, that is the case and that they don't like all the regulation and that an overall change in lots of things, you know, would improve conditions. So that is really one of the fundamental questions in the election: Do you believe in Mitt Romney's philosophical view about this or do you believe in President Obama's? That's really, you know, one of the main things that people will be examining. HELMAN: But I think a lot of this gets lost just in the talking points. I mean, you know, the fact is the capital gains rate is still very low, it has not been raised. President Obama has not raised that. You know, we talk about energy, you know, Obama has angered a lot of liberals by being open to drilling in and around this country. So there are plenty of things - it's easy for Romney and Republicans I think generally to say oh, you know, you know, business hates all the regulation and government is on their back and so forth. But the fact is, you know, there have been several things that have happened recently that have been favorable to business that Obama has either not changed or proposed himself. And but so I think it becomes kind of a crutch or a trope, if you will, to say, you know, Democrats love government, they hate business and it's, you know, that fits in a 30-second ad and that's how you vote. GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guests are Michael Kranish and Scott Helman. They both are with the Boston Globe. They're the authors of the book "The Real Romney," which has just been published in paperback with a new afterword. Let's take a short break here, then we'll talk some more. This is FRESH AIR. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) GROSS: We're talking about Mitt Romney with Michael Kranish and Scott Helman of the Boston Globe. Helman is a staff writer and former political editor at the Globe and was a lead writer on the 2008 presidential campaign. Michael Kranish is deputy chief of the Globe's Washington bureau and a former White House correspondent. Their book, "The Real Romney," has just been published in paperback with a new afterword, and they're covering the Republican Convention. I want to ask you about Dr. Jack Wilkie. And he's the now 87-year-old doctor that apparently is the person who came up with the idea that Congressman Todd Akin quoted, which is that if a woman is raped that her body has a mechanism to shut down the sperm from fertilizing an egg. Now, Dr. Wilkie from what I've heard, had been a surrogate for Mitt Romney. Do you know much about Wilkie or his relationship to Romney? HELMAN: I - this is Scott - I don't know much about Wilkie or his relationship. I'm trying to think if I ever saw them together in the last campaign and nothing comes to mind. I mean, what I will say... GROSS: While you're thinking, I'm going to quote something... HELMAN: Yeah. Sure. GROSS: ...that Jack Wilkie wrote: Every woman is aware that stress and emotional factors can alter her menstrual cycle. To get and stay pregnant, a woman's body must produce a very sophisticated mix of hormones. Hormone production is controlled by a part of the brain which is easily influenced by emotions. There's no greater emotional trauma that can be experienced by a woman than an assault rape. This can radically upset her possibility of ovulation, fertilization, implantation and even nurturing of a pregnancy. And he goes on to write that women who report rape often do that - they often falsely claim rape. Anyway it's just... HELMAN: I mean it sounds like... HELMAN: It sounds to me, you know, all those things sound like you're reading something from some, you know, 17th-century encyclopedia. I mean it's just amazing... GROSS: It was 1971. Yeah. HELMAN: Right. Exactly. I mean it's incredible, I think, some of the things people are saying about rape in 2012. One thing I will say that Romney, in the last campaign, you know, he really set out in that 2008 race to establish himself as the top candidate for social conservatives. I mean that was where the space was. When he looked at the race he saw Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and John McCain, the senator from Arizona, they were the big boys in the center, if you will, in the Republican Party. There was no room for Mitt Romney there. Where there was room was on the right and that's why we see this real recalibration of Mitt Romney as a political figure because he had to fill that space. And in part of the effort that he went to to do that was to court people like this doctor and people like Joe Arpaio, the very rabidly anti-immigration sheriff in Phoenix. HELMAN: I remember flying out with Romney when he did an event with Joe Arpaio. These were the people he was courting in that campaign. And, you know, we've seen him moderate that to some extent this time around, but I mean that just gives you a sense of the lengths that he went to to appeal to the hard right of the Republican Party. KRANISH: And in this campaign, he has tried to back out, not change his position on that. He's already changed that position once. But he hasn't focused on it as much as he did in 2008. So for example when he wrote his book "No Apology," at the end he has a list of 64 action items, as he calls them, and abortion is not on the list. He does talk about his anti-abortion views in the text of the book, but the fact that it's not on that list of 64 action items gives you a sense that they made a political calculation that there are certain social conservatives who would simply not support Mitt Romney and that they needed to focus more this time around on the economy. So certainly, you know, he maintains his same position, but he hasn't focused on it in quite the same way that he did in 2008. GROSS: Mitt Romney recently said in Michigan: No one ever asked me for my birth certificate. Were you surprised that he said that? KRANISH: I was surprised, and the reason that I was surprised is that Mitt Romney has stayed away from this issue entirely. He well knows that there are plenty of other people in the party who are happy to take it on and that he can maintain his distance, although obviously he's appeared onstage with Donald Trump, who has endorsed him. And the reason I was particularly surprised is that it was Mitt's father, George, who ran for president despite being born in Mexico and did not come to this country until he was five years old. At the time, his father's campaign took some questions about that, and it never really came to a complete conclusion because George dropped out before the first primary. But I look back at newspaper stories from the time, and there were serious questions being raised about whether George was qualified, since he was born in Mexico and didn't come here until he was five, whether he could fit the definition of being a native-born citizen and so forth. And their explanation was that George's parents had lived in the U.S. at a certain time and that he qualified under that. But I think he's been particularly sensitive because his father went through some of these same questions when his father ran for president. GROSS: So doesn't Romney run the risk of having people, having journalists use that statement as an opportunity to go back to the George Romney question about whether he legitimately ran for president because he spent his first five years in Mexico where he was born, and in a community that was founded as a polygamist community so that they could have freedom of polygamy outside of the government of the United States? KRANISH: Well, it's interesting. If you look back, Mitt Romney for many years didn't focus very much on the fact that his father was born in Mexico. In this campaign he's mentioned it a number of times, particularly before Hispanic audiences, mentioning that his father was born in Mexico, although his father obviously was not an Hispanic. But he's pointed that out, that there is some heritage in the family. He certainly has not focused on the fact that his great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, established that colony to evade the laws against polygamy in this country. Mitt's father and Mitt's grandfather were not polygamists, but the colony was initially founded on that. And to this day there are Romneys, I've been to that colony in Mexico, there are quite a number of Romneys who still live in this colony, in a very beautiful part of Mexico about four hours from the U.S. border. HELMAN: And I think there's a bigger risk, Terry, here, and that is that every time Mitt Romney does something like this, it just puts him more into this, you know, extremist camp within the Republican Party. I mean, this - Mitt Romney now should be focusing on the middle of the country, on independents. This is a group that he's done well with in the past. And yet we see him pushing himself further and further, I think, to the right. And it's going to be really interesting to see how he tries to swing this back at the convention because to the extent that he's associated with the birther movement, and, you know, now he's picked in Paul Ryan someone who is very, very conservative not just on fiscal issues but also on women's issues, on abortion rights, somebody who has favored bills that allow no exceptions for rape or things like that, you know, this puts Mitt Romney exactly where President Obama and his team want him, which is in this far right of the Republican Party, out of the mainstream, somebody who cannot win a general election in the fall. GROSS: The abortion question is actually kind of confusing now about where everybody stands. The party platform, the Republican Party platform, says that there should be no exceptions made for incest or rape. And Paul Ryan, who supports that and has sponsored legislation like that, defers to Romney. You know, Romney supports an exception in cases of rape or incest, but Paul Ryan, who doesn't, says, you know, Romney's the person who'd be president, it's about him, it's not about me. But the Republican Party is Ryan's position. So can you figure out what the position of a Romney administration would actually be? HELMAN: Romney would, you know, be the one to - there is no tie-breaking. You're the president or the vice president. So Romney's position certainly would prevail. His position has been, and they've restated it this week despite the platform, that he has exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother and so forth. So, you know, taking him at his word, that would be the policy of the Romney administration. Obviously that's a - you know, that is a limited position, certainly. So that seems to be where they would be headed with that. KRANISH: But politically it's a disaster for them because Todd Akin's comments about what is rape and legitimate rape versus illegitimate rape, now you have the party platform, which takes a very hard line on abortion, and he's picked Paul Ryan, who in the past has voiced a very hard line on abortion. This is exactly what Mitt Romney does not want to be talking about, because it's a risk on the right, because it reminds people of how firmly in support of abortion rights he once was in his - not very long ago. And it's a disaster on the left and certainly in the center because Mitt Romney wants to talk about the economy and how President Obama has failed and how it's time to fire him and get this country working again, all those slogans, and yet here we are trying to parse, you know, the party's views and his views on abortion. And every moment that he has to spend talking about that is a losing moment for Mitt Romney. GROSS: My guests are Boston Globe reporters Scott Helman and Michael Kranish, authors of "The Real Romney," which has just been published in paperback with a new afterword. We'll talk more after a break. This is FRESH AIR. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guests are Michael Kranish and Scott Helman. They both are with the Boston Globe, and they're authors of the new book "The Real Romney," it just came out in paperback with a new afterword. So you're both covering the Republican convention. I'm just wondering, like, how do you like covering conventions? HELMAN: I always wonder - Michael's more of a political junkie than I am, so I think he enjoys it a bit more, maybe, than I do. But I mean, it is theater, and I think it can be hard, but it's important to try to suss out the substance and try to figure out what the message is and what the policies are going to be and how it, you know, might differ from what President Obama would bring were he re-elected. You know, as you know, logistically as a reporter, it's very, very difficult. The security is crazy. Now it looks like we're in for a few days of rain, which of course is going to be fantastic as we're all, you know, waiting in these long security lines. So, you know, it's fun on one hand, but I will also be happy when it's over. KRANISH: Well, if I can add one thing, Terry, and that is going back to where we started, in 1964, Mitt was there when his father was at the epicenter of a war within the Republican Party that was exposed to all. And there was booing of Nelson Rockefeller when he gave a convention speech, and Barry Goldwater said extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. At this convention, certainly there are people who are - you know, disagree with Mitt Romney, but they're trying to do everything they possibly can to have one central, smooth message. They want to, you know, stifle any idea that there's great disagreement within the party after the brutal primaries. So that's what they're trying to do. You know, clearly, you know, there are disagreements within the party, but they want to present a certain message. It's up to us to, you know, to make clear what's really going on beneath that surface. GROSS: And what do you think are the major disagreements in the party that we won't see on stage? KRANISH: Well, Ron Paul has a lot of supporters here. So a lot of those people are still active. They had a big event during the week. You know, there are people who are not terribly enthusiastic about Mitt Romney who are supporting him because he's the nominee, that some of them are more enthusiastic about Paul Ryan. That's always the case. You know, you often have, you know, nominees that, you know, the party, some of the people are not enthusiastic about. They want to present it now that they're all unified coming out. They obviously want to rally their base. I mean, they have basically made the decision that this is in the large part a base election, and by that I mean that if they get out, you know, their strong supporters that they believe they can win. There was some thought before Ryan was picked that they might have a strategy that looks a lot more to the middle, and they might have picked someone who's more moderate, and they hope that Paul Ryan can fill some of that. But the overall belief is that they basically have made the strategic decision that it's a base election that they can win by turning out their base, especially in key swing states. GROSS: Well, I want to thank you both very much for joining us. Scott Helman, Michael Kranish, thank you. I hope you have a good convention in terms of finding very interesting things to write about and analyze. Be safe, be well, thank you so much. KRANISH: Thank you, Terry. HELMAN: Thanks for having us. GROSS: Michael Kranish and Scott Helman are the authors of "The Real Romney." It's just been published in paperback with a new afterword. You can read an excerpt of the book on our website, freshair.npr.org. Or you can also download podcasts of our show. And you can follow us on Twitter @nprfreshair and on Tumblr at nprfreshair.tumblr.com. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

2900 block of Arundel Road: Armed robbery – 1:05 am. The victim told officers that as he was walking to his apartment he noticed two black males in a white or silver compact vehicle parked in a handicapped space. As he got to his building the two approached him and one of them displayed a black handgun and demanded his property. The suspects stole the victim’s wallet and cell phone. Both suspects ran back to the car and fled the area on Chauncey Place towards Queenstown Drive. The victim was not injured during the robbery. PGPD detectives responded to the scene to assume a follow-up investigation. 2900 block of Allison Street: Stolen auto – 1:50 am. The owner of a 2002 Honda Accord reported that sometime prior to his reporting the incident to police someone stole his vehicle. 4600 block of 29th Street: Criminal citation – 2:40 pm. Officers issued a man a criminal citation for drinking an alcoholic beverage in public. 4600 block of 27th Street: Stolen auto – 8:30 am. The owner of a 2002 Mitsubishi Montero told officers that sometime between 6 pm on the 21st and the time he called police someone stole his vehicle. 4000 block of 29th Street: Stolen auto/recovered – 10:10 am. The owner of a 1999 Acura reported that sometime between 9:30 pm on the 21st and the time he called police someone stole his vehicle. At about 12:30 pm officers were notified that the vehicle had actually been impounded for a parking violation in the 6300 block of 24th Avenue. 2300 block of Varnum Street (7-11): Theft – 3:35 am. The store clerk told officers that while he was away from the sales counter a black male came into the store, went behind the counter, stole approximately $350 worth of cigarettes and fled the store in an unknown direction. The clerk could not provide a good description of the thief. 4100 block of Russell Avenue: Stolen auto – 2 pm. The owner of a 1988 Plymouth Acclaim reported that sometime prior to his call to police someone stole his car. The officers’ investigation revealed that there was broken glass where the vehicle was parked which indicated that a passenger side window was broken in order for the thieves to gain access to the vehicle. 3700 block of 36th Street: Theft – 7:45 pm. The victim came into the police station to report that his credit card had been lost/stolen. He told officers that he when he checked his account online he discovered several unauthorized charges since August 18th. He immediately contacted his credit card company to report the card stolen and dispute the charges. 3300 block of Chauncey Place: 1st degree assault – 5:20 pm. The female victim in this case came to the police station to report that an individual had just fired shots at her vehicle. She told officers that as she and a male companion were pulling into a parking space they were approached by the suspect who displayed a small handgun and ordered both victims out of the car. The victims refused and drove out of the parking lot. As they were driving away the suspect fired several shots at the vehicle striking it three times. The male victim refused to cooperate in the investigation; however the female victim told officers that she knew their assailant. PGPD detectives responded to interview the victims and are in the process of obtaining arrest warrants for the assailant. 3300 block of Chillum Road: Traffic/vehicle impound – 12:20 am. Officers stopped a 1993 Ford Aerostar van for speeding and failing to stop at a stop sign. Further investigation revealed that the driver did not have a valid license. He was issued five State traffic citations and the van was impounded. 3100 block of Queen Chapel Road: Vandalism to auto – 1:10 pm. The owner of a 1998 Honda Accord reported that sometime between 12:30 am and the time he called police someone slashed his front passenger tire. 3100 block of Queen Chapel Road: Vandalism to auto – 1:25 pm. The owner of a 1998 Honda Accord reported that sometime between 12:30 am and the time she called police someone slashed her front passenger tire. 3100 block of Queen Chapel Road: Vandalism to auto – 2 pm. The owner of a 1995 BMW reported that sometime between 8:15 pm on August 25th and the time she called police someone slashed her front driver’s side tire. 3200 block of Rhode Island Avenue: Unauthorized use of a motor vehicle – 3 pm. A representative from Thrifty Rental Car reported that an individual who rented a car on August 2nd has failed to return the vehicle to Thrifty. The representative obtained a criminal summons for the individual for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. 2900 block of Queens Chapel Road: Residential burglary – 6:45 pm. The resident told officers that he left home at about 11 pm on August 25th and upon returning he discovered that someone made entry to his apartment through the front door with no force used. Once inside the suspect(s) ransacked the apartment and stole a quantity of U.S. Currency. 3300 block of Rhode Island Avenue: Theft – 11:35 pm. Store security at party Time Liquors told officers that a man removed a bottle of Vodka and placed it down the front of his pants. He then left the store without attempting to pay for the. Security detained the man and contacted police. Officers issued the man a criminal citation for theft and returned the merchandise to the store. 2200 block of Varnum Street: Stolen vehicle – 9:30 pm. The owner of a 1996 Dodge caravan reported that sometime between 9 am and the time he called police someone stole his van. 4200 block of 28th Street: Vandalism to auto – 11:50 pm. The owner of a 2000 Ford Expedition told officers that as she was watching the effects of Hurricane Irene out of her window she saw a gold minivan, possibly a Toyota Sienna, pull up next to her Expedition and stop. She then saw a man get out of the van and smash out the driver’s window of her vehicle. When she started screaming at the man he got back into the van and fled the area towards Eastern Avenue.

English coffeehouses in the 17th and 18th centuries English coffeehouses, in the 17th and 18th centuries, were public social places where people would meet for conversation and commerce while drinking coffee. For the price of a penny, customers purchased a cup of coffee and admission. Travellers introduced coffee as a beverage to England during the mid-17th century; previously it had been consumed mainly for its supposed medicinal properties. Coffeehouses also served tea and chocolate. The historian Brian Cowan describes English coffeehouses as "places where people gathered to drink coffee, learn the news of the day, and perhaps to meet with other local residents and discuss matters of mutual concern." The absence of alcohol created an atmosphere in which it was possible to engage in more serious conversation than in an alehouse. Coffeehouses also played an important role in the development of financial markets and newspapers. Topics discussed included politics and political scandals, daily gossip, fashion, current events, and debates surrounding philosophy and the natural sciences. Historians often associate English coffeehouses, during the 17th and 18th centuries, with the intellectual and cultural history of the Age of Enlightenment: they were an alternate sphere, supplementary to the university. Political groups frequently used coffeehouses as meeting places. European discovery of coffee Europeans first learned about coffee consumption and practise through accounts of exotic travels to "oriental" empires of Asia. According to Ellis, travellers accounted for how men would consume an intoxicating liquor, "black in colour and made by infusing the powdered berry of a plant that flourished in Arabia[clarification needed]." Native men consumed this liquid "all day long and far into the night, with no apparent desire for sleep but with mind and body continuously alert, men talked and argued, finding in the hot black liquor a curious stimulus quite unlike that produced by fermented juice of grape." Cowan explains how European perceptions of the initial foreign consumption of coffee was internalised and transformed to mirror European traditions through their acquisition of coffee and its transfusion into popular culture. As such, through Cowan's evaluation of the English virtuosi's utilitarian project for the advancement of learning involving experiments with coffee, this phenomenon is well explained. Sir Francis Bacon was an important English virtuoso whose vision was to advance human knowledge through the collection and classification of the natural world in order to understand its properties. His work with coffee inspired further research into its medicinal properties. Experiments with coffee led to supposed "cures" for ailments such as "Head-Melancholy", gout, scurvy, smallpox and excessive drunkenness. Adversely, there were those who were cautious of the properties of coffee, fearing they had more unfavourable effects than positive ones. Experimentalists put forth speculations surrounding coffee's consumption. These experimentalists feared that excessive coffee consumption could result in languor, paralysis, heart conditions and trembling limbs, as well as low spiritedness and nervous disorders. Early Oxford coffeehouses During the mid-17th century, coffee was no longer viewed solely as a medicinal plant. Oxford, possessing the unique combination of exotic scholarship interests and a vibrant experimental community, was the first English city to establish a coffeehouse. A Jewish entrepreneur named Jacob established the first English coffee house in 1650, which he named the Angel. According to Cowan, Oxford was seen as an important fixture for the creation of a distinctive coffeehouse culture throughout the 1650s. The Queen's Lane Coffee House in Oxford, still in existence, was established in 1654. The first coffeehouses established in Oxford were known as penny universities, as they offered an alternative form of learning to structural academic learning, while still being frequented by the English virtuosi who actively pursued advances in human knowledge. The coffeehouses would charge a penny admission, which would include access to newspapers and conversation. Reporters called "runners" went around to the coffeehouses announcing the latest news. This environment attracted an eclectic group of people who met and mingled with each other. In a society that placed such a high importance on class and economic status, the coffeehouses were unique because the patrons were people from all levels of society. Anyone who had a penny could come inside. Students from the universities also frequented the coffeehouses, sometimes even spending more time at the shops than at school. Cowan states: "The coffeehouse was a place for like-minded scholars to congregate, to read, as well as learn from and to debate with each other, but was emphatically not a university institution, and the discourse there was of a far different order than any university tutorial." Despite later coffeehouses being far more inclusive, early Oxford coffeehouses had an air of exclusivity, catering to the virtuosi. Early Oxford coffeehouse virtuosi included Christopher Wren, Peter Pett, Thomas Millington, Timothy Baldwin, and John Lampshire, to name a few. The memoirs of Anthony Wood and John Evelyn provide evidence of the nature of early Oxford coffeehouses. The early Oxford coffeehouses also helped establish the tone for future coffeehouses in England, as they would differ from other English social institutions such as alehouses and taverns. "The coffeehouse was a place for "virtuosi" and "wits", rather than for the plebes or roués who were commonly portrayed as typical patrons of the alcoholic drinking houses. Ellis concludes, "(Oxford's coffeehouses') power lay in the fact that they were in daily touch with the people. Their purpose was something more than to provide a meeting-place for social intercourse and gossip; there was serious and sober discussion on all matters of common interest." Early London coffeehouses The Oxford-style coffeehouses, which acted as a centre for social intercourse, gossip, and scholastic interest, spread quickly to London, where English coffeehouses became popularised and embedded within the English popular and political culture. Pasqua Rosée, the Greek servant of a Levant Company merchant named Daniel Edwards, established the first London coffeehouse in 1652. London's second coffeehouse was named the Temple Bar, established by James Farr in 1656. Initially, there was little evidence to suggest that London coffeehouses were popular and largely frequented, due to the nature of the unwelcome competition felt by other London businesses. When Harrington's Rota Club began to meet in another established London coffeehouse known as the Turk's Head, to debate "matters of politics and philosophy", English coffeehouse popularity began to rise. This club was also a "free and open academy unto all comers" whose raison d'être was the art of debate, characterised as "contentious but civil, learned but not didactic." According to Cowan, despite the Rota's banishment after the Restoration of the monarchy, the discursive framework they established while meeting in coffeehouses set the tone for coffeehouse conversation throughout the rest of the 17th century. English coffeehouses had a particular character during their height in popularity, spanning between 1660, after the Restoration of the monarchy, till their decline towards the end of the 18th century. Coffeehouses soon became the "town's latest novelty." A relaxed atmosphere, their relative cheapness and frequency contributed to coffeehouse sociability and their rise in demand. Despite two major setbacks faced by the coffeehouses during their height in popularity, the outbreak of the plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of London that followed in 1666, the coffeehouse popularity did not wane. Ellis explains: "Londoners could not be entirely subdued and there were still some who climbed the narrow stairs to their favourite coffeehouses although no longer prepared to converse freely with strangers. Before entering they looked quite around the room, and would not approach even close acquaintances without first inquiring the health of the family at home and receiving assurances of their well-being." English coffeehouses acted as public houses in which all were welcome, having paid the price of a penny for a cup of coffee. Ellis accounts for the wide demographic of men present in a typical coffeehouse in the post-restoration period: "Like Noah's ark, every kind of creature in every walk of life (frequented coffeehouses). They included a town wit, a grave citizen, a worthy lawyer, a worship justice, a reverend nonconformist, and a voluble sailor." Some historians even claimed that these institutions acted as democratic bodies due to their inclusive nature: "Whether a man was dressed in a ragged coat and found himself seated between a belted earl and a gaitered bishop it made no difference; moreover he was able to engage them in conversation and know that he would be answered civilly." Coffeehouse conversation was supposed to conform to a particular manner. The language of polite and civil conversation was considered to be essential to the conduct of coffeehouse debate and conversation. There is dispute among historians as to the main role that civility played in polite conversation in coffeehouse conversation and debate. Klein argues the importance of the portrayal of utmost civility in coffeehouse conversation to the public was imperative for the survival of coffeehouse popularity throughout the period of restoration-era anxieties. Cowan applies the term "civility" to coffeehouses in the sense of "a peculiarly urban brand of social interaction which valued sober and reasoned debate on matters of great import, be they scientific, aesthetic, or political." He argues that the underlying rules and procedures which have enabled coffeehouses to "keep undesirable out". These include established rules and procedures as well as conventions outlined by clubs when frequenting coffeehouses, such as Harrington's Rota Club. Cowan argues that these "rules" have had a great impact on coffeehouse sociability. Mackie argues that Addison and Steele's popularised periodicals, The Tatler and The Spectator, infused politeness into English coffeehouse conversation, as their explicit purpose lay in the reformation of English manners and morals. Others still contest the holistic presence of polite civility within coffeehouse conversation. Helen Berry uses the example of Elizabeth Adkins, better known as Moll King, coffeehouse slang known as "flash" to counter the axiom of polite culture within coffeehouse culture. Ellis explains that because Puritanism influenced English coffeehouse behaviorisms, intoxicants were forbidden, allowing for respectable sober conversation. He offers an example of one coffeehouse patron who, upon seeking ale within a coffeehouse, was asked to leave and visit a nearby tavern. Various coffeehouses catered to diverse groups of individuals who focused on specific topics of discussion. The variety of topics and groups to which the coffeehouses catered to offers insight into the non-homogeneous nature of English society during the period in which coffeehouses rose to their peak in popularity. These different coffeehouse characters are evident when evaluating specific coffeehouses in detail during the period. After the Restoration, coffeehouses known as penny universities catered to a range of gentlemanly arts and acted as an alternate centre of academic learning. These included lessons in French, Italian or Latin, dancing, fencing, poetry, mathematics and astronomy. Other coffeehouses acted as a centre for social gathering for less learned men. Helen Berry evaluates one coffeehouse, known as Moll King's coffeehouse, which is depicted to be frequented by lowlifes and drunkards as well as "an unusual wide social mix of male customers, from courtiers to Covent Garden market traders and pimps." It was also frequently associated with prostitution. Customers also habitually engaged in a type of conversation known as "flash", a derivative of criminal speak. Moll King's coffeehouse was used as a case study for Berry to prove that polite conversation was not always used within a coffeehouse setting. Other groups frequented other coffeehouses for various reasons. For example, Child's coffeehouse, "near the Physician's Warwick Lane and St. Paul's church yard", was frequented by the clergy and by doctors." According to the first posted "Rules and Orders of the Coffee House" illustrated and printed in 1674 as a coffee broadside, equality was supposed to have prevailed amongst all men in these establishments, and "no man of any station need give his place to a finer man". Historians confirm that a diverse demographic of customers frequented English coffeehouses, and social status was somewhat ignored, as one could participate in conversation regardless of class, rank, or political leaning. If one should swear, they would have to forfeit a twelve-pence. If a quarrel broke out, the instigator would have to purchase the offended a cup of coffee. The topic of "sacred things" was barred from coffeehouses, and rules existed against speaking poorly of the state as well as religious scriptures. The rules forbade games of chance, such as cards and dice, as well. However, In reality, there were no regulations or rules governing the coffee-houses. [This] satire ironises the very idea of regulating their behaviour. In the 17th century, stockbrokers also gathered and traded in coffee houses, notably Jonathan's Coffee House, because they were not allowed in the Royal Exchange due to their rude manners. Print news culture The English coffeehouse also acted as a primary centre of communication for news. Historians strongly associate English coffeehouses with print and scribal publications, as they were important venues for the reading and distribution of such materials, as well as the gathering of important news information. Most coffeehouses provided pamphlets and newspapers, as the price of admission covered their costs. Patrons perused reading material at their leisure. Coffeehouses became increasingly associated with news culture, as news became available in a variety of forms throughout coffeehouses. These forms include: "Print, both licensed and unlicensed; manuscripts; aloud, as gossip, hearsay, and word of mouth." Runners also went round to different coffeehouses* reporting the latest current events*. Circulation of bulletins announcing sales, sailings, and auctions was also common in English coffeehouses. Richard Steele and Joseph Addison's news publications, The Spectator and the Tatler, were considered the most influential venue of print news that circulated in English coffeehouses. These journals were likely the most widely distributed sources of news and gossip within coffeehouses throughout the early half of the 18th century. Addison and Steele explicitly worked to reform the manners and morals of English society, accomplished through a veiled anecdotal critique of English society. As these anecdotal stories held underlying, rather than explicit, social critiques, "readers were persuaded, not coerced, into freely electing these standards of taste and behaviour as their own." Addison and Steele relied on coffeehouses for their source of news and gossip as well as their clientele, and then spread their news culture back into the coffeehouses as they relied on coffeehouses for their distribution. According to Bramah, the good standing of the press during the days in which Addison and Steele distributed The Tatler and The Spectator in English coffeehouses can be directly attributed to the popularity of the coffeehouse. There is contention among historians as to the extent to which English coffeehouses contributed to the public sphere of the age of Enlightenment. There is no simple and uniform way to describe the Age of Enlightenment; however, historians generally agree that during this period, reason became a substitute for other forms of authority that had previously governed human action, such as religion, superstition, or customs of arbitrary authority. In his analysis of the Enlightenment, Jürgen Habermas argues that the age of Enlightenment had seen the creation of a bourgeois public sphere for the discussion and transformations of opinions. According to Habermas, this 'public realm' "is a space where men could escape from their roles as subjects, and gain autonomy in the exercise and exchange of their own opinions and ideas." Consequently, there is also no simple and uniform 'public sphere', as it can encompass different spheres within, such as an intellectual of political public sphere of the age of Enlightenment. In regard to English coffeehouses, there is contention among historians as to the extent to which coffeehouses should be considered within the public sphere of the Enlightenment. Dorinda Outram places English coffeehouses within an intellectual public sphere, focusing on the transfusion of enlightened ideas. She justifies her placement of English coffeehouses within an 'intellectual public sphere' by naming them "commercial operations, open to all who could pay and thus provided ways in which many different social strata could be exposed to the same ideas." She also argues that enlightened ideas were transfused through print culture, a culture that became open to larger number of individuals after the 'reading revolution' at the end of the 18th century. According to Outram, as English coffeehouses offered various forms of print items, such as newspapers, journals and some of the latest books, they are to be considered within the public sphere of the Enlightenment. Historian James Van Horn Melton offers another perspective and places English coffeehouses within a more political public sphere of the Enlightenment. According to Melton, English coffeehouses were "born in an age of revolution, restoration, and bitter party rivalries. (They) provided public space at a time when political action and debate had begun to spill beyond the institutions that had traditionally contained them." He uses the fact that Harrington's "arch republican" Rota club met within an early London coffeehouse to discuss political issues as evidence that English coffeehouses were depicted as centres of "religious and political dissent." He also offers evidence that different political groups used the popularity of coffeehouses for their own political ends: Puritans encouraged coffeehouse popularity because proprietors forbade the consumption of alcohol within their establishment, whereas royalist critics associated coffeehouses with incessant and unwarranted political talk by common subjects. Historians disagree on the role and participation of women within the English coffeehouse. Bramah states that women were forbidden from partaking in coffeehouse activity as customers. Cowan, on the other hand, explains that while coffeehouses were free and open to all subjects despite class, gender, or merit, conversation revolved around male-centred issues such as politics, business and cultural criticism, which were not supposed to concern women and thus their participation within coffeehouses was unwelcomed. Historians depict coffeehouses as a gentlemanly sphere where men could partake in conversation without associating with women; coffeehouses were consequently not considered a place for a lady who wished to preserve her respectability. As such, complaints against the coffeehouse were commonly vocalised by women. Women used subtle arguments against coffeehouse frequenting, as well as coffee consumption, outlined in "The Women's Petition Against Coffee." They protested against the consumption of coffee arguing that it made men sterile and impotent and stated that it contributed to the nation's failing birth rate. According to the petition, coffee made men "as unfruitful as the sandy deserts, from where that unhappy berry is said to be brought." Women also raised protest against the coffeehouse itself as it "provided in times of domestic crisis when a husband should have been attending to his duties at home." Cowan cites a handful of instances in which women were allowed to frequent English coffeehouses: When partaking in business ventures, in Bath, where female sociability was more readily accepted, in gambling/coffeehouses, and while auctions were held within coffeehouses, as a woman acted in the service of her household. Historians have accounted for female involvement in the male public sphere of the coffeehouse by evaluating female news hawkers who enter temporarily within a male-dominated coffeehouse. Paula McDowell has argued that these women "were anything but the passive distributors of other people's political ideas." In addition, as McDowell's study shows, female hawkers "shap[ed] the modes and forms of political discourse through their understanding of their customer's desires for news and print ephemera." Nonetheless, McDowell and Cowan agree that although women workers may have been physically within the male public sphere of the coffeehouse, their rank and gender prevented them from fully participating within the sphere. The presence of women within coffeehouses in general did not mean that they participated equally in the public sphere of coffeehouses. Cowan points to female proprietors of coffeehouses, known as "coffee-women", as a pertinent example of women's presence in, while not necessarily participating in, the public realm of coffeehouses. They acted as proprietors of the establishment as well as coffee servers, while not necessarily taking part in coffeehouse conversation. Famous female coffeehouse proprietors are Anne Rochford and Moll King, who subsequently became publicly satirised figures. Towards the end of the 18th century, coffeehouses had almost completely disappeared from the popular social scene in England. Historians offer a wide range of reasons for the decline of English coffeehouses. Ellis argues that coffeehouse patrons' folly through business endeavours, the evolution of the club and the government's colonial policy acted as the main contributors to the decline of the English coffeehouse. Coffeehouse proprietors worked to gain monopoly over news culture and to establish a coffeehouse newspaper as the sole form of print news available. Met with incessant ridicule and criticism, the proposal discredited coffee-men's social standing. Ellis explains: "Ridicule and derision killed the coffee-men's proposal but it is significant that, from that date, their influence, status and authority began to wane. In short, coffee-men had made a tactical blunder and had overreached themselves." The rise of the exclusive club also contributed to the decline in popularity of English coffeehouses. Bramah explains how the coffeehouse rules that had made coffeehouses once accessible meeting places for all sections of society, fell into disuse. "Snobbery reared its head, particularly amongst the intelligentsia, who felt that their special genius entitled them to protection from the common herd. Strangers were no longer welcome." For example, some coffeehouses began charging more than the customary penny to preserve frequent attendance of the higher standing clientele they served. Literary and political clubs rose in popularity, as "the frivolities of coffee-drinking were lost in more serious discussion." With a new increased demand for tea, the government also had a hand in the decline of the English coffeehouse in the 18th century. The British East India Company, at the time, had a greater interest in the tea trade than the coffee trade, as competition for coffee had heightened internationally with the expansion of coffeehouses throughout the rest of Europe. Government policy fostered trade with India and China, and, according to Ellis, the government offered encouragements to anything that would stimulate demand for tea. Tea had become fashionable at court, and tea houses, which drew their clientele from both sexes, began to grow in popularity. The growing popularity of tea is explained by the ease with which it is prepared. "To brew tea, all that is needed is to add boiling water; coffee, in contrast, required roasting, grinding and brewing." Ellis offers evidence that tea consumption rose in English society, from 800,000 lb (360,000 kg) per annum in 1710 to 100,000,000 lb (45,000,000 kg) per annum in 1721. In regards to the decline in coffee culture, Ellis concludes: "They had served their purpose and were no longer needed as meeting-places for political or literary criticism and debate. They had seen the nation pass through one of its greatest periods of trial and tribulation; had fought and won the battle age of profligacy; and had given us a standard of prose-writing and literary criticism unequalled before or since." - Cowan, 2005. p 81 - Cowan, 2005. p 79 - Cowan, 2005. p 17 - Ellis, 1956. p 1 - Ellis, 1956. p 2 - Cowan, 2005. p 18-19 - Cowan, 2005. p 20 - Ellis, 1956. p 10 - Ellis, 1956. p 13 - Ellis, 1956. p 15 - Ellis, 1956. p 16 - Drummond, J.C.; Wilbraham, Anne (1957). The Englishman's food: a history of five centuries of English diet. (Rev. ed.). London: Cape. p. 116. ISBN 978-0224601689. - This source cites Misson; citation needed for original statement. - Cowan, 2005. p 90 - William Harrison Ukers (1935). All about Coffee. Library of Alexandria. pp. 69–70. - J. Pelzer. (1 December 2003). "The English Coffee Houses". Waes Hael Poetry & Tobacco Club. Archived from the original on June 19, 2006. - Boulton, William B. The Amusements of Old London. London: Ballantyne, Hanson & Co., 1901. - Ellis, Aytoun. The Penny Universities; A History of the Coffee-houses. London, Secker & Warburg, 1956. - Cowan, 2005. p 91 - Cowan, 2005. p 94 - Ellis, 1956. p 29 - The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug By Bennett Alan Weinberg, Bonnie K. Bealer - Google Books - Coffee House Tokens - Robert Thompson, London Numismatic Club, 3 October 2006 - Jamaica Wine House, in the alley just off Cornhill, at the church of St Michael, occupies the Pasqua Rosée Coffee House site - "The Vertue of the COFFEE Drink" - 1652 handbill, advertising St. Michael's Alley, the first coffee shop in London. It is held in the British Museum. - The Printer's Devil Project: The Coffee House - British Muslim Heritage - The London Coffee House - Pasqua Rosée - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - A Albion Revisitada - By Luiz Carlos Soares - Page 226 - Google Books (Soares, Luiz Carlos. The Albion revisited: science, religion, illustration and commercialization of leisure in eighteenth-century England) (SOARES, Luiz Carlos. A Albion revisitada : ciência, religião, ilustração e comercialização do lazer na Inglaterra do século XVIII. Rio de Janeiro : 7Letras, 2007. 275 p.) - Ellis, 1956. p 33 - Ellis, 1956. p 37 - Cowan, 2005. p 97 - Ellis, 1956. p 42 - Ellis, 1956. p 223 - Ellis, 1956. p43 - Cowan, 2005. p 104 - Ellis, 1956. p 53 - Ellis, 1956. p 45 - Ellis, 1956. p 46 - Klein, 1996 p 34 - Cowan, 2005. p 101 - Cowan, 2005. p 256 - Mackie, 1998. p 1 - Berry, 2001. p 69 - Ellis, 1956. p 49 - Cowan, 2005. p 99 - Berry, 2001. p 72 - Berry, 2001. p 76 - Lillywhite, 1963. p 156-157 - Ellis , 1956. Front Cover - Ellis, M., The Coffee-House , Hatchette, UK, Ch. 3. - Lillywhite, 1963. p 330 - Cowan, 2005. p 87 - The English Coffee Houses (web.archive.org 2003-02-13) - History of Coffee - Penny Universities: History's Colourful Coffee Houses - Modern History Sourcebook: The First English Coffee-Houses, c. 1670-1675 - The East India Company and Coffee - The Coffeehouses of London - Coffee in Seventeenth Century England - Mackie, 1998. p 5 - Bramah, 1972. p 48 - Outram, 1995. p 3 - Outram, 1995. p 11 - Outram, 1995. p 15 - Outram, 1995. p 19 - Outram, 1995. p 20 - Van Horn Melton, 2001. p 241 - Van Horn Melton, 2001. p 242 - Bramah, 1972. p 47 - Cowan, 2001. p 141 - Cowan, 2005. p 246 - Bramah, 1972. p 46 - Cowan, 2005. p 248 - Cowan, 2005. p 249 - McDowell, 1998. p.17 - Cowan, 2005. p 251 - Cowan, 2001. p 128 - Ellis, 1956. p 225 - Ellis, 1956. p 226 - Bramah, 1972. p 49 - Ellis, 1956. p 238 - Bramah, 1972. p 50 - Ellis, 1956. p 239 - Berry, Helen. 2001. "Rethinking Politeness in Eighteenth-Century England: Moll King's Coffee House and the significance of 'Flash Talk': The Alexander Prize Lecture." Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 6th Ser., Vol. 11: 65–81. - Bramah, Edward. 1972. Tea and Coffee. A Modern View of Three Hundred Years of Tradition. Tiptree, Essex: Hutchinson & Co, Ltd. - Cowan, Brian William. 2005. The Social Life of Coffee: The Emergence of the British Coffeehouse. New Haven: Yale University Press. - Cowan, Brian William. 2001. "What Was Masculine about the Public Sphere? Gender and the Coffeehouse Milieu in Post-Restoration England." History Workshop Journal. No. 51: 127–157. - Ellis, Aytoun. 1956. The Penny Universities; A History of the Coffee-houses. London: Secker & Warburg. - Klein, Lawrence. E. 1996. "Coffeehouse Civility, 1660–1714: An Aspect of Post-Courtly Culture in England." The Huntington Library Quarterly. Vol. 59, No. 1: 30–51. - Lillywhite, Bryant. 1963. London Coffeehouses. A Reference Book of Coffee Houses of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. - Mackie, Erin, ed. No Date. The commerce of everyday life: selections from The Tatler and The Spectator. Boston: Bedford cultural editions. - McDowell, Paula. 1998. The Women of Grub Street: Press, Politics, and Gender in the London Literary Marketplace, 1678-1730. Oxford: Clarendon Press. - Outram, Dorinda. 1995. The Enlightenment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Van Horne Melton, James. 2001. The Rise of the Public in Enlightenment Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Oxford Playhouse has a new lease of life under artistic director Michelle Dickson, and one of its successes is this fast-paced little show that was a big hit in Edinburgh last year and now goes out on the road. Written by David Hastings and directed by Toby Hulse (who has done some great work down in Bristol) this action-packed family show is a celebration of the dreams of space travel in the 20th century. In particular, it marks the post-second world war race to put a man on the moon after the launch of Sputnik I, the first satellite, in 1957. Written to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landings, One Small Step invites audiences to let their imaginations take flight out of this world in a two-person show with dozens of characters, each on a mission to make sure that they are the first to plant their flag on the lunar landscape. • Gulbenkian, Canterbury, Sat 30 May; South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, Tue 2 Jun; Cornerstone, Didcot, Thu 4 Jun

Charles objected, "My place is here." "Your place is caring for the people of your church. This duty means you will accompany Marc Royce. And if he is to be trusted, you will share with him the secret." Charles felt a thrill race up his spine. "You will allow this man to hold the future of your people?" "Only if he is the one of my dream." The young-old man looked around the circle of elders, granting them the chance to object. But no one spoke. So he turned back and finished, "And only if he shows you a sign." Once again the chief had managed to spook him. "What sign will that be?" Philip rose with him, a rare honor. "You will know when God tells you." Rare Earth, pg 94-95. Back Cover: Marc Royce stares out of the helicopter, a sense of foreboding rising with the volcanic cloud. Below, the Rift Valley slashes across Africa like a scar. Decades of conflicts, droughts, and natural disasters have left their mark. Dispatched to audit a relief organization, Royce is thrust into the squalor and chaos of Kenyan refugee camps. But his true mission focuses on the area's reserves of once-obscure minerals now indispensable to high-tech industries. These strategic elements--called rare earths--have inflamed tensions on the world's stage and stoked tribal rivalries. As Royce prepares to report back to Washington, he seizes on a bold and risky venture for restoring justice to this troubled land. But this time, Royce may have gone too far. My Review: As a volcano spews its ash in the air, one man goes missing, whole villages are being evacuated for no reason, and one company seems to be behind it all. Only Marc Royce stands between in the way, but will he live long enough to discover the truth? Rare Earth is a tale of thickly woven deceit, and intents bigger than anyone originally imagined. I really enjoyed Bunn's work. He did a fantastic job creating this page turner. My Recommendation: I recommend this book to readers of suspense and fans of Davis Bunn. Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

One way is to put together a list of innovations that can potentially have a major impact in personal and business life for facets of life on this planet, to look at what has happened and use stochastic processes in other predictive methods and use it to relatively show what could potentially happen. That is all one can do in our daily life outside of all the technical jargons we use every day. One can also look at all the new innovation at stake and make sense out of what is about to come in the next 50 years. I can only achieve this by looking at the last 50 years when we had a major industrial revolution (Internet) which drove us to almost 150+ IP based applications, and my prediction almost two decades ago that IP will eat everything is becoming a reality. Although no one can fully and easily predict what exactly can be implemented over the next few decades as no one would have been able to predict companies such as Facebook or others and their impact on human society during last industrial revolution, all one can do is to learn from all the scientific work being done and make some predictions about the future about to come. But I am very confident that there will be billion dollar evaluated companies in years to come, like after March 1st with Snapchat. It is very important to identify the challenges and then help accelerate solving these problems for the good of mankind no matter which continent we live in, knowing there may be a 7th continent that has been located below New Zealand. It can potentially drive many valuable minerals that could ultimately solve many of the diseases and shortages we are dealing with on a daily basis including the simple flu which no one has been able to identify a vaccine to help eliminate. The main objective should be to lower cycle time and then to eliminate the disease without taking too much medicine which no one and I mean no one can explain or even describe the full impact on human body over the long term. It is stated that any virus entering human body will take 2-3 days to start impacting other cells, getting to full flu but solving this problem is against all the drugs OTC companies who are about to lose billions of some useless products that still do not do anything except potentially slow down the rate of growth. We have done major advancements in our land on various levels of innovation but not much research has been done on what is our planet at bottom of the ocean except using sonar based technologies given the massive PSI extorted on any human being. New drones are needed to help accelerate and explore what we have available at bottom of the ocean as well, and a lot of scientific work is already under-way. So, let me take a crack at some of my predictions or I should say, challenges that we need to consider and solve in order to help our people across the globe. So, let me start my top 20 list: - People using contact lenses will end up having Terminator Vision. This could be well beyond the 20/20 vision that we may have been accustomed to and a new standard of care for vision that drives to such model. Look at how much one can save in the support of humanity across the globe. - Medical check-ups will be conducted by smart-phones. This can easily be done using sensors either inside or outside of the body, and finally deploying sensors that can approach the 1T sensors equivalent to estimate the number of neurons in the brain and then perform predictive analytics to identify issues well before it happens. I just put together a list of medical sensors which is the start of this revolution in the 21st century, and UCSD was the main university developing state of art sensors in their Nano-Engineering center. - There are over 130 million books on this planet, and I predict all will be digitized. All 130 million books on the planet will be digitized and indexed, and there will be a very easy way to locate any search words unlike what is being provided by Google. Using speech recognition technology can offer such capabilities to every language across the globe. Today, a small percentage of what has been developed is already digitized, indexed, and ready to search but I do believe a new way of search will be far different than what we got accustomed to in beginning of 21st century. Much more innovation around speech to text using a very accurate model will be developed with a massive advantage across the globe and do we know how much analog pictures and videos are yet to be digitized and then converted to 4K such as video. - Supersonic jets will return. We all remember Concord with over Mock 2.02 but the new type of supersonic jets can reach as high as Mock 5.0. You can imagine how fast it will take to go around the globe where speed of sound is 1500 meters per second. Speed can never substitute for anything we can ever innovate. It is speed and cycle time that finally drive companies with little investment to drive top line revenue but most companies miss this important Key Performance Indicator. - Our own refrigerator will place our grocery order and might even prepare certain type of food by using a new chip set card, like the movie Star Trek back in the 60s. I do believe we are not far off from getting to this point in real time. Look at what Amazon is doing in order to deliver what is missing from refrigerator inventory to fill it up when needed. Their main objective is speed and no one has been able to beat Amazon when it comes to speed of innovation since it is embedded in their culture. - The carpet in our homes home or business will detect intruders and summon help if you fall, only based on sensors deployed in the home and within the carpet, which is already in development. There will be no need for any other capability to inform first responders about the health of an individual using massive sensors that is about to be introduced. - As we move toward 1T sensors by 2030, lawn sensors will tell you which part of your yard need to be fertilized. Today, there is no such capability and US subsidizes over $40B for farmers due to many factors in US. We might be able to lower this price and use it to provide better education for human beings especially in poverty-based areas across the globe. It all becomes conservation of energy, and I am confident it will happen in due time with massive support from US government. Thinking about getting oil or any kind of energy without drilling and knowing the actual location of oil given drill bits are all IP-based going forward. There are companies who can get GPS of every inch of planet on a daily basis knowing what has changed and can use analytics to help drive new innovation. - The electric meter will monitor local power consumption and help you make full use of off peak rates, thus reducing need for electricity and optimizing using some very unique analytics and help you make full use of off-peak rates which can add up to massive savings for every home across the globe. It will lower the costs across the country and even globe and provide a hemisphere which is open enough that we can help generate enough electricity to support countries that still need oil to run businesses. This sensor technologies can even lower an electric bill by as much as 40% which is huge in the world of taxes, taxes and more taxes that we all pay to live in freedom. - I also believe within 30 years, humans will begin augmenting their brains by plugging the power of tomorrow's smartphones directly into their brains – This along with the massive number of sensors and what I call Cognitive Reality (CR) can drive the next-generation standards of care across the globe. Clearly, Oculus is prime example of such technology being in the center and a cornerstone of such innovation for healthcare. If we look at just pain and what people go through, it causes lack of sleep that can cause accidents on the road let alone texting and driving. We must focus on areas using analytics to help patients and insurance companies establish standards of care to help everyone handle the pain without getting into any type of accident which insurance companies love to do. Of course, given we are a passionate country, a pain clinic will never allow patients to suffer pain, period, and we must give them lot of credit in light of all the challenges coming from DC area. 10.Our high way infrastructure will be far more advanced than what we see today - this area will be very dicey to say the least and the reality is our highway and infrastructure should be able to handle 3 times as many cars. One would even ask how can this be possible given so much traffic in almost every state across the country. In addition, according to researchers at a very prominent university in US, at best 5 percent of a highway's road surface at any given time. If we let technology take the wheel, we could significantly increase the volume of traffic. In one example, a European semi-autonomous road train wirelessly connects a stream of cars to a truck driven by a professional. The self-driving cars mimic the speed and steering of the lead vehicle, safely decreasing the gaps while increasing fuel efficiency to help lower impact of climate and global warming. After all, these incremental approaches to solve traffic problem will never ever solve the needs of 21st century. Perhaps flying cars can solve this but I would not bet on this, given massive regulatory issues surrounding this issue with FAA and FCC. 11.Farmers will grow caffeine-free coffee beans. Taking caffeine out of coffee is no easy chemical feat, which is why decaf lacks the rich flavor of the high-test stuff. After years of research, Brazilian scientists have discovered a mutant strain of coffee that's naturally low in caffeine. They won't rest until they learn how to remove every last drop of the sleep-retarding stimulant. For more information, please look at 2 top universities (UC San Diego and RPI in Troy, NY). They have by far the best Nanoengineering department on this planet. 12.Real Estate Full Automation - Can you imagine when you buy a new home, how many documents one has to sign? It becomes unmanageable from a customer point of view but I do believe a virtual lawyer will help you plan your own estate. I do not mean avatars – I mean virtual people – self-contained, thinking organisms indistinguishable from humans. It may sound crazy to say the least, right? But surely you have seen the magic of CGI. What's to say you cannot attach a life-like visage to an interface fronting the crowd-sourced wisdom of Internet? Give it a nice head of hair, teach it how to smile, and you are now looking at a brilliant, legal eagle with awesome people skills. 13.Scientists will discover direct evidence of dark matter – It may account for 23-25 percent of the mass in the universe, yet it has not yet been confirmed that dark matter exists, though there are some evidence of it in CERN super collider. Some physicists believe the proof of such theory may be in hand in 15 years, allowing us to solve many of the problems unknown to humankind, like god particle developed by Higgs bottom. 14.Advances in Nano-technology will help us overcome not only illness but also the limits of being human. For example, robotic red blood cells called reciprocates could each hold 200 times the oxygen of their natural counterparts, enabling a man on a mission to, say, hide out underwater for half a day without a scuba tank. It could also help Navy seals hold their breath for over 4 hours during any mission. 15.Robots will rule the LV games! China started hosting the international humanoid robot Olympic games in 2010, and one of the inventors was pushing for high-tech competitors in Rio de Janeiro in the summer of 2016. The original Olympic skill sets were javelin throws, wrestling, and fighting skills that countries needed for defense. In the 21st century, sports should require modern skills like programming and mechanical prowess. 16.I also believe that the Pentagon will finally say goodbye to large submarines. With the steady improvement in sonar technology, our subs are already hard-pressed to evade detection using normal mode acoustic coupling. In the future, underwater robots with laser guided radar Nano-acoustic sensors will make the seas virtually transparent. So, how will we deploy our sensitive information? I believe new technology around hypersonic-based technologies will reach any area on the planet within 1 hour or less. 17.An Ion engine will reach the stars. If you are thinking of making the trip to Alpha Centauri, pack plenty of snacks. At 25.8 trillion miles, the voyage requires more than 4.3 years of travel at light speed, which has never been proven. One cannot even go that fast due to Einstein theory of relativity. This type of propulsion needs to be far different than what we normally use, which is liquid or solid fuel, and the spacecraft must be propelled by ions of xenon gas accelerated by an electric field. The space shuttle used 6M pounds of thrust to lift off but the Ion engine will require lot less thrust to get to escape velocity moving out of earth gravitational force. 18.A bigger assumption will be that our body will be truly connected, and doctors will check vital signs around the clock via many sensors which I estimate to be over 1T by 2030 time-frame. In addition, stomach chips will monitor people's diet to help one lose weight without any expensive programs. In addition, spinal cord implants will reverse paralysis once and for all. One can also use chips that will help you absorb data while you are sleep without any medication and brain interface that will also help us fully inhibit virtual worlds. In essence, doctors will be inside the human body and solve many of the issues people are facing this century. 19.Scientists will map the quadrillion connections between the brain's neurons. Quadrillion sounds like a made-up number, but we can be assured that the number is real. Those connections hold the answers to questions about mental illness, learning, and the whole nature versus nurture issue. If every one of them were a penny, one could stack them and build a tower 963 million miles high!!! It would stretch past Mars, Jupiter and Saturn and stop roughly halfway to Uranus. President Obama spent $100M to map the human brain but we need a lot more science and technology funding to truly understand how the brain operates, which is our central processor for the entire body. 20.Lastly, bridges will repair themselves with self-healing concrete. This is being invented by a University of Michigan engineer. The new composite is paced with micro-fibers that bed without breaking. Hairline fractures mend themselves within days when calcium ions in the mix react with rainwater and carbon dioxide to create a calcium carbonate patch. Let's not forget any type of crack in airplane wings which is not visible by eyes during initial inspection. This can save millions of lives for cracked line in many verticals that one can't even imagine. In summary, if industry and research organizations focus on these top 20 major innovations, one can imagine a superlative quality of life and can even solve what they call super bugs, which no anti-biotics can help. In my next series of predictions, I will take the predictions even further and try to drive more direct innovation, which we need to think about if we have any chance of driving the next-generation world for the people of this planet. I am fairly convinced the end state is well within our reach and with the diversity of ideas and opinion, we can get to our end state fairly quickly depending on the level of investment needed to make these inventions happen as quickly as possible. Of course, any additional insights are welcome like always. Dr. Hossein Eslambolchi We are also on Face Book, Click on Like to jois us FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hyderabad-Masti/335077553211328 FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hydmasti/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Hyderabad Masti" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to email@example.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Bluewater District School Board staff is in the process of reviewing and consulting with Chesley District Community School commencement award donors as to the future direction of the awards. For years Ayton residents have been concerned with the shallow level of the South Saugeen River that runs through their village. Recently a number of them have decided it’s time to take a proactive rather than reactive approach to save it. Journalist and "a forthright and passionate proponent of rural life," Jim Merriam of Tara, has been awarded the Municipality of Arran-Elderslie's 2017 Senior of the Year award. Some local stores are running low on special eclipse-watching glasses as Monday's eclipse of the sun approaches. Ontario's plan to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour, among other labour reform proposals, will put at risk 1,270 jobs in Grey County and 880 jobs in Bruce County over the next two years, according to a study commissioned by a business coalition objecting to the changes. A Manitoba man has died after being kicked by a horse in Huron-Kinloss. July saw another record set for home sales in Grey-Bruce. The man who created the legend behind Wiarton's famous groundhog Willie and the festivities around it has died. By the end of the 30th Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular which runs Aug. 25 to Sept. 3, there'll be a lot of fish eaten, beer drunk and anglers served. Another attempt at getting Grey County council to revisit its long-term care redevelopment plan has failed. Grey-Bruce municipalities have received the first of two installments from the federal Gas Tax Fund for this year. Hanover police are looking for a 27-year-old woman, whom they say fled after being revived from a drug overdose, to ensure her wellbeing, Police Chief Chris Knoll said Thursday. On Aug, 9th at approximately 4:20 p.m. the Hanover Police Service received an emergency call for service related to a suspected drug overdose in the 300 block of 10th St., in the Town of Hanover. Bruce Peninsula OPP said a car driven by a 22- year-old Toronto man was speeding at 187 kilometres per hour along Highway 6 Saturday. Former Hanover Mayor Kathi Maskell was officially enshrined in Hanover’s history during an unveiling of the mayor’s paver stone. David Small was deemed not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder for killing his girlfriend Lezleigh Hopkins in their Owen Sound apartment in January 2015. Saugeen Conservation has been developing some great connections with Grey and Bruce County farmers. Over the past year and a half, staff have partnered with demonstration farms, launched the Farmer Advisory Service and delivered 13 Coffee, Crops & Doughnuts that offer continuing education units for Crop Advisors. Stephen Musehl of Chesley is the new executive director of the Alzheimer Society of Grey-Bruce. History repeats itself, as do water levels

On hand were some of the greatest living catchers in the history of the game; the 1986 World Champion Mets backstop Gary Carter, former Red Sox / White Sox All Star Carlton Fisk, The Big Red Machine's Johnny Bench, former Mets player/ coach & 1973 NL Champion Mets manager Yogi Berra. Also on hand were former Detroit Tiger catcher & current coach Lance Parrish & one of the best catchers of his era; Ivan Rodriguez. Also on hand for this special night was Mike Piazza's long time family friend & former Dodgers Manager; Tommy Lasorda. A commemorative poster featuring Piazza was given out to the fans, in which centerfieldmaz was in attendance. Then a ceremony where speeches were made in Piazza's honor. His feat was celebrated by the Mets organization, his team mates & the 36,000 fans at Shea Stadium, as well as the visiting Detroit Tigers. After the pregame ceremony Art Howe's third place Mets (32-34) hosted an inter league game with Alan Trammel's fourth place Detroit Tigers (31-35) in front of 36,141 paid at Shea.. The pitchers were Tom Glavine for the Mets up against Alan the Tigers' Nate Robinson. |Detroit Tigers||New York Mets| |1||Alex Sanchez||CF||1||Kazuo Matsui||SS| |2||Brandon Inge||3B||2||Todd Zeile||3B| |3||Ivan Rodriguez||C||3||Mike Piazza||C| |4||Dmitri Young||1B||4||Shane Spencer||LF| |5||Rondell White||LF||5||Richard Hidalgo||RF| |6||Craig Monroe||RF||6||Ty Wigginton||2B| |7||Omar Infante||2B||7||Mike Cameron||CF| |8||Jason Smith||SS||8||Jason Phillips||1B| |9||Nate Robertson||P||9||Tom Glavine||P| The Tigers scored in the 1st inning, as both Brad Inge & Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez singled. Then Delvin Young reached on a fielder’s choice but Pudge was thrown out. Rondell White then doubled scoring Inge. As Delvin Young also tried to score, Mike Cameron threw a bullet to Kazo Matsui who then threw a perfect throw to Piazza behind the plate, nailing Young at the plate. The crowd erupted in excitement as Piazza the man of night, made a fine defensive play. Young struck again later with a solo HR in the 4th inning. In the Mets 5th, Ty Wigginton & Mike Cameron both singled, then Jason Phillips moved the runners over. Tom Glavine singled tying up the game 2-2. Relievers Ricky Bottalico & Braden Looper held down the Tigers to the 9th inning, pitching an inning each. In the 9th Tiger pitcher; Danny Paterson retired Richard Hidalgo & Ty Wigginton. Mike Cameron stepped in & saved Piazza’s Night, as he became the games hero with an exciting walk off HR to left center field. It was the first of two exciting nights for Cameron. Saturday June 19th 2004: The next day, the Mets sent Al Leiter to the mound against Detroit's Jason Johnson. The Tigers took a 2-0 lead by the 2nd inning.. The Mets got a run back on Eric Valents fielders choice with the bases loaded in the 2nd. In the 8th the Tigers got a run off John Franco making it a 3-1 game. In the 8th Karim Garcia doubled & reached third on a wild pitch. Jose Reyes reached second on an error & Garcia scored. Reyes got to third tagging on a Ty Wigginton fly out, he then was brought in by Cliff Floyd tying the game. The game stayed that way until the 10th inning, Reyes tripled off Craig Dingman with one out. Wigginton & Floyd were both walked intentionally, loading them up for last nights hero; Mike Cameron. Cameron came through again, driving a walk off game winning single to left center field scoring Ty Wigginton. In Cameron’s first year with the Mets he led the team with 30 HRs with 30 doubles 22 steals & 76 RBIs. He batted .231 & struck out 143 times (10th in the NL).

Since the Enlightenment, when unaided human reason was promoted to a place above the authority of the Holy Scriptures, it has been presumed that mankind can, at least in principle, explain himself and his surroundings without recourse to “the God hypothesis.” Although they couldn’t agree among themselves about how to rely on the human mind, they “knew” at least one thing: God – if He or it existed, would have to pass their examinations and fit within their logical formulations. The Creator would have to become subject to the creature. Of course, their examinations were naively inapplicable, and their use of logic off-target. The god of unbelief is always a straw man. Unpreparedness Leads to Capitulation One of the saddest capitulations to this point of view came from Christian scholarship. Christians themselves swallowed the “dictates of reason” nearly wholesale, and tried to equate faith with this newly emancipated view of reason. To boil it down, they resorted either to make Christianity “scientific”, or else to accept the separation that had been created. The theological liberals were prepared to follow the second course (although they also saw no use in believing miracles). The conservatives who wanted to remain faithful to the Bible and its message of salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ, still felt the need to reconcile this faith with the new minted approach to science, and they tried to accommodate their beliefs to it. The situation became even more pronounced once Darwin published his Origin of Species in 1859. Darwin provided a mechanism – natural selection – which, it was thought, eliminated the need to postulate a god who designed and made things. From then on many Christians, following their scholars, embraced a theistic form of evolutionism, wherein God was supposed to have used evolution to “create.” They did this because they thought at least a nominal kind of Christianity was the norm. Hence, they were unprepared for the great departure from this “Christian” norm when they were confronted with it. In short, they had not developed a proper biblical world and life view, and so their apologetics did not function within the biblical framework, but an ill-fitting foreign, and suddenly and antagonistic one. Hooked on the Absurd “Today the theory of evolution is about as much open to doubt as the theory that the earth goes round the sun.” – Richard Dawkins Reading such a stridently sure and absolute assertion one might feel like throwing in the towel and embracing the evolution dogma. The sheer confidence displayed in it almost protrudes through the page. But before one gives in let it be noted that this same Richard Dawkins is on film telling people that has no idea how life got started and thinks it feasible that aliens started life off on earth (see the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed). Recall also what was said about his allegiance to the deterministic forces of nature in the last post. If Dawkins’ worldview is right, none of us can help thinking exactly what we’re thinking – and so all “reasoning” is illusory. What do we do about this quote from someone who takes Dawkins’ logic and runs with it: “Evolution teaches that “we are animals” so that “sex across the species barrier ceases to be an offence to our status and dignity as human beings.” —Peter Singer, “Heavy Petting,” 2001 That sentence, when one steps back and thinks about it, is so patently absurd, one wonders who would ever believe it. Singer commends “dignity” and bestiality in the same sentence! This is the same man who thinks new-born babies have no more value (or “dignity”) than slugs. Of course, Singer is quite correct IF evolution is true and God does not exist. Well, not only is evolution more in trouble today as a scientific theory than it has ever been (and it has always been in deep trouble as truth), it is really vacuous for Singer to speak about “status and dignity” at all. Evolution is the creation-myth of atheism, held in place by interested parties with the power and the money. It holds sway nowadays as science by judicial decree. This is irregardless of the fact that it is utterly destructive of everything we used to prize in society: justice, peace, and freedom to do the right. Just prior to the beginning of the Second World War, the Nazis told the German people that they had to invade Poland to defend themselves against the Polish aggressors. Propagandists have always known that the bigger the lie, the easier it is for the masses to swallow. This is because people reason it is so silly it has to be true. And it is often the intellectuals who buy into the lie first; either for reasons of expediency, or because of misguided ideologies. (As an aside, those who never leave “school” will tend to be more idealistic than those who have to earn a living in the real world). Christians to whom God has given children should be aware of where the rhetoric of the world leads. They should take note of what the Bible says about the world and its lusts, and how the wisdom of this world is so contrary to the true wisdom of God in Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:20-24). They should learn from the mistakes of the past and never yield an inch in their allegiance to the clear sense of God’s Word. The world’s wisdom always terminates in absurdities like the touting of the irrational determinism of Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett, or the moral perversity of Peter Singer. Without God their is no logic, no science, no stable ethics, and no love or justice. When unbelievers use these it is in spite of their worldviews. God in Christ must be the Source of these aspects of reality, and if we turn our eyes from Him (and all sinners do), we end up partnering with the world in its creation of the absurd.

I wanted to share with you, Federico Caprilli in the words of his students, Captain Piero Santini and Colonel Paul Rodzianko. The first excerpt is from Santini’s book, Riding Reflections, The Derrydale Press, New York 1932. The second excerpt is from Rodzianko’s book, Modern Horsemanship, Seeley Service & Co, Ltd., London 1936. From Piero Santini/ Riding Reflections pgs. 3-5 When the lively and energetic Lieutenant Caprilli was recalled from the small garrison in the South of Italy where he had been sent to cool his heels and his juvenile exuberance after a somewhat hectic debut in Turin, the method which was to make him famous was already clear in his mind. In his exile, owing to his astonishing success in steeplechases and in jumping competitions, he had caught the eye of an intelligent superior officer, and it was thanks to the faith he had succeeded in inspiring in the latter that the young officer — who seems to have had but few partisans of his method at the time — was allowed to demonstrate, to a special committee nominated for the purpose, the practical results of his theories. He presented to the critical and not altogether benevolent eye of his superiors a troop he had been instructing for four months; the result was a veritable triumph, and in 1904 we find Caprilli installed at Pinerolo with carte blanche as to the instruction of the yearly batch of young subaltern pupils. Such was the dawn of what might be called the contemporary era of riding. Caprilli was not much given to writing and the little he did put on paper deals more with the rider’s mental attitude towards the horse*—which might he described as one of gentle persuasion as opposed to the forcible methods then in vogue — than with the rider’s actual position as he conceived it. The result has been that, never really having compiled an exhaustive treatise on every detail of his method, most of his principles have been handed down, mainly by word of mouth, to succeeding generations of Italian Cavalry instructors. This has prevented strict standardization and, outside of the Italian Cavalry, has led to a certain misleading elasticity of interpretation which Caprilli’s written word would have done much to keep within bounds. At the time of Caprilli’s appearance on the scene of Pinerolo, horsemanship there, as everywhere else in the world, was based on severe bits and on leaning back at jumps with the feet thrust forward in such a way that the rider was practically dependent on the reins for keeping his seat; and on that most illogical of all theories, “lifting” the horse over the jump by violently jerking his head up — practices which Caprilli condemned as causing discomfort and pain to the horse and consequently disgusting him with his work. Caprilli entirely suppressed the prevailing methods and based his own on the principle that a horse should be interfered with as little as possible and that, although continually under the rider’s control (he was the sworn enemy of the loose rein), he should move with the freedom and natural balance of a riderless animal — this to apply to all contingencies and not to jumping alone, for the forward seat does not consist, as the amateur is apt to believe, in a jumping formula, but should be understood as a complete and distinct method of equitation. From Col. Paul Rodzianko/ Modern Horsemanship pgs. 17-23 THIRTY years’ experience, and the fact that I have been a pupil of two very great horsemen, gives me the hope of producing a book which will be useful to all interested in riding and training. I studied under James Fillis when he was Director of the Russian Cavalry School in St. Petersburg. Later I worked for many years under Captain Caprilli in the Italian Cavalry School. Since then I have trained horses and pupils in many countries. My main point in this book is to explain the principles of horsemanship evolved by Caprilli. His methods give great importance to the natural balance of the horse. The rider is taught never to interfere with that natural balance and the results are particularly successful in cross-country riding. Polo, Haute Ecole, and Hacks are different matters, for then an artificial balance of the horse is required and James Fillis’s system gives best results. Caprilli was the genius of cross-country riding. James Fillis was a genius of Haute Ecole. My sincere thanks are due to both of them. I have tried to explain their principles clearly. I am also greatly indebted to the friends who helped me to compile this work. It may be of interest to give a short summary of the careers of my two great masters. 1868-1908 From childhood Caprilli loved and seemed to understand horses. He entered the Military School at Modena and soon gained a reputation as a brilliant rider. Astonishment was aroused by the ease with which he managed horses beyond the control of instructors. While studying, he came to the conclusion that most systems of riding were un-harmonious and forced. After years of practice and study he developed his famous method, which he called “The Modern* System of Equitation.” This method took into account the build and character of the horse and readjusted the seat of the rider accordingly. Caprilli’s fame spread beyond Italy. Well-known riders came from all parts of the world to see the young officer and study his theories. Caprilli’s work, however, was hampered by serious opposition, for his military commanders refused to accept his ideas. His theories were bound to arouse controversy. At the risk of his military career he continued working. His iron will, unbounded energy, and fanatical confidence brought their reward. The phenomenal success of his pupils and horses won him recognition. Caprilli proved that his successes were due, not only to his own ability, but to his method of training. Even military circles had to admit his authority. Caprilli became Instructor to the Cavalry School. The whole training system was changed by his idea of preserving the natural balance of the horse and harmony between rider and horse. He was planning many ambitious schemes when he was killed by falling from a horse in 1908. The death of Caprilli was an international loss. His pupils are proceeding on the lines he laid down. Caprilli’s system is simple and simplicity is the ideal in all things. Italian Cavalry School Caprilli divided the Italian Cavalry School in two parts: (1) Pinerolo (Savoy), the Headquarters and Junior Section; (2) Tor di Quinto (Rome), the Senior Section. At Pinerolo the pupils and horses are given a preliminary training. The town is very picturesque and the pine-covered hills around provide splendid exercise grounds for the practice of cross-country riding. The Senior Section (Tor di Quinto) is a small cavalry station outside Rome on the left side of the Tiber. Here the pupils who have finished the Pinerolo course are given further training in cross-country riding, steeple-chasing, hunting, &c. The hunting in the Compagnia Romana is very fast and dangerous. The Pinerolo course lasts about one year and that at Tor di Quinto about six months. There is a constant stream of visitors who come to study riding from all over the world. The principles I am about to describe endeavour: (i) To teach horse and rider to attain efficiency with the least possible waste of energy. 2) To enable the horseman to train a horse for any kind of work. The horse is said to be balanced when energy and weight are equally distributed over his body. He must be able to move in any direction with the maximum speed and the minimum energy. Caprilli taught that the rider’s chief aim must be to respond to all changes of balance by following the movements of the horse. Certain rules must be followed in regard to the rider’s seat. Before Caprilli, the natural balance of the horse was seldom studied. The methods used often went against the animal’s conformation. The position of the rider obviously affects the centre of gravity of the pair. For this reason it is important to realize that a heavy man and a light man should not sit in the same way on the same horse. Caprilli’s training is strictly progressive. Each exercise must be thoroughly studied and understood before passing on to the next. By experience the rider will learn what is meant by change of balance of the horse and he must try to follow it. If the muscles of a young horse are correctly developed, amazing results may be obtained, even from an ordinary animal. The most characteristic point of Caprilli’s method is the lightness and willingness with which rider and horse work together and the calm, easy manner in which serious obstacles are overcome. To prove the above statement it is only necessary to compare a horse trained under Caprilli’s system with a horse of the same type trained in any other way. In these instances it is possible to see the difference between a horse who is excited and strained by his work and one trained to be light and graceful and in harmony with his rider. The uninformed have sometimes criticized the new system on the grounds that it was only suitable for show jumpers. This is a mistake. Caprilli centred his attention on cross-country riding. Jumping must be practised to teach change of balance to horse and rider. If the horses and riders trained under this system excel all others at jumping it is merely the result of correct training.

Class: 8-10 year olds Teach the kids that we have to take care of the animals. VERSE TO MEMORIZE A righteous man regards the life of his animal... (Proverbs 3.6) Educator, search on the Internet photos of animals and welfare institutions, people with their animals and animals receiving veterinary care. Start now by asking the question: What is the similarity between these animals? (Wait for their participation.) All these animals are been cared for and in today's story we will learn about the importance of taking good care of our animals. LEO LIVED in a big countryside house full of animals. Since childhood, he helped his father care for the animals. Leo played, petted and fed the little animals with care. He knew how to care for them and all looked strong and healthy. One day, Leo's family moved to a house in the city. There, the child could not have many animals but a cat only. Leo could not understand why the city had so many abandoned and injured animals. His desire was to take the animals home, but there was not enough space for that. He made many friends at his new school, became friends with Paul, a very funny child, but he had a flaw: he did not like animals. He did many bad things to his dog, and always did something against the animals that he happened to find on the streets near his home. Until one day, Leo was very sad with the way his friend was treating his dog and then decided to ask Paul to give him his pet so he could care for it, and the boy gave it to him. Leo, along with his father, looked after the dog caringly. After a few days the animal was healthy and strong. When Paul saw his dog so well looked after, he asked: Leo ... What makes you love animals so much? My pet looks so different now! "What happened? And Leo said, smiling: I'm just treating this animal with love. My father and me gave him food, played and walk with him, did everything to treat it well, just like the Word of God teaches us. Does the Word of God talk about animals? Asked Paul "Yes, God in the Bible, we learn that good people take good care of their animals, but people that have a bad heart are evil with their pets. And Paul said: I do not want God to be sad with me. Starting today I will no longer be evil with any animal and I will treat them very well, said Paul repented of his bad attitude. Children, God created the world through His Word. He gave life to all living things. God did not forget the animals and placed man (humans) to take care of them. So we should treat animals with kindness and respect, and hate violence against animals as this is displeasing to God. You will need brown tape. Start by choosing the kids that are with a white blouse or a similar tone. Ask the educator assistant you to take them to the back of the class where others cannot see them. The educator assistant should place pieces of tape on the blouse of the children selected and then take them to the front of the class. Educator, ask the class: Look closely at these children. (Point to them). Is there something different about them? Look at their clothes. What do you think? (They will probably notice the tape) Conclude: The difference is that in their clothes there is a bit of tape, Children as this bit of tape caught the attention; God also sees when we're doing the right things and the wrong things. Even the little things, God sees, so the children that have a habit of abusing and mistreating animals end up losing the blessings of God. Who here wants to please God in everything? Then we will pray for Him to forgive us of our bad actions and bless us. Educator, ask the following questions: 1. Do you have a pet? Do you take good care of it? 2. What is your opinion about Paul's behavior? 3. In your opinion, why was Johnny so kind to animals? 4. Have you seen someone mistreating an animal? 5. Have you mistreated an animal? Have you repented? Educator, allow the kids to express themselves and give the opportunity for those who want to talk. Learning the verse. 1. Read the verse of the week and write down what you have understood 2. Comment on the verse. Imitating the animals. Take to the classroom pictures of animals: dog, cat, horse, frog, kangaroo, bird, chicken, monkey etc (you can use the same as in the introduction). Place the illustrations in the decorated shoe box and start talking about what was taught in the story. Ask a child to grab a picture and to name the animals. Then get the class to imitate the animal. Continue until you finish all the illustrations. Caring with joy. Educator, for this activity you need birthday balloons (the quantity according to the quantity of groups formed), strips of paper, tape, markers, candy or lollipops in quantity for the whole class. Write on strips of paper the names of animals (cat, dog, rabbit, fish, etc.), then place the papers inside each balloon. Divide the class into groups of four components and each group will choose a balloon. Members must pop the balloons; write on a paper some necessary care of the animal, the ones that were inside the balloon and explain what kind of care does it need. Then ask questions about the importance of caring for animals and loving them.

Hacksaw Ridge Review HELP ME GET ONE MORE… World War II (aka WWII or WW2) was a difficult time, facing war, death, and violence across many nations and thousands of lives caught in the middle. Spanning roughly six years (from when the war officially began and ended), World War II was a chaotic war, with the Allied forces (US, England, France, and Poland being the key players as well as several other nations who would join) facing off against Germany’s Nazi regime (led by Adolf Hitler) and other Axis-powered nations (Italy and Japan). As many know, the war was fought on two fronts; one being waged in Europe (against Germany and Italy) and the other being waged in the Pacific Ocean (against Japan). From this turbulent time of war, come stories of bravery, valor, and sacrifice, tales of men who fought against insurmountable odds and live to tell their story or help turn the tide of battle. Over the years, many veterans of the war have told their various memoirs of their involvement in WWII (via mostly books) with Hollywood taking an opportunity to cinematically represent their account through either feature films and some TV mini-series programs. One particular tale has caught the eye of actor / director Mel Gibson with harrowing story of Desmond Doss as Gibson and Summit Entertainment present the film adaptation of his story in the new film Hacksaw Ridge. Does this bio-war drama find its resonating target or is just another “paint-by-numbers” Hollywood war flick? Raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia as a young boy, Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) learned the harsh reality impact of violence early, raised by his alcoholic father, Tom (Hugo Weaving), who is haunted by the loss of all of his friends from WWI. Growing up into a responsible, God-fearing man, Desmond’s heart catches wind of the young Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer), a nurse who takes a shine to his humble and kind-hearted ways, with the pair eventually getting engaged to be married. However, before walking down the aisle with Dorothy, Desmond, feeling the need to do his patriotic duty to serve his country, enlist in the army. Arriving for basic training, Desmond, proclaiming to be a Seventh-Day Adventist, desires to be a combat medic, refusing to take part in the handling and training of gun. This, of course, inferiorities his superiors, with Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) and Captain Glover (Sam Worthington), Desmond’s religious faith is put to the test through hazing, menial labor duty, drawing ire from fellow comrade trainee Smitty (Luke Bracey). After pending a court-martial hearing, Desmond, along with the rest of his unit is shipped overseas to Japan to take Okinawa, participating in the ferocious battle to take Hacksaw Ridge, and presenting the young man with a hardship challenge of survival and duty. THE GOOD / THE BAD Sorry for the mini-history lesson above, but you’ll be surprised how many people don’t know about WWII. Like I said, the second World War was long and terrible, filled with sadness, death, and gruesome battles on both battlefronts (i.e. in Europe and in the Pacific Ocean). Some years after the war, Hollywood began to produce films about WWII, fixating on this war due to the large impact it had on the world, its people, and in many cultures. While the war may have ended roughly 71 years ago (from today), Hollywood still hasn’t given up on recreating the battlefields of WWII, fixated on some fictional dramatized characters, but mostly on the real-life accounts of those who fought and / or participated in the war. Some of my personally favorite movies about WWII include Patton, Saving Private Ryan, The Guns of Navarone, Flags of Our Father, Inglorious Basterds (not really a hard-hitting historical drama, but still pretty good), and Unbroken. Perhaps my personal favorite isn’t a feature film, but rather a TV mini-series and, of course, I’m talking about HBO’s Band of Brothers and the follow-up min-series The Pacific. Both are incredible and do a good job showing the battlefronts in two “theaters of war” during WWII. I do highly recommend both of them to watch (if you haven’t already). Now back to my review. I remember hearing about the trailer being released for a movie called Hacksaw Ridge, with Andrew Garfield being the lead role, but I dismissed it at first. I know, it’s true. I usually praise the film’s trailers because I loved them, but I didn’t take much note of it as I didn’t even do a post for the trailer until sometime after was officially released online. When I did get around to seeing it (the trailer), which I believe it was in theaters around the end of September, I was definitely intrigued to seeing the movie when it came out. I couldn’t believe I dismissed the movie’s trailer so easy. So…what did think of the movie? Well, I loved it! With only some minor quibbles, Hacksaw Ridge is a stunning and vivid WWII drama that successfully blends the horrors of the war and the indomitable power of faith through such perilous times. Hacksaw Ridge is directed by actor / director Mel Gibson, who has directed such films as Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ, and Apocalypto. It’s been while since Gibson has sat in the director’s chair (roughly a decade since Apocalypto came out), but, after a long absence, he returns to bring the story of Desmond Doss to the big screen. With Robert Schenkkan and Andrew Knight penned the film’s script, Gibson frames the feature of Western spirituality (Christianity) and of Doss’s strong beliefs in his faith. There are some moments that go a bit heavy handed in dialogue and in symbolism, but, for the most part, Hacksaw Ridge doesn’t go overboard in its religious aspects and overtones. Like a lot of religious based movies, the film’s best moments (religiously speaking) are the small intimate moments between characters or just with Desmond’s own personal moments. As it was probably in real life, the events in Hacksaw Ridge are a true testament to the power human spirit and one’s own perseverance and the film captures that beautifully. The first act is lighthearted, introducing to us (the viewers) to the character of respectable Desmond and his courtship with Dorothy. In conjunction, this first act also portrays Desmond’s home life, showing his first moral confliction in his youth as well as his dealings with his drunken and abusive father and his soon-to-be-shipped-out brother, adding to pressure and his soon-to-be decision to head to war. From there, Desmond undergoes basic training, falling “inline” with the stereotypical moments of war / military boot camp scenarios (i.e. the variety of soldier trainees, the loud drill sergeant, the training sequences). While a bit clichéd, it still worked and felt its own as Desmond is conflicted with what the army presents him with and what his moral judgement says to do. In truth, the film becomes a little bit of a military “courtroom” drama for a bit, which is pretty interesting to see playout. Even when the film enters the fray of battle by the third act, Gibson doesn’t lose sight of what’s important, which is the character of Desmond and the courageous and astounding act that he goes through to save the many lives that he did. If you’re familiar with Apocalypto or The Passion of the Christ, then you probably know that Gibson is no stranger to violence and Hacksaw Ridge follows a similar path. By the film’s halfway point, the movie shifts to the battlefront in the taken of Hacksaw Ridge in Okinawa and it’s one of the hellish and brutal depictions in recent movie history. Guns are blazing, bombs are bursting, bodies are falling, and the carnage is elevated to its maximum level, swirling all around the character of Desmond Doss as he carefully navigates the battlefield. Think of the opening D-Day battle sequence in Saving Private Ryan (intense and bloody) and that’s what you get in the second half of Hacksaw Ridge. Personally, I loved it. My heart was racing and my intensity level was dialed up to 10! It definitely worked well to counterbalance the more lighthearted moments in the film’s first act. Gibson doesn’t “romance” the film’s war premise (this isn’t a kind-hearted History Channel presentation), but rather goes for dramatic realism of the decisive taking of the ridge and the complete nightmarish battle that takes place there. In short, this movie isn’t for the faint of heart, so if you’re queasy or uneasy about the dramatic portrayals of war, violence, and blood, then Hacksaw Ridge might not be towards your liking. What’s also interesting (to me at least) is that I really didn’t know much about the story of Desmond Doss. I know that the taking of Iwo Jima and Okinawa were big and decisive battles during WWII, but I never heard about the events of Hacksaw Ridge and what Desmond Doss did. It was quite interesting to see how the story of Desmond’s journey plays out and without him ever firing a gun. Definitely a true American hero. As a side note, in terms of production / filmmaking goes, Hacksaw Ridge is presented as a well-crafted film. Costumes, production layout, and props and other movie nuances all feel appropriate to the film’s time period (1945). There’s a couple of cinematography shots that are worthy noting, thanks to cinematographer Simon Duggan and the films score (composed by Rupert Gregson Williams) is great with several swelling pieces that are heartfelt and uplifting. Cast in the role of Desmond Doss is British Actor Andrew Garfield. The character of Desmond is very much the emotional centerpiece in Hacksaw Ridge and Garfield certainly does deliver enough charm, vulnerability, and passion to make the character a very likeable / relatable protagonist. Garfield, known for his role of Peter Parker in the Amazing Spider-Man films and as Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network, captures the spirit of Desmond, a humble man who stands by his spiritual beliefs, even though those around to don’t particular understand his moral principles. All in all, Garfield portrayal of Desmond is terrific and acts as the compelling anchor for the film. Acting as the romantic pairing to the character of Desmond is Dorothy Schutte, who is played by Teresa Palmer. While the character isn’t exactly new for the genre and does get push to the side towards the film’s third act (understandably so), Palmer still does fine her niche within Dorothy, making a believable connection with her and Garfield’s Desmond. Perhaps the best supporting cast member in Hacksaw Ridge is Desmond’s father Tom Doss, played by actor Hugo Weaving. Weaving, who many will know him from his roles in The Matrix trilogy, Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth trilogies (The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit), and Captain America: The First Avenger, does a great job in the role of Tom, an abusive and broken man, who is haunted by the memories of his fallen friends, turning to alcohol to ease his pain. Weaving is a very good character actor and he part in Hacksaw Ridge is another fine addition to his body of work. If Weaving’s Tom was the best supporting player, then actor Vince Vaughn’s Howell is definitely the most surprising. Why you may ask? Well, that’s because Vaughn usually stars in a comedy feature rather than a dramatic period piece. His portrayal of Sergeant Howell fits him, providing some comedic bits here and there as the tough drill sergeant type (i.e. verbal hazing some of his new recruits) and does fair well (nothing grand) in the rest of the movie, when Hacksaw Ridge enters its more aggressive war phase. Avatar actor Sam Worthington plays Captain Glover, the superior to Vaughn’s Howell and of Desmond’s squad, and does a fine job in the role. It’s nothing new to the role of an army captain, but it suits Worthington well in that role. Lastly, Aussie actor Luke Bracey plays Smitty, Desmond’s alpha male tough guy fellow soldier. He definitely looks the part and, like Worthington, does well in that particularly role, even if that role isn’t anything new or original. Perhaps my only negative criticism is (and it’s a minor one) is the multitude of side characters in Hacksaw Ridge. Beyond the ones I mentioned above (Palmer, Vaughn, Worthington, Weaving, Bracey), a lot of the various soldiers that area in Doss’s company are one-dimensional stock-like characters. I really didn’t expect them to be well-rounded supporting characters, but some (if not all) sort of blend into the background, especially when the movie heads to Okinawa. This includes characters Andy ‘Ghoul’ Walker (played by Goran D. Kleut), Vito Rinnelli (played by Firass Dirani), Randall “Teach” Fuller (played by Richard Pryos), and Milt ‘Hollywood’ Zane (played by Luke Pegler). I know there playing real-life characters, but these supporting members in Hacksaw Ridge are just there to filling the army soldier rank and file in the feature. Don’t get me wrong, there acting performances are not in question, its just they are “window dressing” for the feature. Lastly (another minor criticism) is that the movie never explains what happened to Desmond’s brother, Harold Doss (played by Nathaniel Buzolic), who enlisted in the war as well. The titular powers of war, faith, and the power of courageous humanity collide in the movie Hacksaw Ridge. Mel Gibson return to the director’s chair with his newest war-bio pic drama, which dives into the crossfires of WWII, depicting a hellish ordeal through battle and survival. Yet, while there are some small minor problems here and there, the feature, underneath its war premise, is rooted in an incredible story of a person’s unwavering faith and the power of the human spirt. In addition, the movie was well-crafted and had collective group of talented actors (both in major and minor roles). Personally, I really liked this movie. It was a very interesting story and definitely held my interest and probably one of Gibson’s finest work to date. Just to reiterate again to what I said above, Hacksaw Ridge isn’t for the faint of heart. As for my recommendation, I would give a highly recommended stamp of approval. It’s just that good. While Hollywood will continue to return their cinematic lens to the various battlefields of WWII, showcasing the brutality of war and the valiant bravery and sacrifice of those who fought in it, Hacksaw Ridge is definitely one for the history books and in the film catalogue library of the war / military genre. 4.5 Out of 5 (Highly Recommended) Released On: November 4th, 2016 Reviewed On: November 11th, 2016 Hacksaw Ridge is rated R for intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence including grisly bloody images

New coach Mark Anscombe has picked 35 players for his first training squad. The 35 men picked by Canadian men’s head coach Mark Anscombe in his first squad present an interesting mix. Fourteen are veterans of Kieran Crowley’s Rugby World Cup squad. Eleven were in the Crowley-selected, Francois Ratier-coached Americas Rugby Championship squad. There are eight uncapped players. It’s notable that a good number are familiar names from Canadian U20 squads of recent vintages. The squad will assemble at Shawnigan Lake on May 28, before being cut down to 28 on June 5, ahead of Canada’s opening June test match vs. Japan on June 11 at BC Place. Canada then host Russia in Calgary on June 18, before wrapping things up vs. Italy in Toronto on the 25th. Let’s break things down by position. Hubert Buydens – (San Diego/Prairie Wolf Pack) Saskatoon, SK Tom Dolezel – (London St. George’s/Ontario Blues) London, ON Jake Ilnicki – (San Diego/BC Bears) Williams Lake, BC Ryan Kotlewski – (Calgary Saints/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB Djustice Sears-Duru – (Glasgow Warriors/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON Matt Tierney – (Section Paloise/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON Three of this group – Buydens, Ilnicki and Sears-Duru – were at the RWC and have been playing professionally this season. Dolezel missed out on last summer’s campaign because of a broken arm but was always in consideration during Crowley’s tenure. Kotlewski, an engineer by training, won his first cap during the ARC vs. Chile after being a regular Canada A choice the last few seasons and he has also played in Australia. Tierney, still just 19, has been with Pau’s Academy team and has done very well there, by all accounts. Ray Barkwill – (Sacramento/Ontario Blues) Niagara Falls, ON Eric Howard – (Brantford Harlequins/Ontario Blues) Ottawa, ON Andrew Quattrin – (Aurora Barbarians) Holland Landing, ON Barkwill we know well. The definition of a guy who’s playing a game he loves, he’s clearly the incumbent. Kyle Baillie – (Ohio/Atlantic Rock) Summerside, PEI Paul Ciulini – (Aurora Barbarians/Ontario Blues) Vaughan, ON Jamie Cudmore – (Clermont Auvergne) Squamish, BC Evan Olmstead – (Newcastle Falcons/Prairie Wolf Pack) Vancouver, BC Cam Pierce – (Section Paloise/Kelowna Crows) Vernon, BC This is one of the squad’s areas of strength. Cudmore is recovered from his neck surgery and returns to the playing life, having been an assistant coach to Ratier during the ARC. He’s signed on to play with Oyonnax next season, with a transition into coaching planned. But clearly there’s plenty of spark left and he looks like to add to his (surprisingly low) total of 39 caps. Evan Olmstead played so well for London Scottish during the second half of the 2015-16 English Championship season that he won himself a Premiership contract with the Newcastle Falcons. He impressed in a mostly reserve role last summer. Young Paul Ciulini is a mountain of a man and started all of Canada’s ARC games. Just 20, his future is exceptionally promising. Kyle Baillie was another fresh cap in the ARC and landed a contract with PRO Rugby as a result. He’s versatile and could be seen in the back row as well. Cam Pierce’s return to consideration is notable as well. He joined the ARC squad late in the competition, playing against Argentina XV and Chile. He was capped just once by Kieran Crowley, the crazy rain-soaked mid week test vs. Japan in Tokyo in 2013. Aaron Carpenter – (London Welsh/Ontario Blues) Brantford, ON Alistair Clark – (Bay Street Pigs/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON Kyle Gilmour – (St. Albert RFC/Prairie Wolf Pack) St. Albert, AB Matt Heaton – (Darlington Mowden Park/Atlantic Rock) Godmanchester, QC Clay Panga – (Westshore Valhallians/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB Lucas Rumball – (Balmy Beach RFC/Ontario Blues) Scarborough, ON Other than long-time number eight and sometimes hooker Aaron Carpenter, there’s not a ton of experience here but it’s a very intriguing group. Carpenter has said yes whenever Canada has called and his deserving to now be listed as one of the greats. His three world cups is second only to Cudmore’s four and his 71 caps make him the squad’s most experienced player. Lucas Rumball and Clay Panga may have been Canada’s best players at the ARC. Panga’s a savvy veteran even if he’s only won a handful of caps, while Rumball has the makings of a future captain. Both were dynamic forces. Kyle Gilmour struggled with injury after signing with Rotherham after the RWC. He then broke his cheekbone in training before the USA game in the ARC. He’s a workhorse flanker and if fit, will likely start. Matt Heaton has been playing in the English third division for a couple years now and is another intriguing former Canada U20 prospect. Andrew Ferguson – (Oakville Crusaders/Ontario Blues) Mississauga, ON Jamie Mackenzie – (UBCOB Ravens/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON Gordon McRorie – (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB Lots of experience here. Mackenzie is back playing after taking a post-RWC hiatus to chase a job in Vancouver. He’s now settled and back in the mix. McRorie and Ferguson were the main scrum halves at the ARC and both are candidates to be chosen as goal kickers. Guiseppe du Toit – (UVIC Vikes/BC Bears) Maple Ridge, BC Dylan Horgan – (UCC Rugby Club) Cork, Ireland Pat Parfrey – (Swilers RFC/Atlantic Rock) St. John’s, NL If there’s a position of worry, it continues to be who will wear the number 10 jersey. Parfrey has played here before and done alright, though I prefer him as a New Zealand style number 12. He’s clearly the most experienced. He was the fly half by the end of the ARC, supplanting Gradyn Bowd. The other two options, du Toit and Horgan, are both former Canada U20 pivots and both come highly rated. Crowley picked du Toit for the 2014 ARC, when it was contested by Canada A and the former Shawnigan Lake high school star struggled. But with a couple years of (UVic coach) Doug Tait tutelage now under his belt, you figure he’s better primed for the step up to the senior team. Horgan’s an interesting case. He played fly half for Jeff Williams’ Canada U20 squad in 2015, but is born and raised in Ireland. Nick Blevins – (San Francisco/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB Trenton Cooper (Oshawa Vikings/Ontario Blues), Zephyr, ON Ciaran Hearn – (London Irish/Atlantic Rock) Conception Bay South, NL Ben LeSage – (UBC Thunderbirds/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB Mozac Samson – (Calgary Saints/Prairie Wolf Pack) Calgary, AB Lots of experience in Blevins and Hearn, who were a preferred partnership for Crowley. You’d figure they’ll be first choice – unless Hearn gets called in to join the 7s squad for the Rio qualifier at the end of June. Mozac Samson, before he suffered a concussion, was a revelation at outside centre in the ARC. He would be a solid choice, given the opportunity. Ben LeSage is still very young but had a strong season for UBC and is another name to watch for the future. Trenton Cooper young and fast, played a bunch for the Maple Leafs 7s squad this winter. Matt Evans – (Cornish Pirates) Maple Bay, BC Dan Moor – (Balmy Beach RFC/Ontario Blues) Toronto, ON Taylor Paris – (Agen) Barrie, ON Theo Sauder – (UBC Thunderbirds) Vancouver, BC Brock Staller – (UBC Thunderbirds/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC Jordan Wilson-Ross – (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Alliston, ON This is yet another intriguing package of players, with some experience and some burgeoning youth in the mix. Matt Evans was the full back at the world cup and you’d assume will be in that spot again. Taylor Paris has recovered from his devastating right knee injury suffered on the eve of the RWC. He didn’t get into a Top 14 match with Agen but he did manage several reserve team games before dinging up his left knee in training at the end of April. Like Hearn, he’s also been listed as a possible option for the 7s qualifier. Dan Moor’s blazing speed won him a starting spot throughout the ARC and he scored three tires because of it. It seems a safe bet the former Queen’s man will be a strong candidate to start. Brock Staller was a bit of a find of the ARC for Ratier. He was called up part way through the campaign when Samson and others were knocked out of action. He’s played mostly on the wing for UBC but has been a centre in the past and played some full back for Canada. He’s got a hammer of a kicking foot and could push for a starting place because of it. Jordan Wilson-Ross was a squad player with the sevens program for a couple years, played some for Canada A but missed out on Rugby World Cup consideration, because of Canada’s deep talent pool on the wing as much as anything. A former star running back in Ontario high school play, Wilson-Ross is a physical runner. Last is Theo Sauder, another former Canada U20 player. He’s been on the sevens radar for some time: former head coach Geraint John picked him for the Maple Leafs while he was still in high school. There was a chance for him to join the sevens program in Langford this season but he chose to stick with his studies at UBC. He’s played mostly as a full back or winger but this season was used as a fly half in the Thunderbirds’ CDI Premiership-winning campaign. Will he get a chance to run out at 10, or will his blinding pace keep him out wide? WHO’S NOT HERE The list of players who aren’t in the mix, either because of injury or personal reasons is pretty impressive. Experienced Canada campaigners Tyler Ardron, Brett Beukeboom, Jeff Hassler, Jason Marshall, Jebb Sinclair and DTH van der Merwe are all off injured but will surely be considered again when healthy. Gradyn Bowd hurt his shoulder during the ARC and is recovering from surgery. Callum Morrison suffered a neck injury during the ARC and obviously isn’t fit yet. With all the travelling he’s been doing over the last year, Phil Mackenzie is taking some family time. Andrew Tiedemann was a regular for Beziers this season in France but he and his wife have a baby on the way. Benoit Piffero and his wife also have a baby due in June. Doug Wooldridge, who finished out the season with Clermont, is getting married. And of course, the sevens squad are off-limits for the time being. They’ve got their Olympic qualifier at the end of June.

The Biomechanical Ballett, or: I Like Trees And Human Rights Quasikunst-Project: The Biomechanical Ballett, Performance in the Woods, Pictures and Text, 2015 The Group Quasikunst has planted out culture and nature. And themselves all alike. An interview with Quasikunst – about inverted human beings, green hells, biomechanics and detoxing. Referring to the first picture: People put into the ground, inverted with their heads, in the midst of a forest. What is it about? There are many approaches. One of our favorite references is, at the moment, a recourse to a notion of Democritus. According to it, trees are like people planted with their heads in the ground – they can do everything people can do as well, with the exception of the things people could not do in the respective position. At first, this sounds amusing. All at once, new, enormous and omnipresent populations emerge. Whole green hells of intelligent beings, which grow in front of you. And you as an inverted scion suddenly are a part of it. However, and that is already the first finding of the experiment: You actually can do little of the common things, in an active human sense, when you are stuck with your head in the ground… For instance movement and locomotion gets lost. Indeed. Visual sense in its common functionality gets lost, and the other senses become narrow and limited. Nothing works anymore. Everything is different, an inverted world, with a lot of soil in one´s vision. Blood shoots into the head. You find yourself mute and trapped, with your feet in the air, without the possibility of movement. One begins to think: The bodily functions need to be reorganized. An interesting thought experiment, to ask oneself, in that position, whether there could be something to that ancient notion. The tree as a man, stuck in the soil, inverted. What makes such a scenario attractive? Several things actually, for instance: In our tradition of knowledge there has always been the notion that plants, in the hierarchy of things and living beings, have nothing to do with intelligence. Yet it seems to become ever more obvious that plants do not only possess the same senses as humans do, just organized in a different way – eventually plants have even more senses than humans, a sense for gravity, for instance. With their roots, that work like biomechanical computers, they share information in their immediate surroundings as well as over large distances, solitary, in groups, etc. In a certain respect, their heads actually are in the ground… But we also like the hew hybridity of man and tree, which forms a new population in the forest, maybe a new population in general. That game of deception. In addition to this there comes the inversion of man in itself, the inverted. This attitude also constructs something different in man. Think of a reference to real ballet where the head is defined as the highest of spheres. The human mind was taken to the extreme. The romantic gesture but obfuscated that below the head, erected into the firmament, pure geometry was displayed, with limbs that took their position with machine-like precision. That mechanical fixation towards the mental and intellectual had been critically addressed already at the turn of the last century, and among other things more prominence was given to the body. The affirmation of bodily work, which sets “inner”, mental processes into motion in the first place, is, within the system of art, without doubt a reference to Wsewolod Meyerhold and his Biomechanics, which can be dated in the year of 1920. Yet in a certain way this project, the Biomechanical Tree Ballet, introduces yet another kind of realism, as the body gets completely inverted and the head descends, goes to the ground. The torso and the extremities form a residual system. The button implicates that a film starts. It is an image with a button. Yet the button is not any more retrievable, as if I would place a link in a book, leading to nowhere. As if, for the purpose of communication with nature, I put my head in the ground. Something starts and something is actually there as well as it is imaginary. It is, in this respect, also the fictitious biomechanical ballet. One could all of this take to the end and realize it – but for what reason? We do not want to start such a thing at all. That is just bound to dissolve into the usual strategies of commodification, no matter of the respective system it is embedded. There is no real tree ballet. In contrast, we make reference to Democritus, a natural philosopher and, according to legend, a buoyant spirit. And we refer to Meyerhold, a Russian revolutionary director, who used his biomechanics against a sclerotic naturalism. We invite to the dance, without commitment. We want to address contradictions in a different way. Possibly come up with a different dialectics, as firmly established opposites and dichotomies, that leads to nowhere particular in the first place. Insofar, it relativizes any “mystery” into a “misery” as it reveals pure meaning apart from any functionality. With this “chain of meaning” the head that thinks was buried and made invisible beneath the surface. Instead, the head wants to get linked to a different information system, that of the plants. Everything exists as an idea only. The will to it establishes a different, distinguished setting. Anything else should not happen in order to prevent it from drifting into regular categories too soon, not least in the definition of art and its regular means to attract attention, from fine arts to the spectacle. What you have here are fragments from a more comprehensive context of realization and execution. Also because of this it is quasi-art/Quasikunst which accelerates to a frontier of attention and execution but which is really there as a statement and as an accumulation of meaning and context. It is also an articulation of needs in the underground. What kind of group Quasikunst is exactly supposed to be? Most definitely it is a collective of a different kind. Consequentially, one could attribute this collective not only as a group but also as a quasi-group. Because it extends into an open structure, consisting of humans dead and alive, as well as of things and context, of art, science, and a lot of other references. As a further consequence it also consists of trees. It is also defined from connections that operate differently beneath the surface. Even if it may sound like a joke, it articulates a critique against a specific – as well as any form of – human assemblage as the sole instance of legitimization, furthermore an openness like that (that derives from a hybrid context), leaves “otherness” undefinable and open. Otherness, respectively “the other”, cannot be philosophically grounded, and such erroneous conclusions should be avoided. Anything more specific is irrelevant in such a hybrid collective – it is also irrelevant who questions whom or what. In the final consequence it is all about: Contexts that are questioned by contextual hybrids. To make reference to quasi-objects: Let us take, for instance, the forest. The forest symbolizes nature. Our own inner nature. Ecological contexts. It refers to our domestic timber industry as well as to the exploitation of the rain forest. To machines, clearing and forest decline. To the dramatic worldwide ecological context. And in some other respects: Documentaries about the rain forest and yet undiscovered plant compounds which are of pharmaceutical interest. Tales about plants and their effects on humans told by shamans. At the same time science discovers plants as biomechanical computers. The forest and plants get connotated with a curative effect of nature again. “Detoxing holidays” are offered during which you are offline for a short time. Relaxation and edification. Within the scenario of impending ecological doom we see how the forest becomes interlinked with a mental image referring to innocent longing as well as melancholy about decay and destruction. And there is a boom about interrelating art and nature. At any rate: The tree and the forest have become quasi-objects, beneath the surface of common organization of knowledge; quasi-objects are, with reference to Bruno Latour, actually most things that surround us and that reveal themselves as hybrids between nature and technology and, more generally, of contexts and of contexts of commodification. All of this as a reference to the circumstance that beneath those surfaces completely different oppositions become visible. And that these oppositions probably connect themselves to other, and different, “impurified” realities. The notion of purification is important? That is a reference that is taken literally as well. Without purification and cleaning our system gets dysfunctional. That has got something to do with the “purifying” effect of our systems (of knowledge). Beneath the surface hybrid contexts flourish nevertheless, supposedly in an “impure” way. Contexts get established that become uncanny not least because of the contexts of commodification that have become ever more dense and consuming. However, also an actual “purification”, concerning the credibility of values and the like, works less and less well in social contexts. The complexities are enormous, and unethical: A social backlash is, in this respect, an expression of “purifying” reduction of complexity, a desperate reference to and longing for an uncomplicated world. We are familiar with such dynamics, including global fiascos. A contemporary yet not very well known detail of a literal cleaning and its discrepancies: Workers in Asia cleanse the internet of obscene content. Quite often posttraumatic stress disorder is a result for them – so that we can consume attractive contents. The mechanisms of cleaning that we practically use, seem to have become utterly dysfunctional? Despite we are living in a clean and healthy cultural environment, cleaning and purification does not function at all concerning environmental protection. By contrast, it becomes overwhelmingly clear that ecological disasters take revenge on the human realm: Green hell strikes back. And it could win. Within that pathetic scenario of exploitation and profit maximization and an ever more intense commodification. Probably the “things” are going to clean and purify us. That is, maybe, cultural pessimism. Yet one begins to sense that not only the functional but also the internalized interrelations of culture and nature have gone wrong. That our beautiful surfaces have become dangerous. Our proclaimed Quasikunst/quasi-art indicates that within these accumulated interrelations art itself wants to understand itself as an interrelated hybrid system, and that art sees itself as embedded in dystopian contradictions, fluctuating between a scenario of catastrophe and the longing for something completely different and “otherness”. And art wants to make use of other means – reallocating things, inverting them, redefining common oppositions and categories. Projects located between art and science, or laboratories that do science within the art context are a manifestation of that? Maybe it goes that way: There is a desire to “disarm” relations between science, power and the market that have become dangerous. Somehow it seems that one does not want to dismantle the Kalashnikov to reassemble it – “cleansed” and “purified”. Instead, the “cleansing” consists of a fundamental redesign. Including the assemblage of modes of distortion by involving art. Resulting in a completely different cleansing and detoxing. Let us take a look at the second image, concerning trees and human rights. There it says: I like trees and human rights. The message takes nothing for granted. It contextualizes nature, culture and the human factor, probably against each other. Although there is a simultaneousness of “liking” something: I like trees and human rights. Probably that strikes you as likeable, agreeable and compatible. I like! Then you begin to realize that a superficial statement and proclamation of will is insufficient in a society like ours. Neither concerning trees, nor human rights. In what way? If for »Das biomechanische Ballett oder: I like Trees And Human Rights« references are made to Democritus, the sanguine materialist and Meyerhold, the Russian revolutionary of art, respectively if you introduce yourself in such a construction of contradictions, in a headstand, as a tree and as an enactment of art, then it is obviously about a different relationship between culture and nature, and about different contradictions. With a quasi-assemblage of binary relationships between art and the world, presentation and systems of perception. Implicating that you want to see a world radically different. A great proclamation of will, with the hope that we, the object world and our knowledge about us and about the object world is saturated enough to engage in different activities. We want a new dialectics, a new science. Perhaps: no finalized worldviews, no exploitation. The intellect does not dominate, the material does not put pressure on us. If you want, that is, again, mystery and misery all alike, since how an execution of this in large contexts could be possible is an enigma to anybody.

Tom And Jerry are among the last animals living in Storybook Town, a fairy tale-inspired theme park “where dreams come true, if you believe.” You May Also Like The Struggle for Time and Space Begins Again…! The legendary Arceus. Long ago Arceus granted a fragment of its awesome power as the Jewel of Life to help Michina in the town’s hour of need only to be betrayed when it was time for that power to be returned. After so many years Arceus is about to return to reclaim its power – enraged vengeful and seemingly unstoppable. Not even the combined might of Dialga, Palkia and Giratina can stop Arceus from devastating all existence across multiple dimensions. But Ash and his companions joining forces with their new friend Sheena, may have discovered the only way to redeem that ancient betrayal. Their journey will be both dangerous and uncertain: even if Ash and his friends can set an old wrong right again will there be time to return the Jewel of Life before Arceus destroys everything and everyone they’ve ever known? Fuelled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince assemble a team of metahumans consisting of Barry Allen, Arthur Curry and Victor Stone to face the catastrophic threat of Steppenwolf and the Parademons who are on the hunt for three Mother Boxes on Earth. Two friends are invited for a weekend to a luxury island with their boss. The boss gets shot and nobody seems to notice, except for the two friends. In order not to become suspects of murder they treat the body as a puppet and make people believe he’s still alive. The killer wants to do his job so when he is informed that the stiff is still alive he’s got to shoot him again, and again, and again. The Evil Dead meets Scream as an evil professor, through an ancient staff and a book of incantation, possesses the bodies of a group of fraterity and sorority pledges during a night of “hazing” activities in an abandoned mansion. When the students meet one grisly death after another, the survivors finally realize it’s the professor who is possessing their friends and killing them all off. Now none of them trust each other– is it their friends or puppets of the professor that they’re hanging with? Somone better figure it out quick… or none of them will make it through the hellish night of The Hazing! Doug, a dorky young mamma’s boy, who is about to get married to his beautiful bride, Callista, when he notices a change come over her. He catches her sneaking around at night and lying to him, and she’s begun to display flu-like symptoms. So naturally Doug thinks she caught a disease while cheating on him. In reality she has become possessed via an ancient stone and she’s been eating his friends and family without him knowing. An up-tight lawyer, Lenny Rubins, (Timothy Spall), has to put his dream retirement on hold when his ailing mother (Honor Blackman) emotionally blackmails him into reuniting his estranged children for a Jewish holiday. They may be peas from the same pod, but in Lenny’s eyes, his grown-up children are certainly not even from the same planet: a ruthless control-freak and hard-nosed capitalist, an outspoken, argumentative eco-warrior committed to the cause, an outer-worldly Buddhist Monk; and to cap it all, a bible bashing born-again Rabbi. While they might quarrel, fight, and perhaps even be starting a war in Africa, they are still family. It is going to take a whole lot of soul-searching and sacrifice for everyone to come together in this comic drama. Written by monterey media inc. When 19-year-old Adam agrees to do a day’s driving for his mum’s gangster boyfriend Peter, it takes him on a 24-hour journey into a nightmarish world of murder, sex trafficking and revenge, in the company of aging hit man Roy. Russ Richards is a TV weatherman and local celebrity on the verge of losing his shirt. Desperate to escape financial ruin, he schemes with Crystal the TV station’s lotto ball girl to rig the state lottery drawing. The numbers come up right, but everything else goes wrong as the plan starts to unravel and the game turns rough. One by one the archaeologists who discover the 4,000-year-old tomb of Princess Ananka are brutally murdered. Kharis, high priest in Egypt 40 centuries ago, has been brought to life by the power of the ancient gods and his sole purpose is to destroy those responsible for the desecration of the sacred tomb. But Isobel, wife of one of the explorers, resembles the beautiful princess, forcing the speechless and tormented monster to defy commands and abduct Isobel to an unknown fate.

Leeuwarden-Fryslan, one of the less populated parts of the Netherlands, has been designated this year’s European Capital of Culture. It’s a hub of social and technological and cultural innovation and yet hardly anyone has heard of the place. It makes batteries that the makers claim run circles around Tesla’s current technology, there are advanced plans for the region to go fossil free by 2025, it has one of the highest (and happiest) immigrant populations in Europe, and yet all we can see from the minibus, from horizon to horizon, is cows. When you’re invited to write about an area you know nothing about, a good place to start is the heritage. But even that can’t help us here. The tiny city of Leeuwarden boasts three hugely famous children: spy and exotic dancer Mata Hari, astrophysicist Jan Hendrik Oort (he of the Oort Cloud) and puzzle-minded artist Maurits Cornelis Escher. The trouble is, all three are famous for being maddening eccentrics. All Leeuwarden’s poor publicists can do then, having brought us here, is throw everything at us and hope something sticks. And so it happens that, somewhere between the (world-leading) Princessehof ceramics museum and Lan Fan Taal, a permanent pavilion celebrating world languages, someone somewhere makes a small logistical error and locks me inside an M C Escher exhibition. Escher, who died in 1972, is famous for using mathematical ideas in his art, drawing on concepts from symmetry and hyperbolic geometry to create complex tessellated images. And the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden has gathered more than 80 original prints for me to explore, along with drawings, photographs and memorabilia, so there is no possibility of my getting bored. Nor is the current exhibition, Escher’s Journey, the usual, chilly celebration of the man’s puzzle-making ability and mathematical sixth sense. Escher was a pleasant, passionate man with a taste for travel, and this show reveals how his personal experiences shaped his art. Escher’s childhood was by his own account a happy one. His parents took a good deal of interest in his education without ever restricting his intellectual freedom. This was as well, since he was useless at school. Towards the end of his studies, he and his parents traveled through France to Italy, and in Florence he wrote to a friend: “I wallow in it, but so greedily that I fear that my stomach will not be able to withstand it.” The cultural feast afforded by the city was the least of it. The Leeuwarden native was equally staggered by the surrounding hills – the sheer, three-dimensional fact of them; the rocky coasts and craggy defiles; the huddled mountain villages with squares, towers and houses with sloping roofs. Escher’s love of the Italian landscape consumed him and, much to his mother’s dismay, he was soon permanently settled in the country. For visitors familiar to the point of satiety and beyond with Escher’s endlessly reproduced and commodified architectural puzzles and animal tessellations, the sketches he made in Italy during the 1920s and 1930s are the highlight of this show. Escher’s favored medium was the engraving. It’s a time-consuming art, and one that affords the artist time to think and to tinker. Inevitably, Escher began merging his sketches into new, realistic wholes. Soon he was trying out unusual perspectives and image compilations. In Still Life with Mirror (1934), he crossed the threshold, creating a reflected world that proves on close inspection to be physically and mathematically impossible. The usual charge against Escher as an artist – that he was too caught up in the toils of his own visual imagination to express much humanity – is hard to rebuff. There’s a gap here it’s not so easy to bridge: between Escher the approachable and warm-hearted family man and Escher the grumpy Parnassian (he once sent Mick Jagger away with a flea in his ear for asking him for an album cover). The second world war had a lot to answer for, of course, not least because it drove Escher out of his beloved Italian hills and back, via Switzerland, to the flat old, dull old Netherlands. “Italy, the landscape, the people, they speak to me.” he explained in 1968. “Switzerland doesn’t and Holland even less so.” Without the landscape to inform his art, other influences came to dominate. Among the places he had visited as war gathered was the Alhambra in Granada. The complex geometric patterns covering its every surface, and their timeless, endless repetition, fascinated him. For days on end he copied the Arab motifs in the palace. Back in the Netherlands, their influence, and Escher’s growing fascination with the mathematics of tessellation, would draw him away from landscapes toward an art consisting entirely of “visualised thoughts”. By the time his images were based on periodic tilings (meaning that you can slide a pattern in a certain direction and have it exactly overlay the original), his commentaries suggest that Escher had come to embrace his own, somewhat sterile reputation. “I played a game,” he recalled, “indulged in imaginary thoughts, with no other intention than to explore the possibilities of representation. In my work I give a report on these discoveries.” In the end Escher’s designs became so fiendishly complex, his output dropped almost to zero, and much of his time was taken up lecturing and corresponding about his unique way of working. He corresponded with mathematicians, though he never considered himself one. He knew Roger Penrose. He lived to see the first fractal shapes evolve out of the mathematical studies of Koch and Mandelbrot, though it wasn’t until after his death that Benoît Mandelbrot coined the word “fractal” and popularised the concept. Eventually, I am missed. At any rate, someone thinks to open the gallery door. I don’t know how long I was in there, locked in close proximity to my childhood hero. (Yes, as a child I did those jigsaw puzzles; yes, as a student I had those posters on my wall) I can’t have been left inside Escher’s Journey for more than a few minutes. But I exited a wreck. The Fries Museum has lit Escher’s works using some very subtle and precise spot projection; this and the trompe-l’œil monochrome paintwork on the walls of the gallery form a modestly Escherine puzzle all by themselves. Purely from the perspective of exhibition design, this charming, illuminating, and comprehensive show is well worth a visit. You wouldn’t want to live there, though.

Every title-winning season review DVD features a segment congratulating the manager for rotating two keepers regularly every time one makes a mistake. Every great side down football history has been remembered for having two fantastic goalkeepers, working perfectly in tandem while only playing half the games. Back in reality, winning sides are built around a solid spine, and the man between the posts is a vital part of that. As Ferguson tries to build another great team, getting the goalkeeper right is essential, as he discovered when he signed Peter Schmeichel. And in David De Gea, Manchester United have someone who could become a superb no.1. But rather than showing faith in what is undoubted talent, his confidence and form has been scuppered as he sits on the bench waiting for Anders Lindegaard to make an unfortunate error so he can take his place in the starting line-up again. I’m all for managers attempting to rip the rulebook up and trying something different. Without changing ideas we’d be sat watching a 2-3-5 formation every week. But this isn’t that radical from Sir Alex – afterall, he’s tried it before. I’ve desperately tried to forget the dark years of rotating Tim Howard and Roy Carroll in 2004 and 2005, and yet the last year has brought them all rushing back. It failed then, and there is absolutely no evidence that, seven years on, it’s suddenly morphed into a stroke of genius. In fact, all the evidence points to exactly the opposite. We’ve got goalkeepers with rock-bottom confidence, an uncertain and confused defence, and we’ve kept one clean sheet in the Premier League this season, at home to Wigan. The continued chopping and changing of De Gea and Lindegaard is extremely frustrating, and to be honest, difficult to fathom. Patrice Evra recently explained that no Manchester United player feels safe from being dropped because there is currently a large squad of talented players all vying for places. As he himself said, perhaps last year there wasn’t enough of a challenge to players in some areas of the squad. Certainly with Evra, this subject has probably been done to death. Throughout last season, I read countless articles and twitter conversations bemoaning the fact that the Frenchman had taken his eye off the ball and was only keeping his place because there was no one else. The arrival of Buttner at the start of this campaign has seen the subject revisited as fans hope that particular issue is now resolved. Yes, if a player has a consistent loss of form, and for a run of games leaves fans uttering regular expletives, his place being taken by an exciting back up is an excellent option. Everyone needs a kick up the backside occasionally. But goalkeepers are different. They don’t run around for 90 minutes twice a week and need a rest, and they don’t need altering to match the other team’s tactics. A keeper’s confidence, form and focus is improved through consistent starts. Additionally, there is a big difference between three ineffectual games, and one isolated mistake which can instantly leave an important player excluded. Torres open goal misses aside, mistakes are amplified at the back. As a general rule, if a striker misses one obvious chance, he and the team can make another, which he may well go on and score. If a goalkeeper makes a clanger, it’s probably a goal to the opposition, and the team finds themselves behind. Suddenly the complexion of the game has changed. Ashley Young had a goal chalked off for offside at the weekend, which was much maligned. But in two weeks, will many people remember that clearly? Probably not. Yet Lindegaard’s errors against Reading remains fresh in the mind. Given the annual defensive injury curse has started early this year, and fans had already seen Carrick deployed as a centre back before the end of August, the confidence that comes with a settled goalkeeper would have been vital. Vidic, Ferdinand, Smalling, Jones, and Evans have already had spells on the sidelines, so the back four is uncertain at best. Much has been written of the damage done to United’s title hopes last season by a constantly changing rear guard which was unavoidable then and continues to be so, but voluntarily messing about with what should be a settled face behind them smacks of folly. When United signed De Gea in 2011 for a fee of around £17m, Ferguson said: “We identified him quite a while back as one we should go for. He’s young, very quick, good composure, presence and an outstanding replacement for Van der Sar.” That’s a fantastic testimony, and a large fee suggests that he was prepared to put his money where his mouth was. And yet the slightest mistake and De Gea is relegated to a very expensive benchwarmer. In that quote, Ferguson acknowledges that De Gea is young. It’s escaped no one’s notice that he was only 20 years old at the time, and United bought potential on top of an impressive start to his career at Atletico Madrid. He’s a sensational shot stopper. Against Everton, what now looks like an unfortunate loss on paper could have been a much heavier beating without his intervention. Restored from the bench against Galatasaray, he made a late double save to keep a clean sheet and ensure the three points. While it is fair to point out his command of his box, particularly on crosses, isn’t consistently good enough yet, that is something else that won’t improve from the bench. It also won’t improve through the occasional start in the Capital One Cup against Newcastle’s reserve strike force, until the late appearance of Cisse. Sir Alex says he wants to give both keepers experience of the Premier League, but De Gea’s experiences with added referee protection in Europe and in “lesser” cup competitions domestically just doesn’t provide the same learning curve. With Anders Lindegaard, you are supposedly blessed with a “safer” option. Perhaps an advantage in commanding the box, but what is safe about sacrificing world class saves? Not to mention inheriting dreadful distribution. With the Dane, it seems as if every ball has to go out to the centre backs, because his accuracy isn’t good enough to try any further. Against Tottenham, we saw perfectly how much pressure this puts the defence under when forwards press high up the pitch. De Gea can pick out a winger and start a counter attack. With Lindegaard, that poor distribution can give the opposition a chance to continue the pressure that United should have just alleviated by getting the ball back! Realistically, I’d still be unhappy if Lindegaard was chosen as Ferguson’s first choice permanently, because I think De Gea is a better long term option. But if Sir Alex thinks the Dane is a better bet, then stick with him, and give him his chance to turn into the keeper that a great United side will need. Be bold, make a decision and stand by it through the tough times. One squad will struggle to develop two young keepers to a world class standard. And United need one.

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I’m here today with my friend and longtime acquaintance, Susan Piver. We worked together years ago in the music industry. And she became an author. She’s evolved in many, many directions, and is now a Buddhist teacher. She runs the Open Heart Project, is developing what may be the largest online mindfulness community in the world. Spends her time between Boston and Austin. And how would I say, I think what inspired me, Susan, to invite you to join me on this podcast is that the most meaningful book I’ve read in relation to how to address the challenge of this pandemic is Pema Chodron’s book, When Things Fall Apart, and you’re the person who gave me that book many years ago. So, thanks for joining me and I look forward to exploring with you in these very troubled times. How does a Buddhist practitioner see and teach people who are in great disorientation and despair at a time like this pandemic that we’re all going through? Yeah. Well, thank you for inviting me to into the conversation, Rob. You know that I always love talking with you. I always get so much out of it. It’s an interesting time for teachers of all kinds, for Buddhist teachers, certainly. There is so much suffering, there is so much uncertainty and so much need for compassion and friendship and simply being with, which is the ultimate healing balm, is just being with each other rather than trying to solve each other’s problems. However, there’s another thing that is interesting to explore at this moment, and actually, we have no choice but to explore it, which is the Buddhist view of the great good fortune that comes with uncertainty, that comes with not knowing what the F is going on. In a spiritual tradition, that is considered a lucky occurrence. Not an occurrence that feels good, not something that makes us all happy and chill, but a moment of absolute freshness because when we have no more game, our strategies don’t work, our hearts are broken. What we thought was going to happen is no longer happening. No more game. A space opens up and we must find a way to exist with uncertainty, which requires a continual return to the present moment, because we can’t make a plan, we can’t reflect on what happened in the past as a way of predicting what will happen in the future necessarily. And we can’t make plans for what we’re going to do because we don’t know what’s next. So the present moment is particularly alive right now. And the present moment was, which can sound trite, it’s overused, at least, is not necessarily a place of ease and relaxation. It’s a place of vital awake, vital alive. I know that’s bad English, but it’s a place where all you can do is be awake. And there’s no place to hide. That’s a weird Buddhist view of good luck. I’m speaking now as an economist, 40 years of a secular religion, where people were taught to believe that technical wizards, the Silicon Valley world, would transform our society and deliver us from evil. They were magicians. We’ve been told that the market solves all the problems. We’ve been told that individuals should focus and depend on what you might call their own freedom to do whatever they want as something to cherish. And while there are elements of truth in these things, the incoherence of this society that was thought to be what you might call trusted and trusting of elites, trusting of financiers, trusting of tech wizards to bring us to that Promised Land, that place, that’s in tatters now. And so when you talk about the value of uncertainty, I think maybe that accepting that uncertainty is of the essence in addressing the challenge. But we’re in a place now where the emperor has no clothes and a whole lot of things have broken down. Before celebrating uncertainty, I think we got to understand a little bit about the fear, what you might call losing, it’s like being at sea and losing all your navigational charts and knowing their reefs all around you that you could run aground. How do we, not stabilize on false certainty, how do we embrace the uncertainty so the things that we pursue and the things that we aspire to are more coherent, more satisfying, more reassuring? Yeah, that’s the question. Those are the questions. The first thing in finding a way to stabilize within instability, because the first impulse when things become unstable is to find a way to go back where you came from, and restabilize things in a recognizable way. That’s not possible right now. The answer, weirdly, is one word, which I’m happy to elaborate on, and that word is curiosity, because we may think, oh, well, okay, now some Buddhist lady said I need to find a way to become stable with an instability and enjoy uncertainty. Okay. If that is a Gambit, if we try to do that as a ploy to return to familiar shores, the ground will collapse underneath us. There’s a genuine need of really not knowing what’s going on and without an agenda for appreciating that unknowing, if that makes sense. So, we have an agenda for every word we speak, every gesture we make, every action we take. That’s how we’re raised. It’s very hard to imagine not doing those things. However, those things, attributing meaning, trying to accomplish a purpose, comes from conventional wisdom, and unconventional wisdom is called for right now. So the first thing that is interesting to experiment with is putting down conventional wisdom, and then seeing what happens. And the first thing that will happen, if you’re like me or 99.9% of everyone, is become afraid. That fear is not a problem. Giving meaning to the fear, concocting a story around the fear, trying to dispel the fear, those things are problems. But fear itself, if you look just underneath the surface, and the surface is always the story, I’m afraid because this, I’m afraid if I do that, it will go away. If we let all that go and instead tune into the sensation of fear, the feeling of fear, which is no one’s idea of a good time, by the way, nonetheless, just under the story is awakeness, wakefulness, because fear and sleepiness don’t go together. You can’t be afraid and sleepy. It’s a weird kind of wakeful quality, that if we can tap into its essence, something valuable can come of it. But if we keep trying to hide from it, explain it away, defeat it, first it’s not going to work, it’s just going to get stronger. And second and more important, we will miss the opportunity for greater wisdom than what has been conventional. And that’s what we need right now. So there is no innovation, I know these are, I’m making very dramatic statements here but these are my observations. There is no possibility of innovation without uncertainty. There is no possibility of true lasting insight without cultivating some sense of receptivity. And we live in a world that does not dig receptivity. We dig action and accomplishing and so forth, and nothing wrong with those things. But the things we really value and the things that are most needed right now, innovation, insight, wisdom, compassion, those are not things we can go out and get no matter how smart we are. Those are things that arise if we make space for them. They arise. And so, it’s a very unwestern, I would say, way of problem solving, which is to let go of solutions. Make a space which aka, the practice of meditation, although you can do it whatever way you want. And then develop some curiosity about the experience that arises within that space, not as a conqueror, but as a shepherd. Those are really different things. Does that make sense? Yes. Number of things come to mind again in relation to economics. It is quite clear that the financial economics, financial theory and economics built a framework based on false certainty, meaning markets are anchored to “value” 30 years from now, and then what mathematicians called backward induction, we know what the price today is that puts you on the trajectory to get there. The deeper thinkers in economics, and I would place Frank Knight from University of Chicago and John Maynard Keynes at the head of the list, and Friedrich von Hayek a little bit also in that realm, had a notion of something called radical uncertainty. There are unknown unknowns. There is no way to know not only what the probabilities are of outcomes, but to even envision the outcomes and in some way, the things that will be churned up are based on subjective psychological expectations that will arise somewhere along the trail and will change the trail. So these advocates, Keynes wrote his first book before his famous books, was called the Treatise on Probability. Frank Knight wrote Risk, Uncertainty and Profit. And what I guess I’m pointing at is they were talking about embracing not knowing and seeing that as a structural feature of society. And what the so called rocket scientists did after 2000s, they pretended everything was a stable statistical distribution. This terminal condition in 30 years was known unknowable, and that they could show the boss, meaning the CEO at a major financial firm measures of their risk every night. So the boss could go to bed, sleep, be confident, everything was under control. And then we blew the financial system to smithereens in 2008 because it was a completely false notion. I’m always attracted to a book, it’s called The Party, it’s about the Chinese Communist Party by Richard McGregor, who was a Financial Times correspondent. He wrote in the opening, I think it was a preface to the book. At around 2008 or 2009, the US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson and others went to meet the Chinese leaders and they said, well, emulating you guys and your Western finance, you blew us up in the early 90s in the Asia crisis, now you blew yourself up. We just got to find something different to do. I guess what I’m pointing toward is this embracing uncertainty is much more amenable to Eastern philosophy and consciousness than it is to Cartesian enlightenment consciousness. And now, in a world, I’ll call it a G-20 world and more not a G-7 world of the white Protestant North Atlantic, we’re in a place where the basic premises on what to do and what’s right to do are really what you might call, not confused, but in the stir of different philosophical systems. And what you’re raising with the Buddhist perspective and Taoism and other things, I made a podcast two nights ago with Andrew Sheng, who’s a delightful financial regulator economists thinker based in Malaysia, has worked in Hong Kong and China. And he sounded just like you. He sounded exactly like you, I’ll send you some of his work. You’re basically raising what you might call a challenge to the creation of false certainty, which, as I mentioned in the case of finance in many contexts, by clinging to it can do an awful lot of harm. What you just said, and I imagine what Andrew said too, which I look forward to hearing, is a very pithy perfect outline of the entire Buddhist path, which has nothing to do with religion, by the way, or beliefs or gods because Buddhism is non-theistic, so put that aside. And in the Buddhist view, as well, beliefs, interestingly, are considered obstacles, which always makes me laugh. But the entire Buddhist path is based on something called the Four Noble Truths, you probably know this. And just extremely briefly, the first noble truth is life is suffering, which sounds like, ew. But I’m pretty sure the Buddha didn’t mean life sucks. It’s the more accurate translation of the word Duhkha is unsatisfying. It’s unsatisfying because there is no chance of creating anything permanent. Every hair on your head, every word you say, every piece of furniture you own, every dollar you have is going to go away. It’s going to come into existence, it’s going to exist for a while, and then it’s going to disappear. There’s nothing that’s exempt from the truth of impermanence. That’s the first noble truth. So now, what are you going to do with your economics? Well, that’s a question for others, but I find it fascinating. And then the second noble truth is called the cause of suffering, which is basically pretending the first noble truth isn’t true. Its grasping is the cause of suffering. Trying to create permanent structures causes suffering. It’s interesting because the Buddhist view doesn’t say poverty causes suffering, although, of course it does. It’s not about heartbreak and loss and grief. Those things are inevitable, we can’t avoid the suffering of being human. But the real suffering is from grasping, is from exactly what you just said, trying to create false structures that actually come and collapse on us all. And then the third noble truth is called the cessation of suffering, which means now you know the cause, you also know the cure, just stop doing that. And then the fourth noble truth is called the Eightfold Path, which you could study, right view, right intention, right speech, and so on. How do you do it is the fourth noble truth. Those things that you just said, that is the Buddhist path. You can’t create anything permanent. Now what? Now what? It’s a very interesting question. And the things that you and I were talking about earlier, the things that our culture values the most, and they are truly valuable things, excellent commerce, profound ideas and skillful leadership. Those as far as I can tell, sitting from my vantage point of my meditation cushion, those are the things that are valued by our society. And they are valuable things. But when we think that any of them is going to prevent the suffering of being human, that’s where we run into problems. If I have the right idea, if I can lead my team here, if I can have X view of how the economic picture is going to unfold, I mean, great. Please share those things with others. But they’re not going to change the truth that everything is going to dissolve. So, why is spiritual practice in the Buddhist view, at least as I’ve been trained also called a path of warriorship? Well, this is why, because it takes unbelievable courage. On good days, I can do it for 10 seconds. But it takes so much courage and so much discipline, meaning presence of mind to remain with the truth of uncertainty and still give everything you have, still find joy, still give gifts, still experience the delights of being a person. That’s our job. It’s a tall order and it takes training. And last thing I’ll say and I’ll stop my little rant is what has heretofore been called soft skills, which always makes me really pissed off, listening, caring, working together, making space for very divergent viewpoints. Well, those are the hard things to do. And those are the things that are required right now. So I’m happy and excited for the great thinkers in our world who have been uncompromising in promoting those values, that now there’s a chance that they will be heard. That makes me very happy. Well, you mentioned commerce, leadership and profound ideas, as what you might call rituals of reassurance, or there’s like a place that you can follow and calm your nerves because you know the best and the brightest or whoever are leading you there. David Halberstam’s book, the title is somewhat satirical in that the best and the brightest created a mess in Vietnam, or the notion that the financial wizards were all fine until they blew up the world in 2007 and 2008. I often say that there are four, you have four noble truths, I have four tragic flaws in economics. I can’t wait. I envision it, I’ll say this in a context. I envision expertise as valuable, but currently expertise, trust in it and integrity is in tatters in many realms and in economics. And so, the four, how would I say, dangerous or flaws that contribute to the demise of faith in expertise. Our first, what I will call, how would I say, commission. Instead of providing a public good as an expert, you’re marketing to get paid. It’s a commodification that distorts your view because you’re pleasing those who pay you not telling the truth to a broader social audience, and with very highly concentrated wealth, this is much more dangerous phenomena because the experts are more dependent on sources of funding or a narrow group of people and views. The second, I’ll call that the error of comission. You commit an act to this misleading for selfish purpose. The error of omission is one of avoiding confrontation with issues and with power that could reverberate and affect your career, your success, your appointments, your chairs. In an elite structure, it is dangerous and smart people are often conscious of what not to say. There’s a woman who’s absolutely brilliant, a PhD in cultural anthropology from Cambridge, England. She’s been the US editor of the Financial Times and she’s on my board, named Gillian Tett. And when I started INET, I sought her advice, we had lunch one day. And she said, “Rob, it’s very simple. Study the silences because when you see what’s not said that should be under investigation, you’ll know the map of where power is and what you have to challenge.” So I would say that’s the, I will call the error of comission and the error of omission. And then the third I would call, and we refereed to a little bit earlier, kind of the technical rituals of hiding in the monastery, pretending that acumen with mathematics and statistics is a substitute for choosing the right problems and examining and things that are important to society. And it’s a sort of a cousin to the errors of omission. If you can’t take on things without controversy but you want to demonstrate your license or your right to be viewed as an expert, these rituals of how would I say, dexterity with the tools of the trade, are a way of creating an identity. But it’s a bit of a sidebar relative to the needs of mankind. And then the fourth gets back, the fourth, what I’ll call tragic approach to economics, gets back to what you were talking about. And I would call at some level demagoguery. But what I find fascinating, going back to your notion of ideas, leaders and commerce is that here, if you get up as an expert into a forum when people are uncertain and you say I don’t know, people find that unsatisfying. There is a demand, there is a yearning for an expert who can know. And so, we are all complicit in this ritual society and the people who aspire to be leaders, which you might call contributing to the urge for false resolution of uncertainty. And I think that that is something that a true expert, someone with high integrity and with trust has to develop the confidence and the conviction to say, it’s a dimension of humility in the way I see it. I think that the economics profession is really going to be struggling now because I don’t want to say it misspecified but it just didn’t address many things that are now just right there, and very, very powerfully important to the quality of life all over the planet. Do you remember the scene in The Wizard of Oz where Toto the dog, Dorothy the scarecrow are all watching, they’re watching the wizard smoke and everything. And Toto rolls over and he pulls the curtain, and you see the man behind working all the levers. And Dorothy walks over and he’s been unmasked, he’s not the wizard, he’s just a man. You’re not a wizard. To me, that is the parable. I showed that at my second conference as the parable of the challenge economics is facing because it’s a pretend wizard right now. And there are a lot of smart well meaning people and doing good evidence-based work. What I’ll call dogmatic tendency has really done a lot of harm to the society and to the reputation of economics. I don’t know anything about economics but I agree with everything you just said nonetheless. In some way goes back to this fear and need for, a fear of uncertainty and need for certainty. And he or she or they who can ride uncertainty, that’s going to be survival of the fittest right there. Going back to the Wizard of Oz metaphor, one of the details that struck me that I hadn’t thought about till just now is that the way The Wizard was unmasked was by a playful accident. Toto wasn’t like I’m going to get you wizard, I’m going to show everyone who you are. It wasn’t an act of aggression, which would have only created aggression on the part of the wizard presumably, like, yes, I am a wizard, how dare you blah, blah, blah. But this was just sort of a playful accident where no one could deny the truth. But if it had been- I would use your word. You had a word you used earlier. I would have called Toto’s exploration innocent curiosity. I’m digging it, innocent curiosity. And if it had been anything else, it would have been a moment of potential warfare. But because it was just something that happened, and right now, I’m not saying we’re in a moment of playful curiosity or uncertainty, but we are in such a moment that no one anticipated was prepared for is a better way of saying it. And now what? We all see it. It’s exciting moment with a lot of potential and a lot of danger. Let me talk or ask you because we’ve discussed this before, I have been trained in transcendental meditation and watched many of these, how would I say, disciplines or paths. And you’ve written about the many different paths. But the thing that you’ve raised with me in conversation before was I might call the cheapening or commodification of spiritual disciplines. There is something that’s very powerful and very deep and very helpful in making what you might call the cotton candy version that can be sold on scale and make a lot of money for an entrepreneur feels dangerous to me. It feels like it’s one of those siren songs of temptation that could take spiritual discipline off course at a time when I would say it needs to be understood by and practiced by many, many more people that have had access to it in recent years, or within my lifetime. Yeah. That’s one of my favorite questions to ponder. We can look at yoga as an example. Yoga’s great, no argument there. Yoga was developed as a spiritual practice and it’s still practiced as such by some but largely not. So okay, it’s still benefiting lots and lots of people, there’s no arguing there. It’s unlikely that that’s going to happen with the Buddha Dharma, I believe, that’s my opinion. [inaudible 00:31:10] live long enough to see if I’m right or wrong. I guess it’ll be some time. But one of the interesting things about Buddhism as a non-theistic tradition, is when it arrives on new shores, it blends with the dominant culture. And it not only changes the dominant culture to some small or big degree, but it itself is changed by the dominant culture, which is very interesting. So, when the Buddhism went to Japan, it mixed with the Shinto indigenous tradition and became Zen. And when it went to Tibet, it mixed with the Bon tradition and became what we know Tibetan Buddhism as. And now it’s here. So, what is it going to mix with? Our dominant cultural values are not Judeo-Christian, I don’t think, they’re consumerist. Our culture is governed by consumerist values. So now, Buddhism, this is my view, I just want to be sure to say that again, is mixing with the consumerist culture. And if it happens as has happened in history so far, it will change the dominant culture. Not like make it into a lala land, but it will introduce some different values, let’s say at the very least. And it will be changed by the dominant culture, which is where it becomes very interesting to me. It doesn’t mean it’s going to become a cheesy New Age religion because that is not possible in my view. But there’s a meeting. In my world, the Buddhist world, there are people on one end of the spectrum who are saying let’s make a buck. Okay, good luck you people. I say. And then people on the other end of the spectrum are saying, this is precious and elite, and you’re going to have to jump through a lot of hoops and demonstrate a lot of particular forms of intelligence before I’m going to let you have it. That’s also BS. Buddhism is sometimes called the middle way, and I truly believe there is a middle way between those two ends of the spectrum. The middle way, by the way, is not the middle, but it’s some other indefinable point. That is the noble challenge for me of my life is can I find that middle way because I have to live and pay my rent, my mortgage, and all those things, blah, blah, blah. But I know that this is not, can’t be kept on a mountaintop. It’s needed and it’s important and so forth and so on. I just think it’s really interesting to see how “mindfulness” is mixing with consumer culture. And the last thing I’ll say is, on the Buddhist path in the Tibetan traditions, which is the only place I’ve ever practiced, I’ve been Buddhist for 25 years and only in this one part of Buddhism, but you start out as you would on any spiritual path with certain practices. Practice of meditation and contemplation, and so on, and anyone can do those things. And, in my mind, almost everyone should. And then if you want to get “serious on this path,” there are other practices that are not publicly available, that you have to train first for, just like if you want to be a doctor and you take biology in high school, someone doesn’t just give you a scalpel and say go start operating on people. You have to do certain additional training and then, okay, there’s mantra practices and guru yogas and visualizations. All of these really fascinating and intense and beautiful spiritual practices that you pass through, that you pass through, that you experience. Maybe you could do them for the rest of your life if you want. And then at the end of the path, all the teachings once again, the highest teachings become completely available to everyone. Not hidden, anybody can read about them. And those teachings are called self-secret. They keep themselves a secret because unless you have a certain kind of preparation or mindset or karma or whatever you might want to call it, those teachings will not make sense to you, it will sound like gibberish. That’s a long-winded way of saying, mindfulness awareness meditation, spiritual practice in the Buddhist tradition and I’m sure other traditions too, can’t be ruined. They are self-secret. They can be misused, they can be bypassed, they can go unnoticed. But the likelihood that they’re going to be changed and lost is slim. Not saying we don’t have to try, but certainly anything is possible. But, the truth about meditation is that at some point, it becomes very difficult and also kind of boring. And anyone who says otherwise, I don’t know what they’re doing, I’d like to like to hear a little bit more about it. At that point, that’s the turning point for 90% of people. Well it’s not working for me or this is not a good practice for me or I don’t like it or my meditation is running or I’ll do something else. That’s fine. Nobody knows but you. But that moment is a critical turning point, and if you want to go further, it requires some teaching and some effort, anyway, blah, blah. Am I talking to your point or am I just talking? Yes. I think you’re, how would I say, inside the dilemmas of how people organize themselves is maybe the word. In other words, how they cope, how they explore their anxiousness, how they explore what is authentic guidance and how they define meaning. One key point that you and I spoke about earlier but we haven’t spoken about right now is, I think, how did you describe it as we were talking before the recording started, the fancy white-ification of spiritual practice is not just an ethical dilemma, why should this just be for white people? Why does it happen that if you go to a Buddhist meditation place, almost everybody’s white, why? And how do we change that? Those are very, very, very important questions to me. But it’s not just an important question from an ethical standpoint, it’s an important question from a cultural healing standpoint because the healing of the nation, which by the way is I think what Ross just calls smoking pot, but that’s another story, will only happen, healing of the nation needs to include all of us. That’s a tall order. You could call it white-ification or Yelp-ification, I don’t know what kind of adjective to assign it. If any of you who are in the audience have read some of David Brooks studies that sort of mocked the aspiring, what I’ll call upper, lower middle, excuse me, upper class or aspiring administrative class. He talks all about the false rituals of what restaurants you eat at, what diet, what kind of yoga you do as testaments, they’re like purification rituals that are very superficial. And I sense, what you might call the status badges, it’s like a Cub Scout getting their accomplishment, or Boy Scout or Girl Scout getting their accomplishment badges, that they add all of these things to an identity that turns out to be quite superficial. And in many ways, people can be seen as not practicing what they preach. I sense that in the African American community, and for that matter, in the Caribbean and Africa itself, that there is in many instances, including health crises, a much more acute sense of despair and danger. And perhaps these spiritual disciplines could be of even greater value given the adversity that these people face. But it’s a very different kind of what you might call magnetic attraction than that yelp-ification, white-ification analogy that you and I’ve talked about. I won’t pretend to know how to connect, my instinct I think we talked about this is that I look at gospel music and I look at what goes on in the black church and the nature of community there, the kind of fortification, togetherness, togetherness under conditions of adversity. And I’ve wondered if what you might call the seeds of a fruitful spiritual community or a meditation practice together with others in the community, how would I say it, might have the potential to really take hold and really be beneficial. But I don’t know enough to, I haven’t lived it, I’ve observed it growing up in Detroit, which by the way, I believe perhaps until very recently, Detroit was the place that had the most places of worship per capita and per square mile of any place in the world. We may attribute that to Henry Ford who invested a lot in all the different denominations and Christian and Muslim and Judaism as a means of social stabilization at the time he was what you might call the architect of the auto industry based in Detroit. But there were churches and synagogues and temples on every corner. It’s really quite stunning even today just to see those structures. I’m very attracted, I’m doing some work right now vis-a-vis Detroit and I’d like to explore with people about whether Detroit could be what you might call a test platform. I’m working on chess in schools and other things there. I remember in 1990, I think it was either CNN or ABC News said that Detroit is the cloud that hangs over belief in the American dream. Meaning until that rapid and violent decline, decline of what used to be a centerpiece of our economy, was put to bed and this society was regenerated in a healthy way as part of America that we would all suffer. I think there are some very devoted people to bringing that city back together, but I would like to explore with you how to, infuse into Detroit some of the spiritual practices that have benefited many people you work with. I really appreciate how with all the places your life has taken, you remain firmly team Detroit. I really appreciate your devotion and loyalty and care for your city of origin. That’s really- Well, I’m sitting here on an audio podcasts but I can make a confession, I’m wearing a hoodie that came from Chrysler Corporation, and it says imported from Detroit. Remember the famous M&M commercial that was used in the Superbowl. That’s on my back right now. I rest my case. Other than my audible confession, the evidence would have been hidden. But I think, Susan, it’s fascinating to me. I Started out reaching out to this young woman who I was told after being at a seminar on how to run an independent record label that I should engage with her because she had developed the accounting system for labels, master rights, mechanical, publishing, other publishing, and how to put that system software together as I was trying to move out of the, what you might call wild and wooly world of hedge funds and into running the record business. And if you don’t embrace your perspective and the perspective on uncertainty, the idea that when I walked up to the counter and asked that woman to teach me, she came to work with me, would end up on this podcast today as the Buddhist teacher I’m talking to, how would I say, you’ve got real illusions because I did not imagine that at that time. And I’ve watched you grow, I’ve watched you build your practice. I’ve watched you work online, I’ve watched you work in writing various books. The latest one I think is called the Four Noble Truths of Love. It’s just, how would I say that, effervescent curiosity that started our friendship came from a very different place than what we’re talking about now. I am so moved by what you’re saying. I’m so touched by that. And that our friendship has moved along with all those changes in both our lives is a testimony to this very wonderful meeting of the minds/friendship that we have, which is a great treasure to me. And I also would, who knew, who knew? Yeah. Well, all I can say to our audience is it’s quite clear to me that you practice what you preach. And that humanism and that human spirit and the way in which you have evolved yourself suggests to me that you do embrace that which you teach to others. Where is the Open Heart Project available to people who are curious? What is your website, location and so forth? How could I click on it or type it in and get there? Just openheartproject.com. There’s a sign up for the newsletter right there, and I send a meditation instructional video every week, it’s 10 minute clip to anyone who signs up for that. And each meditation is preceded by a short talk. By short, I mean less than 10 minutes, on some way of applying Buddhist practice in everyday life. So the most recent one, they come out every Monday, yesterday I guess it was, was on mindful speech, which could there be anything more important right now than that? It’s my great delight to make those off of those teachings. I’d be very happy to practice together with anyone who’s listening right now. Excellent. Very good. Well, how would I say, we sit astride the pandemic, who knows where we’ll be? The guidance that you give by example and in your teaching of how to embrace the uncertainty and how to evolve in a constructive direction is sorely needed. Thanks for being here today and thanks for sharing with us all. It’s been a joy. For me too. Bye, bye.

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Devin Kelley Mehr zum Star: Devin Kelley Devin Kelley ist eine US-amerikanische Schauspielerin. Ihre bekannteste Rolle ist die der Dr. Maggie Langston in der Serie Resurrection. Devin Kelley (* Januar in Saint Paul, Minnesota) ist eine US-amerikanische Schauspielerin. Ihre bekannteste Rolle ist die der Dr. Maggie Langston in. Abonnenten, folgen, Beiträge - Sieh dir Instagram-Fotos und -Videos von Devin Kelley (@devkelley) an. Auf Devin Kelleys Instagram-Profil sind Beiträge. Folge seinem/ihrem Konto, um alle seine/ihre Fotos und Videos zu sehen. Die neuesten Tweets von Devin Kelley (@Dev_Kelley). Made in Minnesota. Los Angeles. Bild Devin Kelley. Foto: Warner Bros. Pictures 1/5. Olivia Taylor Dudley, Jesse McCartney, Devin Kelley, Ingrid Bolso Berdal, Jonathan Sadowski, Chernobyl. Devin Kelley. Verwandte Themen; Polizei · New York · Blutbad · Psychiatrie · Luftwaffe · El Paso · Houston · stern · FBI · Steven. Die neuesten Tweets von Devin Kelley (@Dev_Kelley). Made in Minnesota. Los Angeles. Devin Kelley VideoFBI Having Difficulty Unlocking Texas Shooter Devin Kelley's Cellphone - NBC News Devin Kelley - Darstellerin in SerienIch suche einen Filmtitel. Gedreht vermutlich irgendwann - Also Runfunk, Fernsehen, Handymasten etc. Mai Er verfolgt die Frau und findet heraus, dass sie fremd geht worauf er sie verrät. Kann er mich anzeigen und erscheint ein Eintrag im Führungszeugnis? Nun kam mir die Idee Sie zu kontaktieren, sollte sich doch niemand besser mit Filmen auskennen;- Leider kan ich mich nicht mehr an die Details erinnen. Archived from the original on November 7, Authorities have not specified a motive but they noted that his mother-in-law had attended the church and been threatened three days next stream the. Retrieved August 13, Related Stories. Devin kelley would stalk me by repeatedly calling me — even prank die liga der gerechten online stream me, saying really weird stuff. Archived from the original on November 11, Court records show that Kelley, who told police he was trying to stop the dog from attacking another animal, paid a fine in the case. As Sutherland Springs mourned its dead, investigators were trying to piece together a portrait of the gunman and determine the motive. Federal officials said they'd found no obvious link between Kelley and an organized terrorist group, and state police said there was no evidence of a racial of religious motivation. Martin told reporters that Kelley was wearing the tactical gear and the ballistics vest when he pulled into a gas station in Sutherland Springs at a. ET Sunday. He had multiple weapons in his car, Martin said. After leaving the gas station, the gunman crossed the street, got out of his car and sprayed First Baptist Church's right side with his rifle, Martin said. He then entered the church and continued to fire until a local resident grabbed his own rifle and fired at Kelley, forcing him to drop his weapon and flee. The resident pursued Kelley, who drove off the road and crashed, Martin said. Kelley was later found dead, Martin said, although it was unclear how he died. She started this role in December, Connor is responsible for reporting and writing breaking news, features and enterprise stories for NBCNews. Connor joined NBC News from the New York Daily News, where she was a senior writer covering a broad range of news and supervising the health and immigration beats. Prior to that she was an assistant city editor who oversaw breaking news and the courts and entertainment beats. She lives in Brooklyn, N. News Business World Pride Podcasts. Follow NBC News. Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings. Texas church shooter may have been related to worshippers, sheriff says Nov. Tim Stelloh. Caitlin Fichtel. Investigators say Kelley opened fire at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, first from the outside and then from the inside, about Sunday during morning worship services. At least 26 are dead and at least 20 more are injured. Kelley was found dead inside his vehicle on the border between Wilson and Guadalupe counties, but it was not immediately clear if he shot himself or was killed by a resident who pursued him. Sunday's mass shooting in the tiny Texas town of about was the deadliest at a place of worship in the United States and the worst mass shooting in Texas history. A motive has not been established. BuzzFeed News reported that Kelley was court-martialed in for an assault on his wife and their child , and that he was confined for 12 months before his discharge for "bad conduct. His mother-in-law listed a post office box in Sutherland Springs as her mailing address. Kelley had posted a photo of an assault weapon on a now-deleted Facebook page, saying in the caption, "She's a bad bitch," The Daily Beast said. Witnesses said the shooter was wearing all black and as in " full gear " — including a ballistic vest — when he approached the church with his AR style weapon and fired one shot outside the church, then entered before unloading several rounds of ammunition. He indicated on required background forms that he didn't have a criminal record that would disqualify him from purchasing the gun according to the report. According to the Daily Beast, Kelley wrote that teaching Bible school children ages helped "their minds grow and prosper. Kelley had followed some pages about atheism on Facebook, Heavy.Wenn ein Polizist wegen click at this page Straftat entlassen wird und die Pensionsansprüche gestrichen werden? Was ist, wenn der Polizist sich https://jamtkraftstadsnat.se/serien-stream-illegal/es-trailer-deutsch.php verändert und in die freie Wirtschaft als Angestellter wechselt und erst danach irgend eine Straftat begeht, fireproof keinen Bezug zur Polizei hat, hat das dann noch einen Einfluss auf seine Pension? Cursed — Die Auserwählte: Die ersten Bilder. Und devin kelley ist es, wenn der Polizist selber kündigt und der Entlassung zuvor kommt? DeMilles Film erzählt die Geschichte vom israelitischen Kind Moses, der von einer Prinzessin gefunden und als ägyptischer Prinz aufgezogen wird. Ausstrahlung nach Oster-Klassiker Er verfolgt die Frau und pity, hochzeit mit einer leiche think heraus, dass sie fremd geht worauf er sie verrät. Sprich, auch in der "Niederlage" waren read article ihm noch just click for source. Daraufhin scheint er sein Ziel erreicht zu haben, denn das Paar trennt sich. MARIUS ADAM SUCHT EVA Ihr wollt Netflix nutzen und dass die Gesellschaft zur Verfolgung Film- fireproof Serienangebot des Estavana polman. |The green mile online subtitrat||Serien stream gilmore| |Indiana jones kristallschГ¤del||Diesen Artikel versenden an. Hallo Filmfans, seit Jahren suche ich nach einem älterem, vermutlich französischem Spielfilm, aber trotzt stundenlangem gesurfe leider ohne Erfolg. Erscheint Eintrag wegen Autodiebstahl im führungszeugnis? Aller Ambitionen und toller Schauspieler zum Trotz erschöpft es sich in einem Right terry thomas useful prächtiger Bilder.| |LEBE DEIN LEBEN||Zdf.de heute| |Autumn blood stream||13| |BOB DER STREUNER STREAM DEUTSCH||361| According to the Daily Beast, Kelley wrote that teaching Bible school children ages helped "their minds grow and prosper. Kelley had followed some pages about atheism on Facebook, Heavy. He also had liked pages on German Shepherds, Glocks and karate, and on his LinkedIn profile had said that he cared about civil and human rights, social action, animal welfare, children, arts and culture, the environment and health, the news site said. This corrects an earlier version that said Kelley was dishonorably discharged from the Air Force. Instead, he received a "bad conduct discharge. Patch is a space for neighborhood news. Please keep your replies clean, friendly and factual. Read our community guidelines here. Kelley, Texas Church Massacre Suspect: 5 Facts The suspect in the Texas shooting that killed at least 26 was discharged from the Air Force for "bad conduct," according to news reports. Here are five facts about the suspected gunman:. See Also:. Thank Reply Share. T he gunman suspected of killing at least 26 people and injuring 20 others when he opened fire at a small town church southeast of San Antonio on Sunday has been identified by law enforcement officials as Devin Kelley. The victims ranged in age from 18 months to 77 years, officials said Monday. Law enforcement officials have identified the suspect as Devin Patrick Kelley, a 26 year-old man living in New Braunfels, Texas — about 35 miles from Sutherland Springs. The gunman was seen walking into the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs on Sunday after crossing the street from a gas station around a. Kelly, who was wearing all black tactical gear and a ballistic vest, began firing a Ruger AR assault-type rifle from outside the church upon exiting his vehicle. He then moved to the right side of the church and began shooting before entering the building and continuing to fire. Officials say that after leaving the church, the gunman was confronted by a local citizen, who grabbed his rifle and chased him from the scene. The suspect drove away, and crashed his vehicle near the county line, where authorities later found his body. Officials said he might have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound but are awaiting an autopsy to determine his official cause of death. Kelley served in the Air Force until he was discharged for allegedly assaulting his wife and child, according to service records obtained by the Associated Press. Kelley was demoted and received a bad conduct discharge following the court-martial, and served a one-year detention sentence, Stefanek said. All three firearms were purchased by Kelley. Authorities are investigating any social media posts Kelley made in the days prior to the attack, including one that appeared to feature an AR semiautomatic rifle, AP reports. He does not appear to be linked to organized terrorist groups, according to officials. Authorities said it was unclear whether he was part of any militia groups. Neighbors reported hearing intense gunfire coming from the direction of the address listed for Kelley in past days. It was definitely not just a shotgun or someone hunting.

Allah says in the Qur’an, Men are caretakers (qawwamuna) of women, because of that through which Allah has favored one over another, and because of what they spend of their property (Qur’an 4:34). Before trying to understand this in a knowledge-based way, it is worth remembering that the Qur’an severely blames whoever would speak on religious matters without knowledge, as Allah says in surat al-Najm, They have no knowledge of it whatsoever: they but follow opinion, and opinion avails nothing in place of the Truth (Qur’an 53:28). Although originally revealed about unbelievers who gave the angels names, this verses concluding note is a cogent reminder until the end of time that we must make sure of what we say about religion. For this reason, my advice, to myself and to every Muslim, is that when seeking knowledge on any question in Islam, one should rely on the top scholars in the field that deals with the question; in this case, the Imams of tafsir or Qur’anic exegesis. This is more necessary today than ever, when so much Islamic thought abounds and so little of what in previous centuries of Islamic learning was called ilm or “knowledge”. The good news reaches us that some academic celebrity or other has become a Muslim, only to be followed a few months later by the bad news: that he has written a new book about Islam. The knowledge of Islam, encompassing the entire ethical range of human experience, this world and the next, has never been considered attainable without learning it from those who have a working familiarity with it, the traditional ulama. It was once said to Imam Abu Hanifa, “In such and such a mosque there is a circle that discusses fiqh (lit. the “understanding of fine points of the religion”)”. He asked, “Do they have a master over them?” and they said no. He said, “They will never understand” (Ibn Muflih, al-Adab al-shariyya wa al-minah al-mariyya. 3 vols. Cairo n.d. Reprint. Cairo: Maktaba Ibn Taymiya, 1398/1978, 3.374). It is true that if such a celebrity confines himself to description of some particular Islamic phenomenon in ways he has been previously trained to, there is perhaps no harm in it. But when he tries an ethical analysis of what the Qur’an (or hadith) tells Muslims to do, he has passed into explaining the command of Allah, and in such a case, if he does not know the interpretive dimensions of that command–the aspects of Arabic, the figurative, the literal, the types of metaphor, the context in which various verses were revealed, which verses supersede others and which are superseded, the points on which there is scholarly consensus (ijma) and the points on which there is not, the tenets of faith of Ahl al-Sunna, and a great deal more–he will fail. Interpreting the word qawwamuna in the above verse is just such an ethical analysis, with human implications too tremendous to be left to amateurs. We will therefore turn to what some of the principle Imams of tafsir or Qur’anic exegesis have said about it. One of the earliest tafsirs in print is by Imam Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 310/923), who says: Allah, majestic be His praise, means by Men are caretakers of women that they are in charge of their womenfolk, in disciplining and guidance, respecting the rights that they [women] owe to Allah and to them. Because of that by which Allah has favored one over another means because of that through which Allah has favored men over their wives, since men must give them their marriage payment (mahr) and spend of their wealth to support them, and save them their pains and effort: that is the favoring of Allah Most Blessed and Exalted of men over women, and is why they have become caretakers of them who have authority over them regarding those of their affairs that Allah has given them charge of … (Jami al-bayan an tawil ay al-Qur’an. 30 vols. Cairo n.d. Reprint (30 vols. in 15). Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1405/1984, 5.57). Al-Tabari then mentions the chains of narrators that transmit the above exegesis from some of the earliest scholars, such as Ibn Abbas (d. 68/ 687), al-Dahhak (d. A.H. 102), al-Suddi (d. A.H. 127), and Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161/778). Then he mentions, with a chain of transmission that ends with Hasan al-Basri (d. 110/728) that a man slapped his wife, and she went to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), who wanted to let her take retaliation (qisas) against her husband [by striking him back in reprisal], but Allah revealed Men are caretakers qawwamuna) of women, because of that through which Allah has favored one over another, and because of what they spend of their property, so the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) summoned the man, recited the verse to him and said, “I wanted one thing, but Allah wanted another” (ibid., 58). In fact, although the hadith scholar Imam al-Baghawi (d. 510/1117) also mentions this event in his Maalim al-Tanzil, neither he nor al-Tabari can produce an acceptable chain of transmission of it back to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), so for religious purposes, it is not well-documented enough to rely on for the verses interpretation, and al-Tabari’s first interpretation is sounder. But whatever the sabab al-nuzul or “original occasion of revelation” of the verse, the intended meaning is not confined to that alone. As the Yemeni shari’a scholar and judge Abdullah Mahfuz Baalawi says, “The interpretive principle established by the scholarly consensus (ijma) of specialists in methodological bases (usul) of Sacred Law is that the point of primary texts [of the Qur’an and sunna] lies in the generality of their lexical significance, not the specificity pf their historical context [emphasis mine] (al-Sunna wa al-bid’a. Kuwait: Matabi al-Wazzan, 1404/1984, 33). In light of this important principle, the exegetes we will now examine adduce the significance of this verses placement in the Qur’an (for the order is also divinely revealed), coming as it does after the provisions for Islamic estate division (irth) in surat al-Nisa. The Arabic grammarian and exegete Abu Hayyan al-Nahwi (d. 754/1353) says of the verse “Men are caretakers of women”: Because Allah Most High has mentioned [in preceding verses] the matter of men and women acquiring their appointed share and their estate-division inheritance, He [here] apprises them that men are in charge of the interests of women. Caretakers (qawwamuna) is an intensive form [indicating something done much]. Because Allah has favored one over another means “because of Allah’s favoring some men over others, this man having been given more sustenance (rizq) than that man, this man being better off than that one”. And because they spend of their property means “upon women”. The word ma [lit. what, translated above in the citation of al-Tabari as “because of that through which Allah has favored,” and secondly, “because of what they spend”] is [rather] ma masdariyya or “the indefinite pronoun signifying a verbal noun” in both instances. [Thus meaning “because of Allah’s favoring the one,” and “because of their spending of their property,”] (Tafsir al-nahr al-madd min al-Bahr al-muhit. 2 vols. in 3. Beirut: Dar al-Janan and Mu’assasa al-Kutub al-Thaqafiyya, 1407/1987, 1.45758). Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi is another exegete who considers the relation of the verse “Men are caretakers of women” to other verses: Know that Allah Most High has said [two verses previously], “. . . and not to long for that with which Allah has preferred some of you above others” (Qur’an 4:32), a verse that we said was revealed because some women made remarks about Allah’s favoring men over them in estate division inheritance [by certain male heirs receiving twice the share of their female counterparts]. So Allah mentions in this verse that He only favored men over women in estate division because men are the caretakers of women. For although both spouses enjoy the usufruct of each others person, Allah has ordered men to pay women their marriage portion, and to daily provide them with their support, so that the increase on one side is met with an increase on the other–and so it is as though there is no favoring at all. This clarifies the verses arrangement and order (Tafsir al-Fakhr al-Razi. 32 vols. Beirut 1401/1981. Reprint (32 vols. in 16). Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1405/1985, 10.90). Finally, the more fiqh-oriented exegesis of al-Kaya al-Harrasi notes that while Allah has mentioned men’s support of women in verses such as the one in surat al-Tahrim “Let him who possesses plenty spend of his plenty; and let him whose provision is straitened spend of what Allah has given him” (Qur’an 65:7), in this verse [Men are caretakers (qawwamuna) of women], He mentions the necessary cause (`illa) for this support, so scholars have naturally inferred from the two verses taken together that whenever a husband is unable to support his wife, he is no longer her caretaker: she is not obliged to remain at home [should he request it] in any school of jurisprudence, and according to the school of al-Shafi’i (Allah be well pleased with him), she is entitled to have the marriage annulled. He is no longer a caretaker or entitled to oblige her to remain at home because he has vitiated the objective of protecting her by marriage, for the aim of marriage is her security (Ahkam al-Qur’an. 4 vols. Cairo n.d. Reprint (4 vols. in 2). Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1405/1985, 2.449). In answer to your question then, our exegetes clarify how the meaning of qawwamuna or “caretakers” involves legal rights and obligations on the part of both men and women. It entails that women have the right to security, protection, and to be free from the thought of having to support themselves. Even if a woman has millions, she is entitled to be completely supported by her husband and can have her marriage annulled if he is unable to. And it entails that a man has charge of his wife’s interests, supervision, and discipline. And Allah knows best. ©Nuh Ha Mim Keller 1995

A major road has been sealed off by police and will remained ‘closed for some time’ after a man died following a serious crash. The A5 – at the junction of Streetway Road in Weeford – was closed off by Staffordshire Police following the smash at around 11.30am on Tuesday, September 10. Crews from West Midlands Ambulance Service were also in attendance. A spokesman for Staffordshire Police added: "Collision investigation officers are appealing for witnesses to a serious road traffic collision in the Lichfield area today (September 10). "The collision happened at around 11.30am in Shenstone at the junction of the A5 and Streetway Road. It involved a white Citroen van and a Bateman agricultural vehicle. Sadly, the 21 year-old driver of the van was pronounced dead at the scene. The tractor driver was unhurt. "The road was closed for around three hours while specialist officers carried out an examination of the scene. Anyone who witnessed the collision is asked to ring 101 quoting incident 228 of 10 September or email ciu@Staffordshire.pnn.police.uk This is a live blog and updates will follow as we learn more. To keep up-to-date with crime in your community, join the Black Country Crime Watch Facebook group where you will be alerted to any suspicious or criminal behaviour happening in your area. Man, 21, dies after horror crash For more information, including the police statement, click here. Injuries still unknown Our reporter, Jordan Coussins, has contacted Staffordshire Police and West Midlands Ambulance Service for more information. Gallery: Farm vehicle involved in serious smash Video from the scene first picture of the scene: First ambulance statement: A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “We were called to the A5 westbound, at the junction of Street Way Road, after reports of a road traffic collision at 11.26am on Tuesday, September 10. “We have one ambulance and a paramedic officer in attendance.”

Chris Mullin is a former Labour MP and minister, and the author of Error of Judgment: The Truth about the Birmingham Bombings. The Friends of Harry Perkins, a sequel to his novel A Very British Coup, is published next month. On the evening of 21 November 1974, bombs planted by the IRA in two crowded Birmingham pubs, the Tavern in the Town and the Mulberry Bush, exploded, killing 21 people and injuring at least 170. Many of the injuries were life-changing. None of those responsible has been brought to justice. This month, almost 45 years later, an inquest opens into the deaths. The inquest has been forced on the authorities by the persistence of a small group of bereaved relatives who want to know who made the bombs and who planted them. The coroner has resisted this demand, arguing that it is not the job of an inquest to identify perpetrators. The relatives challenged his decision in the courts: the police, they say, know the names of those responsible and should be obliged to disclose them. The police respond that, although they have their suspicions, they have insufficient evidence to charge anyone. The lower court refused to order the coroner to address the issue, but did conclude that he hadn’t properly considered the matter and referred it back to him. The coroner stuck to his original decision. The relatives then took their case to the appeal court, which found for the coroner. There the matter rests. I know the names of the bombers. Four men were involved: two bomb-makers and two planters. More than thirty years ago two of them described to me what they’d done in some detail. By a process of elimination, assisted by information from former members of the West Midlands IRA, I also identified at least one of the remaining perpetrators, perhaps both, though neither would admit to me their role in the bombings. But I have never named names. Journalists do not disclose their sources. I interviewed many of those who were active in the IRA’s West Midlands campaign. To gain their co-operation I gave repeated assurances, not only to the guilty, but to innocent intermediaries, that I would not disclose their identities. I cannot go back on that now, just because it would be convenient. My purpose at the time was to help free the six innocent men who had been convicted of the bombing. I was never under the illusion that I could bring the perpetrators to justice. My researches, conducted between 1985 and 1987, formed the final chapters of my book about the case, Error of Judgment. In it two of the perpetrators are quoted at length, but not identified. I no longer have any compunction about identifying two of the men involved, who are now dead (I am about to do so), but the man described in my book as the ‘young planter’ is still alive, and I will not name him. Within four hours of the explosions on 21 November five Irishmen – Paddy Hill, Gerry Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, Billy Power and Johnny Walker – were arrested at Heysham in Lancashire as they got off a train from Birmingham New Street which connected with the ferry to Belfast. A sixth man, Hughie Callaghan, was arrested the next day in Birmingham. The five were taken to Morecambe police station where Dr Frank Skuse, a Home Office forensic scientist, tested their hands for evidence of contact with explosives. Meanwhile a posse of detectives from the West Midlands Serious Crimes Squad headed up the motorway to interview the suspects. In Morecambe Skuse conducted a Griess test, swabbing the hands of the suspects with ether, mixing it with caustic soda and noting the reaction. By dawn, he was claiming that the test had returned positive results for two of the five prisoners. He had no business making such a claim. Griess was only a screening test. Having obtained his initial results, he should have taken the samples back to his laboratory in Preston and fed them into a mass spectrometer, which gives a much more accurate result. Instead, Skuse told the West Midlands detectives he was certain at least two of the suspects had recently been in contact with nitroglycerine. From that moment, their fate was sealed. Up to this point Lancashire police had resisted pressure from the West Midlands detectives to hand over the suspects for interrogation. After Skuse’s contribution the pressure became impossible to resist. Lancashire police effectively lost control of their police station and a programme of violence and intimidation began, lasting three days and two nights (during which time the prisoners were transferred to Queens Road police station in Birmingham), which resulted in four confessions. This was before the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984), which laid down strict rules for the treatment of suspects. Before its passage, confessions could be extracted by any means necessary, so long as any injuries inflicted weren’t too obvious. There were no tape or video recordings, no lawyer present, just police officers. The suspects who confessed claimed they did so after being beaten and deprived of sleep, having aggressive dogs put in their cells and, in one case, being subjected to a mock execution using blank cartridges. The confessions were mistaken in details about the bombings and contradicted each other in major respects. Among the things they got wrong were the locations of the bombs, the types of bag they were carried in (something which only became apparent after scientists examined remnants found in the rubble, by which time it was too late to correct the confessions), and which suspects were supposed to have bombed which pub. They didn’t explain where the bombs had come from or who had made them. (Years later, at the Birmingham Six’s final, successful appeal in 1991, it was discovered that the interviewing officers had been rewriting their supposedly contemporaneous notebooks up to the day the original trial started.) The trial took place at Lancaster Castle in the summer of 1975. Mr Justice (later Lord) Bridge made no secret of his approach to the evidence. ‘I am of the opinion,’ he told the jury, ‘not shared by all my brothers on the bench that, if a judge has formed a clear view, it is much better to let the jury see that and say so and not pretend to be some Olympian detached observer.’ He was as good as his word. The trial lasted 45 days. In addition to the six, there were three other people in the dock, charged with conspiracy to cause explosions. One of them was Michael Murray, a workmate of two of the six, who made no secret of his membership of the IRA. In the best IRA tradition he chose not to participate in the proceedings. His presence in the dock alongside the six was deeply damaging to their case. This is no doubt the reason the prosecution decided to try them together. The case against the six was divided into what the judge called three chapters. The first was circumstantial evidence: they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and drank in the same pubs and clubs as a number of the wrong people. Even Bridge admitted that this ‘fell a long way short of anything that anyone could possibly regard as proof’. The two remaining chapters were the confessions and Skuse’s evidence. Skuse told the court, as he had told the police officers, that he was ‘99 per cent certain’ at least two of the accused had handled explosives. There were clear difficulties with the prosecution case. The confessions were riddled with contradictions and the suggestion that they had been obtained by intimidation and violence could not be entirely dismissed – no one disputed that the men had suffered numerous injuries during their first few days in custody. The police position was that the injuries must have been inflicted after the suspects were remanded to Winson Green prison. The prison officers’ position was silence. The men’s position was that they had been assaulted both at the police station and at the prison. The distinction was important because if it could be demonstrated that the assaults had occurred in police custody the confessions would be invalid. A long procession of police officers ranging in rank from detective constable to chief superintendent gave evidence that no one had laid a finger on the suspects. In his summing up the judge outlined, in tones of incredulity, the scale of the conspiracy the police would have to have engaged in if the defendants were telling the truth. We now know that a conspiracy on this scale is essentially what did occur. There were problems, too, with the evidence provided by Skuse. After applying the Griess test to the men’s hands at Morecambe, he did what he should have done before giving the police his conclusion and went back to his laboratory to feed the samples into a mass spectrometer. They all tested negative. What’s more, the clothes of all six men tested negative and a search of their homes revealed no trace of explosives. Where the bombs came from was a mystery left unexplored. Nevertheless, Skuse stuck to his assertion that the two positive Griess tests were proof of recent contact with explosives. Dr Hugh Black, a former Home Office chief inspector of explosives, appearing as a witness for the defence, pointed out that a range of innocent substances – anything containing nitrocellulose – could produce a positive Griess test. The problem was that Black was relying solely on his knowledge of chemistry. He had conducted no tests to support his (entirely accurate) assertions. The judge pounced on this. Throughout the trial Bridge lost no opportunity to intervene on behalf of the prosecution. Not only did he criticise Black for failing to conduct experiments, he also went for the prison medical officer, Dr Harwood, whose evidence inconveniently asserted that the defendants showed signs of injury when they arrived at Winson Green. Harwood’s problem was that he was trying to cover for what Bridge called ‘his cronies’ in the prison service by making out all the assaults had been carried out by the police. Bridge took him apart. Finally, there was a tricky moment when one of the Lancashire police officers strayed off-script on a key issue of timing. Under questioning from the prosecution, he stuck to his story. Eventually the judge rode to the rescue. Bridge’s summing up covered 189 pages and took three days to deliver. It is peppered with heavy hints as to his view of the evidence, although he always took care to insert the sentence, ‘Members of the jury, it is entirely a matter for you.’ One of the most remarkable passages came towards the end, when Bridge turned to Michael Murray, who had sat silently throughout the proceedings. ‘You may think,’ he told the jury, ‘that Murray’s conduct in this trial has shown a certain measure of dignity totally absent from the conduct of his co-defendants. You may find yourself in difficulty in withholding a certain measure of respect.’ Murray, as it turned out, was the only person in that courtroom who actually had anything to do with the bombings. My attention was first drawn to the Birmingham case by my friend Peter Chippendale, who covered the trial for the Guardian. He told me he thought the wrong people had been convicted. It was ten years or so before I began to investigate the matter. In the early 1980s I persuaded Carmen Callil at Chatto and Windus to commission a book on the case, but the advance was small and did not begin to fund the research necessary. In 1985, Ray Fitzwalter, the editor of ITV’s documentary series World in Action, agreed to take me on temporarily and give me the resources to look into the case. To begin with, I spent much time, along with the World in Action journalists Ian McBride and Charles Tremayne, trying to find a police officer involved in the case who would tell a story different from the one told in court. The search proved fruitless. Next we got two independent forensic scientists to test Skuse’s evidence. They found, just as Black had suggested during the trial, that a range of innocent household substances containing nitrocellulose, from varnish to sprays, could produce a positive Griess test. Of particular interest was the discovery that packs of playing cards used to be coated with nitrocellulose. The five men on the train to Heysham had played cards during the journey. We got Ian McBride to shuffle a pack of old playing cards and, sure enough, his hands produced a positive Griess test. With that, the forensic evidence collapsed. Soon after a World in Action documentary describing our findings was shown in October 1985, I was contacted by a former police officer who had been at Queens Road police station and witnessed some of the comings and goings in the cell block. We made a second documentary. The case against the six men had always been weak, but that in itself did not prove their innocence. The only way to do that was to track down the actual bombers. My colleagues were not immediately interested in this line of inquiry so I went about it alone, beginning with a visit to the Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams in July 1985. I didn’t expect him to deliver up the real bombers; I wanted him to indicate that he had no objection to my interviewing particular individuals, whose names I would put to him. I wanted especially to talk to Michael Murray, who, having served most of his 12-year sentence for conspiracy to cause explosions, had recently been released and was living in Dublin. Murray was not at all keen to meet me, but agreed after the intervention of intermediaries. We agreed that I would not disclose his identity and that when we came to a question he didn’t want to answer he would say so, but not mislead me. I met him three times, in July and November 1985 and April 1986. The first interview lasted three hours. Despite his initial reluctance he provided an account of what happened on the night of the bombings. Two men had made the bombs and two others had planted them in the pubs. The targets had not been the pubs, but the buildings they were part of: one was in the Rotunda, a local landmark, and the other was underneath the New Street office of the Inland Revenue. At that meeting Murray declined to discuss his own role, but at our second meeting he was frank. He was one of the men who had made the bombs and he had given the warning phone call (which had come too late). This still wasn’t enough to free the jailed men. The police never claimed to have caught the bomb-makers. Indeed they had never offered any explanation as to where the bombs came from. I had to find one or both of the planters and persuade them to describe what they had done in such detail that it wouldn’t be possible for anyone to go on pretending that the right people were in prison. I drew up a list of all those known to have been involved in planting bombs in and around Birmingham. Tracking them down wasn’t too difficult since many of them had served long prison terms. I started with those who’d been in prison at the time of the pub bombings. They didn’t necessarily know the identity of the bombers, but they did know which members of the West Midlands IRA were at liberty that night. They all agreed on one point: none of the Birmingham Six had been a member of the IRA. I then began to track down those members of the West Midlands IRA who had been at liberty on the night of the bombings. Gradually I narrowed down my list of suspects and when I had been given the same name by three separate sources, I moved in on him. He lived on a bleak housing estate and was in his early thirties. He had been involved in seven or eight other city-centre bombings before the pub bombings. He set out to give me a sanitised version of his career, but as we started discussing the night of 21 November his voice began to tremble and fade away. At first, he lied, saying he had been warned to stay at home that night because something big was going to happen. After we changed the subject his voice grew stronger again. ‘I think you were in the pubs,’ I said to him. There was a long silence. We were sitting on the floor. He stared straight ahead, smoking. Then it all came tumbling out. This is what he told me: On the evening of the bombings a person came to see me and said, ‘You’re needed for an operation.’ I went with him to a house. We went by car. The bombs were in the parlour, behind the sofa. One was in a duffle bag and the other was in a small brown luggage case. I was given the duffle bag and a pistol. I put the gun in my coat pocket. The other man carried the case. We walked into town. It was a good mile. The other fellow told me the targets ten minutes before we arrived. He said: ‘The one in the Tavern is for the tax office and the one in the Mulberry Bush is for the Rotunda.’ He added: ‘There’ll be plenty of warning.’ Believe it or not I accepted it. I didn’t want the stigma of cowardice attached to me. He kept saying, ‘Don’t worry, those people will be well out of there.’ I kept on about it and he repeated there would be substantial warning. We approached down Digbeth. Just before we arrived we stopped in the entrance to a row of shops. The other guy opened the case and was fiddling with something. Then he reached inside my duffle bag. That was when the bombs were primed. We crossed the road without using the underpass because the police were sometimes down there. We did the Tavern first. Up New Street. Past the Mulberry Bush. The other fellow went to the bar and ordered two drinks. I took both bags and found a seat. I was shitting myself. The other person came back with the drinks. We took a sip and then got up leaving the duffle bag under a seat. At the Mulberry Bush the procedure was the same. ‘This time I ordered the drinks. The other person found a table at the back. The bomb was left by a telephone.’ We talked for nearly four hours. I pressed him repeatedly for the name of the other man, but he refused to tell me. As I left, he said: ‘No offence Mr Mullin, but I never want to see you again.’ I learned from other sources that the other planter was called James Francis Gavin. It was from his house in Bordesley Green that the bombers had set out. By the time I was told about him, Gavin was in Portlaoise Prison, near Dublin, serving life for a murder committed in 1977. A pipe layer by profession, he was married to an English woman, served in the British army for three years and lived in Britain for many more. During the course of my three-hour interview with him he readily admitted to his involvement in the IRA’s West Midlands campaign and even to having advised IRA units all over the country about the layout of British military bases. When it came to the pub bombings, however, he flatly denied involvement. Instead he doggedly suggested that the bombings were the work of British agents bent on discrediting the IRA – something the IRA had never alleged. His reasons for this became clear as the interview progressed. In the immediate aftermath of the pub bombings the IRA had issued a statement saying that it was not its policy to kill civilians; there would be an internal inquiry and the results of it would be published, ‘however unpalatable’. There was an inquiry, but the results were never published. I later interviewed an IRA veteran who sat on the inquiry. ‘A lot of lies were told,’ he said. ‘The people who had come out of England were interviewed. They all said, “It wasn’t us.” I firmly believed them at the time. Eighteen months later I was sitting in the house of one of the people who had been active in Birmingham. People had had a few drinks and they started talking. It became clear that we had done it. A second inquiry was held. It concluded that we had been lied to and that the people who had done it were walking around free.’ Michael Murray had confessed to being one of the bomb-makers. Gavin, even if he hadn’t admitted it to me, and the young man I spoke to had planted the bombs. A fourth name crops up from time to time: Michael Christopher Hayes, who was active in the West Midlands IRA in 1974 and returned to Ireland some time in 1975, remaining active there. Sean O’Callaghan, who infiltrated the IRA as an agent of the Irish security service, identified him as the one-time ‘quartermaster’ of the IRA English operation. According to another knowledgeable source he was its deputy head during the 1980s and so would have been involved in planning all the bombings that took place on the British mainland in that period. That would include the Brighton bombing of 1984. I interviewed him in October 1987. Like Gavin, he admitted to a leading role in the IRA’s West Midlands campaign, but denied involvement in the pub bombings. Lately, however, he has become more talkative. In Dublin in 2017 he gave an interview to a BBC journalist in which he accepted ‘collective responsibility’ for the bombings, but again denied direct involvement. He also made the unlikely claim that he had defused a third bomb in Birmingham that night: it had been left in the doorway of a branch of Barclays Bank in Hagley Road but failed to go off. This may or may not be true, but it does confirm he was active that night. Michael Murray died in 1999, James Francis Gavin in 2002. Michael Christopher Hayes remains at liberty in Ireland. So does the young planter. Remarkably, they all spent time in West Midlands police custody after the bombings. The Birmingham Six were finally freed in 1991.

Simon Cowell now has a new claim to creepy fame: when not cutting down wannabe stars on American Idol, he was busy impregnating his best friend's wife—allegedly. In seriously icky Hollywood gossip, the US Weekly has reported that the 53-year-old Brit has got New Yorker Lauren Silverman "up the duff." Though 36-year-old Silverman is still technically married to Cowell's good buddy, real estate mogul Andrew Silverman, she is 10 weeks along, apparently with Cowell's child. Sources say the Silverman marriage has been on the rocks for some time, during which Cowell became cozy with Lauren. Do you remember your first time? Many of us have some bittersweet menstrual nostalgia going on, as this contest will attest. Now a company called HelloFlo wants to pander to your every monthly need, delivering care packages straight to your home so you don't have to think about it. The best part is, they include candy to take your mind of the cramps! According to an article in Jezebel, HelloFlo founder Naama Bloom took the entrepreneurial leap because she wanted to show her children "that being happy in what you do is worth a little struggle." In her case struggle is equated with selling truckloads of tampons. After her company's brilliant foray into advertising, though, I suspect that struggle will indeed be "little." The commercial, centred around the idea of a cheeky control freak camp gyno, is priceless and will have you pining for your young self all over again: "It's like I'm Joan and their vag is the arc...It's like Santa for your vagina." Watch and love. Would you consider a mail order service for your period needs? Social media is increasingly becoming a war zone. But the enemy is often faceless, cloaked in anonymity. One woman received death and rape threats, prompting Twitter to devise a button to report online abuse for individual tweets. According to an article in the Belfast Telegraph, when feminist Caroline Criado Perez campaigned to put a woman's face on a new bank note, she hadn't expected the hate-filled Pandora's box to blow up on her. This athlete's triumph was recently marred by a shocking online assault. Police are now involved, and Twitter has been urged to up its security. A 21-year-old man was recently arrested in Manchester, England, in connection with suspected harassment. But to many, the site didn't take action quickly enough to protect Perez. A petition urging the free social media site to rethink its policies gained more than 12,500 signatures. Others plan to stage a Twitter boycott on 4 August. Though the report abuse button already exists for individual tweets via Twitter's latest iPhone app, the company has yet to extend the option to other platforms. "We don't comment on individual accounts," said a spokesperson for the media giant. "However, we have rules which people agree to abide by when they sign up to Twitter. We will suspend accounts that, once reported to us, are found to be in breach of our rules. We encourage users to report an account for violation of the Twitter rules by using one of our report forms." For the likes of Perez, while such abuse isn't unusual, the level of intensity and aggression involved was. "It's infuriating that the price you pay for standing up for women is 24 hours of rape threats," said Perez, the freelance journalist who petitioned the Bank of England to put author Jane Austen on the new £10 in 2017. Been at the receiving end of any abusive tweets? Are social media sites doing enough to protect users?

I have now read five books by Bart D. Ehrman about Jesus and The New Testament. This is rather strange considering I’m an atheist. The books were - Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (2005) - Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don’t Know About Them) (2009) - Forged: Writing in the Name of God—Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are (2011) - Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth (2012) - How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee (2014) The reason why I’m so fond of Ehrman’s books is he’s a historian writing about how Christianity came about and does not digress into theology. I study the origins of Christianity in the same way my friend Mike studies ancient Greek literature and philosophy. Ehrman works very hard to walk the razor’s edge seeking the academic truth of things, but in doing so, often offends the faithful. Most people in America who consider themselves Christians aren’t interested in the historical details of their faith—they believe because that is what they were taught growing up and never took the time to study The New Testament. If they did, they’d find it to be a black hole of endless scholarship. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina and he says his classes are very popular with all kinds of people, and points out that his conclusions of historical scholarship are middle of the road, and most of what he teaches has been common knowledge for a long time in seminary schools. Readers are often shocked by what they read in Ehrman’s books but that’s because the ideas are new to the readers, and not to historians of Biblical scholarship. If what you know about Christianity and The New Testament is was what you learned in Sunday School you might find Ehrman’s books both fascinating and a challenge to your beliefs. Ehrman started out as a Evangelical himself, but after years of Bible study has become an agnostic. His books do not attack beliefs or believers. Ehrman is the kind of truth seeker that learned the ancient languages of The Bible so he could do his own translating, and got a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary. Ehrman moved from believing in The Bible to becoming obsessed with how The New Testament came about. He has written over twenty-five books on the subject, some for the general reader and others for academic scholars. We know very little about the actual man Jesus, but through the detective work of textual analysis, anthropology and historical studies of the times in which Jesus lived, Ehrman pieces out one view of Jesus that he claims is a pretty common view among Bible historians. This is best seen in Did Jesus Exist? Then Ehrman explains how the followers of Jesus made him into the God we know today in the book How Jesus Became God. Then his books Misquoting Jesus, Jesus, Interrupted and Forged explores how The New Testament and Christianity evolved in the first four hundred years after Jesus’ death. If you read these five books you’ll have a pretty good overview of the current historical studies on Jesus and The New Testament. Ehrman also has a number of entertaining courses at The Great Courses site. I read these five books in the order they were written and published, but I’d recommend reading them in a different order if you are new to Ehrman. They all cover the same big territory, but they each focus on threads of finer detail. Did Jesus Exist? I’d start with Did Jesus Exist? because Jesus is how everything got started in the first place. Ehrman finds the most objection to his books by fundamentalists who believe in the literal truth of The Bible, and strangely for this book, by atheists and agnostics who wish to disprove the existence of Jesus. There is a growing population of humanists who wish to turn Jesus into a myth, and Ehrman’s historical work undermines their beliefs too. Basically, Ehrman walks a middle ground between the fervor of belief and disbelief. I wish the conclusion to this book was available online so I could link to it. Ehrman explains how he attended a meeting of the American Humanists Association to receive their Religious Liberty Award and was surprised to find the non-believers spending so much time talking about religion. He was also shocked that many of these scientific minded people have thoroughly embraced books by writers who claim Jesus is a myth. It disturbs Ehrman because he knows the pseudo-scholarship approach to proving Jesus is a myth has as much academic validity as Creationism and Intelligent Design and these proclaimed embracers of science don’t seem to know that. Ehrman in his book Did Jesus Exist? has to attack ideas many of his most popular fans cherish. Ehrman’s books clearly disproves the fundamentalist view of the literal interpretation of The Bible, which agnostics and atheists love, but his scholarship also finds consistent evidence that a man named Jesus did exist. So, in one book Ehrman undermines the faithful and the unbelievers. Ehrman shows the same kind of airy philosophy that goes into convincing people that Jesus was a God is the very same kind of philosophical slight-of-hand that goes into making Jesus a myth. Whether you’re a believer or disbeliever, don’t you want to know the truth? I’m not saying the Ehrman knows the absolute truth, but I am saying his middle of the road, conservative academic approach is more scientific and reliable than just taking other people’s word for things. What we all need to do is learn to demand the evidence for anything claiming to be true. And we need to learn the difference between bullshit evidence and research consensus evidence. Ehrman embraces the study of history as if it was a science, demanding evidence. The mythicists, as Ehrman calls the Jesus as myth people, promote their beliefs without real academic vigor. Some only offer wild speculation, but others, some even with PhDs, do attempt to make their points with evidence, but Ehrman makes a good case their evidence is poor, and their logic weak. It’s a fascinating book that sets the stage for his next book. How Jesus Became God Ehrman works to prove that Jesus did not see himself as God, or even divine, but that his followers after his death did deify him. Ehrman carefully and academically explains the historical existence of Jesus and how Christians transformed a flesh and blood man into divine being to serve their purposes. This is a great book for The New Testament Bible study because Ehrman spends most of his time exploring the writings of Paul, the four Gospels, Acts and other references in The New Testament to show how Jesus changed over time. The textual analysis Ehrman makes should be obvious to anyone who just reads The Bible. So, why haven’t most Christians noticed what Ehrman points out? Most people who read The Bible, read it in pieces, jumping around as it’s presented in a Sunday School lesson or sermon each Sunday. Ehrman suggests reading it by comparing all the stories from different books about the same event. This any reader can do. What Ehrman brings to the table that most average Bible readers don’t have is the scholarship that explains when various parts of The Bible was written and by who. When you plot what was said when, you’ll begin to notice that The New Testament is full of contradictions but they make sense if you look at them on a timeline. It’s quite obvious that theology developed over time, and the theology was constantly changing. Even within The New Testament its possible to see that Jesus went from a man to a God. However, to fully understand this transformation requires further study of Christian theologians and their writing for the next three hundred years. How Jesus went from human being to The Trinity took three hundred years to hammer out, and there were a lot of strange side trips along the way, especially by Christians now called heretics and Gnostics today. How Jesus Became God sets things up nicely for the first Ehrman book I read. Have you ever wondered how The New Testament was written, edited and published? Especially since it was put together over a thousand years before the printing press. Have you ever wondered who wrote The New Testament? Many people think it’s the absolute word of God, as if God dictated The Bible to someone. Have you never noticed that Bible stories have many different points of view, writing styles and often contradict each other? Have you never wondered how something that was written almost two thousand years ago could be published consistently without errors and changes? Have you ever tried to copy a passage in a book by handwriting? How well did you do? Once you learn that who Jesus was is determined by who was writing about him, then it’s easy to understand how The New Testament was put together and why. Actually, The New Testament is very poorly edited because its far from consistent. It leaves in evidence of earlier thinking that was supplanted by later theology. And it becomes all too obvious that your favorite Jesus quote depends on when that portion of The New Testament was written, and what his orthodox followers believed at that time. And as manuscripts were passed around the Roman world, copied by scribes in different locals, with different beliefs, often they were altered to reflect a particular view of Jesus. We don’t have the original drafts of The New Testament books, but we do have hundreds and hundreds of copies that showed up hundreds of years later. We can trace changes that were made as they circulated from community to community. And scholars have also detected forgeries. Have you ever heard that some of the books in The New Testament were forgeries? For example, for over a hundred years now, some scholars believe some of the books claimed to be written by Paul were obviously not. How did they learn that? Plagiarism and forgery did not exist like it does today, so Bart D. Ehrman has to explain how the various books were written and how their authorship got attributed. Back in the early days of Christianity, in the first four hundred years after Jesus died, being a famous author was not like it is today. If you wrote something you wanted people to believe, you often said it was written by someone else, someone people would believe. Using contextual study, and even computers to analyze style and content, it’s possible to determine if the same person wrote or did not write two different essays. But even without the skills of a historian or a computer, it’s pretty easy to see that certain lessons from different books in The New Testament teach radically opposing ideas. Reading Forged will show the common Bible study student how to read scripture far more closely. This leads us to the last book I’m recommending to read. Knowing what Jesus really said is very difficult. Most religious people assume everything printed in red in The New Testament is something Jesus actual said. Well, historians like Ehrman would beg to disagree. What’s so fascinating about this book is Ehrman gets to write a bestselling book pointing out contradictions in The New Testament that any careful reader should have already noticed for themselves. I have a feeling that most believers attending church were like me as a kid. I listened to the preacher quote a passage of The Bible and then tie in some personal experiences from his own life or people in the church, and then turn scripture and contemporary life problems into a sermon. As a kid I never read The Bible from start to finish. If we did, we might remember while reading The Gospel of John things said that might contradiction what we head already read in The Gospel of Mark. Most readers don’t cross-compare, but just work to decipher scriptures one line at a time. Ehrman teaches readers the trick of parallel reading. Pick specific incidents in the life of Jesus, and then read about the same incident in different places throughout The New Testament. It becomes all to obvious that the various writers had different stories to tell, and different theology to preach. The contrast between the stories in Mark and John are startling. Why haven’t the average Bible reader notice that? I’m sure many have, but I think most haven’t. If you go searching for reviews of these books at Google you can find lots of reviewers who attack what Ehrman has to say. Now there are different kinds of attacks. Sometimes, other scholars call Ehrman out on his scholarship. It seems to me that in Ehrman’s newer books he spends far more writing time explaining how he made his conclusions in comparison to other scholars, in a preemptive attack on this kind of criticism. This makes for good writing and better reading. The other common kind of attack on Ehrman’s work is by Christian apologists who seek to defend their specific theological view. The quality and validity of these kinds of criticism vary greatly. Ehrman constantly reminds his reader that he is a historian and that metaphysics lies outside the scope of historical studies. The trouble is the true believer, especially the fundamentalist, believe that their theology is the true view of history. They assume the metaphysical is part of history. This is what makes Ehrman’s books controversial with certain readers. I am an atheist. I don’t believe the metaphysical exists. To me, Ehrman’s books are excellent explanations on how Christianity got started in a historical context. His books also explain to me at least, when and how some Christians acquired their theological and metaphysical ideas. True believers don’t seem to understand that all concepts, all memes, have a history. Someone thought them up. Where we differ is I see them as ideas and they see them as God’s word. These five books by Bart D. Ehrman go a long way to explaining the history of certain ideas that are programmed deeply into Western culture. No historian, philosopher or scientist will ever be able to prove or disprove the cherished metaphysical desires of believers. However, most believers embrace their beliefs without much analysis. Reading these five books could dissolve such beliefs because they raise logical questions that are corrosive to simple thinking. However, there are many believers who develop very complex thought systems to maintain their beliefs. These people will have to read Ehrman and come up with rationalizations that counter his assertions. JWH – 7/21/14

Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN. We've moved! Come join us at our new show page. During his own opening statement, Major Nidal Hasan said, "the evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter." Hasan is on trial in Texas for the Fort Hood shooting spree that took place November 5, 2009. He is charged with killing 13 people and wounding 32 others on that day. If he is found guilty, at least one man who witnessed the attack wants him to face the ultimate punishment. "The death penalty is reserved for those who do the most heinous of crimes, and they need to pay for their crimes, if they do what this individual did by killing 13 men and women," said former Army Sgt. Howard Ray. "I think the punishment should be reserved for him." Ray was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for his actions that day at Fort Hood. He was credited for saving the lives of six soldiers and three civilians. On that day, when Ray first saw Hasan shooting, he ushered a woman out of the building they were in, and the two of them hid behind a car. He heard someone yelling that the shooter was coming around the corner of the building. Ray instinctively swept his shirt back to grab his pistol, but he was in civilian clothes, and had left his weapon at home. Ray made a fast decision to run with the woman to the back side of the parking lot where there was coverage – but Hasan shot at them along the way. To be "shot at on a military installation is obviously something you don't go to work to experience," said Ray, "It certainly was a shock." For Ray, the most devastating part of that day is that he had a clean shot of Hasan, but couldn't take it. Ray said the Army missed warning signs that could have prevented the attack, such as Hasan's officer evaluation report. "He was subpar, calling out for such things as jihad, and that he was a soldier of Allah, and things of that nature," said Ray. Since he is defending himself, Hasan could very well end up cross-examining the very people he's accused of trying to kill. Hasan is a psychiatrist - a man trained to get into people's heads. On the day of the attack, prosecutors say he walked into a waiting room at the army base with a semi-automatic pistol and just started firing. The attack did not stop until a civilian police officer, Sgt. Kimberly Munley, arrived on the scene and shot Hasan, suffering three gunshots herself. Hasan is now in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist-down. His trial was supposed to begin 18 months ago, but a series of legal fights delayed it, over everything from Hasan's representation, to whether he was allowed to keep his beard for religious reasons. Hasan freely admits carrying out this rampage. But he was not allowed to enter a guilty plea under military law, because prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The FBI has released e-mails between Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who was a purported force behind al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Al Awlaki was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011. The very first e-mail shows Hasan asking al Awlaki whether Islamic law would permit the killing of American soldiers. Yet, even with that e-mail out there, the Pentagon is not officially calling this a terror attack, preferring the term "workplace violence," Which makes a serious difference in benefits for survivors and victims' families. Pentagon sources tell CNN that if they were to call the attack an act of terrorism, and award soldiers for acts of bravery that day, they would be giving Hasan a way to claim that there is no way he could get a fair trial; the Pentagon would have effectively already decided he was guilty of having committed a terrorist act. "We can play semantics, you know, calling it one thing or not the other, the bottom line is it is terrorism, and I don't think that necessarily would inhibit him from getting a fair trial," said Ray. "Victims like myself and others, we deserve answers and we deserve closure to this event," said Ray. "Here we are struggling nearly almost four years ... and we're just barely starting this process."

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Main Article Content cystic fibrosis, multi-resistant bacterial infection, lactic acidosis, mitochondria, chloramphenicol Children with cystic fibrosis are commonly colonized with multi-resistant bacteria. In such patients, infectious exacerbation may require salvage therapy with uncommonly used antimicrobials, including chloramphenicol. Chloramphenicol is rarely used nowadays because of the associated severe adverse events. We describe the case of a 15-year-old female with terminal cystic fibrosis who required intravenous (IV) chloramphenicol treatment for a Burkholderia cepacia ( B. cepacia ) exacerbation. The child subsequently developed lactic acidosis and secondary respiratory compensation adding to her baseline respiratory distress. Based on the Naranjo scale, the probability of chloramphenicol being the cause of the hyperlactatemia and associated respiratory distress was rated as probable, as the adverse effects resolved upon discontinuation of the drug. Subsequent genotyping for mitochondrial polymorphism (G3010A) confirmed a possible susceptibility to lactic acidosis from mitochondrial RNA-inhibiting agents such as chloramphenicol. Hyperlac - tatemia is a rare but life threatening adverse effect that has been previously reported with chloramphenicol exposure, but is not generally thought of. Clinicians should be aware of this potentially life threatening, but reversible adverse event. Lactate should be monitored under chloramphenicol and it should be discontinued as soon as this complication is suspected, especially in patients with low respiratory reserve. 2. Evans LS, Kleiman MB. Acidosis as a presenting feature of chloramphenicol toxicity. J Pediatr 1986;108(3):475–7. 3. Wiest DB, Cochran JB, Tecklenburg FW. Chloramphenicol toxicity revisited: a 12-year-old patient with a brain abcess. J Pediatr Pharmacol Ther 2012;17(2):182–8. 4. Duewelhenke N, Krut O, Eysel P. Influence on mitochondria and cytotoxicity of different antibiotics administered in high concentrations on primary human osteoblasts and cell lines. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2007;51(1):54–63. 5. Riesbeck K, Bredberg A, Forsgren A. Ciprofloxacin does not inhibit mitochondrial functions but other antibiotics do. Antimicrob Agents Chemother1990 ; 34(1):167–9. 6. Kroon AM, Van den BC. Antibacterial drugs and their interference with the biogenesis of mitochondria in animal and human cells. Pharm Weekbl Sci1983; 5(3):81–7. 7. Del Pozo JL, Fernández-Ros N, Sáez E, et al. Linezolid-induced lactic acidosis in two liver transplant patients with the mitochondrial DNA A2706G polymorphism. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2014;58(7):4227–9. 8. Palenzuela L, Hahn NM, Nelson RP, Jr., et al. Does linezolid cause lactic acidosis by inhibiting mitochondrial protein synthesis? Clin Infect Dis 2005;40(12):e113–6. 9. Su E, Crowley K, Carcillo J et al. Linezolid and lactic acidosis – A role for lactate monitoring with long-term linezolid use in children.Pediatr Infect Dis J 2011;30(9):804–6. 10. Carson J, Cerda J, Chae JH, et al. Severe lactic acidosis associated with linezolid use in a patient with the mitochondrial DNA A2706G polymorphism. Pharmacotherapy 2007;27(5):771–4. 11. Triton Pharma Inc. PR Septra ® Injection – Product Monograph. Concord, ON: Author; 2010. Available at: http://www.compagnonsdelatransplantation.ca/assets/ Product%20Monographs/Septra.PDF 12. Nordt SP, Vivero LE. Pharmaceutical additives. In: Hoff - man RS, Howland M, Lewin NA, Nelson LS, Goldfrank LR. eds. Goldfrank’sToxicologic Emergencies, 10 th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2010. Available at: http://accesspharmacy.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid =1163&Sectionid=65095471. 13. Naranjo CA, Busto U, Sellers EM et al. A method for estimating the probability of adverse drug reactions. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1981;30(2), 239–45. 14. The World Health Organization. Standardized treatment of bacterial meningitis in Africa in epidemic and non epidemic situations. Geneva: Author; 2007. Available at: http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/ meningitis/WHO_CDS_EPR_2007_3.pdf. 15. Long K, Vester B. Resistance to linezolid caused by modifications at its binding site on the ribosome. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2012;56(2):603–12. 16. Plock N, Buerger C, Joukhadar, C et al. Does linezolid inhibit its own metabolism? – Population pharmacokinetics as a tool to explain the observed nonlinearity in both healthy volunteers and septic patients. Drug Metab Dispos 2007;35(10):1816–23. 17. Soriano A, Miro O, Mensa J. Mitochondrial toxicity associated with linezolid. N Engl J Med 2005;353(21):2305–6. 18. Flanagan S, McKee EE, Das D, et al. Nonclinical and pharmacokinetic assessments to evaluate the potential of tedizolid and linezolid to affect mitochondrial function. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2015;59(1):178–85. 19. Kraut JA, Madias NE. Lacticacidosis. N Engl J Med 2014;371(24):2309–19. 20. Gunnerson KJ, Saul M, He S, et al. Lactate versus non-lactate metabolic acidosis: a retrospective outcome evaluation of critically ill patients. Crit Care 2006;10(1):R22. 21. Nichol AD, Egi M, Pettila V, et al. Relative hyperlactatemia and hospital mortality in critically ill patients: a retrospective multi-centre study. Crit Care 2010;14(1):R25. 22. Okorie ON, Dellinger P. Lactate: biomarker and potential therapeutic target. Crit Care Clin 2011;27:299–26.

There have been many musicians over the years who have openly identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender in classic rock. The first bisexual rock star was Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a rock and roll pioneer. Many lesbian, gay, bi, and trans rock musicians were in the closet for years or even decades before coming out. Many of these musicians are people you’ve heard of. Classic rock is for all to enjoy, no matter your sexual orientation. I am writing this post from Ireland, where people voted on a referendum for marriage equality. This is a huge step in the right direction. Thank you to all of the people who voted yes. In honour of that I want to talk about my favourite LGBT musicians from the 60s and 70s. Note: I have since updated this post to include LGBT musicians from the 80s. There has been quite a bit of demand for it, so I will deliver. This is the most popular post on the blog and I am very proud of this post! Thank you for reading! Enjoy! Alice de Buhr – lesbian – Drummer for the band Fanny. Andy Fraser – gay – Bassist and founding member of Free. He formed the band when he was 15. He co-wrote and produced the band’s biggest hit, “All Right Now” and the song came out just before his 18th birthday. He was born in London to a Caribbean father and an English mother and started playing piano at the age of 5 and trained classically for 7 years before switching to guitar. He was expelled from school at 15 and started playing in East End West Indian venues. One day, he was introduced to Alexis Korner, who basically was a mentor to him. Still aged 15, he got his first big gig playing bass for John Mayall. At 16, he formed Free. The band went on to play at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 and were considered hard rock pioneers. The band broke up in 1973. Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke went on to join Bad Company. Andy Fraser formed Sharks. Paul Kossoff formed Back Street Crawler, but died at the age of 25. Arthur Conley – gay – Soul singer best known for the 1967 hit “Sweet Soul Music” (#2 US), which was a remake of Sam Cooke’s “Yeah Man”. In 1964, he released the song “I’m a Lonely Stranger”. Otis Redding was so impressed with it that he signed him to his record label, Jotis Records. In the 70s, he moved to the UK and later the Netherlands and changed his name to Lee Roberts. Some claim that the reason he left the US was because people didn’t accept his sexuality. He passed away in 2003. Billy Preston – gay – R&B and soul singer and session musician. He grew up listening to gospel music and that had an influence on his singing. As a kid, he played organ backing gospel singers Mahalia Jackson and James Cleveland. He was a Christian and that made it hard for him to come out of the closet and he didn’t come out until right before his death. He released his debut album when he was 16, 16 Year Old Soul. It was released on Sam Cooke’s SAR Records. He did session and touring keyboard work for The Beatles (and later on George Harrison), Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Little Richard, and Ray Charles. He was signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records in 1969 and recorded two albums on that label: That’s The Way God Planned It and Encouraging Words. In the 70s, he got a few big hits: “Outa-Space”, “Will It Go Around In Circles”, “Space Race”, and “Nothing From Nothing”. Billy Wright – gay – Jump blues singer and major influence on Little Richard, even helped him get a record deal and inspired his flamboyant image. He grew up singing gospel music at church. He also liked to do drag. Boy George – gay – Lead singer of 80s new wave band Culture Club. He is one of the biggest icons of the New Romantic movement of the early 80s, a subculture known for flamboyant fashion and heavy makeup inspired by glam rock and historic fashion. Culture Club were a multicultural band with band members of Irish, Black, and Jewish descent. In 1982, the band got their first #1 hit in the UK, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me”. Within the next few years, they got top 10 hits with “Karma Chameleon”, “Church of the Poison Mind”, and “The War Song”. Brian Jones – bicurious – Guitarist, founding member of The Rolling Stones, and in my opinion the most fabulous member of the band. Allegedly, Brian Jones had a crush on Dave Davies. Chuck Panozzo – gay – Bassist for the band Styx. He started the band in his hometown of Chicago. He still tours to this day with Styx part time. Styx are a hard/prog rock band best known for the songs “Lady”, “Renegade”, “Come Sail Away”, and “Mr Roboto”. The band released their first album in 1972. He came out in 2001 as gay and said he has AIDS. Of this he says “What the band has taught me psychologically is that I need to go out and be with my band as they continue their legacy in the rock n’ roll world forever. How could that not help me in my recovery process? I have a band that is willing to make sure that I stay healthy.” Of his sexuality and being closeted in the 70s at the peak of Styx’s popularity he says “I was one of those closeted, clandestine type of guys. We would tour like crazy, and my initiation into the gay scene was stifled by the fact that I wasn’t out publicly. When I was on the road with Styx—I’m the bass player—sometimes I would separate from the band and I’d find a bar.” He is a big supporter of LGBT rights and AIDS awareness. Cris Williamson – lesbian – Folk singer and important figure in the women’s music movement. She was born in South Dakota and raised in Colorado and Wyoming. At the age of 16, she released her first album, The Artistry of Cris Williamson. Her 1975 album The Changer and the Changed (released on women’s music record label Olivia Records) was one of the best selling independently released albums of all time, selling over half a million copies. Dave Davies – bisexual – Member of The Kinks. He mainly played guitar and sang in the band. He started the band with his brother, Ray, and friend Pete Quaife. The Kinks were a major part of The British Invasion, touring the world with bands such as The Yardbirds and The Honeycombs. They continued to release albums into the 80s. However, they were banned from touring the States in 1965 because a complaint was filed with a musicians union in the US for apparently misbehaving on stage. Their influences range from the blues to skiffle to British music hall. My favourite songs of theirs include “You Really Got Me”, “All Day And All Of The Night”, “A Well Respected Man”, “Victoria”, “Waterloo Sunset”, and “Lola”. Dave Davies opened up about his sexuality in his autobiography, Kink. Dave Davies now tours solo. Dave Wakeling – bisexual – Lead vocalist of ska band The Beat. The Beat’s first two albums, I Just Can’t Stop It and Wha’ppen?, peaked at #3 on the UK album charts. My favourite song he wrote for the band is “Save it For Later”, released in 1982 on the band’s last album, Special Beat Service. He wrote the song when he was a teenager, before he formed The Beat. The band originally didn’t want to record it because it was “too rock.” David Bowie – bisexual – Got his big break in the music business with “Space Oddity” in 1969. Since then he changed his image many times from the androgynous “The Man Who Sold The World” era to the glam rock “Ziggy Stardust” to “The Thin White Duke”. He was well known for his stage personas and loved to act as those characters. As well as his image changing, his music has changed a lot as well. There’s something for everyone in his discography. He and his wife in the 70s, Angie, were bisexual. David Bowie’s inspirations included American rock and roll, skiffle, and Bob Dylan. He was also inspired by contemporaries: Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Marc Bolan. He got to work with Lou Reed and did some vocals on the album Transformer. He was on Marc Bolan’s 1977 show, Marc, performing with Bolan. He came out as bisexual in the 70s. He was well known for the songs “Changes”, “Queen Bitch”, “Starman”, “Rebel Rebel”, “Heroes”, “Let’s Dance”, and “Under Pressure” (with Queen). Debbie Harry – bisexual – Got famous in the 70s and 80s as the lead singer for the band Blondie. Blondie’s best known songs are “Heart of Glass”, “One Way Or Another”, “Call Me”, and “Rapture”. Before Blondie she was in a band in the 60s called The Wind In The Willows, was a go-go dancer, and was a Playboy Bunny. As well as being a musician she is an actress. She came out in a 2014 interview with the Daily Mail. She also refused to perform in the Sochi Olympics due to homophobia in Russia. Of her sexuality she says “Sure, I was in a relationship with a man for almost 20 years and I’ve had other relationships with men, but I’ve also had them with women. I find it very strange that people are less willing to accept that you’re bisexual if you’ve had long-term relationships predominantly with men.” Dee Palmer – transgender and intersex – Member of Jethro Tull from 1977 to 1980, but she did play a part in their albums from 1969-1976, providing orchestral arrangements. Besides working with Jethro Tull, she arranged other classic rock bands music in an orchestral style, such as Queen, The Beatles, Genesis, and Yes. Dug Pinnick – gay – Bassist, songwriter, and co-lead vocalist of hard rock band King’s X. He often plays a 12 string bass. The band had a new wave sound and began as Sneak Preview, releasing only one album in 1983 under that name. After that, they toured and moved to Houston, where they met Sam Taylor, who worked for ZZ Top’s production company and suggested they change their name to King’s X. They released their first album as King’s X in 1988, called Out of the Silent Planet. It has a much different sound from the last one, with a more prog metal sound. The following year, they released their second album, Gretchen Goes to Nebraska. When Dug Pinnick came out as gay in the 90s, Christian shops stopped carrying King’s X albums. Dusty Springfield – lesbian – English blue eyed soul singer. She started her career in the 50s singing in holiday camps. In the 60s she was one of the best known British female singers. Her first solo single was released in 1963, “I Only Want To Be With You” and it was a success. She wrote a few songs, but her biggest hits were covers and songs written by other songwriters. In 1964 she released “Wishin’ and Hopin'”. In 1968 she released “Son of a Preacher Man”, one of her biggest hits. She was a big fan of Motown and her sound was influenced by musicians from that record label. She even hosted a Ready Steady GoI special featuring Motown artists such as The Temptations, The Miracles, The Supremes, and Stevie Wonder. This is part of the early beginnings of Northern Soul. She worked with musicians like Kiki Dee and Elton John. She came out as bisexual in 1970, which took a lot of bravery. In reality though, she was lesbian and needed a cover because if it was known she was gay, her career could be over. Elton John – gay – Went from playing piano at pubs to being one of the best selling musicians ever. The third best selling musician in the United States, only behind Elvis and The Beatles. He played music that had anything from an R&B sound to a more progressive rock sound. He even enjoyed playing classical music. He is best known for being in a songwriting team with Bernie Taupin. In the 70s he played at famous British venues such as The Marquee Club, The Speakeasy, and The Twisted Wheel. He even performed with John Lennon at his last concert. He originally came out as bisexual in 1976, but later came out as gay in 1988. He started the Elton John AIDS Foundation in the early 90s. He got the record for best selling single in 1997 with a remake of “Candle in the Wind”. Elton John did the music for Billy Elliot. Well known songs of his include: “Your Song”, “Daniel”, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, “Tiny Dancer”, and “Philadelphia Freedom”. I really enjoy the album Tumbleweed Connection. Eric Emerson – bisexual – Actor, dancer, and musician who was part of the Andy Warhol Factory scene. He was the lead vocalist of the glam punk band The Magic Tramps. If you like The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed, you’ll like The Magic Tramps. I like the songs “Ode to Jimmy Dean”, “Warriors of the Rainbow”, “Magic in the Moonlight”, and “My Reflection”. When his father found out he was bi, he said to him, “What he don’t understand is that my generation can swing both ways.” Esquerita – gay – Born Eskew Reeder Jr in South Carolina, he was another influence of Little Richard’s. He was a self taught piano player and played secular and gospel music. In the late 50s and early 60s, he played rockabilly music and recorded with Jimi Hendrix, Dr John, Allen Toussaint, and Elvis’ backup singers, The Jordanaires. In the late 60s, he recorded music under the stage name, The Magnificent Malochi. In the 70s, he performed in black gay clubs as Fabulash. Sadly, before his death due to complications from AIDS, he was poor and working as a parking lot attendant and washing car windshields for tips in Brooklyn. Felipe Rose and Randy Jones – gay – Members of The Village People. Before joining The Village People Felipe Rose was a dancer at a club in New York. He is Native American and he is seen in performances and music videos dressed in Native American regalia. He supports AIDS charities and Native American charities. Felipe Rose is not the only gay member of The Village People, his bandmate Randy Jones, the cowboy is also gay. Fred Schneider – gay – Lead singer and one of the founding members of the B-52s. He is known for his trademark spoken delivery, known as sprechgesang (seriously German has some pretty awesome words to describe things that don’t have an English word. I really should learn German). He wrote the band’s debut single, which launched the band into stardom, “Rock Lobster” with bandmate Ricky Wilson. This song is a very good example of Fred Schneider’s vocal style. Freddie Mercury – bisexual – Frontman for Queen. Before joining Queen, he went to the same art school as Pete Townshend, Ealing Art College. He joined a band called Smile with Brian May and Roger Taylor. All of the band members wrote songs that became hits for the band, but Freddie wrote a good amount of them. He had a wide range of influences from 50s rock to progressive rock to hard rock to disco. As a singer he was very versatile. As well as singing he played guitar and piano and played piano from a young age. Genesis P-Orridge – transgender/third gender – Experimental musician from England. They were born in England in 1950 and their interests were the occult and the avant-garde. They changed their name to Genesis P-Orridge at the age of 21. They founded the counterculture art collective COUM Transmissions and later on formed the industrial band Throbbing Gristle in the mid 70s. The band are widely regarded as the founders of industrial music, which was inspired by Krautrock, art pop, and noise music. They played bass, violin, and vibraphone and did vocals for the band. After the breakup of Throbbing Gristle, Genesis P-Orridge founded the band Psychic TV in 1981. They retired from music in 2009. George Michael – gay – Half of singing duo Wham! In the 80s, he believed he was bisexual, before later coming out as gay. Wham! had a few hits in the 80s with “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, “Young Guns (Go For It!)”, “Bad Boys”, and “Careless Whisper”. Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford of Frankie Goes To Hollywood – gay – Frankie Goes To Hollywood were most famous for the 1983 hit “Relax”. The song was controversial and banned by the BBC because of its sexual themes. The music video for the song took place in a gay S&M club. Other well-known songs by the band include “Two Tribes”, “The Power of Love”, and “Welcome to the Pleasuredome”. Jackie Shane – transgender – Soul and R&B singer originally from the US who moved to Canada and was well known in the local Toronto scene. She was born in Tennessee in 1940 and moved to Montreal in 1960. Frank Motley discovered her when he saw her sitting in the front row of his show. Going from audience member to lead singer of Frank Motley’s band, she moved to Toronto in 1961. Her first single was a cover of “Money (That’s What I Want)”, released in 1962. Later that year, she released “Any Other Way”, which was her biggest hit, reaching #2 on the CHUM charts in Toronto. Five years later, that single was reissued and was a minor hit, peaking at #68 on the national charts. By the 70s she faded into obscurity, but was offered to be a singer for Funkadelic, but turned down the offer because she wanted to take care of her mother. Jane Wiedlin – bisexual – Guitarist of all-girl new wave band The Go-Gos. She is mixed, of German and Lebanese descent. Her biggest influences are The Beatles and The Monkees. She co-wrote the song “Our Lips Are Sealed” with Terry Hall of ska band The Specials. Janis Ian – lesbian – A folk singer who started her career in the mid 60s. She was inspired by Joan Baez. She released her first single at the age of 14, a song she wrote at the age of 13. She was not afraid to write about social issues and this song, “Society’s Child”, was about an interracial relationship. Her first album released in 1967 was #29 in the US. It wasn’t until 1975 that she would get a top 10 hit with “At Seventeen”. She got success in 1975 with her album Between The Lines reaching #1 in the US. Her follow up album Aftertones did well also, reaching #12 in the US and #1 in Japan. She came out as lesbian in 1993 and married her wife 10 years later in Toronto, Canada. Janis Joplin – bisexual – Singer-songwriter best known for being the frontwoman of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later on known for her solo career. She was originally from Texas and she was inspired by blues music when she was in high school. She moved to San Francisco when she was 20 and worked with Jorma Kaukonen, who would later be in Jefferson Airplane. She moved back to Texas a couple of years later. She joined Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1966 and came back to San Francisco. She played at various festivals and events like the Mantra-Rock Dance, Monterey Pop Festival, where she made her breakthrough, and at Woodstock. Her best known songs are “Piece of My Heart”, “Ball and Chain”, and “Me and Bobby McGee”. She died at the age of 27 in 1970. Jayne County – transgender – Lead singer of punk band Wayne County & the Electric Chairs and involved in the Warhol Factory scene. She was also a DJ at Max’s Kansas City in New York. She is the first openly transgender singer. Her band moved to London and they signed to Safari Records, releasing albums like Storm The Gates of Heaven and Things Your Mother Never Told You. The band are known for their profanity-filled lyrics and campy image. Joan Armatrading – lesbian – St Kitts-born songwriter who was raised in Birmingham. She first performed at Birmingham University at the age of 16, singing a mix of original songs and covers. In 1970, she met Pam Nestor, a longtime collaborator. She released her debut album in 1972, Whatever’s For Us. The album didn’t chart and neither did her sophomore album, Back to the Night. In 1976, she got her first top 10 hit with “Love and Affection”. That song was off her self-titled album, which went gold in the UK. Her peak fame was in the 80s with the release of gold albums Me Myself I, Walk Under Ladders, and The Key. In 1980, she was nominated for two Grammys. “Drop the Pilot” was her biggest hit, released in 1983. It topped the charts in South Africa and was a top 10 hit in Australia, and reached #11 in the UK. Joan Jett – doesn’t like labels, so I’ll say sapphic which is a term for women who like women (WLWs) – You can’t write about LGBT rock stars without talking about Joan Jett, who very much values privacy when it comes to her love life. She never confirmed or denied rumours that she is lesbian or bisexual. She tells people to assume away. That said, she said this to the New York Times in response to a question about a movie about her playing at an LGBT film festival when she’s not out: Jobriath – gay – Released his first album called Pidgeon in 1969 before he was known as Jobriath. Very similar to David Bowie and Peter Gabriel in the way that he wore very odd costumes on stage. Many consider him the first gay rock star. He released his first album as Jobriath in 1973, a self-titled debut. It had a glam rock sound with some classical music influences. He died of AIDS in 1983 and was one of the first famous musicians to die of AIDS. John Lennon – bisexual – Does he need any introduction? One of the major songwriters of The Beatles and had a successful solo career. In 2015, Yoko Ono revealed that John Lennon was bisexual. Of his sexuality, Yoko said: “John and I had a big talk about it, saying, basically, all of us must be bisexual. And we were sort of in a situation of thinking that we’re not [bisexual] because of society. So we are hiding the other side of ourselves, which is less acceptable.” Johnnie Ray – gay – If you’re not familiar with music of the 50s, you must have heard this name in the opening lyrics of Dexys Midnight Runners’ “Come On Eileen”. He was more of a jazz and pop singer, but his music was influential in rock and roll, and he’s considered to have been a pioneer in the genre. Ringo Starr said that the three singers The Beatles listened to most were Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Johnnie Ray. He grew up in Oregon and became deaf in one ear as a childhood because of an accident during a Boy Scout ritual. He wore hearing aids during performances. In the early 50s, he got into R&B music and gained a following at black nightclubs. He became known for his over the top theatrics while performing, which gave him the nickname Mr Emotion. He was in one movie in 1954, There’s No Business Like Show Business, with Ethel Merman and Marilyn Monroe. The 60s was very different from the 50s music and style wise and anything old was out, but he didn’t stop performing entirely. In 1969, he toured Europe with Judy Garland and was best man at her wedding. He struggled with drinking from the 60s until his death in 1990 of liver failure. As for his sexuality, before he was famous, he was arrested in Detroit for cruising in the toilets, soliciting an undercover officer for sex. Because he wasn’t famous at the time, the newspapers didn’t report it. He was briefly married to a woman named Marilyn Morrison, at the peak of his fame. He was arrested again there at the end of the decade for soliciting an undercover officer for sex at a bar. There were rumours throughout his career that he was gay, but he never publicly came out. Still, he had fan girls even though he was gay. Johnny Mathis – gay – Pop singer-songwriter with a long career starting in the 50s and even got a few hits in the 70s. In 2017, he came out as gay in an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning. He said this to Us Magazine: “I come from San Francisco. It’s not unusual to be gay in San Francisco. I’ve had some girlfriends, some boyfriends, just like most people. But I never got married, for instance. I knew that I was gay.” Judee Sill – bisexual – Country singer-songwriter from the 70s. She had relationships with both men and women. June Millington – lesbian – Member of all girl group Fanny. She’s the lead guitarist of the band. She was born in the Philippines and moved to the United States with her family in 1961. She has been playing in bands with her sister since the mid 60s. Fanny released their first album in 1970 and they played on the same bill as The Kinks and Procol Harum. She left Fanny in 1973 and started a solo career. She was part of the Women’s music movement in the 70s. Recently she’s been working on an autobiography, Land of a Thousand Bridges, and does work with the Institute for the Musical Arts, which supports women interested in playing music. The organisation organises summer camps, workshops, and has a recording studio. Kate Pierson – bisexual – One of the singers of the B-52s. Her vocal harmonies with Cindy Wilson were a key part of the B-52s sound. She was born and raised in New Jersey. The band were formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The band went to a Chinese restaurant, had some drinks and after that they had a jam session. The band’s name comes from southern slang for a beehive hairstyle. True to the name, the band have a very retro aesthetic, a throwback to the 60s, but with a more modern sound. In 2003, Kate started dating Monica Coleman. In 2015 they got married. She has described herself as a “late-in-life-lesbian”. In an interview with Al Jazeera, she said this about her stance on transgender rights: “Well, I’m bisexual, and I was always with men, and now I’m with Monica for 11 years, going on 12, and so this is an issue that I care a lot about.” “Roam” is one of the band’s biggest hits and features some great vocals from Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson. Keith Strickland – gay – Originally the drummer of the B-52s, but after Ricky Wilson’s death, he became the guitarist. He came out as gay in 1992, after the band scored major hits like “Love Shack” and “Roam”. He is the main composer of the band, writing the music. In 2012, he retired from touring. Klaus Nomi – gay – Iconic singer who was known for his stage persona and vocal range. He was born in Germany in 1944 and moved to New York City in 1972 and worked as a pastry chef while taking voice lessons. He performed in a satirical version of Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold in 1972, but his big break came in the late 70s when he performed in “New Wave Vaudeville”. While at the performance, he met Kristian Hoffman of The Mumps and they collaborated, with Hoffman writing songs for him. He later played at the famous venue, Max’s Kansas City and sang with David Bowie on Saturday Night Live. What a way to end the 70s! He also worked with artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. His self-titled debut was released in 1981. Some songs I like from that album are “Lighting Strikes”, “Nomi Song”, a cover of Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me”, and “Total Eclipse”. The following year, he released Simple Man. Some highlights from the album are “After the Fall”, “Falling in Love Again”, “ICUROK”, and “Rubberband Lazer”. Klaus Nomi passed away in 1983 due to complications from AIDS. Right before his death, he was working on an opera. These songs recorded right before his death were released on a compilation album, Za Bakdaz, in 2007. Lance Loud and Kristian Hoffman of Mumps – gay – Lance Loud was the frontman and Kristian Hoffman was the keyboard player. Mumps performed at Max’s Kansas City, Hurrah, and CBGB and audiences liked them, but they never got signed to a major record label and only released two singles independently, “I Like To Be Clean” and “Rock & Roll This & That”. Laura Nyro – bisexual – Singer-songwriter whose music style took diverse influences from jazz to gospel to r&b to show tunes. Her best known albums are Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and New York Tendaberry. Fans of her work include Todd Rundgren, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Bette Midler, and Elton John. She released her first album in 1967 when she was 19. Songs from that album went on to be covered by other musicians such as Blood, Sweat & Tears, The 5th Dimension, and Barbra Streisand. She identified as a feminist and said that both the feminist movement and peace movement influenced her songwriting. She died of ovarian cancer in 1997 at the age of 49. Les McKeown – bisexual – Lead singer of Scottish boy band The Bay City Rollers. Sang on the hits “Shang-a-Lang”, “Bye Bye Baby”, and “Saturday Night”. Lesley Gore – lesbian – Singer known for the songs “It’s My Party” and “You Don’t Own Me”. “It’s My Party” was a #1 for her while she was still in secondary school. She performed on the TAMI Show, a concert film from 1964. She was discovered by Quincy Jones. As well as being a singer, she wrote songs and acted. Her music was relatable to young people. In university she realised she was lesbian, but didn’t come out until after the peak of her career. Little Richard – identified as gay at one point, but some say he was bisexual – Rock and roll pioneer in so many ways. Not just in sound, but image. He was rocking androgyny way before the psychedelic and glam rock scenes. He’d wear flashy clothes and makeup. He was even a drag queen, performing under the name Princess LaVonne. Now, his relationship with his sexual orientation is a sad one. As you might know, he is religious and has trouble reconciling the two. He has called his sexual orientation unnatural. The original lyrics of his song, “Tutti Frutti”, referenced being with a man – “Tutti Frutti, good booty / If it don’t fit, don’t force it / You can grease it, make it easy.” Long John Baldry – gay – A blues singer. He was known as “Long John” because he was 6’7″. He sang with Blues Incorporated, Cyril Davies R&B All Stars, and Steampacket. He released his first solo album in 1964, which had covers of “I Got My Mojo Workin”, “Hoochie Coochie Man”, and “Dimples”. He publicly came out as gay in the 70s. Lou Reed – bisexual – Singer for The Velvet Underground. He wrote most of their songs. He also had a successful solo career with well known songs such as “Satellite of Love” and “Walk on the Wild Side”. He wrote and sang a song called “Kill Your Sons” based on his father making him go to shock therapy sessions as a young adult. He moved to New York City in 1964 and then met John Cale and he got in touch with Sterling Morrison to start The Velvet Underground. The band were not commercially successful at the time, but they were still influential and people easily recognise The Velvet Underground And Nico album cover that Andy Warhol did. Andy Warhol were very important and mentored the band and they were part of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Lou Reed left the Velvet Underground in 1970 and had a solo career. He was known for having a unique sounding voice. Some Velvet Underground songs I recommend are “Sunday Morning”, “Heroin”, “I’m Set Free”, “Sweet Jane”, and “Rock & Roll”. Marc Almond – gay – Singer-songwriter and half of pop duo Soft Cell. As a teenager, he got into rock music by listening to John Peel’s radio show. He was really into glam rock in its heyday. Before the fame, he went to art school and acted in some performance theatre pieces and short films. Soft Cell’s biggest hit was a cover of Gloria Jones’ “Tainted Love”, a popular song in the Northern Soul scene. He later had a solo career. Of his sexuality, he said he didn’t like being pigeonholed as a “gay musician” because it’s a way of marginalising someone’s work and making it seem less important and not appealing to the mainstream because it implies that it’s not important to those who aren’t gay. He’s right. Music doesn’t have a sexuality. It’s art and art is for all to enjoy. Marc Bolan – bisexual – Marc Bolan was best known for his work under the T. Rex/Tyrannosaurus Rex moniker. His manager, Simon Napier-Bell said he was bisexual, but never was open about it. In an interview with Record Mirror, he said in response to a question asking if he was heterosexual, “No, bisexual, but I believe I’m more heterosexual ‘cos I definitely like boobs. I always wished I was 100 per cent gay, it’s much easier.” To sum up his career, he started off in a trio with Helen Shapiro, playing guitar. He was kicked out of school when he was 15 and became a model. He recorded his first single, the Cliff Richard-style “All At Once” in 1964, at the age of 17. The following year, he released another single called “The Wizard”. He was in one more band, John’s Children, before going on his own with Tyrannosaurus Rex/T. Rex. Tyrannosaurus Rex more folk sounding, with a psychedelia twist, and it’s a good bit different from his better-known glam rock stuff, but still amazing. During the folk era, he wrote a book of poems called The Warlock of Love. A couple of his early albums have really long titles like Prophets, Seers, and Sages: The Angels of the Ages or My People Were Fair and Had Stars in Their Hair, But Now They’re Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows. The year of change for Marc was 1970, when he released his first glam rock single, “Ride a White Swan”. From there, he changed his style to a glittery androgynous one, this was the beginning of his meteoric rise with hit after hit. The years 1971-1973 were his peak with hit singles like “Hot Love”, “Get it On”, “Jeepster”, “Telegram Sam”, “Metal Guru”, and “Children of the Revolution” either topping the charts or just barely missing it, peaking at #2. His popularity declined in the mid 70s, but he made a comeback in 1977, with a TV show called Marc. Punk bands like The Jam performed on the show. On the last episode of the show, he and David Bowie performed together. Two weeks before what would have been his 30th birthday, Marc Bolan passed away in a car crash. Mick Jagger – allegedly??? bicurious – I can’t say for sure if Mick Jagger is bisexual, which is why I avoided including him on this list for a long time. Allegedly, David Bowie’s wife Angie caught Mick Jagger and David Bowie in bed together. The two were androgynous rock stars who might have been open to experimenting with the same sex. Both Jagger and Bowie denied these rumours. Morrissey – may be bisexual, but he doesn’t like labels – Singer of Manchester indie band The Smiths. He and Johnny Marr wrote the songs for the band. In the 70s, Morrissey would visit gay bars and clubs. In his autobiography he said that his first relationship was with a man. Songs like “This Charming Man”, “Handsome Devil”, “What Difference Does It Make”, and “Hand in Glove” have references to homosexuality. Neil Tennant – gay – Singer and one half of The Pet Shop Boys, the most successful British pop duo. He met his bandmate, Chris Lowe, in London at an electronics shop and they got along because of their interest in electronic music. He was raised a Catholic and wrote the hit song “It’s A Sin” to describe his strict upbringing. He came out as gay in the 90s. The Pet Shop Boys are best known for the songs: “West End Girls”, “Rent”, “Heart”, and “Domino Dancing”. Nickey Barclay – bisexual – Keyboard player for the all-girl rock band Fanny. She came out a few years after she left the band. Nona Hendryx – bisexual – Distant cousin of Jimi Hendrix and singer of the group, LaBelle, whose biggest hits were “I Sold My Heart to the Junkman”, “Down the Aisle”, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, and “Lady Marmalade”. They also have a cool cover medley of Thunderclap Newman’s “Something in the Air” and Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”. LaBelle appeared on Laura Nyro’s 1971 album, Gonna Take a Miracle. Hendryx released her self-titled debut in 1977 with highlights like “Winning” and “Everybody Wants to Be Somebody”. She has worked with Tina Weymouth, Nancy Wilson, Peter Gabriel, Prince, and Keith Richards and sang on “Sun City” with Artists United Against Apartheid. In 2001, she spoke to The Advocate about her bisexuality. Norma Tanega – unknown (not sure if lesbian or bisexual) – Folk singer from California. In her 20s she moved to Greenwich Village to pursue her dreams. She was in the folk scene there and was politically active, protesting the Vietnam War. For a time, she lived in England and dated Dusty Springfield, who she wrote some songs for. She released her first single in 1966, “Walking My Cat Named Dog” and that same year she released an album of the same name. Some good songs on that album are “You’re Dead”, “Jubilation”, and “A Street That Rhymes at 6am”. Pete Burns – can be described as bisexual and androgynous, but he did not like labels – Singer of Hi-NRG and synthpop band Dead or Alive. They were best known for the 1985 hit “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”. Pete Burns was from Liverpool. He worked at a record shop and was in a short-lived goth band called Nightmares in Wax, which only recorded a few songs and later on, after a lineup change, became Dead or Alive. He was known for his androgynous appearance and big hair. before their biggest hit “You Spin Me Round”, they had a minor hit, a cover of KC and The Sunshine Band’s “That’s The Way (I Like It)”. After those two songs, the band didn’t have any hits that matched that success. Pete Shelley – bisexual – Lead singer of Buzzcocks. He was born Peter McNeish in Lancashire and chose the stage last name Shelley as a tribute to his favourite poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley (husband of Mary Shelley). While at university, he formed Buzzcocks with some friends and they made their debut in 1976 opening for The Sex Pistols in Manchester. What made the pint-sized 5’4″ Pete Shelley stand out as a punk rocker was that he had a more clean, wholesome image, not a loud, rebellious image. He liked writing songs in a gender neutral way so everyone could relate to them, you might notice this in his band’s biggest hit “Ever Fallen In Love With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve”. Besides punk rock, he had an interest in electronic music and in his pre-Buzzcocks years he recorded an experimental Krautrock like album called Sky Yen. He resumed making electronic music in the 80s with albums like Homosapien and XL-1. “Homosapien” was his most overtly gay song, winning a ban from BBC radio for lyrics like “homo superior in my interior”. He identified as bisexual for his whole life. He died in 2018. Pete Townshend – bisexual – Guitarist and primary songwriter for The Who. He and Roger Daltrey continue to tour to this day. He was behind genius albums such as Tommy, Quadrophenia, and Who’s Next. He taught himself guitar. He dropped out of art school in 1964 because he was making more money than his own professors by playing gigs. He joined The Detours with John Entwistle and Roger Daltrey. The Detours became The Who and Keith Moon later joined the band. Pete Townshend suggested that they call themselves The Hair. Pete Meaden discovered them and changed their name briefly to The High Numbers. They went back to being The Who, being managed by Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. Here’s their first single “I Can’t Explain”. Peter Straker – gay – Played the part of Hud in the musical, Hair. Also was well known for working with Freddie Mercury, who produced one of Straker’s albums, This One’s On Me. He shared lead vocals with Jaki Whitren on the song “Some Other Time,” on the Alan Parsons Project album I Robot. Phil May – bisexual – Pretty Things frontman. The Pretty Things are a band with a cult following, best known for the sad WWI concept album S.F. Sorrow, released in the tragedy-filled year of 1968. Famous fans of the band include David Bowie (who considered Phil May a god and wrote “Oh You Pretty Things” and covered two of their songs), David Gilmour, Mick Jagger, and The Who. He was born Philip Arthur Dennis Kattner and adopted the surname May from his aunt and uncle who raised him. What made May stand out in the sea of British rockers of the 60s was his super long hair. In fact, he was said to have the longest hair of any British rocker in that era. His hair kept growing and by the 70s, he had chest length locks. It is unknown when he came out as bisexual, but he loved to switch around pronouns when covering songs and he said that he felt really confident about his androgynous looks. Phranc – lesbian – Punk and folk singer-songwriter from Los Angeles who has a trademark androgynous look and influenced Queercore. Self-proclaimed “All-American Jewish Lesbian Folksinger”. She got her start in bands Nervous Gender and Catholic Discipline. She released her first solo album in 1985 called Folksinger. It’s worth listening to and there’s a cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”. Her second album released in 1989, I Enjoy Being a Girl has a better produced sound to it and she produced it with Violent Femmes producer Victor DeLorenzo. Ray Davies – bisexual – Leader, lead vocalist, and main songwriter of The Kinks. As I said earlier in the paragraph about Dave, the band have written quite a few songs about LGBT issues. He’s the more guarded and reserved of the two brothers, so it’s hard to get a straight answer about what he identifies as, but in this early 70s interview with Candy Darling, Tinkerbelle, and Glenn O’Brien he pretty much says it: he likes both men and women. “Why don’t you ask me what sort of men I like?” he asks. When Tinkerbelle asked him if he likes men, he said mhmm. He also said in a 1994 interview when asked about his sexuality, “I don’t know what I am. I’ve got female traits in me, male and female. I prefer people who are not ashamed to exhibit both. That doesn’t mean to say I have any bias one way or the other.” Ricky Wilson – gay – Original guitarist of the B-52s. He was a member of the band until his death in 1985. Two years before his death he found out he had AIDS and he kept his illness a secret from the rest of the band. He was one of the main songwriters of the band and would often collaborate with Fred Schneider and Keith Strickland. His guitar sound added to the quirkiness of the band. He was the first member of the band to come out as gay. Every member of the B-52s was gay or bisexual, except for Ricky Wilson’s sister, Cindy. Rob Halford – gay – Lead singer for hard rock band Judas Priest. He wrote or cowrote a lot of the band’s hits. The band’s influences include Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. They released their first album, Rocka Rolla, in 1974. The band reached major success in 1979 and were famous throughout the 80s. You might know the song “Breaking The Law” because of Beavis and Butthead. Of coming out of the closet he says “It’s a wonderful moment when you walk out of the closet. Now I’ve done that and I’ve freed myself.” The Singing Nun – lesbian – A Belgian one-hit-wonder known for “Dominique”, released in 1963. Indeed it’s true she was a nun, but she left her convent when she was 1966. Later, she said she was forced out. That year, she reunited with her friend, Annie Pécher, who she knew from summer camp. Annie really liked her, but she didn’t feel the same way about her, at first. They moved in together and 14 years later, they had a romantic relationship. She owed the Belgian government a lot of money in back taxes from the royalties she received in the 60s from her hit and she didn’t have the money to pay them back because the money went to her religious congregation. She recorded a disco version of “Dominique”, but it didn’t go anywhere. She and her girlfriend started a centre to help children with autism and it had to shut down, leaving them devastated. She and Annie took their lives in 1985, overdosing on alcohol and barbiturates, and were buried together. Siouxsie Sioux – bisexual – Lead singer of Siouxsie and the Banshees. She was born Susan Ballion in London. Her father was Belgian. As a child she was very lonely and dealt with a lot of trauma. One of her biggest inspirations was seeing David Bowie perform on Top of the Pops. As a teenager, she got better and went to gay clubs with her friends. She became a big fan of the Sex Pistols and wanted to make music of her own. What made her stand out in the scene is her gothic style. Siouxsie and the Banshees made their debut in 1978 and throughout the 80s they had a lot of success with many hit singles. She said in an interview, “I’ve never particularly said I’m hetero or I’m a lesbian. I know there are people who are definitely one way, but not really me. I suppose if I am attracted to men then they usually have more feminine qualities.” Sister Rosetta Tharpe – bisexual – While her career started in the late 30s, she was incredibly influential and considered the original soul sister and Godmother of Rock and Roll. Her beginnings were in gospel music and she quickly crossed over into R&B and rock and roll, being one of the first gospel musicians to do so. Songs from the late 1930s like “Rock Me”, “That’s All” and “This Train” demonstrate this and were commercial successes. Not only was she an influential singer, but also an influential guitarist who participated in guitar battles at the Apollo in Harlem. Unfortunately, she was the target of sexist and backhanded compliments like being told she “played like a man”. In actuality, she played guitar better than most of her male contemporaries. Her song “Strange Things Happening Every Day”, released in 1944, was the first gospel song to make the Harlem Hit Parade (later known as Race Records and R&B) and some consider it the first rock song. Some rumours claimed she dated gospel singer Marie Knight. She saw her perform at a Mahalia Jackson concert and invited her to tour with her. Sister Rosetta Tharpe remained active in the 60s, performing alongside musicians like Muddy Waters. She passed away in 1973 as a result of a stroke. Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, Isaac Hayes, Tina Turner, and Karen Carpenter called her a major influence. Shona Laing – bisexual – This Kiwi singer-songwriter got famous at the age of 17 with the song “1905”, released in 1972. The song reached #4 in her home country. Two follow up singles she released that year were successful: “Show Your Love” (#4 in the New Zealand charts) and “Masquerade” (#11 in the New Zealand charts). She had a comeback in the 80s with the songs “(Glad I’m) Not a Kennedy” and “Soviet Snow”. The most famous band she collaborated with were Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. She contributed vocals to some songs on the album Somewhere in Afrika. She came out as bisexual at a concert in 1996. Sylvester – gay – Disco musician best known for the song ‘You Make Me Feel Mighty Real”. He was known as “Queen of Disco”. He started off singing gospel music in church. He was also influenced by blues and jazz singers like Billie Holiday and Josephine Baker. He started The Disquotays as a teenager in the 60s with some friends he met at gay clubs. He was known for his androgynous dress sense. He moved to San Francisco in the 70s. Some other songs he made were “Dance (Disco Heat)”, “Do Ya Wanna Funk”, “Down Down Down”, and “Over and Over”. Tom Robinson – bisexual, but identifies as gay – Singer-songwriter and LGBT rights activist. He was the leader of the Tom Robinson Band. He was born in Cambridge, England and realised he was gay when he fell in love with a classmate. He started his band in 1976 and they released their debut single “2-4-6-8 Motorway” (which vaguely mentions a gay lorry driver) in 1977; it peaked at #5 in the UK charts. In 1978, they released a song called “Glad To Be Gay”, which was originally written for the 1976 London Pride parade and banned by the BBC. On sexuality, he said that he didn’t understand bisexuality at first, but then came to understand it better. Wendy Carlos – transgender – Best known for composing the scores for A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. She plays keyboard and synthesiser. She is also one of the first famous people to come out as trans, coming out in 1979 in an interview with Playboy Magazine. She also released albums that combined electronic and classical music like Switched-On Bach and The Well Tempered Synthesizer, from 1968 and 1969, respectively. Not musicians, but were important to their careers: Andy Warhol – gay – Manager and producer of The Velvet Underground. He was mostly known for his art and the Factory scene around it. The Factory scene had many drag queens, trans women, and LGBT celebrities and popular icons. He was one of the most famous openly gay people before the gay liberation movement took off. Bob Crewe – gay – Songwriter and record producer best known for his work co-writing songs with Bob Gaudio for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Brian Epstein – gay – Manager of The Beatles. Born to a Jewish family in Liverpool. Found out about The Beatles when they recorded “My Bonnie” with Tony Sheridan. He was in charge of the record department of the NEMS music store. The Beatles all frequented the shop. He was influential in creating the image of the band. Besides managing The Beatles, he managed Gerry & The Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas. Desmond Child – gay – Songwriter who wrote hits like “I Was Made For Loving You”, “I Hate Myself For Loving You”, “Livin’ on a Prayer”, and “Dude Looks Like a Lady”. Joe Meek – gay – Producer, sound engineer, and songwriter who worked with quite a few early-mid 60s artists from the UK like The Tornados, Screaming Lord Sutch, Heinz, Billy Fury, Tom Jones, The Honeycombs, and Tommy Steele. If you like the cosmic sounds of Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, you might want to thank Joe Meek since he was a pioneer in the space rock genre, writing the successful song “Telstar” in 1962. The song went to #1 before the British Invasion began, being the first American #1 by a British band. Not only that, but he even released a space-themed concept album in 1960 called I Hear a New World. John Reid – gay – Former manager for Elton John and Queen. Dated Elton John in the 70s. Kenneth Anger – gay – Filmmaker. You could say he invented the music video. Classic rockers Mick Jagger and Jimmy Page worked on a couple of his movies. Kit Lambert – gay – Managed The Who. Came across them when they were known as The High Numbers and started to make a film about them with Chris Stamp as an up and coming unsigned band. He was also a producer for the band at one point. He and Chris Stamp were fired in 1974. Larry Parnes – gay – Manager of pre-British Invasion rock stars like Marty Wilde, Billy Fury, Vince Eager, Dickie Pride, Lance Fortune, Duffy Power, Johnny Gentle, Terry Dene, Nelson Keene. He also managed 60s singer Georgie Fame who reached #1 with “Yeh Yeh”. He was known for giving the musicians unique stage names that were supposed to correspond with traits they had. Michael Aldred – gay – Co-presenter of Ready Steady Go! Got his start in music by writing articles for a magazine called Jazz News. He auditioned for teen advisor for a pop music series, Ready Steady Go! in 1963 and was one of the two selected to present. The other was Cathy McGowan. The producer of the show wanted to make it more appealing to youth by having presenters from the same generation. He was only 18 and a half when he started presenting Ready Steady Go! and was the youngest TV presenter in Britain. He later had flings with Andrew Loog Oldham and Dave Davies. He tried releasing music of his own, but it didn’t go anywhere so he went into producing music and went back to his roots in music reviewing, writing for Goldmine and Audio. He died in April 1995. Richard O’Brien – transgender (possibly non-binary) – Actor and TV presenter best known for writing the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show. All songs in the musical were written by him. The film version came out in 1975. You might know songs like “Dammit Janet”, “Time Warp”, “Sweet Transvestite”, and “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me”. Robert Mapplethorpe – gay – Photographer known for his black and white photographs. Known in the classic rock world for his friendship with Patti Smith, who he dated for 5 years. He took the album cover photograph for Horses. Robert Stigwood – gay – Manager of Cream and the Bee Gees and produced Grease and Saturday Night Fever. Sandy Stone – transgender – Member of women’s music record label Olivia Records collective and sound engineer for the record label. Simon Napier-Bell – gay – Manager for bands like The Yardbirds, T. Rex, Japan, London, Ultravox, and Boney M. Stacia – bisexual – Dancer for 70s space rock band Hawkwind. Joined the band at the age of 19. She was known for dancing while nude with body paint and being 6’2″ tall. In a 1974 interview with Penthouse, she said she was bisexual. Tony Stratton-Smith – gay – Owner of Charisma Records and manager of Genesis, The Nice, and Van der Graaf Generator. Before entering the music industry, he was a sports journalist. I hope you enjoyed this post on The Diversity of Classic Rock. Please leave your thoughts and questions in the comments section below. Thank you! Want to learn more about LGBT history in classic rock? Read my post about classic rock songs about LGBT people. There’s a part two, too! Shout out to my good friend and Topaz level Patron, Patrick. Loved this post and want to see more great posts like this and show your appreciation for The Diversity of Classic Rock? Chip in some money on Patreon (monthly donation) or Ko-Fi (one-time donation). Or buy my merch or my photography prints on RedBubble. 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1 KINGS 13 « 1 Kings 12 | 1 Kings 13 | 1 Kings 14 » A Man of God Confronts Jeroboam 13:1 And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offerings. 2 And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’” 4 And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5 The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. 6 And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it was before. 7 And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 8 And the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, 9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel. The Prophet’s Disobedience11 Now an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king. 12 And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone. 13 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he mounted it. 14 And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” 15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16 And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, 17 for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’” 18 And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. 19 So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water. 20 And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. 21 And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the command that the Lord your God commanded you, 22 but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, Eat no bread and drink no water, your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’” 23 And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 And as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body. 25 And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. 26 And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the Lord spoke to him.” 27 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. 28 And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey. 29 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city to mourn and to bury him. 30 And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” 31 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.” 33 After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. 34 And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth. 1 KINGS 14 « 1 Kings 13 | 1 Kings 14 | 1 Kings 15 » Prophecy Against Jeroboam 14:1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. 2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Arise, and disguise yourself, that it not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said of me that I should be king over this people. 3 Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child.” 4 Jeroboam’s wife did so. She arose and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age. 5 And the Lord said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her.” When she came, she pretended to be another woman. 6 But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with unbearable news for you. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel 8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes, 9 but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back, 10 therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone. 11 Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the Lord has spoken it.’ 12 Arise therefore, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. 13 And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. 14 Moreover, the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today. And henceforth, 15 the Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. 16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.” 17 Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed and came to Tirzah. And as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. 18 And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet. The Death of Jeroboam19 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 20 And the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. And he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place. Rehoboam Reigns in Judah21 Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. 22 And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. 23 For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 24 and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. 26 He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made, 27 and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. 28 And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom. 29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Abijam his son reigned in his place. « Proverbs 29 | Proverbs 30 | Proverbs 31 » The Words of Agur 30:1 The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle.The man declares, I am weary, O God;I am weary, O God, and worn out. 2 Surely I am too stupid to be a man.I have not the understanding of a man. 3 I have not learned wisdom,nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. 4 Who has ascended to heaven and come down?Who has gathered the wind in his fists?Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?Who has established all the ends of the earth?What is his name, and what is his son’s name?Surely you know! 5 Every word of God proves true;he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words,lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. 7 Two things I ask of you;deny them not to me before I die: 8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying;give me neither poverty nor riches;feed me with the food that is needful for me, 9 lest I be full and deny youand say, “Who is the Lord?”or lest I be poor and stealand profane the name of my God. 10 Do not slander a servant to his master,lest he curse you, and you be held guilty. 11 There are those who curse their fathersand do not bless their mothers. 12 There are those who are clean in their own eyesbut are not washed of their filth. 13 There are those—how lofty are their eyes,how high their eyelids lift! 14 There are those whose teeth are swords,whose fangs are knives,to devour the poor from off the earth,the needy from among mankind. 15 The leech has two daughters:Give and Give.Three things are never satisfied;four never say, “Enough”: 16 Sheol, the barren womb,the land never satisfied with water,and the fire that never says, “Enough.” 17 The eye that mocks a fatherand scorns to obey a motherwill be picked out by the ravens of the valleyand eaten by the vultures. 18 Three things are too wonderful for me;four I do not understand: 19 the way of an eagle in the sky,the way of a serpent on a rock,the way of a ship on the high seas,and the way of a man with a virgin. 20 This is the way of an adulteress:she eats and wipes her mouthand says, “I have done no wrong.” 21 Under three things the earth trembles;under four it cannot bear up: 22 a slave when he becomes king,and a fool when he is filled with food; 23 an unloved woman when she gets a husband,and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress. 24 Four things on earth are small,but they are exceedingly wise: 25 the ants are a people not strong,yet they provide their food in the summer; 26 the rock badgers are a people not mighty,yet they make their homes in the cliffs; 27 the locusts have no king,yet all of them march in rank; 28 the lizard you can take in your hands,yet it is in kings’ palaces. 29 Three things are stately in their tread;four are stately in their stride: 30 the lion, which is mightiest among beastsand does not turn back before any; 31 the strutting rooster, the he-goat,and a king whose army is with him. 32 If you have been foolish, exalting yourself,or if you have been devising evil,put your hand on your mouth. 33 For pressing milk produces curds,pressing the nose produces blood,and pressing anger produces strife. « Psalm 63 | Psalm 64 | Psalm 65 » Hide Me from the WickedTo the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.64:1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;preserve my life from dread of the enemy. 2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,from the throng of evildoers, 3 who whet their tongues like swords,who aim bitter words like arrows, 4 shooting from ambush at the blameless,shooting at him suddenly and without fear. 5 They hold fast to their evil purpose;they talk of laying snares secretly,thinking, “Who can see them?” 6 They search out injustice,saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.”For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep. 7 But God shoots his arrow at them;they are wounded suddenly. 8 They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them;all who see them will wag their heads. 9 Then all mankind fears;they tell what God has brought aboutand ponder what he has done. 10 Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lordand take refuge in him!Let all the upright in heart exult! The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV® Permanent Text Edition (2016). The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

By SKC Ogbonnia Unlike my father, my mother Esther Oligwe Ogbonnia hardly cares who wins or who loses in presidential politics so far there is peace. Not in 2015! Full of excitement following Muhammadu Buhari’s victory, I placed a call to my mother in Nigeria, but she was not her usual cheerful self. SKC (Me): “Mama, why are you sounding strange?” Mother: “Hmmm…I am okay but not very okay. There is trouble. The problem seems to be your friend—the Hausa man. They say the man has become the president again by force and plans to take away our Bible. They also say he is the same person who caused us harm during the war, and is going to replace all our people in government work with Hausa.” SKC: “Who is saying all those things about Buhari? When did you become a politician?” Mother: “Well, I am not a politician. And I may never have crossed River Niger or know how to count 1.2.3, but I can smell counterfeit from a distance. My son, the fear of that man is rearing up everywhere—in the church, our meetings, and the marketplace. Even our ‘who is who’ in the North have already packed back to Enugu . I pray this aura of doom will not be felt where you are in America ...” SKC: “Mama, please do not mind them. I am very happy to have supported the man. As I told you before, he is better than Jonathan by far. He will end corruption and provide jobs for our youths. Kidnapping and armed robbery will go away. Those saying bad things about Buhari are some of the same people who stole the money meant to complete Ugbo road. They are afraid he will put them in prison. That is why” Mother: “So the Buhari man is truly a good person? But did you hear that he locked up Jim Nwobodo and one good man from Onitsha area for no just cause? Do you know they also say that he killed one young boy from Udi Agbaja for nothing? Biko, how did you know the man?” SKC: No, I did not know Buhari before. However, when he was head of state, there was no corruption. Watch…things will change within few months. NEPA will provide light day and night… You will say, I told you so.” Mother: “Well, I have heard you, my son. So, we should not worry? I am feeling better now, but I don’t know about our people. They see the man as danger…” Clearly, the general perception of Muhammadu Buhari in the East before the election was that of a jihadist, dictator, and a bigot—all roped in one, thanks to a montage of propaganda orchestrated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The then ruling party did everything humanly possible to cling on to power. And you can’t blame them. Having squandered our common wealth while at the helm, PDP had nothing on the ground for the Igbo masses and thus needed to sustain mass following by deceit. For example, one infantile lie drummed since 2011 to prevent the restless Igbo youths from revolt had been that “Things will get better once President Goodluck Jonathan zones presidency to the Igbos after his tenure.” It was not surprising, therefore, that Buhari’s victory was readily seen as a coup d’état in the East, particularly among the jobless youths, who thence seem to have nowhere else to perch than clench their angst towards one form of Biafra or another. The gist, if it is not already manifest, is that these new Biafrans, most of who are under the aegis of PDP Youth Wing, are the byproduct of the party’s gloomy narratives of Buhari. In fact, any careful review of the recent activities of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), leaves no one in doubt that his rebellion was heightened by the defeat of Jonathan and PDP. And it does not take a genius to discern why prominent opposition leaders from the East have continued to tiptoe around the Biafran agitation even when it has widened. For sure, the rallying cry for the current Biafran movement is the inexplicable marginalization of the Igbos. But we must not ignore one bitter truth: The last 16 years of democratic rule did not take place under Muhammadu Buhari or the All Progressive Congress (APC)—but squarely under PDP where every ethnic group, including the Igbos and their Southern neighbors were well represented. Yet both President Buhari and APC have not helped matters. Upon assuming office, Buhari’s body language, including lopsided political appointments, began to appear as if the old Eastern Region was an illegal alien. To add salt to an open injury, the president shocked the democratic world by stoking a statement generally interpreted as a plot to marginalize the zones that gave him fewer votes. This gaffe was definitely beyond the pale and had deserved every damage control. Sadly, instead of telling the president the simple truth, many APC leaders went as far lampooning the Igbos for expressing their right to choose. The ruling party conveniently brushed aside the fact that virtually all Nigerian presidential elections in history were influenced by ethnic sentiments, yet there is no record where a section of the country was denied its share of the national cake on the basis of voting pattern. The whole APC approach on political appointments triggered a nationwide outrage, with many groups charging the new government of ethnic chauvinism. According to a faction of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), the development was a clear testament “that Buhari is not seeing Ndigbo as part of Nigeria .” The presidency reluctantly addressed the dilemma, quipping that, “At the end of the exercise, no part of the country will be left feeling left out.” Unfortunately, recent events suggest otherwise. The much-awaited ministerial allocations have come and gone but failed to reflect the balance needed to allay the fear of Igbo marginalization. Although it is true that Igbos, particularly Chibuike Amaechi, Kachikwu Ibe, and Godwin Emefiele, occupy powerful positions in the central government, the gesture is wallowed in mistrust. The crème of Igbo intelligentsia as well as leaders of the Biafran agitation perceive the motive as a postwar federal agenda to drive a wedge between the Igbos of the South East and their brothers and sisters of the South-South. Moreover, many are dismayed with the attempt by the Federal Government to isolate the history of Biafran movement solely to the Southeast. After all, not only does the Igbo territory extend beyond the Southeast, the die-hard leaders of the Biafran war included the natives of the South-South zone, such as Chukwuma Nzeogwu, Phillip Effiong, and Joe Achusia, to name a few. This medley of unforced errors on the part of APC government did nothing but play into the prevailing PDP narratives—those very fears narrated by my mother when I had called from America after Buhari’s victory. Today, the opposition is gaily saying “I told you so.” For the restless Eastern youths, it was the perfect excuse to finally embrace the call for secession from Nigeria —with Nnamdi Kanu as the totemic leader. Kanu has since been arrested and denied bail by the federal authorities. And different pleas for his release have also been rebuffed, leading to mass protests and loss of property as well as innocent lives. But the quagmire must not continue. Rather than brute force, there is the need for solution through diplomacy. First, President Buhari should go above the fray and order without further delay the release of Nnamdi Kanu. There is no doubt that Kanu’s rhetoric is hugely offensive, and deserves every condemnation, but keeping him behind bars for expressing his fundamental rights of self-determination does more harm than good. The matter is gradually gaining worldwide sympathy, and Nigeria ’s economy must not be exposed to a new wave of ethnic havoc on top of Boko Haram. Second, the APC government ought to find ways to dialogue with the pro-Biafra groups and reassure them of a genuine desire to carry the Igbos along, with specific attention to youth employment. Such dialogue can help the agitators to realize that the real enemies include their own brothers, faceless politicians, who carted away development funds in the East. Third, but most ironic, if the war against corruption is a good omen, Buhari must be careful to avoid being mired into another form of Igbo marginalization. Even though the anticorruption war has already visited high profile culprits in every other zone of the federation, notorious politicians in the Southeast are still acting as if Goodluck Jonathan still holds sway. It is time to double up and expose the political merchants who abetted ageless money-spinners, such as Enugu-Onitsha/Enugu-PH Expressways, 2nd River Niger Bridge, Dredging of River Niger, Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, Constitutional Amendment exercise, the criminal demolition of Eastern Nigeria Secretariat at Enugu and, of course, various abandoned Constituency projects littered across the area. The president may as well head further south to unmask the incubus choking other vital projects with huge employment opportunities, particularly Calabar and PH ports, PH International Airport, and the East-West Highway . Seeing is believing. Nothing can assuage the feelings of these youths more than prosecuting the crooked politicians who exploited the poor masses for selfish gains. The view immediately above mirrors a topical goal of the current Biafran movement which, in its own words, strives to hold accountable “all looters, embezzlers, kidnappers, sponsors of terrorism, child traffickers, corrupt judges, crooked university lecturers, murderous Nigerian security forces and all thieving individuals masquerading as public officials who steal public funds thereby preventing developmental projects from impacting positively on the lives of the ordinary people.” This very idea of the pro-Biafra group is hardly unpopular. In fact, one may think their statement was adapted word-for-word from the campaign book of President Muhammadu Buhari. Said differently, these youths and Buhari share common dreams for a corrupt free society, after all. And they need each other. Sustaining our hard-fought change demands broad participation across the breadth and depth of Nigeria .

Rating: Votes: 0 John Mellencamp — Grandma's Theme lyrics John Mellencamp Grandma's Theme lyrics was added to the site 4 Dec, 2006 and since that time has 0 hits and voted 0 times. Other popular John Mellencamp lyrics are: Rain On The Scarecrow, Troubled Land and Check It Out. Songwriters: MELLENCAMP, JOHN Written by: Traditional Was a dark stormy night As the train rattled on All the passengers had gone to bed Except a young man with a baby in his arms Who sat there with a bowed-down head The innocent one began crying just then As though it's poor heart would break One angry man said, "Make that child stop it's noise For it's keeping all of us awake." Grandma's Theme is a part of the traditional song listed below: THE BAGGAGE COACH AHEAD On a dark and stormy night as the train rolled on All passengers gone to bed, Except a young man with a babe on his arm Sat sadly with bowed down head; Just then the babe commenced crying As though it's poor heart would break. One angry man said, "Make that child stop it's noise, For it's keeping us all awake." [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsty.com/john-mellencamp-grandmas-theme-lyrics.html ] "Put it out," said another, "Don't keep it in here; We've paid for our berth and want rest." But never a word said the man with the child, As he fondled it close to his breast. "Oh where is it's mother? Go take it to her," One lady then softly said. "I wish I could," was the man's sad reply. "But she's dead in the coach ahead." As the train rolled onward, a husband set in tears, Thinking of the happiness of just a few short years. Baby's face brings pictures of a cherished hope now dead, But baby's cries can't awaken her in the baggage coach ahead. Every eye filled with tears as the story he told Of a wife who was faithful and true; He told how he'd saved up his earnings for years, Just to build a home for two; How when heaven had sent them their sweet little babe, Their young happy lives were blest; His heart seemed to break when he mentioned her name, And in tears tried to tell them the rest. Every woman arose to assist with the child; There were mothers and wives on that train. And soon was the little one sleeping in peace, With no thought of sorrow or pain. Next morn at the station he bade all goodbye, "God bless you," he softly said, Each one had a story to tell in their homes Of the baggage coach ahead. Grandma's Theme lyrics © EMI Music Publishing John Mellencamp lyrics: - R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A lyrics - Large World Turning lyrics - Jena lyrics - Great Midwest lyrics - Chestnut Street lyrics - The Man Who Sold The World lyrics - All The Best lyrics - Void In My Heart lyrics - Don't Misunderstand Me lyrics - Crazy Island lyrics - Mansions In Heaven lyrics - Weakest Moments lyrics - Jackamo Road lyrics - To Live lyrics - Country Gentleman lyrics

Front Page Titles (by Subject) CHAPTER 13: Tocqueville's Changing Visions of Democratic Despotism - The Making of Tocqueville's Democracy in America The Online Library of Liberty A project of Liberty Fund, Inc. Search this Title: CHAPTER 13: Tocqueville’s Changing Visions of Democratic Despotism - James T. Schleifer, The Making of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America The Making of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, Foreword by George W. Pierson (2nd edition) (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000). About Liberty Fund: Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc. Fair use statement: This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit. Tocqueville’s Changing Visions of Democratic Despotism While shaping the last part of his book, Tocqueville also continued to weigh the chances for despotism and to examine its various forms. Sometime after 1835, he decided to consult some earlier definitions of despotism, and he turned to the famous Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné by Diderot, D’Alembert, and others. He copied the definition which he found there into his drafts, but not without a significant amendment. “ ‘Despotism. Tyrannical, arbitrary, and absolute government of a single man.* The principle of despotic states is that a single person ... governs everything there according to his wishes, having absolutely no other laws than those of his caprices.’ Encyclopédie.” To this Tocqueville added: “This was written before we saw the despotism of an assembly under the Republic. *It is necessary to add ‘of a single power.’ ”1 The excesses of the Convention during the Revolution still so vividly reminded Tocqueville of possible legislative usurpations that he felt obliged to add his qualification to the definition of the Encyclopédie. Curiously, however, such an apprehension would rarely appear in the 1840 Democracy. His general distrust of assemblies would surface at least once,2 and on one occasion in his working manuscript, when returning to a specific description of America, he would mention the omnipotence of legislatures there.3 But the final text would delete even this reference to legislative power, and the warnings of incipient legislative despotism which had been so strong in 1835 would almost disappear in 1840. Perhaps in Tocqueville’s mind that tyranny was primarily associated with the democratic excesses of the American states.4 Its relative disappearance may be still another measure of Tocqueville’s shift between 1835 and 1840 from America in particular to démocratie in general. The second part of the Democracy would discuss the tyranny of the majority, though with an emphasis somewhat different from that of 1835.5 And Tocqueville’s last two volumes would also not neglect the risk of the “tyrannical, arbitrary, and absolute government of a single man.” The 1840 text would revive the idea that there were two ways to be equal, in liberty or in servitude; and one possible master would be identified as the despot. “There can even be a sort of equality in the world of politics without any political freedom. A man may be the equal of all his fellows save one, who is the master of all without distinction.”6 For a time between 1835 and 1838, a particular version of this despot, the military tyrant modeled after Caesar and Napoleon, apparently captured Tocqueville’s imagination. He recognized that, in general, war played a significant role in undermining the liberty of nations. “The first tyrant is about to come; what will he be called? I do not know, but he approaches. What is still lacking for this false image [?] of public order to disappear and for a profound, frightful, and incurable disorder to come into sight? What more is needed for this sublime authority, this visible providence that we have established among us, to trample under foot the most sacred laws, to violate at will our hearts, and to march over our heads? War. Peace has prepared despotism, war will establish it. Not only as a consequence of victory, but war simply by the need for power and concentration that it creates.”7 He added elsewhere: “In order to make war it is necessary to create a very energetic and almost tyrannical central power; it is necessary to permit it many acts of violence and arbitrariness. The result of war can deliver over to this power the liberty of the nation [which is] always poorly guaranteed in democracies, especially newly born democracies.”8 But Tocqueville’s heightened interest in the possibility of the general turned dictator went beyond these reflections on the wider influence of war. As he wrote, he began to develop a particular image of military despotism. Again, Louis de Kergolay probably served as a source of inspiration. During the last months of 1836 and the first months of 1837, Louis was in Germany for travel, study, and observation. Alexis, who had advised him about topics worthy of investigation and methods of information gathering, was kept well informed of his progress and reflections.9 On one occasion Louis wrote: I see democracy in the process of advancing not only in France, but also in many other countries. In America you witnessed the spectacle of democracy managing its own affairs or at least having at its head intriguers so dispersed that none were dangerous. But what will we say of democracy if, in Europe, we see it grounding itself in the government of a single person (d’un seul) ...; but we will then find that men have strangely forgotten all the ideas of personal independence about which they have made so much noise. I tremble to see all of Europe in the near future governed in the name of equality by armies and their leaders (hereditary or not), with this duty to maintain order (détail de police) which exists in a regiment, in a classroom, in a prison. After each man, even the least, wanted to be somebody, I picture to myself all turned into small boys that one spanks. Have you noticed how there are demagogues who are very little frightened by this outlook? Many of them are sharp fellows capable of leading their band of disciples to complete equality, of then putting their followers into the hands of whatever government to do with them as it pleases, of getting good positions for themselves, and of saying afterwards to this band: “My friends, you should be content because you are now all equal; now get yourselves out of this by yourselves; good-by.” It makes little difference to me whether I live in a country more or less democratic; but I feel myself a decided enemy, an enemy by nature, taste, and conscience, of a situation such as I have just depicted to you.10 Kergolay here described a somewhat different sort of democratic despotism: rule of a nation by the military as though the entire society were a regiment. In drafts of Part III of the 1840 Democracy, almost certainly written after receiving this letter, Tocqueville mused: “To reflect—if instead of the disordered despotism of the soldatesque, idea already known, it would not be better to introduce here the portrait of a methodical despotism where everything happens with as much order, detail, and tyranny as in a barracks.” And he prophesied reluctantly: “If I were permitted to raise the veil which hides the future from us, I would not dare to do it. I would be afraid to see all of society in the hands of soldiers. A bureaucratic, military organization, the soldier and the clerk. Symbol of the future society.”11 He also observed on one occasion: “The new aristocracy of soldiers is the only one which still seems practicable to me.”12 Even as late as July 1838, a brief outline of the last portion of the 1840 work would include the idea of the “Aristocracy of the men of war.”13 But eventually these visions would be largely shunted into footnotes. Only his general remarks about war opening the door to despotism would survive in the main body of the text.14 His deepest apprehensions would focus elsewhere. By 1840 a renewed dread of administrative despotism (and the rule of clerks) would largely displace his fear of military tyranny (and the aristocracy of soldiers). Nevertheless, Louis’s portrait of military dictatorship would contribute important elements to Tocqueville’s developing image of the Leviathan State. The final part of the Democracy15 would contain the major portion of Tocqueville’s 1840 observations on despotism. He apparently accomplished most of the work on this important section between July and October 1838, while living at the château in Normandy. One somewhat puzzling outline of this last segment, dated 28 July 1838, suggested a focus for the entire section quite different from the emphasis of 1840. This outline, though incomplete, combined themes from several of Tocqueville’s last chapters, but departed substantially from the order in which these ideas would finally appear and concluded by emphasizing a pessimistic vision of social chaos and military despotism. What is most striking about this résumé, however, is the explicit use of despotism as the organizing thread. In 1840 the stated focus of the last section would be the concentration of power; despotism would be the inevitable but (almost) silent companion to the centralized state. Since at least 1831, Tocqueville had worried that the trend toward equality might end in despotism. But between 1835 and 1840, just as he changed his mind about the center of the consolidated power which democracy entailed, so he now envisioned a different sort of despotism. What he had then briefly described, he now thoroughly developed. “I noticed during my stay in the United States that a democratic state of society similar to that found there could lay itself peculiarly open to the establishment of a despotism. And on my return to Europe I saw how far most of our princes had made use of the ideas, feelings, and needs engendered by such a state of society to enlarge the sphere of their power. I was thus led to think that the nations of Christendom might perhaps in the end fall victims to the same sort of oppression as formerly lay heavy on several of the peoples of antiquity.” In 1835 he had specifically cited the tyranny of the Caesars and had prophesied a future of despotisme d’un seul. But now he would declare: “More detailed study of the subject and the new ideas which came into my mind during five years of meditation have not lessened my fears but have changed their object.”18 After describing how democratic ideas and sentiments naturally favored the concentration of power and the establishment of a unified, ubiquitous, and omnipotent government19 and how various accidental causes exaggerated this tendency in Europe,20 Tocqueville would observe that this multiplication of governmental prerogatives threatened a totally new type of tyranny. “I think that the type of oppression which threatens democracies is different from anything there has ever been in the world before. Our contemporaries will find no prototype of it in their memories. I have myself vainly searched for a word which will exactly express the whole of the conception I have formed. Such old words as ‘despotism’ and ‘tyranny’ do not fit. The thing is new.”21 What he now foresaw more clearly was the possibility of the dictatorship of the centralized and bureaucratic state. “The social power is constantly increasing its prerogatives; it is becoming more centralized, more enterprising, more absolute, and more widespread. The citizens are perpetually falling under the control of the public administration. They are led insensibly, and perhaps against their will, daily to give up fresh portions of their individual independence to the government, and those same men who from time to time have upset a throne and trampled kings beneath their feet bend without resistance to the slightest wishes of some clerk.”22 His readers would be offered several elaborate descriptions of this New Despotism, including the following chilling portrait: I see an innumerable multitude of men, alike and equal, constantly circling around in pursuit of the petty and banal pleasures with which they glut their souls. Each of them, withdrawn into himself, is almost unaware of the fate of the rest. Mankind, for him, consists in his children and his personal friends. As for the rest of his fellow citizens, they are near enough, but he does not notice them. He touches them but feels nothing. He exists in and for himself, and though he still may have a family, one can at least say that he has not got a fatherland. Over this kind of man stands an immense, protective power which is alone responsible for securing their enjoyment and watching over their fate. That power is absolute, thoughtful of detail, orderly, provident, and gentle. It would resemble parental authority if, father-like, it tried to prepare its charges for a man’s life, but on the contrary, it only tries to keep them in perpetual childhood. It likes to see the citizens enjoy themselves, provided that they think of nothing but enjoyment. It gladly works for their happiness but wants to be sole agent and judge of it. It provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, makes rules for their testaments, and divides their inheritances. Why should it not entirely relieve them from the trouble of thinking and all the cares of living? Thus it daily makes the exercise of free choice less useful and rarer, restricts the activity of free will within a narrower compass, and little by little robs each citizen of the proper use of his own faculties. Equality has prepared men for all this, predisposing them to endure it and often even regard it as beneficial. Having thus taken each citizen in turn in its powerful grasp and shaped men to its will, government then extends its embrace to include the whole of society. It covers the whole of social life with a network of petty, complicated rules that are both minute and uniform, through which even men of the greatest originality and the most vigorous temperament cannot force their heads above the crowd. It does not break men’s will, but softens, bends, and guides it; it seldom enjoins, but often inhibits, action; it does not destroy anything, but prevents much being born; it is not at all tyrannical, but it hinders, restrains, enervates, stifles, and stultifies so much that in the end each nation is no more than a flock of timid and hardworking animals with the government as its shepherd.23 The omnipresence and apparent gentleness of this new tyranny were two of its most significant features. Unlike despotisms of old, it avoided violence and obvious brutality. But even though mild and benign, it, too, labored incessantly to render entire populations docile; it, too, enervated first individuals and then the entire nation. Tocqueville described another important characteristic of the possible new despotism on an extra sheet in his working manuscript dated May 1838. “Show clearly that the administrative despotism which I am talking about is independent of representative, liberal, or revolutionary institutions, in a word of political power; whether the political world is led by an absolute king, by one or several assemblies, whether it is contested in the name of liberty or of order, whether it even falls into anarchy, whether it grows weaker and splits apart, the action of the administrative power will be neither less restrained, nor less strong, nor less overwhelming. It is a true distinction.... The man or the power [?] which puts the administrative machine in motion can change without the machine changing.”24 So the dictatorship of the state was different from and immune to most political changes, even seemingly fundamental ones. In the face of political upheavals the public bureaucracy would quietly continue to gather power and subjugate the nation. By demonstrating that administrative tyranny did not necessarily mean an end to political confusion, Tocqueville hoped to disabuse many of his compatriots of a popular misconception about despotism. “Idea to introduce somewhere in this chapter, because my contemporaries fear disorder much more than servitude and because to get through to them it is necessary to use that fear. I know that the world in our time is full of people who lightly value human dignity and who would willingly buy, with all the liberty of the human species, the right to sell their harvest in peace.”25 People who would not respond to appeals for freedom had to be persuaded that their bargain for peace would be a bad one; the oppression which they initiated would be no guarantee of the social or political order they desired. This insight about the peculiarly insulated nature of administrative tyranny also led Tocqueville to chastise his countrymen for their short-sighted concerns. “When, from the point where the natural development of my subject has led me, I notice all that happens in the world, I cannot keep myself from thinking that men are strangely preoccupied there by secondary interests and that they forget the principal need of the times in which they live. As a matter of fact, it is much less the business of our contemporaries to regulate the exterior forms of the society, to found or destroy dynasties, to establish republics or maintain monarchies, than it is to know if each one among them will retain the most precious privileges of their race and if they will fall below the level of humanity.”26 How far Tocqueville himself had come from his earlier concerns about legislative usurpations or new Caesars! He now saw that the greatest danger in democratic ages came from a much more fundamental trend toward the suffocation of individual liberties by the state, whatever its structural characteristics or its philosophical attachments. “We can quarrel over who will hold the instrument of tyranny, but the instrument remains the same.”27 This subtle ability of administrative despotism to flourish under many different political structures troubled Tocqueville for still another reason. He saw the grim possibility that such an adaptable tyranny could also clothe itself in the outward forms of liberty and rule in the name of the people.28 Of particular concern was the attempt by some of his contemporaries to legitimize centralization by appealing to the sovereignty of the people; they risked falling even more quickly into despotism. “I listen to those among my contemporaries who are the greatest enemies of popular forces and I see that, according to them, the public administration must get involved in almost everything and that it must impose the same rules on all.... To direct, to restrain citizens constantly in principal as well as in minor affairs, such is for them its role. I go [?] from there to those who think that all authority must emanate directly from the people and I hear them maintain the same discourse. And I finally return doubting myself whether the exclusive friends of liberty are not more favorable to the centralization of power than its most violent adversaries.”29 Some men apparently believed that popular control, especially through elections, would sanitize the growing power of the state. So they mistakenly encouraged administrative centralization as democratic forms advanced. Tocqueville realized, however, that such procedures would only legitimize the despotism which he most feared.30 Even in 1835, remembering the increasing “democratic excesses” of certain American states, he had observed: “There is nothing as irresistible as a tyrannical power commanding in the name of the people, for while being clothed in the moral strength derived from the will of the greatest number, it also acts with the decision, speed, and tenacity of a single man.”31 On an extra sheet from the working manuscript of the chapter on “What Sort of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear,” Tocqueville finally summarized his forebodings about what later came to be called plebiscite democracy. “We tend toward liberty and servitude at the same time. We want to combine them even though they can not be joined. Not being able to be free, we at least want to be oppressed in the name of the people. Perhaps begin all this part of the chapter in this manner, in a harsh and abrupt manner, instead of letting myself run as I do. We rebel at having a class or a man for a guardian, but we are willing for the state to be one. Provided that one has the right to choose his master, that is sufficient.”32 Tocqueville had also once written in his working manuscript for the 1835 volumes that “one of the greatest miseries of despotism is that it creates in the souls of men who are subjected to it a type of depraved taste for tranquillity and obedience and a sort of contempt of themselves which end by rendering them indifferent to their interests and enemies to their own rights.”33 But now he wondered whether an elective tyranny might not be less degrading, at least in the short run. There the citizenry could at least embrace the myth that it submitted only to itself. In a gloomy moment, he even suggested in a margin of his 1840 working manuscript that such hollow freedom was all that people in democratic times could expect. “I do not know if, considering everything, this isn’t still the best ... that one can reasonably hope from equality and the only type of liberty it is capable of leaving to men.”34 But such deep pessimism would not last. During times of démocratie the road to tyranny seemed alarmingly broad and easy. “As for me,” Tocqueville declared, “I see clearly what must be done to subject the world to tyranny in the name of democracy.”35 And the 1840 text would observe: “The chief and, in a sense, the only condition necessary in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in a democratic society is to love equality or to make believe that you do so. Thus the art of despotism, once so complicated, has been simplified; one may almost say that it has been reduced to a single principle.”36 To Tocqueville the successful strategy for any would-be despot or despotism seemed simple: offer equality in return for liberty. As early as January 1837, he wrote: “What it is necessary to do in order to take hold of despotic power among democratic peoples and during the centuries of democratic transitions. Ease of turning democratic passions against their object, of sacrificing liberty to the blind love of equality and to the revolutionary passions that it brings forth.”37 Elsewhere he queried: “What is the danger? To flatter the feelings of hate and democratic envy, and in this way to obtain power. To ladle out equality by the handful; to take liberty in return.”38 As a countermeasure, Tocqueville recommended an ardent attachment to political liberties. Here was the best hope for escaping the New Despotism. “Political liberty is the greatest remedy for nearly all the evils with which equality menaces man.”39 In various draft fragments he explained his position more fully. Equality of conditions, the absence of classes ... are evils you say. It makes human nature smaller, establishes mediocrity in all things. Perhaps you are right. Do you know a way to cure the evil by its opposite, that is by the establishment or even the maintenance of inequality, the permanent classification of men? No, at the very bottom of your heart you do not believe in the possibility of all these things. But admitting that equality of conditions is an invincible fact, you contest its consequences in the political world; and you blame liberty and you call despotism to your aid; and you seek to assure present security at the expense of future races. And it is here that you are certainly wrong. For there is only Democracy (by this word I understand self-government)40 which can lessen and make bearable the inevitable evils of a democratic social state. 5 September 1837.... How will we be able to understand each other? I seek to live with dignity and honor and you, you seek only to live. What you fear the most from the democratic social condition are the political troubles that it brings forth, and I, that is what I fear the least from it. You dread democratic liberty and I, democratic despotism. Many people consider democratic civil laws as an evil and democratic political laws as another and greater evil; as for me, I say that the one is the only remedy that one can apply to the other. The whole idea of my politics is here.41 ... I want to make it understood to all that a democratic social state is an invincible necessity of our times. Then, dividing my readers into enemies and friends of democracy, I want to make it understood to the first that in order for a democratic social state to be tolerable, in order for it to produce order, progress, in a word, in order to avoid all, [or] at least the greatest of the evils that they foresee, it is necessary with all one’s might to hasten to give enlightenment and liberty to people who already have such a social state. To the second, I want to make it understood that Democracy can not give the happy fruits that they await except by combining it with morality, spirituality, beliefs.... Thus I try to gather together all honest and generous minds under a small number of common ideas. As for the question of knowing if a similar social state is or is not the best that humanity can have, leave that to God. Only God is able to say.42 Tocqueville summarized his position in yet another fragment: “Use Democracy to moderate Democracy. It is the only path to salvation that is open to us. To discern the feelings, the ideas, the laws which, without being hostile to the principle of Democracy, without having a natural incompatibility with Democracy, can nonetheless correct its troublesome tendencies and will blend with it while modifying it. Beyond that all is foolish and imprudent.”43 Thus centralization and despotism were both possible or, as Tocqueville believed at times, even probable results of démocratie. And whatever the possible democratic tyranny, Tocqueville saw centralization as the fundamental cause. Accumulated and unchecked power anywhere carried the seeds of oppression.44 Different probabilities about the establishment of one or the other of the various types of despotism resulted primarily from the question of who or what would gather power. If the legislature, then legislative despotism; if the people, then tyranny of the majority; if a leader (especially a military one), then despotisme d’un seul (militaire); if the administration or bureaucracy, then the Leviathan State. But the chances for each of these despotisms also depended on two other major issues: Did the oppression result from the excesses of popular government, or from an effort, despite advancing equality, to resist political democracy? And probably more important, did the example concern Europe or America? Tocqueville’s notions of despotism, especially in 1835, seemed essentially to be of two sorts. He began by assuming advancing equality of conditions and reasoned that two basic responses were possible. Social equality might be met with political democracy, that is, with some degree of popular participation, or, more broadly still, political liberty. In that case, the primary danger was excessive power delivered in the name of the whole people to the legislature, majority, or administration. And of these possible democratic despotisms, the most fundamental and threatening, because it usually served as the foundation for either legislative or bureaucratic authority, was the tyranny of the majority. But the second response, instead of self-government, was a retreat to the authority of some leader who would offer himself as a refuge from the confusion of social democracy. Here the danger was the coming of a tyrant in the name of order. Some of the democratic despotisms described by Tocqueville arose from the coupling of political and social democracy, and some from a frantic effort to escape the political consequences of advancing equality. The other important question about possible tyrannies involved the setting; was the Old or the New World meant? America had a peculiar but strong bias against powerful executives. And, as Tocqueville repeatedly made clear in 1840, the United States was also largely immune to several factors which hastened the coming of the Leviathan. In the New World, therefore, despotisms other than administrative or individual seemed more likely, at least for the near future. Tocqueville believed that the immediate danger in America was rather majoritarian tyranny, particularly as exercised through the state legislatures. In Europe, however, a different fate threatened. Especially in France, the traditions of administrative centralization and Bonapartism enhanced the probability of other democratic despotisms. So what most frightened Tocqueville when he considered the future of his own country in 1835 was despotisme d’un seul and by 1840 the centralized and bureaucratic state. The basic trend of Tocqueville’s thinking between the early 1830s and 1840 was toward an ever greater focus on administrative despotism. The 1835 text offered a theory and even the beginnings of a portrait of such a tyranny, but the 1840 volumes presented a fully developed vision of the New Despotism of the state. By 1840 Tocqueville’s image of the Leviathan, especially for Europe, had eclipsed most of his other notions of democratic despotisms. Just as his attention turned increasingly from the more “American” despotism—majoritarian—to the more “European”—bureaucratic—so too his entire book shifted, between 1835 and 1840, from what was more concretely American to what was more theoretically “democratic.” Two other special changes in emphasis also occurred between 1835 and 1840. The first half of the Democracy stressed the despotisms of the society as a whole (the people or the majority) and the more traditional governmental or political despotisms of the assembly or the tyrant. The second part emphasized instead a novel vision of the democratic tyranny of the state. The concept of the Leviathan was not new with Tocqueville, but his idea that démocratie especially fostered this particular kind of oppression was much more original. Moreover, Tocqueville in his 1835 volumes was still seeking to identify the potential agents of despotism in democratic societies. But by 1840 his thinking had pushed far beyond these earlier anxieties. He had now come to believe that the relentless concentration of power in the hands of the public administration was a far more fundamental threat to liberty than any potential usurpation of democratic authority by legislatures, factions, military heroes, or other individuals. By 1840, the threat of the New Despotism had, in some senses, made his concern about most other possible democratic tyrannies somewhat beside the point. Still another measure of the link in Tocqueville’s mind between centralization and despotism in democratic times was the almost identical list of remedies which he offered for both. Although the 1840 volumes presented a somewhat more detailed political program, both halves of the Democracy made essentially the same recommendations for combating these twin dangers of democracy. Among the many possible antidotes prescribed in his book, Tocqueville especially urged local liberties, freedom of association, liberty of the press, an independent judiciary, and individual civil and political rights.45 The ultimate check on any threatened democratic despotism, he still insisted, rested with the opinions and moeurs of a people.46 Once again the crucial nature of moeurs in Tocqueville’s thinking was underscored. At times during the making of the Democracy, as Tocqueville reflected on the threat of the various democratic despotisms, he was driven almost to the point of despair. Sometimes he “trembled” for liberty;47 sometimes he gave himself over to the idea that a sort of hollow, symbolic freedom was the best that democratic nations could expect. He reluctantly recognized that in many ways démocratie was more compatible with tyranny than with liberty. But ultimately he backed away from such pessimism. He could not bring himself to believe that the prognosis, even for France, could be so bleak as to make despotism an almost inevitable result of advancing equality. Once again, personal moral presuppositions about human freedom and the benevolence of God led Tocqueville to the side of hope.48 One of the abiding attractions of Tocqueville’s work is the gallery of despotisms which he presented as the possible results of démocratie. Particularly for his contemporaries, one of the more intriguing of his ideas was the assertion that what men had to fear from democracy was not anarchy—the collapse of authority and social and political disintegration—but despotism—the gathering of all power into the hands of some symbol of democracy, whether the majority, the legislature, a leader, or the state itself. For the twentieth century, his fears about bureaucratic regimentation and militarism and his visions of plebiscitarian “democracy” and the Leviathan state have proved only too prophetic. As a draft of his 1840 volumes put the dilemma facing modern man: “Two questions to resolve. Despotism with equality. Liberty with equality. The whole question of the future rests there.”49 Democracy, the Individual, and the Masses [1. ]“Rubish of section 4 entitled: ‘What [Sort] of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear,’ ” Drafts, Yale, CVg, “Rubish,” tome 4; cf. CVg, copy, Paquet 9, cahier 2, p. 79. [2. ]See Democracy (Mayer), pp. 697–98. [3. ]“Why the Ideas of Democratic Peoples About Government Naturally Favor the Concentration of Power,” Original Working Ms., Yale, CVIa, tome 4. Cf. Democracy (Mayer), p. 669. [4. ]Also, in France during the late 1830s any legislative despotism was a remote possibility; what Tocqueville and others worried about was, instead, the threat of personal rule by Louis-Philippe. [5. ]For elaboration, consult the two chapters on tyranny of the majority below. [6. ]Democracy (Mayer), p. 503. [7. ]Drafts, Yale, CVd, Paquet 5, p. 4. Cf. Democracy (Mayer), pp. 649–50; also see, in the 1835 volumes, ibid., p. 168. [8. ]Drafts, Yale, CVd, Paquet 5, pp. 14–15. [9. ]Concerning Tocqueville’s advice to Kergolay and especially his suggestion that Louis pay particular attention to local and provincial government in Prussia, see a letter from Alexis to Louis, Nacqueville, 10 October 1836, O.C. (Mayer), Jardin and Lesourd, 13:1, pp. 407–12. [10. ]Kergolay to Tocqueville, undated letter, O.C. (Mayer), Jardin and Lesourd, 13:1, pp. 426–27. [11. ]Drafts, Yale, CVa, cahier unique, p. 50; cf. Democracy (Mayer), p. 735. Tocqueville worked on his chapters on war and armies in democratic nations during late 1837 or early 1838. [12. ]Drafts, Yale, CVd, Paquet 5, p. 4. Cf. Tocqueville’s own notes, Democracy (Mayer), pp. 681, 735. In addition to “aristocracies” of soldiers and bureaucrats, of course, Tocqueville would also predict an aristocracy of captains of industry; see his famous chapter, “How an Aristocracy May Be Created by Industry,” ibid., pp. 555–58. [13. ]Drafts, Yale, CVd, Paquet 5, pp. 1–3. [14. ]Democracy (Mayer), pp. 649–51, 677. [15. ]Part IV, entitled “On the Influence of Democratic Ideas and Feelings on Political Society,” ibid., pp. 665–705. [16. ]At first, Tocqueville had planned to make his final section a single, long chapter. [17. ]Drafts, Yale, CVd, Paquet 5, pp. 1–3. [18. ]Democracy (Mayer), p. 690. [19. ]Ibid., pp. 665–74. [20. ]Ibid., pp. 674–79. [21. ]Ibid., p. 691. [22. ]Ibid., p. 688; compare pp. 688–89. [23. ]Ibid., pp. 691–92; cf. in chapter 11 above, Tocqueville’s earlier 1835 description of administrative despotism. [24. ]Final long section on political society, Original Working Ms., Yale, CVIa, tome 4; cf. Democracy (Mayer), pp. 694–95. [25. ]Final long section on political society, Original Working Ms., Yale, CVIa, tome 4; cf. Democracy (Mayer), pp. 687–89. [26. ]Final long section on political society, Original Working Ms., Yale, CVIa, tome 4; cf. Democracy (Mayer), p. 702. [27. ]Final long section on political society, Original Working Ms., Yale, CVIa, tome 4. [28. ]See Democracy (Mayer), pp. 693–95; also pp. 687–89. [29. ]Final long section on political society, Original Working Ms., Yale, CVIa, tome 4; cf. Democracy (Mayer), p. 670. [30. ]Democracy (Mayer), p. 693. [31. ]Ibid., p. 222; cf. also from the 1835 volumes, pp. 253–54, 396. [32. ]Final long section on political society, Original Working Ms., Yale, CVIa, tome 4. Cf. Democracy (Mayer), pp. 690–95. [33. ]“Political Effects of Administrative Decentralization,” Original Working Ms., Yale, CVIa, tome 1; cf. Democracy (Mayer), pp. 88–89. [34. ]Final long section on political society, Original Working Ms., Yale, CVIa, tome 4; cf. Democracy (Mayer), p. 693. [35. ]Drafts, Yale, CVc, Paquet 6, p. 60. [36. ]Democracy (Mayer), pp. 678–79. [37. ]Drafts, Yale, CVk, Paquet 7, cahier 2, p. 56. [38. ]Ibid., CVc, Paquet 6, p. 58; compare Democracy (Mayer), pp. 673–74. [39. ]Final long section on political society, Original Working Ms., Yale, CVIa, tome 4. [40. ]In Tocqueville’s draft, “self-government” appears in English. [41. ]Drafts, Yale, CVk, Paquet 7, cahier 2, pp. 53–54. [42. ]Ibid., pp. 55–56. Cf. Democracy (Mayer), pp. 700–705. [43. ]Drafts, Yale, CVk, Paquet 7, cahier 2, p. 52. [44. ]See in the 1835 work, Democracy (Mayer), p. 252. [45. ]In the 1835 portion, consult ibid., pp. 314–15; for 1840, pp. 695–702 (especially p. 701), 702–5. [46. ]For 1835, see, for example, ibid., pp. 311–15; for 1840, pp. 693–95, 735. Another major safeguard was, of course, religion. For an excellent discussion of the importance of religion in Tocqueville’s thinking, consult Doris Goldstein, Trial of Faith. [47. ]See Tocqueville’s comment: “As for me, ... I tremble for tomorrow’s freedom.” Drafts, Yale, CVh, Paquet 3, cahier 3, p. 29. [48. ]Consult Tocqueville’s famous concluding passage, Democracy (Mayer), p. 705. On the issue of Tocqueville’s optimism or pessimism, also compare the viewpoint of Cushing Strout, who asserts that Tocqueville made an essentially “optimistic assessment” of America’s future, but an essentially “pessimistic assessment” of Europe’s; see Cushing Strout, “Tocqueville’s Duality: Describing America and Thinking of Europe.” [49. ]Drafts, Yale, CVc, Paquet 6, p. 55. Cf. Democracy (Mayer), p. 705.

Game 52: vs Nashville, 2/08 Your Dallas Stars (25-19-7, 57 pts) Vs The Nashville Predators (25-24-3, 53 pts) Regular Season Game 52, Overall Game 59, National Hockey League Game 792 Where: American Airlines Center | Dallas, Texas Date: Sunday, February 8th Time: 5:00 PM Central Time Stars TV/Radio: Fox Sports Southwest | 820 AM WBAP Predators TV/Radio: Fox Sports Tennessee | 560 AM WNSR Note: I know image says game is on NBC, but that was when the decision hadn't been made. Dallas was passed up for Detroit/Pittsburgh. Game WILL be on FSN Southwest. Dallas Stars Chat Room http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...nhl/dallas.jpg: 2/06 - W 10-2 - Vs http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...l/newyorkr.jpg - Recap - Scoresheet http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s.../nashville.jpg: 2/06 - W 2-0 - At http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s.../minnesota.jpg - Recap - Scoresheet Official Team Site: DallasStars.com HF Board: HFBoard.com - Dallas Stars Fan Site #1: TheStarsFans.com Fan Site #2: Unofficial Boards Record: 25-19-7 with 57 Points Standings: Pacific Division-3rd, Western Conference-6th, NHL-15th Home Record: 14-6-4 Away Record: 11-13-3 Last 10 Games: 7-2-1 [1 Game Winning Streak] Overtime Record: 7-7 [4-4 Shoot Out] Official Team Site: NashvillePredators.com HF Board: HFBoard.com - Nashville Predators Fan Site #1: Record: 25-24-3 with 53 Points Standings: Central Division-3rd, Western Conference-12th, NHL-22nd Home Record: 14-9-1 Away Record: 11-15-2 Last 10 Games: 6-4-0 [4 Game Winning Streak] Overtime Record: 5-3 [2-3 Shoot Out] The Walzy Injury Report Dallas - 5 Players Injured Landon Wilson - Upper Body - IR Brenden Morrow - Torn ACL - Long Term IR Sergei Zubov - Hip - Long Term IR Mark Parrish - Flu - Day-To-Day Total Man Games Lost: 205 Nashville - 4 Players Injured Scott Nichol - Concussion - IR Alexander Sulzer - Separated Shoulder - IR Jordin Tootoo - Upper Body - Day-To-Day Wade Belak - Shoulder - Day-To-Day Total Man Games Lost: 133 Last Game Recap Opponent: Dallas vs New York Result: Win 10-2 Article #1 - Dallas Morning News - "Stars wallop Rangers, 10-2." Article #2 - Dallas Morning News - "With rejuvenated Ribeiro, Dallas Stars are back." Article #3 - New York Times - "Stars Rout Struggling Rangers ." Article #4 - New York Daily News - "Ice-Cold Rangers get burned for 10." 1st - New York (0-1) - 3:35 - Zherdev (Drury | Dubinsky) 1st - Dallas (1-1) - 4:10 - Sutherby (Unassisted) 1st - Dallas (2-1) - 14:24 - Ribeiro (Ott | Lehtinen) [PP] 1st - Dallas (3-1) - 18:58 - Richards (Niskanen) 2nd - New York (3-2) - 3:05 - Zherdev (Rozsival | Drury) [PP] 2nd - Dallas (4-2) - 18:15 - Ribeiro (Ott) 3rd - Dallas (5-2) - 4:15 - Lehtinen (Ribeiro) 3rd - Dallas (6-2) - 10:46 - Brunnstrom (Modano | Hutchinson) 3rd - Dallas (7-2) - 11:25 - Ott (Lehtinen | Ribeiro) [PP] 3rd - Dallas (8-2) - 11:56 - Sydor (Modano | Brunnstrom) 3rd - Dallas (9-2) - 15:59 - Neal (Sydor | Niskanen) [PP] 3rd - Dallas (10-2) - 17:06 - Neal (Brunnstrom | Niskanen) [PP] Dallas: 1st - 17 | 2nd - 13 | 3rd - 9 | Total - 39 New York: 1st - 8 | 2nd - 8 | 3rd - 6 | Total - 22 Powerplays: Dallas - 4 For 9 | New York - 1 For 4 Faceoffs: Dallas - 38 For 67 | New York - 29 For 67 Hits: Dallas - 42 | New York - 48 Takeaways: Dallas - 17 | New York - 7 Giveaways: Dallas - 12 | New York - 13 Blocked Shots: Dallas - 10 | New York - 9 Time on Ice: Dallas - Niskanen [22:44] | New York - Redden [24:05] Dallas: Turco - 59:39 - 20 Saves - 22 Shots [W] New York: Valiquette - 60:00 - 29 Saves - 39 Shots [L] Three Stars Of The Game #1. Mike Ribeiro | Dallas - 2 Goals, 2 Assists #2. Steve Ott | Dallas - Goal, 2 Assists #3. Jere Lehtinen | Dallas - Goal, Assist Referees: Dave Jackson | Brian Pochmara Linesmen: Mike Cvik | Vaughan Rody Goals: Dallas-154 Nashville-125 Goals Per Game: Dallas-3.0 Nashville-2.4 Goals Allowed: Dallas-159 Nashville-141 Goals Allowed Per Game: Dallas-3.1 Nashville-2.7 Shots Per Game: Dallas-29.1 Nashville-29.2 Shots Allowed Per Game: Dallas-27.5 Nashville-28.8 Powerplay: Dallas-17.3% Nashville-13.7% Penalty Kill: Dallas-77.4% Nashville-84.7% All Time Series: Dallas 23-15-1 Regular Season: 23-15-1 | Home: 15-4-0 | Away: 8-11-1 Playoffs: 0-0 | Home: 0-0 | Away: 0-0 In Dallas: 23-15-1 | Home: 15-4-0 | Away: 8-11-1 Shoot Out: 0-0 | Home: 0-0 | Away: 0-0 Last Game In Series: 12/13/08 | @ Nashville| Loss 3-0 - Highlights - Game Thread 10/11 - Dallas 1 at Nashville 3 10/15 - Dallas 6 vs Nashville 4 12/13 - Dallas 0 at Nashville 3 02/08 - Dallas vs Nashville This Season vs the Predators Powerplay: 0 For 4 Penalty Kill: 2 For 2 Goals: Nashville 10-7 Goalies - Dallas: 1-2-0 Nashville: 2-1-0 [DAL] - Turco (1st|2nd) - 117:56 - 45 of 51 Saves - 6 Goals Against [DAL] - Stephan (3rd) - 59:38 - 35 of 37 Saves - 2 Goals Against [NSH] - Ellis (1st|2nd|3rd) - 178:54 - 68 of 74 Saves - 6 Goal Against Dallas Stars Vs Nashville Anaheim Ducks Vs OFF Los Angeles Kings Vs OFF Phoenix Coyotes Vs OFF San Jose Sharks Vs OFF Sunday 8th - vs Nashville - 5:00 PM - FSN Southwest Wednesday 11th - vs Phoenix* - 7:30 PM - FSN Southwest Friday 13th - vs Vancouver - 7:30 PM - FSN Southwest Saturday 14th - @ Chicago - 7:30 PM - FSN Southwest Monday 16th - @ Columbus - 6:00 PM - My27 Thursday 19th - vs Edmonton - 7:30 PM - FSN Southwest Saturday 21st - vs Chicago - 1:00 PM - FSN Southwest Monday 23rd - vs San Jose* - 7:00 PM - Versus Thursday 26th - vs St. Louis - 7:30 PM - FSN Southwest Saturday 28th - vs Anaheim* - 2:00 PM - FSN Southwest Tuesday 3rd - vs Calgary - Win 3-1 - Recap - Scoresheet - Game Stats Thursday 5th - @ Colorado - Loss 3-2 - Recap - Scoresheet - Game Stats Friday 6th - vs New York R - Win 10-2 - Recap - Scoresheet - Game Stats Points: Mike Ribeiro - 48 Goals: Loui Eriksson - 25 Assists: Mike Ribeiro - 35 +/-: Stephane Robidas - +13 Penalty Minutes: Krys Barch - 84 Shots: Brad Richards - 159 Marty Turco | 24-17-7 Save %: .891% Shut Outs: 2 Tobias Stephan | 1-2-0 Save %: .887% Shut Outs: 0 Shoot Out Look Fabian Brunnstrom: 0 For 2 Loui Eriksson: 1 For 4 Jere Lehtinen: 1 For 2 Mike Modano: 2 For 4 James Neal: 2 For 3 Mark Parrish: 0 For 1 Mike Ribeiro: 5 For 8 Brad Richards: 2 For 7 Sergei Zubov: 0 For 2 Team: 13 For 33 | 13 Goals Turco: 4-4 | 20 Saves - 32 Shots | 12 Goals Against Stephan: 0-0 | 0 Saves - 0 Shots | 0 Goals Against Team: 4-4 | 20 Saves - 32 Shots | 12 Goals Against For full look at All Time Dallas Stars Shoot Outs...CLICK HERE Anaheim won today, pushing them back into 5th. We've been very good against Nasville at home.. But im a little cautious becuase they have run into some nice form... Lets win, split the series and continue rolling...:handclap: I dont care if its 1-0 or 11-2;)....just as long as we win.. Nashville is one of the teams Turco has sat against, do you think Tippett will do it here?? give Kranh a chance? Don't forget everyone that tomorrow's game is at 5 PM. I know I forgot to change it in the GT (before remembering). Gonna be some empty seats probably because of it. Go Stars Go! I guess Anaheim winning is good for the long run if the Stars were to have a chance at catching Calgary. Oh well. Go Stars. And there's no way we can catch Calgary cause they're a division leader. :laugh: Either way, we're points away from the Ducks with 5 games in hand on them. **** up for 500. ;) Chicago and Anaheim are pretty much the only teams that are still catchable. And Anaheim, realistically is the only one I think we can. If Detroit and Pittsburgh were 15th in their respective conferences, and Dallas and Nashville were 1-2 in the West, would NBC show this game? Debatable. I'd say no. Thank god it's in Dallas. If I have to see another "fang finger" even on a broadcast..... GET IT DONE STARS! Dosen't bring alot of winning memories either Everything updated from tonight. Dallas once again, being pushed, with Vancouver and Columbus winning tonight. St. Louis and Los Angeles are both trying to climb into the playoffs, as they also won tonight. STL is in 15th place..yet only 5 points out. Unreal. Hopefully we can score 10 again, that would be nice. Any update on Brunnstrom? Couple of stats I left off (like I always seem to do)... 6 goals in a period were the most since the Stars moved to Texas. Franchise record stands at 8. Dallas came within 26 seconds of breaking a club record for fastest three goals. They did the feat in 1:10. The record is 44 seconds in that game against Boston back in 95. Turco is 4-0-0 in his last 4 home games, with a 1.22 GAA and a save % of 94.7. Dallas is 12-2-1 in their last 15 home games (10-1-1 in their last 12). And finally the powerplay...Recent streak... New York: 4-9 Obviously, this means don't count on the PP scoring against Nashville. Probably won't know until the last second. Another small note... Go Stars Go! Gotta distance ourselves from the pack, a win today would be ideal! |All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:05 AM.| vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. HFBoards.com, A property of CraveOnline, a division of AtomicOnline LLC ©2009 CraveOnline Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Results tagged ‘ Steve Buechele ’ We have been working on a special version of the PlayBall! game program for the playoffs, and you can get a sneak peak at the feature story here. It is a summary of the 2011 season, and it brings back some memories from a tremendous five-month. The RoughRiders’ Run to the Playoffs For the sixth time in franchise history, the RoughRiders are in the Texas League playoffs. Find out how the ‘Riders reached this point in our season rewind. A Texas League season is a grind, with long trips, steamy temperatures, and few breaks. It is a long journey with peaks and valleys. Here in the RoughRiders’ ninth season, there were enough peaks for Frisco to enjoy playoff baseball for the sixth time. April was a struggle for second-year skipper Steve Buechele’s club. The ‘Riders finished the month in the South Division’s basement at 8-14. The signature moment of the rough April was quite a notable one, though. Martin Perez, the Rangers’ top prospect, tossed a rain-shortened perfect game at Arkansas April 19. By May 13, the ‘Riders worked their way back to the .500 mark. Later in the month, Frisco staked its claim to second place with a four-game sweep of Midland at Dr Pepper Ballpark. From this point on, the ‘Riders spent more time in second place than any other team in the Texas League. The RoughRiders received some temporary help in May. Last year’s American League Most Valuable Player Josh Hamilton hit a home run during his two-day rehab stint in Frisco. Nelson Cruz also graced the middle of the ‘Riders’ order for three games while battling back from an injury. Big name pitchers like Neftali Feliz, Tommy Hunter and Brandon Webb rehabbed in Frisco, too. Also, outfielder Leonys Martin made his stateside debut with the RoughRiders after the Rangers inked Martin to a $15.5 million dollar contract. Martin hit .348 in 29 games with the ‘Riders before heading to Triple-A Round Rock. Frisco finished the first half strongly, but a 40-30 mark was not good enough to notch a division championship after San Antonio’s 49-win showing. Individually, Tommy Mendonca was the star of the show in June. Mendonca was the Texas League’s Player of the Month after boasting a .375 batting average and driving in 30 runs. July was a month for the record books in Frisco. The ‘Riders matched a franchise-high in runs in their 19-4 thumping of Corpus Christi July 22. Mendonca hit three of the RoughRiders’ record-setting eight home runs. One week later, Joe Wieland became the first RoughRider to single-handedly throw a nine-inning no-hitter at San Antonio. Less than 48 hours after the no-no, the Rangers dealt Wieland and Robbie Erlin to San Diego for big league reliever Mike Adams. As a result, the former Frisco duo joined San Antonio’s loaded rotation. The RoughRiders spent the month of August holding off Midland for a playoff berth. They officially clinched a spot in the season’s final week, a few days after the ‘Riders took three of four from their first round opponent—San Antonio. Over the course of 140 games, the ‘Riders played well enough to earn a chance to vie for the Texas League’s richest prize. The club has been among the best in the league in most categories this season, and Frisco is well positioned to have a September to remember for the first time since 2004—the franchise’s first and only championship season. The RoughRiders have won regularly here in 2011, and now only six playoff wins separate the ‘Riders from a title. In case you missed it, the RoughRiders have clinched a playoff spot for the sixth time in franchise history. Frisco will square off with San Antonio in the first round beginning September 7. How have the ‘Riders fared in the playoffs over the years? Here are the year-by-year results. Divisional Round: Defeated Wichita 3-0 Championship Series: Lost to San Antonio 4-1 In the RoughRiders’ first season, they qualified for the playoffs and made quick work of the Wranglers in the first round. In 2003, like this season, San Antonio was an all-timer of a team. The Missions went 88-51 in the regular season and cruised past the ‘Riders for the title. Divisional Round: Defeated Tulsa 3-0 Championship Series: Defeated Round Rock 4-1 After a third-place finish in the first half, the RoughRiders blew away the competition en route to their first and only Texas League championship. Frisco went 45-25 in the second half to punch its playoff ticket. In their three-game sweep of Tulsa, the ‘Riders scored 28 runs. In the championship series against Round Rock, Frisco’s pitching staff gave up only 20 runs. This remains the lone banner in the RoughRiders’ tenure in the Texas League. Divisional Round: Lost to San Antonio 3-0 Following their title in 2004, the RoughRiders missed the playoffs in ’05 and ’06. They made up for lost time with a record of 85-55 during the 2007 regular season, which was ten games better than any other team in the Texas League. However, the ‘Riders did not translate their regular season success into the playoffs. The Missions outscored Frisco 19-8 in the sweep. San Antonio went on to win the TL title. Divisional Round: Defeated San Antonio 3-0 Championship Series: Lost to Arkansas 3-2 For the second straight season, the ‘Riders posted the best record in the Texas League (84-56). This time, the ‘Riders made quick work of San Antonio in the first round. In fact, Frisco’s sweep of San Antonio was more lopsided than the Missions’ broom job in ’07, as the ‘Riders outscored the defending champs 20-5. The championship series went back and forth, with Frisco taking Game 2 and Game 4. However, the Travelers dominated the deciding Game 5 11-3 to win their first outright title since 1989. Divisional Round: Lost to Midland 3-1 Skipper Steve Buechele led the RoughRiders to the playoffs in his first season at the helm, but the RockHounds won back-to-back games at home after the two clubs split the two games at Dr Pepper Ballpark. Midland lost to Northwest Arkansas in the championship series. All-Time Record (Games): 17-14 All-Time Record (Series): 4-4 The 2011 Texas League Postseason All-Star ballots are out to managers and media members, and both Aaron and I have a vote. Below, I have my picks along with a brief explanation why. First off, here are a few notes. As a member of the RoughRiders organization, I cannot vote for a RoughRider. Still, I have included six ‘Riders who could be on this list. Also, anyone who has played in the TL this year is eligible. Finally, all of the ballots are due by tomorrow, so the last two weeks of the season do not factor into the decision. Share your thoughts at the bottom in the comments section. Here we go. Catcher: Wilin Rosario (Tulsa) The Rockies’ number two prospect, Rosario has not had the best season offensively. But, he could get a September promotion to Colorado and he has put up the best numbers of any Texas League catcher (.254, 18 HR, 41 RBI). First Baseman: Matt Adams (Springfield) With Tim Wheeler’s recent struggles and Jermaine Mitchell’s promotion to Triple-A Sacramento, Adams has an outside shot at a Triple Crown. Adams has a league-leading 30 homers (one better than Wheeler) and 94 RBIs, and he is sixth in the league in average at .313. However, the top three (Mitchell, J.D. Martinez and James Darnell) will not have enough plate appearances to qualify barring a return to the TL. His real target is Mike Trout (.326). Second Baseman: Jose Altuve (Corpus Christi) I like to steer away from players who did not spend much time in a league for postseason awards, but the second base spot is weak here in the Texas League and Altuve was incredible to watch. He hit .361 in his 35 games with Corpus Christi. During that short stint, Altuve drove in 25 runs and scored 21. Shortstop: Darwin Perez (Arkansas) Shortstop is a fairly weak position in the Texas League this season, as well, so Perez is my choice because of his on-base percentage (.378, 11th), stolen bases (22, 6th) and fielding percentage (.982, 1st among qualifiers). If I could vote for a RoughRider, Renny Osuna would be my choice here. Third Baseman: James Darnell (San Antonio) With apologies to Arkansas’ Luis Jimenez, Darnell was a machine in his 76 games with the Missions. Darnell hit .333, which still qualifies for third in the Texas League, and he had an OPS of 1.038. Darnell hit 17 homers and drove in 62 runs, and now his home is San Diego. Outfielder: Mike Trout (Arkansas) Trout was advertised as the number one or number two prospect in the minors at the start of the season, and he has not disappointed. Trout is hitting .326 with 33 stolen bases, and he earned a brief stint in the big leagues. He is incredibly fun to watch. Outfielder: Jermaine Mitchell (Midland) Mitchell still qualifies as the league’s leader in batting average (.355), on-base percentage (.453) and OPS (1.042). He didn’t have the gaudy home run (10) or RBI (50) totals, but he was a menace atop Midland’s order. Outfielder: Tim Wheeler (Tulsa) Wheeler has struggled lately (.200, 0 HR, 2 RBIs in August), but you have to wonder if he is getting bored at the Double-A level. He is still second in homers (29) and tied for fourth in RBIs (79). It was between Corpus Christi’s J.D. Martinez and Wheeler, and I went with Tulsa’s leadoff hitter, who is putting up middle-of-the-order stats. Don’t worry, Martinez fans… Designated Hitter: J.D. Martinez (Corpus Christi) The Hooks have the worst record in the Texas League, but they are one of three teams to have two offensive representatives on my list. Martinez, like Jose Altuve, is in the big leagues now, but he is fourth in the TL in OPS (.959) and seventh in RBIs (72) despite only playing in 88 games. Three toughest offensive omissions: 1. Arkansas 3B Luis Jimenez (barely edged by Darnell and Martinez) 2. Springfield OF Alex Castellanos (gave Wheeler edge despite being in recent funk) 3. San Antonio OF Blake Tekotte (outfield was the most loaded position) Three most likely RoughRiders on the list: 1. Renny Osuna (2B/SS) 2. Tommy Mendonca (3B) 3. Leonys Martin (OF) 1. Matt Shoemaker (Arkansas) Shoemaker started the season in Triple-A, but he came down to the Texas League in early May and began his dominance. He leads the league, by a wide margin, in ERA (2.18) and WHIP (1.00) among qualifiers. He also paces all Texas Leaguers in strikeouts with 121 and is tied at the top with 12 wins. 2. Garrett Richards (Arkansas) Richards is the man who is deadlocked with Shoemaker in wins. Both hurlers are 12-2, and Richards is the league leader in innings with 141. Richards, who is currently with the Angels, is 12-2 with an ERA of 3.06, which is second to Shoemaker among qualifiers. 3. Dallas Keuchel (Corpus Christi) Don’t let his 9-7 record fool you—Keuchel has been a legitimate ace all season long. The lefty has worked through five innings in all but one of his 19 starts, and he has only surrendered more than three runs four times. He is not overpowering (76 strikeouts in 127 2/3 innings), but he is second among qualifiers in WHIP at 1.12. 4. Joe Wieland (San Antonio) Casey Kelly is San Diego’s top prospect, and Jorge Reyes has the best numbers of any San Antonio starter who has been on the club all year. However, who has made a bigger impact in the Texas League this season than Wieland? Wieland tossed a no-hitter with the RoughRiders against San Antonio, and then he went to the Missions. Wieland’s ERA is 1.50 in Double-A, and he has a 1.85 overall this season. 5. Nick Vincent (San Antonio) Vincent has made more appearances (58) than anyone else in the Texas League. The reliever is 7-1 with a 2.19 ERA in 70 innings, and he has 82 strikeouts to 14 walks. In the eighth inning, the righty owns a 1.91 ERA. In the ninth, that mark falls to 1.50. The Missions have been dominant all year long, and the bullpen is a big reason why. 6. Brad Brach (San Antonio) Closers are not that common in the minors, but Brach was the man who dominated the ninth inning while in San Antonio. Brach had a 2.25 ERA and went 23 for 25 in save opportunities with the Missions before earning a promotion to Triple-A Tucson. When ahead in the count, the TL’s save leader held his opposition to an .097 average (7-for-72). Three toughest pitching omissions: 1. Springfield’s Shelby Miller (good numbers, but not good enough to overcome small sample size) 2. Tulsa’s Juan Nicasio (better numbers than Miller, but fewer innings) 3. San Antonio’s Jorge Reyes (4th in ERA, but only worked more than five innings once) Three most likely RoughRiders on the list: 1. LHP Martin Perez 2. RHP Justin Miller 3. RHP Tyler Tufts PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Springfield’s Matt Adams He is the most dangerous hitter in the Texas League right now, and he has a chance at the Triple Crown. He may not have the upside that some other players in this league possess, but he has been the best hitter on the best offense, by far, in the TL. ON THE MEDAL STAND: 2. Arkansas’ Mike Trout; 3. San Antonio’s James Darnell. PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Arkansas’ Matt Shoemaker The Travelers earned a first-half title because of their pitching staff, and Shoemaker has been the go-to guy. Shoemaker stumbled a bit in Triple-A earlier this season, but he figures to do much better in his second go-around at that level after an incredible season at the Double-A level. ON THE MEDAL STAND: 2. Arkansas’ Garrett Richards; 3. Corpus Christi’s Dallas Keuchel. MANAGER OF THE YEAR: San Antonio’s Doug Dascenzo The Missions have the best record in minor league baseball, and they have had many good players. However, Dascenzo has navigated his club through many promotions, and they haven’t slowed down at all. This San Antonio club is a dominant force that will go into the playoffs as the heavy favorites, and Dascenzo is a big reason why. ON THE MEDAL STAND: 2. Frisco’s Steve Buechele; 3. Northwest Arkansas’ Brian Poldberg. We continue to receive tremendous support every day with the ‘Riders Insider Blog, and it is greatly appreciated. We have posted plenty of content about the RoughRiders both on and off the field, and we wanted to take a look back at ten of our most popular posts from the last few weeks. Becoming Martin Perez (July 15): A look at how Martin Perez became the top prospect in the Rangers’ system during his two-year stint in Frisco. The ‘Riders Driver (July 21): Carlos Coleman is the man behind the wheel for the RoughRiders on every road trip. Learn about him and his connection to coach Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Former RoughRiders Thriving in Arlington (July 24): More than half of the Rangers have played with the ‘Riders at some point. Find out who right here. Press Box Junkies (July 28): A look at the four men who make sure everything that happens at Dr Pepper Ballpark actually counts. Wieland’s No-Hitter on Twitter (July 29): Fans’ real-time reaction to Joe Wieland’s no-hitter against San Antonio. Erlin, Wieland, Buechele react to trade (August 1): Interviews with Robbie Erlin and Joe Wieland, who were shipped to San Diego’s system for big league reliever Mike Adams. Also, a chat with skipper Steve Buechele about the deal. RoughRiders’ All-Gridiron Team (August 3): If the RoughRiders’ roster played football instead of baseball, this is what the depth chart would look like. 24 hours of the RoughRiders (August 8): A look at our lives before, during and after a home game. Behind the scenes: Inside the clubhouse (August 9): A journey (with pictures) throughout the “off-limits” areas of Dr Pepper Ballpark. Hanging with the RoughRiders’ Crew (August 12): An inside look at what it takes to become a member of the most exciting entertainment group in the Texas League. If you have any ideas for stories, please feel free to leave a comment. We are always looking for more ideas! Thanks for following along, everyone! Note: This is a running diary of a typical day in the life of the RoughRiders’ media department. The updates are available in chronological order, so scroll down for the latest updates. 10:45 p.m. Sunday (all of us): Well after the RoughRiders’ 6-5 victory over the San Antonio Missions, the media department departs Dr Pepper Ballpark. The game story is up, the information is distributed to local media, the equipment is packed, and the lights are off. We will be back here before we know it. 1:00 a.m. (Brian): I’m the night owl of the group, it seems. After a quick bite to eat following the game, I sit down and prepare the content for PlayBall! The text is already set to go for today’s edition, but I need to turn in the draft for Wednesday’s edition. In order to get the PlayBall! programs ready for each home game, much of the content is due 2-3 days in advance. Once I sent that to Alex, our terrific graphic designer and an avid reader of the blog, I’m done for the night. Aaron will be with you early, and I’ll follow shortly after as we continue to give you an inside look at our day-to-day life. We’ll have pictures and everything, so enjoy! 10:30 a.m. (Aaron): After waking up around 9 a.m. and saying goodbye to my wife Heather who left earlier this morning for work, it’s time to start working on tonight’s game notes. This is a daily task that virtually every broadcaster in the minors deals with. These notes are used by both the home and road broadcaster along with visiting media, scouts, etc. It’s about 13 pages of news, stats, bios, and trends. The idea is that you can flip through the notes and have a pretty good idea what that team has been up to lately, even if you haven’t seen them play. We always post our notes to our website as well. 11:14 a.m. (Aaron): Notes are taking longer today because we have a new starter tonight, Derek Hankins. I’ve just finished looking up all his career stats and bio information. I use information to make a dedicated page in our games that focuses on the starting pitcher. It’s always exciting getting a new starter, but it means a longer day for the game notes to create and format the pitcher’s page. 11:30 a.m. (Brian): I woke up around 10 a.m., ate some breakfast, and caught up on e-mails for a bit. The first job every day for me is to update the web site. The best part about the “newsroom” that allows us to post, archive, update, etc., is the “cheetah.” While the site is in the process of generating, we are greeted to the running cheetah that you see to your left. Once I’m done with updating the story, the game story will be down, a few new exciting RoughRiders promos will be on the home page, and the “Extra Bases Chat” will be ready to go for tonight’s series finale. 12:27 p.m. (Aaron): Game notes are done. I sometimes stand up and wave pom-poms when this is completed. I mentally have a hard time moving on with my day until I know this is behind me. In addition to writing them, I’ve also emailed them out to our distribution list that includes media members from around Dallas-Fort Worth, the Rangers, and their affiliates. After I emailed the notes out in PDF form, I then posted them to our website. The cheetah must have had a light breakfast, he (she?) ran pretty fast for me. 12:45 p.m. (Brian): Everything online is updated, and a few new promotions are available for viewing at ridersbaseball.com. Now, the goal is to get ready for some possible history at Dr Pepper Ballpark tonight. With two hits yesterday, shortstop Renny Osuna is tied with Steve Murphy for the all-time hit lead in Frisco history. This means that Osuna is one hit away from setting a very important record. As a result, we are preparing for it now. We already have a script for John Clemens, the “Voice of Dr Pepper Ballpark,” to read if/when Osuna breaks the record. Also, Alex has designed an image for us to put on the home page of our website. The sneak peak to that image is to the left. Now, time to get ready and head into the office for all of the tasks at the stadium. First pitch time is in about six hours! 2:00 p.m. (Brian): I am alone in the office right now, but Stephen came in here earlier today to print out rosters and stat packs. Stat packs are distributed to all managers, coaches and media members, and they contain overall stats, situational stats, the Texas League’s daily report, and much more. For a stat nerd like me, it is an important part of my preparation. Now, it’s time to get the lineups set to go. We have already received Frisco’s lineup from skipper Steve Buechele. It looks pretty similar to what we’ve seen from him lately, especially because the club only has one extra player right now (Jose Felix is the odd man out today). I remember when I first started covering baseball, I thought that the lineup card would be very formal and magical. Well, you can be the judge. And don’t get your hopes up. 2:30 p.m. (Brian): After enjoying some free pizza in our conference room (always a sign of a good day), it’s time to start getting our paperwork around to both teams and to the press box. We’ve nicknamed our printer “T.K.” and it is very busy during this part of the day. Once the printing is done, I’ll walk it up to the booth in the chilly North Texas weather. By that point, our whole force will be in here getting ready for tonight’s game! 2:33 p.m. (Aaron): Once the notes were done I got some lunch and did some work around the house. Trying to have a marriage and work in minor league baseball is a tough assignment. Like all of us, I’m at the ballpark eight nights a week and am out of town so often it’s hard to be very helpful at home. My wife Heather does so much for us in-season I try to help out when I can. Once I got caught up on some emails, I picked up the house (my messes, of course), emptied the dishwasher, paid some bills, and did some general husbandly duties that I (rarely) excel at. 3:15 p.m. (Brian): The RoughRiders’ media quartet is in the office to prepare for the game this evening, which is actually Frisco’s 26th straight day with a game. Reid is filing away with some “clippings,” which are used to document how much outside coverage the RoughRiders get. Stephen is working on a blog for tomorrow on a “behind the scenes” look at Dr Pepper Ballpark. I am doing this blog and writing a feature for Sports Page Dallas. Aaron appears to have the most important job of all. It is easy to lose track of things during the grind of a minor league season, and one thing that slipped all of our minds was our “recycle box.” As you can see on the left, it was quite full today when Aaron decided to usher in the off day tomorrow with a clean recycle box. Admirable. To be honest, I’m not sure if that bad will be able to hold all of the paper for the long term, but it is worth a shot. Three hours until the pre-game show. Plenty of work to do! 4:20 p.m. (Brian): By this time of the day, everyone is gearing up for the game in their own way. For me, as the pre- and post-game show host, I need to be prepared for the Texas League and Texas Rangers’ scoreboard. To do that, I keep some updated information on each game within the league. The sheet I used was featured back in this blog post. I will also pre-record an intro for the top of the pre-game show, which features a highlight from the previous night. To record, I use a nifty-looking program called “Adobe Audition,” which you can see to your right. Plenty of green, which is my favorite color. 4:35 p.m. (Brian): We just found out about the pitching situation for tonight. Derek Hankins will pitch no more than four innings, and then Richard Bleier will work behind the newest ‘Rider. Hopefully this duo can give Frisco’s ‘pen a much-deserved night off this evening! 4:45 p.m. (Aaron): Each day I try to talk with some of the guys in the clubhouse and find out some information for the broadcast. Some days it’s nothing more than pointless chatter (like when I talk with our trainer, Carlos Olivas). Other times I get some good stuff. Along with Carlos, today I checked in with our pitching coach Jeff Andrews. He gave me the game plan for tonight that Brian mentioned about regarding how many innings Hankins will go. Normally this time of night I’m finding someone to interview for our pre-game show. However, I already recorded my interview with Robbie Erlin yesterday to play on tonight’s pre-game. Now all I have to worry about is getting dinner and filling out my scorebook. 5:20 p.m. (Brian): Speaking of dinner, everyone in the office was treated to some Sonny Bryan’s barbeque before the game. As we were eating, clubhouse manager CJ Allen came into our four-person office and offered up some of his delicious lasagna that was left over from the RoughRiders’ clubhouse. So, the ‘Riders’ baseball and media teams have been fueled by the same dinner tonight! 5:45 p.m. (Brian): Wonder what happens before the gates open? Well, after arriving in the press box a bit ago, we have been treated to some warmups by “The Crew” and some of San Antonio’s batting practice. Oftentimes, the evening’s national anthem singer will give it a whirl before fans enter the stadium. Also, if you are looking to collect a baseball from a Double-A game, try to get to Dr Pepper Ballpark early. There are always a handful of baseballs in the outfield berm following batting practice. I saw a few bombs sail out of here this afternoon. Always a nice way to get a fun souvenir. 6:10 p.m. (Brian): Above is a view from our press box, the highest press box in the Texas League. First pitch is less than an hour away, and our pre-game begins in 25 minutes! 6:35 p.m. (Brian): The pre-game show has begun! You can listen live at this link. We will still update this periodically throughout the night. After all, we promised 24 hours of the RoughRiders! 7:13 p.m. (Brian): Renny Osuna’s first chance at history tonight resulted in a strikeout at the hands of Robbie Erlin, the former RoughRider and tonight’s starter for San Antonio. Osuna is still one hit away from the all-time record, so he’ll get a few more chances tonight. 8:00 p.m. (Brian): So far, the ‘Riders lead 1-0 in what has been a good game. Aaron calls the play-by-play in the first, second, fifth, sixth and ninth innings, while I take the rest. So, I’m off the air until our scoreboard update at the end of the fifth. Plenty of great action tonight in the Texas League and in the Rangers’ system. 8:46 p.m. (Aaron): Was really fun to watch Robbie pitch again tonight. Too bad for him he allowed the only run so far over 6.2 innings tonight. Brian has the play-by-play now until the ninth inning. 9:07 p.m. (Brian): What a change of events in this one tonight. The ‘Riders go from up one to down one in the top of the eighth. Now, Reid is scrambling to change up his game recap, and Aaron is cutting up the highlights. It is much more work here in the booth when the game is close, and that’s what we have tonight! 9:41 p.m. (Brian): A late rally propelled the Missions to a 3-1, series-clinching victory over the RoughRiders tonight at Dr Pepper Ballpark. Unfortunately, the loss did not bring with it any history. Renny Osuna finished 0-for-4, so his hits record will have to wait at least another game. While the crowd leaves, our work continues. Aaron is busy cutting up the highlights while I prepare for the “Scoreboard Show” that follows every game. Reid is working on the game story for the website, and Stephen is wrapping up the Extra Bases Chat and getting a head start on game notes for Wednesday. The night is almost over for us after another busy Monday. 10:15 p.m. (Brian): My night is pretty much over, outside of overseeing the posting of the game story. I just signed off on the Scoreboard Show, and Reid is about done with the story. The end is most certainly near. 10:30 p.m. (Brian): The game story is posted. The booth is clean. The media are alerted. The night is over. Almost 24 hours after we left last night, and 2,229 words later, our day is over. Thanks so much for following along! The RoughRiders have played 100 games this season. With only 40 games left, the ‘Riders currently own the Texas League’s second best record at 57-43. To celebrate the century mark, let’s tell you about 100 things from each of the 100 games. I promise that everything will not be listed, but let’s add up some of the RoughRiders’ most notable numbers and get to 100 x 100, or 10,000. Here we go. 0: The number of runs, hits, or base runners that Martin Perez allowed during his rain-shortened perfect game April 19 at Arkansas. 12: The number of home runs hit in the RoughRiders’ 19-4 victory over Corpus Christi this past Friday. The ‘Riders had eight of those, including three by Tommy Mendonca. 19: Frisco’s run total from that win last week, which matched a franchise-high for runs in a game. The club also surpassed its previous record in home runs (8) and hits (24). 20: How many times Dr Pepper Ballpark has been sold out this season. The RoughRiders currently lead the Texas League in attendance, averaging almost eight thousand people per night. 26: The ‘Riders have come from behind in 26 victories this season, which makes up almost half of Frisco’s wins. 48: How many different men have donned the RoughRiders uniform this season, which is a list that consists of men like defending American League MVP Josh Hamilton and undrafted 2011 free agent Jimmy Swift. And seemingly everyone in between. 65: The number of days the RoughRiders have been tied for or in sole possession of second place in the Texas League South Division. 76: The RoughRiders have made 76 transactions this season. The first one was sending now Chris Mobley, who is now with the Reds, to Triple-A Round Rock April 5. The most recent one was Robbie Diaz’s return to Frisco late last week. 100: Uh well, this is the number of games the ‘Riders have played. Sorry, I had to include it. 103: The number of home runs that the ‘Riders have hit this season, which is already 35 more than the club’s season total last year. 186: When you add the home runs and RBIs for Mike Bianucci (23, 70) and Tommy Mendonca (20, 73), you get 186. According to Michael Damman, the Director of the RoughRiders Statistical Research Department, the RoughRiders are the only team in the minors to have teammates that own 20+ homers and 70+ RBIs. 199: The number of wins in Frisco manager Steve Buechele’s career. He is 199-170 in his career and 120-101 during his time with the RoughRiders. 264: That’s how many minutes the RoughRiders’ longest game lasted. It was a 4-hour, 24-minute thriller that Arkansas won 4-3 in 15 innings. 296: Through Monday’s action, the Rangers’ minor league system has won 296 games, which is third-most in baseball. Texas’ farm system has the best winning percentage at .584. 306: Renny Osuna’s hit total while with the RoughRiders, which is second to Steve Murphy. Murphy had 319 during his time in Frisco. 541: The number of runs Frisco’s offense has scored this season, which is good for more than five runs per contest. .570 (this is counting as 570, by the way): Frisco’s winning percentage, which would be the fourth-best in franchise history. The previous high is .607 back in 2007. 774: The number of strikeouts that Frisco’s pitching staff has come up with during the season. Jake Brigham leads all ‘Riders with 85. 910: Frisco pitching has thrown 910 innings this year. In that span, the club owns a 4.41 ERA, which is third in the Texas League. 965: How many hits the RoughRiders’ offense has mustered, which is almost ten per game. Frisco trails only Springfield in the Texas League in hits. 1.007 (this is counting as 1,007, by the way): Leonys Martin’s OPS while with the RoughRiders, which leads all 2011 ‘Riders not named Josh Hamilton (1.087), who doesn’t quite count. Martin hit .348 with four homers and 24 RBIs in 29 games at the Double-A level. 1509: The total number of bases the ‘Riders have reached this season. That’s a lot of running. 2004: The year of the RoughRiders’ first and only Texas League championship season. Here in 2011, the ‘Riders have proven through their first 100 games that they have the talent to add another title here in 2011. Yep, that’s 10,000. It will be fun to see what 1 or 100 amazing things the RoughRiders do in the season’s stretch run. Enjoy the ride along with us. Every Father’s Day I can’t help but think of that scene from Field of Dreams where Kevin Costner plays catch with his dad (once your done reading you can watch it here). I’m not ashamed to say it makes me cry every time. I wanted to ask some of the ‘Riders what some of their favorite baseball memories were with their dads, and I’m glad I can share their answers with you. “To this day, I remember my dad, and my mom, always being there and watching every game my brothers and I played.“ I then asked Boo about the first time his dad got to see him play in the major leagues. “We were playing the Angles and I had a bunch of friends and family come out to the game. I remember hugging my dad after the game and him telling me that he had tears in his eyes during the National Anthem.” LHP, Robbie Erlin: Growing up in Santa Cruz, Calif., Erlin’s father probably never imagined that his son would be the Rangers’ No. 4 prospect at just 20-years-old. But as Erlin’s coach in the Scotts Valley Little League, he greatly influenced his son’s future career. “When I was 9-years-old my dad told me that before I could throw a curveball, I had to be able to locate my fastball. He and I worked after practice on throwing a curve and finally one day during a game I was pitching he signaled to our catcher to call for a curveball.” As we all know, Robbie’s curveball is now one of the best in the Rangers’ minor league system. I then asked Robbie if 9-years-old was a bit early to be throwing a curve. “Not if you know how to throw it.” 3B, Tommy Mendonca: By now, we all know how well Tommy has been playing lately. And we all know how hard he’s been working out. Most are aware of the magical ride he went on when playing for Fresno State University in 2008 when the Bulldogs won the College World Series and Mendo was named the College World Series Most Outstanding Player as a sophomore. “Both of my parents were at every game in Omaha during our playoff run. My dad was my little league coach and it was great having him and my mom watching me and supporting me when we were playing in such big games.” RHP, Jake Brigham: One of seven kids (four brothers, two sisters) , Jake grew up in Florida where his dad was a barber. He had to cut a lot of hair to support all those hungry mouths and thus had one day off a week: Wednesday. “Every Wednesday afternoon he’d take us seven kids to Barnett Park and we had practically enough players to field a team. I remember him pitching to us … We all got a chance to field, catch, hit, and play the outfield.” “It was great having my dad coach me in Babe Ruth League. Once I turned pro, he first had a chance to watch me play in Hickory. My best memories are of him watching me in high school, though. It was great then because I always had lots of family at the games.” 2B, Davis Stoneburner: His real name is Ralph, which, so conveniently for today’s article, is his father’s name. After asking him a baseball memory he shared with his dad, Stoney gave me an answer in a way that only he could. “The first time my dad saw me play as a professional was in Clinton, Ia. when I was playing for the LumberKings. I was a shortstop at the time and he came out to watch me play a four-game series. Bad part was I didn’t get a single hit.” Fortunately, he’s now riding a nine-game hitting streak. Looks like he’s recovered. We’ll have more of a tribute to Father’s Day on the pre-game show tonight. Along with Mother’s Day, it’s one of my favorite pre-game segments all season long. First pitch tonight in the series finale in Corpus Christi crosses home plate at 6:05, pre-game coverage kicks off at 5:35. If for some reason you miss the pre-game segment of all the ‘Riders wishing their dad’s a happy Father’s Day but would like to hear it, feel free to email me at email@example.com and I’ll send you the .mp3 version. Talk with you tonight, The RoughRiders are about as centrally located as it comes in the Texas League. However, that doesn’t mean that the bus rides are always short. Frisco radio broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith lets you ride shotgun on the RoughRiders’ journey Wednesday night from Midland to Corpus Christi. Before you begin reading, a quick bathroom break is of course recommended. 9:50 p.m. Thanks to a 6:30 p.m. first pitch, I’m off the air now and can quickly wrap up my post-game work and pack my radio gear to load on the bus. 10:14 p.m. Before every bus ride you have to fuel up – and not just with gas. After you’ve played for three hours - or in my case talked for three hours – food is a must. Here’s what was put out for us in the clubhouse in Midland. I get some BBQ chicken thighs, mac and cheese, and a few small bags of trail mix to take on the bus. All the players pay “dues” to the “clubbie” who provides the pre- and post-game spread. Since I don’t pay daily dues, I gave the clubbie $7 for my share of food (I’m that wealthy). 10:33 p.m. After quickly chowing down, it’s time to load up. Most of the players are already on the bus and, as you can see below, cards is a favorite way to pass the time. Hitting Coach Brant “Brownie” Brown has already put season one of Las Vegas into the DVD player on the bus for some entertainment. Brownie is a major movie buff (his favorite is the Matrix). He always brings a good selection of movies each trip. 10:40 p.m. Carlos, the best bus driver in the Texas League – and it’s not even close – puts the gearshift in drive and we pull away from the clubhouse and hit the road for Corpus Christi. Steve Buechele, the ‘Riders manager, is on his laptop, as is Pitching Coach Jeff Andrews. They’re both working on their post-game player reports that they usually do from the clubhouse. On get-away-days, however, they’re forced to type from the bus. 11:07 p.m. I’m surprised it took this long, but I finally break out my noise canceling headphones. A pricy investment, but worth every penny. Between the movie, the air conditioning, and the noise from the road, the bus is very loud – even if no one is talking. The one thing giving the noise a run for its money is the temperature. The bus tends to get incredibly cold. Even though it was 99 degrees outside when we boarded, I have a pair of grey sweat pants pulled up over my kaki shorts. (I sense a wedgie mounting an attack within the next few hours). 11:40 p.m. Love my iPhone. With the MLB At Bat app, I’m listening to the final innings of the Mariners vs. Angles game (the only game in progress at this hour). I’m not a fan of either team, but after calling four games solo in Midland, it’s nice to hear a voice other than my own (I’m sure others would agree). 1:13 a.m. My first “wakeup” of the trip. Something you get used to. On an eight hour trip I’ll probably fall in and out of consciousness at least a half dozen times. This time it’s for something somewhat rare. Carlos has pulled the bus over at a rest stop and Boo and Brownie scamper off quickly to use the restroom. The M’s/Halos game is long over. No idea who won. I wonder if people fall asleep like that when I’m broadcasting? A question I fear asking. I switch quickly to iTunes and am out again in a few minutes. 2:13 a.m. Strangely, exactly an hour later I’m up for no particular reason and am thrilled to see that all the cabin lights along with season one of Las Vegas has been turned off. Heaven. Sometimes the lights and movie du jour stay on until as late as 4 a.m. making it harder to sleep. I glance in front of me and see the silhouette of our Strength and Conditioning Coach, Eric McMahon. He’s wearing a ballcap, sunglasses, and headphones. Why the sunglasses when it’s dark? A veteran move. Especially for us guys who sit near the front of the bus, it helps to darken oncoming headlights, making it easier fall asleep. Unfortunately I’m officially awake. With five hours to go, it’s trail mix time. 3:51 a.m. Driving through downtown San Antonio. Too bad we’re playing the Hooks. 4:19 a.m. Finally about to fall back asleep when … wedgie. 5:58 a.m. Our Athletic Trainer Carlos Olivas lovingly taps my leg which is stretched across the isle. This, in the world of minor league bus rides, is a wakeup call. We’re here. He darts off the bus because someone has to be in charge of everyone’s room keys. He’s off to the front desk to check everyone in while I try to wake up. 6:02 a.m. As the players rush pass me to get off the bus I pack up my bag and gather my stuff. I walk off the bus to find that along with the RoughRiders, the humidity made the trip to Corpus as well. 6:07 a.m. I’m in my room on the 16th floor. Radio guys always get the Penthouse. Tonight is game one against the Hooks. Time to get some sleep. The bus leaves the hotel for the ballpark this afternoon 4:30. With the 447th pick in the MLB Draft, the San Francisco Giants selected Garrett Buechele, the son of Frisco manager Steve Buechele. Garrett played third base for the Oklahoma Sooners. He had been selected last year in the 18th round by the Rangers, but he did not sign. Another year in college earned Garrett a four-round increase in his stock. A couple of other cool connections as the Draft continues today—Matt Skole, the brother of Texas’ first-round pick last year (Jake Skole), was the fifth-round pick (157th overall) by Washington. Kansas City’s 15th-round pick (456th overall), Richard Espy, is the son of Tulsa manager Duane Espy. Oh, and about a thousand players have been drafted out of the state of Texas. Sources tell me that number will continue to rise. The NBA Finals are set. It will be Miami against Dallas beginning Tuesday night in South Beach, just like I accurately predicted. If you were gullible enough to click that link, I apologize. Actually, I picked the Lakers over the Bulls. For what it is worth, those two teams went a combined 1-8 against the two teams that will play for basketball’s ultimate prize. As you can tell, I’m really good at predicting. Not only do the Mavericks have the support of the DFW area, but they are also gaining support from all those who dislike Miami and its “Big Three.” I fall into this category, and I’m in the most passionate subset of it because I’m a Cleveland fan. I’m just warning all you Mavericks fans–it isn’t a great omen to have Cleveland on your side. The city doesn’t exactly thrive in these situations. I’ll tell you this, though. If the Mavs pull it out, then Dirk and the guys will get quite an ovation in their trip to Cleveland next year. Let’s go Mavs, and let’s go Facts. - Before we get into a few thriving RoughRiders, there was a trade today. Right-hander Chris Mobley was sent to the Reds for a player to be named later and cash. Mobley split time between Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock and had a 4.67 earned run average in 14 outings. - “This is probably one of those moves that is great for the player. There’s a Triple-A job open in Louisville,” Frisco manager Steve Buechele said about Mobley’s departure. “He’s a great kid. Hopefully, he’ll go out and help them.” - He’s no Dirk Nowitzki right now, but Frisco starter Martin Perez has been on fire as of late. In his last four starts, Perez has four quality starts, 25 strikeouts, and a 0.68 ERA. Yesterday, Perez left with the lead for the fifth time this season, and he finally received his first win in those situations. His only other win (and decision, for that matter) came in that rain-shortened perfect game April 19. - So far this season, it has been easy to tell whether or not Perez has it going. Perez, the Rangers’ top prospect, has given up a combined nine runs in the first and second innings and just four in the rest of the game. He owns a 1.07 ERA from the third inning on. - Finally, Perez is dominating in situations that he should dominate. Against fellow left-handers, he has allowed only seven hits in 44 at-bats (.159). For what it’s worth, lefties hit .267 against Perez a year ago. Also, when Perez is ahead in the count, his opposition is hitting .113. - With a top prospect, the question of a promotion pops up. “No doubt,” Buechele said when he was asked about it. “You look at the Texas League stat sheet, and he’s the number one pitcher in this league. Certainly, those thoughts start crossing your mind, and I would have no problem recommending him a promotion. I think he could handle Triple-A right now. His improvement from last year to this year has been incredible.” - Buechele said that the biggest keys to Perez’s jump have been the improved command of his fastball and the ability to keep some rough innings under control. Perez has given up more than one run in an inning only three times this season. - Leonys Martin continues to perform well for the ‘Riders. He has hit safely in 10 of his 13 games this year, and his average sits at .315. When you look at his game-by-game average, Martin has never had it dip below .273. He is hitting better against lefties (.320) than he has against righties (.310). - What has been most impressive to me when looking at his stats is his performance in “clutch” situations. He is swinging at a .583 clip (7-for-12) with men in scoring position. Within that figure, he is 4-for-5 with runners in scoring position and two down. Overall, when men are on base, Martin has a .421 average. - On the flip side, it has been a rough period for Engel Beltre. Since returning from his 15-game suspension, Beltre is hitting .154. He has yet to drive in a run or steal a base during these nine games. He has struck out eight times and walked only once. - In these nine games, Beltre has played in right field four times, left field three times and center field twice. Martin has only played outside of center field once as a RoughRider. - Finally, here’s a pretty cool new blog from Neil Wagner, a pitcher for the Midland RockHounds. He had a funny blog about his time in Frisco during Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz’s rehab stint. I hope he continues to update it. Join us for the pre-game show at 6:35 along the RBN. First pitch is set for 7:05.

Israel: Detained Asylum Seekers Pressured to Leave |Publisher||Human Rights Watch| |Publication Date||13 March 2013| |Cite as||Human Rights Watch, Israel: Detained Asylum Seekers Pressured to Leave, 13 March 2013, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/514326902.html [accessed 20 May 2013]| |Disclaimer||This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.| Israeli authorities are threatening detained Eritrean and Sudanese nationals, including asylum seekers, with prolonged detention to pressure them to leave Israel, Human Rights Watch and the Hotline for Migrant Workers said today. Since December 11, 2012, Israel's pressure has convinced several hundred detained Sudanese and one Eritrean to leave Israel, and in February 2013, some 50 detained Eritreans agreed under similar pressure to leave for Uganda. All 50 remain in Israeli detention. Sudanese and Eritreans face a real risk of harm if they return to their home countries. Under Sudanese law, anyone who has visited Israel faces up to 10 years in prison in Sudanand Sudanese officials have said the courts will apply the law. Because of credible persecution fears relating to punishment for evading indefinite military service in Eritrea, 80 percent of Eritrean asylum seekers worldwide are granted some form of protection. For years, Israel has refused to process Eritrean and Sudanese asylum claims, although at the end of February it began to register at least some detainees' claims. "Israel's prolonged detention of asylum seekers apparently aims to shatter all hope so they feel they have no real choice but to leave the country," said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Instead of browbeating some of the world's most abused and vulnerable people into giving up their rights and putting themselves at grave risk, Israel should release asylum seekers while their claims are examined and protect anyone found to risk serious harm if returned." Human Rights Watch and Hotline for Migrant Workers (HMW), an Israeli nongovernmental organization,said that if Israel returned anyone to a place where the person's life or freedom would be threatened, such return would violate international law's prohibition on refoulement – forced return to a serious risk of persecution. The groups said Israel would also be violating the refoulement prohibition if a person "chose" return after Israeli authorities had threatened prolonged or indefinite detention as the only alternative. The 1951 Refugee Convention bars the return "in any manner whatsoever" to places where a person would face a serious risk of persecution. Refoulement can also occur as a result of a chain deportation, in which refugees or asylum seekers are sent to third countries that predictably will not respect their rights as asylum seekers but instead send them back to places of persecution. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has confirmed that Sudanese agreeing to leave Israel in recent months were sent to third countries through which they only transited and traveled on to Sudan. Human Rights Watch and HMW said those countries had no obligation to allow Sudanese nationals to enter, which means they would have been forced to travel onward to Sudan. In early March, HMW spoke with the only Eritrean to have "agreed" under pressure to go to Uganda who says he was refused entry there and deported to Cairo for onward deportation to Eritrea. The only alternative the Egyptian authorities gave him was to return to Israel to once again face indefinite detention, which he rejected. On March 6, he flew to Eritrea. Pressuring Sudanese and Eritreans to leave Israel for third countries that have no obligation to allow them to leave airport transit zones risks indirectly forcing them back to their own countries, Human Rights Watch and HMW said. Israel is holding more than 2,000 African nationals in two detention centers near the Egyptian border. This includes at least 1,100 Eritreans and 600 Sudanese, all of whom have little prospect of being released because of restrictive Israeli asylum laws and policies. Hundreds of the Eritreans only reached Israel after surviving kidnapping in Sudan and Egypt, and tortureby criminal gangs in Egypt's Sinai desert. About 50,000 other Eritrean and Sudanese nationals live in Israel's cities. Israel has informally suspended their deportation, but senior officials have repeatedly threatened to deport them without officially clarifying whether they would first be allowed to claim asylum. In early March, the Israeli media reported that the Interior Minister said he planned to detain all "infiltrators" – which Israeli lawdefines as anyone who irregularly enters Israeland which includes the 50,000 – and to deport them to a still-to-be-identified third country. On March 3, HMW spoke by phone with an Eritrean man in Cairo who said he agreed to fly on February 28 from Israel to Uganda after Israeli officials refused to register his asylum claim and threatened to detain him for three years. He said the Ugandan authorities refused him entry and deported him to Cairo, where the authorities also refused him entry but said he could fly back to Israel where he faced further prolonged detention. After two days without sleep, the man refused and flew to Eritrea on March 6. On March 4, Israel's attorney general called on the Interior Ministry not to send any Eritrean citizen "to any destination outside Israel's borders" until a range of legal issues had been clarified. In early March, UNHCR also reported that in mid-February, the authorities had begun handing out larger numbers of asylum application forms to detainees. Human Rights Watch and HMW said that the attorney general's statement was a positive move, but that the Interior Ministry should not remove any Sudanese nationals either, should allow all detainees wishing to claim asylum to do so, should release them while their claims are examined, and should end all threats of prolonged detention. The majority of those currently in detention entered Israel in or after June 2012 and were detained on arrival under Israel's recently amended "Prevention of Infiltration" law, also known as the "Anti-Infiltration" law, which allows the authorities to detain anyone irregularly entering Israel. Israeli authorities have also used a September 2012 regulationto arrest and detain about 250 people, most of them Eritrean and Sudanese nationals who have been living in Israel for several years. The 2012 regulation allows the authorities to detain and deport any "infiltrator" who is suspected of – but not necessarily charged with or convicted of – offenses "endangering national security or the public peace." UNHCR officials in Israel and Israeli groups working with refugees say that many people detained under the regulation were suspected of only modest offenses, such as minor assault charges or possession of stolen goods such as mobile phones. HMW has interviewed almost 1,000 Eritrean and Sudanese detainees in recent months and has documented the departure of hundreds of detained Sudanese nationals since December 11 after the authorities refused to register their asylum claims and threatened to detain them for three years or indefinitely. "When I asked for asylum, the Ministry of Interior staff said,'Israel doesn't want black people here,'"a detained Sudanese man told HMW staff on December 19."He told me I should go back to my country and that anyone who did not agree to leave would stay in prison for three years. I know many people who were told the same and who went back to Sudan." In January and February, HMW interviewed dozens of Eritrean detainees, some of whom have been detained for almost a year, who also said Israeli officials refused to register their asylum claims and told them that they had to choose between years in detention or removal to Uganda or Eritrea. HMW said that in the first two weeks of February, around 50 Eritreans signed documents "agreeing" under this pressure to be removed to Uganda. "It doesn't matter how you dress this up, Israel is pushing people into a corner and giving them the repugnant choice of years of hardship in detention or removal from Israel," said Sigal Rozen, public policy coordinator with HMW. "Those agreeing to leave say it was no choice at all. All they want is to get out of detention." On February 25, UNHCR in Tel Aviv criticized Israel's pressure on detained Eritreans, saying that "agreement to return to Eritrea under a jail ultimatum cannot be considered voluntary by any criterion." On February 18, Interior Minister Eli Yishai told the Knesset that Israel had no formal agreement with Uganda or any other country governing transfer of Eritreans, although he added that Israel would continue "with the utmost decisiveness" to ensure that Eritrean and Sudanese nationals would "voluntarily or involuntarily" leave Israel. UNHCR says it has received reports that the Israeli authorities have filmed detainees threatened with prolonged or indefinite detention who were asking to sign a statement saying they came to Israel to work and that they wanted to return to Eritrea or go to another country. A Sudanese detainee told HMW in December that he had seen Interior Ministry staff filming people, "asking them to say they wanted to go back to Sudan" and that when the person being filmed said the wrong thing, the staff members said: "Don't say that! Just say that you are from this and that country and that you want to go back." UNHCR also said Israel's failure until late February to register any detainees' asylum claims, and the resulting prospect of prolonged or indefinite detention, meant detainees faced significant pressure to agree to leave Israel. In its February 25 statement, the refugee agency said detainees "don't receive full access to the refugee apparatus, and when there's no access ... lead[ing] to release, then there is no voluntary return." UNHCR Detention Guidelines say asylum seekers should be detained only "as a last resort" as a strictly necessary and proportionate measure to achieve a legitimate legal purpose and that countries should not detain asylum seekers simply for the purpose of deportation. Detention is permitted only briefly to establish a person's identity or for longer periods if it is the only way to achieve broader aims such as protecting national security or public health. Israel does not have formal transfer or readmission agreements with any African country. UNHCR's Executive Committee says that states should expeditiously return people not needing international protection to "their countries of origin, other countries of nationality or countries with an obligation to receive them back," but does not list as an appropriate option returns or transfers to countries that have no connections or obligations whatsoever toward the person being returned. Human Rights Watch and HMW said that sending Eritreans to Uganda and Sudanese nationals to other countries where they had never been before clearly did not meet UNHCR's criteria. "Sudanese and Eritrean nationals returning to their home countries from Israel risk persecution," Simpson said. "Without formal agreements monitored by UNHCR, the Israeli authorities should not be transferring them to other countries either, let alone pressuring them to forego claiming asylum and to leave Israel." For details about Israel's restrictive asylum policies toward Eritrean and Sudanese nationals and extracts of HMW's interviews with detainees, please see below. For Human Rights Watch's October 2012 joint news release with Israeli organizations on Israel's pushbacks of asylum seekers at its border with Egypt, please visit: For Human Rights Watch's June 2012 news release calling on Israel to amend the newly revised Anti-Infiltration law that punishes asylum seekers for irregularly crossing into Israel, please visit: For Human Rights Watch's September 2012 reporting on torture of Eritreans in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, please visit: For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Israel, please visit: Authorities Thwart Detainees' Attempts to Claim Asylum to Coerce Agreement to Leave Israel Israel purposefully uses several measures to pressure detained Eritrean and Sudanese nationals to agree to leave Israel, Human Rights Watch and HWM said. These are the threat of long-term detention, limited or no access to Israel's nascent asylum system, and approval of refugee claims at such extremely low rates that there are only very slim chances of being released from detention as a recognized refugee. Israel has detained most of the 2,000 people currently in detention centers for about six months, and in some cases for more than a year, UNHCR said. UNHCR's 2012 Detention Guidelines say that countries should only detain asylum seekers as a measure of last resort, "with liberty being the default position." HMW and other Israeli refugee groups have reported many times on the Israeli authorities' failure to give detainees the opportunity to lodge asylum claims. Detainees told HMW that if Israel had allowed them to claim asylum when they were first detained and had released them while reviewing their claims, they would not have agreed to leave Israel. UNHCR and Israeli refugee organizations say that over the past nine months, hundreds of detainees have struggled to lodge asylum claims because of insufficient information on how to submit claims, some officials' refusals to distribute asylum application forms or lengthy delays in receiving forms. Between September and the end of January, HMW staff working with interpreters conducted 137 prison visits and 963 detailed interviews with detainees. Hundreds of detainees told HMW that when they asked how to claim asylum, officials – including prison guards, detention tribunal judges, and Tigrinya interpreters – told them they would be detained for at least three years or indefinitely if they lodged asylum claims. Dozens told HMW that the prospect of prolonged detention and a lack of access to asylum meant they had little choice but to sign forms agreeing to their removal. Some said officials simply denied they had a right to claim asylum. A detained Sudanese man told HMW on February 12: "In the first interview I told [the officials] that I want to ask for asylum. When I said that, the interrogator banged his fist on the table and said that in Israel there is no asylum and that we come just to work and should go back [to Sudan]." Some said officials refused to respond to their asylum requests and simply threatened long-term detention.One of the Sudanese detainees HMW interviewed on February 12 said: "After HMW helped me to ask for asylum, the Ministry of Interior staff asked me three times whether I was ready to return to Sudan. I said no. They put pressure on me, saying that if something happened to my wife and children in Sudan it would be my fault. They said if I stayed, I would spend many years in prison. Some said three years, others said five, and then they said eight or ten years." Other detainees said they had no access to asylum application forms. An Eritrean man who has been detained for 10 months at the Saharonim detention center told HMW on February 14: I did not fill out an asylum request form because I didn't have access to a form, so HMW tried to claim asylum for me. The judge said I would stay here [in detention] for three years. The bullet wound [from being shot in Sinai] means I use crutches. I have been here for a long time. The conditions here are hard for me, physically and emotionally. Because of the pain and my emotional state I agreed to leave for Uganda. If you tell me you will release me from prison [in Israel], I won't go to Uganda and I will wait. In another case, detainees told HMW that after repeated requests, guards put 12 asylum application forms in a room and that so many detainees tried to grab them, the forms were torn apart in the rush. Many said the prospect of prolonged detention meant that they felt forced to agree to leave Israel. An Eritrean man detained for eight months in the Saharonim detention center, who has also unsuccessfully tried to claim asylum in detention, also told HMW on February 14: "It is very hard to live here. Many people are in bad emotional states, and this is very stressful for all of us. That is the reason that people are choosing to go to Uganda. It's hard to bear the thought that we'll be in here for three more years." Other detainees simply referred to the overall confusion about asylum procedures and how long they might be detained. An Eritrean man detained for eight months in the Saharonim detention center told HMW on February 14: "Everything we are told in prison is very confusing. One person says we can file an asylum request and that we will get a response in three months, another says we will be here for three years, another says we can only go to Uganda." Human Rights Watch and HMW said that on February 17 at least 34 Eritrean detainees in Saharonim detention center demonstrated against what they said was the authorities' refusal to allow them to claim asylum. They were transferred to the Ktisot detention center, where they were made to live in tents as punishment. Based on interviews with hundreds of detainees, UNHCR and HMW said that as a result of Israeli authorities' obfuscation of procedures and prolonged detention threats, hundreds of would-be asylum seekers detained since June 2012 have been unable to claim asylum. UNHCR says Israel only started distributing a significant number of asylum application forms to some detainees in mid-February and that before February, very few forms were distributed. On February 26, the Israeli authorities informed UNHCR in writing that there were no plans to deport Eritreans to Uganda or Eritrea. Human Rights Watch and HMW said Israel had not been accused of deporting Eritreans to Uganda or Eritrea and that the authorities' statement did not address the fact that Eritrean detainees had been told to sign "voluntary" removal papers or remain in detention for years. HMW and UN Refugee Agency Attempts to Help Detainees Claim Asylum Between September 2012 and mid-February 2013, HMW attempted to file 320 asylum claims with the Interior Ministry on behalf of detainees who said they had repeatedly asked detention center staff to give them asylum application forms, but that staff told them they had no forms. Israel's 2011 asylum regulations do not specify the format in which an asylum claim should be lodged. HMW said it has repeatedly written to the Interior Ministry and immigration authorities to ask for copies of official asylum registration forms. When replying, the ministry ignored the request and simply said detainees were told how to claim asylum. Since early January, the ministry has informed HMW that all its submissions were invalid because asylum claims had to be completed on official forms. HMW staff visiting detention centers said detention officials started distributing a new standard six-page asylum registration form in English on February 12, the day on which HMW issued a news releasecondemning Israel's pressure on Eritrean detainees to agree to removal to Uganda or Eritrea. Human Rights Watch and HMW said Israel has ignored its own asylum regulations, which say that "information sheets regarding the manner of submitting an [asylum] application … the procedure for handling … applications, the duties of the applicant, the right of the asylum seeker to contact a legal representative of his choosing and the scope of representation to which he is entitled during the process, will be available in places of custody..." In October, immigration authorities told HMW they had posted notices in all parts of the detention centers explaining how to claim asylum. HMW said it had not seen any such notices during its 137 visits between September and January, and UNHCR said that the authorities had not provided that information in the detention centers. In December, UNHCR submitted a draft document to the Interior Ministry that explained in simple terms how detainees can lodge asylum claims. UNHCR said that in late February, the authorities posted unclear notices in detention centers on how to lodge claims. In early March, Israel's Interior Ministry told UNHCR it had registered 800 asylum claims at the Saharonim detention center, up from 50 in December and 400 in January. UNHCR said it has no evidence that the Interior Ministry is conducting adequate asylum reviews in detention and has asked to observe asylum interviews with detainees. Since 2011, the Interior Ministry has refused these requests for all but two interviews. Other Pressure on Eritreans Detained Eritreans told HMW in February that 23 of them who agreed to be removed to Uganda were taken on February 11 to the Eritrean Embassy in Tel Aviv to help arrange travel documentation. HMW and UNHCR, who between them interviewed all 23 of the group, say that only six met with an embassy official, possibly the ambassador, but that the rest refused to meet with anyone, either because they had not known they would be taken to the embassy or because the first six were told the embassy could only help them travel to Eritrea. All 23 remain in detention. An Eritrean man detained in the Saharonim detention center for a year told HMW on February 14 that he had decided to go to Uganda rather than remain in detention any longer: "The extended stay in prison has made me hopeless. So last Monday [February 11] they took us to meet the Eritrean ambassador in Tel Aviv, but he said he could only help us go to Eritrea, not Uganda. We told him we did not want to go to Eritrea and then he asked us why we were claiming asylum in Israel." Two men taken to the Eritrean embassy on February 11 told HMW that an Eritrean official had "asked for and written down names and phone numbers of their relatives and family in Eritrea." Human Rights Watch and HMW said that putting Eritrean nationals who had been denied access to Israel's asylum system in contact with Eritrean officials put their lives and the lives of their relatives in Eritrea at risk. The Eritrean government treats asylum claims by Eritreans as treasonous acts. Ruled by an extremely repressive government, Eritrea requires all but a few of its citizens under 50 to serve in the military indefinitely. Anyone of draft age leaving the country without permission is branded a draft evader or deserter, risking years in prison, often in inhumane conditions, as well as forced labor and torture. UNHCR's 2011 guidelines on Eritrean asylum seekers consider that, in practice, the punishment for desertion or evasion is so severe and disproportionate that it constitutes persecution. UNHCR says that over 80 percent of Eritrean asylum seekers worldwide are granted some form of protection. Israel has granted about 37,000 Eritreans living in Israel's cities a minimal form of what UNHCR calls "temporary protection," which amounts to a right not to be deported to their home countries but nothing else. They are given "conditional release permits," referring to a release from what would otherwise be deportation. Israel told UNHCR in November 2012 that all permit holders could apply for asylum, but UNHCR says the authorities have not published any statements or information on this policy and that very few permit holders are aware they can apply. UNHCR says that it has not seen any documentation proving Israeli authorities are reviewing any claims Eritrean and Sudanese permit holders may have lodged. Israel's Lack of Transfer Agreements With Third Countries Israel does not have formal transfer or readmission agreements with any African countries. UNHCR's Executive Committee Conclusion 96 of 2003 calls for efficient and expeditious return of people found not to need international protection to "their countries of origin, other countries of nationality or countries with an obligation to receive them back." It does not list as an appropriate option transferring a rejected asylum seeker – or a person blocked from claiming asylum – to countries that have no ties with, or obligations toward, the person and where there is not even a bilateral agreement governing such a transfer. Human Rights Watch and HMW said sending Eritreans to Uganda clearly did not meet UNHCR's criteria. Formal agreements on readmission of third country nationals – which involve returning them to countries they have passed through en route to the country that is sending them back –normally include provisions committing the sending country not to return people at risk of persecution to their home countries. Human Rights Watch and HMW said that transfer agreements – to countries where the person has never been before – should have identical provisions. Absent such an agreement, Israel's transfer of Eritrean and Sudanese nationals to countries like Uganda provides no guarantee of admission to the third country and no assurance that those countries would not immediately return them to home countries where they would risk persecution. UNHCR said it has not been actively involved in any discussions about facilitating voluntary repatriation, or travel to third countries, of Sudanese or Eritrean detainees from Israel. That is because UNHCR does not consider return from detention to be voluntary unless detainees have had full access to a fair, efficient, and transparent asylum system. Risk of Indefinite Detention of Sudanese and Need to Recognize Them Automatically as Refugees Human Rights Watch and HMW also said that Israel's inability to deport 600 detained Sudanese to Sudan because of the extremely high risk of persecution there means they face indefinite detention in Israel, unlawful under international law. As it does with Eritreans, Israel has granted about 14,000 Sudanese nationals living in various parts of Israel informal temporary protection and has not registered any of them as asylum seekers. The two organizations said Israel's coercion of detained Sudanese to return to Sudan meant the temporary protection status for the 14,000 currently not in detention – but who risk detention at any moment – was not enough to protect them against the risk of refoulement. The 600 detainees, and 14,000 other Sudanese nationals in Israel, should be automatically granted refugee status. Section 52 of Sudan's Penal Code says that Sudanese nationals who visit an enemy state will be sentenced to 10 years in prison. Sudanese officials have repeatedly referred to Israel as an enemy state and have threatened to apply the law. In 2007, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said that visiting Israel was a crime and the Sudanese Refugees Commissioner claimed that Sudanese refugees in Israel wanted to "implement Zionism agendas against Sudan," and called on Egyptian authorities to "firmly penalize any Sudanese refugees if they were found trying to infiltrate through Egypt into Israel." Sudanese nationals in Israel therefore have a sur place refugee claim, in which the well-founded fear of being persecuted arises as a consequence of events that happened after the person left his or her country of origin. 50,000 Eritreans, Sudanese Risk Detention, Pressure to Leave Israel Since 2006, around 37,000 Eritrean and 14,000 Sudanese nationals entered Israel through Egypt's Sinai region. The numbers of new arrivals prompted Israel to build a recently completed fence that runs the full 240 kilometers of Israel's border with Egypt, which now makes it extremely difficult for anyone to enter Israel irregularly from Egypt. According to the Israeli authorities, in December only 40 people entered the country from Egypt, down from 1,500 a month for most of 2012. UNHCR says fewer than 20 entered from Egypt across the land border in January. In October 2012, Human Rights Watch reportedon Israel's pushbacks at the border fence and called on Israel not to reject and push asylum seekers back or deport them without first reviewing their refugee claims. UNHCR says most of the approximately 50,000 Eritrean and Sudanese nationals in Israel live in Tel Aviv. They are free to move within Israel and can work informally, thanks to a January 2011 Supreme Court ruling which says that the police and other authorities may not take legal action against employers who hire people holding the permits. If the authorities want to take such legal action, they must inform the court 30 days in advance. UNHCR, HMW, and other Israeli refugee groups say that Israeli officials have repeatedly criticized "work infiltrators" and threatened to fine employers, and have not publicized information about the Eritrean and Sudanese national's work rights. Israeli refugee groups say they are concerned Israel will soon use the Prevention of Infiltration Law and the September 2012 regulation to detain tens of thousands Eritrean and Sudanese nationals currently living in Israel in four newly expanded detention centers with a capacity of 16,000 people, and then to deport them. Israeli government officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Yishai, have repeatedly threatened to deport all Sudanese and Eritrean nationals in Israel either to their home countries or to third countries. In early March, Israeli media reported the Interior Minister's most recent threats. HMW said that in late February, Israel's Population and Immigration Authority posted a noticein the Saharonim and Ktsiot detention centers saying, among other things, that the government could use the Anti-Infiltration law to detain anyone who "infiltrated" – irregularly entered – Israel at any time. This would apply to the vast majority, if not all, Eritrean and Sudanese nationals who entered Israel over the past seven years or so. The notice said that "a warrant will be issued against these infiltrators and they will be transferred to a detention facility." Israel's "Prevention of Infiltration Law" and the September 2012 "Regulation for the Treatment of InfiltratorsInvolved in Criminal Proceedings" 2012 Amendments to Israel's 1954 "Prevention of Infiltration" law Human Rights Watch and HMW said all Eritrean and Sudanese detainees face prolonged or even indefinite detention because of changes to detention powers in Israel's 1954 "Prevention of Infiltration" law that came into effect in June 2012. The amendments give border guards and judges the power to detain indefinitely anyone who has irregularly entered Israel – that is, without passing through an official border post – and who is not a "resident," as defined by Israel's Population Authority Law. The law refers to all such people as "infiltrators." These legal provisions violate international refugee law by not distinguishing asylum seekers from others who enter irregularly, in effect punishing asylum seekers for their irregular entry. In addition, UNHCR's 2012 Detention Guidelines say that "detention of asylum seekers should be a measure of last resort, with liberty being the default position." They also say that countries should not detain asylum seekers simply for the purpose of deportation: "It is unlawful to detain asylum-seekers in on-going asylum proceedings on grounds of expulsion as they are not available for removal until a final decision on their claim has been made …[D]etention for the purposes of expulsion can only occur after the asylum claim has been finally determined and rejected." Yet the Explanatory Note accompanying the 2012 amendments to the Israeli law say the amendments aim "primarily to allow for the detention of infiltrators for a much longer period of time … and to add … the necessary mechanisms … for holding infiltrators in detention until their deportation." UNHCR's guidelines also say that deterring others from seeking asylum, or dissuading those who have already lodged their claims from pursuing them, is not a legitimate purpose to justify detention. But the Explanatory Note to the 2012 amendments says that "the expectation is that the length of … detention will curb the infiltration phenomenon… a phenomenon which has to be prevented … in order to protect … the state's sovereignty." Israel's Anti-Infiltration law says that the head of the Border Control Authority and Detention Review Tribunals may – but are not obliged to – release an "infiltrator" with a guarantee if a person has requested a residency permit, which includes asylum claims, and the "handling" of the request has not begun three months after the request was made, or if there has been "no decision" on the request nine months after the request was submitted, or if the "infiltrator" has been detained for three years. The new provisions replace parts of Israel's 1952 Law of Entry into Israel, under which people irregularly entering Israel should be deported within 60 days or released, although in practice detainees have been held for much longer because authorities say the law gives them discretion, not an obligation, to release after 60 days. The law says that the head of the Border Control Authority and Detention Review Tribunals may refuse to release "infiltrators" after three or nine months, or after three years, if, among other things, they have delayed their deportation because of a lack of cooperation and if their release "would endanger national security, public order or public health." The Anti-Infiltration law also says that the head of the Border Control Authority and Detention Review Tribunals may – but are not obliged – to release "in exceptional circumstances" an "infiltrator" if due to "age or physical condition" detention is "likely to harm his or her health and there is no other way to prevent the harm," or if there are "other special humanitarian grounds." September 2012 Regulation "for the Treatment of Infiltrators Involved in Criminal Proceedings" A September 24, 2012 regulation "for the Treatment of Infiltrators Involved in Criminal Proceedings" allows Israeli authorities to detain and deport any "infiltrator" who is suspected of – but not necessarily charged with – criminal offenses defined in the 1954 law as offenses "endangering national security or the public peace," or who has been convicted of such offenses and who has served a prison sentence. The 1954 law does not give more details on what constitutes such offenses. UNHCR and Israeli nongovernmental organizations say that some of the people detained under the September regulation were suspected or convicted of only minor offenses, such as minor assault charges, possession of stolen goods such as bicycles or mobile phones or falsification of documents such as work visas, making their detention illegal under Israeli law. HMW says that in a few cases its lawyers have successfully challenged decisions to detain Eritrean and Sudanese nationals under the September regulation. Human Rights Watch and HMW said that they were aware of only three cases in which the head of the Border Control Authority or Detention Review Tribunal judges have used their discretion to release a detainee under the amended 1954 law. Although all detainees have the right to appeal a Detention Tribunal's decision not to release them to the Administrative Affairs Court, very few detainees can afford to pay a lawyer to represent them, which means in effect they have no right toappealtribunal decisions.

Sierra family via EPA file A undated family handout photograph shows US tourist Sarai Sierra. Reports state that Sarai Sierra who was on holiday alone in Istanbul was killed by at least one fatal blow to her head. ANKARA — Turkish police have arrested the suspected killer of a tourist from New York whose whose body was found in Istanbul earlier this year, a provincial governor's office said. The suspect, identified by the initials Z.T. and nicknamed Laz Ziya by Turkish media, was arrested in Reyhanli in Turkey's southern Hatay province near the border with Syria, the provincial governor's office said on its website. The body of 33-year-old Sarai Sierra, a married mother of two from Staten Island, was found in the ruins of Istanbul's old city wall last month after she was first reported missing in late January. Sierra, who had been traveling alone, was killed by a blow to the head. After questioning Sunday, the man was handed over to judicial authorities, the governor's office said. It gave no further details. Sierra's killing has attracted wide media attention the U.S. and in Turkey, a country which receives millions of tourists each year and is generally seen as a safe destination for foreign travelers.Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

The Bald Truth Before he ever threw a big-league pitch, Mark Prior was heralded as a once-in-a-generation talent. He had the size, the demeanor, the poise, the mound presence, the intelligence, the command and the maturity of legend. And oh, did he ever have the stuff. His mechanics? Perfect. One expert after another said that with his mechanics, he'd never get hurt. When the Twins passed on him to draft their hometown boy, Joe Mauer, they were ridiculed for being stupid, cheap or both. (I guess now is as good a time as any to say their decision has turned out OK.) The Cubs gave Prior such a huge signing bonus after they selected him in 2001 - $10.5 million - that it's still a record today. Think about that. Think about how salaries in sports - baseball especially - have escalated. And yet this guy's bonus of eight years ago remains the gold standard. The first time Mark Prior pitched for the Cubs, it was obvious he had "it" - that special something separating the superstars from everybody else. Fans had such high expectations for him that I took to calling him Messiah Mark. Some ripped me for "making fun" of Prior, but the more observant readers realized I was poking fun at the worshippers, not the faux deity. (Besides, I liked how Messiah Mark Prior sounded. Kinda rolls off the tongue, no?) He went 18-6 in 2003, his first full year in the majors. In the second half of that season, he was 10-1 with a 1.52 ERA. He was simply the best pitcher in the world, A SURE THING. Prior continued to shine in the postseason and was only five outs away from a shutout victory that would have vaulted the Cubs into their first World Series in six decades. Though he, like his teammates and manager, choked away that game, his potential obviously was limitless. More than a few surveys of GMs, managers, scouts and sportswriters concluded that, after old-timers Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson and Tom Glavine reached the 300-win plateau, it wouldn't happen again until Prior got to 300 some 15 or so years down the line. Then came the injuries. One after another after another. As the injuries piled up, experts began blaming flaws in his pitching mechanics for his plight. Some were the same experts who just a few years earlier had said his mechanics were perfect. Many fans who once worshipped Messiah Mark suddenly were all over him. Baseball people, including some in the Cubs organization, were calling him a wimp. He didn't know the difference between soreness and injury, they said. He had a low pain threshold. He was too selfish, too worried about his next contract, to man up. What a wuss! I wasn't Prior's friend or fan - that's not my job - but I did feel sorry for him, and I said so in several columns back then. I didn't feel that way because of his ailments. After all, injuries are part of sports. And certainly not because the money train had stopped pulling into his depot. With the millions he made, he should be set for life. No, I felt sorry for him because total strangers were questioning his integrity, passion, manhood and will to compete. These idiots somehow felt qualified to look into his brain and his heart. It wasn't until the surgeries began that people finally acknowledged: "Hey, you know what? This guy actually might be hurt." As it turns out, he threw his final big-league pitch in 2006. The Cubs let him go a year later. The Padres signed him. More surgery followed. Last week, Prior was cut loose. He is a 28-year-old has-been. Although it has anything but a happy ending, his is among the most interesting stories of recent times. The cautionary tale to end all cautionary tales. Whenever some young gun is compared to the all-time greats, I always think of Mark Prior. And whenever a team drafts the next Can't Miss Kid, I say: "Hey, if Messiah Mark can miss, anybody can." The Balder Truth Pirates rookie Andrew McCutchen was so incredible Saturday - 4 hits, 4 runs, 3 HRs, 6 RBI - that he was honored as Future Red Sox Or Future Cub Of The Day. THE BALDEST TRUTH I promise. I'll never capitalize the "w" in Dewayne again. The White Sox media guide lists the now-famous Perfect Game Preserver as DeWayne Wise. So do the lineup sheets and press notes that the team publishes on game days. But Wise says he wants the "w" lower-cased. His wish is my command: Dewayne Wise, it is. By the way, I really would have been impressed had Wise preserved a perfect game for Mark Buehrle on Sunday against the Yankees. Considering that Buehrle allowed seven runs on 12 hits in 4 1/3 innings, the Sox would have needed about 14 Dewaynes on the field (and maybe a couple on the other side of the outfield wall). You know, there's only one word to describe this latest Buehrle performance: aWful.

An 8-year-old boy was bitten by a dog at Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett on Sunday during a Junior Lifeguard tournament there. According to lifeguards and East Hampton Town police, the dog’s owner then fled, with the animal in tow. Chase Siska of East Hampton was playing near the lifeguard stand while his older brother was taking part in the tournament when it happened, his mother, Dr. Lara Siska, said yesterday. The boy told her he was petting a small brown curly-haired dog that was not leashed when the dog bit him on the ankle. Capt. Chris Anderson of the town police said an incident report indicated that a man — described only as a big man with glasses — had scooped up the dog and left the beach. East Hampton Parks Department employees at the beach looked for him to no avail. Dogs are allowed within 500feet of the lifeguard stand during the summer months before 10 a.m. and after 6 p.m., and must be leashed. Dr. Siska said the bite was not too bad, but it broke the skin, prompting a visit to Southampton Hospital’s emergency room, where Chase received a painful rabies shot to be followed over the next 14 days by a series of rabies vaccinations. While most dogs that are pets have been vaccinated for rabies, the shot was given as a precaution, since there was no information about the dog. “I don’t think there’s been a case of rabies in Suffolk County for a long time . . . unfortunately, human rabies is fatal,” Dr. Siska said. “It was a bad decision to have to make . . . If they had just stayed so we could have gotten the information about the dog’s vaccination history, we wouldn’t have to go through all this.” Chase Siska is a grandson of East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, Dr. Siska’s father.

Ric Roman Waugh, 2013 "Be honest with yourself. You can't raise Ceci alone, you can't handle it." Dark Water comes labeled “Japanese horror,” a subgenre with an American reputation that is decidedly mixed, and now leaning toward negative. But the movie, a remake of a Hideo Nakata thriller by Brazilian director Walter Salles, is beholden to none of the genre conventions. Indeed, Dark Water is hardly a horror movie at all; instead, Salles and his screenwriter, Rafael Yglesias, have crafted a surpassingly lovely character drama that exists independent of any genre trappings that happen to tag along. It’s a beautiful, beautiful film, one so expressive that you run out of adjectives to describe it and are reduced to repeating “beautiful” and “lovely” over and over. Rarely do I become this purely involved in a movie. The first act of Dark Water — roughly forty minutes — is so compelling in its somber, carefully observed ordinariness, that when the ghost story finally rears its head (however gently), it almost seems like an intrusion. We meet Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly), a recently divorced mother, whose ex (Dougray Scott) has vowed to wage a bitter fight for custody of their daughter Ceci (Ariel Gade). Dahlia and Ceci move into a ramshackle Roosevelt Island apartment building, which is under the questionable auspices of Mr. Murray (John C. Reilly), the landlord, and Veeck (Pete Postlethwaite), the handyman. They settle in, Ceci goes to school, Dahlia looks for a job, all before anything really “happens,” at least in the sense promised by the slam-bang trailer. Does this make Dark Water sound slow, or meandering, or — God forbid — deceptive? Maybe, but the movie is so intricately constructed that the experience of watching it is nothing less than entrancing. The beauty of the lengthy set-up is that it doesn’t feel like set-up at all (with the possible exception of one scene in which Murray demonstrates the indestructibility of the bathtub plexiglass); it feels like a careful, compelling introduction to two people for whom we immediately feel affection. It’s wonderful, gentle character work, and I got lost in the relationship between Dahlia and Ceci, the meticulously rendered dank New York locale, and the almost impossibly lyrical way the film has of flowing from line to line, shot to shot, scene to scene. We do, all the while, get hints of building suspense and the sense that all will probably not be well for very much longer, but this is more of a general, holistic impression than a byproduct of a foreboding soundtrack and a series of jolts. I will grant the inevitable assertion that the ghost story that finally gets rolling about an hour into the film is fairly conventional, and its outcome unsurprising. But what I do not think is conventional is the way that Dark Water keeps said ghost story firmly in the background, never letting it take the reins from the film’s human dimension. The plot is never framed in terms of the literal progression of the supernatural storyline, as most thrillers would be (i.e. with the focus trained on the characters reacting to the ghosts, or what have you); instead, we see everything from the perspective of Dahlia’s descent into abject desperation and what may or may not be madness. I will admit, also, to becoming frustrated with the movie in its final minutes, when I found myself pleading with it to end on a grace note instead of launching into a horror set piece. If Salles had cut the last two minutes, which contain something hideously out-of-place, we would have been dealing with the best film of the year. Had he cut all the sensationalism of the last ten, it gets even better. But if the film does finally succumb to its baser instincts, it gets dragged there kicking and screaming. Even in the last act, Dark Water takes time out for character moments — I love how the kind lawyer (Tim Roth) is set up as a lonely man who lies about having a family (we see him tell Dahlia that he is at the movies with his family, after which he goes back into the theater and takes his seat alone in his row), but this doesn’t necessarily need to have any sort of direct plot-based payoff later on. On the way there, it turns into one of the year’s greatest technical accomplishments, a virtually flawless audio-visual masterwork. It moves with such ease and grace that you sink into it, lose yourself, forget where you are and what you have to do after the movie ends. It’s helped by a phenomenal turn from Jennifer Connelly, whom I’ve tended to find rather mopey in the past; she’s absolutely perfect here. I urge those who may otherwise be turned off by the “Japanese horror” buzz to give Dark Water a try. You may be surprised. > -- Eugene Novikov |Starring:||Ariel Gade, Jennifer Connelly, Pete Postlethwaite, John C. Reilly, Dougray Scott, Tim Roth| |Directed by:||Walter Salles|

We strive to deliver the best value to our customers and ensure complete satisfaction for all our textbook rentals. You can return your online books for any reason within our refund period – no questions asked. Every order is available for express shipping, and return shipping is always free. You'll be happy with the quality of your books (or we'll ship you another one on our dime). You can extend your rental up to 14 days – at the same cheap daily rental rate. If you decide to keep the book it will never cost more than the purchase price. As always, you have access to over 5 million titles. Plus, you can choose from 5 rental periods, so you only pay for what you’ll use. And if you ever run into trouble, our top-notch U.S. based Customer Service team is ready to help by email, chat or phone. Supplemental materials are not guaranteed for used textbooks or rentals (access codes, DVDs, workbooks). The Dog Listener: A Noted Expert Tells You How to Communicate with Your Dog for Willing Cooperation Jan Fennell's remarkable gifts have earned her the nickname "the dog whisperer." Her unique knowledge of the canine world and its instinctive language has enabled her to bring even the most desperate and troubled dogs to heel. This easy-to-follow guide to Jan's simple techniques draws on her countless case histories of problem dogs -- from biters and... Jan Fennell's remarkable gifts have earned her the nickname "the dog whisperer." Her unique knowledge of the canine world and its instinctive language has enabled her to bring even the most desperate and troubled dogs to heel. This easy-to-follow guide to Jan's simple techniques draws on her countless case histories of problem dogs -- from biters and barkers to bicycle chasers -- to show how we can bridge the language barrier that separates man from his best friend.The Dog Listener is a moving and inspiring story. Jan tells of the tragic death that first led her to reassess conventional attitudes toward dogs. She describes how she grew determined to find a more compassionate alternative to standard "obedience" training techniques. Most important of all, she brings the reader to an understanding of her method, one made all the more remarkable by its simplicity. Her book will fascinate animal lovers and prove indispensable to dog owners. Out of Stock We're fresh out of that one today. So sorry. Try back another time as our inventory fluctuates daily. Since launching the first textbook rental site in 2006, BookRenter has never wavered from our mission to make education more affordable for all students. Every day, we focus on delivering students the best prices, the most flexible options, and the best service on earth. On March 13, 2012 BookRenter.com, Inc. formally changed its name to Rafter, Inc. We are still the same company and the same people, only our corporate name has changed.

/22 February 1999 PICTURE OF THE An unnamed benefactor took the liberty of procuring this photo personally addressed me. Call me skeptical, but I don't REALLY think that's a legit signature. HEY LISTEN UP WCW: The FINISH of the MAIN EVENT affects the ENTIRE PERCEPTION of the WHOLE FREAKIN' PAY PER VIEW. You need an example? Take away McMahon's table bump and Wight's appearance from the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, take away David Flair's ski mask and taser, and SuperBrawl KICKS WWF ASS. But GOD. I mean, we all knew TWO weeks ago that this was how things were going to go but none of us DARE EVEN SPOKE OR THOUGHT because we so *desperately* wanted something, ANYTHING else to happen. Of course, it didn't. NOW all we have left as wrestling fans (and by "we," of course, I mean "me and that guy over there") is the thin strand of hope to cling to that all the NONSENSE that took place last night on the dime of the customer would SOMEHOW make sense in a larger picture after we watched tonight's show. The problem is, so many people have been holding their collective breath for so long that people have been DROPPING like flies around here. Who's next? Who's LEFT? MORE WCW STUPIDITY: Geez, don't they have anything BETTER to do than sue Sean Shannon and the NWWWO? I mean, how LAME can you get? I haven't heard about anything this dumb happening since Island and U2 went out of their way to try to destroy Negativland. It's just so TOTALLY not worth pursuing and you can't help but think about what that energy could be accomplishing put to better use. (Of course, I could say the same thing about the NWWWO - ooops, I mean somebody else could say that - umm, yeah, I think Hyatte said that! It was Hyatte! Go get him, Shannon! And don't forget to unnecessarily trash Bret Hart and rec.sport.pro-wrestling.* for me!) TV-PG-DV Here's some stills of that tragedy that was SuperBrawl IX - where a white-hot Oak-town crowd just got quieter - and quieter - and quieter as the night went on. Hear Tony for the first time mention the mysterious camera babe by saying we'd seen her "so many times on this program" (how would HE know?) and watch David Flair surprise no one by being the mysterious camera man. It's just SO sad. We are LIVE from the Arco Arena in Sacramento, CA - home of the NBA Kings (slogan: "You Must Take Us Seriously This Year") 22.2.99 for WCW Monday Nitro - we have new World Tag Team Champions (ALSO the ones nobody want) and your hosts, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and thelivinglegend Larry Zbyszko, are all over how disappointing David Flair acted. Tonight, Flair and Flair have a confrontation, oh boy. There's even a special set for this confrontation - matching checkerboard sofas and all. Can it get better? RIKI RACHTMAN ("Hey, I used to be on MTV! REmember me?) is somewhere at Cal Berkeley (slogan: "Stanford Beats Us Every Year") at a Nitro Party - if only I'd KNOWN...I could have STILL stayed home. Apparently, as part of Cinn-A-Burst's Spring Breakout, we're going to have to endure this for six weeks! Feel the Burst! Big ol' long clip of fun and games at Cal. I've spent a lot of time walking around that campus, and I SEEM to remember it being more fun than a Nitro party. But then, I never had Spice autograph my bicep either. Hmmm... let me get back to you on that. Clip from "Konnan's Second Music Video" because this is what Hell is like. This portion of the Monday Nitro cavalcade of interviews, promos and special video looks is brought to you by Baby Ruth! Ooh, Baby! Nitro Girls calendar ad And here's the REST of the Nitro Girls! Boy, if I'd paid to see Nitro Live, I'd be PISSED that I only get Jazz, Tygress, Chae and Storm! Coming up later tonight, a NITRO GIRL SWIMSUIT EXPOSE! (Where it is exposed that they can't...oh NEVER MIND) And also we'll see Rey Mysterio Jr. without his mask. FIREWORKS! Last night, of course, for the truly stupid, money could be spent on SuperBrawl IX. If you HAD paid for it, you probably would have seen Bam Bam Bigelow and Goldberg move a BIT faster than in these still frames - although admittedly not much. JERRY (It is my Lightning Foot destiny to open every Nitro) FLYNN v. (Not in Disorderly Conduct) MEAN MIKE ENOS - Tony: "Many of you saw the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Friday night when Goldberg laid out that big challenge - and it's very apparent out there that there's a lot of people out there that try to talk the talk, but when push comes to shove, they can't walk the walk." What the HELL is he talking about? By the way, Calista Flockhart IS Karen Carpenter. How uncomfortable was it to watch HER that night? His suspension over, referee "Blind" Scott Dickinson is back in the ring as the third man. Coming up later, Tony Schiavone mediates a meeting between David and Ric Flair which can only have the inensity of a Maury Povich show (thought I'd say Springer, didn'tcha). Flynn rolls through an Enos scoop slam into a cross arm breaker, and Enos taps. (4:17) What, you wanted play by play? Sign in crowd: I LOVE JERRY FLYNN'S MULLET. Well, hell, so do I. Backstage, Torrie Wilson tells David Flair she's so proud of him. We don't actually know she's Torrie Wilson, but Gene mentioned the name on Saturday Night, so there you go. David says he's gonna make sure Ric knows it's his time to shine now. By the way, wasn't it INCREDIBLY annoying to hear Scott Hudson and Larry Zbyszko go ON AND ON about how they were waiting for a "note from the Executive Committee" to announce an additional SuperBrawl match, only to hear them bring up a Return Dress match Gene had already mentioned an ENTIRE HOUR earlier in the show? Oops. You'd think, having SO MUCH TIME to edit together a Saturday Night show, SOMEBODY would be on the ball over there. And also, I have no life for spending a Saturday afternoon watching two hours of WCW on TV. TCI locally promos Uncensored here. Promotional consideration paid for by WCW Bashin' Brawlers ("Yousmashedmy - HEAD!"), Slim Jim, Sudden Change Scam Cream, America (ha!) Online, Hot Pockets and Aqua Velva IceSport - oh, the smell of it Backstage, Gene O. is with Booker T. The Harlem Hangover is back, baby, it's gone be one like neckbone. Tonight, Bret Hart takes on Booker T. in a match which Gene suggests might determine the #1 Contender for Scott Hall's United States Championship. The knee is 100%, OGB, now can you dig it. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! "Sucka" is not said. More with Riki Rachtman at 1-800-CAL-I-mean-COLLECT. He's "proud to be part of the Nitro family." You mean he's gonna be there PERMANENTLY? We meet the winner of a Panama City trip, Marco oh who cares. Backstage, Vince welcomes back Scott Norton from Japan. Vince tells Norton that he's in charge of the black & white, and Norton seems skeptical. Hey, Vince, I thought Hollywood asked you to keep it SECRET! Let's watch this scene from "Mortal Kombat" featuring - damn, who is that guy? I seem to recall him being on Nitro once...oh, yeah, it's Wrath! Too bad he's ready to sign with the other company and can't be pushed or on Nitro anymore...except, of course, in a clip from a show following... TCI is now advertising a Backstreet Boys concert that happened two weeks ago. What is this, cable for people with time machines? Closed captioning delivered courtesy Western Union! Scott Steiner - Diamond Dallas Page - Kimberly Page - I feel like I've taken this special video look before...but it's a bit new, as they tack on the statement from the lawyer and also Steiner adding the stipulation last week on THUNDER! that if he won, he'd get Kimberly for 30 days. This is what folks in the business call "storyline progression." After this rolls, Tony says "well, nobody ever agreed to that stipulation in WCW!" which means somebody realised it was a stupid thing to do and they retroactively rewrote the script. Well, give 'em a point. FAR OUT VAN HAMMER v. BAM BAM BIGELOW - Rather than talk about THIS match, Tony mentions that later tonight, we'll see more of Konnan's New Crappy Music Video, the Nitro Girls Exposed (or something) and Tony Schiavone's Very Special Intervention Betwixt Father and Son. Oh, and maybe also some wrestling. I think the funniest sign I saw last night at SuperBrawl said "DENAIR IS NWO COUNTRY." No, it isn't. I mean, there's LOCAL flavour and then there's taking it too far, come on. Denair. Denair is a suburb of TURLOCK, for crying out loud. Gimme a break. What, you wanted play by play? Bigelow says "sucks" and it gets by the TNT censor. This match goes on for like an hour - the commentary team actually RUNS out of things to talk about and has to start talking about Hak - what the hell kinda name is Hak anyway? Hammer misses a big boot in the corner (causing him to loudly exclaim "Bummer!") and walks into the Greetings from Asbury Park for the pinfall. I can't BELIEVE they got nine minutes. (9:02) WCW Monday Nitro Spring Breakout is brought to you by Cinn-A-Burst and 1-800-COLLECT! In case you were wondering. Sign in crowd: "ARCO SERVES MINORS" - that's funny on many levels. Here's the Road to Spring Break Out bus - featuring Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner pickin' up chicks or something. Apparently some blonde steals their Humvee and we'll catch up next week in Rahleigh for more of their exciting adventures! In a clip that is probably not supposed to be part of that last clip, but who can tell, anyway? Goldberg is posing for photos - Scott Steiner walks in and talks some smack, then leaves. Goldberg says one day he's gonna beat him up or something. Who's next? You're next! Next to play WCW/NWO THUNDER! on your PlayStation! Last night on SuperBrawl, some stills were taken in the Piper/Hall United States title bout. "Piper used the atomic drop, many other exciting moves..." Oh shut up, Tony. These stills actually show more motion than...wait, I already used that joke earlier. BRET CLARKE v. BOOKER T. to determine the #1 contender to the United States Championship - well, FINALLY, fifty minutes into the show, something I can get up for. So if Hart puts BT over here NOW, what was the point of Hart refusing to drop the title to him a few short weeks back? I guess by watching how this match goes we'll REALLY have a pretty good idea of where Hart fits in with the big bookers' plans, won't we? I think Hart said "hi" to his cat in here, too. "Feeling out process" to start. Finally they lock up, to the corner, clean break. Hart complains that T's greased up. Tony refers to a clip of backstage activity! Maybe they're coming around? Lockup, wristlock by T, wrenching the arm around, Hart rolls to the mat, nips up and reverses into a hammerlock of his own. T with a back elbow - Hart walks outside and works every fan in the front row. T offers to part the ropes for Hart, but nothing doing. Hart back in after referee "Blind" Charles Robinson backs him up. T puts some moves together and we end up with a side headlock. Hart tries to push out, off the ropes, shoulderblock, armdrag takeover and Hart AGAIN rolls to the outside. Hart's MO lately has been the big stall at the start - which works but only when you get a LOT of time to develop the match. Back in, lockup, to the corner, reverse, Tony says "Sting" as Hart lays into T with some rights. Right to the jaw is I would say "deliberate." By which I mean slow. Snapmare. In the centre of the ring, rear chinlock by Hart. Crowd is NOT chanting "boring," which is a testament to Hart's ability to get across a story to the fans. Have I built up Hart enough for you yet? Ha ha. Back up, Hart keeps Booker T. from getting control - to the corner, several blows, blatant choke. To the opposite corner, T FINALLY reverses and gains control. Follow lariat. Whip into opposite corner and follow lariat again. T. pulls him out, there's a kick, there's an axe kick, 1, 2, no. Crowd is fairly rabid. T to the armbar and calling to the crowd. Now, for absolutely NO reason at all, we cut to a split screen with the satellite truck, where Disco Inferno talks to the satellite guy. The NWO is gonna pirate the satellite signal around 10:50 or 11, and the satellite guy is gonna fix it for them. Coincidentally, it's time for RAW to start. THIS is gonna keep people glued to the set? I really think they'd have done better sticking with Booker T. and Bret Hart. Speaking of which, Hart has a near fall as I spy a "WATCH RAW" sign in the first row. Tony talks about the clip, then as if to say hi to me, says "Somebody say something here - am I the only one that saw that?" Okay, okay, you've let me know you're addressing the madness. Thank you, WCW. But cut to backstage footage during the nine minute Bigelow/Hammer match instead of this one, huh? Side Russian legsweep for 2. Tony speculates that Disco had scheduled this cut 'cause he didn't want us to see Booker T. wrestle and they ALMOST win me over with that story. But I'm not buyin'. Hart takes Booker T. out to the floor and pounds away - T fires back - again - Hart has a chair and there's a shot to the gut. Headbutt to the small of the back, repeat. Hart rolls him back in and fires up the crowd with a single look. He's the Master! Side backbreaker. 1, 2, no. Head to the lower abs. Later tonight, Tony tries to mediate between father and son on a very special Nitro. To the corner, semi-blatant choke. Tony announces that he'll have to leave the booth to get ready for that interview (thank GOD). Booker T. puts up an elbow to stop a charging Hart and both men are down. Both men up at 7 - face rake by Hart. Tony calls him "Stevie Ray" 'cause he's racist and they all look alike. Side suplex by Hart and Tony's outta here. Legdrop by Hart. Another legdrop as Tenay actually attempts a little play-by-play, shocking the ears of the entire audience. Hart holds onto the ropes, and goes up and down with the boot. I think something was muted there. Scorpion Deathlock is applied a wee bit too close to the ropes - before it's on, T pulls the hair rolls through into a small package for 2. Hart kicks a field goal with T's midsection. Face rake on the rope by Hart. Kidney punch. Scoop and a slam. FIGURE FOUR! T is doing the cool writhing thing - 2 count while the shoulders are down. Crowd is BEGGING for T to get out of it. T raises the fist and the crowd goes nuts. T tries to roll - but no. Another 2 count for Hart. T tries again for a roll - and does! Hart immediately grabs the rope and the hold is broken. Both men slow to get up - Hart is up now, and T isn't. Hart back to the choke for 4. Elbow to the back of the head by Hart. Whip off the rope, T ducks, flying jalapeno! Hart is up but meets a boot to the gut, then a spinning heel kick. T calls to the crowd. Sidewalk slam (called "side slam" by Tenay in a compromise) - breakdance by T, let's raise the roof (or move along the story) - Hart pops up and gets T crotched on the top rope - Hart up - SUPERPLEX!!! Both men down and crowd is hot. Hart BARELY up at 9. Sharpshooter is applied as Hart waves "bye-bye" to the crowd. But they're too close to the ropes and T holds on to the bottom rope. Hart won't let the hold go until Robinson says 5, BARELY beating the count. Hart driving with two buttdrops onto the lower back, using the ropes for extra impact. Picking him up, Hart whips - T reverses - Sunset flip attempt by Hart is reversed as T sits back down and hooks the legs - 1, 2, 3!!!!!!!! Booker T. is the #1 Contender. (17:43) Is there ANY chance a Booker T./Scott Hall match will be this good? And where can Hart go from here? Oh, the bittersweet life of a wrestling fan... One more shot of the Flair set - Schiavone tests out his mic. I wonder if any of that furniture will get broken... WCW/NWO Magazine ad Another clip of "Konnan's Brand New Music Video" - we'll watch it in it's entirety later tonight. And I might say something amusing. Still shots of last night's big pelo contra mascara match which saw Lex Luger on the outside, yet still managing to help Hall & Nash get the best of Mysterio and Konnan and remove the mask of Rey Mysterio, Jr. so we don't get bald Liz. (Yeah, who thought THAT would happen, huh?) Later tonight, another Nash/Mysterio mismatch. DISCO INFER-NWO v. GLACIER HAYASHIRYU - David Penzer: "Ladies and gentlemen, because this match involves international competition, the Disco Inferno would like you to please rise so he may sing the National Anthem!" GOD DAMMIT, that's MY gimmick! YOU tell me they aren't going out of their WAY to appeal to me this week. Disco's mic is unmercifully cut short. Kaz Hayashi bought Glacier's outfit at a THUNDER! flea market a while back, okay. Sign in crowd: "VACAVILLE IN THE HOUSE" I didn't even pick up on the fact that Tony was back at the commentary table but the mic check must be done. Kaz does a sweet no-hands tope over the top rope and I guess *I* should start paying attention to this match. Hayashi with a dropkick to the back of the had to a seated Disco. Rear chinlock, Inferno elbows out. Dropkick from Kaz. Off the ropes, Disco holds on and Kaz hits the mat. BIG lariat and Kaz lands RIGHT on his head. DAMN. After a strut, Disco only gets 2. Slam. Second rope forearm drop but only 2. Disco to the rear chinlock. We're up, we're elbowing out. Off the ropes, Hayashi with a Sunset flip for 2. Disco comes back with a vertical suplex. Off the ropes, something flubbed, Hayashi comes off the ropes with a spinning heel kick. Disco tries a powerbomb, but Hayashi counters and comes down with a Rocker dropper. Pickup - backbreaker - Hayashi to the top turnbuckle - senton with nothing but mat. Disco with the swinging neckbreaker, Chartbuster, and pin. (6:03) Brian Adams tells Scott Norton that Hollywood made him the man. Scott stifles a grin to himself and goes along with it. Adams does a better job with this than Vincent did. Not that it really matters - this is like choosing which plague you'd like to die of. Hey look, it's (some of) the Nitro Girls! Bobby Heenan joins the commentators at the commentary table. Oh, boy! Another shot of that exciting CAL Nitro Party! They're doing da LIMBO! And Whisper chews Cinn-A-Burst! Aw we gaze 'pon the Awesome 3, we see that Bobby Heenan is openly brandishing his "WCW/NWO Magazine Reader's Choice Award" for Best Announcer. Then they talk some more about Ric and David because it's probably the least interesting thing they could talk about. Then again...SUPERSTAR SCOTT STEINER & BUFF IS THE STUFF make their way to the ring as we learn that Diamond Dallas Page has been written out of the script for a little while. Steiner brings a chick into the ring with him. Sorry, that's one of his hooches. Something is muted that probably wasn't what the TNT censor thought it was. Steiner AGAIN says he gets Kimberly for 30 days despite Tony saying it's not true. Steiner says that Kimberly will call him "Big Bad Booty Daddy." While DDP will be lying on his back, Kimberly will be lying on HER back....okay, that's enough. Hmmm, after the music starts up Steiner says "I'm not done yet!" and then goes on for a bit more. He's taken out his brother, he's taken out Page, he mentions Sting for no good reason, and says the only man left is Goldberg. Goldberg, you're next! This time "hoo-" gets censored for no good reason. Steiner says he's challenging Goldberg - TONIGHT! Oh boy! Let's lock up the television title! Another clip from that music video I'm NOT gonna want to see by the time they show it - most likely in the third hour Bruise Cruise ad. Tony drops some names for the first time - Disco Inferno, Kidman, Perry Saturn, Diamond Dallas Page, and a special autograph session with Goldberg! But whatever will Saturn WEAR? Still shots from the tag team finals, where the Horsemen took the first fall, but Windham & Hennig used devious means to immediate take the second fall. Tony announces that there was a melee following that match last night, and we'll learn more about it later. CHRIS MONDAY JERICHO (with JPS Ralphus) v. HUGH MORRUS (with James Hart) - Ralphus finally gets a mention in the graphic - probably payment for coming to the ring in a dress. Jericho intimates that Saturn just might be....well....you know...for walking away after planting the ref in their return dress match last night instead of getting the sure pinfall to stop having to wear the dress. Morrus has a new strange haircut. Morrus all over him to start. Jericho slaps him. The chase is on. Round and round we go, back in, Jericho puts the boots to him as he comes back in, whip off the ropes is reversed, Morrus picks him up and lets him fall. Morrus with the whip, Jericho slides under, Morrus picks him up and there's a half hour press slam. Commentators are remarking on Jericho's losing streak (wink wink). Morrus climbs the ropes - Jericho tries to attack, but Morrus shoves him off. Top rope elbow drop misses. Jericho with a superkick and Morrus goes on the outside. Jericho with a top rope plancha to the floor! Jericho grabs a bouquet of flowers and whips Morrus with it. Jericho does his crane dance in the ring. Snap suplex by Jericho, arrogant cover only gets 2. Rear chinlock. Jericho slaps him - oh oh, made him mad. Whip off the ropes, big lariat by Morrus. "I am going to attempt, fans, to call this match." Quote that man! Morrus knocks him down and does a mocking version of Jericho's crane dance. Jericho dropkicks him in the knee. Snapmare. Bow'n'arrow type hold as we take a longing gaze Ralphus' way. Morrus turns the hold around but Jericho flips up, catching Morrus in the jaw with a kick on his way up. Neat move. Off the ropes, Morrus catches him and drops him powerbomb style. Whip into the corner - freight train splash by Morrus. Whip into the opposite corner, there's another avalanche. Third time, he misses as Jericho steps aside - feet on the ropes - 1, 2, no. Whip, reversal, powerslam by Hugh Morrus. He's going up - Ralphus grabs the leg! Hart takes a chair and makes a move for Ralphus - but PERRY SATURN is out and stripping the dress off Ralphus. He tosses Ralphus in the ring, so referee "Blind" Mickey Jay is distracted trying to get HIM out of the ring. Hart offers the chair to Saturn, but instead he KO's Hart, then delivers a Spicolli Driver to Jericho. I sense the losing streak will continue. Is Saturn wearing eyeliner or what? Schiavone says he looks "pretty." No Laughing Matter, 1, 2, 3. (6:58) Morrus leaves the ring and asks Saturn what's up with hitting his manager. "Hey, I did you a favour!" "I didn't NEED an favours!" and the next thing you know Saturn is back in the ring asking to get it on. Morrus complies. They trade blows until the cartful of refs comes out and breaks it up, to the crowd's dismay. Jericho didn't move this entire time. Footage from last night at SuperBrawl show Hennig & Windham gloating with their belts - then Benoit & Malenko attacking for no good reason. Well, I guess they had a reason. Anyway, they choke them out with regular belts a la Windham on Malenko last night. And...umm....that's it. Still to come, this, that, that, and that. Oh, the third hour. TV-PG-DV BIG POOCHIE (with The Narcissist, Liz & Rey's mask) v. REY MYSTERIO, JR. - "You know, Lex and I along with Liz watched the tape back from last night, and while I was taking a break on the mat, catchin' my breath, it appears to me that Scott Hall took a couple of shortcuts - you know the NWO has always stood for what's right in this sport - for fair play - I know that Rey Mysterio went to the committee today and insisted on having a match with me, but after watching the tape back, Rey, we're real sorry and, since it doesn't fit me anyway, instead of fighting, come on down and I'll give you back your mask ('cause Liz won't wear it)." Rey comes out in B&W camoflauge instead of his LWO shirt and to Konnan's music instead of his own. How do you misspell "NO?" "Okay, did you say what you have to say? It ain't about the mask anymore, Nash. You got what you wanted, now it's time to get what I want." "And what would that be, Rey?" "It's time for me to get a piece of you." Nash wants the test of strength but I don't think Rey can reach that high. Nash's high knee is almost higher than Rey's head. Whip - Rey's flips and flies but Nash ducks it. Rey works on the knee with kicks - spinning heel kick and Nash goes DOWN! Springboard facebuster! Nash retreats to the corner - bronco buster! Nash pushes him off - Mysterio ducks a lariat - springs up - Nash catches him and dlivers Snake Eyes. Heenan calls Nash the best big man in our sport today - WHY. Ten story beal from Nash. Jackknife coming up - of course, that doesn't work on Cruiserweights - Rey punches and punches - Nash falls - Randy Anderson counts three times! Konnan's music plays! (2:39) Replays show Rey hooks the wrong leg, but oh well. Let's see Konnan's new music video! Only the third hour is good enough for the new K-Dogg music video! I hope they paid George Clinton for that "Atomic Dog" sample - I mean, Time/Warner wouldn't just commit outright THEFT of an artist's works, would they? I wonder what Capitol thinks of this. Hey, maybe I'll ask 'em! Naah. What the hell's up with the zoot suit? NWO Wolfpack T-shirt ad. Someone has NOW decided that this hour will only be rated TV-PG-V so there's a NEW ratings box. And here's Horace telling Scott Norton that Hollywood has placed him in charge of the black & white. Why is Disco Inferno standing there? I dunno. I guess I should point out that Tony hasn't remarked on any of THESE bits, but who cares anymore...not me. Well, this week. Well, unless I come up with another funny bit. GENE O. works tonight! And he brings out the new tag team cham-peens, CURT HENNIG & BARRY WINDHAM. Hennig's not the kinda guy to say he told you so - but - well, you know. Where's Rick Rude, anyway? Does anybody have any comments about them not being in the NWO? Gene asks what about a return match, Windham says that they've got a lot of defenses scheduled and just have no room for the Horsemen. And...that's all I got out of this. Scott Norton walks over to Hollywood Hogan and asks him what's up - what, did I MISS the Stevie Ray clip? Anyway, Hollywood says no, no, YOU'RE the man. Take charge of the black & white. I am SO BEYOND CARING. Hey, look, it's the Nitro Girls! And they have spotlight solo slutty stripper dances! THREE TIME WORLD KARATE CHAMPION GLACIER CAT v. ? - you see, Sonny Onoo bought Glacier's music, lighting, lasers and snow machine. You really should try to watch THUNDER! every so often. "Ladies and gentlemen, once again the Cat would like to be recognised as the greatest of all time...and the greatest looking man in sports today!" Sonny Onoo will be on the Bruise Cruise - well, that's IT, I'm signing up NOW. Cat goes on and on about "James Brown music" as if that was even close to what his music EVER sounded like. Cat demands the lights come back up, then tells the crowd they're a bunch of sick lookin' people. Before we move along, let's cut back to the black & white dressing room where Disco Inferno is monitoring the action while Norton is ALMOST ready to tell them that Hollywood has put him in charge (hmmm, there's Stevie Ray after all). Sonny Onoo is less than excited about this challenge, but Cat says he's doing it for him, 'cause he "messed up all your cousins and nephews over there in Japan." Here's BIG SCOTT NORTON and I predict this'll last about 12 seconds. Cat kicks before the bell and doesn't let up. kick, kick, kick, Million Dollar Dream! Norton hiptosses him to break the Cobra Clutch. Big chop (wooooo!), again (woooo!), Cat with a kick but Norton just catches the foot, then MAULS him. Chop (woooo!) - whip into the opposite corner - Cat with a superkick, another standing side kick, a THIRD standing side kick and Norton goes down! Cat tries a splash - Norton catches him and slams him. Here comes the powerbomb. Good night everybody! (1:39) THUNDER! ad features *Bobby Blaze*! Hey, that WCW Monday Nitro Spring Break-Out '99 thing is once again brought to you by Cinn-A-Burst and 1-800-COLLECT so get used to it for the next month or six weeks okay. MICHAEL BUFFER is out for the Nitro main event. Huh? Does that mean Flair and Flair will be .... aw shit. SUPERSTAR SCOTT STEINER (with Buff is the Stuff) v. (bill "192-1") GOLDBERG in a nontitle match - Why does the champion come out first again? Steiner whomps on a plant photographer - err, I mean plot device - err, I mean... Buff runs down Buffer, then says that Goldberg isn't here tonight so there won't be a match. Then Steiner tries to incite a riot by inviting every random fan into the ring. Goldberg's music fires up and the demeanor of the Wolfpackers changes quite a bit. Heenan gets quite surreal on us - Goldberg's in your garage, he's in you will - HUH? Sign in crowd "GOLDBERG FEARS GILLBERG" Staredown - Goldberg pushes him away. Lockup, to the corner. Steiner fails to break, throwing elbows, then knees. Whip is reversed, Goldberg put his head down though and Steiner continues the attack. Head to the buckle - Goldberg turns around and the crowd loves it. Kick to the gut, again, forearm. Steiner turns it around, whip into the opposite corner, big boot put up. Goldberg with rights. We're going to take a commercial break??? God only KNOWS how they can make a match like THIS last through an ad break. Anyway, Goldberg with the military press and he drops him just before we go to break. C'mon, Hardee's? There's NO Hardee's for HUNDREDS of miles here. I promise. When we come back, who knows what's been happening. Steiner wants a timeout. I hope he was doing that during the break instead of now. The chase is on outside the ring after Buff grabs the leg. Looks like Goldberg must have run into a Steinerline. Whip into the barricade. Whip into the STEEL steps. Goldberg made the challenge the world heard - challenge? What challenge? To WHO? Tony says they'll even throw in a taser, well, hell, they SHOULD accept it then if they're gonna throw in a TASER. Steiner with a blatant low blow kick but nobody gets DQ'd while they wrestle Goldberg, you know. Steiner with some punches. Steiner to the whip, but for some reason Goldberg's head goes through the ropes and he ends up getting clotheslined with the top rope coming back. Steiner whips him properly - lariat - elbowdrop - 2 count. Belly-to-belly suplex as Buff is working with the wire cutters on the top turnbuckle. Referee "Blind" Johnny Boone takes umbrage - Buff takes Boone to the turnbuckle to take him out. Buff's in the ring now - Boone over the top rope. Goldberg reverses a whip and it's STEINER'S back to the exposed STEEL. Goldberg spears Buff and the crowd is digging it. RICK STEINER is out! Double Steinerline to Buff and Steiner! Hey, the crowd was barking for Rick and not whooping it up for Goldberg! They're not as stupid as I was worried they were being. Now the NWO BLACK & WHITE is out sans Norton. Vince tries to get them to rush the ring - Stevie Ray throws Vince in instead. Vince is easily dispatched with a Steinerline and a whip into a Goldberg spear from the side. The NWO walks off as Goldberg and Rick stand in the ring and the crowd is barking like nuts. Yup. (DQ, let's call it .. oh .. 7:30ish) This portion of WCW Monday Nitro is brought to you by SNICKERS! Wrath appears on "Mortal Kombat" NEXT! And later, in some other federation! Promotional consideration paid for by WCW Smash & Slam Wrestlers (Why would Luger's action figure beat up Sting's action figure?), Hi-Ener-G old wives' pills, Arrid XX TotalSport deodorant, Aqua Velva IceSport, and Hot Pockets! Hey, look, it's the Nitro Girls! In SWIMSUITS! So who let all the birds into the recording studio for the background music? And why do most of these ladies seem so unattractive? Disco tells the satellite guy it's time to pirate the feed. The guy has a last second bout of conscience which will probably disappear right after this last ad break. What, you think they'd jam the feed during the COMMERCIALS? Shows what YOU know! From the special set, Tony Schiavone stands in front of a sofa containing David Flair and Torrie Wilson - my spider sense is tingling as I hear that Ric Flair's limousine has arrived at the building and the picture goes a little fuzzy...why, no, we DON'T see Ric Flair tonight. No, we DON'T get a promised event, hyped THE ENTIRE FUCKING THREE HOURS. Instead, we see a black and white NWO clip of David Flair and Torrie Wilson - Disco Inferno, doing a Gene Okerlund impersonation, tries to conduct an interview, but they are interrupted by Arn Anderson (Nash) and Mongo McMichael (Vince, in bear costume) - Arn opens a beer with his tire arn, then Torrie pushes him over. Scott Hall comes out as Roddy Piper, and here's Hollywood Hogan as Ric Flair, even better than Syxx was if that's possible. David spends almost this entire clip staring at Torrie's breasts, good for him. I'll give Hogan this, he's funny unlike the rest of these guys. But I'm not sure that's enough. Fade to white noise and a copyright notice. Should I even ask why THIS week Ric Flair wasn't even in the building until 10:55? No, I suppose not. Well, hell, I'm SURE there wasn't a SINGLE person who bought tickets to go to Sacramento to see Flair anyway... You know, I just don't really know what to say here. I'm speechless. It just...is ANYBODY totally into this? What's the payoff? I mean, Monday morning I thought Mike was NUTS for even bringing up the POSSIBILITY that Hogan and Nash were trying to run WCW into the ground, EVEN with SuperBrawl IX's conclusion, but THIS..... How long can they keep doing this? Is this what Flair stuck to his guns and disappeared from EVERYTHING for nearly four months to get? Is this what the fans are longing to see? How can WCW seem to turn it around, only to throw any meager gains completely in the crapper by poisoning 170 minutes with 15 minutes of....I mean, words fail me. It just does not make sense on ANY level. God, what a SHAME. All I can do is just shrug and shake my head. It's a damn SHAME. Tune in when next week Riki Rachtman tells us how great "Headbanger's Ball" was ten years ago.

One day, Torrence, a former inspector of the Police Judiciaire, now owner of a private investigation agency, receives a strange phone call from one of his clients, the well kown sculptor T. The latter wants to meet him at the bar called “the Meeting of the Limousines” and asks him to bring the documents given to Torrence a few days ago. When he arrives there, T gives him an envelope and Janvier, his ex-colleague arrests him and takes him to Quai des Orfevres. He cannot understand what is going on until he finds out that he is accused of having blackmailed T in order to receive money from him. But a call received by the head of the police from Torrence's colleague Emile, telling that the phone received at the Agency was not made from “The Meeting of the Limousines” but from a bar across the street releases Torrence. This way he hears the whole story and has the chance to tell his side of it. A few days ago T killed a man at his house in Yport because he dishonored his daughter Eveline and he threw the body from the rocks. He knew every court would let him go but wanted to spare his daughter the public scandal. However, to clean his conscience, he wrote a statement and gave it to Torrence to keep. A few days after, somebody pretending to call in Torrence's name asked for 20,000 francs to keep the secret. He gave the money but another similar phone call followed and T told the whole story to the Police. Now, both the Police and Torrence with his team (Emile, Miss Berthe and Barbet) are trying to find the blackmailer. Emile thinks that he is not just a person who needs money, but also someone who wanted revenge on Torrence. The agency had put many criminals in jail and so, it had a lot of enemies. They search for recently released persons who are also highly educated because the letters written were good enough to trick T. The research leads them to Vatissard, ex employee of a lawyer. Barbet follows him but he gets stabbed in the back, without being killed. Now they have the right man and, the next day, the police manages to capture him. But there remains one mystery: how did he know about the secret conversation between Torrence and T, if any of Torrence's collaborators did not speak about it? It's Berthe who discovers it. At the floor under the Agency's siege is a beauty saloon. While renovating, the workers took out a candelabra and because of the hole in the ceiling Olga, one of the employees heard everything and told it to Vatissard, who was her lover. The review of this Book prepared by Dana Samson

KBS Shafts succeeding on pro circuits Friday, March 14, 2014 It is not often that one shaft manufacturer receives a rave review from another shaft company, but what the heck, shaft wizards Kim Braly and Gawain Robertson are buddies. "Except for (True Temper) Dynamic Gold," said Robertson, co-founder of Accra Golf Shafts, "just about every iron shaft on the PGA Tour was designed by Kim. He really is amazing." Braly designed Rifle and Project X shafts before creating the KBS brand. Considering there was no such thing as a KBS shaft before 2008, Braly's achievements with his most recent shafts are staggering. Looking at the official survey results from the major professional tours for the last six years, it's a matter of record: more than 100 victories for KBS, including the Open Championship in 2012 (Ernie Els) and 2013 (Phil Mickelson), the Masters in 2013 (Adam Scott), the U.S. Open in 2013 (Justin Rose), plus the Senior PGA Championship and U.S. Senior Open (both in 2013 by Kenny Perry). "It has been unbelievable," Braly said. "This thing has come on much, much, muck quicker than I anticipated. I knew we'd be successful, but I didn't know it would happen this fast." All this from a guy without a college degree who has been consumed for decades by the search for the perfect golf shaft. "I attended plenty of (college) classes," said the 58-year-old Braly of his stint at Wake Forest, "but I wanted the knowledge, not the degree. "I learned about the stiffness of tubular products by studying flag poles, ship masts, fishing poles, things like that. There was literally nothing on golf clubs. It wasn't a science at all." There can be no discussion of Braly without mentioning his father, Dr. Joe Braly. The father-son duo helped turn the study of golf shafts into a science. In his lifetime, Joe Braly has been an engineer, aviator and veterinarian. He remains a golf nut and avid supporter of his son's lifelong golf endeavors. The elder Braly invented the Console wedge, with an aerodynamic sole that acted much like a wing. The younger Braly was in grade school at the time. A few years later they were testing clubs and shafts on a robot owned by Wilson Golf when the precocious son proclaimed, "Hey, Dad, there's something wrong with these shafts." The shafts didn't match. This led to the invention of frequency matching shafts. "My dad invented frequency matching," Kim acknowledged. "I was the guy who did the shaft design. He left that to me." Designing golf shafts may seem like a weighty project for someone in his early 20s, but it seemed like the natural thing to do for a young man consumed with the game. "I thought I was the world's best golfer," Kim said, "but it didn't quite work out that way." What did work out was the strategy employed by the Bralys: "We did our research on Tour," Kim said. "We followed the Tour around. We would have the best players in the world hit these various shafts." In 1977 they formed a company, Precision Shafts, and patented a frequency analyzer. Soon their FM (Frequency Matched) Precision rose in popularity on the PGA Tour. Precision was sold to Brunswick Corp. in 1986, the primary supplier of their FM shafts. The Bralys went to work for Brunswick, and soon thereafter Kim invented the Rifle shaft. In 1996, Brunswick sold Precision to a group of private investors. The Bralys stayed with the company, and Kim created Project X. In 2006 shaft giant True Temper purchased the company, and Kim was on his own. In partnership with a shaft manufacturer called FST Shafts, he formed KBS in 2007. Here is a rundown of eight KBS steel iron shafts. Weights are listed for taper-tip shafts. Better players often prefer taper-tip, although many KBS shafts are available in parallel tip as well. - C-Taper: Low spin, low launch for advanced players. Taper tip, 110-130 grams. - C-Taper Lite: Mid-high launch, firm tip, soft butt section. Features a constant taper design. Taper tip, 105-115 grams. - Tour: The original KBS shaft with a mid trajectory. Taper tip, 110-130 grams. - Tour-V: For players who prefer a lighter weight with less ball spin. Features tight shot dispersion. Taper tip, 100-120 grams. - Tour-V Wedge: Piercing ball flight with a lower-mid trajectory. Taper tip, 125 grams. - Tour 90: The lightest KBS shaft. High trajectory, additional spin. Taper tip, 95-102 grams. - Wedge: Similar feel to KBS Tour. Firm tip, 110-130 grams. - Hi-Rev: Mid trajectory with increased spin rate on short-range shots. Features an active tip section to provide maximum ball spin. Taper tip, 115-135 grams.

12/02/2013 7:20amJob seekers have been told to avoid posting inappropriate pictures or statements on social media websites. But a new study shows businesses that are hiring need to be careful, too. 12/02/2013 10:21amThe leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence committees said Sunday that terrorists have gained ground in the past two years and that the United States is not any safer than it was at the outset of 2011. 12/02/2013 11:01amCedar City — Festival City, USA — home to the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Neil Simon Festival and many others, is also located near world-class outdoor locations. 12/02/2013 11:46amA 6-year-old boy who was attacked by a pit bull is recovering after undergoing through three surgeries to repair damage to his face and leg. 12/02/2013 12:43pmA 52-year-old man faces a hate crime charge after police say he made a racial slur and threatened to kill a person outside a Salt Lake City convenience store. 12/02/2013 1:22pmWashington head coach and former BYU quarterback Steve Sarkisian is heading south to take over as head coach for USC, according to the Associated Press. 12/02/2013 2:03pmA rare hymnal containing the first printed music used in services for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is set for auction at Christie's this week. 12/02/2013 2:34pmNewly released court documents provide additional details about a deadly home invasion robbery in Taylorsville in October. 12/02/2013 4:28pmInvestigators believe they know who broke into Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church twice in one week, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage in addition to stealing thousands of dollars of church property. 12/02/2013 4:45pmA woman charged earlier this year with 10 counts of communications fraud and engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity is now facing even more charges. 12/02/2013 6:32pmJohn Swallow's last day at the Attorney General's office came and went without much fanfare. Except for an occasional phone ringing, it was silent in the Attorney General's office. Swallow's belongings had been cleared out over the weekend. 12/02/2013 6:37pmThe construction industry may finally be making a comeback post- recession, but progress in one Weber County city has been slowed because of the weak water picture. 12/02/2013 7:05pmA man accused of robbing a grocery store at gunpoint last week left behind the demand note he used during the crime, which allowed police to identify him, according to charging documents filed Monday. 12/02/2013 7:18pmSalt Lake City police officers are looking for a man who robbed a U.S. Bank Monday morning. 12/02/2013 7:44pmA Utah-based company has increased sales this year through cyber shopping and workers were especially busy on Cyber Monday. 12/02/2013 9:15pmCharges have been filed against a Bountiful man police say stole a car, two trucks and led officers on a high-speed chase last month. 12/02/2013 10:27pmHomeland Security agents in Salt Lake City helped shut down more than 700 domains that were hawking counterfeit products Monday. 12/02/2013 10:29pmFollowing a few unseasonably warm days through Thanksgiving and the weekend, temperatures are expected to plunge below freezing by Wednesday following a snowstorm that could plague commuters Tuesday. 12/02/2013 10:30pmA truck driver from Utah is accused of holding a 19-year-old relative against her will while the two traveled across country. 12/02/2013 10:36pmA growing economy is a good thing, but it's also hurting the Salvation Army. This season, the nonprofit organization expects to see an 18- to 20-percent drop in funds through the Red Kettle Bell Drive. 12/02/2013 10:58pmA Utah illustrator has worked on several DreamWorks Animation movies, and now he is writing and illustrating his own children's books. The station representative who can assist a person with disabilities with issues related to the content of the public files is Mike Dowdle, available during regular office hours at firstname.lastname@example.org and (801) 575-5555. © 2015 KSL.com | KSL Broadcasting Salt Lake City UT | Site hosted & managed by Deseret Digital Media - a Deseret Media Company v04

So what’s the story with the daughters of Zelofchad? In this week’s parsha they stand up for their rights. They demand to inherit their late father’s share of the Land of Israel, side by side with his brothers. Moses asks G-d what to do, and He takes their side. So women are equal, right? Perhaps… until next week. Next week we come to the end of Bamidbar and what do we find? The men are worried the daughters of Zelofchad will marry out of the tribe and the land will slip out of tribal hands. Moses goes to G-d on this too, but this time the outcome isn’t quite so women-friendly. The daughters of Zelofchad must marry their cousins. What’s up with that?! Well, I’m afraid those of us who expect to find full fledged feminism and an unequivocal demand for equality from women who lived over three thousand years ago will be disappointed. Even the sisters’ original request never amounted to a demand for full equality. The good news is that at least according to midrash, the actions of Tirzah, Noah, Milka, Hogla and Mahla do reflect a higher ideal of equality that society can strive for. A demand for full equality would have required women and men to inherit their parents equally. If this is what the sisters were after, we would expect them to cry out; to say that as women they were being wronged and demand justice; at the very least we would expect them to site equality as a basis for their demand. But what the daughters actually said was: ‘Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he had no son?’ (Bamidbar 27:4) Even once their request was granted, it wasn’t their own names they set out to save, nor the name of their mother that has indeed been lost to history, but their father’s name. Their motivation was the same as the one expected by the Torah of a woman whose husband died before they had children. A man who dies needs a man with the same name to continue working his land. They were asking that their male children carry on their father’s name and work in his plot. Why this would be so important is an interesting question for a different discussion, but it is clearly not founded on a feminist worldview. On the contrary, it’s obvious that the daughters’ entire identity was subsumed by the men in their lives, and their request rested on the assumptions of the patriarchal society of which they were a part. But is society’s point of view the same as G-d’s point of view? When the society we are talking about is the people of Israel, following divine revelation, we may be tempted to answer with a resonating yes. Surprisingly, the story of the daughters of Zelofchad proves otherwise. When the daughters consider their deceased father’s loss at not having someone to continue his name, they aren’t acting out of concern for themselves or out of feminist ideals; they’re moved by love for their father. Through the lens of love, the norms of patriarchal society are meaningless. What does it matter, they ask, if our father had sons or daughters? As the midrash puts it: When the daughters of Zelofchad heard that the Land was to be parceled out to males but not to females, they got together to take counsel from each other and they said: ‘Heaven’s mercy is unlike the mercy of humans. People have mercy only for males, but He who spoke and created the world has mercy for males and females alike… as it is written: “and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalms 145:9)

Pedestrians gather as police and fire officials respond after a car drove through a crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles on Aug. 3. / Maarten Smitskamp, AP Witnesses described a scene of terror and mayhem and said the driver appeared to be aiming for people when a car plowed into a weekend crowd of pedestrians on the boardwalk at Venice Beach in Los Angeles. "That guy's intention was to kill people," Landon Blackburn told KABC-TV after the Saturday evening incident that left one person dead and 11 others injured. "Bodies were flying in the air and people were screaming,'' Dave Blackburn told the station. "It was absolute mayhem." Los Angeles police arrested a man Sunday in connection with the deadly incident at the popular beach, a tourist attraction that is normally crowded with vendors, performers, artists and tourists. Nathan Campbell, 38, who turned himself into police a few hours after the incident, was booked on suspicion of murder and remained jailed on $1 million bail, police said at a news conference Sunday. Officials did not provide additional details or a possible motive for the incident, which occurred around 6 p.m. local time Saturday. "There no indication that he knew anybody that he hit," LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith said, according to CNN. "It looks like this guy wanted to run over a bunch of people. One guy bent on doing evil." The dead woman was identified as Alice Gruppioni, 32, of Italy, who was on her honeymoon, By Sunday afternoon, the beach and boardwalk were again filled with visitors. A Los Angeles city council member, Mike Bonin, told the Los Angeles Times he would push to have temporary barriers installed within the next two weeks to prevent vehicles from gaining access to the board walk. The victim died at a hospital a few hours after the crash, Los Angeles police Lt. Andy Neiman said, according to the Associated Press. Police said another victim was critically injured, two were in serious condition and others were treated for less serious injuries. Witnesses on the boardwalk at the time of the crash described a horrifying scene. "A car plowed through the boardwalk," Daniel Regidor, 50, told the Los Angeles Times. "People screaming, running. I was half a mile from the scene, but you could see just this mass of people trying to get out of the way. ... Just a lot of people screaming. ... It was horrible. "I saw somebody flying up in the air," said Regidor, who was running nearby when the crash occurred. "When I came upon the scene, there were a bunch of people on the ground, bloodied." Security video from the scene shows a man parking his black car alongside the seaside boardwalk as the sun sank, surveying the idyllic scene for several minutes before getting back into the car and speeding into the crowd. "There was people kind of stumbling around, blood dripping down their legs looking confused not knowing what had happened, people screaming," said 35-year-old Louisa Hodge, according to the Associated Press "It was blocks and blocks of people just strewn across the sidewalk." According to the security video and witness accounts, a man with a baseball cap, gray shirt and white pants parked next to the Cadillac Hotel, twice walking out to the boardwalk before getting into the Dodge Avenger and accelerating, swerving around yellow poles meant to prevent cars from getting into the pedestrian-only area and onto the boardwalk. Some witnesses said the vehicle appeared to speed up as it hit pedestrians. "The boardwalk was packed with people, and he sped up and purposefully -- it looked like purposefully -- was just swerving back and forth to run over as many people as he could," Laura Blackburn, who was dining with her family on a sidewalk patio, said, according to CNN. The car hit at least three vendors who were sitting at their sales booths, video showed. Daniel Jenkins, 19, was selling medical marijuana-related art and souvenirs on the pedestrian walkway and told the Los Angeles Times he saw the vehicle hit a woman who was selling turtles. "All the turtles flew everywhere," as did mannequins outside of storefronts, Jenkins said. Contributing: William M. Welch, USA TODAY; The Associated Press Copyright 2015 USATODAY.com Read the original story: Witnesses say driver appeared to aim for beachgoers

All your favorite TV shows are back this week — including a new Supernatural, in which Aunt Jenna from The Vampire Diaries is getting knocked up. And you might (or might not) be surprised to see who's the father. Also, a whole new pair of alternate selves meet up on Fringe, and Obi-Wan finds himself in strange company, on Clone Wars. All this, plus discover a two million year old boy, and a living 300 million year old relic of the dinosaur age. Also, check out new clips from seven of this week's new shows! There's another two episodes of House of Anubis on Nickelodeon today at 7 PM. Adventure Time is back once again at 7:30 PM, on Cartoon Network. In "Ghost Princess," "Finn and Jake try to solve a mystery for Ghost Princess." Here's a clip. And that's followed at 8 PM by a brand new Regular Show, and a new Mad at 8:30. And here's a Regular Show clip: Also at 8 PM, there's another new episode of House, the frequently weird-sciencey doctor show. Then at 9 PM, there's a brand new Alcatraz on Fox, "Cal Sweeney." Guest-starring Flash Gordon! When a bank robbing criminal (guest star Eric Johnson) returns from the past and things go wrong in the present, Rebecca has to break him out of the hostage-filled bank before people can find out who he is. Also at 9 PM, there's another new episode of Being Human on Syfy, "All Out of Blood." Here's a clip from the episode, in which "Josh and Nora confront their first werewolf change together. Aidan is shocked to discover a secret from his new girlfriend Julia's past." Syfy has a brand new (to Americans) episode of Lost Girl at 10 PM, "Sorority." At 7 PM, Nickelodeon has more episodes of House of Anubis. At 7:30 PM, Cartoon Network has a new episode of The Amazing World of Gumball, "The Ape." Check out a new clip at left. And at 8 PM, Cartoon Network has a brand new Level Up, "A Heart Worming Tale." Here's what transpires: "The gang find a network of magic passageways, but using them soon leads to chaos." That's followed at 8:30 PM by a new Looney Tunes Show. At 10 PM, Science has a new Monster Bug Wars. Nickelodeon has two more new episodes of House of Anubis at 7 PM. At 7:30, Cartoon Network has a new Johnny Test, "Johnny's World Record": Johnny is determined to get in to the "Stout Book Of Crazy-Inane & Useless Records". Everyone in town seems to be good at something but after 23 attempted stunts, he still isn't in. He ends up in the book for doing what he's best at, attempts to get into a record book! That's followed at 8 by a new Ninjago . And at 8 PM, there's another new Dragon Ball GT on Nicktoons, At 9 PM in most markets, PBS has a new episode of Nova, "Ice Age Death Trap." Racing against developers, experts uncover a site in the Rockies packed with fossil mammoths and other extinct beasts. That's followed at 10 PM by a special documentary about the Great White Shark. Also at 9 PM, Discovery has the premiere of a new series, Beast Tracker: Aliens are invading…not from a distant planet by right where we live. From the murky alligator swamps of Louisiana to Hawaii's pristine but deadly waters to the snake invested waterways of Florida to the hog ravaged plains of Texas, humans are struggling to find a balance between conservation and survival as deadly animals increasingly find their way into our everyday lives. Dr. Andrew West is the BEAST TRACKER and he's on a mission to investigate the "alien invasion" and the fine line between thrive and survive. BEAST TRACKER premieres Wednesday, February 1st at 9pm as Dr. West takes a closer look at the alligator - a 300 million year old relic of the dinosaur age that today finds itself dangerously out of place in the modern world. Dr. West sets out to discover why there is so much conflict between humans and alligators and finds out what is being done to prevent it. He hunts for monster gators in the mosquito infested swamps of Louisiana and tells the blood-curdling stories of people who have faced the terror of being savaged by a prehistoric monster. Nickelodeon has another two new episodes of House of Anubis at 7 PM. The CW's supernatural soap operas are back! First up, there's a new Vampire Diaries at 8 PM, "Bringing Out the Dead." In which: Sheriff Forbes (Marguerite MacIntyre) delivers some disturbing news to Alaric (Matt Davis) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) about the weapon used in a recent murder. In the Salvatore brothers' escalating quest to kill Klaus (Jospeh Morgan), Stefan (Paul Wesley) turns to Bonnie (Kat Graham) and Abby (guest star Persia White), while Damon (Ian Somerhalder) reaches out to an old acquaintance for help in setting up an elaborate plan. Intent on a plan of his own, Klaus hosts a strange dinner party, where he reveals another story from his family's violent past until an unexpected guest brings the party to an end. Meanwhile, Caroline (Candice Accola) is heartbroken when she is unable to stop a tragedy from unfolding. Also at 8 PM, there's a new episode of The Big Bang Theory on CBS, "The Friendship Contraction." And a third option at 8 PM: There's another new Dragon Ball GT, "Lord Luud's Curse." A fourth option at 8 PM: National Geographic has a special, "The Two Million Year Old Boy." A 9-year-old boy in South Africa discovers one of the greatest fossil finds of all time while taking a walk: a two-million-year-old clavicle bone belonging to a prehuman boy. Its an extraordinary find because it belongs to one of the most complete early hominid skeletons ever discovered. And then at 9 PM on the CW there's a new Secret Circle, "Medallion." Here's a clip, and here's what to expect: Cassie (Britt Robertson) enlists the Circle's help when she receives a frightening warning about the witch hunters' return. At the same time, her true feelings for Adam (Thomas Dekker) and Jake (Chris Zylka) surface during a birthday party that Ethan (Adam Harrington) decides to throw with the help of Diana (Shelley Hennig). Meanwhile, Faye (Phoebe Tonkin) and Melissa (Jessica Parker Kennedy) take their inner power to a chilling new level when they try a little of Lee's (guest star Grey Damon) "Devil's Spirit. Also at 9 PM, there's a new Person of Interest on CBS, "Root Cause." In this episode, "Reese and Finch's latest POI is a down-on-his-luck man who may have reached his breaking point. As the case evolves, the duo calls upon a former POI for help, the resourceful and well-connected Zoe." At 10 PM, FX has another new Archer, "The Limited." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police enlist the help of ISIS to transport a captured Canadian terrorist. On a train. Cartoon Network is showing another new Secret Mountain Fort Awesome at 4:30 PM. Once again, Nickelodeon has two new episodes of House of Anubis at 7 PM. At 8 PM, The CW has the return of Nikita, "Clean Sweep". Percy (Xander Berkeley) has his Guardians hold the members of Oversight hostage until Amanda (Melinda Clarke) agrees to his demands. If she doesn't, the Guardians will shoot all the members of Oversight and release a deadly gas inside Division that will instantly kill everyone, including Amanda. Nikita (Maggie Q) is torn between letting the enemy fall and saving the innocent lives inside Division. Meanwhile, Sean (Dillon Casey) is frantic to save his mother from Percy's clutches and turns to Nikita, Michael (Shane West) and Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca) for help. Also at 8 PM, there's a new episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on the Cartoon Network, "The Box." The disguised Obi-Wan accompanies Cad Bane and Moralo Eval to Serenno, where they enlist in a brutal competition with other bounty hunters from around the galaxy to determine who will participate in a plot to kidnap the Chancellor. That's followed at 8:30 by a new Generator Rex. And at 8 PM, there's also the return of A Gifted Man on CBS. That show about the doctor whose dead wife keeps telling him what to do. It's "In Case of Blind Spots," and here's what it's about: Michael saves a man from drowning and learns his identity is a mystery. Meanwhile, Kate discovers a girl she mentors has serious issues that she has failed to notice. And at 9 PM, The CW has another Supernatural, "The Slice Girls" DEAN'S ONE NIGHT STAND HAS SERIOUS COMPLICATIONS; "THE VAMPIRE DIARIES" SARA CANNING GUEST STARS - Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) investigate a case where the victims' hands and feet have been severed and each have been branded with a strange symbol. While Sam does some research at a local university, Dean heads to one of his favorite places to investigate – the town bar. Dean strikes up a conversation with a local named Lydia (guest star Sara Canning, "The Vampire Diaries"), and the two go back to her place. Sam discovers the symbol on the bodies is a sign of Amazon warriors. Meanwhile, at 9 PM, Fox has a new episode of Fringe, "Making Angels." Our Astrid gets an unexpected visit from her Alternate, while Peter and Olivia track a killer using a toxin that has yet to be invented. Both universes collide in a case that pushes the boundaries of what is possible. A third option at 9 PM: a new Grimm on NBC. In "Organ Grinder," As Portland's homeless youth start to go missing, Nick (David Giuntoli) uncovers a deadly black market supplying the Grimm world with human organs for all types of elixirs. As the investigation heightens, Nick and Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) befriend a pair of homeless siblings, Hanson (guest star Daryl Sabara, "Spy Kids") and Gracie (guest star Hannah Marks, "Necessary Roughness"), whose friends have gone missing. At 10 PM, Syfy has a new (to Americans) episode of Merlin, "His Father's Son." Also at 10 PM: another episode of the pornotopian historical drama Spartacus: Vengeance on Starz. At 11 PM, G4 has a new (to Americans) episode of Blade Anime, "That Was Then, This Is Now." Ben 10: Ultimate Alien moves to its new time slot at 9 AM Saturdays, with "Inspector #13." At 5 PM, The Hub has the season finale of R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: The Series. At 9 PM, BBC America has episode four of The Fades, in which all seriously appears lost and everybody makes some really really bad choices. Despite the somewhat random fashion in which a certain plot twist took place last time, the results are pretty moving and astonishing. There's virtually nothing on television tonight, due to something called the Super Bowl... but there is a new Mary Shelley's Frankenhole on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim at 12:15 AM.

What do you call alternative medicine that's been proven to work? MEDICINE! – Tim Minchin Sunday, March 28, 2010 Friday, March 26, 2010 Wednesday, March 24, 2010 Do Not Vaccinate Your Child, Helsinki, 2009 My gym teacher almost died of New Age. I was in high school. I'd never been much good at gym class at school, mostly because I believed I was the clumsy, nerdy kid who isn't good at gym class. In retrospect, that doesn't make all that much sense, considering that I biked to school on most days, which was about 9 kilometers either way, and since I was (still am) chronically late, I usually cycled really fast in the morning. However, even though I was in pretty good shape, I was no good at running after a ball, and consequently hated gym class and got lousy marks in it. Until high school. That teacher was different. His approach was to figure out what each of us liked to do for sport, and then encouraged them to do that. Thanks to him, I found my way to aikido, and stuck with that for a few years. My marks went up, too, not to mention my body image and physical self-confidence. He was into New Age big time. He followed a macrobiotic diet, went on about how the Atlanteans, who were really astronauts, built the pyramids in Egypt and Central America, how you can bend spoons with your mind if you try hard enough, and all that kind of stuff. That was harmless and a bit endearing, until he got a strep throat and refused to take antibiotics because he figured that homeopathy and holistic medicine would do the job better. The pustules in his throat grew so big he couldn't breathe properly anymore, and someone finally dragged him to the hospital. The doctors had to lance and curette the pustules out, and then put him on IV antibiotics. This isn't why I have such an intense dislike of New Age. I had that before. Perhaps it sealed the deal, though. While I am some sort of rationalist, I don't make a religion of it. We humans are, generally, pretty irrational. We waste our time doing stuff we know doesn't make much sense – smoking, drinking, eating too much, playing video games, blogging, getting into arguments about semantics on the Internet, collecting comic books, that sort of thing. Personally, I try to keep my irrationality to areas where it does as little harm as possible, to myself and others, but I don't pretend to be rational except in some limited areas of my life. I'm not particularly offended by irrationality, whether it's of the religious or secular variety. I am offended by harmful irrationality, though. The kind that hurts people. And New Age irrationality is a very serious offender. New Age fosters a particular kind of woolly-headedness: the kind that makes for a fertile ground from which exploitative gurus sprout up like poison ivy; the kind that makes people withhold vaccines from their children, treat cancer with energy healing, or (nearly) get themselves killed from a simple bacterial infection that's routinely treated every day in every polyclinic on the planet with a cheap life-saving drug that's been available for half a century. It's also intellectually a horrible mess. Many oriental philosophies are coherent, practical, and often useful. They have conceptual frameworks that make a great deal of sense in the contexts in which they're used. For example, the stuff related to yoga has concepts like the chakras, prana, kundalini, meridians, and what have you. My mother is a physician and yoga instructor, as well as being congenitally allergic to anything smacking of woo, and she says that you can experience the chakras and stuff related to them – like colors – if you're doing yoga, and you can actually make use of them in some ways that go completely over my head. I believe her. And I can't stop wondering how she copes with all the chinking crystals and whispering angels endemic to yoga circles. What I don't like is when some jackass takes all this out of context, parrots it to an adoring audience, and then starts directing the flows of kundalini energy between the chakras of his followers to rid them of their delusions, transmit shaktipat, and solve all of their personal, interpersonal, health, and spiritual problems forevermore, throwing in a bit of palmistry, crystals, The Secret, and Tibetan astrology into the bargain. Om tantra rama rama om. That irritates me just about exactly as much as when some other jackass starts jabbering about quantum shifts and the wave-particle duality and etheric vortices to prove the existence of poltergeists, or something. In each case, you have somebody who really has no fucking clue what they're talking about, but just lifts a bunch of fancy words and disconnected concepts, and then blends it into a fluffy mess that smells like incense and patchouli but is actually pure unadulterated shit. It's not spirituality, it's not religion, it's not even art, and it's a hell of a long way from science. In our neck of the woods, Buddhism is right bang in the middle of it all, and I hate that. The relentlessly cheerful and all-around good egg Markus "Uku" Laitinen, who is also the instructor and founder of Dogen Sangha Finland and as such an emerging public face of Zen around here, just did an interview (PDF) for Voi Hyvin, a New Age-ish lifestyle magazine. (Voi Hyvin is by no means the worst offender. Still, the headline articles in the latest issue include "Energy from Crystals," "Grandma's 54 Pieces of Life Wisdom," "Get to Know Macrobiotic Food," and "Clairvoyant Niina-Matti Juhola: Nobody Walks Alone.") I read the interview. It was pretty good. My problem is that the association between Buddhism in the West and New Age is very strong. Buddhist books are published by New Age publishers and sold at New Age bookstores. New Age mags publish articles by and about Buddhists and Buddhism. I've been asked if what I do is New Age, and I've had to explain that yes, we do burn incense and meditate, but no, we don't tinkle any crystals, we don't play mood music, nor do we compliment each other's auras, do energy healing, nor commune with ancestral spirits. While I had been interested in Buddhism for years – at least since I first encountered it "in the flesh" as it were, in Nepal in 1987 – I never even bothered checking out the Buddhist groups here, because I was so certain they'd have nothing to do with the real deal that I had seen. In fact, the first Buddhist group I did check out was pretty much that – lots of fluffy talk about everybody being your kind mother and all your problems disappearing, a gently hummed prayer to Shakyamuni Buddha (to New Age mood music), and "meditation" where we sat very very quietly as the instructor repeated the salient points of his dharma talk in what was intended to be a hypnotic monotone, not to mention that he was constantly singing the praises of his guru. Yuck. By some miracle, I didn't stop there, and eventually discovered people such as Uku who hadn't checked their brains at the door. Buddhism is not New Age. It's about as Old Age as the Old Testament. It's also a demanding, rigorous, and coherent system of thought, ritual, and practice. It's gotten that way through a couple of thousand years of progressive, gradual, evolutionary change, as it's adapted to new cultures and circumstances and slowly incorporated innovations from them. I hate it when New Agers appropriate its words and mangle its concepts and repackage it as something that looks superficially the same but really isn't. It's even more annoying if it's presented in a Buddhist context, as Buddhism. That's why I get annoyed at folks like Ken Wilber and Genpo Roshi who inject New Age pop philosophy from a dumbed down Carl Jung or an already dumb Eckhart Tolle into it, trademark it, and market it to gullible buyers. If somebody shits in the pool, I don't want to swim in it, even if there's only a little shit in it. Idealism? Perhaps. In the short time I've practiced Zen, I've found it much tougher and more demanding than I could ever have expected, but also much more meaningful and rewarding. I think it has a great deal to offer to a great many people – but not as New Age Dharma-Burgers. That's why I'd be a great deal more impressed if Uku scored an interview with Tekniikan Maailma the next time around. And given a choice, I'd much rather die of old age than New Age. Friday, March 19, 2010 Laughing Buddha At Chinese Restaurant, Helsinki, 2005 If some early bird around six o'clock on a March Sunday morning had happened to look in through the window of the classroom in Pernaja that we had converted to a zendo, I don't think he'd have had many doubts on this score. He would have encountered a pulsating growl of two score people chanting something along the lines of... Kanzeon...with a dignified lady in freshly pressed black robes performing prostrations on a pale yellow mat before a bronze statue on a makeshift altar, with someone else beating a wooden drum shaped like a fish's head and another one sounding a big bell that looks like a cauldron (with the Lord knows what in it). Praise to the Buddha All awaken to the Buddha Buddha, Dharma, Sangha Eternal, joyful, egoless, pure All the day Kanzeon All the night Kanzeon This moment is born of Mind This moment is Mind In fact, he'd probably have called the police. Or an exorcist. And had he happened by later, during our yoga interlude, when we were tugging at our earlobes in complete silence with frighteningly concentrated expressions, an ambulance. If Zen isn't a religion, it sure looks and sounds like one. However, in other ways it is significantly different from what we in the part of the world that used to be called Christendom understand by it. Western Christianity has been very much focused on questions of doctrine and belief, from the Christological debates of late antiquity, through the scholasticism and heresies and inquisitions of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, to the dogmatic disputes of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, ultimately to the tone of discourse set by Biblical literalists of our time. Protestantism has taken this near its logical conclusion, as it painted over the images of saints in churches and made religion a matter between the believer and God, and sola scriptura its ultimate authority. I think Zen may have more in common with Judaism than Western Christianity. It's not so much about believing anything in particular is it is about following a practice. I don't think it's a coincidence that there are so many Jews among Zen teachers and practitioners in the West: they already know how to practice, which gives them a huge head start. The rest of us have to first figure out what practice even is, before we can get started on it. Even more than Judaism, Zen is about orthopraxis rather than orthodoxy: doing things rather than believing things. The problem with characterizing Zen as a religion – or not – is largely due to our reflexively seeing religion in terms of orthodoxy. By those terms, it's not really much of a religion. It's apatheistic, beliefs are pretty much optional, and doctrinal disputes are about the how rather than the what. Brad Warner thinks koans will fuck you up and it's better just to sit quietly and let things happen; Kapleau Roshi thinks that you have to give yourself to the practice body and soul1 and chip away at the roots of your delusions wielding the koan given you by your teacher, or you might as well not bother. There is a huge amount of conceptual apparatus around Zen, from the core described already in the Pali Canon to contributions by the likes of Ashvagosha and Nagarjuna, Hakuin and Dogen, not to mention the anonymous authors of the Mahayana sutras.2 Much of it is intellectually highly attractive – practical, coherent, logically sound. Much is dense, opaque, and difficult, and does not make a whole lot of sense unless you're already pretty far in your practice.3 Together, this corpus does constitute a philosophy, every bit as much as, say, Marxism or Platonism or post-structuralism, and from where I'm at, it has a good deal more intellectual coherence and rigor than some of the above. But that's not all Zen is either, any more than it is only meditation or only ritual. Ultimately, it boils down to the pithy subtitle of Philip Kapleau's book – enlightenment, teaching, and practice. Buddha, dharma, sangha. Whether that constitutes a religion is something of a matter of opinion. It's pretty pointless to argue about it, really, very much including this little ramble. Personally, I think I'm only interested in the question because I haven't thought of myself as religious or spiritual since I gave up on Christianity around the age of ten or eleven, and I'm rather surprised that I find rituals like chanting the Kannon sutra so easy and natural, or that when I recite the Four Vows, I actually mean them, at that moment, as silly as it may sound. If your definition includes belief in the supernatural, blind faith, or ideas of absolute right or wrong, then Zen is not a religion. If it doesn't, Zen probably is a religion. Ultimately, the whole question is just about slapping a label on an abstraction, and abstractions definitely have no independent existence of their own – no matter what you think about anatta. 1 Which are illusions, naturally. Uh, right? 2 No, I don't believe they were really dictated by the Shakyamuni and then hidden by dragons for a few hundred years, before being conveniently discovered inside treetrunks and under rocks by monks who felt Buddhism had gotten too self-absorbed. That's just silly. 3 Anyway, I hope that's the reason, and not just that I'm too hopelessly dense. Thursday, March 18, 2010 Guarding Ground Zero, Beirut, 2005 I have a complicated relationship with war. First, in the spirit of Confucian Rectification of Names, let's make it clear what I'm talking about here. War. Not the metaphorical kind, like the war on poverty, or ignorance, or crime, or drugs, or terror. Not what one gang of meatheads from one neighborhood does to another gang of meatheds from another neighborhood. Not defending yourself or another from violent attack by some random stranger. We're talking the kind of stuff that's fought with sword and fire, guns and bombs and armies, in or out of uniform. Or, put more academically, organized violence perpetrated by one imagined community on another imagined community. Like most people of my age who have been lucky enough to grow up in our relatively secure part of the world, I have no personal experience with war. Perhaps I'm a little bit closer to it than some, though. Like most Finnish men, I've done my military service, and I grew up listening to my grandfather's stories, many of which were about war. More significant than that is that my wife is from Lebanon, and grew up there during its fifteen years of civil war. I've visited many times, and seen some of the ravages of that war, on the land and on the people. I even got to visit the UNIFIL peacekeepers in Southern Lebanon once, when Israel was still occupying that part of the country. Back in 2006, when there was that little affair between Hezbollah and Israel, war came pretty close. Bridges I had crossed were bombed out. The beach where I swam was inundated with a black tide of fuel oil when the IAF bombed out the Jiyyeh power plant, releasing an oil slick all over the coast. There were fresh shrapnel marks here and there the next time I visited. I wasn't there. I was safely in France, watching the action unfold on television. Yet it hurt. I felt a sheer, helpless, irrational rage, of the kind that made it very easy to understand why Hezbollah does not find it difficult to find recruits. At the same time, I'm fascinated by war. I like to read about military history and strategy, about tactics and weaponry and the evolution of organized killing into ever more refined and lethal forms. I've sunk inordinate amounts of time into war games, mostly on the computer, but also on the tabletop and pen and paper gaming. I've gotten absorbed in reading about the battle of Agincourt or that of Cannae; about Mongolian combined-arms tactics, or the ways the Hezbollah stopped the Tsahal in its tracks in that 2006 mess. I've read Mao's manual on guerrilla warfare, and Sun Zi's timeless Art of War. I can quote a bit of Clausewitz on demand, and I can wax eloquent about British naval tactics in the Napoleonic wars. I loved Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky with its ridiculously long battle scene on the lake, and the charge of the Rohirrim in The Return of the King brings a tear to my eye, in the book and in the movie. While I mostly hated military service, it was cool to blow stuff up and shoot guns, and I was good enough at it to get some shiny badges and plaques for it. The organizational and tactical aspects of it were also interesting enough to make the whole thing feel like not a complete waste of time. When one of the officers asked if I'd be interested in staying on after my year finished, or perhaps getting into one of our peacekeeping units, I refused… but not before just a tiny pause to give it some consideration. By then, though, I was so deeply sick of the twisted irrationality of the military, that that pause only lasted a moment. I remember the exact moment the absurdity of the whole exercise struck home to me. That was close to the finish of my year, and I was assigned to oversee the new recruits returning from their first evening leave. One of them was a guy about ten years older than I am, a physician, and someone who took another option – military service with conscientious objection to bearing a weapon. That's the toughest choice of all, because you get to go through all the pointless reprogramming they throw at recruits, and everybody sneers at you for not being man enough to shoot a gun. He was standing there at attention, tense and nervous as hell, reporting in, and I just thought, what the FUCK? What kind of system makes someone like him stand quaking in his polished jackboots in front of someone like me? War sucks. Despite all the guts and glory and lofty narratives and high causes we erect around it, there's really nothing glorious about it. It's just people killing other people for some stupid made-up reason. It really makes no sense that it has the power to snag the imagination and the emotions like it does, but then if it didn't, there wouldn't be any war. It's deeply built into us. A delusion, perhaps, but if so, it's one of the most evil, destructive, and tenacious ones we have to deal with. I would love to be a pacifist, along the lines of Gandhi or Martin Luther King and all those other guys. Yet whenever I start to think of the implications – really think about them – I start running around in a labyrinth and find no way out that leads to pacifism without altogether leaving this mess of a world we live in. Is there such a thing as a just war? If so, from whose point of view? By which criteria? Let's break a taboo. This is so hard it makes me physically uncomfortable to think these thoughts, let alone type them. What if nobody had resisted Hitler's little program to rearrange the map? What if he could have marched his troops to the Urals as easily has he took the Sudetenland, and realize his dream of the Reich? Would it have been worse than what actually happened? Would he even have been able to perpetrate his Endlösung without the brutalization caused by years of total war? If so, would he have been able to murder more than he actually did? Would those murders have been worse than all the other murder, death, and destruction that happened – Europe devastated from Calais to Moscow, 60 million dead, and still with half the continent under the thumbs of dictators just about as evil as the one that met his miserable end in that Berlin bunker? It would have sucked to grow up under Nazi rule, or under Communist rule for that matter. But lots of people did, and most of them turned out OK. Hitler wasn't the first warlord with plans to take over the world, and it's unlikely he'll be the last. The Mongols were far more successful, and at least as brutal. If Chinggis Khan had been able to hold his liquor better, even us here in the West might all be wearing little fur hats, and, perhaps, be good, peaceful Buddhists of the Tibetan variety. Where they met resistance, they left behind a desert where nothing would grow and no-one would survive. That guy in the Eisenstein movie – Alexander Nevsky – was sainted by the Russians. Why? Not for that little skirmish he won against the Teutons. For not resisting the Mongols, but rather traveling to Sarai and offering his fealty, thereby saving Novgorod from sword and fire. Sensible guy. What's more, very few wars really are just, even if you can find one that is. Most are just painted that way, by the people who want them. All of them are believed just by those waging them; otherwise they wouldn't. Hitler's twisted motives made perfect sense if only you accepted his mental framework of the hierarchy of races and the manifest destiny of the Arisch to rule the world. Given any random war, you're much more likely to be fighting in an unjust cause than a just one. So much for the case for pacifism. If I can make a case – even to myself – that resisting a monster like Hitler is not an open-and-shut case, then what's causing me problems? Only this: I get very upset at injustice, even if it's as trivial as some jackasses being pettily cruel on an Internet forum. I just cannot bring myself to condemn someone who picks up a weapon to defend against injustice, once all other avenues have been exhausted. I cannot find it in my heart to consider someone defending his home and hearth immoral. I cannot help but be thankful to my grandparents' generation for the sacrifices they made. Had I been there when the tanks rolled over the border seventy years ago, it's unlikely that I would have refused to be drafted and been shot for cowardice instead (never even mind that I'm too much of a coward to choose that option, moral considerations aside). My wife says that when war comes your way, you get down and stay down, or get the hell out of the way. She's been there, so she knows what she's talking about, and that position is just as morally defensible as the imperative to defend your country, as far as I'm concerned. But when the rubber meets the road, I don't know just how much of a pacifist I really am, but I hope to God I never have to find out. And that has fuck all to do with the Buddha. Monday, March 15, 2010 Sexual Harassment, May Day 2005, Helsinki, Finland That weekend retreat was way more intense than I expected. It's almost ridiculous how much of it was exactly what people like Philip Kapleau and Brad Warner and what have you describe in their books – the emotional roller-coaster ride, the feeling of abject misery and self-loathing giving way to elation, the Zen teacher deflating my expectations rather than acceding to them, the hurty legs, the crazily energetic, light-headed, and "purified" feeling afterwards. And the fact that it really is a rough ride, even if it is only two days. A part of the whole point is, clearly, to push the limits. The discipline serves that purpose, because pushing the limits is uncomfortable, physically and mentally. Often – and probably for most people – the outcome is positive: you get rid of some nasty baggage you were carrying, and end up with a lighter backpack. But sometimes it isn't. Sometimes you don't bend and stretch and emerge the better for it. You break, and the pieces rearrange themselves into some much nastier configuration. Then really bad things can happen. You can go into psychosis, or leave everything to pursue some phantom in the hills, or start to think you're a great enlightened master with some flavor of crazy wisdom and start a sangha of your own. There are plenty of stories like that around, although for some reason not a lot of them make it into books or blogs or pop culture. There's a lot of gentle but relentless social pressure in my sangha to practice more. Since most people – most definitely yours truly – often struggle with maintaining the motivation to keep practicing, this serves a purpose. On that retreat, the social pressure to conform to the discipline was overwhelmingly strong (which is a part of the deal, of course), and the pressure to participate in stuff that wasn't strictly obligatory – yaza, free sitting at night – was pretty damn strong too. There are some safeguards in place to prevent things from going too far. I'm sure the sensei and instructors kept a close eye on how things were going, and would have intervened had they noticed someone starting to seriously crack up. I had to apply for the retreat, and I had to sit a zazenkai or two before even applying. I've heard that the teachers don't accept everybody for sesshins. Nevertheless, it seems to me that the balance of the pressure is in the other direction, and despite the senseis' repeated stressing that breath counting really is a very good practice, much of the talk is about koans and sesshins, people often recommend going to stay at Zengården for a while, and that sort of thing. All this is very valuable, and I by no means think that sesshins or retreats or koans should be dropped to make room for people who aren't up to handling that kind of thing. However, I think that we could use a little more instruction on when not to sit, or go on retreat, or on a sesshin. There was one guy there who looked pretty miserable at the end of the retreat, and I sure hope that he wasn't left all alone with that misery. (Of course, I was too blissed out to be the one to do anything about it, and now I feel a bit bad about that.) Not everybody is able or willing to climb the steep paths, and I believe that it would not hurt those who are some way up to think of more ways to support less intensive kinds of practice as well. If someone who "only" sits a half hour a day and shows up at the zendo every couple of weeks feels like a second-class Zennie, then something isn't quite right. I had a very good retreat. It was much tougher than I expected, and I'm much weaker than I like to think, but I feel much better about it. It was important. But I am going to put my ideas of jumping straight into a sesshin the first chance I get on hold for a while, and just stick to my regular practice and maybe do another weekend retreat in the autumn, or next year, and then we'll see. I ain't no leatherneck Marine of mysticism, and dressing up like one isn't going to do anyone any good. As a postscript, I coincidentally happened on this funny story just now, illustrating one incident of somebody going a bit too far and cracking up. It has a happy ending and makes you laugh, but that guy Robert could actually have gone to the lake and jumped in, and not come up again. Worth thinking about. Sunday, March 14, 2010 Spiral Staircase, Bengtskär, 2008 I just got back from my first weekend Zen retreat. It was nothing like I expected, and not at all what I wanted, but it may have been just what I needed. That 48 hours included about 15 hours of formal zazen, complete silence, some work periods, some recitation, and dokusan. And an emotional roller-coaster ride that went from abject misery and self-loathing to near-euphoric elation, with hefty side servings of pain and perhaps just a bit of practice and tranquility. There's been some discussion on a few blogs here and there about how important Zen teachers really are, with some people arguing that you can practice by yourself almost or quite as well. At least I just figured out first-hand one of their most important and perhaps irreplaceable functions: the ability and will to expertly puncture an ego that's getting too inflated for its own good, and that without the tiniest shred of malice. I'm sure there's no permanent harm done, since it'll no doubt inflate right up again, but I will try to remember this experience. I might write a bit more about this some other time. Or not, as it may turn out. Not right now, though. Monday, March 8, 2010 I just realized I hadn't been doing my duty as a citizen of the consumer society since Christmas. Apart from food and a couple of comics, I hadn't actually bought a damn thing. I tried to go buy a pair of shoes the other day, since my winter shoes are falling apart at the seams, but just couldn't stand it and left. Then I came home and remembered I had an old pair of winter shoes in the cupboard. I took them out, polished them up, replaced the shoelaces, and now they're good to go for the rest of the winter. Perhaps we won't even have a proper winter next year, so I'll avoid the chore of replacing them altogether. To fix that, today I made a precision strike to the local electronics hell, and came back with a pair of desktop computer speakers. I had a perfectly good pair, only they'd developed a little hiss in the left one that was just noticeable enough to be annoying when there's nothing playing. I took those to the office, where the A/C covers the hiss. Since I liked everything else about the ones I had before, I stuck with the same brand, only I went one model up. My Creative Gigaworks T20 Series 1's spot on my desk has now been taken by a pair of T40 Series 2's. Gigaworks is a damn stupid name, if you ask me, but that's what Creative calls their top-range line of 2.0 desktop speakers. They're intended primarily for music. There's no subwoofer. Most are a bit bulky for desktop speakers, and the T40's are the bulkiest of all. They have two midrange drivers and a tweeter; the T20's make do with one driver. They also have something called BassXport, which means a hole at the top that's supposed to make the bass sound better. When I got the T20's, I was amazed by the quality of sound that came out of something that's so small and so cheap. I paid maybe 60 euros or so for the T20's, and a bit over 100 for the T40's. There's just one major qualifier: they sound fantastic as long as you're sitting between them at the computer. Get up and take a few steps, and the sound immediately goes muddy. They're very directional. I'm sure that's a conscious trade-off. In other words, if you want something to fill the room with ambient sound, there's probably something better suited for it out there, even in this very low price range. With that caveat, the T40's sound fantastic. They're crisp and very precise, the stereo image they create is very vivid, and even small nuances come through beautifully. The sound is also surprisingly rich and full for something this small. I mostly listen to "small band" music – singer-songwriters like Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, or Jacques Brel, Latin stuff like Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo, Cesaria Evora, or solo or chamber music such as Glenn Gould playing Bach, which is on right now. (He could stop humming.) The speakers handle all of this really well – this music is every bit as enjoyable this way as sitting on the couch listening to it through my "real" stereo. However, there is music that's just too much for these little things to handle. I tried listening to the first movement of Bruckner's sixth, and that didn't go so well. A full symphony orchestra opening up is a lot to handle, both dynamically and in terms of frequency range, and where the "smaller" music just sounds like music, that sounded like Bruckner's sixth playing on too small speakers. Magnificent music, but that was in spite of the speakers rather than because of them. I wouldn't expect Phil Spector's stuff to sound that hot over them either. But then again, I only listen to stuff like that maybe once a year, and then not at my computer. And I don't even like Phil Spector. So, how do they compare to the T20's? Well, they're similar. Whether they're worth the 50% markup is debatable. They're certainly not 50% better; more like 10 to 20% better. The biggest difference is that I have to turn the T20's up about 3/4 of the way before they open up, whereas the T40's sound good even at low volume. Other than that, they sound maybe just a hair "bigger." The physical design is also somewhat improved from Series 1 -- these don't fall over as easily as the T20's, the over-bright blue LED has been replaced with a more discreet blue ring around the volume/power dial, and there's a port for Creative's iPod dock at the back. I liked the gray metallic finish of the Series 1's better than the glossy black with tiny blue flecks finish of the Series 2, which looks maybe just this side of garish. Not obnoxious or anything, just not as classy. The bottom line? Both Gigaworks speakers I've used are really, really good for the price. They're way better than any comparably priced 5+1 setup (unless your main criterion of quality is bass that kicks you in the nuts), and come this close to a real hi-fi listening experience, as long as your ass stays on the chair. Whether the T40's are worth the extra cost and size is a matter of opinion. Then again, in absolute terms, neither of these is expensive at all. I don't know if they're all this good, but I doubt there's all that much out there that's much better anywhere near this price. The T40's are perhaps just punchy enough that they might be worth considering for a cheap home theater setup -- they're certainly miles better than the built-in speakers on most TV's, and if you can figure out a way to hook them up, a couple of pairs might make for quite decent satellites. It's amazing how far this stuff has come. And actually Glenn Gould hums pretty well. Tuesday, March 2, 2010 The Blessing, Nice, 2006 Over its long history, Buddhism has evolved into a variety of traditions. Many of these have emerged when a Buddhist tradition encountered a non-Buddhist one. Buddhism + Taoism = Zen. Buddhism + Bon = Tibetan Buddhism. Similarly, the various Buddhist traditions have interacted with and cross-fertilized each other. Some results of this mixing and matching have endured and become traditions of their own. The Harada-Yasutani line in which I practice is a relatively recent fusion of Soto and Rinzai Zen, for example. Others have lingered around a while before either turning into something no longer recognizably Buddhist, or disappeared after their founders or their immediate successors go the way of all that is mortal. Many prominent Buddhists – not least the Dalai Lama – caution against carelessly mixing traditions. At the same time, especially we in the West have a unique opportunity of being able to study and experiment with many of them. There are even a few efforts at creating an explicitly ”ecumenical” Buddhism that draws from several traditions. The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) is probably the best-established of these movements. Ultimately, the question of mixing practices comes back to the fundamentals. Why practice at all? I do a certain amount of physical exercise. I do this partly because I enjoy it, but mostly because I only have this one body, and I want to take as good care of it as I reasonably can. However, I do not have any particular ambitions to build muscle, or strength, or flexibility, or endurance, or speed, or the rest of it, beyond what I need to do the stuff I want to do. That means that it doesn't really matter what kind of physical exercise I do. If I get bored with gym, I can try chi-gong. If I get bored with cycling, I can try running. The main thing is that I don't completely slob out: any fitness practice is much better than no fitness practice. I'll never become really extremely good at any of it, but it gives me what I want from it in a varied and enjoyable way. For someone who practices Buddhism for the kinds of reasons I practice physical fitness, mixing traditions makes perfect sense. Meditation practices have immediate benefits. I feel much better when I'm sitting regularly and sitting well than when I'm not. I don't believe that the actual practice you happen to be doing makes a huge amount of difference with regards to these benefits, as long as it isn't something that's completely inimical to your mental make-up. So if your objective is ”bompu Zen” – meditating to feel better – I have a hard time believing that there's any harm in trying tonglen if you get bored with following the breath; meditating on a koan if you get bored with vipassana. Any practice is better than no practice, and if your practice goes so stale you'd stop it if you didn't change it, I believe that changing it is definitely the better alternative. On the other hand, if you practice for similar reasons a great violinist practices her art, or an Olympic-level athlete practices her sport, things just might look a bit different. There are musicians who have mastered a variety of instruments. However, they did not usually get there by practicing a bit of violin, then a bit of piano, then a bit of tenor sax, then the accordeon. They immersed themselves deeply in the instrument of their choice, and then extended that to other areas. They had demanding teachers that drilled them and tested them. Even so, most of them retain a main instrument – a great pianist might also be a great cembalist, and she might also be a competent violinist, but it's rather unlikely that she'd be a great one. I believe that there lies the drawback of freely mixing traditions. It would probably be a lot more difficult to become really good at Buddhism – whatever that may mean – if you hop from one practice to another as your interest takes you, the same way it's a lot more difficult to become a great musician if you hop from one instrument or one style to another. To accomplish that, a teacher and a coherent tradition are if not indispensable, at least of great benefit. Of course, nobody says you have to practice in order to become really good at it, any more than anybody says that you have to do gym in order to build a body that looks like one of those Belgian Blue oxes. That's nobody's business but yours. Unfortunately, sticking with a tradition has its downsides as well. Fundamentalism: coming to believe that your tradition is the 'true' one, and other approaches are invalid. Getting discouraged: if the tools your tradition has for surmounting obstacles just don't work for you, for whatever reason, you'll probably just quit, and be worse off for that. There are no easy answers there. There is another pitfall with mixing traditions too. This one isn't as much of a concern for the lone practitioner, because it involves teachers and sanghas. Highly innovative, nontraditional teachers have a track record that's... mixed. This is largely because going off the rails is an occupational hazard for spiritual teachers. Whether teachers like it or not, their students want to give them enormous amounts of power over them. Good teachers are able to handle this without turning into cult leaders. Not-so-good ones... not-so-well. Many teachers – even very good ones – often become at least a little eccentric, and I believe a big part of the reason is the sheer weight of the expectations laid on them by their students. They're only human, after all. And, sadly, every once in a while one of them goes spectacularly nuts, turning into Zen Master Rama or Andrew Cohen or Shoko Asahara. Established traditions have at least some built-in safeguards against teachers going off the rails. If a sangha splits off from the tradition where it originated, or claims lineage from a variety of traditions, or none at all, I consider that a bit of a warning sign. It's at least possible that the leader of the group has fallen afoul of the safeguards in his tradition, and has taken off on his own for that reason, whatever he may tell himself. Many of these problems take a long time to manifest. It's often only possible to tell that an innovative tradition was solid a generation or two after it was established. Therefore, I would tend to be cautious about relatively young and relatively innovative groups like the FWBO or Geshe Kelsang Gyatso's New Kadampa Tradition. Had I made like Philip Kapleau Roshi in the 1950's and gone in search of a Zen teacher, I would probably not have gravitated toward the then relatively new Harada-Yasutani line. It turned out that Kapleau Roshi made a good call: the tradition has since established itself and is soldiering on with no more than the usual amount of scandal. Perhaps he was an excellent judge of character, or perhaps he just got lucky. I would not have risked it. That is why I tend to fall on the traditionalist side of the fence. I'm not entirely sure why I practice, but I feel there's something to the reasons that's more than "bompu Zen." I'm somehow convinced that the Way leads somewhere I want to go, even if I don't know where that is. I've – slightly – explored a few of the traditions available in my neck of the woods, and have found one that meshes well with my worldview and personality. I intend to stick with that to see where it takes me, as far as I'm able.

Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl has assured fans the group has no plans to split up, insisting he already has an idea for a new album. Devotees of the “My Hero” hit makers were left panicking earlier this year when Grohl ended the group’s extensive world tour by announcing he wasn’t sure when the Foo Fighters were going to play again. The former Nirvana star quickly made it clear that he was talking about a break, not a split. And now he tells Rolling Stone magazine, “People should never be afraid that Foo Fighters are ever going to break up. It’s like your grandparents getting divorced – it’s not gonna happen.” Grohl is already thinking about the band’s next release and admits it might coincide with a movie, now that he’s a bona-fide documentary maker on the back of his upcoming debut Sound City: Real to Reel. He adds, “(I have) a concept for the next album we’ve never done before. And who knows? There might be a [bleep] movie to go with it.”

(CBS/AP)-- A man with expensive taste is being held at police headquarters in Canada's Ontario Province while everyone waits for him to produce some hard evidence - a $20,000 diamond he allegedly swallowed. A case of a criminal with intestinal fortitude. Police have waited nearly a week for 52-year-old Richard Mackenzie Matthews to pass the 1.7-carat stone through his system. Matthews is believed to have swallowed the diamond after switching it with a fake one at a Precision Jewellers in Ontario. But that's not all - Sgt. Brett Corey told the AP on Thursday that an X-ray showed a pair of fake diamonds stuck inside Matthews, although it couldn't detect the real diamond because it is translucent. He said Matthews has made numerous attempts to rid himself of the stolen object, and is eager to see the ordeal pass. Try the sparkling water, maybe?

Man Who Fled To Colorado With Kids After Allegedly Killing Their Mom, Grandfather Gets Competency Review A man charged with killing his ex-girlfriend and her father in southwestern Michigan is getting an examination to determine whether he's competent to stand trial. Teen Killer Gets Life In Michigan Couple's Murder At Missouri Vacation HomeA 19-year-old man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the deaths of a Michigan couple. 3rd Suspect In Double Fatal Detroit Firebombing Arrested In West VirginiaA woman accused in a deadly Detroit firebombing late last year is in custody. Ex-Con Sentenced To 45-70 Years In Deaths Of Downriver Mother, SonAn ex-convict who was living with a woman and her young son in metro Detroit has been sentenced in their deaths. Ex-Con Faces 70 Years Prison For Murder Of Southgate Mother, SonAn ex-convict who was living with a woman and her son in their Downriver apartment has pleaded guilty to killing them. Amber Alert Cancelled: Sisters Found Safe In Colorado With Father Suspected In Double MurderAuthorities say an Amber Alert issued for two Michigan girls has been cancelled after they were found safe more than 1,000 miles away from home. Michigan Man Suspected In Double Murder Kills Himself At Buddhist TempleInvestigators found the man's body inside an SUV at a Buddhist temple near Holland on Tuesday. Man Gets Life Sentence In Fatal Shootings Of 2 BrothersA man found guilty but mentally ill in the fatal shootings of two brothers has been sentenced to life in prison without parole in northern Michigan. Convictions Stand For Man In 1987 Murders Of Sister, Her HusbandProsecutors said Ryan Wyngarden killed the couple to cover up a past incestuous relationship. Police Identify Person Of Interest After 2 Fatally Stabbed In Home InvasionThree more people were stabbed in the attack around 6 a.m. Saturday in York Township. Ex-Con Charged In Deaths Of Woman, 10-Year-Old Son In SouthgateA man who was living with a woman and her son in a Downriver apartment has been charged in their deaths. 'It Was Self-Defense,' Says Boyfriend Charged With Stabbing Death Of Girlfriend, BabyThe 30-year-old said it was actually his live-in girlfriend who stabbed the couple's 13-month-old daughter to death.

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Specialising in tours to Mornington Wilderness Camp, other Gibb River Road attractions Lillimooloora Police Station In the 1890s an Aboriginal man named Jandamarra, often referred to as 'Pigeon', gained a notoriety that rivalled that of the Kelly Gang in Victoria. Using the caves and surroundings of Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek as hideouts, he led an organised armed rebellion by Kimberley Aboriginal people against European settlers. These activities prevented pastoralists from opening up a large part of the Kimberley for some time. Aboriginal people in the Kimberley were dispossessed of their land by pastoralists, deprived of their traditional hunting areas and forced to work on the stations. If they were charged with spearing sheep or cattle, they were chained around the neck and walked to Derby, where they worked off their sentences in chains. Jandamarra was a Bunuba Aborigine who lived in the Napier and Oscar Ranges for most of his life. During his early contact with Europeans, while working on stations and while in gaol for spearing sheep, he became a highly skilled horseman and marksman. However, the stint in jail interrupted his tribal education, and he was not properly trained in the Law. On his return home, he was effectively banished from Bunuba society because of having broken strict kinship rules that prohibited sexual relations with After befriending another loner, the Police Constable Richardson, Jandamarra became an unofficial tracker for the police. During a patrol of the Napier Ranges with Richardson, Jandamarra helped to capture a large group of his kinsmen and women. But over the next few days, while they were held at Lillimooloora Police Post, his tribal loyalties gained the upper hand. He shot Richardson, stole some guns and set the captives free. On November 10, 1894 Jandamarra and his followers attacked a party of five Europeans who were driving cattle to set up a large station in the heart of Bunuba land. Two of them, Burke and Gibbs, were killed at Windjana Gorge. This was the first time that guns were used against European settlers in an organised fashion. In late 1894 a group of 30 or so heavily armed police and settlers attacked Jandamarra and his followers, who had staked out Windjana Gorge in readiness. Jandamarra was seriously wounded and was believed to have died. However, the police then embarked on a military-style operation against Aboriginal camps around Fitzroy Crossing. Many Aboriginal people were killed, despite none being identified as rebels. For three years, Jandamarra tried to defend his lands and his people against police and white settlers. His vanishing tricks became legendary. At one point a police patrol managed to follow him to his hideout at the entrance to the Cave of Bats (Tunnel Creek) when word was received that he had raided Lillimooloora Police Post during their absence. Jandamarra was held in awe by other Aboriginal people as a magical person who could "fly like a bird and disappear like a ghost". They believed he was immortal, his body simply a physical manifestation of a spirit that resided in a water soak near Tunnel Creek. Only an Aboriginal person with similar mystical powers could kill him. The tide finally turned in favour of the police, when they recruited a remarkable black tracker from the Pilbara, known as Micki. Micki was said to possess magical powers and did not fear Jandamarra. Jandamarra was finally tracked down and killed by Micki at Tunnel Creek on April 1, 1897, finally ending the battle for Bunuba (Information supplied by the Department of Conservation and Land Management)

A few lessons here: Always have your camera ready to record all interactions with law enforcement. You do not have to comply with illegal orders. You do not have to get out of a vehicle when there is no reasonable suspicion or probable cause. If you're not driving, you don't have to show ID. As illustrated by Terry Bressi at the great website CheckpointUSA.Org, you are not obligated to answer any questions at internal suspiconless warantless checkpoints. The incident began when the co-driver pulled into the checkpoint. Officer 1: "How you doin?" Officer 1: "Is there anyone else with you?" Driver: "Yeah, my co-driver." Officer 1: "Can he step out? Officer 1: "Can he step out real quick?" Driver: "He's sleeping." Officer 1: "Can you wake him up for me?" Driver: "Um, I should not wake him up, we are going to California and he needs to rest eight hours." Officer 1: "If you want I'm just trying to make it easier for you. If not I'll just send you over there. Whenever he wakes up, do you want to do that?" Driver: "What are you talking about?" At that point the off-duty resting driver gets out of bed with the camera. The off-duty driver then gets up with camera in hand, saying "Is there a problem sir? What's your name? Let me talk to a supervisor." The officer looks very disappointed to see the camera and immediately gets down from the truck and walks away, turning his back on the camera. "Get your supervisor," the off-duty passenger repeats. The officer gets on his radio to call backup. The crazy thing is that border agents have no authority to interfere in interstate conmerce and delay a load travelling between states. Nor do they have a right to demand someone step out of the vehicle, show their ID, or interrupt their 10 hour sleeping period with no probable cause. A second officer with a drug sniffing dog comes snooping around the truck but the first officer says "he has a camera" and the drug dog cop backs off immediately also. Apparently these power-starved jackboot lunatics have an aversion to cameras for some strange reason. A few moments later a supervisor named Richard Zelmer hops on the running board and asks "How ya doin?" The off-duty passenger asks Zelmer the first officer's name, but Zelmer refuses to give it numerous times. The off-duty passenger then reiterates that they aren't allowed to wake him up. Despite the fact this interuption was done under the guise of determining "citizenship," no officer at any point ever asked either driver about ctizenship status, and neither driver said anything about citizenship. Zelmer, however, concluded "you're free to go" when the off-duty passenger kept saying not to wake him up. When the passenger tells him "do not wake me up again, you understand me?" at minute 3:11, Zelmer tries to open the driver's door but it is locked, so he turns away and continues trying to shield his face from the camera. "You're free to go whenever youre ready," Zelmer continues, then waves his hand directing his officers away, telling them "everybody just step back and get out of the camera." The same people had an eerily similar, nearly identical experience with exactly the same outcome in New Mexico in late 2012: Motorist puts police in their place at suspicionless internal checkpoint December 2, 2012 [Must see video- Featured on PrisonPlanet.com]. The following is the statement of purpose at DontWakeMeUp.Org The purpose of this website is to raise public awareness regarding this important issue. Not just to the truckers and the trucking industry but to everyday Amercians. For all our freedoms matter. This case applies to all Amerians as it relates to the right of people to refuse illegal demands for ID and illegal searches. If you know any truck drivers, please tell them about this website so that they will be able to see the resolution to this case as well as to defend their own rights when driving. The purpose of the lawsuit is to gain restitution for damages and also to prevent this illegal practice from being enacted again, in Texas and across the United States. I work very hard for a living, and should be free to exercise my business without unlawful interferance. I'm not some elitist banker who sits in an office and robs people blind through theft and usury. I am fortunate enough to be one of the diminishing number of Americans who still have a job unlike the 86 million plus unemployed or the 50 million hungry people who must resort to food stamps - government handouts- to eat every month. I am blessed to work in a career where I can make decent money. I am never going to submit to petty power-starved jackboot thugs who misuse and abuse their authority under color of law. My ancestors helped build this country- I was not raised to worship the state. I do not grovel to tin-pot tyrants or corrupt police officers. We need to hold police and their agencies accountable to the Constitution which they supposedly swore to uphold. The border officers both in Texas and New Mexico in the above videos both contended that we can "pull over to sleep" if we're tired, after they interupt my federally mandated ten hour sleeper break. "Pulling over to sleep" is not the point. Number one, they have no legal right to wake us up. Cops have no right to interfere in interstate commerce and make us stop working simply because we pull through a suspicionles border checkpoint roadblock. They have no probable cause to wake the person in the sleeper. Number two, the reason commercial drivers work in teams is to get the freight from point A to point B in a limited period of time across the country. For if a team stopped every time either of them was sleeping, there would be no reason to drive teams- that would defeat the purpose. Solo drivers stop and park to sleep after their shift. Team drivers do not. Any idiot can figure this out. So how are we going to make rogue cops stop this illegal practice? Only by holding them accountable will we stop this practice. That is why I sued those two absolute degenerate power-starved lunatic cops in Texas. As I've said before, I will win this case. "Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them, for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." Ephesians Chapter 5:10-14 DontWakeMeUp.Org Launched As Civil Rights Lawsuit Proceeds Against Texas Troopers Join our mailing list to receive periodic updates on this case and related issues: CA introduces "AB 666", an evil scheme to fleece motorists and eviscerate their rights 3/25/13 [Featured on WhatReallyHappened.com, Rense.com , Economic Policy Journal , and RomanCatholicReport.com. I was a guest on Dr. Kevin Barret's radio show Wednesday March 27, 2013 discussing the article and related issues. The MP3 can be heard here (2nd hour.) Oppressing the poor and defrauding a laborer of his just wages: "sins that cry out to Heaven for vengeance" Pope St. Leo I condemns "unrighteous and shameless avarice," and explains that "usury of money is the death of the soul." Comments can be posted in the guestbook. Obnoxious CHP cop tries to make people stop filming him 3/24/13 Lunatic CHP cops go berzerk as female motorist successfully demands her rights under CA Vehicle code 3/22/13 [Featured on WhatReallyHappened.com , Economic Policy Journal, From the Trenches World Report , The Daily Paul (most popular of the day), Fourwinds10.net, and Easter 1939: Father Charles E. Coughlin warns of the war propagandists, their system of financial control & their evil "blood business" [Featured on RomanCatholicReport.com , WhatReallyHappened.com , Republic Broadcasting Network, Fourwinds10.net , cottage-two , rustymetals.com , usapartisan, & scoop.it.] Man who hit cop in self-defense is acquitted, with help of friend's video footage March 28, 2013 [Featured on educate-yourself.org , WhatReallyHappened.com and strike-the-root.com.] How I beat a $700 ticket in 30 seconds in court [featured on WhatReallyHappened.com] Martin Hill on GCN Live with 2004 Libertarian party Presidential Candidate Michael Badnarik 1/28/09 discussing fighting traffic tickets Audio here. See also [Show Notes 1/28/09- A good resource]. Martin Hill with Christie Czajkowski of TruthBrigade.org 3/11/09 discussing fighting traffic tickets

To find Morgan Freeman, you have to drive for miles through the rural Delta country of northwest Mississippi, past cotton fields and fried-catfish joints, to arrive at the city of Clarksdale, population 22,000. Implausibly located in its rundown center is Madidi, a fine- dining establishment co-owned by Freeman that features honey-coated salmon with horseradish and roasted red pepper fondue on its menu. This is the Oscar-winning actor’s preferred place to socialize and conduct business. It represents his deep emotional and financial commitment to his home state. Looking every bit the cool cat in blue jeans, Freeman arranges his six-foot-two frame in a chair next to a window in the empty restaurant, leans back, and props his cowboy boots up on a table. “I have deep genetic roots in Mississippi,” he says. Freeman, 70, and his wife, Myrna, live down the road in Charleston, on a 126-acre ranch with a large, gracious main house, peach trees, and stables. He built the ranch on the same patch of land his grandparents worked, where he spent much of his childhood. By grounding himself here, far from the warping influences of Hollywood, Freeman paradoxically safeguards his box-office appeal. For while his superstardom is the result of an abundance of natural talent and years of dedication to his craft, he also embodies a virtue that is sorely needed, in the culture at large as well as in films: authenticity. In his new movie Feast of Love, an ensemble meditation on romance, costarring Greg Kinnear and Jane Alexander, Freeman plays a retired college professor whom people seek out for guidance. “Morgan and Paul Newman have the greatest moral stature among American actors,” says Feast of Love director Robert Benton. “Dustin Hoffman said you can’t act certain things: you can’t act eroticism or a moral quality. And Morgan certainly represents the moral center.” By grounding himself here, far from the warping influences of Hollywood, Freeman paradoxically safeguards his box-office appeal. In his greatest roles, Freeman has elevated that essential goodness to heroic stature with his physical grace and exquisitely modulated voice: as the dignified chauffeur in Driving Miss Daisy, the runaway slave and Union army sergeant in Glory, the decent convict in The Shawshank Redemption, and in his Academy Award-winning portrayal of a washed-up fighter in Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby. For all that, he says he has more fun playing villains, such as the vicious pimp in Street Smart. That role put him on the map, earning him his first Oscar nomination in 1987 and prompting critic Pauline Kael to ask rhetorically, “Is Morgan Freeman the greatest American actor?” These days he doesn’t get the chance to take on roles that would tap the dark or twisted sides of his nature. And though he never asked to be our national truth teller, he’s too classy to complain, especially since the perks are exceptional: he is respected all over the world and commands up to $20 million a picture. “I’m saddled with it,” he says, deadpan. The trust factor has allowed Freeman, in summer blockbusters, to convincingly break color barriers that have yet to be smashed in real life. When he appeared in Deep Impact as the president of the United States, audiences didn’t think of him as a black president—he was, simply, Our President. In The Sum of All Fears he played the head of the CIA. Freeman has even portrayed an insouciant, sneaker-clad incarnation of the Creator in the comedies Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty. Freeman himself downplays the significance of race. Or, rather, “I don’t downplay it,” he says crankily, “I just don’t play it.” Like Bill Cosby, Freeman has long encouraged people of color to accept personal responsibility for their lives. When 60 Minutes reporter Mike Wallace asked him, “How can we get rid of racism?” in 2005, Freeman’s reply was swift and blunt: “Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man, and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.” The actor’s eminence can be intimidating, says Ben Affleck, who directed Freeman playing a Boston police captain in Gone Baby Gone, coming out this fall. “Morgan is so imposing,” says Affleck. “He’s like a sage. He spends a lot of time on set making jokes—he’d rather have people be comfortable than genuflecting and babbling, making fools of themselves.” Freeman has a third film coming soon: The Bucket List, an odd-couple romp that opens at Christmas. He plays a mechanic who befriends a billionaire, played by Jack Nicholson, when they both receive terminal-cancer diagnoses. The guys make a list of the things they always wanted to do in life, and flee the hospital together to pursue them. “It’s not a downer,” says Bucket List director Rob Reiner. “It’s about living your life and finding joy.” Reiner contrasts the acting styles of his two stars. “Jack is all over the place in a way, like a brilliant abstract artist. Morgan is a Zen master—he’s so centered and elegant.” Reiner offers his opinion on Freeman’s reluctance to discuss race: “Morgan’s whole being is about transcendence,” he says, “and that makes a powerful statement.” For his part, Freeman calls working with Nicholson one of the great thrills of his career, and launches unprompted into an imitation of how Jack, an inveterate script tinkerer, approached him on the set each morning with dialogue changes. “‘You know, Morgan, I was just thinking,’” he drawls. “‘Y’ know I don’t sleep at night, so, well, this is what I thought…how does this sound?’” Freeman laughs heartily. “‘I love it, Jack. Whatever you want to do—I don’t care.’” On the last day of filming, feelings were running high on the set. “We’re not going to hug each other, are we?” Nicholson muttered to Freeman. But after the final shot wrapped, Freeman told his costar, “This has been a dream come true for me.” “Likewise,” said Nicholson, and the two men shared a bear hug, to the applause of the cast and crew. I remember something my father would say to me when I was growing up,” says Morgana Freeman, 36, a beauty salon owner in Atlanta and one of the star’s four children. “If I was complaining about something that wasn’t going right, he would say, ‘Now what? You are still in the race.’ He made me see that I could keep going, readjust the plan.” He is respected all over the world and commands up to $20 million a picture. 'I’m saddled with it,' he says, deadpan. Freeman has lived by his own advice, rising to stardom only after 50, following decades of struggling in the New York theater and in small film and television roles. Born in Memphis in 1937, he had a chaotic childhood: his mother, a domestic worker, split with his alcoholic father, a barber, when her five children were young, and the family moved frequently. When they fell on hard times in Chicago, his mother’s parents drove north, picked up the children, and brought them back to Charleston, Mississippi. Eventually Freeman’s mother, Mayme Edna, moved to nearby Greenwood and made a home for her children there. In the ’40s and early ’50s, Greenwood was a racially tense community. Just ten miles north of the town, young Emmett Till was murdered for (supposedly) flirting with a white woman in 1955, the year Freeman graduated from Broad Street High School. Although its students made do with hand-me-down books, all-black Broad Street High provided Freeman with a first-rate education, he says. “You had to stand up in class and quote the prologue to The Canterbury Tales and passages from Macbeth.” “Morgan was a skinny guy, a good student, and a high stepper, the drum major in the school band,” recalls his friend Benjamin Nero, a Philadelphia orthodontist. “Even though he had a comedic personality, he was a shy-type guy.” Freeman’s English teacher, Leola Gregory Williams, recognized his talent and challenged him to enter regional drama competitions, where he won prizes. “She thought I was God’s gift to the world,” he says. “She expressed that to me and everybody who would listen. When that is happening to you, well, you just step up another rung.” His biggest fan, though, was his mother, who by now was remarried and working as a nurse’s aide while also playing piano in church. Freeman says he learned to act by watching Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper, and Sidney Poitier at the local cinema, then racing home to practice their moves in the mirror. “I’m going to take you to Hollywood!” his mother would say. Although he very much wanted to act and had even been offered some scholarships to study theater, Freeman also dreamed of flying. Seduced by the military movies he’d seen as a kid, Freeman joined the Air Force. But when he had the chance to train as a fighter pilot toward the end of his enlistment period, he realized he wanted nothing to do with killing people in a real-world war. “I had this very clear epiphany,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘You are not in love with this; you are in love with the idea of this.’ So off I went to Hollywood.” From that moment, Freeman’s commitment to acting never wavered. He worked as a clerk in Los Angeles and took acting, singing, and dancing lessons at night. Sensing more opportunity back east, he moved to New York City. There he honed his craft in off-Broadway shows. In 1967 he landed a Broadway gig in Hello, Dolly!, starring Pearl Bailey. Freeman eventually nabbed a spot on the public-TV kids’ show The Electric Company. Had Freeman’s life been a movie, the years that came next would have been the part where the hero hits rock bottom. Despite steadily turning up for casting calls, Freeman couldn’t make the transition to movies. He grew disheartened, and by the late ’70s his life was in a shambles. He had fathered two sons out of wedlock by different women before he married Jeannette Bradshaw in ’67 and adopted her daughter, Deena; the couple had a second daughter, Morgana, in ’71. But Freeman’s marriage was disintegrating, and he was drinking heavily. “I was depressed,” he says. “I was doing a television show, and I hated it. So I was very upset with myself, because now I’m doing something I no longer want to be doing, just for the money, and that’s a bad place to be.” Freeman gave up drinking after “waking up face-down on the floor in the hallway in my New York apartment.” Does he think he inherited his father’s predisposition to alcoholism? “No,” he says. “I’m not addicted to anything, really—I can go headfirst into anything and stay with it for a while, and then I’m done with it.” Freeman finally caught the breaks he needed in the 1980s. He married his current wife, Myrna, a costume designer, in ’84. He headlined bigger and better stage productions such as Mother Courage and Othello, “the only role I’ve been intimidated by.” And he broke through to stardom in films. After earning raves as the sordid pimp in Street Smart, he veered to the saintly in his first starring role, as Jessica Tandy’s chauffeur, Hoke, in Driving Miss Daisy. Wearing a gray wig and adopting an arthritic gait, he gave a nuanced performance that melded the deference and self-respect he had personally witnessed in Southern blacks who served white employers. “I knew who that man was, how the whole song was sung,” he said. Some African Americans viewed Hoke as an Uncle Tom and were discomfited by his passivity. But Freeman wasn’t about to inject artificial rebelliousness into the character to avoid catching flak. “Hoke was certainly not kowtowing to that lady, and he had a lot of dignity and strength,” says Driving Miss Daisy’s director, Bruce Beresford. “Morgan was aware that some people wouldn’t like it, but characteristically he said, ‘I can’t help that.’ ” Last June, while filming the fantasy action film Wanted in Prague with Angelina Jolie, Freeman hit a milestone: to mark his 70th birthday, the cast and crew serenaded him and presented him with a cake. When asked how it feels to be 70, he answers with no hesitation: “Great. Fabulous.” He radiates good health and ease—and he works at staying fit. He enjoys the beef tips and fried oysters at Madidi, for instance, but he is careful not to overeat, does yoga, and works out in his gym at the ranch to keep his frame lean. He says he has not noticed any decrease in his energy as he has gotten older. Maybe one way Freeman stays youthful is by learning new skills, tackling each one obsessively until he masters it. He rode until he became an adept horseman. Then for years, if he wasn’t working, he could be found on his ketch Sojourner, which he sailed around the Caribbean. “Some people feel insignificant out at sea,” he says. “I feel the most significant, like I have wings.” Five years ago he got even closer to sprouting wings, taking flying lessons. He and his best friend, Bill Luckett—Freeman’s partner in Madidi and other Clarksdale ventures—teamed up to buy a twin-engine Cessna 414 and a Cessna Citation jet. They fly together frequently, on fishing trips to Montana or business jaunts to New York or Los Angeles, trading off on the controls. And recently Luckett introduced Freeman to golf. “Morgan had never picked up a golf club,” Luckett says. “He took to it like a duck to water; he has a beautiful golf swing. Once he gets onto something, he’s on it.” Freeman’s family life, which he once described as “convoluted,” has stabilized. He and Myrna pursue their own interests; if he’s not working, he’s usually flying somewhere, while she loves to take care of the Charleston house and garden. When asked now what the key is to his long marriage, Freeman lets out a big laugh. “Sh-t, I don’t know,” he says. He knows what kind of father he has been, though: “Not much, I don’t think. When my kids were growing up, I was off working. Two of them I didn’t even have any truck with at all.” Once his two sons, who were raised by their mothers, became adults, he established relationships with them. Alfonso, an actor, has a small part playing his son in The Bucket List. “He’s in St. Louis right now rehearsing for Othello,” says Freeman with pride. Saifoulaye, a stay-at-home dad, lives in Michigan; daughter Deena, a hairdresser for films, is in South Carolina. “In my opinion he was a great father,” says Morgana. “He’ll say he wasn’t, and I can’t say his being away a lot didn’t make it hard, but we learned to deal with it. When he was there, he was there, and his words were always very helpful.” Freeman has no desire to slow down his work pace—“I love moviemaking,” he says. He will produce and star in a film about Nelson Mandela that tells the story of the 1995 rugby World Cup, held in South Africa. “That’s gonna be a real challenge,” he says. He hopes to persuade Clint Eastwood to direct, which would afford him the pleasure of joining two of the three people he says he most admires: Mandela, Eastwood, and the Dalai Lama. The suffocating midday heat has abated, and Freeman has a date with Luckett at the local golf course. Luckett, a lawyer, is the hands-on impresario of an ever-increasing network of business and charitable ventures that enmeshes Freeman in Mississippi. They founded Madidi and the nearby Ground Zero Blues Club partly for selfish reasons: they both love great food and good music, and there was no place local to go. Clarksdale, known as the birthplace of the blues, has long attracted pilgrims who come to see the sleepy crossroads town where such greats as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Ike Turner all lived, performed, or recorded; even Elvis played here as a youngster. “This town is legendary, but there was nothing here to support the legend,” explains Freeman. He and Luckett admit they lose money on both the restaurant and the club, but their losses are offset by profitable investments, including in real estate. Freeman is low-key about his charitable endeavors, but through his Rock River Foundation he has given millions to 4-H clubs, Teach For America, and other educational institutions. While most of his efforts are dedicated to the Mississippi Delta region, after Hurricane Ivan in 2004 Freeman helped the Grenada Relief Fund, established to rebuild the devastated Caribbean island. More than five decades ago, when he left Mississippi, Freeman couldn’t imagine ever wanting to return. But around 1990, with his mother growing older, he moved back to spend time with her. By then she was living in what had been her parents’ house in Charleston, and Freeman bought adjacent land to build his own home next door While he was growing up in Mississippi, his professional prospects and even his options for self-expression were limited; for a black man, defying a white person in power could have fatal consequences. A vivid measure of the distance Freeman has traveled occurred in 2000 when he took part in the tribute to Eastwood at the Kennedy Center Honors annual gala in Washington, D.C. At the dinner, says one source, an intermediary approached Freeman with a request from Mississippi senator (and former segregationist) Trent Lott—could Lott come to the star’s table to meet him? “I don’t see any reason why,” Freeman calmly replied. “Tell him you can’t find me.” Freeman’s ancestors worked this soil, and his mother is buried on his land, where her modest house still stands, a reminder of where he came from. “You know, you go around the world, and you have eaten in the best restaurants and stayed in the best hotels,” he says. “But here, there is peace and quiet and solitude. And the realization that this has always represented safety.” What kind of safety? Freeman taps the side of his head. “Psychic safety. So I tell people I’m where I’m supposed to be.” West Coast editor Nancy Griffin profiled Helen Mirren for the March & April issue. Next ArticleRead This

President Obama’s nominee to represent America in the worldwide fight for religious freedom is raising alarms from many traditional and conservative interest groups in the United States over his positions on abortion, homosexuality and marriage. “How will it be possible for [Rabbi David] Saperstein, who has in the past stood against certain aspects of religious expression in the United States, to promote religious freedom abroad?” asked William Murray of the Religious Freedom Coalition in a report by Andrew Harrod on the coalition website. Saperstein was nominated by the White House with great fanfare to be ambassador for International Religious Freedom, a position inside the U.S. State Department. In a prepared statement at the time Obama said, “I am grateful that Rabbi Saperstein has chosen to dedicate his talent to serving the American people at this important time for our country. I look forward to working with him in the months and years ahead.” The announcement praised Saperstein’s experience as “director and counsel of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, where he has served since 1974. He is also an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches First Amendment church-state law and Jewish law.” The White House pointed out that Saperstein also serves on a number of boards, including The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. His history with Obama is extensive, having been on the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships from 2010 to 2011, and a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 1999 to 2001. But the report from Harrod raised a number of questions and concerns – including that Saperstein has been a guest “at a far left People for the American Way conference.” Saperstein would be the “first non-Christian” to hold the post that was created in 1998, he noted. The report said some conservatives have supported Saperstein, including a pledge of cooperation from Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Rep. Frank Wolf called him a “good nomination.” But the Becket Fund, which has fought on behalf of religious rights against the abortifacient mandate in Obamacare all the way to the Supreme Court, said while it “congratulates” Saperstein, it “had not agreed” with him on “every issue.” Harrod’s report notes that Saperstein is a “longstanding abortion supporter” and he had criticized the 1976 Hyde Amendment, which banned federal dollars from going for abortions as a “dangerous precedent.” Such a position would conflict with many of the Christian churches in America. And his opinion on a Supreme Court ruling that the government could not force Christian employers to violate their faith and pay for abortifacients was that it was “dismaying.” The Alliance Defense Fund, Harrod explained, was on the other side of that fight and considered it troubling that Saperstein would adopt a perspective that held “callous disregard for religious liberty.” “This baffling appointment,” the statement said, “is akin to putting the fox in charge of the hen house – how will he have credibility defending freedom of religion abroad when he favors limiting religious freedom at home?” Harrod pointed out that Saperstein “also holds sexual left positions on homosexuality and transgenderism,” supported the idea of marriage “equality” that would break down traditional marriage by allowing same-sex duos. Further, the report said Saperstein supports an “anti-discrimination” law that would provide special status to those who are confused about their gender. And conservative Rabbi Aryeh Spero told Harrod, “I’ve been following David’s activities for 30 years. I’m not confident he will address the greatest threat to religious freedom today – radical Islam’s oppression … of Christians across many parts of the world as well as its threats against Jewish people.” In fact, Saperstein co-founded Shoulder-to-Shoulder, a group that promotes “Standing with American Muslims; Upholding American Values.” His group wanted the New York Police Department to purge “harmful and offensive materials” that revealed facts such as a majority of the terror attacks inflicted on the United States in recent years have been brought about by Muslim males. Harrod pointed out, “The foregoing leaves much to ponder for individuals like … Barret Duke [of the Southern Baptists Ethics board].” He said, “If it should become clear that his liberal social and theological views will render him incapable of advocating equally for all people of faith, then I will declare him unfit for the position.” Murray warned, a “dramatic change in some positions would be required for Ambassador Saperstein to serve the cause of religious rights as declared in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.” At Catholic World News, writers opined, “The man nominated by President Obama to be the U.S. ambassador-at-large for religious freedom has taken public stands directly opposed to those of the U.S. Catholic bishops on key religious-freedom issues.”

Please note: As a courtesy, please do not reproduce these comments to newsgroups, forums or other online places. Links only please. MY BOYS (TBS) (Tuesdays at 10:00/9:00c starting November 28) The network's description: "(from TBS's press release) MY BOYS is a half-hour scripted comedy series starring Jordana Spiro (JAG, Must Love Dogs) as PJ, a twenty-something "guy's girl" who tries to find romance within her world dominated by male friends. As a huge sports fan and professional sportswriter, she has a masculine, no-nonsense, sports-analogous approach to dating that often freaks out potential boyfriends. Her only female friend advises her to dress and act more feminine, but it's hard for PJ to shake off her tomboy qualities. Jim Gaffigan (That �70s Show, Ed), Jamie Kaler (The Family Stone), Michael Bunin (Scrubs), Reid Scott (American Dreams), Kyle Howard (Related, Orange County) and Kellee Stewart (Guess Who?) co-star in this series from Sony Pictures Television and Pariah. MY BOYS is being executive-produced by Gavin Polone (Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Gilmore Girls), Jamie Tarses and writer Betsy Thomas (Run of the House)." What did they leave out: That's about it. The plot in a nutshell: PJ (Jordana Spiro) is your quintessential tomboy "all growed up." Surrounded by men during the day at her job as a Chicago Sun Times sportswriter and again at night with her group of friends - her hen-pecked brother Andy (the always awesome Jim Gaffigan), her old college roommate/radio DJ Brendan (Reid Scott), ladies man Mike (Jamie Kaler) and the shy but connected Kenny (Michael Bunin) - her only female outlet is Stephanie (Kellee Stewart), who's always pulling her away from the boys' club. Said tug-of-war comes to a head when she meets Bobby (Kyle Howard), a fellow sportswriter who becomes part of "the group" after Mike invites him to play for their softball team. After failing to ignite any sparks with her usual tricks, she caves and tries it Stephanie's way, the result of which - you guessed it - makes things even more awkward. Will she be able to figure out her relationship with Bobby and provide the audience with a cliche-filled sports metaphor via voice over? The answer - as if I have to tell you. What works: For what it's worth, the cast is pretty likeable and the show has a few genuinely amusing moments but... What doesn't: ...it's just another in long line of forgettable "Sex and the City" knock offs. (And why shouldn't it be? It airs after "Sex and the City" repeats.) Everything here just feels said and done before, especially its principal "a single girl that's just one of the guys" angle. That, added with its "Only in TV and Movies" understanding of sportswriting and its endless Chicago shout outs (is it too much to ask to have a show set in Chicago that doesn't spend all its time pointing out it's set in Chicago? This doesn't happen in shows set in L.A. and New York.), puts quite a few eye-rolling layers on what could be a fun show. It's biggest flaw however is its painfully ham-fisted narration by PJ, which uses third-grade sports metaphors to describe her dating foibles. They eat away at what little credibility her character is given as a sportswriter, not to mention as an actual human being. Things thankfully get toned down a little in the show's second episode (which follows the premiere on Tuesday) as a few genuine laughs get through the thicket (PJ on her hatred of Bobby's newest flame: "She's one of those girls with really small wrists.") All in all, it's exactly what you expect. And while one can't help but root for a scripted comedy on cable (or at least scripted comedy fans like myself), this isn't the easiest team to cheer for. And if you thought that sports metaphor was painful, just watch the show. The challenges ahead: Will "My Boys" (and fellow newcomer "10 Items or Less," which unfortunately wasn't available for review) give TBS a foothold in the scripted TV business?

© Getty Images Justin Bieber And Virgin Galactic In Other News... Bieber Is Going To Space Should I ever find myself strapped down inside a giant metal shuttle hurtling towards space, clenching my bumcheeks with a force that could open a coconut, I know who I’d like to see strapped down next to me. I’d like to see the world’s finest minds on the topic of supersonic space travel, a gang of experienced astronauts and NASA’s most revered engineers. The last person I’d like to see is Justin Bieber. Sure, he can sing, he can dance and he’s got impressive abs, but what use is that when all systems fail as we reach 62 miles in altitude, the internationally accepted boundary for outer space? Unless you count using him as a giant stress ball, or a receptacle for zero-gravity space vomit. But Bieber is going to space whether we like it or not. Thanks to Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic programme, obscenely rich celebrities can now buy their way out of the atmosphere. A mere $2,500,000 deposit guarantees lucky celebrities priority seats on the first commercial space flights (as well as a bit of G Force training and the chance to watch the test flights in the Mojave Desert). Though the programme hasn’t yet begun (the first flight is scheduled for Christmas Day 2013), 600 wannabe astronauts have already signed up. Bieber is joining a list that is thought to include Ashton Kutcher, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. At the Cannes Film Festival, Vasily Klyukin, a 37-year-old Russian man living in Monaco paid £1.5 million at an auction to accompany Leonardo DiCaprio on one of these trips into space. It’s exciting news indeed, and it should really serve to brighten up the day of their poorest, most miserable fans. The lives of the rich and famous were far-removed from that of the everyman before, but now that they’re actually jetting into space it opens up a rather dim vision of our planet’s future. One day, Earth’s natural resources will run out. The chances of human survival as we know it could depend upon our colonisation of another faraway planet. We won’t be leaving in an orderly fashion. There won’t be a nice organised queue at the futuristic space bus station (which I’d like to see built in Milton Keynes). The only people getting out of here will be the ones with all the money. That means that the future home of mankind will be set up and populated by future versions of Bieber and Kutcher, with a few Russian oligarchs and various remnants of long-defunct royal families thrown in. The human being of our new home world will be exceptionally good looking, sport rock hard pectoral muscles and not have a clue how to wipe their own arse. According to ITV2, a kind of pilot scheme for how this might look and work is currently taking place in Marbella.

LOOK: "Supergirl" Introduces Superman in First Family Photo Writer Jim McCann and artist Janet K. Lee‘s Return of the Dapper Men (Archaia) will have its pre-release West Coast debut at Meltdown Comics (in Los Angeles) this Wednesday–with McCann at the store to help celebrate the event, as well as sign advance copies of the graphic novel. As detailed in the recent CBR preview of the book: “Welcome to Anoreve, a world in between time, where children have played so long it’s almost become work, machines have worked so long they have begun to play and all the clocks have stopped at the same time. This is how this land has remained, until 314 dapper-looking gentlemen rain down from the sky and set off in different directions to start the world again. Now Ayden, the only boy to still ask questions; Zoe, the robot girl all other machines hold dear; and the Dapper Man known only as “41” must discover what happened that made time stop, understand what their true places are in this world, and learn what “tomorrow” really means. The sun is setting for the first time in memory, and once that happens, everything changes.” There’s been a great deal of interest and discussion in Lee’s art, so I was motivated to email interview her so I could better grasp her artistic style for the book, which will officially be released on November 17. I can honestly say this marks the first time I’ve gotten to discuss the craft of decoupage in an interview. Tim O’Shea: There seems to be an immense amount of trust between you and Jim McCann. On one level, McCann had an incredible level of trust in your artistic talent, despite the fact this is your first graphic novel. And you had to trust McCann to deliver a script that you could bring to life visually. Would you agree there’s a deep level of trust to your collaboration with McCann? Janet Lee: Before there was a book, before Jim was ever at Marvel or I started showing art regularly, we were really good friends. That that friendship absolutely shaped our collaboration on RETURN OF THE DAPPER MEN. I can ask Jim any question, make suggestions freely, knowing that we’ll still be friends at the end of it. I would absolutely hope he feels the same way about me. Even when there’s a difference of opinion, I know Jim’s only intention is to make the book the best it can be, and I trust his vision.

Kofi Kingston defeated Cody Rhodes to kick off the wrestling on Smackdown. This was a very entertaining match between two guys who are very versatile in the ring. Rhodes was in control for a good portion, but Kingston came out of nowhere with a Trouble in Paradise. We have seen this match many times before, so I expected the same thing. I am a little split on my feelings. In one sense, Kingston needs to be built as a strong champion. On another sense, he needs to have actual feuds and competition. I would have loved to see Rhodes snap or attack Kingston following the match. Big Show defeated Tensai in a pretty bad match. Two guys who are well over 300 pounds are very similar. Tensai is a little more athletic, but this was dragging out and had no real intrigue to it. The best part of the match was the ending. Also, Orton continues his feud with Show by hitting an RKO after the match. It was logical and simple. I just wish there was a real reason to watch this. These guys do not need a title, but they really need something more than random attacks each week. That is lazy booking in my eyes. -Mark Henry pulls a tractor trailer and breaks a world record. I will be the first to admit that Henry is one of my favorites right now. He is a smart and intelligent beast of a man who knows what and how to say it. You cannot simply have him squash opponents week after week, so this shows you his brute strength. It may be something to look forward to down the road. Henry is showcasing how strong he really is and that is something different. We do not see this every day, something that steps outside of the fake ring and shows us how really strong he is. (I know it was probably rigged somehow, but let me dream!) Have a news tip? Attended an event and want to send a live report?

The Twin Errors of Liberalism and Egoism by Dr. William L. Pierce LAST MONTH we began looking at the question, “What is the purpose of man’s existence?” We saw that there is, in the men and women of our race, an inborn, intuitive urge to order our lives in accord with some purpose beyond the satisfaction of our daily whims. This urge is stronger in some men than in others. We also saw the importance which this urge, or its degree of fulfillment or non-fulfillment, has in determining the type of world in which we live. Human society tends to be orderly and truly progressive when men with a more highly developed sense of inner direction prevail, and society becomes chaotic, regressive, and decadent when men with a weaker sense of direction prevail, or when all tend to lose or ignore their inner directions. But even in the best of times, when men with a strong sense of purpose have the upper hand, few — if any — have a true understanding of what that purpose should really be. They feel an inner direction, but they mistake where it is pointing. And so the great majority of even the best of men go in the wrong direction, following false purposes. Men strive for the True Purpose, but their striving is in the form of an almost-blind groping for something seen only dimly and indistinctly, like a half-remembered dream. Their imperfect understanding leads them far more often into error than into truth. The greatest cause of error — the greatest hindrance to a proper response to our sense of inner direction — has been a wrong outlook, a wrong general attitude toward life and the world, a wrong philosophical framework within which we interpret our inner promptings. Just as using a badly flawed lens to read a message distorts it and, more often than not, causes us to misread it, so forcing an interpretation of our sense of inner direction into the wrong philosophical framework distorts it and leads us into error. The wrong general attitude toward life and the world which is presently leading our people into such grievous error and wreaking such havoc in the world is what is very loosely and generally known as “liberalism.” It is what we have called neo-liberalism, in order to distinguish it from the attitude which was called liberalism prior to the 19th century. Its particular aspect which determines the individual’s attitude toward himself and which is primarily responsible for the misinterpretation mentioned above is egoism. Egoism predisposes the individual to ask the wrong questions, or to ask them in the wrong way, as well as to misread the answers he receives. In looking for his proper direction in life, for goals, the neo-liberal asks himself some variation on the question: “How can I achieve true happiness?” The answer he receives may tell him that he must strive to be “well adjusted” or popular or successful at some endeavor, but the answer was already inherent in the question itself. For egoism is an attitude which considers only the self and ignores the Whole, of which the self is only a part and upon which the self depends for any meaning or significance. It is an immature attitude, an infantile attitude, the attitude of incomplete men. The egoist may be “religious”; he may babble of helping others or of “serving God.” But his vision of God is determined by his egoism, and it is a false vision. It is a vision of a supernatural yet personal father-figure in the sky, an anthropomorphic deity who maintains a personal watch over the egoist, shielding him from certain dangers, helping him achieve the self-gratification he seeks, and waiting to welcome him personally into a heavenly mansion at the end of his allotted three-score-and-ten years of earthly existence. Thus, to the egoist “serving God” is simply another way — a self-deluding way — of serving himself. But the spiritually mature man of our race, the complete man, has a different vision, a vision with infinitely more distant horizons than that of the egoist. It is a vision which encompasses the Whole, or as much of the Whole as our understanding at this stage of our evolution will allow, and in which the self is seen as a part of that Whole — a vital part, an important part, but, nevertheless, only a part. And yet even this vision of the spiritually mature man is usually not as clear and sharp as it might be. He must strive with all his will and understanding to see fully and clearly the way in which the part — the self — is related to the Whole. When that is revealed to him, then he knows with certainty what his purpose is. It is the One Purpose, which we seek here. And it is the greatest of ironies that, whereas the egoist, seeking only to save himself, ends by losing himself in death, the man who scorns egoism and orders his life in accord with the One Purpose thereby opens for himself the possibility of true immortality, as we shall see. * * * Source: National Alliance BULLETIN, January 1976

Diya Aur Baati Hum 11th March 2016 Written Episode, Written Update on TellyUpdates.com The episode starts with people doing arrangements. The man says this time police officers will be felicitated and honored in holi function. Sandhya checks the place and sees someone. A man keeps an eye on her, while working there. Sooraj calls Sooraj and asks him to meet her neat town hall. Its Gul in disguise there. The kids look for Chulbul and ask a man by showing the photo. The man says he has seen him here, and they get glad. Sandhya and Sooraj see the kids. Sooraj asks what are you doing here. Ved says we are finding Chulbul. Sooraj says he is at home. Pari says no, its fake Chulbul at home. They get shocked. Sandhya asks Pari are you with them. Pari says we lost real Chulbul and got another one. Sooraj says how did this happen, he looks same. Golu says we painted him black. Pari Arzoo runs downstairs and opens the door. She takes Chulbul and talks to him. She hugs Chulbul. Sandhya looks for Chulbul. Arzoo sees Sandhya and gets worried. She recalls Sandhya’s words. She leaves Chulbul and hides inside the house. Sandhya takes Chulbul and asks why are you coming here again and again. She gives Chulbul to kids and thinks whats in that house. Arzoo calls someone. Sandhya gets Bhabho’s call. Bhabho says Arzoo called, she reached hyd. Sandhya says fine, and informs this to Sooraj. They leave. Arzoo sees Sandhya and says its all fine till now, Sandhya is infront of me, I was getting caught, don’t know how she came here suddenly. Sandhya looks at that house and leaves. Arzoo looks on. Sooraj tells the kids that they should have not lied and told truth to elders. Bhabho gives him butter milk. He thinks I m teaching truth to kids and what am I doing, first I have to make Arzoo win Bhabho’s heart. He asks Bhabho is she missing Arzoo. Bhabho says yes, I miss her, she would do any mistake and break anything at home. He tells how Arzoo reached border to find Gaumata and tries to know Bhabho’s fear. Bhabho worries recalling someone’s death and asks Sooraj to forget all that. Sooraj asks what is the matter, that you can’t speak out your pain after hearing about border, I know you don’t want to tell me. He asks her to tell him, as no matter is hidden between them, why this matter then, heart’s burden gets less by sharing it, will you not tell me. She says no, I can’t tell you, don’t ask me, nothing happened. She goes. He thinks what is the matter that Bhabho gets scared hearing about border, how to find out, I have to do something. Sandhya asks staff to keep an eye on everything, if there is big money transaction then inform me soon, don’t be careless. Gul talks to someone in south Indian accent, as he is in disguise. Sandhya looks on. Gul asks the man to go out and smoke. The man refuses and argues. Sandhya asks whats happening here. Gul tells the problem of smoking. He says its my responsibility to check safety of this place, I m explaining him that fire can catch this place by cigarette. Sandhya announces no one will smoke here, and asks them not to fight. She asks whats your name. Gul says Swami, thanks for your great work. She says its okay and goes. Gul smiles and sees the board smoking is strictly prohibited here… Gul goes to meet Arzoo and signs her. She gives him a tiffin. Later, Gul is checked by police. Sandhya looks on. Update Credit to: Amena

This trip travel overnight to San Diego for an early morning floating lab experience, followed by a visit to Sea World for Project Exploration’s and or Sea World’s educational program with an early afternoon departure, then home. Colorado River Quest This trip is sure to add “bragging rights” to the students of Arizona. After traveling through the night, we will eat breakfast in Page then on to our floating raft experience down a very calm portion of the Colorado River. During our rafting experience we will be instructed on the geology and travel the path that begins the Grand Canyon. Stopping to see ancient petroglyphs and traveling through the famous Horseshoe Bend area will be educational highlights of the day. After a picnic lunch at Lees Ferry we’ll board the bus again and stop at Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monument to learn more about the fascinating geological and archaeological history of our great state. After dinner in Flagstaff, we will return to the school that evening. Grand Canyon Sunrise This one-night, one-day trip finds us traveling all night to arrive at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon for sunrise. After sunrise, we will have breakfast and a guided nature hike along the South Rim where we will learn more about the geology, and history of this treasure of the southwest. After our hike we will visit the IMAX Theater for an overview of the natural history and the impact of prehistoric and modern man on the Grand Canyon. Mid-day will find us visiting Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monuments. We will arrive home that evening. This trip travels over night to San Diego for an early morning floating laboratory experience, followed by a visit to the world famous San Diego Zoo, with an early afternoon departure, then home.

Hours after a jury delivered Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby a not-guilty verdict on a manslaughter charge, Rep. Monroe Nichols stood outside a Tulsa Regional Chamber luncheon at the Oklahoma State Capitol and pondered his identities: black man, father, lawmaker. “When something like this happens, you feel incredibly powerless. You feel incredibly frustrated. You feel angry,” said Nichols (D-Tulsa). “It makes it hard to formulate words to tell people. We all want people to be peaceful and all that, but it’s hard to formulate words on all of this.” Shelby was acquitted Wednesday night in the shooting death of Terence Crutcher, a black man from north Tulsa who was unarmed, intoxicated and unresponsive to Shelby’s commands as he walked around his vehicle, which was stopped in the middle of a street in September 2016. “Because this issue becomes political, far too often we forget that there was a man who is not here anymore, and the crime that he committed was that his car stopped,” Nichols said Thursday. “This should come as a realization to the law enforcement community at the very least that there has to be substantial changes to the way officers are trained.” Nichols argued that, had Shelby acted as a regular citizen and not a trained police officer, she would almost certainly have been convicted. “I know Officer Betty Shelby continued to say, ‘My training, my training, my training.’ Well, if this is where training leads us, we really need to be looking hard at what we need to do differently as it relates to training,” Nichols said. ‘Make sure a regular traffic stop is not a death sentence’ Others at the Tulsa Chamber’s luncheon felt similarly. “I think Rep. Nichols is 100 percent on target. I think there needs to be additional training,” said Rep. Eric Proctor (D-Tulsa). “It’s clear there is an issue in our community and across the country that this continues to happen. We need to support our police officers, but we also need to make sure a regular traffic stop is not a death sentence. I think additional training would be a positive thing.” An hour earlier, Proctor had led the House chamber in prayer for his hometown. He called for wisdom, discernment and the “protection of all our citizens, including law enforcement.” That request was echoed by Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police chairman Jerad Lindsey, who joined Proctor, Nichols and dozens of others in the governor’s blue conference room for the luncheon. “Of course, we’re pleased that our member was cleared and received an acquittal, however this deal is not about wins and losses,” Lindsey said. “There are no winners in this. The Crutcher family has lost a family member that they cannot replace.” Lindsey said he “absolutely” agrees with Nichols that police training can and should improve, though he specified he was only hearing the representative’s remarks secondhand. “We agree with most of that. We also believe training has got to adapt. It’s got to adapt and move with society,” Lindsey said. “Another thing we need to look at is how citizens are trained to interact with the police. The police have to adapt to the citizenry, (…) but I’m an Oklahoman. When I went through school, I went through driver’s ed, and driver’s ed was provided by the school district. It’s no longer done like that because of budget cuts.” Lindsey said young people today receive less education on law enforcement and the legal system than they used to. “So we’ve got a generation now that didn’t go through state-sponsored driver’s ed. In mine, I believe it was part of the curriculum, we had a state trooper that came in and talked about car stops,” Lindsey said. “Those used to be things that were taught by the state of Oklahoma to their citizens. We don’t have that anymore. I come across a lot of young folks who are 16 or 17 years old who don’t know how to act on a car stop. They don’t know what to do.” But in the case of Terence Crutcher, only one side of the interaction was armed: the police. “What is clear is that the training they receive is woefully inadequate when we have example after example after example of individuals who are killed only to find out they had no weapon on them and they weren’t a real threat,” Nichols said. “And, because of training, nobody is held accountable for that.” With a 9-year-old son and an uncle who serves as a police officer in Dallas, Nichols said he in no way believes police officers are “inherently bad.” His father was also a police officer in Houston. But Nichols said Shelby’s apparent training resulted in a family losing a loved one. “Until we address that issue, my concern is not necessarily with protests and things like that. My greater concern is with people who look like me who are going to get pulled over by police but decide they are going to keep going because they are fearful,” Nichols said. “My concern is with people who look like me who aren’t going to call the police anymore because they are too afraid of what will happen when the police show up.” ‘This is not a big enough issue for the people in this building’ To look at all of these issues, Nichols had filed HB 1353 at the start of the 2017 legislative session. The bill would have created the Oklahoma Community Policing Standards Task Force to examine policies, standards, best practices and training on the use of deadly force. “The governor said she didn’t want any more task forces. It wasn’t heard in committee. It didn’t pass,” Nichols said. “The fact is that this is not a big enough issue for people in this building right now. It should be, but it’s not. So if it’s not a big enough issue for people here, why should anybody else care? We had the opportunity to put something together and bring law enforcement and the community and legislators together and do something.” Nichols said task forces exist for industry issues, and the state just created a new one to look at opioid abuse. But Nichols’ attempt to look at police training as it regards the use of deadly force appeared to be a non-starter with state leaders. “That’s just as sad as what happened in Tulsa several months ago and what happened last night,” Nichols said. “It puts members of the law enforcement community in a bad spot also.”

To the editor: Regarding No Smart Meters Here Yet, Oct. 5 Capital News. Neal Pobran, corporate communications advisor for FortisBC, in the second paragraph of his letter, stated that FortisBC has not installed smart meters or advanced meters in Kelowna or surrounding areas. This simply isn’t true. I have witnessed them in my mobile home park for the last two weeks. My partner was home on Monday and said he was told my by the man with the Fortis truck that they were here to install the meters, and my boyfriend told them not to install it at our address, as we did not want it. I attended a presentation, Thursday evening at the Mary Irwin Theatre, where we listened to speaker Jerry Flynn, a retired Canadian Armed Forces Captain, speak for two hours on the dangers of smart meters and advanced meters, how they work and our rights to refuse it; how these meters impact our health, safety, security and our pocketbook. It was very informative. There were many testimonies of people who stated they already had a meter installed, and what can we do to get it removed, how to stop Fortis from trespassing on our property, etc. There is a petition being signed by citizens of B.C. calling for a moratorium on the FortisBC Inc. Wireless Smart Meter Program here in B.C. FortisBC is also aware that on May 31, 2011 the World Health Organization classified radio frequency electromagnetic fields as a Class 2B possible human carcinogen, and has called for further investigation. For those of you who want the facts, there are some good websites to checkout: Mr. Pobran, you said that Fortis does replace meters periodically for Measurement Canada compliance, but you know that that’s not what is going on in our communities right now, so why pretend otherwise? FortisBC will face opposition to these smart meters and the fact that they are being forced on us, without a public vote or option, to opt out before installation, in some cases. Even when flouride was added to the water in Calgary, where I was living at the time, 800,000 people had the opportunity to vote, as it too, is also a health issue. We lost by a very slim margin, but we still had a vote on it, and so it should be with smart meters here in B.C. We are human beings and we have rights. When I came home from the presentation a FortisBC truck passed me on the way into the park at quarter past ten at night, and from just hearing testimony on the deviousness of these installers showing up again, two or three days later to try and get their 10 minutes alone with my meter, knowing that it’s already been declined, caused me to wonder whether, perhaps, they are installing by flashlight at night, on properties that have said no to the meter? We need to put the interests and concerns of B.C. citizens first, before profit, because one in four people will get sick, and that’s a much higher cost to pay for anything. That is a whole other issue, but think about it. This new meter is called “smart,” there is nothing smart about it, and absolutely no positive advantage to those forced to have it. So just leave my $50 analogue meter alone.

Pelbagai tipu helah dan propaganda dicuba oleh Kit Siang dan DAP untuk Guan Eng tidak lepaskan jawatan. Konon ini bukan kes rasuah tapi konspirasi. Konon dakwaan tidak masuk akal. Semua ada disentuh dalam http://theunspinners.blogspot.my/2016/07/tony-pua-kantoi-helah-guan-eng-tak-jalan.html Tulisan Joceline Tan dalam The Star menghuraikan niat sebenar enggan serahkan pada Rashid atau Ramasamy: Critical time for DAP leader by joceline tan IT was almost 7pm but the sky was still bright when a convoy of cars emerged from the underground car park of Komtar, Penang. The only hint that this was no ordinary caravan of vehicles was the flashing lights and siren from an accompanying police car. The moment had finally come after weeks of speculation. Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had been arrested and was being escorted to the MACC headquarters to be charged in court the next morning. It has been a spectacular fall from grace for the DAP leader who rose to power on an awesome wave of popular support and who is known as “Tokong” among the Penang people. Lim has claimed trial to two charges, one of which pertains to using his position to benefit his wife Betty Chew and himself in the rezoning of a piece of land belonging to a private company known as Magnificent Emblem in 2014. Another charge is related to his purchase of a bungalow from businesswoman Phang Li Koon a year later at below market value. Phang, a mysterious figure until thrust into the media spotlight, was charged with abetment in the property transaction. Gossip and speculation about the nature of the charges have been brewing among the cafe society but everything should be clearer when hearing begins towards the end of the year. Lim is not the first political head of state to have waded into troubled waters. Former Selangor mentri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo is now on parole after spending six months in jail for purchasing an under-valued “Balinese palace” from a company that had business links with the state government. Another former Selangor mentri besar, Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib, also lost his job following the Australian Gold Coast affair that saw him charged with possessing undeclared foreign currency. The late Datuk Seri Harun Idris was forced by Umno to resign in the 1970s after he was charged for corruption. Lim is also not the first to resist taking a leave of absence after being charged in court. Former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan clung on after being charged for corruption. He was eventually found guilty but his penalty was not great enough to cost him his seat. But Pairin’s time was old politics and this is supposed to be the era of new politics. The DAP central executive committee has given Lim a ringing endorsement to stay on in his job on grounds that “there is no question of conflict of interest as Lim has no influence or control over the prosecution”. It is only expected of DAP to stand by their top leader because if the top man falls, the party will become shaky. But it also means that DAP is unable to walk the talk. The party is famous for asking others to step down over issues big and small but is unable to live up to the same principle when it involves one of their own. It will be hard for the party to judge others from now on. It has put DAP figures like their Selangor chairman Tony Pua in an awkward situation. Shortly after the bungalow issue erupted, Pua had said there was no need for Lim to go on leave unless charges were brought against him. He was quoted in a pro-Pakatan Harapan news portal as saying: “When charged, then (the person) should take time off.” But legally speaking, the Chief Minister does not need to go on leave even with these kind of charges hanging over his head. According to a Selangor judicial figure, forcing him out would be pre-judging him. “He can still chair meetings, make decisions over land and development and sign documents. He can even go on with that tunnel thing. “But having said that, a politician’s life is not only about legalities but also perception. He is representing a party that lectures others what to do. Can they still do that?” said the judicial figure. Moreover, the Chief Minister’s focus, said the judicial figure, will now be divided between his case and running the state. There will be complications as the court case drags on. Lim may not have influence or control over the prosecution but as the Chief Minister, he has control over the civil servants who may be called to testify in his case. It will be awkward for potential witnesses who are his subordinates because not many people would be comfortable going to court to testify against their boss. His presence would also bring uncertainty to the state and investors do not like uncertainty. Still, it is his call and he has the full support of his party including that of party doyen Dr Chen Man Hin whose reputation is impeccable. The charges against Lim are quite serious and it is only natural that he is doing what it takes to defend himself. Being Chief Minister will give him that much needed clout and back-up to face the complications ahead. Besides, there is talk of new charges in the works related to the Taman Manggis land and also involving a company with links to “Miss Phang”, as she is known. But there is also another side to the story why DAP is reluctant to have an acting Chief Minister take over from Lim. Lim’s deputies are Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Rashid Hasnon from PKR and Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy from DAP. Either one of them could act in Lim’s place if he goes on leave. But the sentiment in this Chinese-dominated party is that senior state executive council member Chow Kon Yeow should be the acting Chief Minister. DAP would look terrible if Chow leap-frogs over the two deputies. It would only reinforce the perception that DAP is a Chinese chauvinist party. However, if either Rashid or Dr Ramasamy takes over, the party’s right-wing Chinese base would be badly affected. Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, DAP probably thought it would be better for Lim to remain at the top. DAP leaders have slammed the charges as baseless and an attempt to topple a democratically elected leader. It is quite clear they intend to approach this as a political trial and to win over the court of public opinion. A lot of Lim’s time will be spent convincing the public that he is innocent and a victim. Events like “Walk with Guan Eng” and “Session with the People” have been planned for today. His supporters have tried to liken his dilemma to what Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim went through in 1998. It is not the best of comparisons given that Anwar was able to galvanise a whole generation of young Malays who flooded the streets in anger. What DAP may have failed to take note of was that many Chinese intelligentsia have been wary of Lim’s leadership since the Mercedes-Benz episode. Lim had opted for a Mercedes S300L as his official car a mere three months after the state purchased a new fleet of Toyota Camry for the state leaders. This was evident in comments by the Huazong chairman of Negri Sembilan, Lau Zhi Wen, who is as anti-Barisan Nasional as one gets and has often run down the 1MDB issue. Lau’s comments in the wake of the court case have gone viral among the Chinese-speaking circle. He recalled the early days when Lim flew economy class and provided hope for change and greater transparency. He said the people had longed for another Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat who was respected for his simple lifestyle. |57% AGREE BY EXPRESSING HAPPY WITH JOCELINE TAN'S COLUMN| But Lau said that Lim changed after winning by a bigger majority in 2013. “Many said you grew arrogant, others still deify you. You changed cars, flew business class and bought a RM5mil bungalow for RM2.8mil,” he said. Lau said he had high expectations of the Penang Chief Minister but would no longer speak up for him. The Chinese vernacular press that would have once defended him to the hilt was also visibly neutral. The thing is Lim does not have as many friends in the Chinese media as when he started out as Chief Minister. The Chinese vernacular media was instrumental in helping to propel DAP to power. They put Lim on a pedestal but now, eight years down the road, many of them have stories to tell about how they were treated by Lim and his staff and they are not pleasant stories. The same goes for some of the lawyers watching the drama at the Penang courts on Thursday. A few years ago, they would have come out for him but on that day, their response was: “Let justice take its course.” DAP is hopeful and confident that the court case will swing sympathy and support towards Lim and arrest the resurgence of support for Barisan. They are painting their secretary-general as a victim of selective prosecution. Lim has also been trying to tug at the heartstrings with famous sayings that he would prefer to die standing than live on bended knees, and playing up his overnight detention at the MACC headquarters. The court case proper has yet to start but the court of public opinion is already in session. Pendik kata. sebabnya rasis! Mana ada untuk semua kaum dalam DAP dan gagasan Malaysian Malaysia hanya tipu daya yang menutup agenda semua cina untuk cina dan DAP parti keluarga Karpal SIngh dan Lim Guan Eng. Baiyi kerjasama kudakan Cina!

- Love myself. I am the only me I have, and if I am consantly down on myself I am never going to be happy with what my life is. That doesn´t mean do whatever I want, but really accept and love myself to the heart of who I am, good bad and ugly. I think as a Christian I can love myself and have self esteem but still hate sin and bad things that I may think, say, or do. God made me to be the best parts of me, for His purposes. He wants me to influence people positively and help them to see Him in the good parts of Me. (Deep enough for you?) - Be around positive people who accept me for me and who do not dictate who I am or my level of happiness. Other people can add to my happiness, but if I am going to live a happy life, I need to be joyful regardless of the circumstances. My sis said something to that effect. I think especially after my long-term relationship that lasted most of my college years, my priorities were messed up. Only I can make me happy by being who I am. A job, relationship, marriage, kids....that only adds to the happiness. But if I am seeking out those things in order to be happy, I will not ever feel it. - Be passionate about the things I choose to do, not lukewarm. Life is not worth living if I am not pursuing something I really love. I think my problem with teaching right now is that all my love for the subject matter has been overshadowed by discipline problems. When I went to school to be a teacher I reflected back on the fun, educational times that I experienced with my teachers. I love Spanish, literature, and sharing my talents. Perhaps I need to re-evaluate what sort of environment could help me to experience my passions in the right way. - Appreciate the people around me who support me, and pray for those who don´t. - Not try to escape, distract myself, etc from my responsibilities. This represents both something tangible (undone dishes in the sink) and something more abstract (an attitude I find myself having in times when I would much rather cry than try). I need to handle challenges by putting my best effort forward. If even after that I fail, it was not a challenge I was meant to overcome right now. - Enable myself to do the things I enjoy, in spite of what anyone else might think. - Not fear failure so much that I do not do something that would enrich my life. - Accept the fact that maybe I am a person who isn´t meant to be a social butterfly. A person can have a rich life with a small circle of friends and family. In fact, then I have a lower probability of being let down. - Lean on those who have proven themselves worthy of my trust. - Not try to make the romance thing happen if it isn´t meant to. Right now working on me is really what is going to pay off when I look back on my life on my death bed, not seeking a man to make me feel needed and wanted. Oscar Wilde said that to love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. It certainly isn´t selfish or egotistical to love who I am. I am certainly worth it. The One I am meant to be with is out there, and God really wants me to know who I am and what I want before he may reveal that guy to me. sábado, 28 de noviembre de 2009 Late Night/Early Morning Happiness Post Random events have been happening that have made me think of what happiness is and what sort of things I am going to have to do in order to obtain it. I was wondering whether it is immaturity that is causing me to be unable to deal with life´s challenges....or my sensitivity...my desire to please others..... or something else. Here are 10 rules I am going to try to live my life by from now on.

Did you ever have a time in your life when you put God on hold to get other things done? I don’t mean momentarily, like you forgot about him during the day. I mean, more like you no longer thought you needed Him, so you left Him as an afterthought. Maybe you hung up on Him altogether. What happened when you picked up His line again? Was He still there? Well, let me tell you, not only is He still there, but while He was waiting for you, He held the phone to His ear with his shoulder and continued to work on your behalf! Years ago I thought I knew too much to concern myself with things of God. I had pushed my childlike faith aside for things of research. I contemplated grand ideas about the world and on occasion considered how a god might fit into it … somewhere. This god was a small god in my mind. But even though I considered Him small, He still did big things in my life. For example, I can see many ways He’d been preparing me to be the mother of a special needs child. He led me to a story about a mute boy, which would become a favorite years before my son was born. This story taught me how to appreciate my son as nothing else could. God gave me a dog who had several chronic medical issues which required many of the same types of therapies I now use with my son. And He put me in a job with wonderful Christians at just the time I would require a faith before the coming storm. He was on the line the whole time. Still, it wasn’t just what he did for me, but how He used me to accomplish His Will even during my weakest (or non-existent) faith moments. There’s nothing like the feel of being an empty vessel of the Lord, even if you don’t know you’re being used at the time. As a graduate student, I ran and lived in an all-male dorm while working on my counseling degree. This was a tenuous position and my new, all-male, staff let me know they were a little leery. Never before had a woman lived in the all-male dorms at this university. I’d been selected from the applicants who’d actually applied for the resident director position in the all-female hall. At the first meeting I could sense my staff worried I’d paint the halls pink and hang lacey curtains in the lounges. They asked me pointed questions about my plans and showed their resistance to too much change—particularly since I’d come in mid-year. It was my goal to develop a sense of authority, yet be sensitive (yes, I used that girly word) to their needs. Then, my senior resident assistant informed me of a long-standing, streaking (yes, that means naked guys running) tradition the whole community had grown accustomed to and wondered what I’d planned to do about it. It was clear he expected me to do nothing, especially since that had been the protocol for the past several decades. So here I am, The Woman in the building. I feared taking this tradition away would put me at odds with my staff before I even got started, so I did what the RA wanted. I sat on my hands. You could say that wasn’t very Christian of me, since streaking in public is against the law and I should have trusted God to have my back while I did the right thing. However, that wasn’t even a consideration for me at the time. You could say I was a coward for not doing the right thing and sticking to my guns. My only answer to that would be … But there is one thing you could not say about me. You could not say God had forsaken me, because even though I’d neglected Him, He still used me as an empty vessel. I muddled through that semester, the lone, twenty-something, woman living with hundreds of hard-partying, college-age (and hormonal) guys. To say the atmosphere was sexually charged would be a vast understatement. My building had the highest rate of Victoria Secret catalogues sent to it. The guys had to buy “lacy under-things” on a regular basis so they could continue to receive it. While running this building, I endured being hit on in the hallways by droopy-towel-wearing men, I had to protect myself from attempts to get my white shirts wet, and shield myself from what felt like a constant x-ray body scan. On occasion, however, I planned some really cool programs, developed great relationships with guys who needed advice about women, and even got a little respect. Though I ended up loving that job, for a number of reasons I decided not to continue the next year. Before I knew this would be the case, I worked to select my next-year’s staff. Among the candidates was a stern, thickly built, young man who wore an expression on his face that said, “Don’t mess with me.” He struck me as a man of character and I knew I wanted him working the hall known for the wildest parties. In fact, he’d already lived there. This was also the place my streakers lived. For some reason, my boss did not like him, but I suspect it was more that she had other candidates in mind for those positions and saw him as a threat to her placing them. We went back and forth much on this issue, but I was not the one in the highest position of authority. I had to fight for this guy, but something told me I must. I did not make it a point to listen to the Holy Spirit regularly (if at all) back then, but I now believe that’s who I heard. In the end, he got the job. I later discovered this young man made his first order of business to end the decades-long streaking tradition. When I heard about it from one of my former staff I couldn’t help but smile. I didn’t realize then who was really responsible for this (God), but it felt good to have played a small role in it just the same (even unwittingly). This news also inspired me to be more courageous with my convictions as this young man had been. I’m sure he did not garner favor with his hall mates having taken away their “fun.” I’ve always carried a certain respect for this guy. So much so that he inspired the character, nick-named Preacher, in my manuscript entitled One Among Men. Though Preacher is not the main character of this story, it was his parallel’s courage that caused me to write about the challenges a new Christian faces in the highly secular environment of a major state university—especially one who is a mid-twenties female living with hundreds of hard-partying, college guys—Sigh! I love how God used this man’s courage as an example to me, even at a time I did not fully appreciate it. I hope I can do the same for others one day. Who inspired you when you weren’t looking to be inspired? Other posts you might like:

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Impotentie brengt een constant ongemak met zich mee, net als fysieke en psychologische problemen in uw leven cialis kopen terwijl generieke medicijnen al bewezen en geperfectioneerd zijn Journal of Learning Disabilities and Offending Behaviour Emerald Article: Deaths in custody: the role of restraint Joy Duxbury, Frances Aiken, Colin Dale To cite this document: Joy Duxbury, Frances Aiken, Colin Dale, (2011),"Deaths in custody: the role of restraint", Journal of Learning Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, Vol. 2 Iss: 4 pp. 178 - 189 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/20420921111207873 References: This document contains references to 66 other documents To copy this document: email@example.com This document has been downloaded 205 times since 2012. * Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: * Joy Duxbury, Frances Aiken, Colin Dale, (2011),"Deaths in custody: the role of restraint", Journal of Learning Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, Vol. 2 Iss: 4 pp. 178 - 189http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/20420921111207873 Joy Duxbury, Frances Aiken, Colin Dale, (2011),"Deaths in custody: the role of restraint", Journal of Learning Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, Vol. 2 Iss: 4 pp. 178 - 189http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/20420921111207873 Joy Duxbury, Frances Aiken, Colin Dale, (2011),"Deaths in custody: the role of restraint", Journal of Learning Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, Vol. 2 Iss: 4 pp. 178 - 189http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/20420921111207873 Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE LIBRARY If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive *Related content and download information correct at time of download. Joy Duxbury, Frances Aiken and Colin Dale Purpose – The practice of restraint is controversial as deaths in care or custody have been a consequence of restraint. The purpose of this paper is to clarify research from national and international literature to ascertain any common findings in order to provide guidance for staff on safe and effective restraint techniques where there is no other resort in the management of violent and aggressive Design/methodology/approach – The researchers undertook a review of the literature on the medical theories relating to restraint-related deaths and an analysis of deaths in custody in the UK for the timeperiod 1 Jan 1999 to 1 Jan 2010. Findings – Findings showed that certain groups are particularly vulnerable to risks while beingrestrained. There are also biophysiological mechanisms which staff need to be aware of when restraining an aggressive or violent individual. Originality/value – It is evident that those in vulnerable groups when restrained in a prone position, or ina basket hold, for a prolonged period and who are agitated and resistive, are most at risk of death incustody. Consistency in reporting relevant deaths locally and nationally is necessary to facilitate analysisof key information and prevent deaths in custody in the future. Staff training and awareness are also keyfactors. Keywords Deaths in custody, Restraint techniques, Control, Management of violence and aggression,Training, Police custody, Patients Controversy and debate is the consequence of any deaths that occur in custody andhealthcare. These cases distress the victims’ family and community; they also affect staff inall parts of the medical-legal community. Service reputations and community relationshipsmay be damaged. Further complicating the situation is the fact that there are often minimalphysical findings at autopsy, accompanied by sparsely detailed case information. Wherethese deaths have involved the use of restraint they can be among the most controversialbecause they have occurred as a result of the actions of representatives of the state. Thedeath of David ‘‘Rocky’’ Bennett in 1998 in a healthcare setting is an example of restraint-related deaths that demonstrate the need for clarity on methods of physical restraint that aresafe and humane in the management of aggressive or violent individuals. The Independent Advisory Panel (IAP) which forms the second tier of the Ministerial Councilon deaths in custody, commissioned this review of the medical theories and researchrelating to restraint-related deaths. The researchers sought to clarify research from nationaland international literature to ascertain any common findings in order to provide guidance forstaff on safe and effective restraint techniques where there is no other resort in themanagement of violent and aggressive individuals. The methodology used was a literaturereview, analysis of cases reported in the press for the given time period, a gap analysis PAGE 178 j JOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR j VOL. 2 NO. 4 2011, pp. 178-189, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2042-0927 DOI 10.1108/20420921111207873 and gathering expert opinion. The findings of the literature review and case analysis aredescribed below. There are statistics held by the IAP on deaths in custody from the custody sectors onrestraint-related deaths. The Independent Police Complaints Commission also record deathsin police custody; these statistics include those who died under restraint (Grace, 2011). In theperiod of 2010-2011 seven people fell ill or were identified as being unwell at the point ofarrest. Of these seven cases, four of these were pronounced dead at the scene of arrest andthree were taken to hospital and died within an hour of arrival. Four involved some form ofrestraint by the arresting officers. There were also two restraint-related deaths reported for thisperiod where the death was in or following custody. There were also two restraint-relateddeaths where police had contact with the individual; in both these cases the police werecalled to a mental health hospital to assist staff with a patient. The IAP reported that betweenthe 1 January 1999 and the 31 December 2009, there were 6,151 deaths in state custody inall services. In 22 of these cases, restraint was identified as a cause of death at the coroner’sinquest (Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody, 2010). Characteristics of individuals in UK restraint-related deaths 1999-2010 On analysis of the reports found through searching databases for this study the followingfeatures were found: 16 out of the 38 cases found that died between 1999 and 2010 had a history of mentalillness, specifically psychosis. Three had a learning disability or pervasive developmental disorder such as autism. 15 were of Black or Minority Ethnic (BME) origin. 15 were males in the 30-40 years age group (only one was female). 12 were males in the40-50 years age group. One was a young male. The deceased who had a history of mental illness may have been receiving neurolepticmedication which can have life-threatening adverse effects. Six of the 38 had pre-existing conditions that may have increased the risk of cardiacarrest: one had ischemic heart disease, one had diabetes and four had epilepsy. Five swallowed a drug package whilst being restrained, leading to leakage and a fataloverdose. Positional asphyxia appears to be implicated for at least 26 of the 38 deaths (whether ornot given as a verdict) because of struggle/physical stressors prior to restraint, number ofstaff involved and, in particular, because of the length of time of the restraint and positionof the individual. Verdicts of fatal excited delirium were given for five deaths. Accounts describe the individualas being restrained in a prone position, either flat or over a mattress/chair. The number ofstaff involved in the restraint was between two and 15 staff; the length of restraint wasbetween 10 minutes and 1 hr 40 minutes. Police were involved in the restraint incident for29 of the deaths, hospital staff for seven and Youth Offender Institute staff for one of thedeaths. Location of death was not always specified in reports. It is unclear from the accountswhether exhaustion due to prolonged struggle was a factor as the length of time of thedisturbed behaviour before the restraint incident has not been given. Throughout the literature, research studies and debates there is evidence that certain groupsare more vulnerable to risks when being restrained, whether because of biophysiological, VOL. 2 NO. 4 2011 jJOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOURj PAGE 179 interpersonal or situational factors or attitudinal factors. These groups may be vulnerablebecause they are over-represented in the detained population in any case or through attitudesand situations they encounter whilst being detained and consequently restrained. There arealso others who are susceptible to medical harm because of biophysiological features suchas pre-existing conditions. There is increasing awareness that people with a learning disability are likely to experiencemore health problems than the average person in the general population. Further, they mayhave higher levels of unmet healthcare needs, experiencing unrecognised and thus untreatedhealth problems including hypertension (Kerr, 2004). Particular problems identified, whichoccur with increased frequency in association with learning disability, include obesity, which isthe most commonly reported health problem, and heart disease (Disability Rights Commission,2004; Emerson and Baines, 2010). These health problems could adversely affect the individualin any restraint situation. The increased prevalence of hearing and/or visual impairment (Vitiello and Behar, 1979) mayalso affect the person’s ability to communicate their distress or understand and respond torequests during restraint. This could perhaps increase the likelihood of a prolonged struggle,with its concomitant risks. When individuals with severe atypical autism are restrained theymay be unable to calm down as the physical restrictions will continuously trigger the fight/flightresponse leading to prolonged restraint with possible adverse reactions. Compared with the general population, rates of sudden death are reported to be higher amongmental health service users for several reasons, including general neglect of health andincreased rates of damaging personal habits, for example, smoking, alcohol and othersubstance abuse, and poor diet (Mohr et al., 2003). In the community where police are called tothe scene of an incident where an individual is aggressive or violent, the arresting officer has tomake a rapid assessment of the individual and this requires basic mental health awareness,knowledge of local mental health services and an awareness of their legal powers. Watson andAngell (2007) and Cooper et al. (2004) suggest police officers routinely decide if the mentallydisordered person they are managing would be admissible or not to hospital or other carefacility. If arrested, the custody suite can be chaotic and the custody officer may have to makedifficult decisions, in particular, whether the individual has a severe psychotic illness or is underthe effects of drugs or alcohol. An appropriate place of safety under S.136 where permanent,full-time qualified staff can prevent aggression or manage someone with serious mental illnessmay not always be available. If the individual is drunk they may refuse to admit them: Even when Section 136 units are operating successfully many will refuse to take detainees whoare violent or intoxicated as an assessment cannot be conducted unless a detainee is relativelycalm and sober (The Police Foundation, 2009). Patients with dual diagnosis (mental illness and substance misuse) in a study by Wright et al. (2002) were more likely to report a lifetime history of both offending and violence than patientswith psychosis only. Schizophrenia and other psychoses have been associated with violenceand violent offending with increased risk linked with substance abuse comorbidity (Fazel et al.,2009). Violence and aggression in prison as a result of untreated or deteriorating mentalhealth, and/or substance misuse, may increase the likelihood of being restrained. Since David Bennett’s death after being restrained in 1998 there are still complaints of racismin healthcare: the Mental Health Act Commission’s (2008) 12th Biennial report found that: Patients complained that nurses relied upon restraint, medication, and confinement to managethem. All this is occurring disproportionately to African-Caribbean’s who, as the Commission’s PAGE 180 jJOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOURj VOL. 2 NO. 4 2011 Count Me In Census 2007 indicates, are over-represented in acute settings as a proportion of thepopulation as a whole. The National Mental Health Development Unit (2011) found no consistent evidence thatpeople from BME communities are subject to greater use of seclusion or physical restraintalthough patients in the hospitals with higher number of patients from BME communities dogenerally report feeling more coerced. However, African Caribbean service users are morelikely to be misdiagnosed and diagnosed with psychotic conditions and treated usingmedication, which is often of a higher dosage (Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, 2002). Keating and Robinson (2004) in a study of treatment of Afro-Caribbean people with mentalillness found that when service users were seen as dangerous, aggressive or difficult tomanage, staff were said to employ control and restraint but culturally appropriate andacceptable behaviour has been wrongly interpreted as symptoms of abnormality oraggression (Inquiry into the death of David ‘‘Rocky’’ Bennet, 2003). Fear of mental illnessalso leads to a fear of rejection by others, and therefore, people who experience mentalhealth problems will make considerable efforts to hide this aspect of their lives (Keating andRobinson, 2004). Obesity is known to increase the work of breathing (Hough, 2001) and reduce diaphragmmovement in the prone position (Hollins, 2010). Atypical anti-psychotic drugs can increasethe risk of obesity so making those with serious mental illness more vulnerable. Obesity wasalso one of the predisposing risk factors to police custody deaths in studies by Hick et al. (1999), O’Halloran and Lewman (1993) and Southall et al. (2008). In Stratton et al.’s (2001)study of deaths from excited delirium, where obesity was defined as having a body massindex (BMI) . 29, 56 percent of the cases were obese. In O’Halloran’s (2002) study the casesof obesity (BMI . 25) was 75 percent. Although females in acute mental health settings are restrained, for example, Whittington et al. (2006) found that 46 percent of the incidents involved female patients, men are more likely tobe violent or aggressive and then restrained. In research in an acute mental health care trustthe mean age for men involved in restraint incidents was 35.0 years (Lancaster et al., 2008). Instatistics for restraint-related deaths, Stratton et al. (2001) give the mean age as 31 years old,Grant et al. (2007) as 38.5 years. In the literature review by the Task Force on excited delirium inthe USA (2009) more than 95 percent of all published fatal cases were males with a mean ageof 36. In O’Halloran’s study of 21 cases of restraint asphyxia, all were males with a median ageof early 30s. Young people (under the age of 20) are vulnerable to harm when restrained because ofphysiological immaturity. The independent review of the use of restraint in juvenile securesettings (Smallbridge and Willaimson, 2008) found widespread acceptance that it wassometimes necessary to use force to restrain children in the secure estate (for those 17 yearsand under), where their behaviour posed a high degree of risk to themselves or others. However, on the evidence available, they did not feel able to state that any one restrainttechnique would be completely safe to use on everyone in the juvenile secure estate. Sincethen, in the second inquest on Adam Rickwood in January 2011, the jury found that he hadbeen subjected to an unlawful restraint technique (face down) and hurt in a way (nosedistraction technique) that contributed to his taking his own life. This inquest came after threejudicial reviews challenging the first inquest; a high court judge then ruled the first verdictunlawful and ordered a second examination of the circumstances of his death. The Court ofAppeal in 2008 ordered that previous Amendment Rules for Secure Training Centres shouldbe quashed because they violated Articles 3 (right to be protected against torture VOL. 2 NO. 4 2011 jJOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOURj PAGE 181 or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) and the right to private life under Article8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (The Children’s Commissioner, 2008). The Royal College of Nursing’s (2010) guidelines state that restrictive physical intervention(direct physical contact between persons where reasonable force is positively appliedagainst resistance to either restrict movement or mobility or to disengage from harmfulbehaviour displayed by an individual) should only be used to prevent serious harm. In one UK study volunteers with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (Meredith et al.,2005) were randomly allocated to five positions. The response to the prone position with orwithout wrist restraint appeared highly individual, with some individuals tolerating the proneposition with no measurable clinical effects and others suffering a clinical worseningof symptoms. The reasons for this individual variation remained unclear. The small number ofsubjects in this study and the difficulty in applying it to mental health or custodial settingsdecrease its validity and relevance. Exercise-related collapse in individuals with sickle cell anaemia is a rare but seriouscomplication. Local hypoxia causes intravascular sickling, in turn causing vascular occlusionand organ and tissue damage. This can result in rhabdomyolysis (the breakdown of musclefibres resulting in the release of muscle fibre contents into the bloodstream), myocardialischemia, arrhythmias and sudden death (Scheinen and Wetli, 2009). Incidence of restraint-related deaths of individuals with sickle cell anaemia is extremely rare but Dyson and Boswell(2006) found that: Statistically, sickle cell could not possibly explain the highly raised overrepresentation of deathsof African-Caribbean males in custody. This over-representation of Afro-Caribbean males is also evident in mental health settings. The Mental Health Act Commission (2006) one day census found that Afro-Caribbean malesare three times more likely to be admitted to hospital and 44 percent more likely to besectioned under mental health legislation. An abnormally enlarged heart has been reported as one of the predisposing factors that canlead to restraint-related death (Laposata, 2006; Southall et al., 2008). This abnormality hasbeen linked to chronic stimulant drug abuse (Schmidt and Snowden, 1999). In O’Halloranand Frank’s (2000) study of 21 cases of restraint-related deaths, on autopsy, 15 had heartdisease including an enlarged heart. Byard et al. (2008) stipulate that: There may certain cases where underlying organic illness, such as cardiovascular or respiratorydisease is present that may be either unrelated to the terminal episode or, alternatively, may havepredisposed to positional asphyxia. Chronic cocaine misuse has been found in a recent study (Aquaro et al., 2011) to lead tocardiac structural involvement which could lead to cardiac damage and become evidentlater in life. The researchers found that 83 per cent of people using cocaine over long periodshave suffered major structural damage to their hearts. Post ictal aggression in epilepsy can occur when physical restraint is applied to a delirious orconfused patient. In particular, this can lead to a vicious circle of attempts to restrain andresulting resistive violence with fatal results (Devinsky, 2003). Sudden unexpected deaths in epilepsy (SUDEP) may be caused by respiratory events,including airway obstruction. In addition, cardiac arrhythmia, during both the ictal andinterictal periods, leading to arrest and acute cardiac failure, play an important role(Harrison and Asplund, 2007). The additional factor of extreme exercise as in struggling inrestraint is therefore still unknown although in the UK one patient (Godfrey Mayo) died afterbeing restrained during a seizure: It is currently unknown whether or not epileptics are more vulnerable to SUDEP if they choose toengage in vigorous physical activity. However, one could postulate that as physical exertion canlead to dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, hyperventilation secondary to increased oxygen PAGE 182 jJOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOURj VOL. 2 NO. 4 2011 demand, and hyperthermia – all of which are well known to decrease the seizure threshold in anepileptic (Harrison and Asplund, 2007). In diabetes low blood sugar may precipitate sudden mood swings that could appear assudden anger or crying, sweating, nervousness, rapid heartbeat, confusion, and seizures. Aggressive behaviour may appear similar to acute behavioural disturbance (ABD)(Padder et al., 2005). The physiology of deaths under restraint in any setting where there is a duty of care, isdifficult to investigate as internationally the numbers of restraint-related deaths are small andclassification by pathologists varies in different countries. Findings from experimentalstudies are not completely valid as there is limited generalisabilty to the real physicalrestraint situation, they are run in a laboratory setting in controlled conditions and there is asubject selection bias as most subjects are healthy volunteers. Ventilation in a healthy human involves two key factors: movement of the ribs by theintercostal muscles and movement of the diaphragm (Parkes, 2000; Reay et al., 1992). Thechest expands and the diaphragm contracts, drawing air into the lungs (inhaling). The ribsand diaphragm then relax, releasing air from the lungs (exhaling). When an individual isrestrained or contained in a prone position, three things happen that compromise the body’sability to breathe: 1. There is possible occlusion of the respiratory orifices (Belviso et al., 2003). 2. There is a compression by weights or restriction to movement of the ribs limiting their ability to expand the chest cavity and breathe (Parkes, 2000; Stratton et al., 2001). 3. The abdominal organs may be pushed up, restricting movement of the diaphragm and further limiting the available space for the lungs to expand (Parkes, 2000; Reay et al.,1992). Consequently, even without any other contributing factors, simply restraining an individual ina prone position may be seen as restricting the ability to breathe, so lessening the supply ofoxygen to meet the body’s demands. Restriction of the neck, chest wall or diaphragm canalso occur when the head is forced downwards towards the knees. Asphyxia as a result ofrestriction under restraint has also been called ‘‘restraint asphyxia’’. Parkes (2002) postulated that breathing can be reduced by 15 percent in a face downposition and by 23 percent if the person is bent in a face down position. Paterson andBradley (2010) state that the prone position is actually a range of procedures incurringpossible risks: These multiple versions of prone actually share only one variable, which is that the individual isheld against resistance face down either by being physically held, via control of the limbs, theapproach most commonly used in the UK. Excited delirium and acute behavioural disturbance The state of excited delirium has been described as an agitated, aggressive, paranoidbehavioural disturbance where the individual also has great strength and numbness to pain(Paquette, 2003). It is a form of ABD: Of all the forms of acute behavioural disturbance, excited delirium is the most extreme andpotentially life threatening (Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 2010). Fatal excited delirium was first described in seven cocaine users between April 1983 andMay 1984 in the USA (Sztajnkrycer, 2005). Incidence of increased drug-related deaths alongwith violent behaviour and use of restraints has coincided with increased cocaine use in theUSA (Grant et al., 2007). However, the exact incidence of excited delirium is impossibleto determine as there is no current standardised case definition to identify this state VOL. 2 NO. 4 2011 jJOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOURj PAGE 183 (American College of Emergency Physicians, 2009). It is currently not a recognised medicalor psychiatric diagnosis according to either the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of MentalDisorders (DSM-IVTR) of the American Psychiatric Association or the InternationalClassification of Diseases (ICD-9) of the World Health Organization (Samuel et al., 2009). There are relevant research findings which have been published, mostly from the USA. In areview of excited delirium deaths during custody, victims were predominantly male(97 percent), had an average weight of 220 lbs. and a mean body temperature of 1048F (Ross,1998). Mash et al. (2009) found that victims were young (mean age 34.2), males, with a highbody mass. Mean body temperature was 40.78C, seizures were observed in 13 percent ofcases. Many of the deaths occurred one hour after initial police contact, cardiac arrestoccurred shortly after use of restraints. The most striking feature of the excited delirium syndrome is the extreme hyperthermia(Bunai et al., 2008). Struggling while being restrained will also raise body temperature: Being placed in police custody prior to death can also raise body temperature through increasedpsychomotor activity if the victim struggles in the process (Mash, 2007). Otahbachi et al. (2010) found that the pathogenesis of excited delirium deaths was multifactorialand included positional asphyxia, hyperthermia, drug toxicity and/or catecholamine-inducedfatal arrhythmias. These deaths, he concluded, were secondary to stress cardiomyopathy. Sudden death in adults, particularly young adults who are asymptomatic, may occur from theonset of ventricular tachycardia (a type of rapid heart rate) or other dangerous arrhythmias. A genetic factor appears to influence which people with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy aremore prone to sudden death. In restraint-related deaths, extreme physiological stress andsudden exercise, e.g. violence and struggling, in an individual with genetic predisposingfactors, may result in fatal hypertrophic cardiomyopathy as has been seen in the suddendeath of young athletes (Maron et al., 1996; Frenneaux, 2004). Recent research (Ho et al., 2009) indicates that physical struggle is a much greatercontributor to catecholamine surge and metabolic acidosis than other causes of exertion orstimuli. Michalewicz et al. (2007) saw catecholamine hyperstimulation as one of the riskfactors of restraint-related deaths. Hick et al. (1999) found in five cases of sudden death that there may have been exacerbationof exercise-induced lactic acidosis by sympathetic-induced vasoconstriction, enhanced bythe actions of cocaine in at least some cases. Alshayeb et al. (2010) also noted that peopleexercising intensely, who are highly aggressive and then restrained, and have takencocaine, may develop lactic acidosis and subsequently suffer cardiac arrest. This process istypically not responsive to advanced cardiac life support. Alcohol abuse is a predisposing factor for violence and aggression. Sudden death of anindividual with a history of alcohol abuse, and under the influence of alcohol, may occur duringa struggle. Alcohol is a recognised cause of a variety of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. A prolonged QT interval, a problem associated with sudden death, as well as increased levelsof norepinephrine may be present in prolonged alcohol abuse. These predispositions toarrhythmias can be exaggerated by catecholamines released during a violent struggle. Paterson et al. (2003a, b) found that administration of neuroleptics increased the risk ofdeath during restraint by weakening the individual’s ability to swallow or expel leading to anincreased risk of the inhalation of vomit. In large well-conducted population studies the risk PAGE 184 jJOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOURj VOL. 2 NO. 4 2011 conferred by QT prolongation when taking antipsychotics, particularly thioridazine,droperidol, sertindole and ziprasidone, appears to be a modest increase in mortality andsudden death. Co-morbid physical illness, especially cardiovascular disease, is a furtherrisk factor (Abdelmawla and Mitchell, 2006). Psychotropic medication given (pro re nata (p.r.n) or as required) has been noted asfrequently given for agitation or aggression in addition to prescribed antipsychotics withfurther risks of side effects and long-term implications to health (Joukamma et al., 2006). Baker et al. (2008) found that p.r.n medication was an under-researched intervention andside-effects were not closely monitored: Typical antipsychotic PRN undoubtedly contributes to antipsychotic polypharmacy and highdoses that individuals may receive. After reviewing the comparisons of restraint-related deaths in the UK from 1999 to 2010 withthe literature available and then benchmarking the findings with expert opinion, it is evidentthat those in vulnerable groups when restrained in a prone position, or in a basket hold, for aprolonged period and who are agitated and resistive, are most at risk. The findings of thisresearch demonstrate that there are no absolute safe restraint positions. Mechanicalrestraints, fixation, confining the limbs to bed or a chair (as used in parts of Europe) all haverisks such as deep venous thrombosis (de Hert et al., 2010). Seclusion may be seen as theleast harmful method of managing a violent individual. However, this will be likely to mean theindividual has to be restrained first with the concomitant risks: Getting a violent individual into seclusion against his/her will almost invariably involve some formof physical intervention and mechanical restraint as observed is clearly not without its own risks(Paterson and Bradley, 2010). There is also no safe time limit for duration of any restraint; staff must be aware during anyphysical intervention of the signs of a medical emergency and have life support skills andequipment to respond to any emergency. They also need to bear in mind that cessation ofaggression may indicate collapse rather than the individual’s co-operation. Early warning predictors and markers should be noted by staff for those who are becomingunwell with a pre-existing condition before potential collapse. Assessment of othervulnerabilities, such as mental health status, must be carried out by trained personnel incustodial settings. Consistency in reporting relevant deaths locally and nationally isnecessary to facilitate analysis of key information and prevent deaths in the future. NHSreporting systems (Mental Health Minimum Data Set Version 4.0, National Health ServiceConnecting for Health, 2011) now include recording restraint incidents; restraint-relateddeaths should also be a mandatory category. 1. Physical restraint is defined in this article as the lawful use of force involving the restriction of 2. David Bennet, a 38-year-old black man who died in the Norvic clinic in Norwich in October 1998. He was restrained by at least three staff after attacking a female member of staff and his heart stoppedduring the restraint. 3. Deaths following police contact that are subject to an IPCC independent investigation. 4. When the state takes away the individual’s liberty and places him in custody or under the mental 5. For example, a previous death in 1995 of Zoe Fairley, a young woman with intellectual disabilities suffocated and died when restrained face down for 50 minutes. 6. Atypical (second generation) antipsychotics are used in the acute phase of schizophrenia and related psychoses and for long-term maintenance and prevention of relapse. VOL. 2 NO. 4 2011 jJOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOURj PAGE 185 There are no absolute safe restraint positions; mechanical restraints, fixation, confining the limbsto bed or a chair (as used in parts of Europe) all have risks such as deep venous thrombosis (deHert et al., 2010). Seclusion may be seen as the least harmful method of managing a violentindividual. However, this will be likely to mean the individual has to be restrained first with theconcomitant risks. There is also no safe time limit for duration of any restraint; staff must be awareduring any physical intervention of the signs of a medical emergency and have life support skillsand equipment to respond to any emergency. They also need to bear in mind that cessation ofaggression may indicate collapse rather than the individual’s co-operation. How ‘‘hazardous’’a restraint position is may be quite individualised, depending on characteristics of the personheld, the length of time, the forcefulness of the hold and a range of other factors including factorssuch as the levels of stress. Early warning predictors and markers should be noted by staff forthose who are becoming unwell with a pre-existing condition before potential collapse. The end point of physical interventions is to return the individual to normative behaviours. Thereshould be use of a range of options to achieve this, e.g. time out, medication, with ongoingevaluation of effectiveness. Consistency in reporting relevant deaths locally and nationally is necessary to facilitate analysis ofkey information and prevent deaths in the future. NHS reporting systems (Mental Health MinimumData Set Version 4.0) now include recording restraint incidents; restraint-related deaths shouldalso be a mandatory category. Staff training in all services needs to include immediate life support skills as a minimumcertification level and advanced skills as a maximum level (for those working in emergencydepartments and acute medical admissions and paramedics). These skills and course providedto develop them are laid out by the Resuscitation Council (UK) (www.resus.org.uk/siteindx.htm). There needs to be dissemination of medical theories into practice, e.g. dangers of restraint in aseating position. It is also about managing those risks. Effective training is about the cycle ofdecision making. Abdelmawla, A. and Mitchell, A. (2006), ‘‘Sudden cardiac death and antipsychotics. Part 1: risk factorsand mechanisms’’, Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 35-44. Alshayeb, H., Showkat, A. and Wall, B. (2010), ‘‘Lactic acidosis in restrained cocaine intoxicatedpatients’’, Tennessee Medicine, November-December, pp. 37-9. American College of Emergency Physicians (2009), ‘‘White paper report on excited delirium syndrome’’,ACEP Excited Delirium Task Force, American College of Emergency Physicians, Irving, TX. Aquaro, G., Gabutti, A., Meini, M., Prontera, C., Pasanisi, E., Passino, C., Emdin, M. and Lombardi, M. (2011), ‘‘Silent myocardial damage in cocaine addicts’’, Heart Online First, Vol. 20, available at: http://heart.bmj.com/content/early/2011/06/04/hrt.2011.226977.short – aff-1, published on 20 June 2011. Baker, J., Lowell, K. and Harris, N. (2008), ‘‘A best-evidence synthesis review of the administration ofpsychotropic pre re nata (PRN) medication in in-patient mental health settings’’, Journal of ClinicalNursing, Vol. 17 No. 9, pp. 1122-31. 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(2010), Health Inequalities and People with Learning Disabilities in the UK:2010, Disability Rights Commission, Manchester. Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine (2010), ‘‘Acute behavioural disturbance: guidelines onmanagement in police custody’’, available at: www.fflm.ac.uk Fazel, S., Gulati, G., Linsell, L., Geddes, J.R. and Grann, M. (2009), ‘‘Schizophrenia and violence:systematic review and meta-analysis’’, PLoS Medicine, Vol. 6 No. 8, p. e1000120. Frenneaux, M. (2004), ‘‘Assessing the risk of sudden cardiac death in a patient with hypertrophiccardiomyopathy’’, Heart, Vol. 90, pp. 570-5. Grace, K. (2011), ‘‘Deaths during or following police contact. Statistics for England and Wales 2010/11’’,IPCC Research and Statistics Series: Paper 21, Independent Police Complaints Commission, London. Grant, J., Southall, P.E., Fowler, D.R., Mealey, J., Thomas, E.J. and Kinlock, T.W. (2007),‘‘Death in custody: a historical analysis’’, Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 52 No. 5, pp. 11717-81. 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Frances Aiken can be contacted at: firstname.lastname@example.org To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: email@example.comOr visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints VOL. 2 NO. 4 2011 jJOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOURj PAGE 189 MERCY HOSPITAL DUNEDIN INFECTION CONTROL MANUAL MRSA Policy Page 1 of 17 Key Words: Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus , MRSA Policy Applies to: All staff employed by Mercy Hospital. Credentialed Specialists, Allied Health Professionals, patients and visitors will be supported to meet policy requirements. Related Standards: • Infection and Prevention a Original Article Korean Diabetes J 2010;34:191-199 Effects of Rosiglitazone on Inflammation in Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty RatsJin Woo Lee1, Il Seong Nam-Goong1, Jae Geun Kim2, Chang Ho Yun3, Se Jin Kim1, Jung Il Choi2, Young IL Kim1, Eun Sook Kim11Department of Internal Medicine, Ulsan University Hospital, Ulsan University Col age of Medicine,2Biomedical Research Center, Ulsan Univers

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Meanwhile, if he won't introduce you to the people who raised him, and won't even tell you their names, he definitely doesn't want to date you. Why would he introduce his parents to the random girl that he's been sleeping with? If he wanted to date you, then he wouldn't hesitate to answer your messages, no matter what time of day it was or how busy his schedule was. If you asked him a question, he would answer it. It's as simple as that. They tell each other where they're going and whom they're going to be with. Meanwhile, if he's vague about where How To Know Your Just A Hookup going, or won't even answer your texts when you try to get ahold of him, then he doesn't think of you as a girlfriend. Signs You're Just a Hookup He just thinks of you as someone who can get him off. Everybody likes to be called by their real name, because it makes them feel special. However, if he calls just click for source by a generic nickname like "babe" or "sweets," then it's not the best sign. If he's been hooking up with multiple women at once, using pet names is a great way to avoid calling out the wrong name in bed. He might not actually know who you are. Please support TheTalko so we can continue providing you with great content! Please whitelist TheTalko or disable your ad blocker to continue. Close this popup and browse for 2 minutes. To avoid getting your heart broken, here are a few signs that he wants sex without an actual relationship: Give TheTalko a Thumbs up! Unique lists featuring pop culture, entertainment and crazy facts. Covering the hottest movie and TV topics that fans want. The most LOL-worthy things the Internet has to offer. A fresh take on sports: The only place to satisfy all of your guilty pleasures. The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. Pregnancy and parenting news, given to you in a way nobody else has. Informative and entertaining content for Clever readers. A one-stop shop for all things video games. 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Jesus Faces Pilate 1Asa soon as it was morning, the •chief priests had a meeting with the elders,b •scribes,c and the whole •Sanhedrin.d After tying Jesus up, they led Him away and handed Him over to •Pilate.e 2So Pilate asked Him, “Are You the Kingf of the Jews? ”g He answered him, “You have said it.”h 3And the chief priests began to accuse Him of many things. 4Then Pilatei questioned Him again, “Are You not answering anything? Look how many things they are accusing You of! ” 5But Jesus still did not answer anything, so Pilate was amazed. Jesus or Barabbas 6Atj the festivalk it was Pilate’sl custom to release for the people a prisoner they requested. 7There was one named Barabbas, who was in prison with rebels who had committed murderm during the rebellion.n 8The crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do for them as was his custom. 9So Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release the Kingo of the Jewsp for you? ” 10For he knew it was because of envyq that the chief priests had handed Him over. 11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he would release Barabbas to them instead. 12Pilate asked them again, “Then what do you want me to do with the One you call the King of the Jews? ” 13Again they shouted, “Crucify Him! ” 14Then Pilate said to them, “Why? What has He done wrong? ” But they shouted, “Crucify Him! ” all the more. 15Then, willing to gratify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. And after having Jesus flogged,r he handed Him over to be crucified. Mocked by the Military 16Thens the soldiers led Him away into the courtyard (that is, •headquarterst) and called the whole •company together. 17They dressed Him in a purpleu robe, twisted together a crownv of thorns, and put it on Him. 18And they began to salute Him, “Hail,w Kingx of the Jews! ” 19They kept hitting Him on the head with a reed and spitting on Him. Getting down on their knees,y they were paying Him homage. 20When they had mockedz Him, they stripped Him of the purple robe, put His clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him. Crucified between Two Criminals 21Theyaa forced a man coming in from the country, who was passing by, to carry Jesus’ cross.ab He was Simon, a Cyrenian,ac the father of Alexander and Rufus.ad 22Andae they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means Skull Placeaf). 23They tried to give Him wineag mixed with myrrh,ah but He did not take it. 24Then they crucified Him and divided His clothes, casting lotsai for them to decide what each would get. 25Now it was nine in the morningaj when they crucified Him. 26The inscription of the charge written against Him was: THE KINGak OF THE JEWS.al 27Theyam crucified two criminalsan, ao with Him, one on His right and one on His left. 28So the Scripture was fulfilled that says: And He was counted among outlaws. ap, aq, ar 29Thoseas who passed by were yelling insultsat atau Him, shaking their heads,av and saying, “Ha! The One who would demolish the sanctuary and build it in three days,aw 30save Yourself by coming down from the cross! ”ax 31In the same way, the chief priests with the scribesay were mocking Him to one another and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself! 32Let the •Messiah,az the Kingba of Israel,bb come down now from the cross,bc so that we may see and believe.”bd Even those who were crucified with Him were taunting Him. The Death of Jesus 33Whenbe it was noon,bf darkness came over the whole landbg until three in the afternoon.bh, bi 34And at threebj Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemábk sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”bl,bm 35When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “Look, He’s calling for Elijah! ” 36Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, fixed it on a reed, offered Him a drink,bn and said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take Him down! ” 37But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed His last. 38Then the curtainbo of the sanctuarybp was split in two from top to bottom. 39When the •centurion, who was standing opposite Him, saw the way Hebq breathed His last, he said, “This man really was God’s Son! ”br, bs 40Therebt were also women looking on from a distance. Among them were •Mary Magdalene,bu Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41When He was in Galilee,bv they would follow Him and help Him. Many other women had come up with Him to Jerusalem.bw The Burial of Jesus 42Whenbx it was already evening, because it was preparation day (that is, the day before the Sabbath), 43Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin who was himself looking forwardby to the kingdom of God,bz came and boldly went in to Pilateca and asked for Jesus’ body.cb 44Pilate was surprised that He was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him whether He had already died. 45When he found out from the centurion, he gave the corpse to Joseph. 46After he bought some fine linen, he took Him down and wrapped Him in the linen. Then he placed Him in a tombcc cut out of the rock, and rolled a stonecd against the entrance to the tomb. 47Nowce Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where He was placed. a. 15:1-5 Mt 27:2,11-14; Lk 23:25; Jn 18:28-38 b. 15:1 3Jn 1 c. 15:1 Mt 2:4 d. 15:1 Mk 13:9 e. 15:1 1Tm 6:13 f. 15:2 Lk 19:38 g. 15:2 Jn 19:21 h. 15:2 Or That is true, an affirmative oath; Mt 26:64; 27:11 i. 15:4 1Tm 6:13 j. 15:6-15 Mt 27:15-26; Lk 23:13-25; Jn 18:39–19:6 k. 15:6 Mk 14:1 l. 15:6 1Tm 6:13 m. 15:7 Pr 1:16 n. 15:7 Ac 23:7 o. 15:9 Lk 19:38 p. 15:9 Jn 19:21 q. 15:10 Ps 37:1 r. 15:15 Roman flogging was done with a whip made of leather strips embedded with pieces of bone or metal that brutally tore the flesh. s. 15:6-20 Mt 27:27-31 t. 15:16 Jn 18:28,33; 19:9; Ac 23:35; Php 1:13 u. 15:17 Mk 15:20; Lk 16:19; Rv 18:12 v. 15:17 Jn 19:2,5; Rv 12:1 w. 15:18 Mt 26:49; Lk 1:28; Jn 19:3 x. 15:18 Lk 19:38 y. 15:19 Mk 5:6; Lk 22:41; Eph 3:14 z. 15:20 Mk 10:34 aa. 15:21 Mt 27:32; Lk 23:26-31 ab. 15:21 Lk 9:23 ac. 15:21 Ac 6:9 ad. 15:21 Rm 16:13 ae. 15:22-26 Mt 27:33-37; Lk 22:32-34; Jn 19:17-24 af. 15:22 Jn 19:17 ag. 15:23 Gn 9:21; Dt 7:13; Ps 4:7; Pr 3:10; Lk 5:37 ah. 15:23 Ps 69:21 ai. 15:24 Ps 22:18 aj. 15:25 Lit was the third hour ak. 15:26 Lk 19:38 al. 15:26 Jn 11:36 am. 15:27-28 Mt 27:38,44; Lk 23:39-43 an. 15:27 Or revolutionaries ao. 15:27 Mk 14:48 ap. 15:28 Other mss omit bracketed text aq. 15:28 Is 53:12 ar. 15:28 Is 53:12 as. 15:29-32 Mt 27:39-43; Lk 23:35-38 at. 15:29 Ex 22:28; Mk 3:29; Rv 13:6 au. 15:29 Lit passed by blasphemed av. 15:29 Ps 22:7 aw. 15:29 Jn 2:19 ax. 15:30 Lk 23:26 ay. 15:31 Mt 2:4 az. 15:32 Mt 1:17; Eph 5:2 ba. 15:32 Lk 19:38 bb. 15:32 Jn 1:49 bc. 15:32 Lk 23:26 bd. 15:32 Mk 8:11-12; 11:24; Jn 3:16; Ac 10:43; Rm 10:9; 1Pt 1:8-10 be. 15:33-39 Mt 27:45-54; Lk 23:44-48; Jn 19:28-30 bf. 15:33 Lit the sixth hour bg. 15:33 Or whole earth bh. 15:33 Lit the ninth hour bi. 15:33 Am 8:9 bj. 15:34 Lit the ninth hour bk. 15:34 Some mss read lama ; other mss read lima bl. 15:34 Ps 22:1 bm. 15:34 Ps 22:1 bn. 15:36 Ps 69:21 bo. 15:38 Ex 26:31-33; 2Ch 3:14; Heb 6:19; 9:3; 10:20 bp. 15:38 A heavy curtain separated the inner room of the temple from the outer. bq. 15:39 Other mss read saw that He cried out like this and br. 15:39 Or the Son of God ; Mk 1:1 bs. 15:39 Jn 5:19; Heb 1:2 bt. 15:40-41 Mt 27:55-56; Lk 23:49; Jn 19:25-27 bu. 15:40 Mt 28:1; Mk 16:1,9; Lk 8:2; 24:10; Jn 20:1-18 bv. 15:41 Mt 17:22 bw. 15:41 Mt 23:37 bx. 15:42-46 Mt 27:57-60; Lk 23:50-54; Jn 19:38-42 by. 15:43 Jd 21 bz. 15:43 Mk 1:15 ca. 15:43 1Tm 6:13 cb. 15:43 Lk 12:4; Jn 2:21 cc. 15:46 Jn 5:28; 11:38; Ac 13:29 cd. 15:46 Jn 20:1 ce. 15:47 Mt 27:61-66; Lk 23:55-56

The Sword Of Truth Series Wishes and whims are not facts nor are they a means to discover them. In the eighth novel, Naked Empire, Richard and Kahlan are interrupted from their journey home to the New World to help free the Bandakar Empire, deep in the Old World, from the Imperial Order. The books follow the protagonists Richard Cypher, Kahlan Amnell and Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander on their quest to defeat oppressors who seek to control the world and those who wish to unleash evil upon the world of the living. Warheart was the last novel in the series. Offer ends 6/15. He takes this opportunity to destroy the Palace, preventing Jagang from using the treasures it holds. Shop Now . Seriously. As her husband, Richard, desperately searches for his beloved, whom only h. They learn that the people of Bandakar are pristinely ungifted like Jennsen and Oba, and have been overrun by the Order because they have shunned all forms of violence, refusing to fight for their own lives. Richard Cypher, woodsman and warrior, is chosen to bear the powerful Sword of Truth. p.592. The main character is a young man named Richard Cypher, a Westland woods guide whose simple life is forever changed after he becomes the Seeker of Truth a position similar to that of a Confessor, requiring him to uphold justice in the world. Chainfire 10. Wizard's First Rule Epic Fantasy Aug-1994 Sword of Truth - 1 A SWORD OF TRUTH TO DESTROY A PRINCE OF LIES Twilight has fallen upon the Three Kingdoms: a grey time that could foretell either dawn or descent into bitter night. internet download manager 3.21she looks so perfect summerTHE imitation is_safe:1big bang theory ita s01romi rain volmarvel now week empirescream web dlfoo fighters wembleyenrique iglesias - vivirwolf hall series 720p

On Guru Purnima, Tendulkar, Kambli remember the man who taught them ABCD of cricket The cricketers honoured Achrekar who had helped kickstart their careers. - Uday Kotak pays tribute to Ramakant Achrekar, remembers him teaching batting technique in school - #ThrowbackThursday: Sachin Tendulkar shares 'Sundar' pics with Google CEO from Sunday's Ind-Eng match - Jay Kotak's illustrious cricket 11 boasts of Tendulkar, Shane Warne and Imran Khan - It's a fanboy moment for Sundar Pichai at Birmingham's Ind-Eng match On the occasion of Guru Purnima, the 46-year-old Master Blaster thanked Ramakant Achrekar in a Twitter post for guiding him. He wrote a shloka from Veda Vyasa's 'Guru Gita', which means the teacher is the supreme god or the absolute truth. "Guru is the one who removes the darkness of ignorance in the student. Thank you Achrekar Sir for being that Guru & guide to me and making me what I am today," he added. गुरुर्ब्रह्मा ग्रुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः । गुरुः साक्षात् परब्रम्ह तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः ॥ Guru is the one… https://t.co/2YXaaZA4Xv— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) 1563263934000 The Dronacharya awardee, who had also trained former cricketer Vinod Kambli and Kotak Mahindra Bank MD Uday Kotak at Shivaji Park in Dadar, passed away earlier this year in January at the age of 87 after suffering from age-related ailments. My cricket coach in school Ramakant Achrekar passes away. Fond memories of him teaching batting technique and a sma… https://t.co/jsq92En7jA— Uday Kotak (@udaykotak) 1546447355000 After his death, Tendulkar said that Achrekar (sir) had built his foundation, and helped with his cricketing career. He wrote on Twitter, "Cricket in heaven will be enriched with the presence of Achrekar Sir. Like many of his students, I learnt my ABCD of cricket under Sir's guidance. His contribution to my life cannot be captured in words. He built the foundation that I stand on". As a player, Achrekar competed in just one first-class match but was instrumental in moulding Tendulkar as a child, often driving him to stadiums on his scooter. Kambli also honoured Achrekar with a tweet, thanking him for teaching him to be a good person. You didn't just make me a good cricketer but more importantly you taught me to be a good human! I miss you Achrekar… https://t.co/1aUcA3TUR1— VINOD KAMBLI (@vinodkambli349) 1563267212000 Achrekar, who has coached some prominent players like Pravin Amre, Sameer Dighe and Balwinder Singh Sandhu, was also a Padmashri awardee. Former Team India players VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag took to Twitter to wish their teachers on Guru Purnima. Guru is the one who can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning. On the auspicious occ… https://t.co/PcvqhWZE99— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) 1563258679000 May the Darkness be dispelled. Happy #GuruPurnima !— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) 1563257110000

Bernet, R. 1990. Husserl and Heidegger on intentionality and being. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 21:136-52. ———. 1994. An intentionality without subject or object? Man World 27:231-55. Binswanger, L. 1960. Existential analysis, psychiatry, schizophrenia. Journal of Existentialism 1:157-65. Glen, S. 2005. Dangerous and severe personality disorder: An ethical concept? Nursing Philosophy 6, no. 2:98-105. Hersch, E. L. 2006. Philosophically informed psychotherapy and the concept of transference. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology 26, no. 1&2:221-34. Hosni, H., and J. Paris. 2005. Rationality as conformity. Synthese 144, no. 2:249-85. Kennett, J., and S. Matthews. 2003. Discontinuity in personal narrative: Some perspectives of patients. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology 10, no. 4:305-312. ———. 2003. The unity and disunity of agency. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology 10, no. 4:305-12. Larrabee, M., S. Weine, and P. Woollcott. 2003. "The wordless nothing": Narratives of trauma and extremity. Human Studies 26, no. 3:353-82. Pacherie, É. 2001. Agency lost and found: A commentary on Spencer. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology 8, no. 2/3:173-6. Sharpe, M. 2005. Psychiatric diagnosis and chronic fatigue syndrome: Controversies and conflicts. Journal of Mental Health 14, no. 3:269-76. Westerman, M. A. 2006. Quantitative research as an interpretive enterprise: The mostly unacknowledged role of interpretation in research efforts and suggestions for explicitly interpretive quantitative investigations. New Ideas in Psychology 24:189-211. Westerman, M. A. 2006. What counts as "good" quantitative research and what can we say about when to use quantitative and/or qualitative methods? New Ideas in Psychology 24:263-74. Westerman, M. A., and E. M. Steen. 2007. Going beyond the internal-external dichotomy in clinical psychology: The theory of interpersonal defense as an example of a participatory model. Theory & Psychology 17, no. 2:323-51.

April 30th, 2017 Basically, I wanted to go to bed early. However, before I checked the internet as I sometimes do and there I read in the news that someone had died today. Not knowing who this man would be, I felt nudged to read more about him. Wikipedia told me that he was a Swiss man who passed away at the age of only forty years in the exercise of his favorite occupation which had been rock climbing and mountaineering. As I checked out his website, I clicked on some beautiful pictures I really marveled at. Not completely sure which photo I liked the most, I eventually chose one of them for my blog and began to write on here. Only a few minutes later I returned to this man’s website in order to insert this and, perhaps, another picture into my blog article, as I wondered again. Good pictures, yes. Even very good pictures, taken by a professional, no doubt about this. But where was this very first amazement I had felt? This awe and wonder, this joy about I-do-not-know-what-it-is as John of the Cross once called it (am paraphrasing him here). They were completely gone! I was no longer interested in these pictures that seemed to be normal, even ‘dead’ to me now and I decided to delete what I had just written, all at once. Well, God’s leading, you know, is truly a strange thing at times… May 1st, 2017 Now, some time after midnight as I just shared a cold, roasted chicken thigh with Lily the cat, I do not know yet what God might have had in mind, but I sense I should keep writing. About life and death, perhaps? These pictures of high mountains where you could see Ueli Steck climbing (see http://www.uelisteck.ch/de/) were alive to me although he had died, but ONLY in these moments as GOD made them alive to me. Not before, since I saw similar pictures in the past without any comparable feelings. And I felt no life in them afterwards, either. As simple as it might sound, God is the Life that He shares with anyone He wills, at any time, but always in His time. Believe it or not, I just experienced the same thing while checking the Bible. I was thrilled to find 1 Cor 15:45 which tells us that “[t]he first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (ESV). Reading through the following verses, I saw they somehow led to the gist of it all which consists of these words, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55 ESV) Jesus Christ has become a life-giving spirit in order to raise the dead. Not only those who die physically, even those who have died to their old nature’s shackles. After I had jotted down the above-mentioned Scriptures, I could not relate to them anymore, not at all. That is bizarre, isn’t it…? 🙄 May 27th, 2017 Life and death, still. Rather, I have experienced months where I have found myself spiritually dead. Months during which my old nature could not find anything to cling to, nothing to get any life or joy out of it, neither out of hobbies, things, experiences, nor out of encounters and talks with people, NOT A THING provided any life. Nonetheless, just now I found an interesting description about such a period by T. Austin Sparks. Three Wilderness Features There are three things in this wilderness period: - A barren place of dependence. This is a tremendous factor in coming into our inheritance in Christ; for a wilderness is a wilderness, a dry barren place, where you cannot see anything, or feel anything; where if your only resources were in your senses you are at an utter end. It is a barren place of utter dependence upon God, and there is nothing else to depend upon. This is an essential feature in order to possess, a vital factor for obtaining the inheritance. How often God says to His people, “I am your inheritance” (Num. 18:20). “The Lord is my portion” (Ps. 119:57). “The Almighty will be thy treasure, and precious silver unto thee” (Job 22:24,25 A.R.V.). In Christ you have all that, “For all things are yours… the world, life and death, or things present or things to come, all are yours and ye are Christ’s and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. 3:25). He is shutting you up to exclusion where in that barren place He can be your life and you have to depend on Him for everything; thus, you come into your inheritance which is – HIMSELF. It is an utter separation from all and everything unto God. - The wilderness is a bounded place of separation, within the limits of God’s appointment, where you are separated unto God. There must not be the slightest overlapping with Egypt, “not a hoof to be left behind” and there had to be “three days’ journey into the wilderness” (Ex. 8:27). The separation is unto the degree of Divine completeness, it is being wholly separated unto God. God has come in between and defined the limits to our life and what it means to be separated unto God. - The wilderness is a hedged place of imprisonment to God, there is no getting out of it, you are imprisoned, given wholly to God and for Him, and know Him as your only object. God shut Israel into the wilderness and there was no way out; Pharaoh saw that, see what he says about it: “Pharaoh will say… they are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in” (Ex. 8:27). Yes, the devil knows all about it! He says, “the wilderness shut them in” – but, God shut them in. What a place of imprisonment when you have come out wholly for the Lord! Yes, that is the way, the Lord has imprisoned you, and you cannot run away. There are sometimes fiery trials, and often Satan says, quit, quit, and you know you cannot. The flesh would love to be released and find a way out, but you know you have got to go through, and He is holding you. If He had not held you, where would you have been? We would kick and run away, only He holds, and will hold until He has done the work; and you will say, “the Lord did it”; you are hedged by a Divine compulsion. The Lord sovereignly held the children of Israel in the wilderness, while the testing and training was going on, preparing for the inheritance. And He is holding you while He does the same, you are the prisoner of the Lord, hedged in unto His Divine completeness; the Lord is sovereignly holding and getting us through, the credit is not ours, but His, it is all Grace. The duration of the wilderness depends upon our maturity in our knowledge of the Lord, until HE becomes and IS our “all in all,” He – HIMSELF. When He has His place, we come into our large place, for our coming into a large place is on the ground of our personally knowing in a very real way the Lord – HIMSELF as our all; and conquest depends upon this knowledge of the Lord. All images © 2017 Susanne Schuberth.

1. (orig. UK Und., also nobb) the head; thus constr. with a to mean each, a time. |Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Nob c. a head.| |Vulgus Britannicus I 13: But were, as Nob declares in spite, / By dint of Number always Right.| |New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].| |Tom Thumb I iii: Do pop up your nob again, / And ’egad I’ll crack your crown.| |‘A Bloody Battle between a Taylor and a Louse’ in Roxburghe Ballads (1891) VII:2 478: He hit him o’er the Nob, made the taylor sigh and sob.| |Discoveries (1774) 43: Mill his Nobb; break his Head.| |Homer Travestie (1764) I 138: I plainly see, thy nob, old grandsire, / Is wiser far than other noddles.| |Tony Lumpkin in Town (1780) 28: You’re to paint fine large powder’d pretty wigs upon every head in this room, at [...] half a crown a nob.| |Humorous Sketches 155: Here no despotic power shews / Oppression’s haughty nob.| |Both Sides of the Gutter part II 11: His speech in his fist, and his spectacles on his nob.| |‘Lord Altham’s Bull’ in Ireland Ninety Years Ago (1885) 89: Oh! den he laid about wid his nob.| |‘Honest Bob’ in Jovial Songster 115: In gay fangl’d garments I never was drest, / Nor stuck up my nob in a coach.| |‘This London Agrah!’ Wellington’s Laurels 8: A great hulking fellow [...] gave me a terrible thump on the nob.| |Devil and the Lady (1930) III i 55: I’ll [...] uncork The claret of your nob, and dim your daylights, And make your ivories chatter in the tusk-box.| |York Herald 3 May 4/3: You blasted old governor, and I’m blest if I don’t burst open your jolly nob.| |(con. 1715) Jack Sheppard (1917) 89: A well-directed hit on the nob.| |‘Parson And The Quaker’ Dublin Comic Songster 37: A jolly-faced parson once happened to pop, / Into Simon Pure’s plain dealing every day shop, / To look out for a hat that would just fit his nob.| |Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 4 Feb. 2/2: He aimed a dreadful chopper at Baily’s nob.| |New Sprees of London 13: This crib is open three nights a week; the charge, a duce a nob, the other cribs a win a nob, and mangling done every night.| |Sam Sly 23 Dec. 4/3: Dick put a couple of balls in his nob, / And purwailed on him to stop.| |‘Leary Man’ in Vulgar Tongue (1857) 42: And when you go to spree about, / Let it always be your pride / To have a white tile on your nob / And a bulldog by your side.| |Bell’s Life in Sydney 23 May 2/7: Jones planted his left very slightly on the side of Tom’s nob.| |‘A New Litany on Reform’ in Curiosities of Street Lit. (1871) 78: Dicky, how is your poor nob?| |Wanderings of a Vagabond 312: But a rough-and-tumble bully soon discovered himself at a great disadvantage, when faced by a shoulder-hitter who could score one on his nob once a minute and coolly step out of the reach of punishment himself.| |Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday 8 May 7/2: And a sorter radiant halo / Gleamed brightly round his nob.| |Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Feb. 11/1: Why, boys have hit you on the nob, / And challenged you out for a bob.| |Sporting Times 30 Jan. 6/1: Not a common, pokey little party at nine d. a nob for tea and cresses [...] but real good business, cocky.| |Times-Democrat (New Orleans, LA) 9 July 3/6: Prize Ring Slang [...] ‘Brain canister’, ‘lob,’ ‘nob,’ ‘lolly,’ the head.| |Sporting Times 4 Jan. 3: Get this fact into your nob, / You’re a broker ‘on your uppers,’ I’m a broker ‘on the job’.‘Jack and Jim’| |’Arry Ballads 40: Why shouldn’t her stage trotter-out take his perks too at so much a nob.| |Signor Lippo frontispiece: Though poor you be, try spare a bob / To engrave these lines just o’er my nob.| |Truth (Sydney) 22 Apr. 1/2: The Belgian Society dame, who poisoned her relatives at £2000 a nob.| |Bulletin (Sydney) 6 Sept. 25/1: If you want to get an idea of the art of up-to-date hair-dressing, put in some time at any of the Melbourne bun-temples and there study the crown-pieces of the waitresses. [...] A black velvet bow is aslant the ‘nob’ of one, Jap. ornaments stab another pile, a white satin bow rides the under-crest of another thatch, and so, in various ways, the coiffure take shape.| |Sporting Times 1 Aug. 1/4: What makes me fairly mad / Is the fact that I’ve been cut out by my own bald-nobbed grand-dad.‘Lure of the Lucre’| |‘Buccaneers’ Seven Seas Sept. in Amer. Ballads and Folk Songs (1934) n.p.: The skipper lay with his nob in gore, / Where the scullion’s ax his cheek had shore.| |‘A Woman’s Way’ in Chisholm (1951) 88: I’ve got too wise a nob / To be took in.| |‘You Nazi Man’ [comic strip] in Tijuana Bibles (1997) 129: They’ll get their nobs chopped off.| |Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 7: Before I come on with the gas I’ve got to pick up on a barber because my rug needs much dusting after I get with the moss snatcher the nob will be in great shape.| |World’s Toughest Prison 810: nob – The head.| 2. (UK Und.) a hat. |Muses Delight 177: She’d nail’d a rum cove of tilter and nob, / But in filing his tatler was routed.‘A Cant Song’| |‘Gallery of 140 Comicalities’ Bell’s Life in London 24 June 1/4: I say, Bill, I’ve got his ticker! – pull his precious nob! [hat].| 3. in fig. use, to mean first or front. |Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. 184: At the nob of the party were Headstrong Bob, Drunken Jack, &c.| 4. a blow on the head. |DSUE (1984) 798: from ca. 1810.| 5. (UK Und.) a young boy prisoner who bullies weaker ones. |Poverty, Mendicity and Crime; Report 9: There are what are called ‘Nobs,’ perhaps little boys not higher than the table. I have seen them myself, take a broomstick and strike a boy over the arm, almost to break it, and the other dared not say a single word to him.| 6. a sovereign. |Worcs. Chron. 12 Nov. 4/1: I shall let old Abraham, the Sheeney, have it at four punt and half a nob (4l. 10s.).| |Nott. Eve. Post 30 Apr. 6/3: Lesser known nicknames for sovereigns [...] ‘chip’ [...] ‘canary,’ ‘nob,’ ‘old Mr Gory’ [...] and ‘shiner’.| |DSUE (1984) 798: ca. 1840–90.| 7. the penis [var. of knob n. (1d)]. |‘Silver Nob’ in Randy Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) I 189: Since by your knife I’ve lost my nob, / To please my wife it will be a hard job.| |‘Wry-Mouth Bob And His Jolly Red Nob’ in Cuckold’s Nest 45: Wry-mouth Bob had a jolly red nob, / In a place – but you all know where.| |‘The Bastard King of England’ in Bawdy Ballads XI: The Royal nob hung next his knees / Twelve inches long and a two inch span.| |Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (1960) 101: Rule two tanners / Two tanners make a bob, / King George nevernevernever / shaves his nob!‘Noah’s Ark’| |Train to Hell 21: What a fucking nob-headed, shit-faced, bollock-brained, turd-shaped, prick-arsed, wanker-faced cunt!| |Salesman 100: Strides down, head down, nob in the gob.| 8. (mainly Aus.) a go, an item. |Rogue’s Progress (1966) 99: Our Joe has a dinner every Good Friday, at half-a-crown a nob.| |Sun. Times (Perth) 5 Aug. 4/8: The mob from Bayley’s mine / Paid forty bob a nob to wash the barmaid’s blouse in wine.| |Sun. Times (Perth) 7 Mar. 45/7: Like lambs that are thirsty we rushed / The bob-a-nob, muddy shy-poo.| |Dryblower’s Verses 63: ‘Peanuts, apples, lemonade!’ / Yelled the gallery man of old / While his aitches round were sprayed / As the bob-a-nob he strolled.‘Nickin’ In’| |Sheepmates 72: There’s too big of a mob fer one man to shout the house on his pat at a zac a pop, so you shove in a deaner a nob and flip the rats an’ mice, see?| |Men Without Wives II i: Three quid a nob fer bullocks don’t run ter trips south.| |Sun Herald (Sydney) 14 Feb. 52.3: Get your juicy meat pies - only a bob a nob.| 9. (Aus., also knob) a double-headed penny, esp. as used in the game of two-up, produced by filing down standard coins and welding them together. |Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Aug. 12/2: There are a lot of speculations as to what [his] ‘grossest case of robbery that has ever taken place in the colony’ is. The general opinion in sporting circles is that ‘someone has rung in the nob on the man who had the kip and let the mug collar the plunder’.| |Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 163: The only fraud possible [in two-up] is the substitution of either a two-headed or two-tailed penny – a trick known as ‘ringing in’ a ‘nob’ or a ‘gray.’.| |Sun. Times (Perth) 22 May 4/8: I don’t spin a nob or a grey.| |Eve. Teleg. (Charters Towers) 29 Apr. 2/5: Besides they claim two-up is a game of skill that defies police interference, yet (anyone who has ever played the game knows the only skill attached to it is ‘ringing in’ a ‘knob’ (two-headed coin), or ‘grey’ (two tails), which is termed ‘spinning the planet,’ and is usually done from a slot underneath the kip.| |Mirror (Sydney) 31 Aug. 8/2: The ‘nob,’ or double-headed penny, and the ‘shieler,’ or double-tailed ‘woman,’ are made by filing the coins down and soldering them together again. Such good jobs are made of them that often it is very hard to detect the join.| |(con. WWI) Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: nob. A double headed penny (‘two-up.’).| |Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 41: Knob, a double-headed penny.| |Canoe in Aus. 187: Pennies supplied by ‘school’ to avoid ‘nobs’, ‘jacks’, double-sided heads, ‘greys’, double-sided tails.| |Lingo 150: Early kips (also called lannets) are said to have been masterpieces of carpentry often with secret compartments used to hide double-headed (nob, jack) or double-tailed (gray) pennies.| 10. see knob n. (1c) 11. a socially inept person [fig. use of sense 7]. |Campus Sl. Oct. 4: nob – nerd.| |Sl. and Sociability 59: Derogatory epithets abound, for example [...] jerk face, nob, punk, quimp.| see knob artist under knob n. see knob-jockey under knob n. see head rails under head n. |F&H].Land at Last vii: You look, tho’ you’ve got a paucity of nob-thatch, and what ’air you ’ave is gray [| a wig-maker; a hat-maker, thus nob-thatching, wig making. |Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn).| |Tom and Jerry I v: Now you can make an assignation with some of our dashing straw-chippers and nob-thatchers in Burlinton Arcade.| |Modern Flash Dict. 23: Nob thatcher – a hat maker.| |Flash Mirror 20: F. Flet’s swell tile and nob-thatching warehouse, where is daily on sale [...] rummy sconsers, cannister kivers, and nut toppers of every sort.| |Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].| |Vocabulum 49: Knob-thatcher. A wig-maker.| (UK Und.) ingenuity. |Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 236: [...] a person who contrives by nob-work, or ingenuity, to live an easy life, and appears to improve daily in circumstances, is said to do it up in good twig.| |Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. 23: He kept a book, and his reader, respecting the nob-work at Doncaster meeting, had often proved an interesting subject to him.| to keep calm. |Bulletin (Sydney) 7 July 14/3: The male, being the active agent and perennially affectionate, has everything to gain (in the face of rivalry and female impulsiveness) by avoiding the female corns at all times and ‘keeping his nob squared’ until the scarce and treasured reciprocation sets in.| |‘Whiskey River take my mind’ at ihtgwsm.com 25 Jun. [Internet] I’m not alcoholic I just like getting so fucked off my nob that I wake up in a farm somewhere with 12 black guys with rifles pointing shit in my face.|

As routine as the cuckoo clock bird that chirps with each passing hour, Wendy Cukier can be counted on to toss out a gazillion reasons why the failed and useless “long gun registry” must be maintained… no matter the cost. Statistics on how often police “use” the system… the numbers sound unbelievable … but that’s only because they are… unbelievable, that is. The Canadian Police Information Centre’s computers have been programmed to query the registry for every call that comes in, no matter what it is. Get pulled over for speeding? Guess what? You’re now one of the “20,000 times per day” statistic Cukier and the other lying con artists throw at us. Did the cop want to know if you owned guns? Nope… but who cares… it’s about making the numbers look good, not what the cop on the street wanted to know. Just as predictably as Cukier’s blathering is the nonsense being spouted by the police chiefs’ lobby organization and a host of other people whose jobs and budgets rely on the registry for their existence. Even the Canadian Auto Workers union can’t help itself and wades into the debate that it knows nothing about. The end of the world is nigh and, just as all the hand-wringing morons claimed when state after American state passed Concealed Carry laws allowing citizens to legally carry firearms, there will be blood running in the streets if the long gun registry is killed. It’s the Sacred Cow of Canadian Gun Politics, after all, and if there’s one thing about Sacred Cows it’s this: You Can’t Kill a Sacred Cow! It’s clearly in “the rules“! Well, I for one am extremely pleased to see this particular “Sacred Cow” slaughtered and its corpse tossed in the garbage dump to rot. That’s where it belongs, after all. You see, there is one simple fact that nobody from the hand-wringing Lunatic Left can dispute: The Firearms Act and all the evil it spawns , while there is absolutely no evidence that it has actually saved a life, there is ample evidence that it has COST one… and that’s the life of a 15-year-old boy named Martin Angnatok. His is the name that nobody from all the people and associations wringing their hands and claiming the world as we know it is about to end want to talk about. The reason is simple. Martin’s murder in 2000 in Nain, Newfoundland, shines the light of truth on all their lies and misinformation. For now, whenever one of these morons blathers on how without the gun registry Canadian Culture will come to a bloody end… simply ask each and every one of them about Martin Angnatok and why HE doesn’t deserve to be remembered and why HIS life is somehow LESS valuable than anyone else’s. You will be met with stunned silence which will inevitably be followed with a predictable “I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with that name.” What you will NOT hear, of course, is this: “Can you please tell me who he was and what happened to him?” No, you will NEVER hear that question being asked by the lunatics that believe law-abiding hunters and target shooters are somehow the cause of all the gang shootings in every major Canadian city, not to mention the minor ones. For those unfamiliar with Martin’s case, would you really be surprised to know that, despite the police knowing exactly who murdered him (here’s a hint: the man picked up the murder weapon from the RCMP detachment and returned it there once he was done killing Martin), the [alleged] murderer Abraham Zarpa has never faced a trial. What’s worse is the fact that he never will. Because then government prosecutors would have to explain to a courtroom and put on record why the RCMP was forced to hand a man with a firearms prohibition order the very rifle he used to murder a 15-year-old boy in cold blood. There’s not a court in the land that wants that information on the record. So remember… whenever one of the blathering idiots hops on your local radio station…. be sure to ask them about Martin Angnatok. Then be ready to be amazed by the stunned silence. - Owen Sound Police Chief Tells the Truth about the Gun Registry - Bringing the “administration of justice into disrepute”

Wednesday, 10 December 2008, 07:52 S E C R E T KYIV 002414 DEPT FOR EUR/UMB EEB/ESC/IEC FOR SGALLOGLY AND LWRIGHT DOE FOR LEKIMOFF, CCALIENDO, RBOUDREAU USDOC FOR 4231/ITA/OEENIS/NISD/CLUCYK EO 12958 DECL: 12/10/2018 TAGS EINV, ENRG, EPET, PINR, PREL, POL, UP SUBJECT: UKRAINE: FIRTASH MAKES HIS CASE TO THE USG REF: A. KYIV 2383 B. KYIV 2294 Classified By: Ambassador for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 1. (S) Summary and Comment: Controversial Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash, best known as co-owner of gas intermediary RosUkrEnergo (RUE), called upon the Ambassador on December 8. Firtash did not explicitly state why he requested the meeting, nor did he ask the USG for anything, but he spoke at length about his business and politics in a visible effort to improve his image with the USG. The soft-spoken billionaire, arguably one of Ukraine's most powerful people, expressed strong support for President Yushchenko and equally strong contempt for Prime Minister Tymoshenko. He claimed that he had thwarted a coalition between BYuT and the Party of Regions (PoR) at the last minute, and was now working to build a coalition between Yushchenko's supporters and the PoR. In a lengthy monolog, Firtash described his evolution as a businessman from his beginnings as a food trader to the creation of RUE. Firtash claimed that Tymoshenko was working with Russia to eliminate RUE, and cited examples meant to prove that she was making political concessions to Russia to gain its support to do so. He acknowledged ties to Russian organized crime figure Seymon Mogilevich, stating he needed Mogilevich's approval to get into business in the first place. He was adamant that he had not committed a single crime when building his business empire, and argued that outsiders still failed to understand the period of lawlessness that reigned in Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He said he cared truly about Ukraine, and saw Russian business interests overtaking the economy as the biggest threat to the country's security. Comment: Firtash's arguments and allegations are clearly self-interested; he sees Tymoshenko as a clear threat to his business. End summary and comment. Firtash Seeks to Improve His Image 2. (C) Ukrainian billionaire Dmytro Firtash, best known as co-owner of controversial gas intermediary RUE, sought a meeting with the Ambassador on December 8. Accompanying Firtash to the meeting was political consultant and AmCit Zev Furst, and Andras Knopp, the Hungarian-born number two at RUE. Firtash never specifically stated why he had sought the meeting, nor did he extend any specific requests to the Ambassador, but in the course of the conversation it was clear he tried to use the meeting to portray a positive image of himself. Furst said he was attending as a "friend and advisor" to Firtash and during the course of the meeting stated that the USG might have misperceptions about Firtash. At one point during the meeting, Firtash began to talk about "mistakes he might have made," but diverted the conversation when Furst waved him off. Firtash's Support for President Yushchenko... 3. (C) In the meeting, which lasted two and a half hours, Firtash told the Ambassador that he was not a public person, but had recently been pulled deeper into Ukrainian politics. He admitted that he has "loyally served" as an unofficial advisor to President Yushchenko during tense gas negotiations with Russia and political crises dating back to the Orange Revolution in 2004. He reported that he met with the Yushchenko at his dacha (cottage residence) three times in the last week at the President's request. He described himself as a close friend and confidante of the President -- someone the President can trust totally. In his view, Yushchenko made a possibly fatal political error during the Orange Revolution in that he and Tymoshenko propagated the concept of two Ukraines -- an orange, more democratic Ukraine, and a blue Ukraine represented by the Party of Regions (PoR) and more focused towards the status quo. He added that this divisiveness throughout Ukraine is exactly what Russia hoped to cultivate in order to control Ukraine. Firtash felt the only way to unify Ukraine during the current political and economic crises was to form a coalition between the President's supporters and the PoR in order to stop what he termed, "Tymoshenko's plans to offer up the country to Russia on a silver platter." (Note: On the evening of December 9, BYuT, Our Ukraine/People's Self Defense Party, and the Lytvyn Block formed a coalition, keeping Tymoshenko in power and rebuffing Firtash's hopes for a coalition between the President's supporters and the PoR. End note.) ...And Contempt for Tymoshenko 4. (C) Firtash defined Tymoshenko as an accomplished oligarch who had made deals with Moscow that would leave Ukraine vulnerable to Russian oligarchs in the future -- something neither he nor Ukrainian billionaire and PoR backer Rinat Akhmetov could stand by and watch happen. Firtash referred to Tymoshenko's title of "gas princess" as a misnomer; he explained that Tymoshenko did make lots of money off of a corrupt, perpetual gas debt scheme during the 1990s, but she knew nothing about the gas business. XXXXXXXXXXXX to give the false impression that she was not actively involved in business. He believed that Tymoshenko's hatred for him stems from Tymoshenko's missed opportunity to develop her own RUE back in 2005, when she was Prime Minister for the first time. 5. (C) Firtash stated that he felt Russia was strongly supporting a BYuT and PoR coalition and that such a coalition was about to be finalized on December 7, with only Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych needing to sign. He claimed that he torpedoed the coalition at the last moment by convincing Yanukovych that an alliance with Tymoshenko would never last. Firtash recounted that on December 6, Tymoshenko was on nearly every Ukrainian TV channel and in every newspaper, prophesying that a BYuT and PoR coalition agreement would be signed on the evening of December 7. Firtash was visibly delighted as he recounted how he used his television station INTER to air an interview in which Yanukovych refuted Tymoshenko's claim that a BYuT and PoR coalition was a done deal (Ref A). Responding to a question by the Ambassador on whether he worked with Akhmetov to derail a BYuT/PoR coalition, Firtash said that they had worked separately, even if they were pursuing the same goal. 6. (C) Firtash said he and Akhmetov both wanted a coalition between the President's supporters and the PoR. He claimed that he had brokered a subsequent meeting between Yanukovych and Yushchenko for the evening of December 8. He was not sure if Yanukovych and Yushchenko could form a new coalition, but saw it as the only way out of Ukraine's prolonged political strife. From Humble Beginnings... 7. (C) Firtash described himself as a simple person who grew up in the village of Synkiv in the Ternopil oblast in Western Ukraine. Firtash explained he had very humble beginnings -- his father taught driver education and his mother worked in a sugar factory. He added that since his parents hated communism, they did not benefit from valuable contacts that could have helped him get into a university, which was his childhood dream. Firtash said he shared his parents' disdain for the Communist party and only agreed to join the Communist youth movement Komsomol after being locked in a party member's office for two days without food or water. 8. (C) Firtash told the Ambassador he attended an occupational institute before be drafted into the army in 1986 and studied to become a fireman after completing his military service. In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, Firtash stated his parents thought it was the end of the world and he was concerned about making a living during unpredictable times. He added that he felt he was "between two countries -- one that had ended and one that was beginning." He described his future as unknown, stating he was "living in a country with no laws and no taxes." Firtash also described himself as a "natural businessman" without a university education who "had a nose" for business opportunities, and who would make the best of the uncertainty. 9. (C) (Note: The Ukrainian newspaper "Ukrainska Pravda" researched Firtash's life and reported that Firtash was not highly educated, but was a highly decorated soldier who had used his contacts to build a canned goods and dry milk business which shipped goods first to Uzbekistan. According to press reports, Firtash's first wife and business partner Mariya Kalinovska was given credit for Firtash's first business success. This business then turned into a profitable canned goods production factory and a transportation company registered in Germany. Firtash and Kalinovska were married from 2002-2005, with Kalinovska reportedly receiving a large divorce settlement, despite efforts by former Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko to misrepresent the true scale of Firtash's wealth. End note.) ...To Powerful Oligarch 10. (C) Firtash gave a detailed account of how he got into the gas business. Firtash explained that his food and commodities business, which he started in Chernivtsi in Western Ukraine with his wife Mariya, was first called KMIL, and later expanded into High Rock Holdings. Due to his commodities business, he became acquainted with several powerful business figures from the former Soviet Union. Firtash said he met Ukrainian businessman Igor Bakai in Turkmenistan who was selling cars in Ashgabat, but had bigger plans. According to Firtash, Bakai convinced then Ukrainian President Kravchuk to give him permission to buy gas exclusively for the Ukrainian market in Turkmenistan. Firtash noted that Bakai's success also sparked Firtash's interest in the gas business. (Note: In 1993 Bakai then formed the Respublika company, which later became Intergas, which set the precedent for profitable gas trading between Turkmenistan and Ukraine. Bakai would go on to be the first Head of Ukraine's state oil and gas company Naftohaz from 1998-2001. End note.) 11. (S) Firtash also described the gas business in Ukraine during the mid 1990s as particularly dangerous. Firtash said that then Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko had hired criminals to run the Ukrainian government and used his position as Prime Minister for corruption. He added that Tymoshenko headed Ukrainian Energy Systems, where she earned her fortune. Firtash claimed that Lazarenko, Tymoshenko, and Lazarenko's Assistant Igor Fisherman divided and conquered the Ukrainian gas market. He stated that Lazarenko ordered the killings of Donetsk Governor Yevgen Scherban in 1996 and the head of Itera in Kyiv for not sharing Lazarenko's gas business philosophy. (Note: Igor Fisherman was known in the Ukrainian press as Mogilevich's right hand man who was also High Rock Holding's financial director during the late 1990s. End note.) 12. (C) Another such businessman was Igor Makarov, who founded the Itera gas trading company in 1992, which provided Turkmen gas to former Soviet republics. Firtash claimed that Makarov hired a former KGB head as his security chief to direct Makarov's gas trading empire in Central Asia. Firtash recounted that he gave Itera food commodities through High Rock Holdings, which Itera used to buy gas in-kind from Turkmenistan. Makarov then paid Firtash in cash with the proceeds of his gas sales. According to Firtash, Makarov refused to pay Firtash $50 million in 2001, which drove Firtash to explore his own gas trading business, ousting Makarov at the same time. 13. (C) According to Firtash, he hired Hungarian-born businessman Andras Knopp to negotiate new gas trading deals with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Since these Central Asian countries trusted Firtash as a reputable businessman, they agreed to sign with Firtash's EuroTransGas (ETG) company, leaving Makarov's business in ruins. 14. (S) Firtash also recounted that Makarov invited him to dinner in Kyiv in January 2002, shortly after Firtash had signed the gas deals with Central Asia. Firtash added he went to that dinner not knowing if he would be beaten up or even killed for having taken Makarov's business from him. According to Firtash, Makarov was there with his head of security, Semyon Mogilevich, Sergei Mikhas, from the Solnstevo Brotherhood, and a Mr. Overin when Makarov told Firtash he would regain his gas business as easily as Firtash had taken it away. Firtash walked away from the meeting alive, and credited his ability to keep his life and his gas business to his good reputation among Central Asian leaders. 15. (C) According to Firtash, by 2002, ETG was the sole transporter of Turkmen gas to Ukraine. (Note: According to media reports, by 2005 Firtash had already created a gas trading empire that allowed him to easily transition into RUE. In addition, Firtash owns majority shares in companies in Ukraine, Estonia, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Tajikistan, and Austria all under the umbrella of the Group DF which he formed in 2007 (Ref B). He also owns 61% of the Ukrainian Inter Media Group which owns or co-owns 7 television channels and the Ukrainian News Agency. By 2006, Firtash's estimated worth was over $5 billion, but most experts believe that Firtash had low-balled his true worth and estimated it was in the tens of billions. In his conversation with the Ambassador, Firtash gave no indication of the scope of his wealth. End note). The Future of RosUkrEnergo (RUE) 16. (C) When asked about Tymoshenko's promise to rid Ukraine of RUE, Firtash responded by making a link between Tymoshenko and Russia. He argued that the Prime Minister was seeking Russian support to get rid of RUE, and was making concessions to Russia to accomplish this goal. He specifically cited what he said was her silence on the August events in Georgia, her avoidance of a stand on the Holodomor and the issue of the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, as examples of the political concessions she was making to Moscow. Firtash acknowledged that he was having more and more problems with Russia. He alleged that the Russians had already excused a $600 million debt that she owed from her previous gas business that could be used as pressure to get concessions from her. If Moscow really wanted to get rid of RUE, Firtash added, it could do so as long as Tymoshenko was at the helm. 17. (C) Responding to the Ambassador's question, Firtash said Ukraine's current gas debt to RUE was near $3 billion, adding that the debt was owed directly to RUE and not to Gazprom. In his view, Ukraine could only clear the debt to RUE in gas since it didn't have enough cash to pay outright. He added that according to the RUE charter with Gazprom, any shipments or supplies of gas to RUE must be confirmed by two signatures on a gas transfer document -- one signature from Gazprom -- the other from RUE (Firtash). Firtash argued that if he does not sign the gas transfer document, then legally there is no proof that gas has been supplied to RUE or Ukraine, so Gazprom forfeits its ability to demand payment from RUE, thus keeping RUE in the gas arrangement for some time. He estimated that Ukraine would have to pay RUE 12 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to settle the debt. This could be done by transferring Ukrainian gas already in storage to RUE, bringing RUE's reserves in storage in Ukraine up to 23.5 bcm, since RUE already has 11.5 bcm in storage (Ukraine's maximum storage capacity is 34 bcm). The gas would normally be exported to Europe at market prices, which despite falling world gas prices would still be very profitable. Firtash hinted that if RUE was removed with Russian approval, Ukraine would most likely attempt to take or steal all of RUE's gas in storage. Ties to Russian Organized Crime 18. (S) The Ambassador asked Firtash to address his alleged ties to Russian organized crime bosses like Semyon Mogilievich. Firtash answered that many Westerners do not understand what Ukraine was like after the break up of the Soviet Union, adding that when a government cannot rule effectively, the country is ruled by "the laws of the streets." He noted that it was impossible to approach a government official for any reason without also meeting with an organized crime member at the same time. Firtash acknowledged that he needed, and received, permission from Mogilievich when he established various businesses, but he denied any close relationship to him. 19. (S) Firtash's bottom line was that he did not deny having links to those associated with organized crime. Instead, he argued that he was forced into dealing with organized crime members including Mogilevich or he would never have been able to build a business. If he needed a permit from the government, for example, he would invariably need permission from the appropriate "businessman" who worked with the government official who issued that particular permit. He also claimed that although he knows several businessmen who are linked to organized crime, including members of the Solntsevo Brotherhood, he was not implicated in their alleged illegal dealings. He maintained that the era of the "law of the street" had passed and businesses could now be run legitimately in Ukraine. He underscored the importance of unifying Ukraine politically in order to reduce the influence of Russian organized crime bosses on Ukrainian businesses.

– The parent, who remains unidentified, made the shocking discovery after taking the newborns to undergo a DNA test. A Chinese man is left stunned after finding out that his twin babies have two fathers. The parent, who remains unidentified, made the shocking discovery after taking the newborns to undergo a DNA test as part of the standard procedure to register their births in China, a DNA analyst told reporters. The man was astounded upon receiving the test results which indicated that his wife also had sex with someone other than him, Chinese media report. Deng Yajun, the practitioner who produced the paternity report, said that the chance for such case to happen is one in 10 million. ‘First, the mother needs to produce two eggs instead of one in the same month [to have twins],’ Ms Deng, who is also the director of Beijing Zhongzheng Forensic Identification Centre, explained to China News Weekly. ‘Second, she needs to have intercourse with two men in really short space of time to make it possible. ‘The results showed that the children have the same mother but not the same father. They have at least two fathers,’ Ms Deng suggested. READ ALSO: How my wicked aunt sold my baby closed to a million plus then lied to me that he died at childbirth – New mother narrates Twins being born with different fathers is an extremely rare occurrence known as heteropaternal superfecundation. Women usually have to have sex with two different men within a day before or after ovulation for both eggs to be fertilised. Similar stories have been reported in China before as another Chinese mother was forced to admit that she had cheated on her husband in a one-night stand after receiving the DNA results last year. It came after the couple from south-eastern China’s Xiamen city went to register the birth of their twin sons at the local police station in 2019. In order to complete the registration, they had to produce the results of a paternity test to prove that the babies were theirs. The husband, known by his alias Xiaolong, had wondered why one of his sons didn’t look like him at all. The director from the Fujian Zhengtai Forensic Identification Centre said that Xiaolong was furious after reading the DNA report and confronted his wife. It is said that his wife initially denied having an affair and accused her husband of falsifying the results. Xiaolong further interrogated his wife, who then admitted that she had slept with another guy and that it was a one-night stand. The father said he was happy to raise his own child, but not the one from someone else, according to the report. KINDLY COMMENT AND SHARE.

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Note: this is an opinion piece. Even so, I base my opinion on facts and these will be linked throughout the article. The text is the author’s sole responsibility and does not reflect necessarily the opinion of the website. It is known and I’ll talk briefly about it in my opinion of Tuscany GP’s article, I decided to do my very first solo post about the telenovela around Sergio Pérez’s dismiss from Racing Point and Sebastian Vettel’s signing up with Aston Martin, announced last Wednesday and Thursday (9 and 10), respectively. Racing Point revoked the Mexican’s contract that was guaranteed in the team for the next season. However, to give the new hired driver’ space, the “pink Mercedes” decided to sacrifice Pérez. At one of the million social medias we have over the internet, there was a great mobilization from both sides fans – either celebrating that Vettel’ still safe in F1 or mourning Checo’s dismissal – and then, my inspiration to write this piece with my point of view came alive. Even knowing this sport is moved by money, negotiations and political moves, it hurts to see a driver that, somehow, represents you in a mostly white and European space. I have many caveats related to this hiring, the hired driver to substitute Pérez and the way he was dismissed by his team so I couldn’t help but feel bad for Checo. At the end of the day, we’re talking about people that, apart from being athletes, have their own resilience stories and even more considering that Mexico isn’t historically known in Formula 1. Pérez moved from Mexico to Germany when he was 15 years old, in order to start his career in Europe. Going through the feeder series such as Formula BMW, A1 Grand Prix, Formula 3 and GP2 (now known as Formula 2), he proved his talent and joined the Ferrari Drivers Academy until 2012. His career in Formula 1 is well-marked by traditional teams like Sauber – 2011 to 2012 -, McLaren – 2013, where he had a similar dismissal, compared to now days – and since 2014, he’s driving for Racing Point, once known as Force India. His career was backed up by the then richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, nicknamed “Midas’ King of telecommunications”. One of his most known companies is Claro, which is a very popular mobile operator in Latino America and at least in Brazil, also provides broadband Internet, telephony services and even cable TV. Slim also owns Escudería Telmex, an organisation that supports and reveals latinxs drivers, such as Tatiana Calderón (the first latina to ever drive an F1, during Free Practice One at the Mexican Grand Prix in 2018), Pietro Fittipaldi and Pérez himself. Calderón, Fittipaldi and Pérez: (one of the many) latinx drivers backed up by Escudería Telmex [1, 2, 3] One half of the debaters that mourned over the lack of latinx representation on the sport introduced valid arguments, listing the difficulties faced by Latinx Americans and how much those countries lost their representers over the years. For example, the last Brazilian driver was Felipe Massa, who left the category in 2018. It’s worth mentioning that Brazilian’s biggest public station, Globo, won’t broadcast the races in 2021 (link in Portuguese). Another pinpoint is that Interlagos may be out of the 2021 season calendar (considering it only got worse after 2020’s cancelation after Covid-19 pandemic and our current situation), since its contract’s only valid until 2020, no forecast for renewal given the legal battle to build the circuit in Jacarepaguá, at Rio de Janeiro. The second race based on Latino America is precisely on Mexico, which has an almost certain forecast to be renewed for more seasons. During his long career with Racing Point/Force India, in 2018, then Force India went through financial difficulties after filing for bankruptcy by the ex-owner and team boss Vijay Mallya, the Mexican brought action against the team, which he alleged “necessary” in order to save it and guarantee thousands of jobs. Right after, Lawrence Stroll bought the team and concretized it, becoming the known Racing Point. After announcing his departure, Pérez didn’t hide his surprise with Lawrence Stroll’s decision, which was only confirmed – both the media and the driver – last Wednesday. Some websites affirm that Checo heard “through the walls” a talk between the businessman instructing their legal counsel on how to prepare the documents to sign up Vettel during the Monza Grand Prix. Imagine being on a team for years, helping with their financial recovery to avoid closing and listening through the walls that they were signing somebody else? I’d, at least, rage. The Mexican didn’t hide his gratitude to the team on his official press release, posted on his social medias’ profiles, stating that he’d “keep in the memories of the great moments lived together, the friendships and the satisfaction of always giving his all”. Besides that, he wished good luck to the team, led by Lawrence, specially with the upcoming Aston Martin project. The full release can be read in his tweet, both in English and Spanish. This isn’t the first time that a team terminates their contract with Checo, even having a year already guaranteed. In 2013, McLaren decided to fire him to hire the Danish Kevin Magnussen. The exit statement was also announced by Pérez, who thanked the opportunity to be part of the historical team. “It has been an honor for me to have been in one of the most competitive teams in the sport and I do not regret even a bit having joined them. I have always given the best of me for the team and still despite this I could not achieve what I aimed for in this historic team”, Pérez said. He also highlighted the many friendships he made within the team, the same said about Racing Point. Mikey’s one of Checo’s mechanics and this was his comment on his goodbye post With all this repercussion and taking fans by surprise, reactions were quick on both sides, whether from supporters of Vettel or Pérez. The German’s fans rejoiced at the new opportunity, meanwhile the Mexican’s ones (and even those who didn’t consider themselves as his fans) were shocked by the way the negotiation went, as exposed by Checo. With that, the discussion mentioned at the beginning of this article began. It is important to contextualize Sergio’s career, from beginning to the feeder series and the teams he’s been on at F1 until now to get to the point I want to focus: the latinx representation. As pointed out by a friend of mine, during the 2010 era of F1, we had many Latinx drivers such as the Brazilians Bruno Senna, Felipe Massa, Felipe Nasr, Lucas di Grassi, Luiz Razia e Rubens Barrichello; the Mexicans Esteban Gutierrez and Sergio Pérez and the Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado. Each one of them had their destinies in the sport and for different reasons, didn’t continued in Formula 1. Comparing today’s scenario, we realise how good it was having a bit of diversity in the sport! But since 2018, Checo is the only remaining latino. Isn’t that a bit weird? Most of the drivers mentioned above suffered with media’s scrutiny, like for example, Pastor Maldonado. How many times did the Venezuelan was a laugh stock? How many memes were made mocking his “hit and run” fame? What about Rubinho? Until today, we see memes saying how “late” he is or how slow, putting him in the eternal spot of the “number two driver”. When the latinxs united themselves to talk about how unfair this situation is through extremely valid arguments, of course some ‘unpopular opinions’ came alive. “But where is the Balkan representation?”, someone posted in a very sarcastic tone, meaning that “not only latinxs struggle with lack of representation”. “But what if Kvyat, who’s Eastern European, leaves F1, would you guys be upset like that too?”, another one questioned. So everything went downhill from that point. The debate itself wasn’t about a driver but about representation. Just like Senna’s iconic career inspired many Brazilian children – and worldwide too, like our six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton -, to be drivers professionally. How many karting programs were funded in Brazil, thanks to Senna? Many, more than we can count. His nephew, Bruno, followed his uncle’s footsteps and he’s a professional driver, now competing for the World Endurance Championship. Now imagine how a Mexican child, who saw Checo’s conquering his space in the sport, year after year, overcoming all difficulties, even the team’s bankruptcy he currently raced for, felt when they knew about the abrupt termination of his contract. Imagine knowing that the guy who looks like you the most may not even race for 2021. This goes beyond any driver “feud”. Sauber, McLaren, Force India and Racing Point… which will be the next team for Checo? [5, 6, 7, 8] What raged me the most about this whole tour was to know that someone else’s pain, who saw themselves represented by a driver who shares the same ethnicity is something to be mocked. Something to be used as comparison. What’s funny, in a tragic way, it’s to know that many people supported the Black Lives Matter movement and fervently criticised the drivers who never kneeled in respect to the black community and the only black driver on the grid. You can’t simply defend a community that always suffered with racism and when you have the opportunity to listen and learn with another ethnicity that also suffers daily with racism and xenophobia, you act like you don’t care at all. As I talked with my closest friends, besides being a performative activism, it’s disgusting. Just for the sake of “being woke” for your “audience”. You question yourself if the anti-racist posture these people had were an actual thing or just for likes. I choose the latter, One person, during the whole discourse, said they weren’t sad for the loss of a driver but for the loss of representation. This is all happening in the same year F1 created the We Race as One campaign to promote diversity – basically because they were pressured by Lewis, which I think he was right in doing so -, it’s hard to swallow this as a simple silly season kind of move. When you’re latinx, you know how we are discriminated against by standards and stereotypes forced by the media and this type of structural racism forces us to occupy a supporting space, reinforces the need to erase our narrative, keeps us invisible and prevents us from occupying spaces. Since I started watching F1, Checo was always there so I felt a deep sadness to know about his departure. I consider him a talented driver, with the potential to develop his driving skills every season and I see in him the love for the sport. In my opinion, this move pulled by Racing Point was extremely truculent and Otmar’s statements were mere bluffs (which, by the way, were awful). [1, 2] There are already rumours of McLaren wanting him at their Indy team and even Red Bull (video in Spanish). This information came from the same journalist that confirmed Alonso’s return to Renault, but everything is still rumoured. Formula E may be an interesting option for him as well, since the category already welcomed ex-F1 drivers such as Jean-Eric Vergne, Nelson Piquet Jr and Antonio Félix da Costa, that once were not so friendly dismissed from their teams or their formation programs, in da Costa’s case. I hope Checo gets a seat in Formula 1 or any other category that treats him with the respect he deserves. After all, that’s not the treatment the “Mexican wunderkind” deserves. As we wait for the next step, Checo’ll have the last nine races of the season to make all latinxs proud Note: None of the photos used in this article belongs to me. This site has informative intentions, not commercial. The links where I took the photos are indicated below. All copyrights reserved. [1, 2, 3] Montage made from the photo found in: [4, 5, 6, 7] Montage made from the photo found in:

As Barack Obama and Mitt Romney continued their campaigns around the nation, publishing house Penguin made an announcement that could potentially shape the closing stages of the 2012 election race. The publisher announced the upcoming release of ‘No Easy Day: The First Hand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden’ which has been described as a detailed first-person account of the operation that resulted in the death of the world’s most wanted man. According to the publisher, the author gives a ‘blow-by-blow narrative of the assault, beginning with the helicopter crash that could have ended the author’s life straight through to the radio call confirming Bin Laden’s death.” It further stated that the book is “an essential piece of modern history’. Penguin also announced the book’s release date: September 11. Both the subject matter and timing of the release mean that the book – written anonymously by one of the Navy Seals that was part of the team that carried out the mission – will certainly impact the final few weeks leading up to election day on November 6. The Obama camp must be thrilled with the impending release. The capture and death of Bin Laden is seen by way to be one of the most clear-cut successes of the President’s first term in office. Ever since the September 11 attacks in 2001, bringing the man behind the days events was one of the major goals for the United States. The fact that Obama was the one at the helm and oversaw the completion of the mission from a rather tense looking control room, is a unique political tool that, obviously, no other candidate possesses. The Republicans know how damaging the Bin Laden issue could be to their presidential-hopeful, which would justify why they lobbied to delay the initially planned October release of Zero Dark Thirty; a film by Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, saying that it would dramatise Obama’s signature achievement on the eve of the election. And, while it may be somewhat comical for the Republican Party to complain about overstated grandeur after their previous President wasn’t above posing under gloating banners, they are certainly correct. They should be equally concerned about the pending Penguin release, especially given the publisher’s planned print run of 300,000 hardcover editions of the book. As Mitt Romney and other Republicans line up around the block to tell the world all the things that Obama hasn’t been able to accomplish in his first term, this book provides an in-depth analysis of something that the President did, which his Republican predecessor could not. And, while we shouldn’t expect to see the President appearing at any book signings or opening promoting the release, it wouldn’t be a surprise if it managed to come up in one or two of his public addresses. After all, in many ways it’s his trump card, it’d be unwise not to play it. Liam Quinn is a second-year Bachelor of Journalism student at La Trobe University, who is currently on exchange at Michigan State University. He’s covering the US elections for upstart. You can follow him on Twitter: @liamquinn23

Ohio Police Are Looking For A Naked Rollerblading Panda Warning: This article contains partial male nudity in the freezing cold. A video likely recorded last Tuesday of a man wearing nothing but a Panda mask while rollerblading down I-670 in Columbus, Ohio has gone crazy viral. I think the funniest quote about this bare naked bear so far has come from the Ohio Department of Transportation that I found at NBC4i.com, Pedestrians are not permitted on interstate highways. There are signs posted at all the entrance ramps. This is a safety issue. I understand the spokesperson for the ODOT has to remain professional. However, "pedestrians are not permitted" is how you're responding to the video below? (Warning: you are about to see a man's bear...I mean bare butt.) (Click here to see the video if it's not embedded above.) The day that this Panda Express entertained commuters, Tuesday, December 15th, 2020, it only got up to 34° in Columbus, OH at it's warmest part of the day. That temperature seems un-bear-able to rollerblade with clothes on. The police are still attempting to identify the naked panda. However, I'm pretty sure facebook solved this mystery days ago. Lexi Bae shared this video saying, "The awesome Panda- Hoodpandatv." In the about section of HoodPandaTV's facebook page it says, The clown prince of rollerblading and naked panda hehe It sounds like an admission of sorts. His email address is: firstname.lastname@example.org. 614 is the area code for Columbus, Ohio. This maybe a an open and shut case. All except for a possible nasty case of frost bitten niblits.

|Republika e Shqipërisë| |Flag||Coat of Arms| |Prime minister||Edi Rama| |Area||11,100 sq mi| |GDP 2007||$19.818 billion| |GDP per capita||$6,259| |Internet top-level domain||.al| Albania (officially the Republic of Albania) is a Balkan country in the Balkans (south-eastern Europe). Albania shares a border with Greece to the southeast, Macedonia to the east, Kosovo to the northeast, and Montenegro to the northwest. Western Albania lies along the Adriatic and Ionian Sea coastlines. Albania's primary seaport is Durrës, which handles 90% of its maritime cargo. Over 90% of Albania's people are ethnic Albanian, and Albanian is the official language. Religions include Muslim (Sunni and Bektashi), Albanian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic. In parts of northern Albania, families follow a code of ethics called the Kanun. This is not a religious document, but a sacred code of ethics. According to the Kanun, wealth is inherited through men, and women move to their husband's family's household when they marry. Marriages are normally arranged very early in life and women become the property of their husband's family. The normal dress of men in Albania is usually pants and close-fitting caps. Women normally wear skirts covered by aprons. Their headgear is usually a headscarf and sometimes a veil. Albanians have an unusual way of regarding dress as a gender marker, however. Women who dress in masculine clothes are considered to be men and called virgjinesha, or 'sworn virgins'. Under Kanun law, these virgjinesha take a vow to become a man. Once they have done this, they act like men in all respects, and are treated as men by their family and the wider community, including being referred to by masculine pronouns. However, unlike a normal man a virgjinesha never marries and preserves lifelong celibacy. There are two reasons under Kanun law why a woman might choose to become a man. One is if she chooses not to marry a man whom her parents have chosen for her. The other is if her parents have no sons and they require her to become a ‘man’, because in Albania only men can inherit family wealth or head households. Government and Political Conditions The unicameral People's Assembly (Kuvendi Popullor) consists of 140 seats, 100 of which are determined by direct popular vote. The remaining seats are distributed by proportional representation. All members serve 4-year terms. The Speaker of Parliament has two deputies, who along with eight permanent parliamentary commissions assist in the process of legislating Albanian affairs. The President is the head of state and elected by a three-fifths majority vote of all Assembly members. The President serves a term of 5 years with the right to one re-election. Although the position is largely ceremonial, the Constitution gives the President authority to appoint and dismiss some high-ranking civil servants in the executive and judicial branches, and this authority can have political implications. The President is also commander in chief of the armed forces, and chairs the National Security Commission. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and approved by a simple majority of all members of the Assembly. The Prime Minister serves as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (cabinet), which consists of the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and other ministers. Members of the Council of Ministers are nominated by the Prime Minister, decreed by the President, and approved by a parliamentary vote. Albania's civil law system is similar to that of other European countries. The court structure consists of a Constitutional Court, a Supreme Court, and multiple appeal and district courts. The Constitutional Court is comprised of nine members appointed by the Assembly for one 9-year term. The Constitutional Court interprets the Constitution, determines the constitutionality of laws, and resolves disagreements between local and federal authorities. The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal and consists of 11 members appointed by the President with the consent of the Assembly for 9-year terms. The President chairs the High Council of Justice, which is responsible for appointing and dismissing other judges. The High Court of Justice is comprised of 15 members—the President of the Republic, the Chairman of the High Court, the Minister of Justice, three members elected by the Assembly, and nine judges of all levels elected by the National Judicial Conference. The remaining courts are divided into three jurisdictions: criminal, civil, and military. There are no jury trials under the Albanian system of justice. A college of three judges, who are sometimes referred to as a "jury" by the Albanian press, render court verdicts. Principal Government Officials - President—Ilir Meta - Prime Minister—Edi Rama - Speaker of Parliament—Gramoz Ruçi - Leader of the Government—Taulant Balla - Leader of the Opposition—Rudina Hajdari Albania is currently pursuing a path of greater Euro-Atlantic integration. Its primary long-term goals are to gain NATO and EU membership and to promote closer bilateral ties with its neighbors and with the U.S. Albania is a member of a number of international organizations, as well as multiple regional organizations and initiatives, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the UN, the Stability Pact, the Adriatic Charter, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). In June 2006, Albania and the EU signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement, the first step to EU membership, which will focus on implementing essential rule of law reforms and curbing corruption and organized crime. Albania maintains generally good relations with its neighbors. It re-established diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia following the ousting of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, and maintains excellent relations with the Republic of Montenegro, which gained its independence after the dissolution of the Serbia and Montenegro union in 2006. Although the final status of Kosovo remains a key issue in Albanian-Serbian relations, both nations are committed to achieving a peaceful resolution. Albanian, Macedonian, and Italian law enforcement agencies are cooperating with increasing efficiency to crack down on the trafficking of arms, drugs, contraband, and human beings across their borders. Albania has also arrested and prosecuted several ethnic-Albanian extremists on charges of inciting interethnic hatred in Macedonia and Kosovo. Tensions occasionally arise with Greece over the treatment of the Greek minority in Albania or the Albanian community in Greece, but overall relations are good, and Greece maintains the public image of being a strong proponent of Albania's eventual integration into the EU and NATO. Since the fall of communism in Albania in 1991, the country has played a constructive role in resolving several of the inter-ethnic conflicts in south central Europe, promoting peaceful dispute resolution and discouraging ethnic Albanian extremists. Albania sheltered many thousands of Kosovar refugees during the 1999 conflict, and now provides logistical assistance for Kosovo Force (KFOR) troops. Albania is part of the international Stabilization Force (SFOR) serving in Bosnia, and Albanian peacekeepers are part of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and the international stabilization force in Iraq. Albania has been a steadfast supporter of U.S. policy in Iraq, and was one of only four nations to contribute troops to the combat phase of Operation Enduring Freedom. Albania continues to work with the international community to restructure its armed forces and strengthen democratic structures pursuant to its NATO Membership Action Plan. NATO members continue to encourage Albania to address military reforms that will bring it closer to membership. Since 1999, Albania has spent approximately $108 million annually on military expenditures, roughly 1.35% of its GDP. According to Government of Albania projections, military expenditure will reach 2% of GDP in 2008. With bilateral and multilateral assistance, the Ministry of Defense is transitioning to a smaller, voluntary, professional military, and reducing the vast amounts of excess weaponry and ammunition that litter the country and pose a significant public hazard and proliferation risk. The Albanian Government and the international community are working together on a project that will make Albania a mine-free country by 2010. Most high- and medium-priority mine clearance has been completed in the mined areas of northeast Albania, a legacy of the 1999 Kosovo crisis. Albania and the U.S. enjoy a military partnership and are signatories to treaties including the 2003 Prevention of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Promotion of Defense and Military Relations and the 2004 Supplementary Agreement to the Partnership for Peace Status of Forces Agreement, which defines the status of American military troops in Albania and further enables military cooperation. In May 2003, Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, and the U.S. created the Adriatic Charter, modeled on the Baltic Charter, as a mechanism for promoting regional cooperation to advance each country's NATO candidacy. In spite of strong EU objections, Albania also signed in May 2003 a bilateral agreement with the United States on non-surrender of persons, based on Article 98 of the statute of International Criminal Court. In 2004 President Bush authorized the use of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program funds for projects in Albania, marking the first time such funds are used outside the former Soviet Union. With this funding the United States is assisting the Government of Albania with the destruction of a stockpile of chemical agents left over from the communist regime. Under this program, Albania became the first nation in the world to complete destruction of declared chemical weapons holdings under the Chemical Weapons Convention in July 2007. Scholars believe the Albanian people are descended from a non-Slavic, non-Turkic group of tribes known as Illyrians, who arrived in the Balkans around 2000 BC. After falling under Roman authority in 165 BC, Albania was controlled nearly continuously by a succession of foreign powers until the mid-20th century, with only brief periods of self-rule. Following the split of the Roman Empire in 395, the Byzantine Empire established control over present-day Albania. In the 11th century, Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus made the first recorded reference to a distinct area of land known as Albania and to its people. The Ottoman Empire ruled Albania from 1385 to 1912. During this time, much of the population converted to the Islamic faith, and Albanians also emigrated to Italy, Greece, Egypt and Turkey. Although its control was briefly disrupted during the 1443-78 revolt, led by Albania's national hero, Gjergj Kastrioti Skenderbeu, the Ottomans eventually reasserted their dominance. The League of Prizren (1878) promoted the idea of an Albanian nation-state and established the modern Albanian alphabet, updating a language that survived the hundreds of years of Ottoman rule despite being outlawed. By the early 20th century, the weakened Ottoman Empire was no longer able to suppress Albanian nationalism. Following the conclusion of the First Balkan War, Albanians issued the Vlore Proclamation of November 28, 1912, declaring independence and the Great Powers established Albania's borders in 1913. Albania's territorial integrity was confirmed at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, after U.S. President Woodrow Wilson dismissed a plan by the European powers to divide Albania among its neighbors. During the Second World War, Albania was occupied first by Italy (1939–43) and then by Germany (1943–44). After the war, Communist Party leader Enver Hoxha, through a combination of ruthlessness and strategic alliances, managed to preserve Albania's territorial integrity during the next 40 years, but exacted a terrible price from the population, which was subjected to purges, shortages, repression of civil and political rights, a total ban on religious observance, and increased isolation. Albania adhered to a strict Stalinist philosophy, eventually withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact in 1968 and alienating its final remaining ally, China, in 1978. Following Hoxha's death in 1985 and the subsequent fall of Communism in 1991, Albanian society struggled to overcome its historical isolation and underdevelopment. During the initial transition period, the Albanian Government sought closer ties with other countries in Europe in order to improve its economic conditions and introduced basic democratic reforms, including a multi-party system. In 1992, after the sweeping electoral victory of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha became the first democratically elected President of Albania. Berisha began a more deliberate program of economic and democratic reform but progress on these issues stalled in the mid-1990s, due to political gridlock. At the same time, unscrupulous investment companies defrauded investors all over Albania using pyramid schemes. In early 1997, several of these pyramid schemes collapsed, leaving thousands of people bankrupt, disillusioned, and angry. Armed revolts broke out across the country, leading to the near-total collapse of government authority. During this time, Albania's already inadequate and antiquated infrastructure suffered tremendous damage, as people looted public works for building materials. Weapons depots all over the country were raided. The anarchy of early 1997 alarmed the world and prompted intensive international mediation. A UN Multinational Protection Force restored order, and an interim national reconciliation government oversaw the general elections of June 1997, which returned the Socialists and their allies to power at the national level. President Berisha resigned, and the Socialists elected Rexhep Meidani as President of the Republic. During the transitional period of 1997–2002, a series of short-lived Socialist-led governments succeeded one another as Albania's fragile democratic structures were strengthened. Additional political parties formed, media outlets expanded, non-governmental organizations and business associations developed. In 1998, Albanians ratified a new constitution via popular referendum, guaranteeing the rule of law and the protection of fundamental human rights and religious freedom. Fatos Nano, Chairman of the Socialist Party, emerged as Prime Minister in July 2002. On July 24, 2002, Alfred Moisiu was sworn in as President of the Republic. A nonpartisan figure, he was elected as a consensus candidate of the ruling and opposition parties. The peaceful transfer of power from President Meidani to President Moisiu was the result of an agreement between the parties to engage each other within established parliamentary structures. This "truce" ushered in a new period of political stability in Albania, making possible significant progress in democratic and economic reforms, rule of law initiatives, and the development of Albania's relations with its neighbors and the U.S. The "truce" between party leaders began to fray in summer 2003 and progress on economic and political reforms suffered noticeably due to political infighting. The municipal elections of 2003 and national elections of 2005 were an improvement over past years, adding to the consolidation of democracy despite the continued presence of administrative errors and inaccuracies in voter lists. In 2005, the Democratic Party and its allies returned to power, pledging to fight crime and corruption, decrease the size and scope of government, and promote economic growth. Their leader, Sali Berisha, was sworn in as Prime Minister on September 11, 2005. Since the election, Prime Minister Berisha's government has made the fight against corruption and organized crime its first priority and has begun administrative and legal reforms toward that end. This brought repeated clashes with the opposition, which condemned the government's approach as unconstitutional and an attempt to undermine independent institutions. Both sides remain combative over a range of political and substantive issues. Another politically contentious process was the pre-electoral period prior to the 2007 local elections. Although the February 18, 2007 local elections were generally peaceful and democratic, over-politicized debate during the preceding months resulted in procedural and administrative problems during the conduct of the elections. A major positive step forward was the performance of the police force. The fragility of the Albanian electoral system was tested again during the parliamentary by-election in zone 26 (Shijak) on March 11, 2007. The left-wing opposition parties withdrew their commissioners from the polling stations and the counting center, in spite of prior concessions from the Central Elections Commission (CEC) to the opposition's demands. Opposition commissioners left and took with them one of the seals that mark the ballots. By midday, the opposition candidate also announced his withdrawal from the parliamentary race. However, the right of citizens to vote prevailed and the process continued thanks to the technical arrangements of the CEC. The only visible sign of violence was the wounding of a Democratic Party commissioner, who was fired upon by a militant. Both elections were an indication of lack of political will to cooperate and of the imminent need for a comprehensive electoral reform of the present Albanian electoral system. On July 20, 2007 President Bamir Topi was elected within Parliament after six members of the opposition coalition broke ranks to vote for his candidacy. Out of 90 deputies present at the session, 85 voted for Topi, while Neritan Ceka, head of the opposition Democratic Alliance party, won five votes. Topi, 50, a former agriculture minister, now succeeds President Alfred Moisiu for a five-year mandate. Religious worship was banned in Albania until the transition from Stalinist state to democracy in the 1990s. Islam is now openly recognised as the country's major religion and most Albanians are Sunni Muslim by virtue of the nation's history: The Balkans has had centuries of association with the faith as many parts of it were part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. While the empire is long gone, the culture remained in place. Significant populations of Albanian Muslims exist in a number of other European countries. Subsequent leaked emails revealed the cozy ties between George Soros and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, including one email where Soros directed Clinton's policy with respect to unrest in Albania, telling her that “two things need to be done urgently,” which were to “bring the full weight of the international community to bear on Prime Minister Berisha” and “appoint a senior European official as mediator.” Both “urgent” tasks were subsequently performed by Clinton. |License:||This work is in the Public Domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the U.S. Code| |Source:||File available from the United States Federal Government.| Source =

Jefferson's Demons: Portrait of a Restless Mind Free Press, 2003 - 265 ページ "I have often wondered for what good end the sensations of Grief could be intended." -- Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson suffered during his life from periodic bouts of dejection and despair, shadowed intervals during which he was full of "gloomy forebodings" about what lay ahead. Not long before he composed the Declaration of Independence, the young Jefferson lay for six weeks in idleness and ill health at Monticello, paralyzed by a mysterious "malady." Similar lapses were to recur during anxious periods in his life, often accompanied by violent headaches. In "Jefferson's Demons," Michael Knox Beran illuminates an optimistic man's darker side -- Jefferson as we have rarely seen him before. The worst of these moments came after his wife died in 1782. But two years later, after being dispatched to Europe, Jefferson recovered nerve and spirit in the salons of Paris, where he fell in love with a beautiful young artist, Maria Cosway. When their affair ended, Jefferson's health again broke down. He set out for the palms and temples of southern Europe, and though he did not know where the therapeutic journey would take him or where it would end, his encounter with the old civilizations of the Mediterranean was transformative. The Greeks and Romans taught him that a man could make productive use of his demons. Jefferson's immersion in the mystic truths of the Old World gave him insights into mysteries of life and art that Enlightenment philosophy had failed to supply. Beran skillfully shows how Jefferson drew on the esoteric lore he encountered to transform anxiety into action. On his return to America, Jefferson entered the most productive period of his life: Hecreated a new political party, was elected president, and doubled the size of the country. His private labors were no less momentous...among them, the artistry of Monticello and the University of Virginia. "Jefferson's Demons" is an elegantly composed account of the strangeness and originality of one Founder's genius. Michael Knox Beran uncovers the maps Jefferson used to find his way out of dejection and to forge a new democratic culture for America. Here is a Jefferson who, with all his failings, remains one of his country's greatest teachers and prophets. レビュー - レビューを書く Jefferson's Demonsユーザー レビュー - flip72 - Borders one of the best books I have ever read. A very informative, fact filled, yet enjoyable read. will keep this one forever and read it several more times during the course of my life. レビュー全文を読む JEFFERSON'S DEMONS: Portrait of a Restless Mindユーザー レビュー - Kirkus An examination of Jefferson's career with attention to his psychological states, his debates with his inner voices, and his struggles with Federalist adversaries.Lawyer/writer Beran (The Last ... レビュー全文を読む

For Immediate Release Wednesday, May 10, 2017 , United States Attorney Contact: Don Ledford Springfield Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Firearm Used in Shooting Kansas City Field Division SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Springfield, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for illegally possessing a firearm that was involved in a local shooting. Michael A. Sheehan, 39, of Springfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 15 years in federal prison without parole. Sheehan was sentenced as an armed career criminal due to his prior felony convictions. On Dec. 13, 2016, Sheehan pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Sheehan admitted he was in possession of a Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol when he was arrested on May 11, 2016. Springfield police officers located Sheehan during their investigation into an incident a few days earlier in which Sheehan shot and injured another person. An officer removed the firearm, which was the same firearm used in the shooting, from Sheehan’s waistband. Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Sheehan has two prior felony convictions for distributing a controlled substance and a prior felony conviction for possessing a controlled substance with the intent to distribute. This case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jody Larison. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department. This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at

One of the most remarkable films I’ve seen the last couple of years must be Handsworth Songs by Black Audio Film Collective (directed by John Akomfrah), which takes as a starting point the “riots” that haunted the Birmingham district of Handsworth and South London in 1985, as a way to open up secret histories of racial suppression and post-colonial tension in post-Industrial England. We have shown this film – the debut film of Black Audio Film Collective, released in 1986 – in our Somewhere in Time programme in 2009, but I recently saw it again on the occasion of the BAFC exhibition at STUK (Leuven), and it still struck me as a particularly affective and invigorating piece of work, brimming with urgency and audacity. It’s one of those rare works in which the dynamics between political charge – outspoken but never dictated – and aesthetical choice – a panoply of various text, image and sound sources and textures – still hold up to this day. From a certain perspective, one could consider it as one of the film essays that in its own way served as a reaction to what Jacques Rancière, in his article ‘Il est arrivé quelque chose au réel’ (published in Cahiers du Cinéma in 2000), has described as the crisis of the “réel de la fiction”. He especially targeted the “fiction mineure”, characterised by a combination of political stereotypes and dramatic clichés in a sterile formula that we can no longer stumach. Against the “réel de la fiction” (real of fiction), Rancière has put the “fictions politique du réel” (political fictions of the real). “It is not us who no longer tolerate politics. It is politics which no longer tolerates the remnants of the ‘réel de la fiction’. Perhaps because some filmmakers have in the meantime invented a new mode of fictioning appropriate for denouncing the socio-fictional compromise that links the ‘fiction mineure’ to modes of presentation of a depoliticised politics. The socio-fictional compromise is the complicity between the pseudo-evidence of the separation between document and fiction, and the perpetual exchange of the forms of belief they give rise to. Against the ‘réel de la fiction’ that support this compromise, the ‘fictions politique du réel’ have succeeded in exploiting the paradoxical advantage that is proper to the documentary genre: where the real is taken as an acquired given, there is no need to attest it fictionally, no need to produce the sentiment. Where it is supposedly given, one can invest in rendering it problematic, one can invent its problem.” In the light of Rancière’s musings on the changing relations between cinema and politics, reality and fiction, past and present, History and memory, Handsworth Songs seems like an interesting case to reflect on these changes, which in themselves are related to the overhanging expectations towards cinema – and “political” cinema in particular. By way of initial illustration, I looked up and copied below some of the earliest reactions on the film, i.c. the critical review that Salman Rushdie wrote for the Guardian in January 1987, and the subsequent letters written by cultural theorist Stuart Hall (whose work has undoubtedly inspired the language of Handsworth Songs) and activist Darcus Howe. These letters were then themselves quoted in several important culture-critical essays from the end of the 1980’s, mostly dealing with the politics of racial representation, two of which can be found below: Stuart Hall’s influential ‘new ethnicities’ and Isaac Julien & Kobena Mercer’s ‘De Margin and De Centre’. Good reading! Salman Rushdie, ‘songs doesn’t know the score’ The Guardian, January 1987 In The Heart of a Woman, volume four of her famous autobiography, Maya Angelou describes a meeting of the Harlem Writer’s Guild, at which she read some of her work and had it torn to pieces by the group. It taught her a tough lesson: ‘If I wanted to write, I had to be willing to develop a kind of concentration found mostly in people awaiting execution. I had to learn technique and surrender my ignorance.’ It just isn’t enough to be black and blue, or even black and angry. The message is plain enough in Angelou’s self-portrait, in Louise Meriwether’s marvellous Daddy Was a Numbers Runner, in Toni Morrison and Paule Marshall; if you want to tell the untold stories, of you want to give voice to the voiceless, you’ve got to find a language. Which goes for film as well as prose, for documentary as well as autobiography. Use the wrong language, and you’re dumb and blind. Down at the Metro cinema, in Soho, there’s a new documentary starting a three-week run. Handsworth Songs, made by Black Audio Film collective. The ‘buzz’ about the picture is good. New Socialist likes it, City Limits likes it, people are calling it multi-layered ‘original’ imaginative, its makers talk of speaking in metaphors, its director John Akomfrah is getting mentioned around town as a talent to watch. Unfortunately, it’s no good, and the trouble does seem to be one of language. Let me put it this way. If you see ‘Handsworth’, what do you see? Most Britons would see fire, riots, looted shops, young Rastas and helmeted cops by night. A big story; front page. Maybe a West Side Story: Officer Krupke, armed to the teeth versus the kids with the social disease. There’s a line that Handsworth Songs wants us to learn. ‘There are no stories in the riots.’ It repeats, ‘only the ghosts of other stories’. The trouble is, we aren’t told the other stories. What we get is what we know from TV. Blacks as trouble; blacks as victims; Here is a Rasta dodging the boat; here are the old news-clips of the folks in the fifties getting off the boat, singing calypsos about ‘darling London’. Little did they know, eh? But we don’t hear about their lives, or the lives of their British-born children. We don’t hear Handsworth’s songs. Why not? The film’s handout provide a clue. ‘The film attempts to excavate hidden ruptures/agonies of “Race”’. It ‘looks at the riots as a political field coloured by the trajectories of industrial decline and structural crisis.’ Oh dear. The sad thing is that while the film-makers are trying to excavate ruptures and work out how trajectories can colour fields, they let us hear so little of the much richer language of their subjects. When Home Secretary Hurd visits Handsworth looking bemused, just after the riots, a black voice is heard to say: ‘The higher monkey climb the more he will expose.’ If only more of this sort of wit and freshness could have found its way into the film. But the makers are too busy ‘repositioning the convergence of “Race” and “Criminality”’, describing a living world in the dead language of race industry professionals. I don’t know Handsworth very well, but I do know it’s bursting with tales worth telling. Take a look at John Bishton and Derek Reardon’s 1984 photo-and-text essay, Home Front. There are Vietnamese boat people in Handsworth where Father Peter Diem, a refugee himself, runs a pastoral centre to which they come for comfort. There’s an Asian businessman in Handsworth who made his pile by employing his fellow-Asians in sweat-shops to make, of all things, the Harrington jackets beloved of the skinheads who were also, as it happened fond of bashing the odd Paki. Here are two old British soldiers. One, namely Shri Dalip Singh, sits stiffly in his army tunic, sporting his Africa Star with pride; the other a certain Jagat Singh, is a broken old gent who has been arrested for drunkenness on these streets over 300 times. Some nights they catch hum trying to direct the traffic. It’s a religious place, Handsworth. What was once a methodist chapel is now one of the many Sikh gurdwaras. Here is the Good News Asian Church, and there you see Rasta groundations, a mosque, Pentecostal halls, and Hindujain and Buddhist places of worship. Many of Handsworth’s songs are hymns of praise. But there’s reggae, too, there are Toasters at blue dances, there are Punjabi ghazals and Two Tone bands. These days, the kids in handsworth like to dance the Wobble. And some of it deizens deam of distant ‘liberations’, nurturing, for example, the dark fantasy of Kahlistan. It’s important, I believe, to tell such stories, to say, this is England: Allahu Akbar from the minaret of Birmingham mosque, the Ethiopian World Federation which helps Handsworth Rastas ‘return’ to the land of Ras Tafari. There are English scenes now, English songs. You won’t find them, or anything like them, in Handsworth Songs, though for some reason you will see plenty of footage about troubles in Tottenham and Brixton, which is just the sort of blurring you know the Harlem writers would have jumped on, no matter how right-on it looked. It isn’t easy for black voices to be heard, It isn’t easy to get it said that the state attacks us, that the police are militarised. It isn’t easy to fight back against media stereotypes. As a result, whenever somebody says what we all know, even if they say it clumsily and in jargon, there’s a strong desire to cheer, just because they managed to het something said, they managed to get through. I don’t think that’s much help myself. That kind of celebration makes us lazy. Next time, let’s start telling those ghost-stories. If we know why the caged bird sings, let’s listen to her song. Stuart Hall, ‘song of handsworth praise’ The Guardian, January 1987 Sir, I must take issue with the way Salman Rushdie attacked Black Audio Film Collective and its film Handsworth Songs, from his well-deserved but secure position in the literary firmament. Of course, the film isn’t perfect. Of course, a mere recital of the known contours of racism and oppression in the same, old, stale language does no one any good. Of course, black artists, deserve something more from us than mere celebration for having managed to say anything at all. What I don’t understand is how anyone watching the film could have missed the struggle which it represents, precisely, to find a new language. The most obvious thing to me about the film is its break with the tired style of the riot-documentary. For example, the way documentary footage has been retimed, tinted, overprinted so as to formalise and distance it; the narrative interruptions; the highly original and unpredictable sound-track; the ‘giving voice’ to new subjects; the inter-cutting with the ‘ghosts of other stories.’ These new ways of telling bring Handsworth Songs into the line with Passion of Remembrance and, in a different way, My Beautiful Laundrette, in that distinctive wave of new work by third generation black artists, part of whose originality is precisely that they tell the black experience as an English experience. For what reason, apart from making us look in new ways, does Salman Rushdie want these ‘new languages’? He seems to assume that his songs are not only different but better, presumably because they don’t deal with all that dreary stuff about riots and the police etc. He prefers colourful stories about experience, closer to ‘the richer language of their subjects.’ I fully agree that there is no one ‘black experience’, and we need to confront its real diversity without forcing it into simplistic moulds. But subjects and experience don’t appear out of thin air. The counterposing of ‘experience’ to ‘politics’ is a false and dangerous dichotomy. Black Audio may have been guilty of mixing its metaphors when it spoke of ‘a political field coloured by trajectories of industrial decline and structural crisis’. But it seems to be struggling harder for a language in which to represent Handsworth as I know it than Salman’s lofty, disdainful, and too-complacent ‘Oh dear’. Darcus Howe, ‘the language of black culture’ The Guardian, January 1987 Sir, I want to take issue with Stuart Hall’s attack on Salman Rushdie’s critical piece on the Black Audio collective’s film, Handsworth Songs. I write neither from Rushdie’s ‘well-deserved but secure position in the literary firmament’ nor from, dare I say it, Stuart Hall’s equally well-deserved but secure position in the academic firmament. I have been an activist in the black movement for over 20 years, organising and developing political, cultural and artistic thrusts which have emerged from within our black communities and continue to do so today. For some time now my activist colleagues and I have been moaning in print about the absence of critical tradition in the field of black arts and culture. We recognise that such an absence is a point of greater weakness. Without it we are left with nothing but cheer-leaders on the one hand and a string of abuses on the other. Enter Salman Rushdie with a well-written and thoughtful piece of criticism which serves the dual function of a critique of the film itself, while at the same time laying the foundations of a critical tradition. It is most welcome. Hall’s main objection is that Rushdie misses the fact of the struggle for a new language which the film represents. Rushdie does nothing of the sort. He simply says that the attempt to shape a new language does not work, and I agree with him. In the best critical tradition he goes to suggest what he thinks would work. And I am certain that the filmmakers will take that on board. If they don’t we are in a sorry state indeed. Finally I could find not a trace of loftiness, disdain nor complacency in Rushdie’s critique. His is a useful and timely intervention, a far cry from the patronising ‘ten out of ten for struggling’ approach. Stuart Hall, ‘new ethnicities’ Written in 1988. Reprinted from ICA Documents 7: Black Film, British Cinema, edited by Kobena Mercer. I have centred my remarks on an attempt to identify and characterize a significant shift that has been going on (and is still going on) in black cultural politics. This shift is not definitive, in the sense that there are two clearly discernible phases—one in the past which is now over and the new one which is beginning—which we can neatly counterpose to one another. Rather, they are two phases of the same movement, which constantly overlap and interweave. Both are framed by the same historical conjucture and both are rooted in the politics of anti-racism and the post-war black experience in Britain. Nevertheless I think we can identify two different ‘moments’ and that the difference between them is significant. It is difficult to characterize these precisely, but I would say that the first moment was grounded in a particular political and cultural analysis. Politically, this is the moment when the term ‘black’ was coined as a way of referencing the common experience of racism and marginalization in Britain and came to provide the organizing category of a new politics of resistance, among groups and communities with, in fact, very different histories, traditions and ethnic identities. In this moment, politically speaking. ‘The black experience’, as a singular and unifying framework based on the building up of identity across ethnic and cultural difference between the different communities, became ‘hegemonic’ over other ethnic/ racial identities—though the latter did not, of course, disappear. Culturally, this analysis formulated itself in terms of a critique of the way blacks were positioned as the unspoken and invisible ‘other’ of predominantly white aesthetic and cultural discourses. This analysis was predicated on the marginalization of the black experience in British culture; not fortuitously occurring at the margins, but placed, positioned at the margins, as the consequence of a set of quite specific political and cultural practices which regulated, governed and ‘normalized’ the representational and discursive spaces of English society. These formed the conditions of existence of a cultural politics designed to challenge, resist and, where possible, to transform the dominant regimes of representation—first in music and style, later in literary, visual and cinematic forms. In these spaces blacks have typically been the objects, but rarely the subjects, of the practices of representation. The struggle to come into representation was predicated on a critique of the degree of fetishization, objectification and negative figuration which are so much a feature of the representation of the black subject. There was a concern not simply with the absence or marginality of the black experience but with its simplification and its stereotypical character. The cultural politics and strategies which developed around this critique had many facets, but its two principal objects were: first the question of access to the rights to representation by black artists and black cultural workers themselves. Second, the contestation of the marginality, the stereotypical quality and the fetishized nature of images of blacks, by the counter-position of a ‘positive’ black imagery. These strategies were principally addressed to changing what I would call the ‘relations of representation’. I have a distinct sense that in the recent period we are entering a new phase. But we need to be absolutely clear what we mean by a ‘new’ phase because, as soon as you talk of a new phase, people instantly imagine that what is entailed is the substitution of one kind of politics for another. I am quite distinctly not talking about a shift in those terms. Politics does not necessarily proceed by way of a set of oppositions and reversals of this kind, though some groups and individuals are anxious to ‘stage’ the question in this way. The original critique of the predominant relations of race and representation and the politics which developed around it have not and cannot possibly disappear while the conditions which gave rise to it— cultural racism in its Dewesbury form—not only persists but positively flourishes under Thatcherism.1 There is no sense in which a new phase in black cultural politics could replace the earlier one. Nevertheless it is true that as the struggle moves forward and assumes new forms, it does to some degree displace, reorganize and reposition the different cultural strategies in relation to one another. If this can be conceived in terms of the ‘burden of representation’, I would put the point in this form: that black artists and cultural workers now have to struggle, not on one, but on two fronts. The problem is, how to characterize this shift—if indeed, we agree that such a shift has taken or is taking place—and if the language of binary oppositions and substitutions will no longer suffice. The characterization that I would offer is tentative, proposed in the context of this essay mainly to try and clarify some of the issues involved, rather than to pre-empt them. The shift is best thought of in terms of a change from a struggle over the relations of representation to a politics of representation itself. It would be useful to separate out such a ‘politics of representation’ into its different elements. We all now use the word representation, but, as we know, it is an extremely slippery customer. It can be used, on the one hand, simply as another way of talking about how one images a reality that exists ‘outside’ the means by which things are represented: a conception grounded in a mimetic theory of representation. On the other hand the term can also stand for a very radical displacement of that unproblematic notion of the concept of representation. My own view is that events, relations, structures do have conditions of existence and real effects, outside the sphere of the discursive; but that it is only within the discursive, and subject to its specific conditions, limits and modalities, do they have or can they be constructed within meaning. Thus, while not wanting to expand the territorial claims of the discursive infinitely, how things are represented and the ‘machineries’ and regimes of representation in a culture do play a constitutive, and not merely a reflexive, after-the-event, role. This gives questions of culture and ideology, and the scenarios of representation— subjectivity, identity, politics—a formative, not merely an expressive, place in the constitution of social and political life. I think it is the move towards this second sense of representation which is taking place and which is transforming the politics of representation in black culture. This is a complex issue. First, it is the effect of a theoretical encounter between black cultural politics and the discourses of a Eurocentric, largely white, critical cultural theory which in recent years, has focused so much analysis of the politics of representation. This is always an extremely difficult, if not dangerous, encounter. (I think particularly of black people encountering the discourses of post-structuralism, postmodernism, psychoanalysis and feminism.) Second, it marks what I can only call ‘the end of innocence’, or the end of the innocent notion of the essential black subject. Here again, the end of the essential black subject is something which people are increasingly debating, but they may not have fully reckoned with its political consequences. What is at issue here is the recognition of the extraordinary diversity of subjective positions, social experiences and cultural identities which compose the category ‘black’; that is, the recognition that ‘black’ is essentially a politically and culturally constructed category, which cannot be grounded in a set of fixed transcultural or transcendental racial categories and which therefore has no guarantees in nature. What this brings into play is the recognition of the immense diversity and differentiation of the historical and cultural experience of black subjects. This inevitably entails a weakening or fading of the notion that ‘race’ or some composite notion of race around the term black will either guarantee the effectivity of any cultural practice or determine in any final sense its aesthetic value. We should put this as plainly as possible. Films are not necessarily good because black people make them. They are not necessarily ‘right-on’ by virtue of the fact that they deal with the black experience. Once you enter the politics of the end of the essential black subject you are plunged headlong into the maelstrom of a continuously contingent, unguaranteed, political argument and debate: a critical politics, a politics of criticism. You can no longer conduct black politics through the strategy of a simple set of reversals, putting in the place of the bad old essential white subject, the new essentially good black subject. Now, that formulation may seem to threaten the collapse of an entire political world. Alternatively, it may be greeted with extraordinary relief at the passing away of what at one time seemed to be a necessary fiction. Namely, either that all black people are good or indeed that all black people are the same. After all, it is one of the predicates of racism that ‘you can’t tell the difference because they all look the same’. This does not make it any easier to conceive of how a politics can be constructed which works with and through difference, which is able to build those forms of solidarity and identification which make common struggle and resistance possible but without suppressing the real heterogeneity of interests and identities, and which can effectively draw the political boundary lines without which political contestation is impossible, without fixing those boundaries for eternity. It entails the movement in black politics, from what Gramsci called the ‘war of manoeuvre’ to the ‘war of position’—the struggle around positionalities. But the difficulty of conceptualizing such a politics (and the temptation to slip into a sort of endlessly sliding discursive liberal-pluralism) does not absolve us of the task of developing such a politics. The end of the essential black subject also entails a recognition that the central issues of race always appear historically in articulation, in a formation, with other categories and divisions and are constantly crossed and recrossed by the categories of class, of gender and ethnicity. (I make a distinction here between race and ethnicity to which I shall return.) To me, films like Territories, Passion of Remembrance, My Beautiful Laundrette and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, for example, make it perfectly clear that this shift has been engaged; and that the question of the black subject cannot be represented without reference to the dimensions of class, gender, sexuality and ethnicity. DIFFERENCE AND CONTESTATION A further consequence of this politics of representation is the slow recognition of the deep ambivalence of identification and desire. We think about identification usually as a simple process, structured around fixed ‘selves’ which we either are or are not. The play of identity and difference which constructs racism is powered not only by the positioning of blacks as the inferior species but also, and at the same time, by an inexpressible envy and desire; and this is something the recognition of which fundamentally displaces many of our hitherto stable political categories, since it implies a process of identification and otherness which is more complex than we had hitherto imagined. Racism, of course, operates by constructing impassable symbolic boundaries between racially constituted categories, and its typically binary system of representation constantly marks and attempts to fix and naturalize the difference between belongingness and otherness. Along this frontier there arises what Gayatri Spivak calls the ‘epistemic violence’ of the discourses of the Other—of imperialism, the colonized, Orientalism, the exotic, the primitive, the anthropological and the folk-lore.2 Consequently the discourse of anti-racism had often been founded on a strategy of reversal and inversion, turning the ‘Manichean aesthetic’ of colonial discourse upside-down. However, as Fanon constantly reminded us, the epistemic violence is both outside and inside, and operates by a process of splitting on both sides of the division—in here as well as out here. That is why it is a question, not only of ‘black-skin’ but of ‘Black- Skin, White Masks’—the internalization of the self-as-other. Just as masculinity always constructs feminity as double—simultaneously Madonna and Whore—so racism contructs the black subject: noble savage and violent avenger. And in the doubling, fear and desire double for one another and play across the structures of otherness, complicating its politics. Recently I have read several articles about the photographic text of Robert Mapplethorpe—especially his inscription of the nude, black male— all written by black critics or cultural practitioners.3 These essays properly begin by identifying in Mapplethorpe’s work the tropes of fetishization, the fragmentation of the black image and its objectification, as the forms of their appropriation within the white, gay gaze. But, as I read, I know that something else is going on as well in both the production and the reading of those texts. The continuous circling around Mapplethorpe’s work is not exhausted by being able to place him as the white fetishistic, gay photographer; and this is because it is also marked by the surreptitious return of desire—that deep ambivalence of identification which makes the categories in which we have previously thought and argued about black cultural politics and the black cultural text extremely problematic. This brings to the surface the unwelcome fact that a great deal of black politics, constructed, addressed and developed directly in relation to questions of race and ethnicity, has been predicated on the assumption that the categories of gender and sexuality would stay the same and remain fixed and secured. What the new politics of representation does is to put that into question, crossing the questions of racism irrevocably with questions of sexuality. That is what is so disturbing, finally, to many of our settled political habits about Passion of Remembrance. This double fracturing entails a different kind of politics because, as we know, black radical politics has frequently been stabilized around particular conceptions of black masculinity, which are only now being put into question by black women and black gay men. At certain points, black politics has also been underpinned by a deep absence or more typically an evasive silence with reference to class. Another element inscribed in the new politics of representation has to do with the question of ethnicity. I am familiar with all the dangers of ‘ethnicity’ as a concept and have written myself about the fact that ethnicity, in the form of a culturally constructed sense of Englishness and a particularly closed, exclusive and regressive form of English national identity, is one of the core characteristics of British racism today.4 I am also well aware that the politics of anti-racism has often constructed itself in terms of a contestation of ‘multi-ethnicity’ or ‘multi-culturalism’. On the other hand, as the politics of representation around the black subject shifts, I think we will begin to see a renewed contestation over the meaning of the term ‘ethnicity’ itself. If the black subject and black experience are not stabilized by Nature or by some other essential guarantee, then it must be the case that they are constructed historically, culturally, politically—and the concept which refers to this is ‘ethnicity’. The term ethnicity acknowledges the place of history, language and culture in the construction of subjectivity and identity, as well as the fact that all discourse is placed, positioned, situated, and all knowledge is contextual. Representation is possible only because enunciation is always produced within codes which have a history, a position within the discursive formations of a particular space and time. The displacement of the ‘centred’ discourses of the West entails putting in question its universalist character and its transcendental claims to speak for everyone, while being itself everywhere and nowhere. The fact that this grounding of ethnicity in difference was deployed, in the discourse of racism, as a means of disavowing the realities of racism and repression does not mean that we can permit the term to be permanently colonized. That appropriation will have to be contested, the term dis-articulated from its position in the discourse of ‘multi-culturalism’ and transcoded, just as we previously had to recuperate the term ‘black’ from its place in a system of negative equivalences. The new politics of representation therefore also sets in motion an ideological contestation around the term, ‘ethnicity’. But in order to pursue that movement further, we will have to re-theorize the concept of difference. It seems to me that, in the various practices and discourses of black cultural production, we are beginning to see constructions of just such a new conception of ethnicity: a new cultural politics which engages rather than supresses difference and which depends, in part, on the cultural construction of new ethnic identities. Difference, like representation, is also a slippery, and therefore, contested concept. There is the ‘difference’ which makes a radical and unbridgable separation: and there is a ‘difference’ which is positional, conditional and conjunctural, closer to Derrida’s notion of différance, though if we are concerned to maintain a politics it cannot be defined exclusively in terms of an infinite sliding of the signifier. We still have a great deal of work to do to decouple ethnicity, as it functions in the dominant discourse, from its equivalence with nationalism, imperialism, racism and the state, which are the points of attachment around which a distinctive British or, more accurately, English ethnicity have been constructed. Nevertheless, I think such a project is not only possible but necessary. Indeed, this decoupling of ethnicity from the violence of the state is implicit in some of the new forms of cultural practice that are going on in films like Passion and Handsworth Songs. We are beginning to think about how to represent a non-coercive and a more diverse conception of ethnicity, to set against the embattled, hegemonic conception of ‘Englishness’ which, under Thatcherism, stabilizes so much of the dominant political and cultural discourses, and which, because it is hegemonic, does not represent itself as an ethnicity at all. This marks a real shift in the point of contestation, since it is no longer only between anti-racism and multi-culturalism but inside the notion of ethnicity itself. What is involved is the splitting of the notion of ethnicity between, on the one hand the dominant notion which connects it to nation and ‘race’ and on the other hand what I think is the beginning of a positive conception of the ethnicity of the margins, of the periphery. That is to say, a recognition that we all speak from a particular place, out of a particular history, out of a particular experience, a particular culture, without being contained by that position as ‘ethnic artists’ or film-makers. We are all, in that sense, ethnically located and our ethnic identities are crucial to our subjective sense of who we are. But this is also a recognition that this a not an ethnicity which is doomed to survive, as Englishness was, only by marginalizing, dispossessing, displacing and forgetting other ethnicities. This precisely is the politics of ethnicity predicated on difference and diversity. The final point which I think is entailed in this new politics of representation has to do with an awareness of the black experience as a diaspora experience, and the consequences which this carries for the process of unsettling, recombination, hybridization and ‘cut-and-mix’—in short, the process of cultural diaspora-ization (to coin an ugly term) which it implies. In the case of the young black British films and film-makers under discussion, the diaspora experience is certainly profoundly fed and nourished by, for example, the emergence of Third World cinema; by the African experience; the connection with Afro-Caribbean experience; and the deep inheritance of complex systems of representation and aesthetic traditions from Asian and African culture. But, in spite of these rich cultural ‘roots’, the new cultural politics is operating on new and quite distinct ground—specifically, contestation over what it means to be ‘British’. The relation of this cultural politics to the past; to its different ‘roots’ is profound, but complex. It cannot be simple or unmediated. It is (as a film like Dreaming Rivers reminds us) complexly mediated and transformed by memory, fantasy and desire. Or, as even an explicitly political film like Handsworth Songs clearly suggests, the relation is inter-textual—mediated, through a variety of other ‘texts’. There can, therefore, be no simple ‘return’ or ‘recovery’ of the ancestral past which is not re-experienced through the categories of the present: no base for creative enunciation in a simple reproduction of traditional forms which are not transformed by the technologies and the identities of the present. This is something that was signalled as early as a film like Blacks Britannica and as recently as Paul Gilroy’s important book, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack.5 Fifteen years ago we didn’t care, or at least I didn’t care, whether there was any black in the Union Jack. Now not only do we care, we must. This last point suggests that we are also approaching what I would call the end of a certain critical innocence in black cultural politics. And here, it might be appropriate to refer, glancingly, to the debate between Salman Rushdie and myself in the Guardian some months ago. The debate was not about whether Handsworth Songs or The Passion of Remembrance were great films or not, because, in the light of what I have said, once you enter this particular problematic, the question of what good films are, which parts of them are good and why, is open to the politics of criticism. Once you abandon essential categories, there is no place to go apart from the politics of criticism and to enter the politics of criticism in black culture is to grow up, to leave the age of critical innocence. It was not Salman Rushdie’s particular judgement that I was contesting, so much as the mode in which he addressed them. He seemed to me to be addressing the films as if from the stable, well-established critical criteria of a Guardian reviewer. I was trying perhaps unsuccessfully, to say that I thought this an inadequate basis for a political criticism and one which overlooked precisely the signs of innovation, and the constraints, under which these film-makers were operating. It is difficult to define what an alternative mode of address would be. I certainly didn’t want Salman Rushdie to say he thought the films were good because they were black. But I also didn’t want him to say that he thought they weren’t good because ‘we creative artists all know what good films are’, since I no longer believe we can resolve the questions of aesthetic value by the use of these transcendental, canonical cultural categories. I think there is another position, one which locates itself inside a continuous struggle and politics around black representation, but which then is able to open up a continuous critical discourse about themes, about the forms of representation, the subjects of representation, above all, the regimes of representation. I thought it was important, at that point, to intervene to try and get that mode of critical address right, in relation to the new black filmmaking. It is extremely tricky, as I know, because as it happens, in intervening, I got the mode of address wrong too! I failed to communicate the fact that, in relation to his Guardian article I thought Salman was hopelessly wrong about Handsworth Songs, which does not in any way diminish my judgement about the stature of Midnight’s Children. I regret that I couldn’t get it right, exactly, because the politics of criticism has to be able to get both things right. Such a politics of criticism has to be able to say (just to give one example) why My Beautiful Laundrette is one of the most riveting and important films produced by a black writer in recent years and precisely for the reason that made it so controversial: its refusal to represent the black experience in Britain as monolithic, self-contained, sexually stabilized and always ‘right-on’—in a word, always and only ‘positive’, or what Hanif Kureishi has called, ‘cheering fictions’: the writer as public relations officer, as hired liar. If there is to be a serious attempt to understand Britain today, with its mix of races and colours, its hysteria and despair, then, writing about it has to be complex. It can’t apologize or idealize. It can’t sentimentalize and it can’t represent only one group as having a monopoly on virtue.6 Laundrette is important particularly in terms of its control, of knowing what it is doing, as the text crosses those frontiers between gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and class. Sammy and Rosie is also a bold and adventurous film, though in some ways less coherent, not so sure of where it is going, overdriven by an almost uncontrollable, cool anger. One needs to be able to offer that as a critical judgement and to argue it through, to have one’s mind changed, without undermining one’s essential commitment to the project of the politics of black representation. 1 The Yorkshire town of Dewesbury became the focus of national attention when white parents withdrew their children from a local school with predominantly Asian pupils, on the grounds that ‘English’ culture was no longer taught on the curriculum. The contestation of multicultural education from the right also underpinned the controversies around Bradford headmaster Ray Honeyford. See, Paul Gordon, ‘The New Right, race and education’; Race and Class XXIX(3), Winter 1987. 2 Gayatri C.Spivak, In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics, Methuen, 1987. 3 Kobena Mercer ‘Imaging the black man’s sex’ in Patricia Holland et al. (eds), Photography/Politics: Two, Comedia/Methuen, 1987 and various articles in Ten.8 22, 1986, an issue on ‘Black experiences’ edited by David A.Bailey. 4 Stuart Hall, ‘Racism and reaction’, in Five Views on Multi-Racial Britain, Commission for Racial Equality, 1978. 5 Paul Gilroy, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack: The Cultural Politics of Race and Nation, Hutchinson, 1988. 6 Hanif Kureishi, ‘Dirty washing’, Time Out, 14–20 November 1985. Isaac Julien and Kobena Mercer, ‘De Margin and De Centre’ First appeared as the ‘Introduction’ to Screen 29(4), 1988, 2–10. The issue was entitled ‘The Last “Special Issue” on Race?’. Film culture in the 1980s has been marked by volatile reconfigurations in the relations of ‘race’ and representation. Questions of cultural difference, identity and otherness—in a word, ethnicity—have been thrown into the foreground of contestation and debate by numerous shifts and developments. Within the British context, these trends have underpinned controversies around recent independent films like Handsworth Songs, My Beautiful Laundrette and The Passion of Remembrance—films which have elicited critical acclaim and angry polemic in roughly equal measure. The fragmented state of the nation depicted from a black British point of view in the films themselves contradicts (literally, speaks against) the remythification of the colonial past in mainstream movies such as Ghandi or A Passage to India; yet, the wave of popular films set in imperial India or Africa also acknowledge, in their own way, Britain’s postcolonial condition in so far as they speak to contemporary concerns. The competing versions of narrative, memory and history in this conjuncture might be read symptomatically as a state of affairs that speaks of—articulates— conflicting identities within the ‘imagined community’ of the nation. In the international context, certain moments and trends suggest further shifts, adjustments, in the articulation of ethnicity as ideology. The ratings success-story of The Cosby Show—‘number one’ in South Africa as well as the United States—has fulfilled the innocent demand for ‘positive images’ with a (neo-conservative) vengeance. And the very idea of a Hollywood director like Steven Spielberg adapting the Alice Walker novel The Color Purple (in the context of the unprecedented publication of black women writers) still seems extraordinary, however commercially astute. In addition, the widening circulation of Third World films among western audiences, or the televisual ‘presence’ of Third World spaces like Ethiopia via events such as Live Aid in 1985, implies something of a shift within the boundaries that differentiated the First and Third Worlds. One issue at stake, we suggest, is the potential break-up or deconstruction of structures that determine what is regarded as culturally central and what is regarded as culturally marginal. Ethnicity has emerged as a key issue as various ‘marginal’ practices (black British film, for instance) are becoming de-marginalized at a time when ‘centred’ discourses of cultural authority and legitimation (such as notions of a trans-historical artistic ‘canon’) are becoming increasingly de-centred and destabilized, called into question from within. This scenario, described by Craig Owens as a crisis, ‘specifically of the authority vested in western European culture and its institutions’,1 has of course already been widely discussed in terms of the characteristic aesthetic and political problems of postmodernism. However, it is ironic that while some of the loudest voices offering commentary have announced nothing less than the ‘end of representation’ or the ‘end of history’, the political possibility of the end of ethnocentrism has not been seized upon as a suitably exciting topic for description or inquiry.2 We would argue, on the contrary, that critical theories are just beginning to recognize and reckon with the kinds of complexity inherent in the culturally constructed nature of ethnic identities, and the implications this has for the analysis of representational practices. We chose to call this the ‘last special issue’ as a rejoinder to critical discourses in which the subject of race and ethnicity is still placed on the margins conceptually, despite the acknowledgement of such issues indicated by the proliferation of ‘special issues’ on race in film, media and literary journals.3 The problem, paradoxically, is that as an editorial strategy and as a mode of address, the logic of the ‘special issue’ tends to reinforce, rather than ameliorate, the perceived otherness and marginality of the subject itself. There is nothing intrinsically different or ‘special’ about ethnicity in film culture, merely that it makes fresh demands on existing theories, methods and problematics. Rather than attempt to compensate the ‘structured absences’ of previous paradigms, it would be useful to identify the relations of power/knowledge that determine which cultural issues are intellectually prioritized in the first place. The initial stage in any deconstructive project must be to examine and undermine the force of the binary relation that produces the marginal as a consequence of the authority invested in the centre. At a concrete level the politics of marginalization is an underlying issue in the overview of black film-making in Europe sketched by Maureen Blackwood and June Givanni. The negotiation of access to resources in training, production and distribution emerges as a common factor facing practitioners in a migrant or ‘minority’ situation. While highlighting the different conditions stemming from the colonial past, the comparative dimension also draws attention to the specificity of British conditions in the present, where black film-making has flourished in the state-subsidized ‘independent’ sector. Data compiled by June Givanni elsewhere4 indicates some of the characteristics that constitute black British film as a ‘minor’ cinema: the prevalence of material of short duration, shot on video, and in the documentary genre, indicates a pattern of underfunding, or rather, taking the variety of work into consideration, a considerable cultural achievement that has been won against the odds of meagre resourcing. Moreover, shifts in the institutional framework of public funding in the United Kingdom were brought about in the 1980s as a result of a wider social and political struggle to secure black rights to representation. It was said at the time of the 1981 ‘riots’ that this was the only way in which those excluded from positions of power and influence could make themselves heard: in any case, the events were read and widely understood as expressing protest at the structural marginalization of the black presence in British public institutions. The consequent demand for black representation thus informed shifts in multicultural and ‘equal opportunity’ policy among institutions such as Channel Four, the British Film Institute and local authorities such as the Greater London Council. More generally, this took place in the context of a re-articulation of the category ‘black’ as a political term of identification among diverse minority communities of Asian, African and Caribbean origin, rather than as a biological or ‘racial’ category. Together, these aspects of the cultural politics of ‘black representation’ informed the intense debates on aesthetic and cinematic strategies within the black British independent sector. Far from homogenizing these differences, the concept has been the site of contestation, highlighted in numerous events and conferences, such as ‘Third Cinema’ at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1986 and more recently, the conference on ‘Black Film/ British Cinema’ at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.5 It has become apparent that what is at stake in the debates on ‘black representation’ is not primarily a dispute over realist or modernist principles, but a broader problematic in cultural politics shaped, as Paul Gilroy suggests, by the tension between representation as a practice of depiction and representation as a practice of delegation.6 Representational democracy, like the classic realist text, is premissed on an implicitly mimetic theory of representation as correspondence with the ‘real’: notionally, the political character of the state is assumed to ‘correspond’ to the aspiration of the masses in society. However, not unlike the civil disruptions, aspects of the new wave in black British film-making have interrupted these relations of representation: in cinematic terms the challenge to documentary realism that features so prominently in more recent work, such as Territories, is predicated on a relational conception of representation as a practice of selection, combination and articulation. At a textual level, such shifts have contested the hegemony of documentary realism underlying the formal codification of what Jim Pines calls the master discourse of the ‘race-relations narrative’.7 This also entails awareness of extra-textual factors, such as funding, as important determinants on black film-making and its modes of enunciation, such as ‘the moral imperative which usually characterizes black films, which empowers them to speak with a sense of urgency’, as John Akomfrah of Black Audio Film Collective has put it.8 What is at issue in this problematic is the question of power, as Judith Williamson argues in her review of The Passion of Remembrance, ‘The more power any group has to create and wield representations, the less it is required to be representative’.9 Where access and opportunities are rationed, so that black films tend to get made only one-at-a-time, each film text is burdened with an inordinate pressure to be ‘representative’ and to act, like a delegate does, as a statement that ‘speaks’ for the black communities as a whole. Martina Attille, producer of the film, suggests that the ‘sense of urgency to say it all’ stems less from the artistic choices made by black film-makers and more from the material constraints in which ‘sometimes we only get the one chance to make ourselves heard’.10 Contemporary shifts have brought these problems into view, for as Williamson adds, in relation to the invisible demand to be ‘representative’ implicit in the rationing and rationalization of public funding, ‘what is courageous in Sankofa’s project is that they have chosen to speak from, but not for, black experience(s) in Britain.’ Marginality circumscribes the enunciative modalities of black film as cinematic discourse and imposes a double bind on black subjects who speak in the public sphere: if only one voice is given the ‘right to speak’, that voice will be heard, by the majority culture, as ‘speaking for’ the many who are excluded or marginalized from access to the means of representation. This of course underlines the problem of tokenism: the very idea that a single film could ‘speak for’ an entire community of interests reinforces the perceived secondariness of that community. The double bind of expedient inclusion as a term for the legitimation of more general forms of exclusionary practice is also the source of a range of representational problems encountered not just by black subjects, but by other groups marginalized into minority status. In the gay documentary Word is Out (Mariposa Film Group, 1978) the nature of this problematic is pointed out in a performative mode by a black woman who carefully describes the predicament she is placed in as a result of the editing strategy of the text: What I was trying to say when I asked you if I would be the only black lesbian in the film is: do you know we come in all shapes and colours and directions to our lives? Are you capturing that on the film? As a black lesbian-feminist involved in the movement, so often people try to put me in the position of speaking for all black lesbians. I happen to be a black lesbian among many, and I woudn’t want to be seen as this is how all black lesbians are.11 Within such a regime of representation, the restricted economy of ethnic enunciation is a political problem for at least two important reasons. First, individual subjectivity is denied because the black subject is positioned as a mouthpiece, a ventriloquist for an entire social category which is seen to be ‘typified’ by its representative. Acknowledgement of the diversity of black experiences and subject-positions is thereby foreclosed. Thus, secondly, where minority subjects are framed and contained by the monologic terms of ‘majority discourse’, the fixity of boundary relations between centre and margin, universal and particular, returns the speaking subject to the ideologically appointed place of the stereotype—that ‘all black people are the same’. Stuart Hall’s account of the shifts taking place in contemporary black British cultural production offers a means of making sense of the ‘politics of representation’ at issue here. His argument that current shifts demand the recognition of the ‘end of the innocent notion of the essential black subject’ enables us to analyse and unpack the burden of racial representation. The recognition that ‘black’ is a politically and culturally constructed category, and that our metaphorical fictions of ‘white’ and ‘black’ are not fixed by Nature but by historical formations of hegemony, brings into play ‘the recognition of the immense diversity and differentiation of the historical and cultural experiences of black subjects’. This has major consequences for the critical evaluation of different aesthetic and discursive strategies that articulate race at the level of language and representation. Films are not necessarily good because black people make them. They are not necessarily right-on by virtue of the fact that they deal with the black experience. Once you enter the politics of the end of the essential black subject you are plunged headlong into the maelstrom of a continuously contingent, unguaranteed, political argument and debate: a critical politics, a politics of criticism. You can no longer conduct black politics through the strategy of a simple set of reversals, putting in place of the bad old essential white subject, the new essentially good black subject.12 The deconstruction of binary relations thus entails the relativization and rearticulation of ‘ethnicity’. This is an importantly enabling argument as it brings a range of critical issues into an explanatory structure, however tentative. At one level, it contextualizes Salman Rushdie’s point, expressed in his polemic against Handsworth Songs,13 that ‘celebration makes us lazy’. Because black films have been so few and far between, up till now, there has been a tendency to ‘celebrate’ the fact that they ever got made at all; but this has inhibited the formulation of criticism and self-criticism and perpetuated the moral masochism of ‘correctness’ so pervasive in oppositional ‘left’ cultural politics (especially in Britain). Judith Williamson takes up this point and argues that the moralism of being ideologically ‘right-on’ has been conflated with aesthetic judgement and thus the formal properties of the recent ‘experimental’ films have been subsumed into their ‘blackness’ (that is, the racial identity of the authors) giving the films an ‘aura of untouchability’ that further pre-empts critical analysis. The problem which arises, is that such responses threaten to frame the films as merely replacing the avant-garde (as the ‘latest thing’) rather than as displacing the orthodoxies that have led the Euro-American vanguard (specially its formalist variant) into its current stasis. At another level, Perminder Dhillon-Kashyap argues that the debates on black British film have in turn made Asian experiences and interventions ‘secondary’, thus risking the replication of essentialist versions of race precisely when the rearticulation of subaltern ethnicities as ‘black’ seeks to undermine ‘ethnic absolutism’ (anchoring the culturalist terms of the ‘new racism’ that fixes hybridized experiences in terms of alien cultures’).14 Coco Fusco’s assessment of two major conferences in the United States examines the way in which two kinds of essentialist tendency, manifest in the contradictory reception of black British film, mutually forestall the politics of criticism. The impetus to ‘celebrate’ black cinema, on the one hand, invokes a unitary notion of blackness that precludes elucidation of ‘internal’ differences and diversity. The desire to ‘correct’ the omissions of the past within the western avant-garde, on the other hand, has led to a one-sided fixation with ethnicity as something that ‘belongs’ to the Other alone, thus white ethnicity is not under question and retains its ‘centred’ position; more to the point, the white subject remains the central reference point in the power ploys of multicultural policy. The burden of representation thus falls on the Other, because as Fusco argues, ‘to ignore white ethnicity is to redouble its hegemony by naturalising it.’ While such discursive events acknowledge contemporary shifts, their logic evades the implications of Hall’s insight that the point of contestation is no longer between multiculturalism and anti-racism, but inside the concept of ethnicity itself. Within dominant discourses, ‘ethnicity’ is structured into a negative equivalence with essentialist versions of ‘race’ and ‘nation’ which particularize its referent, as the pejorative connotation of ‘ethnic minority’ implies (who, after all, constitutes the ‘ethnic majority’?). On the other hand, just as it was necessary to re-appropriate the category ‘black’, Hall argues that ‘ethnicity’ is a strategically necessary concept because it acknowledges the place of history, language and culture in the construction of subjectivity and identity, as well as the fact that all discourse is placed, positioned, situated, and all knowledge is contextual. Representation is possible only because enunciation is always produced within codes that have a history, a position within the discursive formations of a particular space and time.15 In this sense, ‘we are all ethnically located’, but the cultural specificity of white ethnicity has been rendered ‘invisible’ by the epistemic violence that has, historically, disavowed difference in western discourses. The rearticulation of ethnicity as an epistemological category thus involves, the displacement of the centred discourses of the West (and) entails putting into question its universalist character and its transcendental claims to speak for everyone, while being itself everywhere and nowhere. Richard Dyer’s article, ‘White’, inaugurates a paradigmatic shift by precisely registering the re-orientation of ‘ethnicity’ that Hall’s argument calls for. Dyer shows how elusive white ethnicity is as a representational construct (and the difficulties this presents for constituting it as a theoretical object of analysis) and notes that, ‘Black is, in the realm of categories, always marked as a colour…is always particularising; whereas white is not anything really, not an identity, not a particularising quality, because it is everything.’ In other words, whiteness has secured universal consent to its hegemony as the ‘norm’ by masking its coercive force with the invisibility that marks off the Other (the pathologized, the disempowered, the dehumanized) as all too visible—‘coloured’.16 Significantly, in relation to the films that Dyer discusses, whiteness only tends to become visible when its hegemony is under contestation. The complex range of problems now coming into view in film studies around the site of ethnicity, partly as a result of developments elsewhere in literary and social theory,17 enables a more adequate understanding of contemporary forms of contestation. The ‘differences’ between various black independent film practices have, to some extent, been overplayed, as the key underlying objective across each of the strategies, is to displace the binary relation of the burden of representation, most clearly pinpointed by Horace Ove: Here in England there is a danger, if you are black, that all you are allowed to make is films about black people and their problems. White film-makers on the other hand, have a right to make films about whatever they like.18 Theoretically, the displacement of binarisms has been most important in the analysis of stereotyping—the marginalization of ethnicity has been held in place by the logical impasse of the ‘positive/negative’ image polarity. Screen has contributed to the productive displacement of this stasis in a number of ways: from Steve Neale’s analysis of the impossibility of the ‘perfect image’ sought by idealist and realist arguments, to Homi Bhabha’s influential reading of colonial discourse, which emphasizes the psychic ambivalence, the fear and fascination, that informs the ‘Manichean delirium’ of classical regimes of racial representation.19 However, the range of textual readings here suggests that we need to go much further towards a reflexive examination of the mutual inscription of self and other in the analysis of ethnic boundary-ness. This involves questioning the way that, during its ‘centred’ role in the discursive formation of film theory during the 1970s, Screen participated in a phase of British left culture that inadvertently marginalized race and ethnicity as a consequence of the centrifugal tendency of its ‘high theory’. During this period, one was more likely to encounter the analysis of racial stereotyping in sociology than cultural theory, where class and gender took precedence in debates on ideology and subjectivity.20 Furthermore, without imputing maleficent intentions (because such relations are beyond the control of individual intentionality), it can be said that even within Screen’s important acknowledgement of ethnic differences in previous ‘special issues’,21 the explanatory concept of ‘Otherness’ distances and particularizes ethnicity as something that happens far away, either in the United States or in the Third World.22 Space prohibits an adequate exploration of the intellectual milieu that Screen helped to form, but recent comments on the institutionalization of film studies have argued that ‘Screen theory’, so-called, came to function as a kind of corporate ‘name of the father’, a ‘theoretical super-ego’ or even a ‘phallic mother’—a centred point of reference that, like a doctrine or orthodoxy, featured a number of ‘disciplinary’ characteristics.23 Jane Gaines recalls that, in the translation of ‘Screen theory’ into the North American academic environment in the 1970s, leftist enthusiasm for theoretical ‘correctness’ was heard to speak in an unmistakably English accent. This background is important because what emerges in the current situation is not a ‘new’ problematic, but a critical return to issues unwittingly ‘repressed’ in some of the ‘old’ problematics and debates. It would be useful, therefore, to tentatively draw out some of the directions in which the field is being remapped and in which the lacunae of previous paradigms are excavated. First, the analysis of ethnic binarisms at the level of narrative codes returns to the question of how dominant ideologies naturalize their domination, underlying previous debates on the classic realist text. Clyde Taylor’s inter-textual examination of racialized repetition across two ‘epic’ Hollywood films suggests that the ethnic iconography that drives the reproduction of racist ideology is not simply indicative of capitalist commodification or a bourgeois world view. Star Wars, argues Taylor, repeats the ‘blood and purity’ mythology of The Birth of a Nation, not as a defiant assertion of WASP ‘superiority’ but as an embattled recoding of the master text in response to the encroaching presence of the Third World. The racial discourse sub-textualized by binary oppositions acknowledges the crises of (US) hegemony. The ‘liberal’ inflections in the films discussed by Richard Dyer also acknowledge the destabilization of prevailing race relations, albeit within a different set of generic and narrative conventions. Common to both readings is a concern to ‘typify’ textual structures that position racial and ethnic signifiers in the fixed relation of a binary opposition, whether it be one of antagonism, accommodation or subordination. There is, in addition, a historical emphasis that relativizes the kinds of claims once extrapolated from the formal structures of the ‘CRT’, as it was known. Aspects of Bhabha’s theorization of the stereotype in colonial discourse replicate this trans-historical or de-historicized emphasis.24 The move towards a more context-oriented view, on the other hand, indicates that although dominant discourses are characterized by closure, they are not themselves closed but constantly negotiated and restructured by the conjuncture of discourses in which they are produced. The way in which ethnic ‘types’ are made afresh in contemporary movies like An Officer and a Gentleman and Angel Heart—or more generally in current advertising— demands such a conjunctural approach. The theory of the stereotype cannot be abandonded as it also needs to be able to explain how and why certain ethnic stereotypes are at times recirculated, in the British context, in the work of black film and television authors.25 Secondly, there is a note of caution about reproducing binarisms at the level of theory. Cameron Bailey’s reading of the accretion of ‘ethnic’ signifiers around the construction of (white) femininity as a source of pleasure and danger in Something Wild demonstrates that, rather than the familiar ‘race, class, gender’ mantra, analysis needs to take account of the intersections of differences, in particular of the representation of sexuality as a recurring site upon which categories of race and gender intersect. Feminist theories of the fetishistic logic inherent in the sexualization of gender-difference have provided an invaluable inventory for the reading of the eroticized othering of the black (male and female) subject. Yet, as Jane Gaines argues, the gender binarism implicit in the heterosexist presumption so often unwittingly reproduced in feminist film theory (or FFT; the acronym already indicates an orthodoxy) remains ‘colour blind’ to the racial hierarchies that structure mastery over the ‘look’. The scenario of voyeurism, sadism and objectification played out across Diana Ross’s star image in Mahogany enacts a patriarchal discourse of masculine ‘desire’, but also demands a historical understanding of the pre-textual and the contextual discourses of race that placed the black woman in the ‘paradox of non-being’—a reference to the period in Afro-American history when the black female did not signify ‘woman’ on account of the racial ideology that made the black subject less than human. The historical violation of black bodies in social formations structured by slavery gives rise to a discourse (encoded in both the rationalization of and resistance to such pre-modern forms of power as lynching) which has indeed the countervailing force to rival the problematic of castration rhetorically placed at the centre of psychoanalytic theory by the Oedipal grand narrative. Just as lesbian critiques of FFT have questioned the explanatory capacity of Freudian and Lacanian theory to account for the inscription of female pleasure and desire26—demonstrating the contradictory subject positions occupied by different spectators—the reorientation of the spectatorship problematic in the articles by Gaines and Manthia Diawara identifies the ethnocentrism of psychoanalytic discourse as a barrier to further inquiry. Both question the universalist claims anchored in the Oedipus story and imply that uncritical adherence to psychoanalytic theory (however enabling as a method) risks the disavowal of its Euro-centric ‘authority’; Freud closes his essay on fetishism by commenting that the acknowledgement and disavowal of difference ‘might be seen in the Chinese custom of mutilating the female foot and then revering it like a fetish after it has been mutilated’27—surely this culturebound aesthetic judgement is the starting-point for a more circumspect appropriation of psychoanalytic theory. Diawara identifies the mythic ‘castration’ and ‘visual punishment’ of the black male as a term of the ‘narrative pleasures’ offered by Hollywood spectacle (and also as a narratological term of closure, analogous to the ‘punishment’ of feminine transgression in film noir). By raising the issue of spectatorial resistance, Diawara opens up an interesting question about the place of the black spectator in the ideological machinery of interpellation. How is the black subject sutured into a place that includes it only as a term of negation? What does the black spectator identify with when his/her mirror image is structurally absent or present only as Other? In the past, it was assumed that all social subjects acceded to the narcissistic pleasure of the ‘mirror phase’ in their misrecognition of themselves as the subject of enunciation, returned thus as normalized and passified ‘subjects’ of ideological subjection (this was the basis of Barthes’ distinction between ‘pleasure’ and ‘bliss’28). But what if certain social categories of spectator do not have access, as it were, to the initial moment of recognition? The question of how black subjects psychically manage to make identifications with white images is thus signposted as an important area for further inquiry.29 Perhaps one reason why, for example, The Cosby Show is so popular among black audiences is that it affords the pleasure of a basic or primary narcissism even though it interpellates the minority subject, in particular, into ideological normalization.30 A contemporary black star, like Eddie Murphy—popular with both white and black audiences— offers another source of ‘bad pleasure’, partly on account of the pastiche of the stereotype that he performs in his star-image as the street-credible, but ideologically unthreatening, macho loudmouth. This is also where class comes back into the calculation of difference. An appreciation of differentiated regimes of racial representation necessitates acknowledgement of different audiences or, taken together, recognition of the different forms of ideological articulation characteristic of First and Second Cinemas, as described by the concept of Third Cinema.31 The inscription of ethnic indeterminacy does not take place ‘inside’ the text, as if it were hermetically sealed, but in-between the relations of author, text and reader specific to the construction of different discursive formations. Blackness is not always a sign of racial codification (as the term film noir admits): its representational aura in auteurist and avant-garde traditions conventionally serves to mark off the status of the author (as white subject of enunciation) in relation to the discourse authorized in the text (as black subject of the statement). Ethnic alterity is a consistent trope of modernist differentiation in various Euro-American canons: the play of black signs that inscribe the authorial voice self-referentially in Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild can be seen as drawing on elements of the romanticist image-reservoir, where blackness is valorized as emblematic of outsiderness and oppositionality, that might be read off Jean Genet’s Chant d’amour (1953), Jean-Luc Godard’s One Plus One/Sympathy for the Devil (1969) or Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen’s Riddles of the Sphinx (1976). This arbitrary list (indexing disparate debates on independent film-making32) is made merely to point out another set of questions; namely, how to differentiate diverse appropriations of the same stock of signs and meanings built up around different discursive formations of ‘race’ and ethnicity? This question bears upon the broader underlying issue of the multi-accentual nature of the signs characteristic of the flashpoints of ideological contestation and cultural struggle.33 It also alludes to the paradox identified in Richard Dyer’s reading of Paul Robeson as a cinematic icon that meant different things to radically differentiated readers: Black and white discourses on blackness seem to be valuing the same things—spontaneity, emotion, naturalness—yet giving them a different implication. Black discourses see them as contributions to the development of society, white as enviable qualities that only blacks have.34 The issue of ‘envy’ confirms that white identifications are as problematic (conceptually) as the ability of black readers—or readers of subaltern status —to appropriate alternative ‘sub-textual’ readings from the racial discourse of dominant cultural texts. King Kong—to cite one of the most centred mythologies of modern popular cinema—has been read as the tragic story of a heroic beast and/or the fate of a black man punished for the transgressive coupling with the white woman that he/the monster desires. These questions appear to be ‘new’, hence very difficult, yet we have returned, by a rather circuitous route, to the hotly contested terrain of the debates on class and culture, hegemony and subjectivity that were territorialized with such passion in the mid-1970s.35 We must conclude that this cannot possibly be the last word on ‘race’ as these complicated issues are only now coming into view as a result of the critical dialogue that has engaged with the blind-spots and insights of earlier conversations. And further, that such dialogism is a necessary discursive condition for understanding contestation in film culture and other formations of cultural practice and cultural politics. 1 Craig Owens, ‘The discourse of others: feminists and post-modernism’ in Hal Foster (ed.), Postmodern Culture, London: Pluto, 1985, 57. 2 The assertion of the ‘end’ of everything is exemplified in Jean Baudrillard, Simulations, New York: Semiotext(e), 1984 and Victor Burgin, The End of Art Theory, London: Macmillan, 1986. More considered reflections on postmodernism, which focus on the problems of its ethnocentrism, are offered by Stuart Hall, ‘On postmodernism and articulation: an interview edited by Lawrence Grossberg’, in Communications Inquiry 10(2), 1986 (University of Iowa) and Andreas Huyssens, ‘Mapping the post-modern’, in After the Great Divide, London: Macmillan, 1987. 3 For instance, ‘Black experiences’, Ten-8 22, 1986; ‘Race, writing and difference’, Critical Inquiry 12(3), 1985 and 13(1), 1986; The inappropriate Other’, Discourse 8, 1986; ‘Colonialism’, Oxford Literary Review 9, 1987 and The nature and context of minority discourse’, I and II Cultural Critique, Spring and Fall, 1987. 4 Black and Asian Film List, compiled by June Givanni and edited by Nicky North, London, British Film Institute Education, 1988. A transatlantic comparison is offered by James A.Snead, ‘Black independent film: Britain and America’, in Kobena Mercer (ed.), Black Film/British Cinema, ICA Document 7/British Film Institute Production Special, 1988. 5 Symposia organized by the Greater London Council in 1985 are documented in Third Eye: Struggles for Black and Third World Cinema, Race Equality Unit, London, GLC 1986; the Edinburgh conference is documented in Jim Pines and Paul Willemen (eds), Third Cinema: Theories and Practices, London, BFI (forthcoming); and the ICA conference is documented in Kobena Mercer (ed.), op.cit. 6 ’Nothing but sweat inside my hand: diaspora aesthetics and Black arts in Britain’, in Kobena Mercer (ed.), op.cit. See also Pierre Bourdieu, ‘Delegation and political fetishism’, Thesis Eleven 10/11, 1984–5 (Sydney), 56–70. 7 See Jim Pines, ‘The cultural context of Black British cinema’, in Mbye Cham and Claire Andrade-Watkins (eds), BlackFrames: Critical Perspectives on Black Independent Cinema, Celebration of Black Cinema, Inc/MIT Press 1988 and Kobena Mercer, ‘Diaspora culture and the dialogic imagination: the aesthetics of black independent film in Britain’, ibid. 8 In Paul Gilroy and Jim Pines, ‘Handsworth songs: audiences/aesthetics/ independence, an interview with Black Audio Film Collective’, Framework 35, 1988, 11. 9 New Statesman, 5 December 1986. 10 In ‘The Passion of Remembrance: background and interview with Sankofa’, Framework 32/33, 1986, 101. 11 In Nancy Adair and Casey Adair (eds), Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives, New York: New Glide/Delta, 1978, 203. 12 Stuart Hall, ‘New ethnicities’. Also in Kobena Mercer (ed.), Black Film/British Cinema, op.cit. See also Stuart Hall, ‘Minimal selves’, in Lisa Appignanesi (ed.), Identity, ICA Document 6, 1988, 44–6. 13 ‘Songs doesn’t know the score’, Guardian, 12 January 1987, reprinted in Kobena Mercer (ed.), Black Film/British Cinema, op.cit. 14 Discursive formations of British racism are discussed in Paul Gilroy, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack, London: Hutchinson, 1987. Gilroy proposes the concept of syncretism to examine cultural resistance in the ‘hybridized’ context of black Britain. 15 Stuart Hall, ‘New ethnicities’, in Kobena Mercer (ed.), Black Film/British Cinema, op.cit. 16 The term ‘people of color’ operates in the United States as a political term analogous to ‘black’ in the British context. In both instances, such terms have engendered intense semantic ambiguity and ideological anxiety as the racial mythology of ‘colour’ is put under erasure, cancelled out but still legible, in a deconstructive logic that depends on the same system of metaphorical equivalences and differences. Semantic indeterminacy as a condition of political contestation is discussed in Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, London: Verso, 1985. 17 See Stuart Hall, ‘Race, articulation and societies structured in dominance’, in Sociological Theories: Race and Colonialism, Paris: UNESCO, 1980; Edward Said, Orientalism, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978, and The World, the Text and the Critic, London: Faber, 1984; Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, In Other Worlds, London: Methuen 1987; Cornel West, ‘The dilemma of a Black intellectual’, Cultural Critique 1(1), 1986; ‘Race and social theory’, in M. Davis, M.Marrable, F.Pfiel and M.Sprinker (eds), The Year Left 2, London: Verso, 1987 and ‘Marxist theory and the specificity of Afro- American oppression’, in Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg (eds), Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, London: Macmillan, 1988. 18 Interview with Sylvia Paskin, Monthly Film Bulletin 54(647), December 1987. 19 Steve Neale, ‘The same old story: stereotypes and difference’, Screen Education, Autumn–Winter 1979–80, nos 32 and 33, 33–7 and Homi K.Bhabha, The Other question: the stereotype and colonial discourse’, Screen, November– December 1983, 24(6), 18–36. 20 In both Weberian and marxist variants, see Charles Husband, White Media and Black Britain, London: Arrow, 1975 and Stuart Hall et al., Policing the Crisis, London: Macmillan, 1978. Cultural struggles over media racism are documented in Phil Cohen and Carl Gardner (eds), It Ain’t Half Racist, Mum, London: Comedia/Campaign Against Racism in the Media, 1982. CARM’s BBC ‘Open Door’ programme is discussed in Stuart Hall, ‘The whites of their eyes: racist ideologies and the media’, in Bridges and Brunt (eds), Silver Linings, London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1981. 21 ‘Racism, colonialism and the cinema’, Screen, March–April 1983, 24(2), and ‘Other cinemas, Other criticisms’, Screen, May–August 1985, 26(3–4). 22 Black British perspectives have rarely featured in Screen, but see Hazel Carby, ‘Multiculture’, Screen Education, Spring 1980, 34, 62–70; Paul Gilroy, ‘C4—Bridgehead or Bantustan?’, Screen, July–October 1983, 24(4– 5), 130–6; Robert Crusz, ‘Black cinemas, film theory and dependent knowledge’, Screen, May– August 1985, 26(3–4), 152–6. 23 The description of a ‘theoretical super ego’ in film studies is made by Paul Willemen in ‘An avant-garde for the 80s’, Framework 24, 1982 and in ‘The Third Cinema question: notes and reflections’, Framework 34, 1987. The characterization of orthodoxies in terms of the demands of a ‘phallic mother’ is made by Lesley Stern in her tribute, ‘Remembering Claire Johnston’, in Film News, 19(4), May 1988 (Sydney), reprinted in Framework 35, 1988. An interesting case of another translation this time in the postcolonial periphery, is provided by Felicity Collins, ‘The Australian Journal of Screen Theory’, in Framework 24, 1982. 24 Methods employed by Homi Bhabha and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak are the subject of a critique by Benita Parry, ‘Problems in current theories of colonial discourse’, Oxford Literary Review 9, 1987. 25 An issue raised in Jim Pines’ reading of sociological stereotypes in Horace Ove’s Pressure (1975), discussed in ‘Blacks in films: the British angle’, Multiracial Education 9(2), 1981. Some of the paradoxical consequences of documentary realism in black independent film are also discussed in Kobena Mercer, ‘Recoding narratives of race and nation’, in Black Film/British Cinema, op.cit. 26 See Jackie Stacey, ‘Desperately seeking difference’, Screen, Winter 1987, 28 (1), 48–61; reprinted in a slightly different version in Lorraine Gamman and Margaret Marshment (eds), The Female Gaze, London: Women’s Press, 1988. 27 Sigmund Freud, ‘Fetishism’, in On Sexuality, Harmondsworth: Pelican Freud Library 7, 1977, 357. 28 Roland Barthes, The Pleasure of the Text, New York: Hill & Wang, 1975. 29 This again is by no means a ‘new’ topic. The starting-point for James Baldwin’s autobiographical reflections on cinema is his adolescent identification with Bette Davis’ star image; see The Devil Finds Work, London: Michael Joseph, 1976, 4–7. 30 The Cosby Show is the subject of two conflicting readings—as a ‘breakthrough’ and as a ‘sell out’: see Mel Cummings, ‘Black family interactions on television’, presented at the International Television Studies Conference, London, 1986 and Pat Skinner, ‘Moving way up: television’s “new look” at Blacks’, presented at the International Television Studies Conference, London, 1988. Both ITSC conferences sponsored by the British Film Institute and the Institute of Education, University of London. 31 The concept of ‘Third Cinema’ was originally proposed by Fernando Solanas and Octavio Gettino; see their ‘Towards a Third Cinema’, in Bill Nichols (ed.), Movies and Methods, London and Berkeley: University of California, 1976. It has subsequently been expanded, with particular reference to African cinema, by Teshome Gabriel, Third Cinema in the Third World: The Aesthetics of Liberation, Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1982. 32 Jean Genet’s film is the subject of intense debate in the Cultural Identities seminar on ‘Sexual identities: questions of difference’, in Undercut 17, 1988. Maxine, the black woman in Riddles of the Sphinx, is identified as a signifier of ‘dark continent’ mythology in Judith Williamson’s critique of the film, ‘Two or three things we know about ourselves’, in Consuming Passions, London: Calder & Boyars, 1986, 134. Frankie Dymon Jr was involved in Godard’s One Plus One and subsequently directed his own film, Death May Be Your Santa Claus (1969), described as a ‘pop fantasy’ by Jim Pines, in ‘The cultural context of Black British cinema’, op.cit. 33 Identified as indicative of class struggle, in V.N.Volosinov, Marxism and the Philosophy of Language, New York: Seminar Press, 1983. From another point of view, similar concepts are explored in Homi K.Bhabha’s reinterpretation of Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth (Penguin, 1970) in his essay, ‘The commitment to theory’, in New Formations 5, 1988, 20–2. 34 Richard Dyer, ‘Paul Robeson: crossing over’, in Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society, London: BFI/Macmillan, 1987, 79. 35 See Rosalind Coward, ‘Class, “culture” and the social formation’, Screen, Spring 1977, 18(1) 75–105 and the response, from Iain Chambers et al., ‘Marxism and culture’, Screen, Winter 1977–8, 18(4), 109–19. On authorship, enunciation and textual analysis, see Paul Willemen, ‘Notes on subjectivity: on reading Edward Branigan’s “Subjectivity under siege”’, Screen, Spring 1978, 19(1), 41–69. And on critiques of ‘Screen theory’ from the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, see David Morley, ‘Texts, readers, subjects’ and Stuart Hall, ‘Recent developments in theories of language and ideology: a critical note’, both in Stuart Hall et al. (eds), Culture, Media, Language, London: Hutchinson, 1980.

Bangladesh exported goods worth $5.90 million to Algeria while Algeria exported goods worth $90.79 million to Bangladesh As the Covid-19 situation is gradually improving in both Asia and Africa, Algeria is working hard on improving trade relations with Bangladesh in the coming days. Rabah Larbi, ambassador of Algeria to Bangladesh, said this to Dhaka Tribune at his office in the capital recently. “Trade relations with Bangladesh are below its potential. It needs to be increased as economies of both countries have been growing steadily over the years,” Larbi further said. Sources at the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) said that Bangladesh exported goods worth $5.90 million to Algeria while Algeria exported goods worth $90.79 million to Bangladesh. At present, Algeria imports jute and jute products, woven and knitwear, home textiles and footwear from Bangladesh. Apart from this, it imports a huge quantity of consumer goods, cereals, dairy products, plastics, medicines every year from the world market. The North African country also has a huge potential market for man made filaments, glass and ceramics, leather goods, and electronics. As gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Algeria is over $4,000 and Bangladesh is a developing country, the consumer markets in both countries are expanding, the African diplomat also said. To increase bilateral trade, Bangladesh is expecting to sign either a free trade agreement (FTA) or a preferential trade agreement (PTA) with Algeria, Larbi informed. Quoting ADB statistics, Rabah Larbi said that Bangladesh is a prospective country with an emergence of new-middle and upper-middle-class consumers. Several hundred Bangladesh citizens work in a fertilizer factory in Algeria, while some are also engaged in some other professions.

The following is a summary of my most recent class in pursuit of my Master’s in Theology at Colorado Christian University. Written by Steven Barto, B.S. Psy. IT’S ONE THING TO pick up a book and read about theology. And that’s okay. It’s how I got interested in taking the subject on as a graduate student. It all starts with contemplation. We “think” about what it means to be alive, to have purpose. We wonder how we might make a difference in society. We question the “logic” of believing in God. Armed with such a burning desire to know, I enrolled in a master’s program in theology and started out on what so far has proved to be an amazing, breathtaking journey. In week four of my theology class we considered the proper relationship between theological study, sanctification, contemplation, prayer, and action. Further, we discussed the type of character most conducive to theological insight, and how the systematic study of theology should impact one’s character. Generic “theological” study does not necessarily require any degree of sanctification. Many people choose to study theology or philosophy without any sense of what is meant by redemption or sanctification. These concepts are, however, imperative in Christian theology. What is the proper relationship between theological study, sanctification, contemplation, prayer, and action? I was amazed how little I understood about sanctification over the years. I thought it “just happened” when I “got saved.” Considering the decades of sinful behavior and active addiction I went through after accepting Christ (at age 13), I was far from sanctified. Of course, it does start with salvation. When we become redeemed, we are expected to “repent” of our old life. Then sanctification can begin. According to R.E.O. White, sanctification means “to make holy.” It’s not uncommon for a new Christian to think this means he or she is made holy (shazam!) all at once. White further explains that to be sanctified is to be “set apart” from common or secular use. First Corinthians 1:2 says we are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. R.E.O. White writes that sanctification is not merely justification’s endgame; rather, it is justifying faith at work. The new believer is declared to be acquitted and clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Through sanctification, God begins to accomplish His will in us. This is often called becoming spiritually mature. We are not saved by good works, but there is little hope of sanctification without submitting to the will of God. Thomas Aquinas says in the Summa Theologiae that four of the gifts of the Spirit of the Lord are wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and counsel, and that these gifts have a direct impact on the intellect. Isaiah 11:2 says. “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD” (RSV). David Jeremiah explains that the coming king “will be endowed with the Spirit of the Lord, who provides the wisdom, ability, and allegiance to God that are necessary to accomplish a challenging task.” Proverbs 2:6 says, “For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” James reminds us that if we lack wisdom in any circumstance, we are to ask God and He will give it (James 1:5). Thomas Aquinas said any discourse of reason always begins from an understanding. It is critical, therefore, that we never attempt theology while lacking understanding. Although the work of the Spirit is already completed relative to the compiling of Scripture, His work regarding “illumination” is ongoing. Prayer is the means by which we gain access to God. Just as we speak to the Father, and call upon Jesus, we must request from the Holy Spirit the guidance, understanding, knowledge, illumination, and discernment needed to effectively and accurately undertake systematic theology. It is equally important to pray for guidance regarding God’s call on our lives. When I decided to change my major from the master’s in counseling program to the master’s in theology, I spent weeks in prayer. I consulted with my pastor, several lay ministry friends, family members, my CCU student advisor, two professors, and several elders at my church. I cannot fathom undertaking a systematic study of Christian theology without prayer. What type of character is most conducive to theological insight, and how should it change as the result of undertaking theological study? In any theological undertaking, one would expect there to be a change of character. I think of Nabeel Qureshi (1983-2017), author, speaker, lecturer, and apologist, who converted to Christianity from Islam after spending nearly two years conducting an exegetical study of the Holy Bible. His character, if you will, was that of a loving, dedicated, well-behaved young man who had been raised in a religious home. In fact, no one in his immediate or extended family were extremists or jihadists. He loved the Qur’an, Allah, and his messenger Muhammad. This “character” coupled with a sharp intellect likely contributed to his willingness to examine the theology of Islam, and, ultimately, compare it to Christianity. Tradition injects a lot into character, and, when that character matures, one becomes curious about tradition, religion, politics, culture, the meaning of life, and so on. Qureshi said one of the greatest hardships he faced was having to inform his parents he had become a Christian. He was, after all, part of a “community of believers” that were bonded together by solid theological principles and deep-seated tradition. He believed in Islam. He revered Muhammad. Regardless, once he met Jesus Christ, he could no longer reject Him than he could make himself stop breathing. This is precisely the type of character it requires to begin a theological study. Insight comes from honest, rigorous, open-minded, and thorough study. We’ve been told that theology is in its simplest form “the study of God.” For me, the desire to know God stems from my burning desire to know why my earthly father seemed to hate me so much and, more frighteningly, whether my Heavenly Father was as mean-spirited, vindictive, nasty, judging, and punishing. (Incidentally, I eventually learned that my dad did not hate me, and he did the best he could to keep me from running off the rails and into the gutter.) If God were to be “the same as” my dad, I would have no time for Him. Regardless, somewhere deep inside, I wanted to know several things. First, exactly who or what was this Christian God I’d heard of at church? Second, was He authoritative—leading from a position of authority and strength, love and longsuffering—or authoritarian—ruling over everyone with a heavenly despotic fist, ready to accuse and condemn? Third, was it true, as my father said many times, that I was worthless, or was there hope that my life had some greater meaning? As to what type of character should result from theological study, Trevor Hart said, “Faith is not a natural progression from knowledge or experiences available to all, but results from a special dispensation which sets us in the perspective from which the truth may be seen, and demands a response” [italics mine]. In other words, deciding to systematically study Christian theology is both a soulful drive or ambition and a rigorous discipline. I have gone through numerous personal changes as an undergraduate student of psychology at Colorado Christian University. I believe those changes set the stage for my choosing to take on a master’s level study of theology. There is a progression at play. Had I not first chosen to return to college, I would not have discovered CCU; had I not enrolled at CCU, I would not be the Christian I am today; and, had I not grown more mature in Christ as an undergraduate, I would not have undergone the requisite changes conducive to undertaking a master’s degree in theology. This is the fourth week of my first theology class, and already I feel tectonic shifts within me. My personality has brightened, and my mind has cleared. I am ravenous for information about theology, Christology, eschatology, and apologetics. I see people as God sees them, and I’ve begun to feel a heartache for those who will never see the truth about the life, love, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have started to keep my promises more consistently than I used to, and I exercise greater control over my tongue (which was no easy task!). I even noticed a major change in the amount of television I watch. All of that notwithstanding, I find myself asking God every morning to put a task before me; to lead me where He needs me to go; to break my heart for what breaks His. R.E.O. White. “Sanctification.” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017), 770 Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologiae, I.II, q. 68, a1 David Jeremiah. The Jeremiah Study Bible. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2013), 893-94. Trevor Hart. Faith Thinking. (Eugene:Wipf & Stock Publishers, 1995), 75.

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan: A Visionary and Reformist of His Time (1817-1898) by Dr.M. BASHEER AHMED October 2020 was the one-hundredth anniversary of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), India, which was the first to introduce science in an institution of higher learning in the Muslim world after a hibernation of 500 years. Sir Syed Ahmed was a great Muslim scholar, a great visionary, statesman, educator, and a Muslim reformer of the 19th century. He revived the teaching of Science to Indian Muslims after five centuries of neglect. Muslims were at the forefront of science, technology, and innovation from the 7th till the 15th century. Due to the dominant Asharite ideology, the Muslim countries abandoned the teaching of science and philosophy. As a result, they lost their lead globally. It was more comfortable for the western world to colonize the entire Muslim world (including the great Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal empires) during18th and 19th century. Sir Syed was born when the British were colonizing India and the Mughals were not able to defend themselves. He was one of the great thinkers, surrounded by Maulvis (Theologians) and poets among the Indian Muslims, who recognized that the severe underlying factor for the defeat and humiliation of the first war of Indian independence was lack of progress in science and technology. While Europeans were making technological advances, with leaps and bounds from the 16th century onwards, Muslims were going downhill by abandoning sciences in the Muslim universities. Sir Syed recognized Muslims’ pathetic conditions and felt deeply pained to see the educational backwardness dominating the masses. He made a mission of his life to bring Muslims out of Jahalia(ignorance) with very little support but loads of opposition. He foresaw that modern education was the only tool to uplift educationally backward masses’ condition to compete and have dignity and respect. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was born in Delhi to a middle class, pious family on 17 October, 1817. His initial education was focused on learning Arabic, Persian, and Islamic studies. Later on, he studied the English language. In 1838 he was employed by East India Company, and after a few years of service, he served as Judge. During the 1857 revolt against the British, he witnessed British atrocities in which several of his family members died. He wrote a book about his experiences highlighting the causes for a humiliating defeat in colonialists’ hands. His book was translated into English and sent to the British Parliament and Queen Victoria, and as a result the East India Company got expelled from India. Soon after the 1857 Indian Revolt, he set up schools and convinced people to send their children for modern education. It was met with significant criticism owing to the educational backwardness of even great Muslim leaders of the time. Only a few realized the significance of his message. He went to England (1869-70) and visited Oxford and Cambridge universities to study the British educational system. He observed that British people participated in the hard work of industrial development of their country, which was lacking in the Indian community. On his return, he set up a committee for establishing teaching institutions and started an influential journal, Tahdhib al-Akhlaq “Social Reform,” for the “uplift and reform the Muslim.” A Muslim school emerged at Aligarh in May 1875, and after his retirement in 1876, Syed devoted himself to enlarging it into a college. He also organized a “Scientific Society” at Aligarh, where he entrusted scholars with translating the great scientific works from English to Urdu and Hindi to make them understandable to the masses. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan founded Mohammaden Anglo-Oriental College (MAO College), which became the Aligarh Muslim University on 14 September 1920. His motto was “a true Muslim is one who must have the Holy Quran in one hand and the book of science in the other.” His supreme interest was the intellectual development of the people through modern education. He wrote several volumes of a modernist commentary on the holy Quran, several books on Islam, and hundreds of articles to motivate Muslims to get modern education. He argued that understanding the Quran rested on a deep appreciation of reason and natural law and therefore did not preclude Muslim involvement in scientific methodology. He explained that “Religion is the word of God and our surroundings are the work of God. An explanation of the existence of the work of God is Science. Hence, no contradiction is possible between Science and Religion as the word of God cannot be in opposition to the work of God.” Syed Ahmad considered Madrasa Education better than what the British schools offered in terms of Islamic Education, but it was unlikely to lead Muslims into a new future. He emphasized Western Education’s importance and persuaded his coreligionists to abandon their conventional approach of supporting indigenous institutions and adopting new knowledge in these institutions. His supreme interest was the intellectual development of the people through modern education. He based his education philosophy on science, theology, and morality as an integrated education system. He introduced rationalism in theology and initiated modernist reforms in India’s Muslim society when Muslim morale was down and prevented it from decline and cultural decay. He faced severe criticism from religious orthodoxy when learning the English language was considered sinful. His advocacy of Western Education of Science and English caused apprehensions and doubts in people’s minds. Many Muslims were perplexed due to the influence of clergy who believed that modern education was incompatible with and against the religion. It was of no surprise that “Science” as a subject was not taught in any university of the Muslim world since the 15th century. Orthodox Muslims opposed him for his progressive, liberal and secular views and labeled him a Kafir. Deobandi clerics opposed his proposal, saying that they cannot associate an institution with Shia students on the campus. Several Muslim scholars had signed fatwas accusing Sir Syed of disbelief and apostasy. One cleric went all the way to Makkah and secured a fatwa calling for Sir Syed’s beheading if he persisted with his plans to establish the college. In his famous speech at the foundation of MAO College, he said: “Oh my dear children, you had reached a particular stage, and remember one thing that when I undertook the task, there was criticism all-around against me, and abuses upon me. Life had become so difficult for me that I aged before my age. I lost my hair, my eyesight, but not my vision. My vision never dimmed, my determination never failed, I built this institution for you, and I am sure you will carry the light of this institution far and wide; darkness will disappear from all around”. It summarizes his lifetime struggle to build Aligarh University, a fine institution of higher education in India. If Sir Syed were alive today, he would have continued to experience pain because his community remains in the same state as it once was in his time. Due to science’s introduction in the educational system, the universities produce Muslim doctors, engineers, and IT professionals. Unfortunately, none of the universities are producing scientists. Education among Muslims remains the same or slid down to a lower status in some indices. 40% to 50% in urban and 60% to 70% of Muslims remain illiterate in rural areas. A significant Muslim population still prefer sending their children to indigenous institutions like Madrasas where they are not getting any education in science. The belief that religious sciences and worldly sciences are separate and mutually opposed is still prevalent. Students in both the categories, those in modern educational institutions and those in Madrasas, are not getting a proper understanding of Islam, as explained by Sir Syed, which is a complete way of life and commands everyone to excel in Islamic and worldly knowledge. Today we can see the Aligarh Muslim University graduates in every field of activity in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Although Aligahr alumni celebrate its founder, Sir Syed, worldwide, I have never heard a talk about his mission of promoting scientific education. Sir Syed spent all his life improving Muslim Ummah’s status by raising educational standards and bringing them out of shackles of western power and other oppressors. Unfortunately, Muslims are not making enough progress in realizing his dreams. To reiterate, Sir Syed emphasized: “Acquisition of knowledge of science and technology is the only solution for the problems of Muslims; otherwise, Muslims will remain humiliated and rejected.” “Ijtihad (innovation, re-interpretation with the changing times) is needed to overcome taqlid (following old values) and to develop new ideas…” He pointed out not to show what Islam preaches, instead “show your behavior as the follower of true Islam representing the character, education, knowledge, tolerance and piety, and selfless service to humanity.” “Education alone in the present context can empower Muslims and nothing else. Muslims can create a modern Islamic society only by promoting modern Education like Sciences, medical Education, engineering, teaching, management, etc. God has given the eyes to see and the mind to analyze. We must see what is happening around us and use our intellect to conclude. It is what Allah wants us to do. In short, we must develop a scientific temper among the people as the holy Quran says in different verses”. Dr. Allama Iqbal says about Sir Syed: ”The real greatness of the man (Sir Syed) consists in the fact that he was the first Indian Muslim who felt the need of a fresh orientation of Islam and worked for it.”This great visionary and reformer, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, will always remain alive in our memory, inspiring the right Islamic thinking to make progress in this world and regain the intellectual leadership that was part of Muslim heritage.” Dr. Basheer Ahmed is the former professor of psychiatry, South Western Medical School, Dallas, Texas, and President of the Institute of Medieval and post Medieval studies in North Texas

Overlord: A Mighty Host looks back seventy years on the greatest military operation in history when 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of northern France. This awesome military event is examined from the point of view of those who survived that extraordinary conflict. Alternate formats: Digital Video - $3.99 On June 6, 1944, the greatest military operation in the history of the world succeeded in landing more than 150,000 Allied troops on the beaches of northern France. Before the battle of Normandy was won in late August, these troops endured some of the most costly fighting of World War II. Overlord: A Mighty Host looks back sixty years on this awesome military event from the point of view of soldiers, sailors, and paratroopers who were involved in the invasion and examines the lives of men who survived that extraordinary conflict. Fullscreen. Vision Video is the premier producer of Christian videos. One of their newest DVD titles is particularly impressive and very highly recommended for the non-specialist general viewer. Overlord:A Mighty Host is a 58 minute, full color documentary focused on the events of June 6, 1944 during the greatest military operation in the history of recorded human warfare. This was the landing of more than 150,000 Allied troops on the beaches of northern France against the fierce opposition of the German military. Before the battle of Normandy was over in late August, these allied troops would have experienced heavy casualties as the Germans were experiencing the beginning of the end of their wars of conquest. The story is presented from the viewpoint of the soldiers, sailors and paratroopers who were involved in the invasion and the lives of these men who survived that extraordinarily lethal conflict undertaking against a foe that would be infamous for their determined and premeditated mass slaughter of Jews, Christians, Gays, Gypsies, and political opponents. This outstanding documentary is flawlessly produced, informed and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking, and an important addition to personal and community library DVD collections. As America finds itself in the midst of an increasingly unpopular war, it’s difficult for many to remember a war that the United States actually won. Vietnam and Korea were stalemates, the Persian Gulf War was an international affair, and the incursions into Panama, Grenada, Somalia, and Haiti hardly constituted our finest hours. But few could dispute the importance of "Operation Overlord," a.k.a D-Day, the largest military campaign in history, launched off the coast of France on June 6, 1944 by Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower. If D-Day had been a single battle, it would have been considered a defeat due to the huge numbers of military personnel killed in proportion to the relatively small amount of enemy territory captured. But as Overlord: A Mighty Host makes clear, the tired and battered soldiers who fought for every bloody inch of the Normandy beaches were united in their determination to usher in the end of Hitler’s evil reign (then approaching five years). Speaking today, the American veterans interviewed here – elderly, gray-haired, slightly bent gentlemen who still get tears in their eyes – unashamedly admit that the hand of God protected them in those faraway lands, and their deeply emotional stories are nicely complemented with interwoven footage of the D-Day landing in this powerful tribute. Highly recommend. OVERLORD: A Mighty Host is a DVD that features interviews with veterans who all served during WWII and were participants in D-Day, June 6, 1944. Many of the veterans volunteer at the D-day museum, which focuses only on those things that document the events of D-Day. Most of the veterans interviewed were very young men on D-Day when they arrived at the coast of France. The number of troops was the largest force with 150,000 landing that day. The veterans remembrances of the events give the famous day during World War II a personal side. My son, who is a World War II history buff, loved this view and highly recommended it to others interested in WWII history. For the rest of us, it's a view into history via the memories of older gentlemen who served their country as they were asked, and carry the scars of war with them into old age. Reviewed By: Kate O'Mara t has been almost sixty-three years since the British, American and Canadian armies stormed the beaches of Normandy, but the D-Day invasion and the weeks that followed continue to fascinate us. The events have provided fodder for countless books, movies, and video games. As time passes, fewer and fewer of the veterans of that day survive to give their first-hand testimonies. I am grateful that many people are now speaking to these men and recording their memories before they are lost to history. Overlord: A Mighty Host is an hour-long documentary that was first shown on television and has recently become available on DVD. It provides reflections from veterans of D-Day with an emphasis on their religious beliefs. Because it is produced by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, one might think that this would focus on Christian testimonies. Unfortunately, it focuses on testimonies from all faiths (Protestant, Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Jewish) and much of the talk about God is generic, treating Him as “the man upstairs” who honors the terror-stricken faith of those who have rarely acknowledged Him before or since. Despite treating God as a somewhat generic deity, the documentary is still well-done and very moving as it traces the actions of a small group of heroes. It always stirs the emotions to hear these men, now old and fragile, who were once so young and healthy and who were willing to trade their lives for those of others. Whether from the mouths of Christians or non-, testimonies about the past are worth recording and worth listening to. The DVD includes quite a long list of extra scenes that did not make the final cut. Some of these, interestingly enough, contain information that speaks of God in a less-generic way. It is a shame that some of these were left out of the film. Overlord: A Mighty Host is a deeply moving film, but still somewhat disappointing because of the generic God these men speak about. http://www.challies.com/music-movies/dvd-review-overlord-a-mighty-host This DVD does an excellent job depicting D-day from the perspective of the men who were involved.