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Both on the AOI blog and my own, my post on Pentecost, Lincoln and the American Experiment, brought some very interesting and thought provoking comments. Specifically, these comments have helped me think a bit more deeply about the relationship between the Tradition of the Orthodox Church and the American Experiment. For this I thank you all. These comments were very much in mind as I read Michael Baxter recent review of American Babylon: Notes of A Christian in Exile, by the late Fr Richard John Neuhaus. As is no doubt clear from what I wrote, I do not see Orthodoxy and American as necessarily in opposition to each other. Or maybe it might be more accurate to say, that the differences between Orthodoxy and America is certainly no wider or deeper than what one would expect between that between God and Caesar, between the City of God which is to come and the City of Man which is here and now. My interest in political philosophy is motivated by my sense that—for better and worse—the City of Man conditions the pastoral situation of the Church until the Kingdom which is to come. I have not yet had the opportunity to read Neuhaus’s last book. Having been a faithful reader ofFirst Thingsand a follower of the work on its parent organization,Institute for Religion in Public Life, I have good sense of the argument that he is likely to make and so I was interested to read Baxter’s review in theNational Catholic Reporter(a publication together with others which, as Baxter puts it, has “bore the brunt of [Neuhaus’s] sardonic, scathing, at times unfair attacks”). Together with the work of John Courtney Murray, Neuhaus (and again this probably does not come as much of a surprise) has always served as a touchstone for my own thinking about the inter-relationship and inter-dependence of Church and State in the American context. Far from being merely my own idiosyncratic view, I would argue that this inter-dependence of Church and State is part of the teaching of the Orthodox Church and enshrined in our liturgical tradition. For example, in the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, we join ourselves to Christ Who offers Himself as a sacrifice to God the Father on behalf of not only the “forefathers, fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, preachers, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, ascetics, and for every righteous spirit made perfect in faith” but also the Most Holy Theotokos, “Saint John the prophet, forerunner, and baptist; . . . the holy glorious and most honorable Apostles . . . ; and for all Your saints, through whose supplications,” we ask God to bless us. And just as in the Liturgy we intercede on behalf of “all Orthodox bishops who rightly teach the word of Your truth, all presbyters, all deacons in the service of Christ, and every one in holy orders” and acknowledge our dependence of our faith on their holy prayers and service, we likewise stand before God and intercede on behalf of “all those in public service.” We ask God to “permit them, . . . to serve and govern in peace” so that “through the faithful conduct of their duties” in the civil realm, “we [the Church] may live peaceful and serene lives in all piety and holiness.” Owning to her conciliar nature the different orders in the Church each have their own areas of authority and concomitant competency. Modeled as She is on the Most Holy Trinity, a difference of authority and competency are intrinsically personal reflecting not only the unique role of the different orders of the Church but also the personal vocation of each Christian. As such these differences cannot be opposed to each other; nor can one order advance at the expense of the other. It is rather the case that each progress only in and through and with the other orders of the Church. To borrow from Benjamin Franklin in a not wholly different context, “We all hang together or we all hang separately.” In like fashion while the authority of Church and State are different, difference need not mean opposition even if (I would argue) the State is not a Christian state but (as in the case of America) a secular one. Back now to Baxter’s review. Nuehaus’s A merican Babylon, writes Baxter, “ is about being Christian in the United States. The title is an allusion to the Babylonian exile after the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.” While in exile “God, through the prophet, called upon the Israelites there to build houses and plant gardens, to make families and multiply.” I imagine that to an exiled people who understandable viewed their overlords, as well, overloads and their enemy, God commands “to ‘seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare’ (Jeremiah 29:4-8)” came as something of a surprise. God counsel captives not simply to forgiven, but to actively cooperation, support and even enrich their captors. According to Neuhaus both the “New Testament and patristic authors” understood this to mean two different, but related things. First, “Christians, in whatever land they live, await their return from exile, not an exile from the earthly Jerusalem however, but from the heavenly Jerusalem.” As a result (and I must confess, Orthodox Christians have not always been faithful on this point), for those who follow Jesus Christ “ every nation is Babylon.” Second, just as every land is Babylon, it is our duty in every land “to go along with the customs and seek the welfare of the city.” We must not simply suffer America, we must enrich her as I said earlier. But, as Neuhaus reminds us, “there is a limit to . . . going along.” Again in Baxter’s summary: Like the Old Testament heroes, Christians are not to worship false gods or accommodate themselves to the ways of the city when it involves betraying their faith. Thus there is a tension or dialectic for Christians between their ultimate allegiance to God and their political allegiances, which are “ penultimate.” Acknowledging and honoring this tension in theory and practice is important not only for Christians but also all men and women of good will. If we don’t then we are prone to two extremes that must be avoided if the State is to function properly. We must avoid “the twin dangers of direct governmental control of religion, as in a theocracy, and of privatizing religion, as in the militant secularism of many European governments since the French Revolution.” And again, Orthodox Christians have I think inadvertently helped set the stage for the latter by unwise embrace of (or in America, nostalgia for) the former. Much of the tension we see in the American Orthodox Church reflects I think our heretofore unwillingness, or at least inability, to grapple with the interdependence of Church and the American Experiment in a way that avoids our nostalgia for a lost theocracy and our dread of oppression under a militantly secular (or Islamic) state on the other. Digging deeper I think part of the lesson we might draw from the Church’s new American context is that our just as our “ allegiance to America is [as Neuhaus argues] provisional, not eschatological, limited yet substantial and real,” so too our allegiance to the past cultural and social settings and forms of government in which the Church found herself. No matter how much these other cultural and social settings or forms of government might be rooted in Holy Tradition, and indeed even served to structure public life (for example, around the liturgical tradition of the Church), they are not as such Christian. Yes, as I said in my earlier post, they have become carriers of the Eternal but they do so in a way that does not undo their character as limited and limiting. And how could they not remain finite since their ontological and historical contingency is part and parcel of their nature as human artifacts? There are to be sure weaknesses in the American Experiment. Too easily does liberty become license; freedom of religion become indifference (and even hostility) to religion; and for more and more Americans, the pursuit of happiness become the mere search for pleasure and profit rather than the cultivation of the virtues essential for personal and civic excellence. Yes the media and secular forms of education have their role to play in all this. But first and foremost the cultural excesses that plague us reflect the failure of the Church to take seriously the our responsibilities. As Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, (1990) in their book Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony, put the matter All Christian ethics are social ethics because all our ethics presuppose a social, communal, political starting point—the church…. Through the teaching, support, sacrifice, worship and commitment of the church, utterly ordinary people are enabled to do some rather extraordinary, even heroic acts, not on the basis of their own gifts and abilities, but rather by having a community capable of sustaining Christian virtue. The church enables us to be better people than we could have been if left to our own devices (p. 81). We have, I fear, contented ourselves to be anything but women and men of extraordinary and heroic virtue. And we have not simply settled for leaders (religious and political) who are themselves be no better than we, we have actively pursued this goal and punished them when they dared to see their service as requiring of them that they “be better people” than they would “have been if left” to themselves. There is no question in my mind that in planting the Church here in America God has challenged us to akenosisand martyrdom as real, if less bloody, as any the Church faced under Caesar, Islam or Communism. What we now face is the terrible temptation of our own freedom. Who will I become if I can become anyone I want to be? Who do I want to be?

This evening, Prince George’s County Police detectives will canvass a Mitchellville community seeking information in connection with a recent sexual assault. A flyer will be passed out that includes a sketch of the suspect. An up to $25,000 reward is being offered in the case. On April 29, 2015, at about 5:40 am, a man sexually assaulted a woman in the 11000 block of Lake Arbor Way. Our investigation reveals he approached the 19-year-old victim as she was walking and forced her into a nearby field where he sexually assaulted her. He implied he had a gun. The suspect is a black male, 20-30 years old, approximately 5’6” – 5’7”, with a thin to average build and freckles. He wore a black-hooded jacket and a nylon skull cap at the time of the assault. Detectives will canvass the area beginning at 7:00 pm this evening in the intersection of Lake Arbor Way and Winged Foot Drive. Anyone with information on any of this case or the suspect’s identity is urged to call the CID Sexual Assault Unit at (301) 772-4908. Callers can remain anonymous by calling CRIME SOLVERS at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). You may also text “PGPD plus your tips” to CRIMES (274537) on your cell phone or go www.pgcrimesolvers.com and submit a tip online.

6 – 8 September 2010 Call for Abstractshttp://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/hsc/international-qualitative-research-conference-2010.html Any large and diverse research project benefits from the documentation of its very development. Relational humanism in documentation and dissemination means that personal autonomy, dignity, liberty and responsibility are considered positive values for consideration throughout the on-going dialogue created by the research itself and its dissemination. It is through having a record of this very process that knowledge can be shared with others, creating a continuum on which the outcomes of a project's efforts can begin to flourish. The concern is with ambiguity, process, meaning, totality and history (Plummer 1983) through the continuity and “aliveness” of ideas. Humanising the process of documentation can be achieved by historically accurate ways: by listening to the stories of process and change within the research development itself. In turn, humanising the method of dissemination means consideration of any audience's part in the overall progression and building audience participation into the overall plan. A relational humanism urges us as theorists, human scientists and practitioners to seek ways – multiple ways - of generating integrative conversation. Relational humanism thus appears not as ‘top-down’ concept but as a practical process of give-and-take by all of the players. Humanism also prompts us to imagine our potential audiences in ways which challenge us to re-imagine the commonweal, common good, or imagined community across disciplines and the intellectual freedom (Wakelin 2007) of our audiences themselves—a relational aesthetic (Bourriaud 2002; Jones 2006). Our considerations, through embodied perception, encourage us to walk around the edges of processes, to see beyond factuality to the humanism hidden on the other side. By extending our gaze beyond the usual, to new technologies and modes of presentation, we open doors to new understandings and resources (Jones 2006). ‘The precise meaning of relatedness, then, remains indeterminate and dependent upon further co-ordinations within relationship’ (Gergen 1997). Bourriaud, N. (2002; English version) Relational Aesthetics. Gergen, K.J. (1997) Social Theory in Context: Relational Humanism. Draft copy for J. Greenwood (ed), The mark of the social. Jones, K. (2006) ‘A Biographic Researcher in Pursuit of an Aesthetic: The use of arts-based (re)presentations in “performative” dissemination of life stories’. Qualitative Sociology Review, April 06. Plummer, K. (1983) Documents of Life An Introduction to the Problems and Literature of a Humanistic Method. Wakelin, D. (2007) Humanism, Reading, and English Literature 1430-1530. Elana wrote and asked me what thoughts I had on social science and artistic vision (in her case, photography) and the merging of the two fields. Are there specific criteria that I hope to see reflected in the creation of ‘scientifically supportive imagery’? I responded that I still find writing about the visual to be ironic, at best. I strongly believe that we can learn more by looking, reveal more by showing than through simple justification in text. Art and Science are both about discovery and creating a record of that discovery. Both are infused with the time and place in which they are practiced. The 'audience' for any work of art, any scientific discovery makes the ultimate interpretation. This is as it should be. The visual image needs to be interrogated. Just like a criminal in a police station. We should never accept what we first see as the final truth, but realise that we are peeling an onion of multiple truths (and lies). Sociology, when done well, is a good detective story. Some of the best 'social photography' today is done on cell/mobile phones and appears on flickr and Facebook. Photography does not always have to have a 'cause' or social issue in order to be about social life. There is much fodder for investigation in the ordinary. Elana cited Howard Becker a lot. It reminded me of his piano playing. I want both Beckers/I want to be both. I suggested that Elana read this blog. I proposed that it is a non-course in performative social science, an educational process by subterfuge (see preceding blog item). Next, an anthropological journal sent me a friend’s paper on the use of poetry in social science to review. I highly recommended publication of the paper; then I added: When any breakthrough occurs in art (or social science or anthropology?), it is necessary in order for it to find its place on a continuum of time that other attempts are made to refine answers to a set of questions that change only slowly (Kubler, The Shape of Time, 1962). This effort in the refinement of the use of poetics in social science contributes to the development of the use of the arts in this arena by astutely placing the case in a solid social science framework. Not the artistic endeavor that will punctuate the historical continuum as a great work of art, rather, this contribution is the quieter and deeper foundation-building labour that is necessary for other great strides forward to make their mark and prosper in the first place. The author only hints at the audience (or community) so necessary for the dialogic to exist within our relationships with works of art. Further attention to relational aesthetics (Bourriaud 2001) may very well help inform further development of the theoretical base for poetics in social science research. The intuitive aspects of a shared culture, coupled with a more universal response to injustices (and, therefore, an artistic expression of these emotive components), compete for resolution within more rigid ethical frameworks and well-tested methodologies in the discussion. My take is that by developing a trust in personal instinct and intuition and the naturally expressive and moral potential of these resources, social science research will become more comfortable within these new paradigms and more willing to jettison some of the baggage of its old ‘academic rigor’ and procedural ethics. • Admission comes 55 years after Turing took his lifeCaroline Davies The Guardian, Friday 11 September 2009 Gordon Brown issued an unequivocal apology last night on behalf of the government to Alan Turing, the second world war codebreaker who took his own life 55 years ago after being sentenced to chemical castration for being gay. Describing Turing's treatment as "horrifying" and "utterly unfair", Brown said the country owed the brilliant mathematician a huge debt. He was proud, he said, to offer an official apology. "We're sorry, you deserved so much better," Brown writes in a statement posted on the No 10 website. Turing is most famous for his work in helping create the "bombe" that cracked messages enciphered with the German Enigma machines. He was convicted of gross indecency in 1952 after admitting a sexual relationship with a man. He was given experimental chemical castration as a "treatment". His criminal record meant he was unable to continue his work for the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) because his security privileges were withdrawn. Two years later he killed himself, aged 41. Thousands have signed a Downing Street petition calling for an official apology, among them the novelist Ian McEwan, scientist Richard Dawkins, and gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. Paying tribute to Turing's contribution to "Britain's fight against the darkness of dictatorship", Brown described him as "a quite brilliant mathematician". "Without his outstanding contribution, the history of world war two could well have been very different," he writes. "The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely. In 1952, he was convicted of gross indecency – in effect, tried for being gay. "His sentence – and he was faced with the miserable choice of this or prison – was chemical castration by a series of injections of female hormones." The petition, which yesterday had 30,805 signatures, was the idea of computer scientist John Graham-Cumming, who has also written to the Queen to request Turing be awarded a posthumous knighthood. Although an official apology is unusual, the act is seen as symbolic. Alan Turing is survived by three neices – Inagh, Shuna and Janet, from his brother's first marriage – and a nephew, John Dermot Turing, from his brother's second marriage, along with their associated family members. Acknowledging the strength of feeling, Brown wrote: "Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. "Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted as he was convicted under homophobic laws were treated terribly. Over the years millions more lived in fear of conviction. "This recognition of Alan's status as one of Britain's most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality and long overdue." "But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind … It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe's history and not Europe's present. "So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work I am very proud to say: we're sorry, you deserved so much better." Though most famous for his codebreaking, Turing is often considered to be the father of modern computer science, having made highly significant contributions to the emerging field of artificial intelligence and computing. After the war he worked at many institutions, including the University of Manchester, where he worked on the Manchester mark 1, one of the first recognisable modern computers. In 1999 Time Magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century. • This article was amended on Sunday 13 September 2009. We said that Alan Turing, the man often considered the father of modern computer science had no surviving family. In fact, his family includes three nieces, a nephew and his mother, and several children and spouses of this group. This has been corrected.guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009 Bournemouth University’s Centre for Qualitative Research is excited to announce a two-day of Research Data For researchers, film & theatre folk and citizens! We are looking for a small group of people with some background in film, theatre or improvisation work or at least an interest in performance who are not shy about experimenting in front of each other! You don’t necessarily need to be a researcher or a performer; rather, we are more interested in a gathering of creative people with an interest in performance as a way of raising awareness. If you are fascinated by learning about improvisation and its potential as an interpretive tool for research, then this is a great opportunity to try something cutting edge in the research process. This is definitely a new way of thinking about the interpretation of research data through improvisation. The fee for this Masterclass is £99.00 for two full days. Contact: email@example.com or call Claire: +44 (0)1202 962179 'This book presents the first comprehensive introduction to arts-based research (ABR) practices, which scholars in multiple disciplines are fruitfully using to reveal information and represent experiences that traditional methods cannot capture. Each of the six major ABR genres—narrative inquiry, poetry, music, performance, dance, and visual art—is covered in chapters that introduce key concepts and tools and present an exemplary research article by a leading ABR practitioner. Patricia Leavy discusses the kinds of research questions these innovative approaches can address and offers practical guidance for applying them in all phases of a research project, from design and data collection to analysis, interpretation, representation, and evaluation'. “You show me anything that depicts institutional progress … anything that somebody can get a promotion on, and as soon as you invent that statistical category 50 people in that institution will be at work trying to figure out a way to make it look as if progress is actually occurring when actually no progress is... The same game is played everywhere – nobody’s actually in the business of doing what the institution is supposed to do... If there’s an institution that is supposed to serve you or that you are supposed to serve, and it’s supposed to care for you and be a societal positive, it will betray you.” David Simon, creator of The Wire. Raven Row’s inaugural exhibition is the first large UK show of the collages and mailings of New York artist Ray Johnson (1927–1995). Johnson used radical means to construct and distribute images, inadvertently inventing the ‘mail art movement’. He made art out of social life – both real and imagined – gathering celebrities, the art world, and friends into his work. His influence on twentieth century art far exceeds the recognition he receives. ‘Ray Johnson. Please Add to & Return’ is significant in representing Johnson’s mailings, objects he regarded as gifts and thus contrary to the market, equally with the collage works he made for gallery exhibition in the sixties and seventies. Also included are the collages he subjected to a seemingly endless process of reworking and overlaying, which were found signed with multiple dates and neatly arranged in his house at the time of his death. Wednesday to Sunday By JEFFREY R. YOUNG Most people who stumble across the YouTube video of the self-proclaimed rock star Gory Bateson singing to a scantily clad prostitute in Amsterdam's red-light district probably have no idea that the work is part of a research project — or that the man holding the guitar is a tenured professor. The video has attracted more than 12,000 views and won a few online fans. But it has upset some of the professor's colleagues, who say that whatever this two-minute clip is, it is definitely not academic work.Read the article in The Chronicle of Higher Education at: http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i34/34a01001.htm Aesthetics as much as economics guides the interpretation of social life’ (Smith 1997: 502)It is a historical fact that the major upheavals and transformations in Western art and science occurred during periods of cross-pollination from discipline to discipline (The Enlightenment of science and reason, truth and beauty, for example, or the Paris of the beginning of the 20th Century in art, music, literature, dance and design). Forward-looking arts and humanities academics are currently directly involved in such cross-disciplinary communication with contemporary practitioners from other disciplines. Some have, however, reached an impasse when re-exploring historical concepts such as the death of the author (Barthes, 1967) in literary criticism and the utility of silence (Sontag, 1967) in fiction. These conundrums, when complicated by contemporary questions in art criticism such as the direct involvement of audience in producing relationships with the world through signs, forms, actions and objects (Bourriaud, 2002) contribute to this contemporary unease. All of these questions challenge the traditional means of production and diffusion in both the arts and humanities and their scholarship. Can art change the world? Can the Arts and Humanities produce radical new knowledge? How can the effects of material and ideological change be traced? How do traditional research fields or areas approach changes in research theory and methodology? Can interdisciplinary methods in research better record innovation and change?What is learned when art talks to social science, social science responds to art? A not so quiet revolution is currently taking place in the application of research in the social sciences. The use of tools from the arts and humanities, in both investigation of concerns and dissemination of data, is gaining critical mass (Jones, 2006; Gergen & Jones 2008). Photography, music, dance, poetry, video installations, dramatic monologues and theatrical performances have recently been added to the researcher's investigative toolbox, calling itself, “Performative Social Science” (PSS). For example, a series of five workshops, “Social Science in Search of its Muse: Exploratory Workshops in Arts-related Production and Dissemination of Social Science Data”, took place at Bournemouth University (BU) from November, 2006 through June, 2007, supported by the, the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and funded under its Nature of Creativity Scheme. These efforts were put forward in order to indicate means with which social scientists could benefit by identifying areas of possible collaboration with each other as well as with practitioners from the arts. Participants were able to return from these encounters across disciplines to more traditional outlets of dissemination with renewed possibilities for creative and innovative exploration of knowledge production and diffusion.

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I recently,received a message from my sister that stated: ‘ Intense!! Profound picture right?? Powerful is an understatement. This is the story of many women. A woman who will give her all to a man who is incapable of reciprocating her love, selflessness, sacrifices and strength. A woman giving her all to a man who is dead intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and mentally. She gives some more because she believes if she tries harder ‘he will change’. He doesn’t. He sucks out all the life in her. Some women are lucky they get out of this parasitic relationships/unions. Others – not so lucky die in them. Some die physically, others spiritually, emotionally and mentally. Woman, who art thou? You are the perfect image of your Creator. You are LOVE! You are better of alone than in dead relationships which sooner or later will leave you all skin and bones, physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Woman, who art thou?’ The message in the picture is absolutely intense and i could not help but stare at the picture for a while. The feeling that gripped my heart was that one of utter sorrow and sadness for the many in such a situation. To my mind i saw nothing else but a selfish kind of love. Isn’t it unfortunate how it is the most common type of love in the world and worse as clearly stated, many people die in it? I would however love to differ in the fact that it is only the woman who goes through it, some men do but the most affected remain to be women as we give our all with such sincerity that i cannot explain in words. Men would not understand what it is for a woman loves with her whole being and her soul. I once heard that for everything God created the devil created its identical replica, a copycat. In our case it would be while God defines love as selfless as He is to us, the devil defines his love as selfish. Does that sound familiar to anyone? It would seem nowadays no one wants to be in love if that love is not serving their every need. Look, the vows said at the altar are as good as they serve someone, once the vows require one to forget self and focus on the other they are offended and start moving on as it is no longer convenient for them. A woman who adds a few kilos for the sake of the beautiful children God gives us, suddenly becomes un-appealing to a husband, forcing his selfish self to find a younger, slimmer and beautiful version of the wife. A spouse afflicted by a terminal disease with no fault of their own being served with the exit of the healthier spouse hoping to find a better stress free and healthier spouse. A bored spouse issuing divorce papers for they did not sign up for boredom. A husband who, loves the services offered by the wife more than he loves her as a person. A spouse who does not even think twice when they cheat for after all it is in the nature of men to do so. A spouse who never provides enough yet requires everything to be in order when they get home. A spouse who is more than willing to take the first step out when a storm hits rather than stay and fight. How another only looks as appealing as the digits in their bank account and so much more. There is nothing else in these actions other than selfishness. It has always been about me and if it can’t be about me, it’s time to find the next host to feed from. Selfishness never gets satisfied, it keeps getting another each time it drains the current host. Same script different cast is always it’s motto. Guess that’s why despite having 10boyfriends or 10girlfriends such a person is never satisfied and will never be satisfied. A combination of selfless love and selfish love in a couple obviously draining the one with all the love to offer, thus the warning against being unequally yoked with your partner. How truly sad that we never listen. Then comes in selfless love. How truly beautiful this love is, founded in God’s agape love. A perfect love so many people have not yet experienced. Selfless love says your needs are before mine. I live to serve you. That my love is not conditional on your always being young or beautiful, as i saw beyond that, i saw and loved your soul too. It says you come first in my life before everything else. That i see you and despite us being 100years you remain to be the prettiest in the world. It says i will share with you every inch of my life. You mean more than earthly things to me, see i can lose that job, that meal, that comfort, just to live with you in the forest if i have to. Though the storms are fighting us from all angles, i will hold on to you for dear life for better for worse and if i die doing so let it be. No sickness is too hard for selfless love, it seats with you all the sick days and becomes your personal doctor in the day and night. It is that good that a year with selfless love is enough to satisfy you for a lifetime if that person died. Selfless love is always satisfied and even when it thinks of cheating it thinks no one would be better to cheat with other than you, as you are enough in every way. How so lovely selfless love is. It is even more amazing as it is renewed every day and it’s sustenance never failing. There is one aspect however to attaining selfless love and that aspect is God through His son Jesus Christ. He is the author of selfless love as He is love itself. A man desiring to experience such an amazing love, would have to first accept Jesus into their heart so that Jesus may teach them and supply them with selfless love for all around them and best, the love of their life. Some of us start innocently believing the love the devil offered was perfect and we say “i am so in love i have never felt this way before. Everything about him or her is perfect” yet when put to test this love does not succeed. Didn’t we think it would last forever at that first moment? It’s at that point the fakeness of the devil’s kind of love is exposed. In Jesus Christ however, we get a love that can never be shaken for we get it from the source of love and creator of love. He sustains it for you even when you cannot do it yourself. He renews it each morning. He gives you a perfect love story just as He had designed it to be. How so very tired i am of selfish love and how i pray all women and men would too. We can get so much more and experience a love story that has never been written in the world for our mortal minds could never imagine it. God offers such a love for a lifetime why not ask him for it? One of the things i love about God is that He never imposes Himself in anyone’s life despite His obvious ability to so. And so despite His desires that we all get to experience His perfect love in our relationships, he offers us a choice, to take up his selfless love or the selfish love. The choice is yours, what will it be?

“Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly.” Mark 8:31-32 To come into this world is to come into suffering. Indeed, we were born in pain, and if we did not show enough, the doctor spanked us. We spent most of our early weeks either sleeping or crying. Crying seemed to meet our demands and soon parents and people were responding to our suffering; feeding us “on demand,” entertaining us, and showing us off to others. But the suffering continued; through early school, middle school, high school, in all our relationships and vocations. And finally the grim reaper gets the last word after all our efforts to fight have failed, and we return to dust from which we had come! Not a very pretty picture. Sacred scriptures teach the same picture. We read that even Jesus, the “Son of Man” had to undergo great suffering, and great betrayal and rejection of his own religious leadership, being killed but finally rising again leaving this world go return Home. It’s like we chose to come here looking for happiness but it so quickly eluded us. We do and buy all sorts of things to remove the suffering of boredom and unhappiness but they fade so quickly. How true it is, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We all have failed, missed the mark, chased after illusions and came up short on happiness. We have been chasing “slippery soap.” Fr. Dan Serbicki, the youngest priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese, gave such a neat sermon the other night at St. John’s Lutheran Church. In his search for happiness, he learned early on that helping others gave him happiness. Helping the poor made him feel so good and gave him excitement. He decided to go on special trips to help the “needy” but in time it seemed to come up short. He went to on a “mission trip” to help in Steubenville, Ohio, but there he learned the way of St. Francis; the time you spend in helping others had to be spent in time finding peace and happiness within, of allowing the Divine to “serve you!” He told how St. Francis worked two weeks for the poor and needy but then returned and remained two weeks in silence to regain a sense of God serving and filling him as his Source. It’s easy to use mission and service to others as an elixir or remedy for loneliness and suffering. Years ago I read a book warning counselors about “treating oneself at the expense of others.” Written for counselors and social workers, it could apply to any. We commit ourselves to a little service project then wait for the cheers, ribbons of rewards for our “love of humanity,” in Christ’s name no less. It can easily become an ego trip. The Eight Fold Path of Buddhism begins by stating misery and suffering are universal on this earth plain. The Second Truth states the cause of such suffering is our attachment to mortality; our bodies, the earth, and the world in which we work and feel with our sensory selves. The Third Truth is that we become free from suffering by detaching ourselves from the material world and giving up expectations it can ever for long satisfy us. The rest of the “truths” give us disciplines, the “middle ways”, such as the practice of “none-doing” to help cultivate these truths into our lives to find more happiness and peace with less suffering. Peter and the disciples couldn’t believe Jesus said such a teaching about the Son of God undergoing suffering. Peter rebuked Jesus for saying such words. But Jesus turned him back by calling him “Satan,” or adversary for not having his mind on holy ideas and ways. Church and religion doesn’t automatically alleviate sufferings. Oh, it tries with friendly people, pleasant music, assuring sermons. But repentance, “changing one’s thinking” is painful and involves suffering as we are forced to change values and ideas. And who are the “Sons of God” in this story from Mark? It’s who you and I are in reality. It’s a myth telling us about ourselves. In order for us to discover our Son of God status, our Divinity, the Inward Kingdom, Presence, Atman, Allah, Hasham, Bahaula, we have to die to our egos, our body/world identifications. When you come to the realization you are “not your body” but Spirit, the very Son or Daughter of God, it will involve times of deep suffering, especially if you have worked hard to attain worldly success, or if you are a “religious leader.” Paul said all his religious teachings he counted as “shit” compared to the experience of knowing the Christ! But oh the shock of suffering in going through the change! Some of the most unhappy and suffering, judgmental people are religious leaders. Thinking we had at least gained seats of authority and power and prestige, it soon dissipates in flames and illusion! That’s why the number one medical call for clergy is for psychiatric help. I remember in the 1980’s meeting Fr. De Mello and later the India trip and the introduction to the book A Course in Miracles. Talk about mental stress! I was introduced to a spiritual understanding I had never known. Leaders began to criticize me then and now. “You no longer have the anger and passion to ‘save the world’! Why did you give up leading the ‘Church and Society Justice Committee’? You have become a pagan Gnostic!” I only survived by being somewhat of a “trickster” and remembering not to take this place so seriously. And in practicing meditation and forgiveness. The meaning of the word “suffer” is “to endure.” The Greek word, “pathos” is the root of our word “pathetic” or “feeling disease.” To live in ignorance of our Christ Spirit Self is to live “pathetic lives” or as Thoreau wrote, “lives of quiet desperation.” This world is a place of “quiet” as well as “loud” desperation. Murders, global warming causing billions of dollars of destruction, constant wars to gain, regain, and preserve and re-preserve “true freedom,” are just a few examples of the insanity of suffering we read about each day, to assure us we are “normal.” Have you noticed the present political news? It’s not news; it’s the same ol’ same ‘ol of the ages. In ancient sacred writings the “three days in the tomb” symbolized the conversion of one from hoping in this world to hoping in the Spirit world. It was the symbolic meaning of Jonah in the belly of the “great fish” for three days. It symbolized the great conversion process when one accepts he or she has been awfully lost, chasing shadows rather than reality. The story of Jesus portrays this. He dies to his ego self, the flesh, in order to be raised to new life in Spirit. He spends three days and three nights “in hell” before coming out alive and awake! It is part of Paul’s words describing “the presence of God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” (Rom. 4:17) Strange, mysterious words reflecting a change of mind, realizing the “kingdom isn’t out there but in here, inside.” In the medieval times the word “alchemy” was used to describe the process in which heat could be applied to organic elements of the earth and in time, refine and burn off the dross to reveal gold. It’s similar to our process of becoming closer to the experience of peace and transcendent love in our lives. We recognize the pain and suffering of existence here in mortality. Rather than fight it, we feel it, accept it and allow the transformation to happen in our lives. The next time you feel loneliness and pain, recognize it. Don’t try to fix it but just be with it, feeling it and realizing it is a part of existence in this mortal plane. And staying with it, your inward spirit will be heated, refine, and sprung to new life with a vision far beyond the mortality of this universe. There’s a story of a man with a stubborn mule. One day he goes to town taking his wife with the mule pulling the cart. Suddenly the mule stopped and refused to go on. The man got out of the seat, took a big stick and hit the mule over the head, not once but three times. Then he got back in the seat and with a little click, the mule went on. His wife asked, “Why in the world did you strike the mule three times instead of just once?” Her husband answered, “The first two were just to get its attention. Finally it listened.” What mules we often are; we go through one suffering loss after another, getting banged on the head and kicked it the stomach. We don’t give up death and ego easily. May today, after years of suffering sticks with crying nights and sad days, let us awaken from our dark tombs and walk out into the light, knowing the search is over and we are now on the way home. The endless race to nowhere has ended. What is the purpose of life here on earth? How do I now define my death and my birth? For that matter, what is my life really worth in the end? What’s mine to give and what’s mine to receive? Whom do I worship and what do I believe? Seems every answer comes right back to me in the end… What if the race is over, and we all automatically win? What if the game is ended long before he even begins? What if the test has been taken and we’re all passing again and again? What if the race is over….what then? – Words from Daniel Nahmod

Author Archives: BrittneyRz It is that time again to see if I can take some books off my TBR list. I added a few from last time but I don’t think I added too many. I enjoy doing these posts mostly because it reminds me what I have on my list and sparks my interest in some things I may have forgotten about. This was originally created by Lost in a Story and seems like a good way to go through some of my TBR on Goodreads and see what is there and what I can get rid of or push me to start reading. Links will be on the titles for the books Goodreads page. (I am going to do ten for this round of this tag). It works like this: - Go to your goodreads to-read shelf. - Order on ascending date added. - Take the first 5 (or 10 or 15 or 20, if you’re feeling adventurous) books - Read the synopses of the books - Decide: keep it or should it go? - Keep track of where you left off so you can pick up there next time! Current TBR 259 Regeneration X (Regeneration Chronicles #1) – Ellison Blackburn – I like the idea of regeneration but the summary sounds very generic. I like these ideas but you have do give me a bit more than just; she is going to restart life but it isn’t what she thinks life will be. Accidental Death – Jill Thrussell- I love the premise but the summary is not written well. It has run on sentences and repeated phrases over and over again. It makes me think that is how the book is written and that worries me. A Crucible of Souls – Mitchell Hogan – Again the premise is alright, I love sorcery, but it seems very generic. He is out to find someone to teach him, learn about his past and the world may end. I need something new and different. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) – Patrick Ness – Now this peaks my interest. I love the idea of hearing others thoughts. I always thought that would be seriously annoying. I am curious about this one. (I also have the sequels on my list. I will keep all for now) The Leprechaun Delusion – Leviak B. Kelly- I have zero idea of where this book came from. Something about atheism and a group of people being fooled in how they think? I can’t quite get what it is about. I don’t even know if it is fiction or not. I mean I do like the idea of reading about how people decide on following a religion or not but this has a weird feel, like it is going to be mocking and I am not a fan of that. Genesis – Andreas Laurencius – Again no idea where this came from. Seems to be nonfiction trying to answer the questions of life and the universe. I do find that interesting but I also tend to want to research the person and see if they are studied or just someone talking. This isn’t just opinions apparently there is “evidence” of all of it. Plus the cover doesn’t fit the material. Alex + Ada, Vol. 1 – Jonathan Luna – I seriously do not remember adding of these books. Again super generic sounding. Meets a robot and realizes he is more. Decision: Remove (I have other volumes here so I am removing all of them) Shallow Graves – Kali Wallace – A murder victim who comes back from the dead and can sense people who have murderous intentions? Now that is interesting. Symptoms of Being Human – Jeff Garvin – A story that sounds like a true look at being genderfluid. I am extremely interested. None of the Above – I.W. Gregorio – A story about being intersex, exploring the trials of being defined as one gender or the other and not fitting either. Again I am super interested. Current TBR: 246 (I removed a series and I also noticed that there were about 5 books that should have been on my Read shelf. No idea why they weren’t. I transferred them over which shortened the shelf some) What do you think of the books I decided to keep or remove? One minute four strangers are standing on the bank of a lake. They are all watching a girl they know by name, but don’t truly know. The next moment they are pulled along with her into another universe. A universe where gods rule, giant wolves chase you down and nothing is impossible. Now the search is one to find Senna and return to their real lives. I was in love with this series when I was in high school. I read it over and over again. I loved the concept but I mostly remember loving the characters and the dialogue. The dialogue was my main pull to this series. It was one of the first times I remember hearing characters that sounded real, like people I met every day. I recently finished reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman and I kept thinking of this series as I read it. I remembered this series uses all kinds of mythology and I found myself wanting to re-read these books again. I was worried. Worried that the magic would disappear from these books. As someone who is almost 30 I thought I would not be able to relate to the characters. I thought I would feel like it was clunky or not well written. I wondered if this was a series I should just leave on my shelf for nostalgia purposes. I am glad I began reading it again. In this first book I felt the same love I did when I was 16. I love the characters. They still feel real to me. They still talk like teenagers talk. There is no forced dialogue or weird sounding sentences. Too many times teenagers are written to sound like adults and that always annoys me. Here they use jargon, they makes stupid jokes and they all sound different. I found myself liking David’s character more in this book too. I don’t remember liking him much before. Now I see his point of view better. He doesn’t want to live in a world that dictates every move. Much like myself he has serious problems with the pre-planned life that so many people seem to think you need to live by. He doesn’t want to do the path of graduate, job, marriage then kids. He wants something different and new. I also noticed in this reading that there are much deeper storylines then I picked up on before. In this book were get hints of abuse in David’s life. I didn’t realize how dark this series was. I am curious to see how it progresses and how I pick up on how these elements shape him throughout the story. I remember this series making use of a lot of different mythologies and legends. I am eager to see how they play together now that I know more about them. I like in this one that I understood the Norse mythology references. I think I will have a deeper appreciation for this world now that I have more knowledge about the source material. The sentences in this book are quite short. Many of them are one or two words long. I am okay with the sometimes but I do feel like it may be overused here. It works when the character is in panic mode. But it isn’t necessary all the time. I think it slows things down a little bit too much. I also noticed there are a lot of things mentioned that date this book. David talks about Blockbuster and Borders. It doesn’t harm the story at all. It just is interesting because I don’t feel like this is happening now. I know this was the past even if there is no date and time associated with the story. Just an interesting idea to think about the way things can date a story or change the timeline even if you don’t mean for them too. As of this book I don’t have anything that is really throwing me out of the story. I still feel connected to the characters. I understand the world and I am still eager to continue on with this adventure even though I know how it ends. I did take my rating down from 5 to 4 stars on Goodreads for this book. It is fun and exciting but I do think I am not as connected to it as I was when I was younger. “But being scared was one thing. That was normal. How you acted once you were scared – that’s what mattered.” (pg. 33) “‘Maybe dreams aren’t in your head. Maybe dreams are memories of another universe.'” (pg. 144) Last month the Harry Potter books came out with new covers for the 20th anniversary of the Harry Potter books. I couldn’t afford the whole series but I did get the third book and the sixth book, my two favorites of the series. I recently re-read the third book so I decided to re-read the sixth book this time. The reason the sixth book is my second favorite is because of the back story given to Voldemort. I am the kind of person who likes the villain of the story to have a story. I have a problem when the antagonist is just there to cause trouble but we never find out why. I believe a story gets stronger when we can understand why a person makes the choices they make. The look into Voldemort’s past is fascinating to me. I loved seeing when he was as a child to the moment when he started figuring out how to become immortal. It is interesting because we see that he had several opportunities to turn around. We also got to see the resentment and anger that resided in him since he was a child. When I first read the series I just saw him as this evil man who had no morals and no reason for doing what he was doing. In this book we got to see the reason. We got to see why he might have turned that direction. He was raised without any love or affection. He was forced to grow up quickly and take care of himself. Now not every person who grows up parentless turns into a murderer (i.e. Harry) but this book gave us a way to understand the man behind the evil actions. Part of me felt bad for him. I remember reading the first time feeling upset that he was left with this route. But then you look at Harry and see what choices he could have made. Harry grew up without parents too and yet he was the complete opposite of Voldemort. Which then raises the question of nature versus nurture. Harry’s parents died protecting him, Voldemort’s abandoned him. Does that change things? Some very fascinating questions are raised throughout this story. One of my favorite scenes is in this book. After Harry and Dumbledore look at the memory about the Horcruxes we get a speech that is very significant for this series. Harry doesn’t understand how love can be the power he has that will win him the final battle. He can’t see past what the prophecy says. He is stuck until Dumbledore makes him understand. This whole speech is so interesting and important, not only for this story. Seeing Harry come to realize that his heart is what he has that has kept him whole his entire life. His heart and his love for those around him is what matters. Voldemort never allowed himself the ability to love. He closed that door when he was a child. Harry never gave up trying to find that comfort and love. He didn’t turn to the darkness for comfort. Instead he allowed people in, allowed them to take care of him when he needed it. We see what happens when you don’t give up, no matter the darkness that seems to surround you. This book was also the first time I read a book where a main character died. Sirius’s death was tragic for me because I loved his character, but Dumbledore’s death was traumatizing in a sense. He seemed so important, so significant that I thought there was no way he would die. I had never read a book where someone like that died. That didn’t happen in younger books. Dumbledore dying was the moment you realized that anything can happen. No one is immune and anyone can be gone tomorrow. I already knew this but this book hit that point home. The end makes you realize how important it is to say what you need to say to those around you. Lastly I loved the very end of this book where Harry is trying to convince Ron and Hermione to allow him to search for the Horcruxes alone. Hermione reminds him that when they were in their first year he gave them the chance to turn back, to leave him. They decided to stay. Throughout five years they stayed by his side and they were not going to abandon him now. The true power of friendship shown through this book. You see in this moment that those people who have stood at your side for years, through it all, are not going to disappear at the tough moments. If they had chances to turn back in the past and didn’t, then trust them to be there throughout it all. What lessons have you learned from you favorite books? I have been struggling for quite a while to find my inspiration for writing. In college I wrote all the time. I wrote fan fiction as well as my own original pieces. I was always eager to write. (Now this might be because in my first two years I was lonely and had a lot of time on my hands). After I graduated I spent a lot of time editing and working on self-publishing my book of short stories, Is There More? Once the book was completed I found myself struggling with picking up my pen and writing again. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to write. The stories chased themselves around my head, all the time. I had ideas piling up on my phone and in notebooks. It was just as soon as I put my pen to paper, the words were stuck. I couldn’t translate my ideas in any real way. They would sound chunky and out of order. The stories themselves started to sound contrived and boring. I just felt like I was barely treading water. I worked on a novel, wrote two drafts but never felt connected to it. I always felt like I was pushing against a wall and the wall was winning. I began to wonder what I was doing wrong or what I needed to do again. During this time I was also struggling hard with finding a job. My schedule was all over the place and my mental health was not the best. January I found a full-time job that I love. I don’t come home stressed. I feel accomplished, wanted and needed. I feel the most in control of my life than I have in a very long time. But writing was still so difficult for me and I could not figure out why. On August 4th I went to a writing conference in my city that was held by a local nonprofit. It was free and it was big. I had heard about it for a long time but never could manage to get there. I was finally able to do it this year and I am so thankful that I did. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if I was going to meet a bunch of people, hear great talks or just feel comfortable in a realm that I knew. I was worried that it might not be what I wanted it to be, that I would leave feeling lost and disappointed. When in fact the opposite happened. It was simple yet it was exactly what I needed. I didn’t meet anyone new and I was okay with that. It was interesting because it was a conference for writers, who are usually introverts, everyone kind of did their own thing. No one forced a conversation to “network.” Everyone there was friendly but there was no forced ice breakers. For me I felt comfortable because I wasn’t being forced to talk, just to talk. I didn’t feel out of sorts or like an outcast. I felt like I belonged there, which is a super important feeling for me. The talks were awesome. I felt connected to the subject matter. I sat in on a talk about after the first draft, what publishers think when reading your first page and social media for writers. I felt connected to all the subject matter and it was useful. Not stuff I knew already. It was information that I could and will use. I expected a younger crowd. I am not sure why but I was expected a crowed from 20-35. Where in reality it was actually more like 35-60. I found that inspiring as well. I think part of my problem has been that I feel like the older I get, time is running out to make my writing matter. Seeing the older age range here made me realize that isn’t true. I knew it deep down but it pushed that thought to the surface and that was helpful. I am so excited now to write. I found a journal that I want to submit to. I feel like I have an idea of how to go about working on my novel. I feel the old excitement that I felt in college. I also plan on joining this group that is the local literary group and hope that will give me a push that I need. I am so excited again and that is thrilling. How have you overcome a creative block? This month started out at a normal pace and then somehow sped up at lightening speed. The last two weeks flew by and I have no idea why. I didn’t have much going on. In any case I ended up reading 4 books this month. I am still 9 books ahead of schedule on my Goodreads challenge. As long as I stay ahead of schedule I am happy. I was pretty good about book buying this month, only bought two. I am trying really hard to save money for the books that are coming out over the next few months and not fall into a book buying hole. I have plenty on my shelves right now. As for writing that was kind of on pause for the month. Again I am not sure why but I wasn’t very motivated. I felt busier and more tired then I was. I did manage to write a short story that I am proud of. I am currently typing it up then going to edit it. I plan on spending some of August going through an outline of a novel I want to work on. Though August isn’t going to have a lot of extra time available so we shall see. Books I read: Hidden Figures – Margot Lee Shetterly – This was fascinating and prompted me to want o read more about little known historical figures. Darkest Warrior – Gena Showalter – This was not my favorite. I don’t quite understand some of the choices made. I finished it because I do enjoy the series and hope the rest of the series is better. Smoke and Iron – Rachel Caine – I really enjoyed this installment in the series. It set up a lot and I can’t wait to see how the whole series ends. Norse Mythology – Neil Gaiman – I loved this. I learned so much about these myths and I also am eager to reread a series I loved from when I was a teenager to see how things compare. Running with Lions – Julian Winters – Review Beneath the Sugar Sky – Seanan McGuire – Review Hidden Figures – Margot Lee Shetterly – Review The Darkest Warrior – Gena Showalter – Review Down the TBR Hole #7 Book Blogger Insider Tag Top 7 Harry Potter Characters (I am just now seeing that this post is a mess for some reason. I will be fixing it so the it doesn’t look so all over the place.) Smoke and Iron – Rachel Caine – Review Book Blogger Memory Challenge Note about posts: I have caught up on my back log of reviews which means I will be doing some other type of posts, such as tags and about writing, more frequently. I am always reading I just am not the fastest reader so I will have to balance things a bit. I only bought two books this month and that is because the special 20th anniversary edition Harry Potter books with cool covers came out. I can’t afford to buy the entire series so I bought my two favorites, Prisoner of Azkaban and Half-Blood Prince. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I haven’t reread any of the books in a little while. I love the way this one looks at Voldemort’s history. I wanted a comfortable and welcoming read for a bit. Went to see Incredibles 2 with my dad and brothers. It was my dad’s first movie in like 15 years. It was really good. Had an interesting message about technology and screens and was just fun. I highly enjoyed it. Favorite thing of the month: In a small town in my city there is a Harry Potter festival. They have done it for 3 years and this year was the best year yet. I bought way too many things but had a lot of fun as always. Best way to end the month! What was your month of July like? What were some of your favorite books you read? Favorite movies? Favorite moments of July? Odin is the all-seeing father. Thor is the lightening god with the magic hammer. Loki is the trickster who is out to help himself. They are all waiting for the end of times, when they will fight and die only for the world to be reborn again. Dive into the stories of these heroes and myths and find out their origin stories. I am a huge fan of mythology. I fell in love with it back in middle school when we studied Greek and Roman mythology. I thought the stories were fascinating and was even more fascinated by how they connected to our time today. You could see how they influenced people and then see how those influences changed over time. I knew a tiny bit about Norse mythology but not a ton. I knew who Odin, Thor and Loki were but that was really where my knowledge ended. When I picked up this book I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I didn’t know if it was a generic retelling, a story that used Norse mythology characters or a reworking of the stories. In the end it is a collection of Norse myths that Gaiman compiled and made his own. I really enjoyed the collection because I felt like it gave just enough about the myths. I didn’t tell them all but it told the important ones (as far as I can tell). You got to hear the origin stories, the adventure stories and more about Ragnarok. It did a good job at giving me a crash course in these myths. I think I felt like I could connect to the stories because he modernized the language a bit. I felt like he didn’t use the vernacular from that time and gave it a modern twist. I felt a bit like in portions I was reading about the versions of Thor and Loki from the movies. I liked this because I felt like I could sink into the tales a bit more because I wasn’t spending as much time trying to figure out exactly what they were saying. One of the book series I loved as a teenager was called Everworld by K.A. Applegate. It was a quick read but I remember it involving a lot of different myths and legends. As I read through this book I started remembering some of the characters like Hel. I remember them from that series and now I want to reread that series to see how things compare. At the beginning of the book Gaiman mentions that he took a few liberties with the stories. He talks about how he rearranded bits and combined stories. At the back of the book he quickly tells where he got each story from but nothing much about what he might have changed or altered. He quickly mentions some but I wanted a bit more. As I stated I have very limited knowledge about Norse mythology and I wanted to know a bit about what he changed or what he kept the same. I think it would have been nice after each story to have a one pager thing stating what he changed and maybe why. Would have just been interesting to know. I can’t think of anything that I wanted to change. It kept my attention. I was able to follow everything and I felt like I learned quite a bit. I gave the collection 4 stars on Goodreads. I had fun growing my knowledge of this type of myth. Jess and friends are in trouble. They are separated. There is a plan but what will be the cost of that plan? Can a small group take on the might of the Library? Who will survive and what will their world look like after? (This is a review for the fourth book in a series, thus there will be spoilers for the previous 3 books). All of the books of the Great Library series up until this point have been from Jess’s point of view. We have seen everything through his eyes so we get a limited look at what is going on around us. We get his opinion but we aren’t sure what everyone else is feeling. We have an idea but nothing concrete. In this book we got multiple POV’s and I loved it. We got to see the story not only from Jess’s eyes but from Morgan, Wolfe and Khalila as well. (We also got a few moments from Thomas and Santi too). I loved this addition. It is kind of odd to do something like this 4 books into a series but I think it really opened up the story. In this book specifically the group is split up for quite a while. If we only got Jess’s portion it would have seemed boring and a bit annoying. So much would have happened without our knowledge. It would have seemed forced and pushed. I liked this addition not only because it helped make the story feel more connected but also because we got closer to some of the characters. I have always like Wolfe’s character. I think he is interesting because he has a past and a present that are so different. He has been tortured but still finds a way to move forward. He loves with his whole heart but still can hold grudges and anger. In this book we actually got to see his true depth and it made his character even better. Khalila was always interesting to me but she never held my attention fully. I liked her but wasn’t attached. In this book I became attached to her. She is strong. She is no-nonsense. She is loyal and I want her to end up at the one who takes over. She is the perfect leader. I found myself actually caring about her in this book. While this book did a lot set up again it did leave me anxious for the end of the series. I know there is going to be a serious fight. I just hope it all pays off like I want it to. I also hope we don’t lose too many of the characters. I enjoy these books but one of the problems with them is the fact that I feel like they are always spinning their wheels. I understand why this book was full of set up, it had to be to get us to the end. Though I do think this one could have been combined with the last book. I think this series would have been fine as a 3 book series. I think some of the going back and forth could have been cut and given us a bit more action. I think cutting some of the random wanderings would have upped the anticipation aspect of the story. We would have gotten a more urgent feel from this story. The end of this book was so quick. There was a lot of lead up to the moment and it was all over very fast. Again I think if it was the half way point that lead into the finale I would have found it more satisfying. Instead I felt a bit let down and now I have to wait for the next book, losing all that momentum I had from that moment. There is one point in the book where Morgan is doubting her love for Jess. She talks about how she know she loves him but doesn’t know if she is in love with him. I liked her hesitation at this point. I felt like it was going in an interesting direction. I thought we would see her struggling with the idea of loving someone but not being in love. I thought maybe she was even aromantic in some manner. I thought it was interesting to see her discovering this part of herself but the end crushed that idea. She realizes she loves him, which is fine. This isn’t an insta-love scenario, it was developed over 4 books. I just thought it would be more interesting to see a character struggling with a bigger concept in the midst of the other battles they are dealing with. I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads. I enjoyed it. I am anxious for the end. I just wished it was a bit tighter and left my heart racing a bit more. “Power rotted from within.” – (pg. 18) “Tyrants turned on their own, in the end; it was the only way to keep power.” (pg. 89) “That denying knowledge to others was a tactic of war.” (pg. 191) “Freedom doesn’t mean you have to leave. It means you choose. It isn’t done for you.” (pg. 246) I saw Never Not Reading posting some special Harry Potter posts a few weeks back. Weird Zeal created a list of Harry Potter related posts in celebration 20th U.S. anniversary of Harry Potter. I wasn’t able to do posts during that time because of a work event but I thought I would do some now. I liked the idea of talking about my favorite character in the series. (These aren’t ranked in any specific order. They are just my top 7 favorite characters) 1.Sirius – I adore Sirius. I think I attached myself to him because he was the first real parent figure that Harry got throughout the series. When he comes in in the third book we go on this emotional journey with Harry. He think he has no true family left to him, thinks that someone is out to get him then learns the lengths that Sirius has gone to to protect him. I loved the connection they develop throughout the story. I was devasted when Sirius died. I felt the ache that Harry felt. It was like a hole had been left. A true family and happy life was ripped away from Harry yet again. I hoped there was going to be a twist for Sirius to come back. I loved the way he helped Harry learn strength and the power of true and devoted love for a family member. 2. Dobby– Dobby was so weird when he first showed up in Chamber of Secrets. I thought he was this little odd ball. Then we learned how devoted and selfless Dobby was. He was goofy but he had a heart of gold. He was pure innocence. I wanted him to get everything and the fact that he was able to use his last moments to save Harry ripped my heart out. 3. Dumbledore – Dumbledore was such a complex and interesting character throughout the novels. I liked that throughout the series we saw him develop from a mentor to this man who was trying to make things from from his past. I thought he was just a teacher but we learn quickly that he was much more than that. I also liked that he was seriously flawed. Having him make poor decisions made him human. I could relate to him. I saw his heart and saw what could happen when you only listen to your heart and not your head as well. 4. Hermione – Hermione was the character I related to most throughout the series. She was a bookworm. She had inner strength that took her sometime to find. She attached herself to a few true and devoted friends. I admired the way she was unashamed of her knowledge. Without her the boys would have been dead back in book one. She was the true power of the trio and I loved that. 5. Hagrid – Hagrid was a gentle giant. He was another character that was just pure happiness and innocence. He loved Harry so much. I liked that he was a bit off beat and yet was resistant. He didn’t back down. He didn’t let his failures destroy him. He made some decisions that weren’t the best but he never did it with a hard heart. His heart was always pure and in the right place. 6. Hedwig- As someone who has always been attached to animals I instantly loved that Harry had a pet of his own. Hedwig was his best friend and companion. She was there for him when he needed comfort. She was there to protect him when he needed help. Hedwig was the heart of the books for the entire series. Her death took my by surprise and I was so close to crying at that moment. 7. Snape – I know that Snape’s character is a very controversial. Snape is one of those people who made all the wrong choices. He is just plain cruel to Harry for most of the series and I can see how that makes people avoid him. But I think he is one of the best written characters in any book I have ever read. He started off as a character that just seems like a plain villain. We think he is going to be a cookie cutter antagonist. Slowly we see that his character is so much more than just someone who is a obstacle for Harry. He teaches Harry how to stand up against authority. He lets Harry see that someone people get lost and destroyed by their pasts. He is an example to Harry of what happens when you are not strong and don’t fight for what you want. I loved his journey throughout the books. As a writer I learned so much from his character. I leaned how important it is to know your characters and to write them as they are even if they end up having some distasteful and harsh sides to them. Who are your favorite Harry Potter characters?

Anthony Michael Bourdain, born June 25, 1956, was a man with a rich and vibrant legacy. He took us on exotic adventures to explore the world and tried to expand the view of the audience on culinary arts and culture. He was much more to so many than a celebrity chef. Anthony Bourdain was an author, travel documentarian, and television personality. He used programs like A Cooks Tour and No Reservations to travel across the globe, focusing on the international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. He has sat down for humble lunches with President Obama, and his explosive personality has even been featured in cartoons like The Simpsons and popular FX series Archer. Bourdain has taken us to some of the most secluded corners of faraway places to chat with the locals and enjoy a simple dessert. Anthony Bourdain was widely regarded as one of the most influential chefs in the world. On June 8th, 2018 the world was shocked to hear that Anthony Bourdain had died at 61 years old. Even more heartbreaking was to learn his death was a suicide. Over the last several days, his passing has sparked a continuous stream of dialog about mental health and the need for treatment resources. Over the years the famous traveling chef fought against drugs like heroin, as well as depression. As we remember who Anthony Bourdain was, and as we call for letting go of stigma and pushing forward with helping those in need, it is important to look at the whole story. Anthony Bourdain first fought his way up the kitchen ladder in New York to become a long-time chef at Brasserie Les Hallas. Around this time, he wrote his breakthrough memoirs titled Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, which took him beyond the cutting boards to carving his way through the literary map. Part of this first memoir describes the long journey that brought him to become a chef, and a notable element of his story is extreme excursions into drugs, strung out over years. In the book Kitchen Confidential he wrote about his experiences back in 1981 working at a restaurant: “We were high all the time, sneaking off to the walk-in refrigerator at every opportunity to ‘conceptualize.’ Hardly a decision was made without drugs. Cannabis, methaqualone, cocaine, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms soaked in honey and used to sweeten tea, secobarbital, tuinal, amphetamine, codeine and, increasingly, heroin, which we’d send a Spanish-speaking busboy over to Alphabet City to get.” Later, Bourdain became more open about discussing his drug use. He’d even said some of these problems should have killed him in his 20s. In 2014, he did an episode of his show Parts Unknown that highlighted the ongoing opioid epidemic in Massachusetts. During the episode he says, “Somebody who wakes up in the morning and their first order of business is (to) get heroin — I know what that’s like,” Parts Unknown went on to be honored with five Emmy awards. Eventually, Anthony Bourdain found himself kicking heroin in the 80s in drug rehab. When talking about finally getting clean he said, “And we’re the lucky ones. We made it out alive. There are a lot of guys that didn’t get that far. But you know, I also don’t have that many regrets either.” However, he admits to still worked long hours in New York kitchens interspersed with binges that consisted of cocaine and alcohol. Following rehab that Bourdain had cleaned up his act, although he continued drinking alcohol. He later wrote, “Most people who kick heroin and cocaine have to give up on everything. Maybe because my experiences were so awful in the end, I’ve never been tempted to relapse,” On June 8, 2018, Bourdain was found dead of an apparent suicide by hanging in his room at the Le Chambard hotel in Kaysersberg, France. At the time he had been traveling with friend Éric Ripert. Ripert reported that he became worried when Bourdain missed dinner and breakfast. According to the public prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny du Fayel, Bourdain’s body showed no signs of violence. At this point there has been no official word on toxicology tests to determine whether drugs or medications were involved in his tragic death. It is hard to put into words the life and legacy of a man as dynamic as Anthony Bourdain. He wasn’t just a face on TV, he was a voice trying to tell us to embrace more of the delicious variety in life. It is easier to just look at some of his many accomplishments. Bourdain wrote multiple bestselling nonfiction books over the years, including: - Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly - Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook - A Cook’s Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal - The Nasty Bits His articles and essays appeared in many publications, including: - The New Yorker - The New York Times - The Times - Los Angeles Times - The Observer He even co-wrote an original graphic novel titled Get Jiro! For DC Comics/Vertigo. Between 2002-2018 he hosted a number of shows, including: - A Cook’s Tour - No Reservations - The Layover - Parts Unknown He worked on various other television shows, doing everything from judging to producing. With the sudden news of Bourdain’s death, people from all across the world have paid homage to the man who did so much to try and share the beauty of diversity with us all. In the days following Bourdain’s death fans paid tribute to him outside his now-closed former place of employment, Brasserie Les Halles on New York City’s Park Avenue. Fellow celebrity chefs and other public figures expressed sentiments of condolence, including Gordon Ramsay and Andrew Zimmern. Beyond his amazing adventures of cooking in different countries, Bourdain also believed in making a difference for those less fortunate. He championed industrious immigrants from places like Mexico, Ecuador, and other countries in Central and South America. He became a big advocate in the fight against sexual harassment in the restaurant industry in 2017, calling out other celebrity chefs and people in Hollywood. Depression and Suicide Anthony Bourdain had also been open about his struggles with depression. In 2016 he did an episode of Parts Unknown where he traveled to Argentina for psychotherapy. At one point he tells the camera, “I will find myself in an airport, for instance, and I’ll order an airport hamburger. It’s an insignificant thing, it’s a small thing, it’s a hamburger, but it’s not a good one. Suddenly I look at the hamburger and I find myself in a spiral of depression that can last for days.” While the passion he had for his work is quite obvious, traveling around 250 days of the year can take a toll. More than once he described his life as lonely. During an interview with People magazine, he said he was living the dream, but admitted that it did come at a cost. That cost may have had something to do with the ups and downs of marriage and divorce he experienced over the years. Only a few months ago, when discussing his 11-year-old daughter Ariane, Bourdain had said he felt he had to “at least try to live” for her. Although he explained he also felt he did have things to live for. Sadly, it seems that over time, the iconic chef started losing his battle with the feelings he wrestled with on the road. Anthony Bourdain’s death is another tragic loss in a trend we have seen a spike over the years, including among celebrities. Only three days before Bourdain’s own death, fashion designer Kate Spade took her own life. Suicide is a growing problem in the United States. According to a survey published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: - Suicide rates increased by 25% across the country over nearly two decades ending in 2016. - 25 states have experienced a rise in suicides by more than 30% While Anthony Bourdain may have been clean for decades, there was still pain there. While overcoming drugs may have been a huge victory in his inspiring legacy, other fights can still wear us down. There is Help As we remember the incredible impact that Anthony Bourdain had as an adventurer and advocate, we emphasize the importance of supporting those who need it the most. Sadly, we don’t always know when people need help. But we should always work to make sure people know that there is help, no matter what they are struggling with. “As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life — and travel — leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks — on your body or on your heart — are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt.” June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018 Mental health is an important part of recovery for people who struggle with drugs or alcohol. Fighting depression and suicide prevention means supporting well-being and fighting for mental health support. For those struggling, treatment for mental health disorders and addiction is not always the easiest thing to seek out, but as we as a nation continue to evolve the conversation and raise awareness more people are finding out about the amazing pathways to a life in recovery that are out there. We urge you to seek yours. If you or someone you love is struggling with substance abuse, please call toll-free now. You are not alone. CALL NOW 1-888-922-5398 (This content is being used for illustrative purposes only; any person depicted in the content is a model) In 2010, the United States Congress declared June 27th as PTSD Awareness Day. In 2014, the Senate designated the entire month of June as National PTSD Awareness Month. The purpose of this observation is to raise public awareness of PTSD and promote effective treatments to help those who suffer. So what is PTSD? And how can all of us help? PTSD stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is a mental disorder that can develop when someone is exposed to a traumatic event. Some of the most common experiences that cause PTSD include: - Sexual Assault - Traffic collisions - Life-threaten events Sometimes people can experience post-traumtic stress disorder even if they are not directly affected by the event directly. According to the American Psychiatric Association: - 5% of adults in the United States have PTSD in a given year - 9% of people develop it at some point in their life Signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder can include: - Dreams, thoughts, or feelings related to traumatic events - Mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues - Attempts to avoid trauma-related cues - Shifts in how a person thinks and feels - Increase in the fight-or-flight response Statistically, most people who experience a traumatic event will not develop PTSD. However, some people are more susceptible to certain forms of trauma. Women and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Women are more than twice as likely to develop PTSD. - 10% of women experience PTSD in their lifetime - 4% of men experience PTSD in their lifetime This is largely attributed to sexual assault because women are more likely to experience sexual assault, and sexual assault is more likely to cause PTSD than many other events. Women are also more likely to experience things like: - Neglect or abuse in childhood - Domestic violence - Sudden loss of a loved one Sadly, women may be more likely to blame themselves for their traumatic experiences than men. When it comes to how that trauma manifests, some symptoms are more common in women. For example, women are more likely to: - Be jumpy - Have trouble feeling emotions - Avoid things that remind them of trauma - Feel depressed and anxious Men are more likely to have issues with anger and controlling it when dealing with PTSD, but both men and women struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder can develop physical health problems. Veterans and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Of course, one portion of the population at an elevated risk of PTSD is military Veterans. According to the RAND Center for Military Health Policy Research, 20% of Veterans who served in either Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from either major depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Combat is one of the most traumatic situations a person can be in. Witnessing death and violence, while also being exposed to life-threatening situations can easily lead to PTSD. However, something that most people may not realize is the amount of military sexual trauma (MST) that Veterans also experience. MST is a form of sexual harassment or assault that occurs while in the military, and it happens to both men and women during training, peacetime, and in war. According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs: - 23% of women reported sexual assault while in the military - 55% of women in the military experience sexual harassment - 38% of men in the military experience sexual harassment Because there are more male Veterans than female Veterans, over half of all Veterans with military sexual trauma are actually men. Sadly, one of the most troubling statistics about mental health when it comes to the men and women who serve our country is that according to a SAMHSA study, only around 50% of Veterans who need mental health treatment will receive it. Post-Traumatic Stress and Substance Use Disorders Another heartbreaking side-effect of PTSD can be drug and alcohol abuse, which often leads to substance use disorder (SUD). In some cases, people who experience a traumatic event that causes a physical injury will be treated with powerful painkillers. This is one way that prescription opioids have contributed to the current opioid crisis in the country. Prescription opioids often increase feelings of pleasure and calm inside the brain, which can lead to those struggling with PTSD abusing these medications in order to numb themselves to both their physical agony and their emotional trauma. In fact, prescription opioid addiction is most commonly found to correlate with PTSD. When it comes to Veterans, developing a substance use disorder with post-traumatic stress disorder is not uncommon. According to studies from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): - 23% of Veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan showed signs of SUD. - In 2008, active duty and Veteran military personnel abused prescription drugs more than twice the rate as the civilian population. - In 2009, the VA estimated around 13,000 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans suffered from alcohol dependence syndrome and required mental health treatment. Meanwhile, those who experience sexual assault are also extremely likely to turn to drugs or alcohol as a means to cope with their trauma. According to a report by the American Journal on Addictions, 75% of women who enter addiction treatment programs report having experienced sexual abuse. Many studies over the years also report a prevalence of traumatic abuse in childhood. Ultimately, we find that PTSD can feed into substance use disorder. Many people who struggle to control their emotions and suffer from the residual effects of their experiences try to self-medicate with both legal substances and illicit narcotics. National PTSD Awareness Month: Call for Better Treatment For National PTSD Awareness Month we can all do our part to help raise awareness of the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder. The National Center for PTSD is urging people to: Learn- PTSD treatment works Connect- Reach out to someone Share- Spread the word Online you can get educational materials, support information and resources to help spread awareness. The National PTSD Awareness campaign encourages everyone to work together to promote effective treatment for those who are suffering. For those struggling with PTSD and substance use disorder, Palm Healthcare Company believes in providing innovative and life-changing treatment opportunities that help people struggling with trauma and addiction to overcome adversity and build a better quality of life. Our comprehensive programs use a holistic approach to help heal the whole person, and our facilities are specially designed to create lasting change. If you or someone you love is struggling, please call toll-free now. We want to help. You are not alone. CALL NOW 1-888-922-5398 (This content is being used for illustrative purposes only; any person depicted in the content is a model) It is not so far-fetched to be told that someone whose life is consumed with drug or alcohol dependency can find themselves facing the emotional and mental fallout. When dealing with mental health issues, it is not rare for people to also struggle with substance use disorder. Co-occurring conditions such as these tend to feed off of each other, or even help create one another. It is almost like when someone has high blood pressure, we are not surprised when they develop heart problems. Sometimes side effects and symptoms of one condition can nurture new ailments. According to so researchers, there are some more common combinations of co-occurring disorders with addictions. So which addictions are most likely to co-exist with each mental health condition? Here are 5 of the most common co-occurring disorders with addictions (not in any particular order): Schizophrenia with Marijuana Addiction One disorder that commonly co-exists with a substance use disorder is schizophrenia. The American Journal of Psychiatry released a study that suggests approximately half of all people with schizophrenia also have a substance abuse disorder. But one substance stands out the most when looking at people living with schizophrenia- marijuana. The exact cause of schizophrenia is unknown, but many suspect a combination of environment, genetics and altered brain chemistry and structure to all play a part. So it is unclear why people with schizophrenia would abuse marijuana. Especially since this drug typically produces many of the same symptoms these people experience when in the midst of a schizophrenic episode. Some of these symptoms include: - Short-term memory problems - Unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking - Difficulty beginning and sustaining activities - Impaired executive functioning While not all symptoms are the same for everyone, some of these more common symptoms definitely overlap between the two. While it may not be obvious why, research suggests it is pretty obvious that marijuana is most popular for people with schizophrenia. Alcoholism and Anti-Social Personality Disorder You might be surprised with this one because most people assume alcohol is most commonly matched with depression. Anti-social personality disorder is easier to understand when one explains the concept of personality disorders in general. To put it simply, a personality disorder is an enduring pattern of personal experience and behavior that deviates noticeably from the expectations of the individual’s culture, which leads to personal distress of impairment. So antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is characterized by a tendency to disregard and even violate the rights of others. Symptoms can vary from egregious to outright dangerous. They include: - Lack of remorse - Consistent irresponsibility - Lack of stability in a job and home life - Disregard for society and laws - Violation of the physical or emotional rights of others Often the more intense cases earn the titles of sociopathic or psychopathic. Alcohol abuse very frequency co-occurs with other mental health disorders. However, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the disorder with the closest connection to alcoholism is anti-social personality disorder. In fact, people who drink to excess on a regular basis are 21 times more likely to deal with ASPD when compared to people who don’t have alcoholism. The NIAAA also states that both of these disorders typically develop early in life. However, alcoholism can actually make the underlying mental illness worse. Intoxication can lower an individual’s inhibitions, which makes their antisocial behaviors more prevalent. This may also lead to more dangerous manifestations of the disorder. Anxiety Disorders and Cocaine Addiction Cocaine is an extremely powerful narcotic stimulant, which gives users feelings of intense euphoria. However, the tradeoff is a very steep price to pay considering how dangerous this drug really is. Continued cocaine use typically leads to symptoms that essentially mirror an anxiety disorder, including: - Difficulty concentrating Because cocaine is a stimulant, it speeds up and amplifies activity of the brain’s neurotransmitters. Certain neurotransmitters at higher levels induce anxiety. So anxiety is actually a symptom of cocaine use already. Cocaine use also has the potential to create psychotic episodes. Some people even experience severe mental symptoms as a result of use. As a long-term effect of cocaine use, brain circuits are more sensitive while struggling to respond to natural stimuli, and the results are often related to mood and mental health. Statistics show that there is a very high risk of anxiety and cocaine abuse occurring together. Then if you already have an anxiety disorder, the risk becomes even higher that you will develop a severe emotional problem when using a drug like cocaine. While the adverse effects of cocaine use can eventually fade for those able to achieve a long-lasting sobriety, sometimes the damage lingers. Those unusual thoughts and behaviors can continue even long after someone has given up the drug. Prescription Opioid Addiction and PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness that takes hold in the aftermath of an intense and traumatic experience. Often, people who survive tragedies, war and other dangerous or life-altering events will experience PTSD. In some circumstances, people will leave their experience with serious physical injuries, and often, those injuries are treated with prescription painkillers. This is just one way that prescription opioids have contributed to a huge epidemic that has been hurting America for the past several years. Prescription opioids often boost feelings of pleasure and calm inside the brain, and sometimes people who have PTSD end up abusing these medications in order to experience euphoria and numb themselves to not just their physical agony, but also their emotional trauma. This can become an endless cycle of self-medicating. This is especially true with veterans. In fact, some research indicates that veterans with pain and PTSD are 3 times more likely to receive opioids compared to those without any mental health disorders. It is true that having effective pain medications is very important to improve the quality of life for those with physical pain, especially chronic pain patients. However, mixing powerful opioids like prescription painkillers with PTSD can lead to tragic outcomes. With increasing rates of veteran suicides over the past several years, one can only image what impact the surging opioid crisis may have had on those struggling with PTSD. Depression with Heroin Addiction Throughout one of the worst drug epidemics in American history, heroin has been a driving force behind countless overdoses and skyrocketing death rates. Heroin isn’t just devastating physically, but also mentally and emotionally crippling. The connection between these adverse effects and depressive disorders is remarkable. The allure of heroin is that is can make users feel an overwhelming sense of pleasure for a short time. However, long-time use of heroin can burn out the portions of the brain responsible for producing natural signals of pleasure, leaving them incapable of feeling good on their own without the drug. The drug alters brain chemistry and creates mood changes. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment estimates that 48% of opioid users have experienced depression at some point in their lives. Extended use of heroin can eventually cause a form of brain damage that leads to depression. Users can become physically incapable of feeling happiness unless the drug is present. Withdrawal symptoms from heroin can also exacerbate symptoms of depression. Many of them are actually overlapping symptoms, such as: - Slow thinking, speaking or body movements - Loss of interests - Sleep problems - Physical pains - Changes in appetite The combination of depression and heroin addiction is incredibly common. Sometimes it can be difficult for people to tell which issue came first, but ultimately they can both be exceedingly debilitating, or even deadly. Dual Diagnosis Treatment Dual diagnosis means that a person is dealing with two medical conditions that are co-occurring. In regards to the field of drug addiction, dual diagnosis specifically means that someone is struggling with both substance use disorder and another mental or behavioral health issue. Sometimes it is because prolonged drug use has contributed to developing a mental health issue, while other times it is because someone has tried to self-medicate when facing a mental health issue. Dual diagnosis treatment is so important because it provides the opportunity to treat both co-occurring disorders simultaneously. For those suffering with more than one disorder, it is not nearly as effective to focus on treating one while ignoring the other. Holistic healing is all about addressing every aspect of each individual to help them find success in every part of their life. Palm Healthcare Company believes in providing holistic addiction resources to help treat not just the addiction, but also any other issue that could be holding you back from achieving a full life of lasting recovery. If you or someone you love is struggling, please call toll-free now. CALL NOW 1-888-922-5398 Maintaining Mental Health and Well-Being by Thomas G. Beley, Ph.D., LCSW Executive Director of Palm Healthcare Company We hear a lot about the importance of mental health. However, exactly what is mental health. If one looks at the research literature there is not very much written about what constitutes mental health. Often times, by default, mental health has been referred to or alluded to as the absence of a mental illness. To complicate the situation further, the literature seems to be overly ripe with how to treat various mental disorders as well as how to reduce the specific symptoms a person may be experiencing. Unfortunately, our society has become overly preoccupied with treatment focusing on the reduction of a person’s symptoms as an indicator of a mentally healthy person. Although treatment and symptom reduction are important facets of a person’s mental health, neither treatment nor symptom reduction guarantees a sense of well-being. In examining the various disorders as outlined in the DSM IV and the plethora of research that has been conducted on how to treat these disorders, there appears to be a common thread that seems to exist between all of these disorders and conditions. The common thread appears to be an on-going interrelationship between the biological or neuro-chemical make-up of a person; the existing stress factors that may be presented in a person’s life; and the actually coping skills or mechanisms that a person uses as a way of dealing with everyday life. Furthermore, it appears that all three of these influences have the ability to impact the other for the better or for the worse. This article will examine these various influences on a person’s mental health and how these influences are involved in maintaining a person’s sense of mental health and well-being. Stress is a constant in everyone’s life. Hans Selye, the father of the stress response, defined stress as “any change.” So the fact of the matter is that stress is a constant in one’s life. In essence, the moment a person opens their eyes in the morning, that’s stress. The moment that same person gets out of bed, that’s more stress. And, the moment that person jumps into the shower, even yet more stress. In most instances, our bodies are able to handle this stress much of which is attributed to a person’s balanced neurobiology and neurotransmission. Much of this can be explained through the “fight or flight response” of a person. This mind-body connection, which has been a part of human evolution, has worked the same way over hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years, the same way. Any time a person’s brain, either conscious or unconscious, senses any type of danger whether real or not, there are a whole host of stress hormones that are being released into the body (neurotransmission) gearing the person’s body up to do one of two things, to run away from that danger or to fight that danger. In either scenario, the body has to be an efficient machine. Although a person doesn’t necessarily have to hunt for their food any longer per se or run away from man-eating animals, a person is still faced with the everyday modern dangers of life such as unemployment, finances, marital problems, parenting, etc. The list is endless. The important point, here, is that regardless of what that perceived danger, the mind, and body via neurotransmission, kicks into action. A problem that arises, however, is that once the mind and body have turned it up a notch to deal with the stress, it takes the body a longer time to calm down. The mind or more specifically the neocortex (the thinking part of the brain) is able to easily dismiss stress and false alarms of stress in a relatively short manner. A person can become instantly alarmed at the prospect of their electric being shut off from a notice received in the mail, however, instantly “feeling” a sense of relief realizing that the notice is not meant for them but for the neighbor. Although the mind has dismissed the danger, the stress hormones have already been released to key parts of the person’s body. Studies have shown that these stress hormones or the signaling of the mind to the body to calm down can take anywhere between six hours to seventy-two hours for the body to receive the signal of no danger. So what can actually happen is that a person can be walking around “feeling good” and the least little thing can happen, the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back, that can send a person into a stressed or panic state. There are three key points that need to be remembered about stress. The first key point is that stress is a constant in anyone’s life by virtue of the constant change a person is going through from the moment they wake up in the morning to the time they go to bed at night. All too often a person thinks of stress as “nothing bad has happened to me lately.” It is irrelevant to ask the question whether a person is stressed, it is more appropriate to think in terms of whether that person’s neurobiology is handling that stress in an appropriate manner. Secondly, the body doesn’t really know the difference between “good stress” and “bad stress.” It may be more relevant for a person to think in terms of how much and to what extent has that person experienced change during the course of the week or the month regardless of whether that change has been “good” or “bad.” The more change the person has experienced, the more stress that has been absorbed into the body. And, finally, the third key point is that the body is a very slow responder. It takes the body a much longer time to calm down than the cognitive processes that are occurring in the brain. A person needs to be mindful that just because they are “feeling relaxed” doesn’t necessarily mean that their body is relaxed. It is not always feasible to assume that lowering the stressful situations in one’s life is the answer since many people may be unable to avoid a stressful lifestyle. Firefighters, police officers, emergency room medical staff, are all faced with potential chronic conditions of stress. It is not fair to say these individuals will be excluded from feeling a sense of well-being because they are in constant stressful situations. It is important for a person to be aware of trying to lower stress in their life where they can, but for those individuals who are in situations where stress is a constant, it will be more important for that person to develop the necessary coping skills to deal with stress such as exercise, nutrition, yoga, or meditation. Research in the neurosciences in recent years has continued to shed new light on a person’s brain chemistry and how neurotransmission impacts a person’s sense of well being as well as behavior. There have been numerous studies conducted on certain neurotransmitters of well being such as serotonin, GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), dopamine, and others to suggest the necessity of these neurotransmitters for the person to function at an optimal level. This is where the explosion of new prescription drugs has come on to the market to solve the ills of the world. Needless to say, pharmaceutical companies have long since been proponents of this neurobiological research due to the ability to develop newer and more efficient drugs to attempt to balance a person’s neurochemistry. An important aspect that has evolved over the years, however, is the recognition of, not only the importance of a person’s neurobiological chemistry to be in balance for a sense of well-being, but also the fact that a person’s biochemical makeup can be extremely delicate and subject to a whole host of outside influences such as stress, medical conditions, nutrition, and behavior that can throw a person’s neurochemistry off creating a variety of symptoms. As a result, there continues to be a growing movement toward alternative methods of treatment to address brain chemistry issues such as acupuncture, nutrition, or chiropractic intervention to intervene and/or to enhance a person’s brain chemistry. Regardless of whether you are a proponent of Prozac or a devotee to acupuncture, the important point to emphasize is that a person’s neurochemistry plays an important role in a person’s sense of well-being and contentment. Furthermore, the imbalance of neurotransmission in the brain can interfere with that person’s overall level of functioning and well-being. Coping with everyday life situations is another area which is an important influence on a person’s ability to achieve a sense of well-being. A person needs to feel a sense of satisfaction about how they handle given situations that confront them whether if it is with themselves or with others. However, in order to do this effectively, a person needs to have a repertoire of coping mechanisms to choose from. All too often, a person doesn’t develop or change the necessary coping skills needed to deal with life situations. An interesting point to make, here, is that the human species, which is supposed to be at the top of the so-called food chain of life, is the only species that will continue to do the exact same behaviors to problem solve a situation despite the fact that these problem-solving behaviors may have repeatedly failed in the past. For a variety of reasons, it appears that change is often difficult for a person to make. In order to effectively cope with a situation, it is of vital importance for a person to maintain a degree of flexibility, adaptation, and a willingness to change regarding any given situation. In a sense, a person’s self-esteem can be viewed as being borne in a series of “failures.” Once a person makes a decision to do something, it is usually followed by a series of behaviors or actions. Often times these initial behaviors and actions are not going to be a success since doing something for the first time often leads to a number of miscues or possible “failures.” However, if a person is willing to persist at following through with these behaviors and actions or be willing to try something different in an attempt to reach their goal, there is a greater likelihood the person will develop a sense of competence in that area. Once that person achieves that level of competence, a person’s self-esteem will increase. Once a person’s self-esteem has increased, the easier it becomes for that person to make decisions and take action in other areas of life and the cycle begins all over again. The important part of coping is that both coping mechanisms and skills need to be constantly reviewed and refined by a person. There is no guarantee that a particular coping skill or mechanism is going to work in all situations. As a person begins to adapt to the various complexities of life, the greater the need for a more complete range of coping skills to maintain that sense of well-being. The Systemic Relationship of Neurobiology, Stress, and Coping In considering these various influences on a person’s mental health and well-being, it is vital to understand the interrelationship that exists between them. One must comprehend that all three of these influences are constantly impacting one’s functioning and a person cannot focus on one of these areas without taking into consideration the ramifications it will have on the other areas. There is a cyclical force that each area has on the other areas and vice versa. For instance, if a person is experiencing an inordinate amount of stress, whether it is “good stress” or “bad stress,” the neurochemistry of the brain is going to be impacted. If the neurochemistry of the brain is affected, there is a greater likelihood that this imbalance is going to affect the neurotransmission which can result in symptomatic behaviors such as panic, anxiety, depression , or other symptomatic behavior. As a result of the symptomatic behavior the person may be experiencing, the person’s coping mechanism and problem-solving abilities are probably going to be compromised at least to some degree. If the person is unable to cope with a given situation in an effective manner, there is the potential of the stress level increasing again. As a result, there is a cyclical process of impact. Balance and Well-Being It appears that a key factor for a person maintaining mental health and a sense of well-being is the ability to monitor and balance the areas of neurobiology, stress, and coping. The challenge, however, that confronts a person is the ability to maintain this balance on an on-going basis. One of the difficulties stems from the fact that it is not always clear as to what a person needs to attend to at any given time. For instance, let’s say that a person’s depression may simply be stemming from their genetic make-up. If this is the case, it would probably be more prudent for that person to be prescribed the appropriate anti-depressant medication to correct the neurobiological issue as opposed to getting involved in therapy or attempting to reduce stress. Although the latter two methods can be extremely effective in the long run, the more effective and efficient intervention may be from a pharmacological approach. On the other hand, let’s say a person is depressed as a result of a great deal of existing stress that is occurring in their life, let’s say from being fired from their job, or the person has limited coping skills to deal with real-life traumas like the death of a loved one. In this scenario, a pharmacological intervention may be of little value, since the depression may be more a product of “normal” life situations that would be better addressed through support and the development of better and more appropriate coping skills for that given situation. In these situations, yoga, meditation, and exercise may be extremely efficient in addressing stressful situations whereas psychotherapy can be effective in developing better coping skills. In many instances, it is not necessarily the fact that a person’s anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medication is not working, the fact of the matter is that the person’s life is still a mess and they need to begin to put it in order. Unless the person is able to address these matters, the likelihood of a person responding effectively to a pharmacological intervention is going to be minimal.It is safe to say that one’s mental health and sense of well-being is not a given in anyone’s life. Just because a person has a positive outlook on life, doesn’t mean that their genetic make-up couldn’t play a factor in that person’s level of functioning. Or, the person who has savvy coping skills in dealing with incredible amounts of stress, doesn’t mean that the accumulative effects of those stressors will not take a physiological toll on that person via heart disease or cancer. Maintaining mental health and well-being needs to be worked at on an on-going basis, not too different than an athlete needs to train to maintain peak performance. In the arena of mental health and well-being, a person needs to monitor and train how they are performing in the areas of neurobiology, stress reduction, and the development of more effective and positive coping skills. The ability of a person to attend to these areas through the use of yoga, nutrition, exercise, diet, meditation, stress reduction techniques, psychotherapy, hypnosis, just to name a few approaches, the greater likelihood the person will maintain that sense of well-being. A question that a person needs to ask themselves is what is it they are doing to ensure the balance of these three key areas of their life. For over 25 year, Thomas G. Beley, PhD, LCSW has worked in the field of addictions and mental health. Over these two-and-a-half decades of helping people who struggle with mental health and substance use disorders, he has proven to be an expert clinician and innovative and compassionate leader. Palm Healthcare Company is proud to have an executive team with experience and incredible commitment to helping others. If you or someone you love is struggling, please call toll-free now. We want to help. CALL NOW 1-888-922-5398 Over the last 15 years, the suicide rate has climbed by an estimated 32%. While the overdose deaths in relation to the opioid crisis have become a constant issue around the country, some researchers suggest that the real suicide rates are even higher, but some of them are being misclassified as overdoses. So, are more people dying due to drug abuse, or are more people taking their own lives using powerful street drugs and prescription narcotics? Studying Suicide and Drugs The idea that many of the deaths recorded as opioid overdoses may have been suicides, according to the researchers, is due to a significant gap between suicide rates and intoxication mortality rates. A study from the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles, was published in the journal PLOS One. This study states that both suicide and drug intoxication death rates in the United States have risen over a period of 15 years. Researchers compiled data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to show: - 2000- The suicide rate was 10.40 per 100,000 people - 2015- Suicide rate rose to 13.75 deaths per 100,000 people - 2000- Drug intoxication mortality rate for those over the age of 15 was 7.81 deaths per 100,000 - 2015- Drug intoxication death rate for those over the age of 15 rose to 20.07 per 100,000 in 2015 This means that the drug intoxication death rate rose by 257% in those 15 years, while suicide rates only rose by 32%. While 32% is still a devastating number when it comes to such a tragic circumstance, there is still a huge difference between 32% and 257%. These researchers believe this major difference in the reports of mortality rates suggests a lack of suicide reporting. Difficulties in Death Investigation One of the big problems, according to the study’s author Mark Kaplan, is resources. Kaplan is a professor of social welfare at UCLA, and he stated to local news sources, “Unfortunately, part of the problem is due to serious under-resourcing of state and local death investigation systems throughout most of the U.S. “Many of these deaths were probably suicides, yet reported as accidental self-poisoning rather than intentional self-harm, particularly among the middle-aged.” The study by Kaplan and his colleagues further explains that when it comes to suicide by overdose, things like an individual’s psychiatric history or the presence of a suicide note are crucial to helping professionals identify a death as a suicide. “A suicide note, prior suicide attempt or affective disorder was documented in less than one-third of suicides and one-quarter of undetermined deaths,” “Our incorporation of undetermined deaths, as well as registered suicides, not only provided a window on the nature of suicide misclassification within the undetermined death category but within the accident category—as a much larger reservoir for obscuring drug intoxication suicides.” So by acknowledging that there is not always an obvious indication that a death is a suicide, even in cases that are classified in suicide, the researchers believe that many deaths that involved drugs have most likely been categorized as overdoses instead of making a deeper inquiry into the circumstances surrounding an individual’s death. Opioids Causing Ambiguity With the opioid crisis in America, it has become even more difficult to measure the suicide rates. And that isn’t just this research teams opinion either. In 2015, the CDC hosted a meeting to address the challenges presented for medical examiners and coroners across the country. The primary focus was concerning cases of fatal intoxication due to opioids and other drugs. The summary of this meeting concluded that drug intoxication deaths may be among the most difficult to determine regarding the manner of death. The summary notes that reasons for such difficulty in having a more accurate manner of death include: - Potentially equivocal evidence - Intent to die - Overlapping demographic groups affected - Overlapping premorbid risk factors (e.g., substance abuse, mental health problems). Opioid addiction, much like any other form of substance use disorder, is often closely connected to other issues, including anxiety, trauma and mental health disorders. Some individuals living with mental health conditions who abuse opioids may be self-medicating and accidentally overdose. But others may be suffering so severely, with conditions like depressive disorders or bipolar disorder, that they ultimately take their own lives intentionally with the powerful drugs. With opioid abuse being so widespread and devastating, the line between the two has begun to blur. Both studies mentioned clearly indicate in order to truly comprehend an accurate number of suicides by overdose, more research is needed. Both also admit that the number may never be exact. Even though we will probably never have a definitive answer, the question is still important to ask. By knowing whether opioid deaths are caused by accidents or intentional we can develop better strategies to provide education and prevention. This is also why mental health should always be a priority when it comes to addiction treatment. Substance use disorder and suicide are both connected to mental health and personal wellness. Too often they both lead to avoidable tragedies. Therefore, mental health and wellness should be a priority for addiction treatment. If you or someone you love is struggling with substance abuse or addiction, please call toll-free now. CALL NOW 1-888-922-5398 With the beginning of the new year, Palm Healthcare Company is looking forward to helping spread more exciting stories of experience, strength, and hope while also sharing important news stories and exciting new developments that relate to the world of addiction recovery and substance use disorder treatment. As we commit ourselves to another year of fighting alongside thousands of people working toward a better future, we would also like to take some time looking back on all the big moments in 2017 that we shared with our Palm Healthcare Company Blog. President Trump Declares Public Health Emergency: What’s the Plan? October of 2017, President Donald Trump made an announcement declaring the opioid crisis in America as a Public Health Emergency. This highly anticipated declaration was delivered in a way slightly different than many had expected, noting the technical differences between a Public Health Emergency and a National Emergency. Many advocates were concerned that this announcement did not provide a concrete foundation for the necessary federal funding and did not initiate much-needed action, but others we assured that this means the Trump administration was taking this issue very seriously. In this article, we took a look at what this announcement did actually accomplish, and what it failed to deliver on. Racketeering for Fentanyl: Opioid Maker Insys Founder Arrested for Bribes A huge development to another story came in late 2017 when John Kapoor, former CEO of Insys Therapeutics and founding father of one of the most prominent opioid manufacturers in the country, was arrested and charged with conspiring to push the signature drug of Insys Therapeutics, a Fentanyl spray called Subsys, for unacceptable uses through bribes and kickbacks. The Palm Healthcare Company blog notes how back in 2016 the Justice Department reported to be charging 6 former executives and sales-managers of Insys Therapeutics for conspiring to defraud health insurers. When looking at the details in this story, it has intensified the conversation about Big Pharma involvement in the epidemic Can Kellyanne Conway Really Compete with the Opioid Crisis? Not too long after President Trump’s declaration of a Public Health Emergency pertaining to the opioid crisis, Kellyanne Conway was announced as leading the charge on the White House’s efforts for addressing the opioid epidemic. This Palm Healthcare Company blog saw a lot of comments! While some find that having a high-profile figure at the head of the efforts gives validity to the White House’s commitment to solving the opioid issue in America, many others are speaking out in frustration. Those in opposition to this appointment say that while she may be useful as a counselor or pollster, she has no experience of expertise when it comes to drug abuse, addiction or substance use disorder treatment. Thus far the one thing both Kellyanne and the President seem adamant about is a media campaign, but advocates are still afraid this is more “Just Say No” and not enough support for effective resources. After Las Vegas Shooting: PTSD and Mental Health Must be Priority In early October of 2016, the nation was shaken to its core when Las Vegas had one of the deadliest shootings in modern American history. This horrific tragedy flooded newsrooms and live viral footage with the country watching in shock as a gunman killed 58 people and injured 546 more at an outdoor music festival. In the aftermath of this terrible and heartbreaking incident, our Palm Healthcare Company blog took a look at how such traumatic experiences impact people, and about the importance of those who struggle with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) getting proper diagnosis and care. At a time when so many people are self-medicating with dangerous or even deadly narcotics, it is important to care for those most vulnerable, especially after such an earth-shattering experience. Police Helping Addicts into Treatment is a Growing Trend Saving Lives In August of 2017, we took a look back at several programs that had come to light all over the country based on Police Departments working with their communities to offer drug users the chance to get help with addiction treatment instead of being arrested and charged. The pioneering program came from Gloucester Police Department in Massachusetts back in 2015. This program allowed users to ask police for help, and told addicts they could submit drugs to local law enforcement without fear of being arrested if they were willing to seek treatment. A 2016 study showed that this program was experiencing some impressive success. Police departments in a number of other states were inspired by this and took up similar programs as a way to help their communities fight the addiction outbreak. The Palm Healthcare Company blog took a close look at a handful of these programs to celebrate their compassion and success. Sterilized for Cash: This Woman Pays Drug Addicts to Not Have Kids Pregnant lady’s stomach and her hand holding dollar over black background When we posted this Palm Healthcare Company blog we saw a great deal of debate in the comments on our Facebook. For over 20 years, Barbara Harris has driven across the country using cash to ask addicted women to give up their fertility. To date, the organization has paid over 7,000 people. The controversy around such a powerful story had some people showing a great deal of support for someone giving addicted women an incentive to not get pregnant, while other people were appalled and angered that someone would entice desperate women who are not in the right mindset to make such dramatic and life-altering decisions with their bodies. What Chester Bennington Taught Us about Addiction and Depression (This content is being used for illustrative purposes only; any person depicted in the content is a model) In July of 2017, the world lost a great artist and inspirational musician with the death of Chester Bennington, the lead singer of the band Linkin Park. Initial reports were that Bennington had died from suicide by hanging, with later reports indicating that Chester had been drinking at the time of his death. The vocalist had been open about his struggles with depression and drug addiction over the years, and in this article, we took a look at just how much Chester Bennington could teach us about the devastation of depression and addiction. Dear Media, Thank You for Bad Press South Florida has been under a great deal of scrutiny recently, specifically concerning the issues facing the recovery community such as unethical and illegitimate sober home operators in the area. In June, there was a Megyn Kelly NBC News Investigation which focused in on Delray Beach, Florida and some of the big problems concerning unscrupulous activities from corrupt individuals exploiting drug addicts in need of help. We took this time to look over some of the bigger stories concerning the illicit activities in South Florida with the recovery industry while showing support and gratitude for all those working together to try and put an end to operators who are taking advantage of people in need of help. Palm Healthcare Measures Up to Addiction Treatment Outline for EAP In September of 2017, we took a very close look at an article written by the Journal of Employee Assistance that was designed to help Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) find the right kind of addiction treatment programs to recommend to their clients. The outline given for EAPs to find effective and reliable addiction treatment options gives a list of things to look for. The Palm Healthcare Company blog was happy to show off just how all of our facilities measure up to these crucial standards. Keep an Eye Out for More Palm Healthcare Company continues to try and share every treatment development, news story or exciting innovation on our blog to not only help more people learn and raise awareness but to offer some perspective and maybe ask some new questions. Whether it is sports, celebrities, news or politics we are committed to talking about important stories that pertain to drug policy in America, substance use disorder, mental health, and personal wellness. We will continue to touch on the top stories of 2018 to spread the word and hopefully inspire more people to get involved in these crucial conversations. 2017 was an intense, innovative and inspiring year. Here is to hope for 2018. Holistic addiction treatment means incorporating every aspect of life for each individual with personalized opportunities for lasting recovery. So every bit of information can help anyone make a more comprehensive decision about what kind of recovery plan they want. If you or someone you love is struggling, please call toll-free now. CALL NOW 1-888-922-5398

Dance is hoofing on up in the world. For the first time ever, the award for Outstanding Choreography will be presented at the Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony Sunday night (8 pm ET / 5 pm PT, CBS), accompanied by a big dance number created by the nominated choreographers. "We were all freaking out," Sonya Tayeh, who received a nod for her moody and mesmerizing routines on So You Think You Can Dance, tells TVGuide.com. "It's just such a real honor to be there and also to show our work together as a collaboration. It's amazing." All the Emmy nominees Dancing with the Stars: Who's the early frontrunner? What was the game plan to create this Emmys dance piece with the other choreographers? You've collaborated before, but not on this level. Sonya Tayeh: We decided to meet once a week. I'm in San Diego doing a show so I've been up every other week. So we all Skyped in with the producers for the Emmys to figure out how to build this piece, and then we're doing this together, but we're also doing our own section. We threw all of our ideas together and came up with one big idea. We have rehearsals in the middle of September, right before the Emmys happen. Allison Holker: The difficulty is not necessarily the process. Dancers and choreographers are really good at compromise. That's what we do best. But what we have found is that all the choreographers are so busy, so it's the time. Will you be performing yourself as part of the big Emmys dance? Holker: I can't tell you how we'll be in the piece, but I'll say you will see all of us throughout the number, which I think is super-exciting. We're doing a lot of different things and repping the dance world and ourselves. Then we'll be presenting after. Were you able to get some of your favorite dancers into the piece also? Holker: Yes. But most people will probably expect to see tWitch since he is my fiance, but he'll be filming Step Up 5, so you will not see tWitch at the Emmys. I was disappointed, and Nappy Tabs wanted him too, but there will be some other familiar faces from our TV shows. Emmys to pay special tribute to James Gandolfini, Cory Monteith and more Tayeh: It was impossible to get Bjork to approve any music, but I try every season. She's my ultimate hero. I asked again, and then finally her manager said that she wanted me to write a little treatment about the piece, what the song meant to me. So I wrote it down — and of course it was dramatic and long and I sent her a bunch of images. She approved it. Then there came the pressure because I love her music, but I get terrified to choreograph to it because it's so good. But she saw it and sent a really great thank-you letter. What does Allison bring to the routine? We hear all the choreographers fight over her. Tayeh: Allison is an amazing artist all around. We connect on this really crazy level. She's really honest in the way she dances. She's lived a lot of life, and there's not one particle in her body that's contrived when she moves. She becomes the character that you ask for. ... She works beautifully with her partner, she's selfless in her approach to dancing, and she loves dancing. She's one of the most fearless dancers that I know. I could talk all day about Allison. She dances from her gut. Allison, what was it like to perform this routine, in which you play a woman who is hopelessly devoted to this soulless and cruel man (Cole)? Holker: It was one of my favorite dances of all time. Working with Sonya Tayeh has completely changed my life as a dancer and a choreographer. That number pushed me beyond my whole belief of being an actor and a dancer. I found myself so enthralled and so committed to that character that I would come home still in the character after rehearsal. ... I had to tell my fiance at the time, "Listen, I'm not going to be able to talk to you this week because my character is with a guy who is demeaning and so controlling and is a terrible person." Every day I got deeper into it and more angry at Cole to the point that I couldn't talk to him, I couldn't look at him. ... I thank Sonya every day for that experience.Watch the intense and powerful "Possibly Maybe" below: Sonya, what was the trickiest thing about "Sail," which to us looked like synchronized swimming, but on land. Tayeh: [Laughs] Oh wow, cool. I've never heard that before. That's pretty awesome. There were many tricky things about that one. The first was that it was supposed to be a trio, but one girl got injured, so she couldn't dance, so I had to make it into a duet very fast. But Audrey and Tiffany, I call them them the little firecrackers because they're like spitfires and have an amazing approach to athleticism and dancing. You can have an emotional connection to dancing athletically, especially as a lady, and I wanted to show them off. So we made it very physical, and this hooked in terms of the unison and the dynamic and the partnering. It was very fun to make because of the art of their facility. Check out the athletic "Sail": Finally, Sonya, you also submitted "Turning Page," which SYTYCD producer Nigel Lythgoe said showed off your more romantic side. How have you changed as a choreographer to this point? Tayeh: I'm in tune with myself in terms of what I'm going through and I express accordingly. I think that when I heard that song, it made me think about the moment when you're in love and you feel that desire to celebrate it and not be afraid of it and not resist it. That you just want to express this emotion you have with this person, express this feeling of your mortality when you're in love. It's fragile, you're in love and you never want it to end. That was the base of it, wanting it to last forever. Feel the love with "Turning Page": Allison, you and Derek showed off your choreography skills with an insane routine. How did that all come about, especially with the slow-motion and rain effects? Holker: We approached Dancing with the Stars producers with a million ideas, and they decided to allow us to use a slow-motion camera, which in the history of TV, no one has ever used a slow-motion camera live. It's actually very difficult to choreograph. You have to minus seconds out of your choreography... Also if you use a slow-motion camera and have bad timing, that could be a bad bum shot. They could have caught us taking off at the wrong time, and you have to live with that moment for eight seconds. You're really exposing yourself as a dancer and you can't really make up for a loss. We also had it rain on us, which was absolutely incredible. I think it's anyone anyone's dream to be in a Nicholas Sparks film. I feel like that's what we kind of did with this. We had slow-motion cameras, the romantic element and it rained on us. We just did it live. We took so many risks.Witness the craziness of "Heart Cry" here: Allison, how does being a mother affect your choreography? Holker: Being a mother has improved my life and my choreography and my dancing 100 percent. Before being a mom, I think you never ever experience life at its fullest until you have something that you have to fully take care of and keep on your own, without the help of anyone else. ... I'm also a lot more relaxed in creating. Sometimes when you're younger and you're creating, you question yourself a lot. As a mother, I've learned that I can't question myself, I need to go with my gut feeling and go with what I believe in. That's what I do best. I have more direction now.Does your daughter Weslie dance yet? Holker: Yes, she does, but she thinks contemporary is boring, unfortunately. But what she does love is hip-hop. In fact, my daughter's name is B-girl Wes. My daughter has these gloves. They're actually her bicycle gloves, but she turns them into her b-girl gloves. When she puts these on, it transforms who she is. She'll become this totally different girl. She'll go from wearing dresses with heels, and the moment she puts these magical gloves on, she becomes this total tomboy that does hip-hop. She walks with a different slant in her legs. She's a b-girl all of a sudden. It's so crazy!Sonya, you've mentioned this San Diego project, The Last Goodbye. Could you describe what that is and what you're doing for it? Tayeh: Michael Kimmel was the director, but now he's the conceiver, and the director is Alex Timbers. It's been a six-year project. It's the Shakespeare story Romeo & Juliet, set to Jeff Buckley's music. Immediately, when I heard that, I was totally sold. It's been a battle to stay when they changed directors. I had to re-audition again for the show. After a workshop it usually takes a year to see where it's going to go, but The Old Globe called us immediately and said that they wanted us. So now we're here, and we open for previews Sept. 22. We actually open on Oct. 6. It's a pretty magical show. It has dancing in a sense and a gestural move for storytelling. Let me get this straight — previews start on Emmys day? Tayeh: Yep, I miss the first preview of it. Alex has been amazing because I was definitely afraid to tell him that I'll be missing it, but he was like, "This is such an honor. You need to be there. We'll take care of it." I'm back the next day.So You Think You Can Dance winners: "We finish each other's sentences"Who will be your Emmys date? Holker: My Emmys date is my manager, my other biggest supporter ever. His name is Nelson Diaz. He is a huge part of my career, a huge supporter and a family friend, so it was the perfect fit to bring him along. Tayeh: I'm just totally stoked to take my mother with me. I live in New York, and she lives in Detroit, so I'm flying her here and we're going to get all dolled up and take a limo there. Have you already planned what you'll wear? Tayeh: Yes! Jay McCarroll, the winner of Project Runway Season 1, is making me a suit. I've been a fan of his forever, so when I got this, I called him immediately. Chris Habana, this amazing jewelry designer is making me jewelry.The 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will air live at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT on CBS.(Full disclosure: TVGuide.com is owned by CBS.)

A man collecting bat droppings in the Cambodian jungle fell in between two large rocks and stayed wedged there for four days before rescue teams wrested him free, authorities said. Sum Bora, 28, fell into the small space while trying to retrieve his flashlight in the Chakry mountain jungle in the northwest section of the country, police said. Bat droppings are collected by farmers in the country to be used as fertilizers for their crops. Bora’s family began searching for him when he didn’t return after three days, according to Cambodia’s Fresh News. His brother found him and called police, who sent rescuers to free him. About 200 rescuers responded and destroyed pieces of the boulders to safely extract Bora, authorities said. He was freed at about 6 p.m. on Wednesday and taken to a local hospital. With Post Wires

Gifts for Halloween? The news, if you are still watching it, is enough to take you under. I’m finding I have to limit myself. Only at the end of the day, while I’m doing something I love, like stirring a pot of meat sauce in the kitchen which is soon to be for dinner with my husband, can I process it. A therapist would probably say I’m grounding myself in the quotidian, earthly task of cooking, or expressing my creativity in a sensory way in order to handle the vitriol the pours forth from the pundits. Whatever the subconscious has going on, I’m at least conscious of limiting how much I let myself read and listen. That’s hard to see myself type, as I believe in being an informed citizen. For the last few years I’ve taught a course in rhetoric and preached to my high-schoolers about the need to read, listen, and discern what is going on in the world around them. I treasure living in a democracy. Both of my grandmothers were sixteen years old when women in the United States were granted the right to vote. Sometimes not reading and not listening and not thinking feels like not caring, like I’m giving up. But other times not reading and not listening feels like salvation, like peace, like sacred space. Last Friday I was overcome by it all - from the presidential candidates to the disagreement between LifeWay Books and Jen Hatmaker. I tried to read Scripture and even got mad at St. Paul. I just cried and cried. In the midst of anger and sadness, though, I continued a practice a began a few months ago, which is praying through a book of blessings that a friend sent to me. Friday’s blessing (written by Burk & Gunter) was “eyes to see the gifts God gives to you through different means and different people at different times.” I went about my day in slow motion it seemed, feeling fragile, and maybe only half-heartedly remembering to look for the gifts. But there they were. I walked into a morning yoga class I regularly attend but this day there with several candles lit all over the studio, even one on the way to the restroom. I love a burning candle. It reminds me of the light of God’s presence. I am never alone. A still small voice said, “This is your gift.” Friends we met for dinner handed me a belated birthday present. Literally, a gift! Saturday morning I drank coffee sitting on my porch at the lake (my favorite place in the world) and that afternoon, I took a ride on the back of my husband’s Harley. That may not seem like an obvious gift. After all, my parents raised me to be scared to death of motorcycles and suspect of the kind of people who rode them. (It was the 60’s and 70’s). But here’s the thing, on the back of a Harley, you can’t read, you can’t sleep, you can’t text, talk, check social media. Nothing. It’s blank space. You sit still. You hold on. That’s it. And if you’re scared, you pray. I do. It’s good for my soul. Every time. I’m always secretly hoping it will rain when he suggests going for a ride and I’m always a better woman when I pull off my helmet back in the driveway at home. I rode in the wind, let my thoughts wander, held onto his belt loops, and took in the smells and sights of an 85 degree fall day in Alabama. “Gifts, through different means and different people at different times. We are 53 and 54 years old. We’re beginning our fourth year as empty nesters. For several years we’ve just ‘opted out’ on Halloween, turned out the porch lights and gone out to dinner. That was my plan again this year. Then my man came home early from work. He recycled a pumpkin into which my daughter had carved an outline of the state of Alabama while home from her college in North Carolina two weeks ago. Alabama Jack suddenly had a snaggletooth grin on his backside. I went to the corner drugstore for candy. When I got home, my husband had dug into his flight bag and was wearing his helmet, mask, jacket and gloves. The kids began to knock on the door. He knocked back. Loudly. I watched out the window as they giggled nervously and looked puzzled at each other. He opened the door slowly but hid behind it. Then the masked man popped around the corner to hand out the candy. Most of them jumped backwards wide-eyed at the old man in the mask! He made me laugh! So hard. I smiled all night at what he was doing. A gift. To me. “Different means…different times.” The last group of children, after recovering from shock and fright, stood receiving Reese’s Cups and Peanut M&M’s. One child said, “Are you in the Air Force?” Of course, being 54, and inside the helmet, my husband can’t hear a word these children are saying. “Navy,” I said to the child. “Were you a jet pilot?” another small boy asked him. “Yes.” I said. “I want to be just like you,” the little guy said looking up at my husband. I got a lump in my throat. I hope you are, I thought. May it be so.

Friday, August 31, 2007 Good news: Dr. ER is on her way, and we're going to go see Bird and YB tomorrow, after I get the jungle in the yard mowed down to size. They have a Wii they want to show off. Then we're going to watch our Oklahoma State Cowblys take on Georgia's Dawgs on TV. Thursday, August 30, 2007 My brother's alleged 'dog' This here is Big Brudder's dog, "Dawg." What kind of a hound *is* this critter? Looks to me like he's part bigfoot and part used tire. But he loooooovees my brudder! Brudder says Dawg just lays around with his head on his big ol' paws until he steps outside, and then Dawg jumps for joy and yips and hollers and carries on like the Lord his own self has stepped off the back porch. First thought I had when I saw this pic was: "Stay on the road and out of the moors." (Name the flick). Wednesday, August 29, 2007 GENEVA (Aug. 28) - The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said. I own three myself: a pistol, a rifle and a shotgun. Haven't fired any of them since the 1990s, and the last time was on a dove hunt with the shotgun. I'm pretty sure it was the '80s the last time I fired the pistol. I am neither surprised nor alarmed by this news. Cold, dead fingers, etc. Guns don't kill people, people kill people, etc. Second Amendment, etc. Peace, peace! But comes the revolution ... Check yer firearms, and thoughts, in the comments, please. Tuesday, August 28, 2007 ... that ER could be a Unitarian Univeralist. But also a mainline to liberal Protestant Christian, which I am. Or, um, a ... er ... a dadgum NEO-PAGAN. All my results. Golly. I wonder which question pushed me into Unitarian Universalism? I wonder which one saved me from neo-paganism? Take the test yer own self, and tell us the results! 'Please do not spit in the water fountain' Rednecks' days are numbered. Oklahoma State to go 'backer free. The only sacred cows left at OSU are the ones at the bull test station. 'Saving Grace' reviews, please I love "Grace." But I'm biased, since it's set in Oklahoma City, and I sit at my kitchen table exactly 15 miles due north of downtown Oklahoma City at this moment, and, of course, I love all things Oklahoma. (Even those damn ou sooners and their fans, like a chicken loves a pebble in its gizzard.) I was tickled to see "Earl" wearing an Eskimo Joe's shirt last night. Joe's is as much Oklahoma State as Pistol Pete himself. But it doesn't come close to making up for the ou sycophancy that dogs the show. One worry: The underlying plot is strong, but each episode is so explosive it leaves you breathless. Which is a good thing. I wonder, though, if the plot can withstand an explosion every week -- especially when what seem like cliffhangers just disappear. Police chief's criminal brother shoots him dead at the cop shop. Bam. Next situation. Grace does a little charity work for a guy and he dies right in her arms, right on her front stoop. He's gone all right, and gone from the show forever. And on and on. Last night, I remembered how "The X-Files" was really two series with the same characters. There was the continuous big-picture series, and then there was the episodic series -- each episode standing well all alone, I mean, with or without the underying narrative. I wonder as "Grace" goes on if we'll see a similar separation. One reviewer already complained that it's like watching two different shows. But the plot portents are delicious. Did anybody notice last week when the "richest rancher in Oklahoma" got his prized bull statue back? He was so jacked he scooped Grace up, stuck his tongue down her throat, grabbed an ass cheek, then set her down. They looked at each other like: "What just happened?" And she, despite having kicked his ass twice in the first episode for just such behavior, seemed to LIKE it this time. I think the theme song -- for a TV theme song -- kicks. Finally, I think this is probably an example of the kind of meaningful popular art that has serious arteests -- and nose-in-the-air critics -- on one side, and everyday people who like a good story and don't mind a little kitsch on the other. Lit critters versus the checkout-stand novel-buying public, in other words. But what do y'all think? Monday, August 27, 2007 Oklahoma salute to peace: -- UPDATED Salute to the Oklahoma Flag: "I salute the flag of the State of Oklahoma. Its symbols of peace unite all people." The "flag, prominently displays an Osage warrior's shield made from buffalo hide and decorated with seven eagle feathers hanging from the lower edge. The shield is centered on a field of blue borrowed from the blue flag that Choctaw soldiers carried during the Civil War. This flag honors more than 60 groups of Native Americans and their ancestors. "The shield is decorated with six white crosses (stars) representing high ideals. Superimposed over the shield are symbols of peace and unity from the cultures of the Native American and European-American settlers in the territory; the calumet or ceremonial peace pipe and the olive branch." More about Oklahoma state flags here. (I confess that I did not know there was an official salute to the Oklahoma flag until Sunday.) Sunday, August 26, 2007 Onward, Christian Conscientious Objectors! Six hours of TV in three days is really too much for me. But it gets good reviews as a fair assessment of religious fundamentalism -- opposition to secularism and intolerance of differing views -- in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. I'm checking out the Web page above. Prayer of Confession today at my "unapologetically liberal, unapologetically Christian" church: Lord of Life, forgive us when we confuse the life of faith with a list of man-made rules. Forgive us when we arrogantly assume that our way is the only way, and that the purity of our doctrine is more important than the purposes of Your Love. As fundamentalism grows around the world, we are losing the most important voice of all: the still small voice. Turn us, we pray, from arrogance and violence, to empathy and compassion for all. In Christ's name we pray, Amen. Scripture reading: Luke 13: 10-17 Jesus: People first, not doctrine! Lead On, Eternal Sovereign Lead on, eternal Sovereign, we follow in your way; Loud rings your cry for justice, you call for peace this day: Through prayerful preparation, your grace will make us strong, To carry on the struggle to triumph over wrong. Lead on, eternal Sovereign, we follow not with fear, For in each human conflict your words of strength we hear: That when we serve with gladness, you will not let us fall, Our trust is in your promise that love will conquer all. Lead on, eternal Sovereign, till sin’s fierce war shall cease, And all your saints together will sing a hymn of peace; Then all in your dominion will live with hearts set free, To love and serve each other for all eternity. Lead on, lead on; Alleluia! Alleluia! Music by Gustav Holst, Lyrics by Ernest W. Shurtleff, Arranged by Hal H. Hopson © 1992 (Original hymn, "Lead On, O King Eternal"). Saturday, August 25, 2007 Backslidden from NASCAR! Holy tire smoke! This is how backslidden I am from NASCAR! I plumb forgot that today is the High Holy Day for the NASCAR faithful! The Bristol night race! Bird saved me by texting me: "Race is On!" I love my Bird! Green, green, green! In honor of the day, here's an ER rerun. Unsightly bachelor* buildup 1. Ignore the yard. Easy since I BROKE MY BRAND-NEW MOWER by hitting the metal edging around the back patio, which BENT THE CRANKSHAFT, which would cost more to repair than to buy another &*%$%^ mower, for $150 at the Wal-Marts. Disposable mowers! Who knew. "I wish a Ford and a Chevy would still last 10 years like they should" -- and that tempered steel was still standard in lawn mower crankshafts! 2. Clean the whole house. I sent Mr. Phentermine away last week, and celebrated my weight loss by gaining a little of it back by reverting to my regemin ... regi ... regular diet of fried chicken, pizza delivery and ribs from the nearby County Line, which would be the death of me if I'd let it. Bones, pizza boxes and to-go clamshells are everywhere. 3. Unclutter my office! Looks like an F2 came through. 4. Do preliminary work on a history presentation I'm making in November at a symposium one of our "directional colleges." 5. Do preliminary work on a presentation for a journalism history class later this month at another of our "directional colleges." 6. Start reading a book that the books editor of a state history journal asked me to review. A new biography of Charles Goodnight. Yummy. 7. Bake a sweet tater and broil this nice halibut steak I picked up last night, for supper. Let's see. Mr. Phentermine present? Check. Western channel on? Check. And Ice-T is following me around this mornin' like a pup -- which is slightly unsettling since he never does that. I reckon he wants to help me clean house. Off to it! * "bachelor" -- letting the house go, and the occasional night at the ceegar bar, are the only bachelor ways I've succombed to during the absence of the lovely Dr. ER, whom I love dearly and miss. Sniff. Friday, August 24, 2007 Bush declares Constitution Weak Thursday, August 23, 2007 Welcome back, Crystal Go y'all, therefore, and tell her ER sent ya. Rock'n'Roll of Ages? ... A local downtown church began a series this week entitled "the Gospel according to the Beatles," which, as the title indicates, examines the parallels between the messages of John, Paul, Ringo, and George and those of another John and Paul, and some guys named Matt, Mark and Luke, too. Read all about it. Funny, I like country music, and I like Southern gospel music. And I like classic rock. And I like bluegrass and folk and some classical. But in church these days, I prefer Bach and other "high church" stuff, and the old-standby hymns even if they come with updated "inclusive" language. What are y'alls' preferences for church music? Wednesday, August 22, 2007 And, he's mischaracterized my take on Scripture, as anyone who hangs around here knows. He has, however, NAILED me on my take on fundamentalism: It's a danger to the church, to the country and to the world. Pastor Timothy is a case in point. A Braum's sack full of frilly brassieres and two pair of glow-in-the-dark Harry Potter glasses Hoo hoo~! She forgot and left a whole bunch of her double-barrel slingshots in the dryer when she and YankeeBeau were here last. Finally got 'em back to her on my way back from Tulsa last night. All day, I kept thinking: "Man, if I get in a wreck, here by myself, and sling these things all over the highway, I'm liable to have some 'splainin' to do." Tuesday, August 21, 2007 Plans plans plans, and gtt Options so far: Dusk to Dawn Blues Festival at Rentiesville, Okla. (Read about Rentiesville and some more on Oklahoma's historically black towns here.) Red Dirt Harvest Festival at Okemah, Okla. More on Red Dirt music here.) Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival, Tuskahoma, Okla. Westfest Polka Festival, West, Texas. (Read about Czechs in Texas here.) What would y'all do? And now I'm gtt -- not to Texas! Gone to Tulsa, on bidness, and I hope to have time to go to the Gilcrease Museum. Monday, August 20, 2007 A couple of baaaaad-asses seen the other night at the Willie-Haggard-Ray Price concert Ha, and ha Did you hear about the desperate dyslexic? He sold his soul to Santa. A Texas rancher got in his pickup and drove to a neighboring ranch and knocked at the door A young boy, about 9, opened the door. "Is yer Dad home?" the rancher asked. "No sir, he ain't," the boy replied. "He went into town." "Well," said the rancher, "is yer Mom here?" "No, sir, she ain't here neither. She went into town with Dad." "How about your brother, Howard? Is he here?" "He went with Mom and Dad." The rancher stood there for a few minutes, shifting from one foot to the other and mumbling to himself. "Is there anything I can do fer ya?" the boy asked politely. "I knows where all the tools are, if you want to borry one. Or maybe I could take a message fer Dad." "Well," said the rancher uncomfortably, "I really wanted to talk to yer Dad. It's about your brother Howard getting my daughter, Pearly Mae, pregnant." The boy considered for a moment. "You would have to talk to Pa about that" he finally conceded. "If it helps you any, I know that Pa charges $50 for the bull and $25 for the hog, but, I really don't know how much he gets fer Howard." Gulf of Oklahoma ass into Oklahoma. Truly amazing. And sad. Six Oklahomans, at least, died. The story of the Kiowa Indian tribal chairman's wife, daughter and granddaughter is particularly gut-wrenching. At the ER house, all that happened was some of my new ryegrass got washed out, and although I'm not sure it's related, a nest of bunnies somehow wound up within strikin' distance of Bailey, and he struck. I took one dead baby rabbit away from him last night, and by the time I disposed of it and got back to the back yard, he had another one, so I just let him eat it. The cycle of life. Sunday, August 19, 2007 We join a personal attack by an alleged man of God, a "pastor" (Presbyterian Church in America) already in progress ... ER: Timothy, feel free to do anything — ANYTHING — but doubt my salvation, my sincerity, or my relationship with God through Christ. You are not qualified to judge any of that. You make a fool of yourself when you try using carnal knowledge — it means “earthly,” temporal,” “HUMAN” knowledge — to judge me or anyone esle you disagree with! How you, or anyone else, dare is beyond me. TIMOTHY: ER, Dare or not to dare. I dare. Your faith as you have expressed does not line up with Scripture. Your actions as you have carried them out on your blog and on others, does not line up with Scripture. You lack the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians and humility found throughout the NT, and as Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits…. therefore by their fruits you will know them.” Your blog, attitude and treatment of fellow brothers in Christ is repugnant. And until I see some true repentance on your part, I will never consider you a brother in Christ. Link to Pastor Timothy's church taken down because he threatened me -- how godly! -- if I didn't, even though he, himself, links to it from his blog. Saturday, August 18, 2007 SSgt. Lawrence E. Dean on freedom Myself, I weep that the president himself, and his party, so quickly PISSED AWAY this spirit, so real in the wake of 9/11, when we all were cheering the war in Afghanistan, by branding me and others like me as unpatriotic for questioning the nonsensical war of choice in Iraq. As seen at Bad Ass Marine, which has info. on who he is, and the story of this video. Imprecatory prayer? Defecatory dare! "Bro." Wiley Drake calls for curses against two specific staffers of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Americans United denounces the "pastor" -- who Lordy! is a candidate for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention. Associated Baptist Press has to take it seriously. Praying for God to curse someone is one step away from doing them physical harm yourself. If you would pray for evil to befall someone at God's own hand, and were presented with the opportunity to do him harm and declined, then you would be the worst sort of hypocrite. My prayer: God protect us all from fundamentalist freaks, be they atheist, Muslim, Christian or whatever. Friday, August 17, 2007 The Hag: 'The Bottle Let Me Down' "The Bottle Let Me Down" by Merle Haggard Each night I leave the barroom when it's over Not feeling any pain at closing time But tonight you memory found me much too sober Couldn't drink enough to keep you off my mind Tonight the bottle let down and let you memory come around The one true friend I thought I'd found Tonight the bottle let down I've always had a bottle I could turn to And lately I've been turning everyday But the wine don't take effect the way it used to And I'm hurting in an old familiar way Tonight the bottle let down Thursday, August 16, 2007 By myself at my big brother small-town cop's apartment, sneaking nips from bottles he'd "confiscated" from drunk drivers So, where were you when you learned that Elvis Presley (Jan. 8, 1935-Aug. 16, 1977) had died? What're your favorites of his? My favorite movie is "King Creole." My favorite songs are "(There Will Be) "Peace in the Valley) For Me," and "Heartbreak Hotel," which, even though it was his first hit has not become a cliche, IMHO, and has stood the test of 51 years of play. The picture, from 1973, when I was 9, is the image in my mind of Elvis. I was 13 when Elvis died, and just getting into buying my own music (45s and 8-tracks). So, I like his last four singles, too: "Moody Blue" and its b-side, "She Thinks I Still Care" and "Way Down," which are among my old records at Mama ER's house, and "My Way," which I never owned, but was on the air so much, it being such a great epitaph for the King, that I didn't notice I didn't own it. By the way, now I know how people feel when I tell them I don't know where I was when President Kennedy was assassinated (because I wasn't born yet). A colleague just walked by my desk and I asked him, "Where were you when you learned Elvis had died?" "I don't know," he said. "Picking my nose or something. I was 5." Time marches on. Wednesday, August 15, 2007 NASCAR strategy (just for Teditor) NASCAR Coach Reveals Winning Strategy: 'Drive Fast' Tuesday, August 14, 2007 Tag! Oklahoma is it! Myself, I think the tag is silly, but harmless, in that it reflects the general thinking around here already. It's not adding anything. I think the ones attacking the state, and its people, though, are obnoxious elitest phonies. Shut the hell up, y'all. One thing I keep seeing is the assertion that Oklahoma has no room for such, because of "home-grown terrorist" Timothy McVeigh! Well, that son-of-a-bitch was from NEW YORK. No, sometimes I can't take a joke. Monday, August 13, 2007 Trio of geezer greats Mr. K. Kat, my oldest continuous friend from my hometown, is comin' out Friday to go with me to see Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Ray Price, who are on what they're callin' the Last of the Breed Tour. I haven't been to that many concerts. In fact, the last one I saw was with Mr. K. Kat, and another friend: Dwight Yoakam, five or six years ago. Keith Urban was there, too. I went to Farm Aid, as a member of the workin' press, in Columbia, S.C., 10 years ago. Saw Willie there, and John Cougar Mellancamp and Jewel and John Conlee and Martina McBride and others. Before that, I saw Reba and a few others, including the Dixie Chicks at a regular ol' dancehall, right before they hit it big. And I saw Garth Brooks just as "Friends in Low Places" was released -- awesome. All in Wichita Falls. Before that, most of my concert goin' was of the Gospel and contemporary Christian type, in churches and small-town venues: B.J. Thomas, The Imperials, Amy Grant, the Cathedrals, Florida Boys, Happy Goodmans and the like. What was the last concert you saw? Or your favorite? Sunday, August 12, 2007 Cartoons get saved? Scooby-dooby-lu-jah! The shorthand for it in these parts, whatever the particulars, is "getting saved." What if cartoons got saved?? Saturday, August 11, 2007 Weeds, goats and Wanda Quick --Genesis 3: 17-8 (partial) Call me crazy, but I've spent the morning pulling weeds and grass from the flower beds and the wilderness protection area that used to be my vegetable garden -- and I've been diggin' every minute of it. Not that long ago, my knees were so "bad" I couldn't even get down on my hands and knees. Pushing 300 pounds, I didn't have any stamina at ALL for something like that. Unlike most of the things I do in life, pulling weeds is quantifiable: They were there. Now they are gone. Very cool. Even with the heat -- it's hitting 100 here now in the afternoons -- I'm tickled because its DRY. I'm still not over the week-after-week deluge we had half the winter, all of spring and the first of summer. Man, I want to move to Colorado and start a goat farm -- or something. I like writin' and editin' for a livin' -- but I do miss me some manual labor. After two days at my desk this week, I felt like Bailey droppings warmed over. I've just got to figure out to make a white-collar wage as a redneck ditch-digger, or goat raiser, or something! Goats because 1., you don't need much land, and 2., increases in ethnic populations for whom goat meat is a staple continue to rise on immigration and birth rates. And if I ever do get goats, I'll find Wanda Quick, the smart-ass little beeyotch who first introduced me to socio-economic-cultural bias, on a school bus in fifth grade, and tell her to kiss my redneck ass. She'd moved to my one-horse, two-dog town from somewhere "big" -- like Muskogee! -- took one look at me one day, and said, "You're a goat roper." Being pretty literal-minded, I remember saying something like "Do what? No, we have cattle on our place." She laughed and made fun of my clothes: Jeans, boots and a button-down shirt with those rhinestone-type snaps -- and I learned the feeling of being on the receiving end of derision before I knew the word "derision," and before I knew that "goat roper" was supposed to be an insult. That episode with Wanda Quick, as much as anything, started me on the road to empathy for what the eggheads call "the other" in society. She marginalized me. Weeds? Goats? Wanda Quick? "The other" and social marginalization? Whew! Both my E and my R are in good workin' order today, I reckon. Back to the weed pullin'. Friday, August 10, 2007 25 down, 25 to go -- ready for the tabloids! Went to the doc yesterday and weighed in: I've lost 25 pounds since Oct. 26, with a little help from Mr. Phentermine. I am a svelte 6'4", 269 pounds. But it's not all him. Not eating for entire swaths of several days a week helps you change general habits. Sometimes I want to eat right even when Mr. Phentermine is not with me! The tabloids? Last night I dreamed that I was Holly Hunter's "boy toy" in Oklahoma City! You know, she's playing Grace Hanadarko, an Oklahoma City detective, in the new series "Saving Grace" on TNT. Holly was in town to promote the show, see, and I finagled a way to meet her -- and she was so impressed with my slimming self and manly form that she was overcome. :-) Ha! Hey, Dr. ER and I both have celebrity fantasies. If Alan Rickman ("Severus Snape" in the Harry Potter series) or Jason Isaacs ("Lucious Malfoy" in Harry Potter) come close, she'll be all over 'em. :-) So, like, who's YOUR celebrity crush? Thursday, August 09, 2007 96.8 percent* pitiful ENID, Okla. -- Chisholm Public Schools officials have decided not to accept money raised for the high school football team during a backyard party after hearing beer was served at the function. Jeff Lack hosted the fundraiser and offered food, drinks, swimming and entertainment. Friends and family were invited, and Lack also asked the football coach to pass the word along to players. Lack’s son, Cory, was a football player killed in a car wreck (while legally intoxicated) three years ago. The father said it was his intention to help his son’s alma mater. A flier passed around the community pegged the event as CoryPalooza II, in memory of his son. Read all about ignorance gone to seed in Enid, Okla. To tell the truth, I don't know who is the ingnurntest here, the school for turning down the money, or the dad for having such bad judgment. *Oklahoma beer is 3.2 percent alcohol. Wednesday, August 08, 2007 'Murder by Dewey Decimal' It's good. I don't read much fiction for the same reason most people don't like history: The first history they read bored them. Well, most of the fiction I read early on bored me. "Murder by Dewey Decimal" is not boring. Danged if Tech didn't get me caring about the characters right off the bat. I've laughed out loud more than a few times, and moaned once or twice, at Tech's turns of phrase, and the words he puts in his characters' mouths. Interesting to me personally is that I can hear small-town voices and world views in this book, which, of course, is set in a small town in Oklahoma. He mentions our hometown, and mentions the suburb I live in now, which are just fun bonuses. "Murder by Dewey Decimal" came in Monday's mail and I've almost finished it. Now, I would never say anything negative about it, Tech being my friend, if I thought it -- I'd just be quiet. The fact that 1., I don't care for much fiction; 2., I am giving his book a positive report; and 3., I think I got my money's worth from buying it -- all that should count for something. Check it out -- ha ha, a little library humor there! What I mean is: Buy it. Buy it in paper or by download here. Buy it in hardback here. Buy goofy "Murder by Dewey Decimal" merchandise here. Tuesday, August 07, 2007 Oh, yeah. I have a blog. The past 10 days, though, I've been not only not at a computer, but not even indoors for most of every day. And I am universally sore. Every muscle. The good kind of sore, though -- no serious strains or anything. I think I managed to do everything I meant to do to get the ER house in shape to put on the market -- although more remains to be done. New fence or not? New carpet or not? And the more I get done, the easier it is to see smaller things that remain, like another, very slight crack around our master bedroom windows, like indoor doorknobs that need replaced, like outdoor light fixtures that also need replaced, because they're weatherworn. Here's how I spent Part 2 of my summer vacation (Part 1): Carried even more topsoil, one 40-pound at a time, into the back yard. The total is over 150 bags now. Hand tilled topsoil into bare patches. Fertilized and seeded bermudagrass in sunny spots. Grubbed out weeds and old, worn-out bushes and junk from under the big maple out by the back fence. Fertilized and seeded annual ryegrass in the shady spot under the maple tree. Borrowed a neighbor's wheelbarrow and hauled 14 loads of gravel -- two, 1,700-pound pickup loads -- into the back, to spread under a shed that I will advertise as "an outdoor living area partially equipped for a wet bar" (it has running water). Painstakingly used a hammer and large awl to remove about 100 steeples from railroad ties that are the box for what was my raised vegetable garden, said steeples used to tack down the wire, then removed and rolled up the wire. Pulled up 15 T-posts from the garden fence. Thought about spending $50 for a fencepost puller at the Tractor Supply, but decided I'd rather spend that money on cigars -- so I did, and pulled those puppies up by hand. Another 20 bags of topsoil to the front sideyard, tilled it, fertilized it and seeded annual ryegrass. Filled in remaining bare spots in the main front yard from where heavy rains washed out some of the bermudagrass I'd previously seeded. Hauled just one truckload of stuff to the local landfill transfer station. Meanwhile, Bird and YankeeBeautrothed worked a total of seven days (four for him, three for her, scraping, priming and repainting the pergola (I call it an arbor; it's like this one only twice as big)over the back patio. What a chore! It has 22 2-by-6's, about 20 feet long each, plus several crossbeams and six columns. Bird also scrubbed the front bathroom, top to bottom and side to side, and scrubbed the front porch and entry, and she helped Dr. ER with some stuff, and got a good start at emptying her old room, and Bird and YB both grubbed out about five years worth of dead matter and trimmed the pampas grass in front. Now, Dr. ER is back in Boulder. Bird is here until this weekend; YB goes to Houston and back for dental work -- and I am actually glad to be back at work, where I can get some rest. Sunday, August 05, 2007 The Rev. Al Green: 'Jesus is Waiting' Today is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it! Saturday, August 04, 2007 God is Love, Love is God, All You Need is Love, Goo Goo Ga-Joob Dr. ER, me, Bird and her YankeeBeautrothed were sitting down to supper. I said: "Ya know, I don't do this much at all, but I'm so glad we're all here together, I'd like to say Grace. " ' Rub a dub dub. Thanks for the grub. Yay God. God, thank you. Thank you for being God. Thank you for your apparent patience with us anthropomorphizing You -- since it's all we know to do. We see You as a form of ourselves. Thank you for your Love. Thank you for your early Christian follower who wrote, "God is love." So, thank you, Love, for You. Because Love is here with us right now. Which means that You are here with us now. In the name of Jesus, our best example of your Love for us, Amen.' " Keep the manlike God on the Big Throne. God seen like that is too small. I've been meditating on Paul's words as noted in Acts 17: 24-28: "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one [blood] every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ " I just love this: "that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being ..." I suppose that God doesn't change, as it is said -- although I don't know why that should be the case. But our concepts of God change. They have to, as WE change. What is your concept of God today? Feb. 17, 2001 Dale Earnhardt died the next day. I can still hear the gasp, the "noooo" and the wail from Dr. ER, who was in her office here at the house, clicking "update" on a news site until she learned what we feared. Horrible day. We had gotten a cake in the shape of Dale's famous No. 3 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Chevrolet. I remember we also had Frito chili pie as race food that day. Shudder. The year 2001 sucked in many ways. Jan. 27 sucked. Feb. 18 sucked. Sept. 11 sucked, of course. Shudder. Bird and YankeeBeautrothed have taken up bowling. We all took the day off today from hard manual labor. Tonight we bowl. And thus will fall, six years and six months after the fact, the last remaining stigma associated with Dale's death. Friday, August 03, 2007 My truck smells like a seedy strip club What a hoot. Outside the kitchen window, I can see YankeeBeautrothed's feet on the second rung of a ladder. Bird is on another ladder. They have primed and are now painting the arbor over the patio. YB makes a hand, YB does, and Bird is a hard worker, too. My own hard manual labor beckons: Another three-quarter ton of gravel to get from the back of my truck to the "floor" of a shed out back; another few hundred pounds of soil into a low spot of the yard; and I've got got to finish taking down a hog-wire-and-T-post fence I put up to keep Riker and Bailey out of my garden. Tomorrow, I've got to haul more soil into more low spots, in a front sideyard, and till it and sow more ryegrass in a shadey spot. Perfect weather for all this, too: Dry, highs in upper 90s, most of the humidity has burned off.

Óskar Þór Argrímsson—who performs as Z—is one of Reykjavík’s most eclectic DJs. His sets can contain anything from unfamiliar Eastern scales to brass band renditions, cover versions of classics, oddball curios and futuristic electronica. We asked him to line up a few of his all-time favourite Icelandic tracks. Stonemilker – Björk I hadn’t listened to Björk for a long time and found ‘Vulnicura’ when flying home from South Africa. I’d been travelling for 30-odd hours, and was at a weird place in my life. I ended up listening to this song on repeat, finding emotions that I had been escaping for years. The nice lady next to me handed over some tissues that came with her gin and tonic because my eyes were leaking. I will never forget how Björk spoke to my soul on that flight. Bacalau – ADHD ADHD is a phenomenon that I’ll never understand—and really don’t want to. To come close to understanding, you need to experience them live. They’ll take you on a journey unlike any other. Last time I saw them I had an out of body experience the whole time. I went from seeing colours not known to men, to a tractor driving in the Highlands in a blizzard. This song is somewhere in the mystic middle. Ellý og Vilhjálmur Vilhjálms – Vegir Liggja til Allra Átta There’s something in the drum groove of this song that’s so pleasing. Then, it breaks down to a violin and bass and everything becomes foggy. When we return to the song, Ellý comes on again. There have never been two voices that compliment each other so well. The perfect road trip song. Megas & Spilverk Þjóðanna – Heimspekilegar Vangaveltur Um Þjóðfélagsstöðu I’m not sure why there isn’t a statue of Megas in Reykjavík. It’s hard to pick just one of his songs, because they’re all so good. My friend, Siggi, and I often ended up after a long night listening to the album this one is from. It paints a beautiful picture of the darker side of Reykjavík, and gives life to the people on the streets. Hildur Guðnadóttir – Pump Room Hildur Guðnadóttir has become my favourite composer of the last few years. This song was made for the TV series ‘Chernobyl.’ I read somewhere that she sampled sounds from a nuclear power plant in Lithuania. She’s so clever in manipulating sound. I’ve listened to this album on repeat since I watched the show, and it has taken on a life on its own in my head. Ben Frost – Venter I have no clue what Ben Frost is saying with his songs—all I know is he always seems to please a strange part in me. This is my “get your shit together” song. Somehow there are no limits—the gods have an open line to you, and everything is possible. It’s like the Icelandic winter, dark and cold. Æla – Your Head Is My Ground Aggressive, strange and vulnerable is probably the best way to describe Æla. They’re my all time favorite live band, and they used to go berserk everywhere they went. There was something so charming about a man that started most shows in a tuxedo, got violently drunk, fell off his chair a few times and ended up in a snow white dress. I hope that they start playing again—the world needs more Æla. Book your day tours in Iceland right here!

We're not talking love novels here. Romanticism is an influential genre that caused many subsequent genres to emerge. We hope this guide is particularly helpful for students and teachers to teach and learn its roots and exemplary works. Romanticism is totally different from Romance novels. Inspired by the German Strum und Drang (storm and stress), the movement was a reaction to the constraints of rationalism and scientific thought from the Enlightenment. Romanticism is the belief that emotions and intuition are more important than logic and facts; the individual comes first and is primarily good, and nature is meant to be worshipped. Contrast this with Realism (its polar opposite) and Dark Romanticism-- both emphasize human fallibility (they are pessimists). Lyrical Ballads (1798) by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge marked the beginning of the Romantic Age. Soon followed Sir Walter Scott with his chivalrous, medieval tales about King Arthur and his Knights, in The Talisman. To be considered a Romantic author, one must be an optimist, focus on feelings, the senses, imagination, and generally enjoy describing his/her experiences in the natural environment, particularly enjoy individual freedoms of expression. Romantics reject strict religious traditions and prescribed moral rules. The genre of Romanticism in art, literature, and music emerged in Europe in the late 18th century to early 19th century and migrated to America, influencing politics, art, and particularly American literature between 1830-1865. Romantic writing styles focused on the effects of events (spiritual forces) rather than facts or details, created imaginery worlds, relied on contrasts (e.g., good vs. evil, light vs. dark), and saw God as an external force. Romanticism led to the Transcendental Movement, very similar in their embrace of the innate goodness of man, except Transcendentalists felt man had a personal relationship with God and could achieve perfection. This prompted a reaction: Dark Romanticism (we are predisposed to sin) and its even darker cousin, Gothic Literature (torment, graphic morbidity, and the supernatural). Exemplary Romantic Prose Authors: James Fenimore Cooper (The Last of the Mohicans), Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter), Herman Melville (Moby-Dick; or the Whale), Alexandre Dumas (The Count of Monte Cristo), Hans Christian Andersen (The Little Match Girl), Victor Hugo (Les Miserables), Oscar Wilde (The Selfish Giant), and Louisa May Alcott (Little Women). Many of the works referenced above cross into the genre of Dark Romanticism, as their characters confront self-destructive forces and societal norms. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville is one of the most recognized novels in the genre of Dark Romanticism. Melville's Captain Ahab is the prototype of human fallibility, and he draws upon amble Biblical allusions (including his character names) centering on themes of judgement, guilt, sin, souls, and the end of the world. See Moby-Dick - Study Guide The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne exemplifies Dark Romanticism in its themes of imposed judgement and punishment for those who commit sin, resulting in alienation and self-destruction. Hawthorne's most famous novel examined the human soul and our morality-- certainly a cautionary tale about the dangers of well-intended social reform and blind religious fervor. While Hawthorne dappled in numerous genres, including Transcendentalism and Romanticism, he found his niche in Dark Romanticism, albeit on the less pessimistic side. He believed that for all of our weaknesses, hypocrisy and suffering, "the truth of the human heart" usually prevails. Emily Dickinson challenged the definitions of poetry and exemplify Romanticism, particularly Dark Romanticism. It's well-known that she led an increasingly reclusive life, afflicted by severe depression, and never saw success during her lifetime (she died at 56). Yet, her creative energy, willingness to fight conventions (no titles, short lines), and prolific writing (she published nearly 1,800 poems in her lifetime) established her literary prowess and blazed a trail for other poets and women writers to follow. Two American short story authors whose works were published after 1870 deserve inclusion as part of the American Romantic Movement: O. Henry and Kate Chopin. Their respective canons offer characters with emotional complexity, intuition, and an ability to express individual freedoms in the face of repressive forces or social conventions. The etymology of the word "Romanticism" is from the Latin word "romant" which means "in the Roman manner." It became known as a style of art, literature, and music that drew on emotions, intuition, and imagination, rather than rationality and science. American authors embracing the Romantic Movement were most prolific between 1830-1870. The country was in its infancy as an independent nation, the industrial revolution brought many practical and efficient inventions, and "manifest destiny" was on full-tilt. Americans wanted to break away from European thoughts and philosophies to create unique forms of emotional expressions. Two opposing sub-genres emerged that were uniquely American: the optimists who believed in human goodness and spirituality, grew in to the Transcendentalism Movement; the pessimists, who embraced human fallibility and our predisposition towards sin, grew into the Dark Romantic Movement. Authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote about free choice and the wrongful persecution of minorities in America, as in The Scarlet Letter. During the American Romantic Movement, the short story emerged as a particularly well-suited American form of writing, celebrating the freedom of individuals, the rise of the common man after industrialization, and expressions of hope and promise, in a compact story, rather than a lengthy, laborious novel. These stories were often published in serial form in newspapers and magazines, making them more accessible to a broad range of American readers. Expanding literacy to "the masses" fit within America's political and moral values as well. Explain the specific qualities of each quote as an exemplar of Romanticism: I sang of the dancing stars, I sang of the daedal earth, And of heaven, and the giant wars, And love, and death, and birth.” -- Percy Pysshe Shelley's Hymn of Pan And of his fame forgetful! so his fame Should share in nature's immortality, A venerable thing! and so his song Should make all nature lovelier, and itself Be lov'd, like nature!" -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Nightingale, A Conversational Poem For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding; For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head; It is some dream that on the deck, You've fallen cold and dead. -- Walt Whitman's O Captain! My Captain!, a tribute to Abraham Lincoln "There stood Perseus, a beautiful young man, with golden ringlets and rosy cheeks, the crooked sword by his side, and the brightly polished shield upon his arm,—a figure that seemed all made up of courage, sprightliness, and glorious light." -- Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Gorgon's Head I like to see it lap the miles, And lick the valleys up, And stop to feed itself at tanks; And then, prodigious, step Around a pile of mountains... -- Emily Dickinson's The Railway Train "The sweetness of that sick child, looking ever to her in love, patience, and gratitude, was as honey to her soul, and she carried her in her heart as well as in her arms, a precious burden." -- T.S. Arthur's An Angel in Disguise "No one had the slightest suspicion of what beautiful things she had seen; no one even dreamed of the splendor in which, with her grandmother she had entered on the joys of a new year." -- Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl "Free, free, free! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!" -- Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour 1. Identify the characteristics of Romanticism. How is it different from "Romance" in meaning and expression. 2. Compare "Romanticism" and "Dark Romanticism." Provide examples to support your answer. 3. What made American Romanticism particularly unique from European Romanticism? 4. Nathaniel Hawthorne began his writing career considered a Romantic author, then moved towards Transcendentalism, before rejecting it in favor of the genre of his greatest success: Dark Romanticism. Find an example of his work from each of these genres and discuss their contrasting styles. 5. Read The Last Dream of Old Oak and discuss how the story is indicative of Romanticism. Also analyze Andersen's use of anthropomorphism as the ephemera and the oak discuss quality of life and that time is all relative. 6. Discuss Emily Dickinson's seemingly contradictory voices as a poet. Select at least two poems, identify elements of depression/hope, resilience/morbidity, and love/loss. 7. Provide an example of Romanticism's characteristic "hero worship." Compare it to a modern day equivalent (Wonder Woman, Marvel comic heroes?) 8. Discuss the timeless appeal of emotional stories (dramas) compared to documentaries (facts or persuasive pieces). Is the Romantic Movement still alive and well in modern times (and why do we love emoticons on our smart phones so much?) Visit our Teacher Resources, supporting literacy instruction across all grade levels

In the post, Johnson claimed that two weeks previously, her daughter became ill during a journey to college in Colorado and reported difficulty breathing. At some point during the journey, she was taken to an urgent care clinic. According to Johnson, she believed it “would be a quick visit,” and that she possibly had bronchitis “and she’d be fixed up quick and moving into her dorm the next day.” However, Johnson said, her daughter’s condition remained severe: The nurses and I had to wear masks to protect us from whatever virus or bacteria had begun to literally wreak havoc on her body. She cried to her nurse that it hurt too bad to take a breath. She was getting IV fluids, antibiotics, pain meds, anti-nausea meds and a diuretic to help clear fluid from her badly inflamed lungs. She continued to need more and more oxygen. The pain meds barely took the edge off. Tests were run, more meds were ordered, she was eventually transferred to a room on the ICU floor in case her oxygen needs became even more severe. According to Johnson, Piper’s illness was due solely from vaping: How does a healthy 18 year old become a VERY sick patient whose oxygen needs just keep increasing? VAPING. That’s how. She became Colorado’s first confirmed case of what was called a “sudden and severe lung illness due to vaping.” Johnson went on to urge readers to support restrictions on all related products. One day before Johnson’s post, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment tweeted that two cases of “sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping” had been confirmed in the state: Colorado now has two confirmed cases of sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping. We will provide regular case updates on our website.https://t.co/DURa4uNebh — CDPHE (@CDPHE) August 29, 2019 A statement last updated on August 30 2019 reiterated that two cases of “sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping” had been documented in Colorado. A portion of the release suggested that the illnesses were not necessarily due to standard use of products as intended. In a section titled “what people should avoid,” two of CDPHE’s advisories stood out: Do not buy e-cigarette products off the street (for example, e-cigarette products with THC or other cannabinoids). Do not modify e-cigarette products or add any substances to these products that are not intended by the manufacturer. Local news reports made little effort to determine why cases presented in August 2019 when the practice of vaping or use of e-cigarettes had been fairly regular in the United States since at least 2006. Scattered reports of “sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping” began cropping up in the summer of 2019, but very few articles went into detail about what may have changed. On August 31 2019, the New York Times published a far more in-depth article about clusters of “sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping.” It began: An 18-year-old showed up in a Long Island emergency room, gasping for breath, vomiting and dizzy. When a doctor asked if the teenager had been vaping, he said no. The patient’s older brother, a police officer, was suspicious. He rummaged through the youth’s room and found hidden vials of marijuana for vaping. “I don’t know where he purchased it. He doesn’t know,” said Dr. Melodi Pirzada, chief pediatric pulmonologist at NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, N.Y., who treated the young man. “Luckily, he survived.” Patients, mostly otherwise healthy and in their late teens and 20s, are showing up with severe shortness of breath, often after suffering for several days with vomiting, fever and fatigue. Some have wound up in the intensive care unit or on a ventilator for weeks. Treatment has been complicated by patients’ lack of knowledge — and sometimes outright denial — about the actual substances they might have used or inhaled. That introduction was notable for two reasons: That the patient denied vaping overall, and that the patient was vaping products adulterated to contain cannabis in a state where such products are not available for regulated sale. The piece goes on to reiterate that patients were often unable or unwilling to disclose which substances they may have vaped before falling ill — understandably, if the substances were illicit or illegal. Instances of “sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping” did not appear to be striking older vapers, many of whom have long used mainstream vaping products. The cases highlighted by the New York Times appeared to affect largely teenagers and young adults, and modification of vaping equipment to vape cannabis products was frequently cited. The article cited oils as a factor in many of the cases: “Inhaling oil into your lungs is extremely dangerous behavior that could result in death,” said Thomas Eissenberg, who studies vaping at Virginia Commonwealth University. “That is probably the biggest message we can get out of this.” Many vaping ingredients are not listed on the products. Vitamin E oil appears to have been a common substance associated with the severe and sudden respiratory problems in some of the New York cases, according to state health officials. It is not known how it was used. Vitamin E is sometimes advertised as a supplement in cannabidiol oil, which is not designed for vaping but has been used that way. Mainstream e-cigarette solutions for vaping, commonly known as “e-juice” or “juice,” does not use oil as a carrier due to the danger inherent in vaping oils. Products purchased in stores contain nicotine, flavoring, propylene glycol, and/or vegetable glycerin. E-cigarette manufacturers are presumably aware that vaping oil is dangerous and exclude it from their carrier solutions, whereas users modifying juices or delivery devices may not be aware of the risks when adulterating products in order to vape THC. Suspected modification of e-cigarettes to vape cannabis products is always present in reports on outbreaks of “sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping.” The Times article quoted a public safety expert: Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said he suspected a link to illicit products — perhaps related to ingredients including THC — because the main manufacturers of e-cigarettes had not suddenly altered their ingredients on a wide scale. “It’s probably something new that has been introduced into the market by an illegal manufacturer, either a new flavor or a new way to emulsify THC that is causing these injuries,” he said. Another public health expert consulted for the article interviewed a number of patients about the products they had inhaled before falling ill. She said “interviews with patients suggested they were getting the marijuana liquid from friends in states with legal supplies of the drug, like California and Colorado.” The article goes on to highlight the intersection of regulated nicotine vaping products with the largely unregulated, federally illegal topic of cannabis products: The F.D.A. oversees CBD products sold as dietary supplements, but does not regulate THC, which is illegal under federal law. Liquid nicotine and THC, sometimes sold in cartridges for use in vaping devices, can each contain oils that may be safe to swallow but can damage the lung when vaporized into a mix of unknown chemicals. On August 30 2019, the Centers for Disease Control issued a public health advisory about cases of “sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping.” In it, the CDC noted that “many patients have reported using e-cigarettes containing cannabinoid products such as THC or CBD” before falling ill. In a section advising the public, the CDC recommended not modifying e-cigarette products and not buying them “off the street”: Regardless of the ongoing investigation, anyone who uses e-cigarette products should not buy these products off the street (e.g., e-cigarette products with THC, other cannabinoids) and should not modify e-cigarette products or add any substances to these products that are not intended by the manufacturer. Twitter user Amelia Howard shared an annotated version of the CDC advisory, noting portions where vague or confusing language obfuscated aspects of the notice: I used Hypothesis to make some annotations on The CDC's heath advisory on "Severe Pulmonary Disease Associated with Using E-Cigarette Products" You can read the advisory with my notes here: https://t.co/TXTC5lb8Vg Click on the arrow at the top right to expand the comments. — Amelia Howard (@Amelia_RH) September 2, 2019 Howard noted in part that no commercial product had been implicated, and that with the exception of one state, the cases were in states where THC products were not legally marketed or sold, and thus unregulated: The term “e-cigarettes” is commonly understood to mean nicotine vaping products, not THC oil pens/cartridges. Based on the available evidence, it is quite clear that the majority, if not all of the observed cases are associated with the use of THC oils, most of which were accessed through the black market. Conversely, there is currently no evidence that any commercial nicotine vaping product has caused any one of the cases of pulmonary disease in the outbreak. By and large (and with the exception of California) the cases are clustered in states with no legal recreational cannabis market, and either extremely restrictive medical cannabis regulations, or no legal market for medical cannabis. In other words, the cases are happening in places where the black market is the only option for people who use cannabis recreationally. Howard referenced remarks from Dr. Michael Siegel, Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health. Siegel explained that conflating common use of e-cigarettes with the illnesses likely caused by black-market products poses a risk to public health: This is a public health crisis and I think that any physician who makes public statements about these cases has a responsibility to provide accurate information that will actually help to prevent further cases from occurring. Scaring people into thinking that any vaping product can cause respiratory failure is not only inaccurate, but it is irresponsible because it doesn’t provide useful information that can help youth avoid the specific products that are responsible for the observed cases. As an trained epidemiologist, it was immediately clear to me that these cases are not being caused by vaping products generally because these products have been on the market for years without any significant problems and because the reports are clustered in specific geographic areas. Now that further information is available, it is clear that the majority of the observed cases are associated with the use of THC oils that were obtained from unlicensed sellers. It is also likely that cases occurring among people using nicotine-containing e-liquids without THC are due to a contaminant that is appearing in products being sold on the black market, not in retail stores. In a disease outbreak such as this one, responsible public warnings need to be as specific as possible about the risk. In an outbreak of E. coli caused by a contaminated batch of lettuce, we don’t tell the public that the disease is associated with eating, or even that it is associated with eating lettuce. People need much more specific guidance if they are to take appropriate action to avoid or reduce the risk of further spread of the outbreak. Here, we need to start telling the public the truth. However much physicians or anti-nicotine groups may not like it, the truth is that the outbreak we are seeing is not due to the risks of using standard vaping products. It appears much more likely that the outbreak is mostly, if not completely attributable to illicit products–especially THC extracts–that are being sold by unlicensed sellers on the black market. Unless people are provided with this specific information, they will not take action to avoid the products that could put them at risk. Some reporting on the outbreak mentioned a company — Dank Vapes — and its link to some of the cases. A Wisconsin man sickened by vaping black market items identified a cartridge from Dank Vapes as the possible culprit. A Rolling Stone article referenced Dank Vapes as a “black market brand of ambiguous origins,” and referenced the case on Long Island and a vitamin E oil adulterant: Lab testing of [Dr. Melodi ] Pirzada’s patient’s cartridge revealed that it tested positive for not just THC, but also vitamin E. If inhaled, oils like Vitamin E can cause lipoid pneumonitis, a rare condition that results from fat particles being inhaled into the lungs, says Pirzada. When she submitted the results to the Department of Health, it informed her that there were two other cases of THC cartridges testing positive for vitamin E oil, though she says the cartridge is currently being retested for other substances. The viral Facebook post from the parent of a teenager hospitalized in Colorado due to “sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping” was a clearly emotional plea shared due to the illness of the girl in the photograph. Misinformation about sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping was rampant on social media in August 2019, due to clusters of the illness reported in several states. Although the poster said that it is not only unregulated products causing illness (which public health officials continue to investigate), all available information suggested that the illnesses indeed were likely attributable to adulterated vape products and not commercial e-cigarette components or juices. We have been so far unable to locate any reports associated solely with standard vaping or e-cigarette usage, and the illness seemed to strike young users. The nature of the mechanism of injury (suspected vaping of cannabis in states where it is illegal) suggests that some patients might not be willing to disclose that activity to doctors or parents. Cases of sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping are real, and there is no reason to suspect that the Facebook post did not reference one such case. However, its focus on all vaping and e-cigarette products was misguided when read in contrast with commentary by public health experts. Although investigators struggled to identify a highly specific common factor in all the cases, most seemed to agree that e-cigarette cartridges and juice adulterated with oil and/or cannabis products in states without legal dispensaries were likely to blame. Commercial vaping products existed for well over a decade in the United States before sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping cases began popping up, but few if any illnesses linked directly to those products followed before the 2019 cases appeared. Update: September 5 2019, 4:48 PM On September 5 2019, the Washington Post reported that investigators identified a common thread in samples of cannabis products used by many patients with sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping — vitamin E oil: State and federal health officials investigating mysterious lung illnesses linked to vaping have found the same chemical in samples of marijuana products used by people sickened in different parts of the country and who used different brands of products in recent weeks. The chemical is an oil derived from vitamin E. Investigators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found the oil in cannabis products in samples collected from patients who fell ill across the United States. FDA officials shared that information with state health officials during a telephone briefing this week, according to several officials who took part in the call. That same chemical was also found in nearly all cannabis samples from patients who fell ill in New York in recent weeks, a state health department spokeswoman said. … “We knew from earlier testing by New York that they had found vitamin E acetate, but to have FDA talk about it from their overall testing plan, that was the most remarkable thing that we heard,” said one official who took part in the briefing but was not authorized to speak publicly. The Washington Post further reported that state and federal health authorities said they were “focusing on the role of contaminants or counterfeit substances as a likely cause” of the illnesses in question. Federal findings aligned with those in New York State, where “very high levels of vitamin E acetate in nearly all” samples tested, and “vitamin E acetate is now a key focus” in the New York investigation. What makes the presence of vitamin E acetate so worrisome boils down to its unsuitable nature for inhalation: Unlike the human digestive tract, which can break down and get rid of foreign substances, the lungs aren’t designed to handle anything except gases, experts said. When oils are inhaled, they are temporarily heated and vaporized. That heated and vaporized substance returns to its original state after it is inhaled, coating the inside of the user’s lungs with oils. Inhaling products adulterated with oils such as vitamin E acetate can lead to a rare but serious condition known as lipoid pneumonia (less commonly called cholesterol pneumonia.) Although authorities said they had not yet ruled out adulterants in nicotine-only samples, the Food and Drug Administration thus far has analyzed “12 viable nicotine samples and 18 viable THC products,” adding that “Vitamin E acetate was found in 10 of the 18 THC products.” By contrast, FDA lab tests found “nothing unusual in nicotine products that had been collected from sick patients.” In a September 2019 bulletin issued in Oregon, health officials indicated that one sudden and severe lung illness associated with vaping death occurred in an individual who had recently used “an e-cigarette or vaping device containing cannabis.”

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Third International Yoga Day To mark the third International Day of Yoga, the Embassy of India, The Hague and The Gandhi Centre, the Cultural Wing of the Embassy will be organizing an event in the Atrium, City Hall of The Hague on Sunday, June 18, 2017 and 10.00hrs. The event is open to the public, free of charge and the Ambassador of India Venu Rajamony will take the lead during the yoga session. Similar sessions will be held in 177 other countries to attract both beginners as well as experienced practitioners of yoga, making the 3rd International Day of Yoga a global success. For more information: http://www.indianembassy.nl/news_detail.php?id=162 Yoga, a 5,000-year-old physical, mental and spiritual practice having its origin in India, aims to transform body and mind. The word ‘yoga’ which derives from Sanskrit means to join or to unite, symbolizing the union of body and consciousness. The international appeal of Yoga 21 June was declared as the International Day of Yoga by the United Nations General Assembly on 11 December 2014, after the call for the adoption by Indian Prime Minister during his address to UN General Assembly where in he stated: “Yoga is an invaluable gift of India’s ancient tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature.” “The General Assembly has recognized the holistic benefits of this timeless practice and its inherent compatibility with the principles and values of the United Nations. Yoga offers a simple, accessible and inclusive means to promote physical and spiritual health and well-being. It promotes respect for one’s fellow human beings and for the planet we share. And yoga does not discriminate; to varying degrees, all people can practice, regardless of their relative strength, age or ability”, Secretary General to the United Nations.

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Historical facts that will blow your mind (30 Photos. 50 Of The Most Scandalous, Weird, And Bizarre Historical Facts You Didn’t Know. Over on Reddit, someone asked people to tell the R rated historical fact they “know” that is usually left out of classroom discussion. The most interesting responses are below. 1. Charles II captain_darling: Charles II on the wedding night of his nephew and future King, William of Orange, watched the entire consummation whilst shouting encouragement from the sidelines. 2. GhettoMuppet: The Ivanov experiments- basically some Russian scientist in the 1920s conducted experiments where he tried to make a “humanzee”. 3. BalalaikaMiG: Boston Corbett, the man who found and shot John Wilkes Booth, was completely insane from handling mercury as a hatter. 4. Scrimpasher: The vibrator was created to treat Hysteria because doctors were taking too long to manually masterbate women. 5. Benrawie: When the Russian Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and stormed the Winter Palace in 1917 their revolution was halted for a few days. 33 Shocking Facts That Will Change How You Picture History. 10 Cases of American Intervention in Latin America. Politics With the current political crisis in Honduras, American (US) foreign policy is looking to soften its historic reputation in the region by largely deferring negotiations to Latin American diplomats. While the Honduran economy relies heavily on remittances sent from the U.S., many are wary of American involvement at the state level. To help explain why, here is a list of ten previous instances of American involvement in Latin America. Note: This is NOT an endorsement of radical governments that have taken hold in some parts of Latin America whose adherence to democracy is often questionable, but rather a balanced historic perspective to explain anti-U.S. sentiment in the region. The Platt Amendment This addition to the Army Appropriations Act, submitted by Senator Orville Pratt (R-Ohio), set the stage for US-Cuban relations in the early 20th Century. 10 Forgotten Events That Shaped The Modern World. History History is full of twists and turns that ultimately shaped the world we live in today. Sheer coincidences, forgotten heroics, and unforeseen consequences have—for better or for worse—created the modern world as we know it. Below are ten instances of “forgotten” events that would have altered our current society—and possibly our very existence—had they not occurred. Norwegian Heavy Water Sabotage When developing nuclear weapons, one must acquire a large quantity of “heavy water,” or Deuterium Oxide. Despite a number of failures, saboteurs managed to destroy the German supply of heavy water in 1943. Black History Little Known Facts. Check out 124 little known facts in Black History. 1-63 | 64-124 Fact #1 As a child Muhammad Ali was refused an autograph by his boxing idol, Sugar Ray Robinson. When Ali became a prizefighter, he vowed never to deny an autograph request, which he honored throughout his career. Fact #2 Muhammad Ali, the self-proclaimed "greatest [boxer] of all time," was originally named after his father, who was named after the 19th-century abolitionist and politician Cassius Marcellus Clay. Fact #3 Allensworth is the first all-black Californian township, founded and financed by African Americans. Fact #4 Jazz, an African–American musical form born out of the blues, ragtime and marching bands, originated in Louisiana during the turn of the 19th century. Fact #5 Fact #6 Before Wally Amos became famous for his "Famous Amos" chocolate chip cookies, he was a talent agent at the William Morris Agency, where he worked with the likes of the Supremes and Simon & Garfunkel. Fact #8 Fact #9 Fact #10 Fact #11 Fact #12. 10 Forgotten Facts About Historical Events. History History is a funny sort of thing. As humans, we often take an extremely complex event and filter the information from that event that best captures the story in our minds. As a result of the limited nature of the human brain, often fascinating and/or critical information is lost. In this list, I wanted to capture some of the often overlooked and under-reported information surrounding major historical events. This list is in no way definitive and somewhat U.S. While the moon landing may be the single most remembered event in the history of mankind and President John Kennedy, as the man who championed and led this accomplishment, often forgotten is Kennedy’s true motive for the daunting task. Mass suicide at Jonestown Japan’s Emperor after Hiroshima When U.S. history recalls Japan in WWII, it often only remembers the mushroom clouds that scarred Japan’s physical geography and overlooks the strong psychological moorings that were devastated after the surrender. Jamie Frater. 15 Historical Facts You Don't Know. History We all love facts – especially historical ones and ones that are new to us. This list looks at 15 facts that are, hopefully, unknown to most of us here. From the Ancient world to the early modern times, these are all entries that have not appeared before on Listverse. Be sure to add your own unusual or little-known facts to the comments.

Journalists report that a famous actress and public figure broke with the chosen one. Themselves Khamatova and Shane prefer to refrain from comments about his personal life. Despite the breakup with his wife, Alexander continues to take care of the General S daughter. That in relations Chulpan Khamatova and Alexander Shein, not everything went smoothly, rumors go a long time. However, at the end of October, the media reported on the divorce of actress and Director. According to some, an artist and public figure a free woman now. Very Khamatova prefer to refrain from comments about his personal life, wanting to keep it secret from the public. It is not known when Khamatova and Shane decided to terminate the marriage. Speaking about the new film “Makowski”, which was presented at the festival “Territory”, the couple decided to refrain from official statements about his personal life. Khamatova has played a major role in interdisciplinary project Shane dedicated to the famous poet. Chulpan got the role of Mayakovsky’s lover Lili Brik. “I am very to her, because he tortured her,” said the Director about Khamatova some time ago. In the picture Shane also starred Lyudmila Maksakova, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Michael Efremov and Evgenie Mironov. “A look at key moments the fate of Vladimir Mayakovsky through the prism of the present,” reads the abstract of the proposal. Work on it lasted for about 10 years. By the way, Chulpan Khamatova appeared at the opening of the festival in a hoodie with a slogan in support of Kirill Serebrennikov. Recently the Director, who is accused of organizing the theft of 68 million rubles from the budget, extended the house arrest. Many figures of art and culture made a statement in support of the government. Sobchak, knights, Bondarchuk and other publicly appealed to Serebrennikov “I, like thousands of other people around the world need movies and plays Cyril . And I hope that the Wraith that is going on around him, is to be held as soon as possible, and everything will fall into place,” wrote Khamatova in one of the social networks. According to some, Chulpan Khamatova secretly recorded relationship with Shane Alexander in 2010. The lovers decided to get married a week before the alleged birth of a common child – daughter AI. In 2014 in the media appeared information that the couple broke up. Later, however, Alexander has denied these rumors, saying that there are no problems in relations with his wife. Recently, reporters made contact with Shane and asked him to comment on the details of the divorce. “I do not discuss it, we are not marriage Agency”, – said the Director of the correspondents. According to representatives of the media, the man continues to take an active part in bringing up her daughter the first of September, I went to school with their parents. Based on the materials Mk.ru and “Express newspaper”.

Bangkok/Milan/Seoul – March 13, 2020 (travelindex.com) – Delays in testing set back the coronavirus response. Independent research projects in several countries concluded that early and wide testing makes containment of the virus much easier. The small city-state of Singapore has shown the world how to respond to an unprecedented global health crisis like coronavirus by taking exemplary measures to (a) contain the virus, (b) handle efficiently the economic impact and (c) to minimize the psychological effect on its population. Mr. Deepak Ohri, CEO of lebua hotels and resorts, a small hospitality private sector company in Bangkok (Thailand) took exceptional measures within its organization to retain all employees in their jobs and still guarantee the survival of the company. Lebua started “Super Friday”, weekly events for all its staff to keep them happy and motivated while assuring their psychological well-being. Deepak said “these are extraordinary times requiring extraordinary measures but not measures to the disadvantage of employees”. Mr. Ohri was recognized, in November 2019 as the World’s Leading Travel Personality by voters of the World Travel Awards, urges Governments, Local Authorities and Destination Marketing Organizations to do more and work together to fight and contain the deadly coronavirus. Deepak said “we can’t stop the virus but if we all work together to coordinate our efforts and urge authorities to make swift decisions we can prevent the spread of this virus. China and South Korea have demonstrated that the coronavirus can be suppressed and controlled.” And echoing Dr. Tedros, WHO Director-General, he said “let’s all look out for each other, because we’re in this together to do the right thing, the COVID-19 pandemic can still be contained if countries act fast.” In Italy, millions are locked down and more than 1,000 people have died from the coronavirus. In South Korea, hit by the disease at about the same time, only a few thousand are quarantined and 67 people have died. As the virus courses through the world, the story of two outbreaks illustrates a coming problem for countries now grappling with an explosion in cases. It’s impractical to test every potential patient, but unless the authorities can find a way to see how widespread infection is, their best answer is lockdown. Italy started out testing widely, then narrowed the focus so that now, the authorities don’t have to process hundreds of thousands of tests. But there’s a trade-off: They can’t see what’s coming and are trying to curb the movements of the country’s entire population of 60 million people to contain the disease. Even Pope Francis, who has a cold and delivered his Sunday blessing over the internet from inside the Vatican, said he felt “caged in the library.” Thousands of miles away in South Korea, authorities have a different response to a similar-sized outbreak. They are testing hundreds of thousands of people for infections and tracking potential carriers like detectives, using cell phone and satellite technology. Both countries saw their first cases of the disease called COVID-19 in late January. South Korea has since reported 67 deaths out of nearly 8,000 confirmed cases, after testing more than 222,000 people. In contrast, Italy has had 1,016 deaths and identified more than 15,000 cases after carrying out more than 73,000 tests on an unspecified number of people. Epidemiologists say it is not possible to compare the numbers directly. But some say the dramatically different outcomes point to an important insight: Aggressive and sustained testing is a powerful tool for fighting the virus. Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, said extensive testing can give countries a better picture of the extent of an outbreak. When testing in a country is limited, he said, the authorities have to take bolder actions to limit movement of people. “I’m uncomfortable with enforced lockdown-type movement restrictions,” he said. “China did that, but China is able to do that. China has a population that will comply with that.” The democracies of Italy and South Korea are useful case studies for countries such as America, which have had problems setting up testing systems and are weeks behind on the infection curve. So far, in Japan and the United States particularly, the full scale of the problem is not yet visible. Germany has not experienced significant testing constraints, but Chancellor Angela Merkel warned her people on Wednesday that since 60% to 70% of the populace is likely to be infected, the only option is containment. South Korea, which has a slightly smaller population than Italy at about 50 million people, has around 29,000 people in self-quarantine. It has imposed lockdowns on some facilities and at least one apartment complex hit hardest by outbreaks. But so far no entire regions have been cut off. Seoul says it is building on lessons learned from an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015 and working to make as much information available as possible to the public. It has embarked on a massive testing program, including people who have very mild illness, or perhaps don’t even have symptoms, but who may be able to infect others. This includes enforcing a law that grants the government wide authority to access data: CCTV footage, GPS tracking data from phones and cars, credit card transactions, immigration entry information, and other personal details of people confirmed to have an infectious disease. The authorities can then make some of this public, so anyone who may have been exposed can get themselves – or their friends and family members – tested. In addition to helping work out who to test, South Korea’s data-driven system helps hospitals manage their pipeline of cases. People found positive are placed in self-quarantine and monitored remotely through a smartphone app, or checked regularly in telephone calls, until a hospital bed becomes available. When a bed is available, an ambulance picks the person up and takes the patient to a hospital with air-sealed isolation rooms. All of this, including hospitalization, is free of charge. South Korea’s response is not perfect. While more than 209,000 people have tested negative there, results are still pending on about 18,000 others – an information gap that means there are likely more cases in the pipeline. The rate of newly confirmed cases has dropped since a peak in mid-February, but the system’s greatest test may still be ahead as authorities try to track and contain new clusters. South Korea does not have enough protective masks – it has started rationing them – and it is trying to hire more trained staff to process tests and map cases. And the approach comes at the cost of some privacy. South Korea’s system is an intrusive mandatory measure that depends on people surrendering what, for many in Europe and America, would be a fundamental right of privacy. Unlike China and the island-state of Singapore, which have used similar methods, South Korea is a large democracy with a population that is quick to protest policies it does not like. “Disclosing information about patients always comes with privacy infringement issues,” said Choi Jaewook, a preventive medicine professor at Korea University and a senior official at the Korean Medical Association. Disclosures “should be strictly limited” to patients’ movements, and “it shouldn’t be about their age, their sex, or their employers.” Traditional responses such as locking down affected areas and isolating patients can be only modestly effective, and may cause problems in open societies, says South Korea’s Deputy Minister for Health and Welfare Kim Gang-lip. In South Korea’s experience, he told reporters on Monday, lockdowns mean people participate less in tracing contacts they may have had. “Such an approach,” he said, “is close-minded, coercive, and inflexible.” ITALY “AT THE LIMIT” Italy and South Korea are more than 5,000 miles apart, but there are several similarities when it comes to coronavirus. Both countries’ main outbreaks were initially clustered in smaller cities or towns, rather than in a major metropolis – which meant the disease quickly threatened local health services. And both involved doctors who decided to ignore testing guidelines. Italy’s epidemic kicked off last month. A local man with flu symptoms was diagnosed after he had told medical staff he had not been to China and discharged himself, said Massimo Lombardo, head of local hospital services in Lodi. The diagnosis was only made after the 38-year-old, whose name has only been given as Mattia, returned to the hospital. Testing guidelines at the time said it was not necessary to test people who had no link to China or other affected areas. But an anaesthetist pushed the protocols and decided to go ahead and test for COVID-19 anyway, Lombardo said. Now, some experts in Italy believe Mattia may have been infected through Germany, rather than China. Decisions about testing hinge partly on what can be done with people who test positive, at a time when the healthcare system is already under stress. In Italy at first, regional authorities tested widely and counted all positive results in the published total, even if people did not have symptoms. Then, a few days after the patient known as Mattia was found to have COVID-19, Italy changed tack, only testing and announcing cases of people with symptoms. The authorities said this was the most effective use of resources: The risk of contagion seemed lower from patients with no symptoms, and limited tests help produce reliable results more quickly. The approach carried risks: People with no symptoms still can be infected and spread the virus. On the other hand, the more you test the more you find, so testing in large numbers can put hospital systems under strain, said Massimo Antonelli, director of intensive care at the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS in Rome. Testing involves elaborate medical processes and follow-up. “The problem is actively searching for cases,” he said. “It means simply the numbers are big.” Italy has a generally efficient health system, according to international studies. Its universal healthcare receives funding below the European Union average but is comparable with South Korea’s, at 8.9% of GDP against 7.3% in South Korea, according to the World Health Organization. Now, that system has been knocked off balance. Staff are being brought into accident and emergency departments, holidays have been canceled and doctors say they are delaying non-urgent operations to free up intensive care beds. Pier Luigi Viale, head of the infectious disease unit at Sant’ Orsola-Malpighi hospital in Bologna, is working around the clock – in three jobs. His hospital is handling multiple coronavirus cases. His doctors are shuttling to other hospitals and clinics in the area to lend their expertise and help out with cases. In addition, his doctors also have to deal with patients with other contagious diseases who are struggling to survive. “If it drags on for weeks or months we’ll need more reinforcements,” he told Reuters. Last week, the mayor of Castiglione d’Adda, a town of about 5,000 people in Lombardy’s “red zone” which was the first to be locked down, made an urgent online appeal for help. He said his small town had had to close its hospital and was left with one doctor to treat more than 100 coronavirus patients. Three of the town’s four doctors were sick or in self quarantine. “Doctors and nurses are at the limit,” said a nurse from the hospital where Mattia was taken in. “If you have to manage people under artificial respiration you have to be watching them constantly, you can’t look after the new cases that come in.” Studies so far suggest that every positive case of coronavirus can infect two other people, so local authorities in Lombardy have warned that the region’s hospitals face a serious crisis if the spread continues – not just for COVID-19 patients but also for others whose treatment has been delayed or disrupted. As the crisis spreads into Italy’s less prosperous south, the problems will be magnified. Intensive care facilities face the most intense pressure. They require specialist staff and expensive equipment and are not set up for mass epidemics. In total, Italy has around 5,000 intensive care beds. In the winter months, some of these are already occupied by patients with respiratory problems. Lombardy and Veneto have just over 1,800 intensive care beds between public and private systems, only some of which can be set aside for COVID-19 patients. The government has asked regional authorities to increase the number of intensive care places by 50% and to double the number of beds for respiratory and contagious diseases, while reorganizing staff rosters to ensure adequate staffing. Some 5,000 respirators have been acquired for intensive care stations, the first of which are due to arrive on Friday, deputy Economy Minister Laura Castelli said. The region has already asked nursing institutes to allow students to bring forward their graduation to get more nurses into the system early. Pools of intensive care specialists and anaesthetists are to be set up, including staff from outside the worst affected regions. To add to the burden, hospitals in Italy depend on medical personnel to try to trace the contacts that people who test positive have had with others. One doctor in Bologna, who asked not to be named, said he had spent a 12-hour day tracing people who had been in contact with just one positive patient, to ensure those who next need testing are found. “You can do that if the number of cases remains two to three,” the doctor said. “But if they grow, something has to give. The system will implode if we continue to test everyone actively and then have to do all this.” In South Korea as in Italy, an early case of COVID-19 was identified when a medical officer followed their intuition, rather than the official guidelines, on testing. The country’s first case was a 35-year-old Chinese woman who tested positive on Jan. 20. But the largest outbreak was detected after the 31st patient, a 61-year-old woman from South Korea’s southeastern city of Daegu, was diagnosed on Feb. 18. Like the patient named Mattia in Italy, the woman had no known links to Wuhan, the Chinese province where the disease was first identified. And as in Italy, the doctors’ decision to recommend a test went against guidelines at the time to test people who had been to China or been in contact with a confirmed case, said Korea Medical Association’s Choi Jaewook. “Patient 31,” as she became known, was a member of a secretive church which Deputy Minister for Health and Welfare Kim Gang-lip said has since linked to 61% of cases. Infections spread beyond the congregation after the funeral of a relative of the church’s founder was held at a nearby hospital, and there were several other smaller clusters around the country. Once the church cluster was identified, South Korea opened around 50 drive-through testing facilities around the country. In empty parking lots, medical staff in protective clothing lean into cars to check their passengers for fever or breathing difficulties, and if needed, collect samples. The process usually takes about 10 minutes, and people usually receive the results in a text reminding them to wash their hands regularly and wear face masks. A total of 117 institutions in South Korea have equipment to conduct the tests, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). The numbers fluctuate daily, but an average of 12,000 is possible, and maximum capacity is 20,000 tests a day. The government pays for tests of people with symptoms, if referred by a doctor. Otherwise, people who want to be tested can pay up to 170,000 won ($140), said an official at a company called Seegene Inc, which supplies 80% of the country’s kits and says it can test 96 samples at once. There are also 130 quarantine officers like Kim Jeong-hwan, who focus on minute details to track potential patients. The 28-year-old public health doctor spends his whole working days remotely checking up on people who have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Kim, who is doing military service, is one of a small army of quarantine officers who track the movements of any potential carriers of the disease by phone, app or the signals sent by cell phones or the black boxes in automobiles. Their goal: To trace all the contacts people may have had, so they too can be tested. “I haven’t seen anyone telling bad lies,” Kim said. “But lots of people generally don’t remember exactly what they did.” Underlining their determination, quarantine officers told Reuters they located five cases after a worker in a small town caught the virus and went to work in a “coin karaoke,” a bar where a machine lets people sing a few songs for a dollar. At first, the woman, who was showing symptoms, did not tell the officers where she worked, local officials told Reuters. But they put the puzzle together after questioning her acquaintances and obtaining GPS locations on her mobile device. “Now, quarantine officers have maximum power and authority,” said Kim Jun-geun, an official at Changnyeong County who collects information from quarantine officers. South Korea’s government also uses location data to customize mass messages sent to cellphones, notifying every resident when and where a nearby case is confirmed. Lee Hee-young, a preventative medicine expert who is also running the coronavirus response team in South Korea’s Gyeonggi province, said South Korea has gone some of the way after MERS to increase its infrastructure to respond to infectious diseases. But she said only 30% of the changes the country needs have happened. For instance, she said, maintaining a trained workforce and up-to-date infrastructure at smaller hospitals isn’t easy. “Until we fix this,” Lee said, “explosions like this can keep blowing up anywhere.” The world will be a better place than what we are experiencing now if we all learn from Governments like Singapore, South Korea or the Kingdom of Bahrain and from leading private companies like lebua hotels & resorts, BTS Thailand, Changi Airport Singapore and Singapore Airlines. Published first by Reuters as Special Report at /> Reporting for Reuters by Emilio Parodi, Stephen Jewkes, Angelo Amante, Sangmi Cha and Ju-min Park; Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in Milan and Josh Smith in Seoul, Julie Steenhuysen in New York; Edited by Sara Ledwith and Jason Szep. Edited by the editorial team at TravelCommunication.net for the Bangkok section.

How can you make a major life change amidst emotionally charged circumstances and maintain a feeling of healthy, viable sanity? No matter what is changing in your life, there are things that you can do to aid your own resilience to overwhelming stress; to lower “ruminating” or fixating on a problem/breakup and finally, to feel more confident. For 2 months, I have read this article about once a week. I know what I need to do… To let him go. But it just isn’t happening. I want someone to flip the switch and at that point… I am done. No looking back. Any advice on how to get that switch flipped???” Is there such a switch? In a way, the answer is yes. Let’s go a step at a time and focus on a little of what you’re thinking. Here is some mood music that I listen to when I’m thinking….I’m letting go…. - I know what I need to do. Okay, let’s use me as a semi-bad example. When I realized that I was not going to love “him” as my life mate, I also realized that part of me would also love him as the girl I used to be. You see, you’re not letting him go – you don’t have him to turn loose of. You’re letting go of the possible YOU in the future, the one that had hoped it would all work out. Truth is, we let go of the “dream” or possibility that was borne in this relationship. So you know what you NEED to do ~ but do you WANT to do that? And what, specifically, are you planning to let go of? - I want someone to flip a switch. Hmmm. Really? You’d be awfully indebted to that person. I love my sister more than I can imagine describing, but she can’t flip that switch in me – same goes with all the people in my amazing support system. I just got mad at them when they tried. I still find myself defending him (which is so silly.) I bet that when someone really runs your former flame into the ground, you’d get really pissed – even if you don’t want to admit it. The switch is labeled “making my own decision, and I hate doing this.” You’re choosing to cut the ties, do the deed, cancel the hope. That has to be okay in your eyes. Letting totally go is HARD. It’s not innately wired in most women. Here is the hard truth: even when you decide, you’re going to glance back over your shoulder and wonder. That is okay. It’s fine. Keep moving forward, the glancing will become less if you will let it. Yes, we may hold out to the bitter end. Important affirmation for you: Change is in your power, belonging to no one else. You are not lost, stuck or even alone – change is in your power. You hold the keys to the door. You chose when you walk though. You have the ability and the wherewithal to choose. You’re going to have to throw the final curtain. Imagine that switch and what life looks like on the other side of it. Write a letter to the switch puller and spill the beans, all that you’re afraid of. Here’s my example. “I’m not honestly sure that I can do this. There are moments that find myself thinking of something else, anything else. I am me again. I smile, or almost laugh. I can pretend that my clothes aren’t hanging off of me, and that somehow I am okay. The world still makes sense. I reach over to my phone to say hello or look to see what he’s said – and there is nothing there. He’s not there. I get this overwhelming feeling of being locked in a night mare, a super horrible joke that isn’t funny and is killing me. It’s killing me. I found myself on my knees yesterday, hitting the floor with my fist and screaming in pain. It’s been months since we’ve spoken, even longer since I saw him and I still just don’t understand. What if it’s like this forever? What if I never find a way out of the pain?” Again, the ability to affect change lies inside of you. THM is a place where many people share this thought in some way or form. They’re staring at the mirror on the wall, seeing the image of the person they were when all was well. No telling how long ago that had been, or what has happened in the meantime. It is truly important that when we analyze where we are in life and what we want, that we are HONEST. I think that the most important thing I can teach you is that it’s okay to let go of someone you honestly have feelings of love for. In a way, I love my ex. Always have. There is no place in my future for him. I know what we are together, and it’s not healthy for me….and that is what I have to deal with. I am better off without him in my life – even though I love him. I wanted the idea of us…I’d gotten so used to having to fight to survive in our relationship….that I forgot who I was, who I am and who I could be. Important note: Your life is about you. Your life is about you. If you do not care for yourself, be your own best friend, make decisions that aid in your own happiness…you’re going to live an unfulfilled life. You’re going to model being unhappy to others. It’s time to take control of that most powerful thing you own…your heart and mind. I am not saying be a selfish butt – that’s just wrong. Do follow what you know to be right for you. That isn’t going to include someone that doesn’t want to be there, or can’t fit into what you really need in life. Square pegs and round holes…make for a messy life. The switch flips when you realize that YOU’RE STILL HERE. I can’t stress enough that you’ve got to stop hating the person that you’re leaving behind and just accept it for what it is. Maybe I am the psychotic leech that he called me. I sure as hell hope not. Even though it hurt my feelings, even though I had myself tested with every psych test my clinic could throw at me….I have to come to the conclusion that I am okay with him being a permanent part of the new me…but not a present part of my life. I don’t have to have him in my forefront….he’s my past. I understand that. Even if I were single tomorrow…he’s my past. I don’t want to live in the past. I don’t want the pain that we knew, even if the love is there. too. I can’t go back now. All things being the same, would you want a version of your past that has GROWN in its normative state? Would you want more chaos and turmoil, more drama and stupidity? No. Even given the chance to return, I made my decision – and it’s that I don’t want him, no matter the cost. It’s not anything about him, it’s about me. I choose to live out my dreams and to do that with dignity and honor. If you are, hold you breath, jump into the cold water of being certain and simply Let It Go. It’s ….f**king hard. Your life is more than this drama – someone that doesn’t love you enough work it through, to make it into the hard times and past the grey of just not knowing what the hell is going to happen in life. That is okay. When you’re okay in the questions…you’ve made progress. it’s okay that he/she is with someone else. Who gives a rip? You’ve already been through the hell…want to really go back? No. It’s there for someone else to experience with them. Let them be happy without hating them for it. Let them be whatever – miserable, happy, sad…without being involved. It’s no longer your problem. What is your REAL problem? You need to find your own paradise. How do you find out if that is true for you? On the day that I honestly thought about marrying him as he asked – and later denied – I have to admit that I sat on my steps, crying into the phone, realizing that I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life. Yes, marrying him would have been the stupidest thing I would have ever done. I knew in my heart of hearts that this was not the life for me – and in my emotion, I was to scared to admit that it was not an all consuming kind of lifetime love. At the end of the day, knowing all that you know – are you really ready to jump off the cliff and KNOW that he’s/she’s going to be there when you need them? It’s just reality. Here is an important part to know, though. If you’re trying to tell yourself all the bad things that he/she did for you to leave them, you’re actually reinforcing your dedication to them. Yes, that is what I said. If you’re engaging in negative speak over your former love, you’re delaying your own progress. Even if your ex was a blithering idiot, you didn’t see them that way. Ask any woman about their man (or vise versa) and you’ll get a litany of things. In our ex’s, it’s a little more tricky. You’re having to see what was good through all the things that made you want to let go in the first place. It’s like being snow blind. My ex? I know what I saw in him – and I was almost the only one that saw it. I probably still am. That is okay – you see, I loved him so very much. Just because I let go doesn’t mean that I hate the guy. I just don’t want to be “his,” nor is he interested in my being in his life. So why did it take the both of us over a year to stop longing for one another? (Yes, stupidity is an answer, but not the right one.) - Fear of being alone. - Fear of finding out they were “the one.” (PS – there is no “the one.”) - Fear of new relationships. - Feeling connected to a person that you want to be separate from. - Feeling like no one else understands you like they do. - Feeling like no one else will physically entrance you like they do. - Solid soul ties. - Soul ties that you’re not willing to let go of. - Soul ties that they’re not willing to let go of. - Inability to deal with soul ties though visualization and self expression. - Ruminating on the loss….constantly. - Talking about them, and only them. - Talking about them…constantly. Boot Camp for Switch Flipping If – notice I said IF – you’re ready and willing to let go, here are the steps that I put myself through. Please read the second half of the Secondhand Love article on soul ties for the exercise. - Each day, begin with centering meditation. Clear your mind and come to a conscious decision that today is a growth day for you. Take care of your emotions and let all of the cloudy feelings be expressed in breathing. Let your pain float into the universe. Imagine that you are cleaned from the inside out. - Write your physical and emotional needs on a paper. Fold the paper and place it in a safe location at your home or in your bag. Allow your needs to be contained there. If thoughts of him/her overwhelm, write them down at they come to you. Again, place those needs in a little baggie or a safe place. You can address them later. - Make a bargain with yourself to laugh. Read a book, see a movie, go to the gym. Get out and around. Talk to people – not about your ex. You will feel hollow at first. Just keep doing it. - Make a bucket list filled with hope. Start to take steps toward fulfilling a dream. Okay – we’re all adults here. Do NOT make that bucket list about doing things that the two of you wanted to do. I said you and I meant it. - Confront the past. I went to all the places that he and I had been. The first lunch and the first kiss. The first everything. I cried, and saw that the places were empty. I look little stones from my meditation place with me, and left that part of me behind. I returned the love to the universe, and withdrew my part in it. - Exercise self control. Redirect your thoughts, your speech and your actions away from the person that you’re leaving – or imagining those scenarios. Take your power back. Make your own decisions. - At the end of the day, return to your meditation and think about those needs you wrote. Did you fulfill them? Acknowledge them, and give yourself permission and dignity to fulfill them for yourself. - Tell the truth, every day. For me, that was going to see a counselor with a PhD in psychology. I didn’t make excuses, and I won’t. There is no “he said, she said…” I don’t participate. The past is the past and I will not forsake my future in it’s murky image. I make a decision to tell the truth to myself every day……including the part where I thought that I was going to simply die of a broken heart. I didn’t. I am fine now. Yes, even now, there are days that I am lonely – and I tell myself the truth about that. I developed an even stronger support network of people who are honestly in this for life. I am allowed to miss the good times but not to blow them out of proportion. I am allowed to be mad at him for being such a total ass…but I can’t blow that out of proportion, either. Tell the truth. Hard things that are permanent switch flippers: - Are you willing to let go? - Are you okay with life as you don’t know it yet? - Do you feel a sense of hope and joy about what is to come? Why or why not? - Can you feel yourself begin to imagine a real love with someone that isn’t a person you wanted to break up with? - Can you imagine the tie between you fading? Will you let it? - If I said – “he’s fine, he’s gone on an honestly wishes you the best. He’s not coming back.” What do you feel? - Who is keeping this alive for you? - What are you doing to feel this feeling? Be honest. - What are you doing to find and flip the switch? Be honest. In closing, I am posting something that I really did write in my journal that you all have not seen before. It’s edited, but the jist of it is still there. “I woke up this morning and the sun had come out. I can’t believe that the time has passed so quickly by when it used to take a year to live a day. I made it all the way north before I realized that I hadn’t thought of you at all. I didn’t. Now as I sit here in a space you used to be, it doesn’t matter so much that you’re gone. I’m watching my friends talk, and the world spin, and no one cares that you’re not here. Outside of me, there is no vacant space you left behind. Hardest to realize is that I am pretty full now too. It’s lunchtime, our time, and I have no idea where you are. More important, I know where I am. I am happy where I am. It’s okay that I miss you…I don’t miss me now that you’re not here. No more pain. No more drama.” Learn something new. Scream into the wind. Be REALLY alive, just for you. I encourage you, challenge you..dare you even. Go make a difference. You’re still here. Make. It. Count.

Although Kevin Spacey’s last period was marked by scandals and moving away from the cameras, now the actor is returning with The Man Who Drew God The man who drew God seems to be a kind of “second chance”For Kevin Spacey’s career as his allegations of harassment they seem to have been archived in recent years by US courts. Anyway, let’s try to understand a little better what this film is about! Directed by the Italian actor Franco Nero, famous for playing the legendary characters of Django and Sandokan among others, his new film will deal with a true story where, alongside the American director and actor himself, there will also be Vanessa Redgrave already known to Italian filmmakers for having worked with Michelangelo Antonioni for its Blow – Up. In The Man Who Drew God, the American actor will therefore play the part of a detective charged with investigating a blind painter accused of pedophilia. This painter, however, seems to be a person out of the ordinary because it seems that just hearing a voice is enough to create the most beautiful of portraits. What will the truth be? In this regard it was the same actor and director Franco Nero to give some more clarification both on the plot and on the arrival of this film in cinemas. It is a true story, the story of a man who, although blind, portrays people’s faces. Among the actors, I made contact with Kevin Spacey. I would be very happy to bring it back to a movie set. We are waiting for the end of the pandemic to pick up where pre-production work left off Waiting, therefore, to find out what this new film will be like, set in mysticism Torino, we invite you to stay with us on TechGameWorld.com to stay updated on all films, TV series and animation must-sees. Metzeler confirms itself as the reference motorcycle tire brand on the market preferred by readers… GIANTS Software has announced the release of a new free DLC for his Farming Simulator…

So with Recursion finally published in ebook and paperback, it’s back to work on the sourcebook! Yay! To let everyone know where it’s going, I’m finished with the long first chapter on different regions and nations of the world and how the aftermath of the Event has changed them. I’m pushing my way through a chapter on different post-Event organizations. Both of these chapters are totally rules-free for the benefit of a) fans who just want meaty world background and b) players using the source-material for non-Fate games. However, they will be followed by a chapter going into advanced uses of Aspects and Stunts to flesh out what’s in the gamebook, as well as pages and pages of characters from the books. And that’s not getting into the new templates and of course all the great capes submitted during the kickstarter campaign. No promises, but I’d love to have the electronic edition for everyone by the end of next month, with the printed edition shipped the month after. Meanwhile, I’m also working on a Wearing the Cape novella, smaller than my regular novels but still an Astra adventure. No completion date or even a title, just a cool idea and some scenes so far. In the next week or so, now that Infinity War has been out for a while, I’d like to do a post on it. Meanwhile, to let you see some of the good stuff coming in the sourcebook, here’s a couple of excerpts. The Serene Republic of Cuba Possibly the strangest national Post-Event story belongs to Cuba. A “unitary Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist republic” (a brutal police-state), Cuba imploded politically the week of the Event. Under the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, the National Revolutionary Police (the PNR) began arresting all “politically suspect” breakthroughs. As authoritarian regimes around the world discovered, brutal actions against large numbers of their citizens played out differently with breakthroughs in the picture. Some breakthroughs rallied to the defense of the Republic of Cuba. Most didn’t. Police stations burned across the island as first the police and then the army failed to maintain control. A group of breakthroughs calling themselves The People’s True Revolution began a campaign of mass-assassination against Communist Party leaders and officials. Government reprisals killed thousands. Then the Tyrant announced himself. By radio, internet, and tv, the faceless Tyrant announced a cessation of the killing; henceforth anyone who attacked any official or citizen would be “dealt with.” His announcement was ignored, and many, many people were promptly dealt with by Upright Men who appeared from nowhere and took them away. None of the taken who returned remembered what happened wherever they went, but they didn’t hurt anyone ever again. Then the Tyrant announced the new Serene Republic of Cuba. He called for patience while direct representatives of the Cuban people were chosen and assembled to create a new state constitution under his direction. This set the pattern of The Serene Republic of Cuba. To this day, nobody knows who the Tyrant is, but he is head of the new and uniquely structured government. Under the New Charter, Cuba is now a demarchy. Each year, every Cuban citizen who wants to stand for national office submits their name to the Sortition Board. On Sortition Day, five hundred names are drawn by lot for nomination to the Assembly, Cuba’s national congress, where they will serve as representatives for one year. Ten names are also drawn for nomination to the Council. These ten must have previously served on the Assembly. The Cuban people may affirm or reject the nominations; if one in five rejects a citizen’s nomination, the nomination fails and a replacement name is drawn. The Assembly and Council are the legislative bodies of the SRC government, but their law-making powers are restricted by the people’s Charter Rights and the Tyrant’s Veto. Under the Charter, the office of Tyrant will be held by the unknown Tyrant for fifty years, after which the office will become an annually elective one, election and re-election made by the representatives of that year’s Assembly, with a term limit of five years. The Tyrant of Cuba and the Upright Men Under the Tyrant, Cuba has truly dedicated itself to Libertas, Equitas, Concordia. Government management of the economy is a thing of the past, and Cuba’s free market is booming. Although the island nation has a way to go to catch up, its per-capita wealth will likely match that of North America and Europe within a generation or two. The national government acts minimally on provincial and community governments, and laws are fair and fairly enforced. Thousands of Cuban-Americans are returning to Cuba every year, and many Cubans call it El Paradiso. In comparison to pre-Event Cuba, it’s a utopia. If it is, it’s a utopia under the light but sinister rule of a benevolent dictator nobody knows anything about. The Tyrant has only ever acted and communicated through the Upright Men, and nobody knows anything about them, either. They wear distinctive black suits with narrow black ties and black flat-brimmed hats, but nobody who sees them can remember details other than an impression that they’re tall and almost cadaverously lean. They are invisible to recordings. Their only known mode of “attack” is to teleport onto the scene, lay a hand on their target, and teleport away with them. Resisting targets just draw more Upright Men. Physical attacks on them can apparently land with effect, and an injured Upright Man will disappear to be replaced. The single largest witnessed pile-on of Upright Men was described as a sequential and then simultaneous cascade of more than two dozen. While the nature of the Upright Men is a complete mystery, what triggers an appearance is not. An Upright Man might appear to deliver a message from the Tyrant. If it’s instructions, and the instructions aren’t followed, the recipient of the instructions is taken. But far more often, Upright Men appear to take either corrupt politicians and officials (and evidence of corruption or abuse almost invariably found after the fact), or breakthroughs engaging in violent criminal activity. These individuals are never turned over to the court system; if they are returned, they are considered to have “paid their dues.” Notably, they never repeat the triggering behavior. The Upright Men function as the voice of the Tyrant and as an extra-judicial source of “justice” in Cuban society. Since their judgements never appear to be in error, many Cubans love them. Others loudly condemn them, but freedom of speech is written into Cuba’s new Charter Rights and nobody speaking against them has ever been taken. Nor has anyone whose tried to attack an Upright Man ever been taken, unless their action injured others. Cuba’s relations with the rest of the world are . . . fraught. On the one hand, the Tyrant has announced no military ambitions and has not built up the army. The new government has opened reciprocal trade relations with all states interested in fair trade. The island is now completely open to emigration (immigration is mostly limited to Cuban ex-pats wishing to return) and tourism. On the other hand, Cuba has become a sanctuary for many “supervillains.” Anybody can go to a Cuban embassy and ask for refuge, or just visit as a tourist and drop by a police office to do the same. The request will be passed to the Tyrant, and nobody knows why he may decide to grant sanctuary. Guests who simply get fake identities and stay illegally have sometimes been allowed to remain even after foreign governments tracking them there have revealed their presence and asked for their return. At other times arrivals on the island have been met at the gate by an Upright Man asking them to leave. Some of those given refuge have been known terrorists. Many liberal western states also have a great deal of difficulty with the Tyrant since he is a dictator. Arguably a benevolent dictator, but a head of state who exercises absolute and arbitrary power. Despite the otherwise utterly liberal and democratic (if weird) nature of the Cuban government, the country has not been invited to join the League of Democratic States. Lastly, the Tyrant has formally claimed Guantanamo Bay and does not recognize the United States’ claim to its perpetual lease there. The US President doesn’t recognize the Tyrant’s claim, but neither party has made any moves over it (one political pundit has compared the apparent mutual attitude to two cats sharing the same balcony perch while ignoring each other). Cuba treats the boundary between the US military base and the rest of Cuba like an international boundary, with a checkpoint that simply records crossings but doesn’t stop US military personnel and Cuban citizens from crossing either way. Many Cubans do contract work on the base, and US military personnel visit Guantanamo City for R&R. Box: Using the Serene Republic of Cuba. The Upright Men defy classification, other than to call them Mentalist-Types since they teleport. No Upright Man has ever been successfully controlled by magic, psi-powers, or Verne-tech, nor can their minds be read or their purposes mystically divined. What they do to subdue targets once they’re taken away is as much a mystery as everything else about them. When they bother to talk, they speak as dispassionate observers with little or no emotional inflection, leading some to speculate they might not be fully human. Their goals (presumed to be the Tyrant’s goals) are completely opaque, other than the continued serenity of the Serene Republic of Cuba. The GM should feel utterly free to make what she wants from the Serene Republic of Cuba, the Tyrant, and the Upright Men. The Tyrant could be an absolute villain with diabolical plans for the rest of the world. Or he could be a scrupulous and just man, doing everything he does for what he sees as the benefit of the people of Cuba. He might be both. The one thing the GM should not do is break the mystery; whatever she decides, the PCs and players must never be allowed to peer inside the Black Box that is Cuba’s truth. Of course this assumes that the campaign is utterly canon; in an un-canon campaign the GM is free to turn the Tyrant into a known threat along the lines of Marvel’s Victor Von Doom of Latveria. The people of Cuba are his “children,” the Upright Men are his Doom Bots, etc., have fun with my absolute blessing. If you take this approach, it’s a very good idea to make the Upright Men just a little less powerful and omniscient. “The First Star to The Right, and Straight on Till Morning.” While still rare, world-jumpers are far more common than time travelers. Sometimes, the ability to reality-hop is just a tangential part of a breakthrough’s power; other times, it’s the core of the jumper’s power. Post-Event researchers are only just beginning to understand extrareality, with the serious handicap of not knowing if the observations and rules they’re establishing actually describe what it is or what they want it to be. However, a structural theory has emerged, dubbed the Infinitude. The theory appears to account for all observed phenomena and has, so far, been reliably predictive. It might actually be the way things are. Extrareality Theory divides the Infinitude, the space of all possible realities, into Stage I and Stage II Realities. Stage I Realities The current Theory of Everything begins with the Big Bang, with an addition to the theory; in the first moment of creation, the infinitesimal span between P and P + 10−43 (the moment known as the Planck Epoch when all forces including gravity were fully unified), the universe split. It then inflated as an infinite number of universes, the State I Realities. All Stage I Realities began as perfect copies, but over time they diverged, first on the quantum level, then on the macro level. Once life and later intelligent life entered the picture, they diverged even more quickly. However, with an infinite number of universes, a smaller set of infinite universes remain almost completely identical. In theory, there is a universe otherwise identical to the one you know except that there you ate something different for breakfast. Stage I Realities are labeled Alternate Presents (APs), and they are as immune to change as the P of our own reality. Note that historic changes leading to very different-appearing presents do not have to be causally related. In one discovered AP, history began to diverge during WWI. Hitler was killed in action on the Eastern Front. Consequently, there was no Nazi Germany. Also, the Russian Provisional Government withdrew Russia from the war earlier. As a result, there was no Bolshevik Revolution and Communist Russia. Neither divergence caused the other, but the result was a very different geopolitical situation in the 21st Century. Visiting Stage I Realities Some jumpers have shown the power to enter the AP extrarealities. However, not all are equally accessible. If a traveler jumps to an AP where he doesn’t exist (where he was never born or he’s died), he will arrive physically. However, if he jumps to an AP where he has an extrareality analogue (twin), then he will mentally “possess” his twin, bringing only his memories and consciousness. His own body disappears from his previous reality for the duration. If he stays there too long, “host memories” will begin to emerge, and eventually he and his twin will become a single person with the memories of both and a melded personality. At this point the traveler is stuck as his new composite-self; if he jumps again, all of him goes. Researchers have no idea why it works this way, but one theory is that all analogues of you are actually you, all part of one big multi-reality Oversoul. The “you” that you see in the mirror in the morning is just the instantiation of you that you’re aware of. Of course this is just a theory, along with the theory that all other Stage I Realities are actually real, as real as our own Reality Prime. Stage II Realities Stage II Realities are much more difficult to explain. They’re called Stage II because they appear to be causally linked to Stage I Realities and therefor dependent on them, but this may not be true. It may be that only access to Stage II Realities is dependent on Stage I Realities. In either case, Stage II Realities are all extrarealities that we might describe as “fictions.” The category includes realms of folklore, mythology, and religious beliefs, as well as realms of recorded (and hypothesized) history and fiction. Debates about the nature of many visited Stage II Realities get heated; does any afterlife realm really, objectively, exist? Or are various afterlife realms visited by supernatural breakthroughs created by them? Lumping the Christian Heaven in with Barsoom as a Stage II Reality might seem insulting, when obviously Barsoom, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ fictional Mars, is a fictional creation. But is it? If they do share the same level of realness, perhaps Burroughs imaginatively accessed a real extrareality long before the Event. Could prophets and other visionary religious types have been doing the same with their portrayals of Heaven and Hell? Or Heaven could be real, the Throne of God, while Barsoom is a fictional creation made real by Post-Event breakthroughs. There is, literally, no way to tell; no scientific test has yet been devised that will differentiate one from the other in any observable way. Not all Stage II Realities need to look different. Some observed S2s have been mistaken for P – x, until divergences were created. For example, one devoted scholar of the history of the European conflicts of the 20th Century triggered a breakthrough-jump that took him “back” to 1911. With the bits of 21st Century technology he brought with him (a smart-phone, for one), and his foreknowledge of events leading up to WWI, he was able to get the attention of people who could introduce him to the people who could keep the Great War from happening. He also started a weapons and technology race, but in a decade S2 1911 managed to make the leap to an effective Western League that has so far kept wars between any developed nations from breaking out. Extrarealities and Reality Prime In-canon, the reality of extrarealities has so far had little effect on Reality Prime (the “real” world). Incursions from outside Reality Prime are rare and usually limited in scope. (Japan’s kaiju and oni problem is an exception—one that appears deliberately created.) This means that extrarealities are almost always destinations for adventure. A small subset of superhumans also claim to be visitors from extrarealities rather than breakthroughs. Whether or not they really are is up to the GM, but no definitive answer is necessary. PCs will believe different things in this regard, and in the spirit of the books the GM should keep the truth about such claims under his hat unless revealing the truth is part of the plot. For example, an incursion’s claim of coming from the future with a warning of an impending catastrophe could turn out to be an elaborate scam (which won’t prove or disprove other claims). On the other hand, there is nothing that says GMs must stick to the limited-incursion rule. Just dialing up the prevalence and impact of incursions can make a Post-Event campaign much more epically heroic. What if the world’s breakthroughs need to come together to fight off a massive invasion of Earth launched by Ming the Merciless? Cthulhu? Or any other potentially world-conquering or ending Threat from Another Dimension? (Note: GMs need not copy threats from fiction. If extrarealities are more than just subjectively real, then the Infinitude holds dreams and nightmares we’ve never thought of.) And of course, nothing is more true to the superhero genre than crossovers! How can any GM pass up the opportunity to work up cape-files for their favorite superheroes and arrange for them to get transported to Reality Prime to meet the group’s CAI team? Or for the team to get transported into the Marvel or DC universes to meet the iconic heroes that inspired and shaped so many breakthrough templates? (Or meet Velveteen or Halo, for that matter. . .)

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Cruise Ship Killers is a 2020 series about deaths aboard cruise ships on international waters. 2/10 stars. This series has a great premise, but the episodes are far from factual and interject too much guesswork. Every single episode had at least some victim blaming by the commentators–former detective Damian Turner and crime writer J. H. Moncrieff–and the narrator, so it was clearly written that way. By episode 10, in which the victim is completely blamed for her death, I was pretty sick of it. A few notes for the legalities of disappearing or being murdered on a cruise ship: - A ticket aboard one of these cruise ships is a legal contract agreeing to abide by maritime law. - Maritime law gives jurisdiction to local authorities when the ship is at port. While at sea, there is no legal authority. It’s lawless and the perfect place to murder or kidnap someone. - Guests should never go aboard a cruise ship alone. Go with several close friends and family. - Guests should never go with a lot of money. It makes them a target. - Guests should never take expensive jewelry. It makes them a target. The first episode centers around Ashley Gerber, a twenty-six year-old massage therapist who is on a cruise from California to Costa Rica with her new husband Charlie. They are on their honeymoon and draw much attention from the other guests on board because they are always exercising in public. On their last night of the cruise, February 12, 1988, they take a night run on deck. Later, at 3 am, Charlie wakes the captain claiming a strong wind has blown Ashley overboard. Charlie’s face is covered in scratches. The captain immediately checks the wind tables. The wind speed was only 5 mph last night, barely a breeze. The sea was calm. The crew looks overboard and can’t find Ashley. Ashley’s earring and hair are found embedded in the running track on the deck where she disappeared. The medical doctor, Dr. Price, investigates because he is suspicious of Charlie’s story and his injuries. The Coast Guard finds Ashley’s body. There is water in her lungs, indicating that she drowned. She was also beaten severely before she was thrown overboard. Her clothes have track pieces embedded in them, indicating she was pushed against the track as she was beaten and hit on the head. The scratches on Charlie’s face match the wedding ring on her hand. Charlie is arrested and found guilty of 2nd degree murder. He is sentenced to life in prison without parole. In various parts of this episode, it’s pointed out that Ashley drew attention from guests by exercising in public. It is also pointed out that she married Charlie rather quickly having only known him for nine months. This is victim blaming and it’s wrong. As the series goes on, the victim blaming gets worse. Shelly is a 43 year old economics professor from Olympia, Washington taking a cruise with her ex-husband Will from Seattle to Vancouver, British Columbia. They divorced in March of 2010, but live together for the sake of their nine year-old son. Shelly divorced Will for cheating on her multiple times. So Will booked the cruise with the intent of winning Shelly back. Their cruise begins with hope, but that soon changes when Shelly prefers gambling in the casino to walking the decks with Will. She makes a male friend in the casino which further disappoints Will. On November 21, 2012 near Vancouver, British Columbia, a passenger named Linda Stewart sees Shelly in a scuffle with someone and then thrown overboard; she reports it to the captain. Here’s where the description of what happened gets confusing. Will claims when Shelly was having fun gambling, he went to their cabin to sleep. Later she came in and asked him for a loan. He refused. So she left and went back to gambling. Then she disappears. After he is questioned a third time, he claims Shelly was suicidal and tried killing herself. He attempted to stop her and she fell and hit her head, killing her. He was afraid their son would be left with no parents if he went to prison so he dumped her body overboard. Will is arrested in their next port, Seattle. Meanwhile the Coast Guard finds her body. The autopsy shows she was badly beaten and there is water in her lungs. She drowned. So she was alive when Will threw her overboard. Will is found guilty of 2nd degree murder. The victim blaming in this episode is pretty bad. Shelly divorced Will because he was cheating. The commentators and narrator say she only thought he was cheating and destroyed their marriage because of it which led to her murder. :0 Really??? No last names were given for Shelly or Will. And like all of the episodes, no cruise ships are named either. Sadie is a college student studying in Hong Kong. She particularly likes her Asian History professor who invites her to come with his family on a cruise from Hong Kong to Baltimore which takes 24 days. She agrees. Although he has to fly back to the United States, Sadie accompanies his wife Mila and their daughter Caitlin. Sadie does the family’s laundry. She also does other guests’ laundry to make extra money. This is how she meets people. One of these guests is Decker, a married man with whom she begins an affair only she doesn’t know he’s married. One day around the third week of the cruise, Mila sees a man arguing with Sadie outside her cabin. He leaves and Sadie goes inside crying. Sadie doesn’t come to dinner and they are dining with the Captain, so the ship’s purser Nathan orders someone to go check her room. That person hears her crying inside, but she doesn’t come to the door. Hours later, the purser himself goes to the room and goes inside. There’s no sign of Sadie but the deck door is open. The captain orders a search and when she’s not found he begins investigating. Captain Norris also orders her room sealed. They are docked in Savannah, Georgia’s harbor when a body washes up on shore. The girl is badly beaten and drowned. In fact, she is so badly beaten her entire upper body is covered in bruises. Meanwhile the ship moves onto Baltimore, its destination. Two Baltimore detectives come on board to investigate and immediately single out Decker after finding Sadie’s diary in her cabin. Decker claims they had a short affair but it ended well between them. Her diary says otherwise. Decker also mentions she was pregnant. She was not. But that’s a big motive to kill her, especially since he’s a newlywed. Decker is arrested and tried, but found innocent by an all male jury. Sadie’s last name is never given. One of the comments made by J. H. Moncrieff during this episode is that 90% of all deaths aboard cruise ships are murders, although cruise lines claim they are suicides. If they are suicides they don’t have to investigate and they keep their reputations. The victim in this episode is a middle-aged man, Jacob Enns, who has spent his life getting rich and controlling everything around him. But he has no friends, only a brother. He’s essentially a bully. He sells his armored car business and makes a fortune, so he invites his brother Peter to go on a cruise with him to the Bahamas where he intends on spending money on the Nassau gambling tables. Jacob is an avid gambler. Peter can’t go so Jacob resorts to inviting his two best friends from college, Hector and Mason. Because Jacob pays for their tickets, he expects Hector and Mason to be his companions for the entire cruise and, since they can’t afford the same things Jacob can, this creates friction between the three. It soon becomes obvious that Jacob expects them to sit and watch him gamble. They don’t. They go have fun. Meanwhile Jacob becomes extremely sea sick and visits the ship’s doctor who prescribes pills and recommends fresh air. Jacob gives the ship’s purser $10,000 to put in the safe along with some of his gold jewelry and possessions. He tells the purser to give it all to his brother if something happens to him. He goes on deck for the fresh air and disappears. The captain orders a complete search of the ship. No body is ever recovered. Jacob’s brother Peter meets the ship at Nassau and comes aboard to find Jacob. There’s blood on the inside of Jacob’s bag, clear signs of foul play, but the captain won’t call it a murder investigation. Instead, the investigator rules it a suicide and refuses to let Peter take Jacob’s belongings. So Peter conducts his own investigation, questioning guests and crew. When that gets nowhere he calls the Florida police. They can’t do anything (maritime law gives them no jurisdiction) and suggest he call the FBI. So he does. The FBI come aboard and give Peter Jacob’s belongings. The purser, who Peter suspected of Jacob’s murder, didn’t take anything. Peter tracks down Mason and questions him. He had an alibi. But Hector was alone that night and very nervous. On August 15, 2013 in Cedarpoint, Ohio, Hector is finally tracked down by the FBI and arrested. He confesses to killing Jacob. He gets life in prison. He killed Jacob for $10,000 that Jacob won in gambling at the casino. That’s all. There are several places in this episode where the commentary is infuriating. Many men, especially white men, hit 45 or 50 and suddenly feel they haven’t accomplished anything in their life. It’s often referred to as male menopause. Quite often they murder someone else or themselves out of frustration. This is a known phenomenon and when they kill their family, they are called family annihilators. They don’t mention this at all and never point out that Jacob had to buy friends to accompany him because he’s such a bully. Betsy Mayer is a 55 year old teacher from Scagway, Alaska. She’s happily married to Bart Mayer, who started out as a teacher, went on to become superintendent, and is now a U.S. marshal. They have two daughters. When Betsy’s family in Wisconsin has a family reunion, she decides to take a cruise on the Great Lakes before attending. She goes alone and takes her expensive vintage jewelry collection including her pearl necklace which she always wears. Almost immediately she notices some of her jewelry is stolen and she suspects her night maid, Amanda Wilson. Not wanting to worry her husband, she doesn’t tell him and decides to catch the thief herself. The next night she disappears. Meanwhile, a fisherman on the shore of Lake Erie finds Betsy’s washed up body. On board the ship no one has reported her missing. And eventually ALL of her jewelry is stolen from her room. Terrified that something has happened to his wife, Bart begins making phone calls. At the same time, Betsy’s dinner companions get worried when she doesn’t join them for several days. They report her missing to the captain who finds her jewelry all gone and a lone pearl on the floor of her cabin. He questions her night maid, Amanda Wilson. Amanda has a long list of convictions for theft. The captain has Amanda’s room searched and finds Betsy’s jewelry in her bag. At the same time Bart flies to Cleveland to look at the body and discovers it is Betsy. Her rings are missing and later found in Amanda’s bags. Amanda confesses to killing Betsy when her theft was interrupted. No details are given on her trial or sentence. The idiot cruise ship that didn’t bother checking her for a criminal record is not mentioned either. This is one of the most disturbing cases. Anna Doppler is a 20 year old college student from Germany working on an Alaskan cruise for the summer with her two friends, Sophia and Charlotte. Tracy is another banquet server on the ship who is also Anna’s roommate. She hates that Anna is always on her phone and too friendly with the guests, so she tries to get her fired. When that doesn’t work she unplugs her phone so she won’t be able to use it. The next day Anna leaves her phone charging on the ship and goes shopping in Anchorage with Charlotte and Sophia. Meanwhile Tracy visits her pervert uncle and tells him all about Anna and her phone. Unaware that Anna has no phone, and after a long day of shopping, Sophia and Charlotte return to the ship without her because she wants to keep shopping. She later gets a ride with someone and is never seen again. When Anna doesn’t show for her shift that night, Sophia and Charlotte report her missing. The captain calls Anchorage Police Department who begin searching Anchorage for her. The ship leaves without her and goes onto the next port, Seattle The FBI board the ship in Seattle. Rather quickly they hone in on Tracy. Meanwhile they find June 28, 2016 CCTV footage of Anna in Anchorage with a 45 year old bailiff named Eddie Sambarg. The police search Samburg’s apartment and discover that he is an avid hunter and he’s also Tracy’s uncle. When they take his computer they find all kinds of violent pornography on it including rape porn. When they question him he says he was at his cabin in the state park nearby, so the FBI searches the cabin and finds a fresh grave nearby. (Note the police searched his home and the FBI searched his cabin.) Sambarg confesses to murdering Anna, claiming he only intended on raping her but had to kill her in self defense. He tells them her body is buried near the cabin, the freshly dug grave they found. When the police searched Eddie’s house they found a wheelbarrow and shovel in Eddie’s pickup, things you normally never see. This shows premeditation. Why take the wheelbarrow on his way to pick up Anna unless he intended on killing her? After killing Anna he left her body in the wheelbarrow for 24 hours before burying her. Eddie is found guilty of manslaughter (accidental murder) and sentenced to 17 years in prison, not nearly enough for what he did. This was another episode with a lot of victim blaming. She’s blamed for not checking that her phone was plugged in, for leaving the ship without a phone, for letting Sophia and Charlotte leave without her, and for taking a ride with a strange man. But Eddie was Tracy’s uncle and probably showed her a photo of Tracy, proving it. Then Anna would get in the car with him. Why do the victims get blamed for the perverse actions of men who are violent toward women? This one will haunt you and want you to never take a cruise. On March 21, 1998, the Bradley family of Chesterfield, Virginia takes a cruise from Puerto Rico to the Caribbean. Ron Bradley’s employer gave it as a gift to their family. Ron and Iva bring their two kids, 23 year old Amy and their son Brad. Amy is a multi-sport athlete and quickly draws the attention of many of the ship’s staff. Of the ship’s male staff who approach Amy (something they are never supposed to do), the waiter and bass player are the most aggressive and are friends with each other. No one on board the ship warns the Bradleys that the Caribbean traffics in kidnapped white women. (Think of the movie Taken only on a ship.) On March 23, their third night, the family goes to the club for Calypso night. Ron and Iva retire to their room first, leaving Brad and Amy dancing. Then Brad and Amy go to their room. At 4:15 am, Brad and Amy are sitting on the balcony talking then he goes to bed. At 5:15 am he wakes and sees her still sitting there. Twenty minutes later when he wakes Amy is gone. Her cigarettes and lighter are the only things missing. Brad wakes Ron and they search for Amy. She is nowhere to be found. So they report her missing to the captain. On most cruise ships, reports of missing passengers are given little attention because the cruise lines are run by corporations who worry about stock prices. If passengers discover someone has been kidnapped or murdered on a cruise ship, they tell everyone and the stock price plummets. So there is almost always an active coverup of kidnapping and murder aboard cruise ships. That’s what happens here. The captain tells the parents he’s searched the ship every nook and cranny when he didn’t. Then he lets the passengers disembark in Curacao, a port with a huge sex trafficking hub. The parents keep searching the ship and while searching, the bass player approaches Brad and tells him he’s sorry that Amy is missing. No one on the ship knows yet that Amy is missing. How did he know? When they can’t find her, the captain convinces them that he’s thoroughly searched the ship (he hasn’t) and talks them into getting off the ship in Curacao to look for her. So they do. The ship leaves without them. When they receive no cooperation and are told lies by everyone they call the FBI. Then they discover the captain lied. The ship wasn’t searched at all. So they fly to the next port and reboard the ship with the FBI. Two college girls approach them telling them they saw Amy that morning with the bass player. Also, the ship’s photographer, who takes photos during the trip and posts them in the ship’s gallery, has noticed all the photos of Amy are missing. The FBI also learn that the videographer, Chris Fenwick, had video of Amy dancing with the bass player in the club that morning right before she disappeared. He refused to give this video or any other video to the FBI. It will be a year and take his brother convincing him before he’ll give it to the FBI. The bass player is given a polygraph. We’re not told the results, so why bother telling us? Ron, Iva, and Brad go home and launch a social media search for Amy. Several months later, they fly to Curacao to look for her. A cab driver approaches them and tells them he saw her that day get off the ship with several men. Then he tells them the three places in Curacao to look for her where they traffic in kidnapped women. But the family is sidetracked when Brad hears Amy’s voice and chases after a white van. She’s not in there. They go home without checking those three places. A year later, a Canadian businessman is diving on the beach in Curacao when Amy approaches him followed by two large thugs. They grab her and lead her away before she can speak to him. When he gets home, he sees her on TV and realizes she’s a kidnap victim. So he flies to Chesterfield and talks to Ron and Iva. He identifies Amy’s tattoos. It was definitely her. No one else knew about those tattoos. A private investigator, Frank Jones, scams the Bradleys into giving him $100,000 to bring Amy home. He shows them photos that are supposed to be Amy and claims to know where she is. Ron’s old boss, the man who bought them the tickets, feels guilty and pays the $100,000, but he also hires a second private investigator, Tim Buckles, to check on the first (Jones). They quickly discover Jones is a fraud and is using their money for his vacation. The photos were models and the tattoos were faked with paint. In 2002, the FBI call them. In 1999, a naval officer was in a brothel in Curacao when Amy approached him and begged for help. He did nothing because being in a brothel would have lost him his stripes. He waited three years to report it. By then the brothel had burned down and no one had seen Amy in three years. In 2005, the Bradleys receive an anonymous email with a link to an adult website. One of the women featured, “Jaz”, is Amy. That same year, a woman on vacation in Curacao, hears several men yelling at a woman in the bathroom where she is peeing. She waits until the men leave before coming out of her stall then asks Amy if she needs help. Before Amy can answer three large men come in, grab Amy, and leave. The woman returns to the U.S., calls the FBI, and gives them a description of Amy and the three men. Amy has unique green eyes which are described in each of these encounters. Amy has never been found, but imagine being kidnapped at 23 years old and forced into sex work for 21 years. That will give you nightmares. Her parents and brother say repeatedly that she had a bad feeling from the moment she stepped onto the cruise ship. But they didn’t leave. I’m sure now they wish they had. Sarah Stevens and James McCloud meet in a bar and strike up a conversation. A few short weeks later they move in together. Then they win a cruise to the Gulf Coast of Florida. Right away they meet Ted, another passenger, but Sarah doesn’t like the way Ted looks at her or treats her. He is aggressively flirting and James won’t stop him. Then her underwear is stolen and she panics. That night James finds her hanging in his cabin. He tells investigators to question Ted. Their cabin neighbor saw Ted hovering outside their room that night followed by a commotion inside the room. Police come on board and question everyone. From CCTV footage they find the underwear thief is a married man named Mike who has an alibi. But they also find Sarah’s laptop missing. Ted gets the passengers all riled up about the delay and about being questioned, but then the focus moves to James when the autopsy report comes in on Sarah. She was not hanged. She was beaten and strangled. And there is also evidence of previous beatings, revealing the dark side of their relationship. The key card record shows that James was in the cabin with Sarah when she was killed. Then they systematically prove the rest of his story is lies. James is arrested. A family member posts bail. He runs and disappears. This is the case that spawned an international survivors group and a national law to protect cruise ship victims. On August 27, 2004, 40 year old Marian Carver, a former investment banker from Cambridge, Massachusetts, boards a cruise ship in Seattle. She never tells her family that she’s going. On August 29, she disappears. Marian was taking the cruise as a vacation to relax and write poetry. Every day she emails her daughter. She is divorced so she is traveling alone. From day one, Marian befriends the cabin steward. He reports her missing immediately but his boss yells at him and tells him to just do his job. So he asks the other stewards to help him look for her. His boss has all the stewards come in and sign a non-disclosure agreement about Marian’s disappearance. In other words, a gag order. Marian’s daughter becomes distraught when several days go by and she doesn’t receive any emails from her mom. She calls and her mom doesn’t pick up. Then Marian’s dad Ken Carver calls and Marian doesn’t pick up. So Ken calls the police. The police check her apartment and her laptop. Meanwhile the cabin steward escalates his concerns to the Claims Manager who actively covers it up. Weeks go by and no one at the cruise line will talk to Ken, so he hires two lawyers, one in Massachusetts and one in Florida, to force the cruise line to comply with subpoenas to their employees. They discover that the steward’s boss disposed of Marian’s things and kept her money. :0 They never reported her missing. In August 2005 Ken sues the cruise line. The cruise line then publicly announces several false claims and outright lies. They claim that Marian killed herself and had tried to commit suicide before. She hadn’t and she didn’t. Angered at the disgusting behavior of the cruise line, Ken creates the International Cruise Victims group, http://www.internationalcruisevictims.org. In 2015, Ken and several other distraught family members who have lost loved ones on cruise ships get the Cruise Passenger Protection Act passed into law. Repeatedly in this episode, the narrator and commentators (Damian Turner and J H Moncrieff) blame the victim for her death because she traveled alone. So what is she supposed to do? Hire a stranger to go with her? That’s not freedom. And this is not her fault. She was on a cruise along the U.S. coast, not in the Caribbean. This episode made me so angry (so much victim blaming) I stopped watching this series. The victim in this episode is a cruise line employee who had worked for several years as a cruise chef. On October 13, 2007, off the coast of California, 31 year old Sarah Roberts disappears. She is a chef for the elite restaurant on the 4th deck. There is a new executive chef for the restaurant and he has been sexually harassing Sarah for months. She’s a lesbian and so he is picking on her in front of all the other staff. She emails her sister Claudia every day and fills her in on all that’s going on at work. Unlike all the other staff, she doesn’t drink, doesn’t do drugs, and doesn’t party all night long. So the others don’t accept her, even though she has more experience than they do. In fact, her culinary teachers say she was their best student. But in the restaurant, her sous chef (who is also sexually harassing her and sabotaging her work) and executive chef openly insult her and make fun of her all night long. On the night she disappears, the executive chef once again throws her food in the trash and publicly humiliates her in front of the other staff, so she steps out to take a fifteen minute break. The sous chef and executive chef follow right behind her. She is never seen again. When the restaurant manager (a woman) discovers Sarah is missing, she is deeply concerned. Sarah had previously complained several times about the sous chef harassing her. The cruise line did nothing about it. Now she’s disappeared. Another restaurant employee saw Sarah arguing outside with a male staff member. When she took her break she went to the storage deck where only staff can go but it’s also where the staff do their drug deals. The sous chef is questioned about Sarah’s disappearance and taken to that storage deck. He is so rattled, he is almost speechless then he abruptly goes back to work. The bartender comes forward and tells them she was Sarah’s lover and old girlfriend. Then she tells them about all the terrible things the sous chef did to Sarah to sabotage her job. The executive chef was the same. When the investigators get the CCTV footage of the kitchen, both the sous chef and executive chef follow Sarah out of the kitchen on her break. They are right behind her. But the CCTV footage of the deck has been erased. :0 No one is ever charged and the captain claims a rogue wave or suicide must be at fault. When a woman complains of sexual harassment she is not making it up, especially when there are multiple people who have witnessed it. So when the two commentators and the narrator repeatedly refer to Sarah’s work as “inferior” and that she is “unable to handle the stress” and “unprofessional” I get seriously pissed off. This was a clear case of a woman who excelled in her profession but had to deal with two men who were bullies and murderers. They go further and blame her for not drinking, not doing drugs, and not partying all night long, saying that she wasn’t trying to fit in. :0 Really??? 2/10 stars. This series had a great premise but was poorly executed with a lot of victim blaming, confusing details, few facts, and no mention of the corporations or cruise ship lines responsible. That should be the main focus of this storyline.

Written by Dave Gil de Rubio, email@example.com Friday, 21 December 2012 00:00 Not unlike what’s happened with books, technology’s various conveniences have also impersonalized the way we ingest music be it through downloads or the earbuds of an iPod. While LPs are arguably the best way to experience this food for the soul, there’s something to be said about cracking open either a CD booklet or a well-packaged box set, regardless of the genre. Anglophiles had plenty to rejoice about whether it was because Blur commemorated its 21st anniversary by releasing its entire canon (in addition to a live album culled from its show at the 2012 Olympics closing ceremony). Or could it be elder statesmen Elvis Costello and Peter Gabriel being represented by a pair of compilations for the former and the 25th anniversary release of the latter’s biggest album? And while there’s the deluxe edition of The Jam’s last album and the entire Roxy catalog for Union Jack fans to rave over, the Yanks got their due with the deluxe reissues of Bob Mould’s old band Sugar and Smashing Pumpkin’s sprawling 1995 double-disc third album. Blur – ParkLive [4-CD/1 DVD] (Virgin); Blur 21: The Box [18-CD/3-DVD] (Virgin) Elvis Costello – In Motion Pictures (UME); The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook [CD/DVD] (Universal) Peter Gabriel – So: 25th Anniversary Edition [3-CD] (Real World Productions) The Jam – The Gift [Deluxe Edition] [2-CD] (Polydor/UME) Roxy Music – The Complete Studio Recordings [10-CD] (Virgin) Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness [Deluxe Edition] [5-CD/1-DVD] (Virgin) Sugar – Copper Blue/Beaster [3-CD] (Merge); File Under: Easy Listening [Deluxe Edition] [2-CD] (Merge) The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico: 45th Anniversary Edition] [6-CD] (Polydor/PGD) Sony’s Legacy reissue division went whole hog this year in compiling sets that contained all the releases an artist may have released in their entirety for the company’s various imprints. Jazz and blues fared particularly well with legendary bandleaders (Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington), guitar pioneers (Charlie Christian), Crescent City stalwarts (Preservation Hall Jazz Band), blues queens (Bessie Smith) and bop giants (Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk) all getting their work excavated and repackaged. Louis Armstrong – The Complete Columbia/Okeh & RCA Victor Recordings 1925-1933 [10-CD] (Columbia/Legacy) Charlie Christian – The Genius of the Electric Guitar [4-CD] (Columbia/Legacy) Duke Ellington – The Complete Columbia Studio Albums Collection 1951-1958 [9-CD] (Columbia/Legacy) Etta James – The Complete Blues, Rock ‘N’Soul, Private Music Albums Collection [7-CD] (Legacy) B.B. King – Mr. B.B. King [4-CD/10-CD] (UME) Taj Mahal – The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973 [2-CD] (Columbia/Legacy) Charles Mingus – The Complete Columbia & RCA Albums Collection [10-CD] (Columbia/Legacy) The Thelonious Monk Quartet – The Complete Columbia Albums Collection [6-CD] (Columbia Legacy) Preservation Hall Jazz Band – 50th Anniversary Collection [4-CD] (Legacy Recordings) Bessie Smith – The Complete Columbia Recordings [5-CD] (Columbia/Legacy) Weather Report – The Columbia Albums: 1971-1975 [7-CD] (Columbia/Legacy) Lots to love in this category particularly when it comes to seminal album reissues be it from Eric Clapton (Slowhand), The Doors (L.A. Woman) or Paul and Linda McCartney (Ram). Otherwise, it was all about yet another Rolling Stones compilation (GRRR! Greatest Hits), a vintage Janis Joplin live album (Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968) or nods to mod peers The Who (Live at Hull) and Small Faces (1966, The Beginning). Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin – Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 (Sony Legacy) Eric Clapton – Slowhand 35th Anniversary [Deluxe Edition] [2-CD] (Polydor) Donovan – The Essential Donovan [2-CD] (Columbia/Legacy) The Doors – Live at the Bowl ’68 (Rhino); L.A. Woman [40th Anniversary Edition] [2-CD](Rhino) Heart – Strange Euphoria [3-CD/1-DVD] (Epic/Legacy) Paul & Linda McCartney – Ram (Special Edition) [2-CD] (Hear Music) The Rolling Stones – GRRR! Greatest Hits [Super Deluxe Edition] [5-CD/7” Vinyl/96-page hardback book](ABCKO/Interscope) Small Faces – 1966 [Deluxe Edition] [2-CD]; From the Beginning [2-CD] [Deluxe Edition] (Reprise) The Who – Live at Hull 1970 [2-CD] (Geffen) The Man in Black also finds all his Sony-related albums getting pulled out of the vault, dusted off, remastered and dropped on the market in the form of a gargantuan 63-CD set. For those looking for something a less wieldy, there’s the 25th anniversary reissue of Paul Simon’s iconic stab at world music (Graceland). Johnny Cash – The Complete Columbia Albums Collection [63-CD] (Columbia/Legacy) Paul Simon – Graceland: 25th Anniversary Edition [2-CD/1-DVD] (Legacy) For this holiday season, cool comes in the form of yet another Elvis Presley box set, a compilation of vintage live Jerry Lee Lewis performances and the eternal hipness that was and always will be Rat Packer Dean Martin. Jerry Lee Lewis – Killer Live 1964-1970 [3-CD] (Hip-O) Dean Martin – Collected Cool [3-CD/1 DVD] (Universal) Elvis Presley – Prince From Another Planet [Deluxe] [2-CD/1-DVD] (RCA/ Legacy) The genre of loud guitars, blistering amps and heaps of teen angst continues to roll along with the complete canons of Judas Priest and Long Island sons Blue Oyster Cult all pulled together in two separate mega-boxes, a succulent overview of Alice Cooper’s early days and the long-awaited release of Led Zep’s live 2007 reunion in London. Blue Oyster Cult – The Complete Columbia Albums [17-CD] (Columbia/Legacy) Alice Cooper – Old School 1964-1974] [4-CD] (UME) Judas Priest – The Complete Albums Collection [17-CD] (Columbia/Epic/Legacy) Led Zeppelin – Celebration Day [2-CD/1 Blu-Ray/1-DVD] (Atlantic) Megadeth – Countdown to Extinction-20th Anniversary Edition [Deluxe Edition] [2-CD] (EMI) Not necessarily a genre as much as a category dedicated to the adventurous music lover. Fans of vintage garage rock can either dive into the psychedelic unorthodoxy of Texas natives the Moving Sidewalks (featuring a pre-ZZ Top Billy Gibbons), or sup on a single disc culling cuts off of Rhino Records’ seminal Nuggets box set from a few years back. Elsewhere, the 4-CD Surf Age Nuggets serves as the perfect companion for anyone that may own the aforementioned garage rock box set while reggae lovers can indulge in VP’s 4-CD overview of the genre. More conventional tastes are well served by the first Ben Harper compilation hand-picked by the man himself and a 2-CD overview of Blues Traveler balanced out by one disc of pure hits and the other chock full of b-sides, rarities and unreleased demos. Ben Harper – By My Side (Virgin) Blues Traveler – 25 (Hip-O/Select) Moving Sidewalks – The Complete Collection [2-CD] (Rockbeat Records) Various Artists – Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era (1965-1968) (Rhino) Various Artists – Surf Age Nuggets [4-CD] (Rockbeat Records) Various Artists – With Love: Origins of Jamaican Music [4-CD] (VP) Three-plus years after his death, the Gloved One gets remembered via the deluxe treatment of his seventh solo album. And while nostalgia junkies will swoon over memories of baby not getting put in the corner while they listen to the late Patrick Swayze croon, soul fans get to explore the recorded output of Bill Withers, the silky singing crooner that walked away from the music industry in 1985 and whose music has been covered/sampled by a myriad of artists including Sting, Barbra Streisand, John Legend and the Roots, Seal, Isaac Hayes and Fiona Apple. Michael Jackson – Bad25 [Deluxe Edition] [3-CD/1-DVD] (Sony Legacy) Various Artists – Dirty Dancing: The Deluxe Anniversary Edition (RCA/Legacy) Bill Withers – Complete Sussex and Columbia Albums Masters [9-CD] (Columbia/Legacy)

- Special Features - Blogs & Columns - Fun & Games The topics discussed in the February 4, 2013 episode of The Daily Show were the Super Bowl, events in other countries and education with Michelle Rhee. The episode began with Jon Stewart talking about the touching tribute to gun violence that began the Super Bowl which quickly gave way to ads about things glorifying gun violence. Then Stewart talked about Beyoncé’s performance with two lucky contest winners (the other two members of Destiny’s Child). This discussion led to Stewart talking about the Super Bowl advertisements and the most talked about ad, the Godaddy.com ad where a Bar Refaeli was kissed by a nerdy engineer. The segment ended with a brief mention of Ray Lewis’ past and him saying that God does not allow murderers to work for his glory. The second segment was a quick explanation of a couple of potential threats from other countries. The first was China hacking the New York Times and getting everyone’s email passwords. He then reported that while CNN was reporting the story China blacked out the story. Stewart clearly thought this was a weak threat at best. He then moved on to threats from Iran and talked about their goal to send a man into space. They recently sent a monkey into space to work towards this goal and it returned to Earth successfully. However, there is some question since people are saying the monkey that came back does not look like the monkey that left. Some are suggesting that the whole launch or the survival of the monkey is a hoax. Stewart then told Iran that messing with the United States may be dangerous, but now PETA will be going after them. The guest for this episode was Michelle Rhee promoting her book, Radical:Fighting to Put Students First. They spent the interview talking about Rhee’s policies and why people thought they were radical. She responded that she saw her alteration as common sense and if common sense makes her radical then she is a radical. They probably spent the most time talking about how to make sure teachers are doing a good job and why teachers, as only one thing that affects education, are the main thing people complain about. If you could not tell from my bland and uninteresting summary, I did not really enjoy this episode. Nothing really interesting was said about either the Super Bowl or the events in China or Iran. It seemed like these were events they felt like they needed to cover, but did not have much real interest in. This is disappointing, since one of the real draws of The Daily Show is that Stewart and the correspondents are usually able to at least appear passionate about their topics.

#STINGDAILY: Loss Propels Faith in Synjyn Days June 28, 2012 by Matt Winkeljohn, Sting Daily - Synjyn Days is an open-minded young man in ways made more compelling by the fact that he's so deeply committed to his beliefs. The more you learn about him, the more you become convinced that his two greatest dedications are to God and man - very big-picture conventions with whom interactions can be infinitely personal. There is rarity in Days' degree of faith. His warmth and conviction are uncommon. He still goes home to Marietta every Sunday, even during the school year, to attend the Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church. Although he's not in the choir anymore he was for a long time even though he said, "I'm not that good; I just kind of blend in." Understatement alert: Days once wrote and delivered a sermon at Pleasant Grove. Last week, Georgia Tech's backup quarterback stood out. It started with a Facebook message received from a high school friend. A former Hill Grove High School mate lay dying. Days didn't really know Nick Nutt well, but remembered the face and name. Days' friend suggested a visit. Nutt thought highly of the young, ol' QB, and spoke of him. That message came on Monday. On Tuesday, the former senior star quarterback tended to the once-upon-a-time freshman football manager. In an Atlanta hospital, they came to know each other a great deal better than before. In short order, they moved beyond a first-name basis. "I had never seen anyone with Leukemia, and I didn't know what to expect," Days said. "His hair was missing, but he was in great spirits. He made a lot of references to God, and my Mom and Dad and I always like to talk about that." There, forging a shared bio-rhythm, were Days and a boy with days. Nutt, 17, died Saturday. The quarterback went to his wake Tuesday. Changing Synjyn Days is no small task. Maybe Nutt didn't change the QB so much as he empowered him all the more. Days believes more than ever. A deep soul has grown deeper still in bearing witness to another young man's peaks and valley. There can be such dignity in death. "His dad told stories," Days said. "Once, he had chemo at 3 p.m. and a varsity lacrosse game at 6, and he scored two goals. His dad said he was a warrior. He also said he found Nick praying to God to let him live, but he said, 'If it's your will for me to die to save somebody else, then let that be your will.' " Nick Nutt loved Georgia Tech, Days said. He was a stellar student. He visited campus multiple times. He didn't make it to his senior year of high school. Saturday afternoon, a text message confirming that bombed into Day's phone. "Talking to his grandparents and his dad, in the last 24 hours it was just miracles, this presence in his room," Days said. "He was struggling in his last 10 minutes in and out, and he described seeing the Gates of Heaven, and his crown of gold. There was a hand reaching for him . . . he died with his mouth open." Last week, Days gave Nutt one of those rubber bracelets that reads, "God Can't Fail." It's in a casket now. Before he died, Nutt gave Days a bracelet sayin, "God Is My Strength." Synjyn was wearing it Thursday, when he said he's dedicating his season to Nick. The quarterback said he and his father are trying to help Mr. Nutt - an engineer, although Synjyn wasn't sure what kind - find a job, and raise funds for expenses. Days said that the man spent so much time with his son over the last two-plus years of his life that he was unable to work. Now, the QB is uniquely committed to the freshman manager because Nutt left him so much more than wrist wear. "He died with his mouth open, but when they found him a little later he had a smile on his face and . . . the nurse practitioner said she didn't touch him," Days said while smiling as broadly as one ever might. "He's in a good place; he's in heaven. This makes me want to do better, and not take anything for granted. He was a great kid. It's changed my life forever." It feels worth noting that Days was not remotely maudlin in talking about Nick Nutt. He was nearly buoyant. Comments to email@example.com.

QUETTA: A mob attacked a police station in Pakistan on Saturday demanding a man detained for allegedly desecrating the Quran be handed over, leaving one person dead and 19 with gunshot wounds. Violence erupted after police arrested a “mentally retarded” man said to have burnt pages of the holy book in Kuchlak, about 16 kilometres north of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, senior administration official Qambar Dashti told AFP. “Angry protesters, mostly Afghan refugees, torched several vehicles and pelted police with stones,” Dashti said. “Chanting the man should be killed for blasphemy, they later entered the police station and started firing,” he said, adding that a senior police officer narrowly escaped while his police guard was wounded in the shooting. Police fired tear gas shells and opened fire in self defence, Quetta police chief Qazi Wajid said. The clash left one protester dead and 19 people wounded including eight policemen, he said. “All the wounded people have bullet injuries,” he added. The protesters said the man deserved death for blasphemy and demanded police hand him over to them, he said. “The man appeared to be mentally retarded, we have taken him into custody and ordered an investigation,” Wajid said, adding that control had been restored. Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy laws make defaming Islam or the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), or desecrating the Quran, punishable by death. Former Punjab governor Salman Taseer was shot dead in January last year by one of his police bodyguards for opposing the blasphemy law.

Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives A capricious little monkey, capable of slinging feces at a moment's notice Brad Watson writes the type of stories I should have appreciated more in high school. Tales of the darkness percolating beneath the seemingly innocuous surface of domestic life. Back then I dismissed these type of stories as too similar to everyday existence, but that is exactly the reason they resonate so deeply with me today. They perfectly convey the feeling of being out of phase, or as one of Watson's characters describes it, "...the inexplicable everyday, the oddness of being, the senseless belonging to this and not that." The oddness begins during childhood, as we are introduced to three rambunctious brothers with maternal abandonment issues in Vacuum. From there, we are witness to all manner of strained familial relations and suburban malady- including, but not limited to- miscarriage, depression, divorce, and even incest. If it sounds bleak it's because it is. But these stories are not without their humor, dark though it may be. Because hey, if you can't laugh at a husband shooting himself in the foot to spite his wife, or a man losing a toe in a freak diving accident, what can you laugh at? How about unwed teenage parents? Watson tops the whole thing off with what may be the strongest piece in the set- the titular novella Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives, in which an expectant couple explore their compatibility with a little help from a pair of escaped mental patients. Here Watson veers into the speculative territory of Kurt Vonnegut, expertly fusing science fiction with the mundane to dramatic effect. If only courtship were this easy in real life. There would be a whole lot less divorce. There'd be a whole lot less marriage, but it seems like a fair tradeoff. The assured mining of dark subject matter on display brings to mind the work of Raymond Carver, or better yet, the stories in A Dream of Countries Where No One Dare Live, by Louis Phillips. Never heard of it? Dream is a gem of a collection, assigned to me in my college years by a professor who was a loyal friend of the author. This may seem akin to the government awarding oil contracts to Halliburton, but in this case Halliburton is a fantastic book of shorts that has stayed with me through the years like Kenny Rogers, so the good professor gets a pass. It was the first comparison I made after cracking the spine of Aliens, and I stand by it. I would advise reading both books and putting it to the test. In a perfect literary world, authors like Phillips and Watson would be bestsellers. Unfortunately, all it takes is a quick scan of the top ten at your local bookshop to realize the literary world is far from perfect. It's a shame, really. There is no Wikipedia page for Brad Watson, author, but there is one for Brad Watson, NHL referee. It is a paltry 3 sentences long, but still. It seems a little unfair. Yet somehow, I don't think Watson would mind. He is well aware life is a capricious little monkey, capable of slinging feces at a moment's notice. The best we can do is duck, and dream of a future where indolent high school students of all colors and creeds will read and disregard the stories of Brad Watson, only to realize their value and embrace them later on in life. If nothing else, it would make a great story. In fact, it sounds like something Watson would write about.

Brian Fargo. It sounds like the name of an Old West gold prospector. It's true that this veteran of the 1980s California development scene - founder of Interplay, and so publisher of the Fallout games - doesn't really look that part, preppy and trim in his Orange County casual-smart-casual. But he can't resist opening his unveiling of his studio's latest game by schooling us kids in a potted history of the great gaming gold rush. Hunted: The Demon's Forge is the new game from inXile, the studio Fargo founded with other refugees from Interplay's sinking ship, in part to revisit its glory days - its first project was to remake his classic role-playing game, The Bard's Tale. Hunted is being published by current Fallout stewards Bethesda Softworks and is, in Fargo's words, "bringing the classic dungeon crawl back". This genre, Fargo tells us, has its roots in Dungeons & Dragons and the earliest days of computer programming. He namechecks Lord British (doesn't even think to call him Richard Garriott), Wizadry (which he personally became addicted to in the early eighties), Bard's Tale, Ultima, Might & Magic and Dungeon Master. He sprints into the nineties and notes a trend towards action in Ultima Underworld, the first Elder Scrolls game, Hexen and Heretic. It's all useful context, if only because the game Fargo and his colleagues Matt Findley (president) and Maxx Kaufman (game director) proceed to show us bears little surface resemblance to any of the above. It's a muscular third-person action game designed around two-player co-op play, with brutal melee combat, ranged shooting through a tight over-the-shoulder camera, a clean display, scripted set-pieces and a cover system. Apart from some fairly standard dark-fantasy trappings, it looks like a lot of games Fargo doesn't mention: Uncharted, Gears of War and Army of Two spring to mind. It's not as much of a non sequitur as you might think. As Fargo's already said, the dungeon crawl - a genre he thinks of as distinct from the role-playing game, although the two often join hands - has been on a crawl of its own towards action gaming for its entire existence. And the action game is the current home of co-operative play, which, Findley expounds later, was part of the dungeon-delving experience in its earliest days, and a part inXile is keen to resurrect. "The origins of the genre do come from D&D, and D&D was a co-op gameplay experience, right?" Findley argues. "It was me and my mates sitting on the couch, against the DM [Dungeon Master], and we were collectively deciding how we were going to go and do things. So it seems like a very natural fit for us." It's absolutely the essence rather than the details of the old-school dungeon crawl that inXile is going for, however. Although there's a little light character progression invovled, you won't ever be concerned with stats or dice-rolls, and you won't be rolling your own spin on either of the heroes - curvaceous, bloodthirsty elf archer Elara or Caddoc, a calculating, scarred lump of muscle and testosterone behind a shield. "I think if you spend the first 20 minutes of gameplay rolling up your character it's going to be a little hard to feel like an action game," says Findley. "And plus we really believe in character development and characters with strong personalities, so they almost had to be our characters to begin with." The pair banter crudely in rough British accents in the placeholder voice-over as they enter the town of Dyfed, sent on a mission there by a mysterious spirit called Seraphine - which is about as much of the plot as inXile is prepared to reveal at the moment. The scene, rendered in the familiar moody sheen of the Unreal engine, is reminiscent of Dragon Age - a deserted medieval village under lowering skies, and a crazed grey-skinned orc ripping out some poor soul's heart. "That's no bloody good," observes Caddoc, sounding oddly like Bob Hoskins. "We are creating a dark and gritty world, that's kind of the underlying theme," says Kaufman. "And it just gets darker and darker as you progress through," adds Findley. "Both from a story point of view and from an environment point of view... It kind of goes from messed up to really messed up." It's foreboding, atmospheric, detailed, although the art and production design isn't going to win any prizes for originality - from the way the leather straps, scabbards and pouches of Elara's skimpy costume frame her pert backside to the crunchy sport-metal soundtrack, from the long fangs of the slavering orcs to the claustrophobic fog of the depth-of-field effects. There is, however, an agreeably blunt, no-nonsense air to proceedings - cut-scenes are more like cut-aways, ruthlessly efficient in their exposition and hard-bitten one-liners - as if nothing should spend too long delaying the slaughter. And there's a pleasing mixture of novelty and nostalgia in seeing this absolutely straight fantasy portrayed in a style more commonly applied to concrete, railguns and butch militarism. Fargo admits that they're not looking to rewrite the fantasy rulebook, stylistically. "The beautiful part about fantasy, traditional fantasy, is that you look at an orc and you kind of know what it does, and if a dragon comes flying over head you kind of know what it does, there's a certain sense of these things from all these years... there's a language, I guess." Why aren't there more fantasy action games like this? "That's a very good question," Fargo says. "Early on when we very first started this project, we know Mark Rein over at Epic pretty well, and he was like, 'I don't know why everybody else isn't doing more of these.' The thing about fantasy is, it's not small, it's not a niche, right? World of Warcraft has done OK. It's one of the tent-poles." He shrugs. "I think these things just sort of come and go." Back to the action, and we're in a cavernous barn, battling waves of orcs, with Findley and Kaufman manning the two characters. Elara snipes with her bow in almost-first-person from cover or a balcony, snapping instantly to her sights when taking refuge behind a wall. Caddoc wades into the fray, tossing shields that degrade with every hit to pick up a new one from a fallen foe. The enemies are designed to force the two to work as a team, playing to their strengths as melee and ranged specialists. inXile is keen to point out that the game enables what it calls "co-op at a distance", allowing the characters to fight together from opposite corners of the map and avoiding mechanics that force them to be in the same place. If one falls in battle, the other doesn't have to schlep over to perform battlefield CPR - you can just aim at your companion and toss over a regenerative vial pick-up. The same's true of the spells the pair learn; both get access to magic as the game progresses, trading crystals they find with Seraphine for new abilities at checkpoints. Caddoc learns a levitation spell that elevates enemies to make a clear target for Elara across the room, and there's a "battle charge" system of temporary buffs that can be fired at your team-mate to power them up for a difficult scrap. "We didn't want people to feel tethered," says Fargo. "It's fun to open up the environment to use strategically." Although they're shy of coming out and saying it, this is one area where the inXile team clearly feels it's been able to improve on the prevalent mechanics in co-op action gaming. "We've played them all extensively," says Findley of their rivals, picking his words. "What we found was a lot of weaknesses that we designed around. I'd hate to call out another product, but I think if you look at the things that we've done with the co-op design, it'll be pretty obvious which ones we didn't like." And the affable big man roars with laughter. "The other big idea that makes our co-op different is the fact that our characters are not carbon copies of each other," he points out. "We've ended up with this idea of switching at checkpoints; no one has really done that before because the characters are exactly the same. You don't have to switch." This is where the way Hunted straddles the character action game and the co-op RPG makes things a little sticky. Playing through the campaign in single-player or co-op, you'll be able to switch between the characters at will to enjoy both perspectives on the admirably meaty combat. But you, as a single player, will "own" both characters and be able to make talent-tree purchasing skills for both, with all crystals shared between both. It's a different situation either to being able to step into the cloned boots of an identikit future warrior, or to bringing your own individually nurtured RPG characters together to fight alongside each other. InXile's solution is fair, if not that easy to explain. An elaborate match-making system ("we've been researching dating sites") will bring players with sutiable play-styles, a preference for a particular character, or a game save at around the same spot together. Joining a host's game, you'll either be able to bring your own character in or use theirs. In the former situation, you make your own advancement choices but the host earns an equivalent pool of crystals to spend later; in the latter, the host makes the choices for you, and you get crystals to take home to your own game. Co-op is jump-in, jump-out, and available both online and locally. Back in the fray, Elara and Caddoc ("there's a bit of sexual tension, but also a little sister, big brother thing") are pinned down by a catapult in an open clearing, a giant viaduct towering over them and framing a misty mountain vista - just because it's a dungeon crawl, it doesn't have to be dank. Vocal cues bounce back and forth letting you know what your partner is up to - handy if you don't have voice chat - and visual cues help figure out a solution to the situation, a stray catapult missile shaking a scaffolded statue to indicate that it's unstable. Caddoc pushes it over and into the viaduct, spectacularly toppling the whole edifice on top of the catapulter. It's only one way past this area, though, we're told. "We've set this up so there are multiple ways to play it," says Fargo. "That's very RPG-ish, right? But it has nothing to do with statistics. We're trying to pull the things that give a sense of depth." Paramount among those things are loot, secrets, riddles and exploration, and despite the blockbusting action focus of this demo, we're reassured that these are all high priorities for the Hunted team. There'll be a good deal to discover beyond a straight run through the main story, from lore - a "death stone" lets you hear the histories of corpses, filling in a 500-year saga - to puzzles. The latter will be 40 per cent easy, 40 per cent challenging and 20 per cent "very, very difficult", with naturally some tasty weapons and gold ot be had for your perserverance. Just like they used to make. Hunted's a gold rush as old as them thar hills, then, even though it presents itself as the model of a modern major videogame, complete with blood-smear health guage, crunching cut-away execution moves and pithy script. Although its title and look locate it firmly in the musty dungeon of fantasy, its brisk action and smart co-op mechanics could genuinely find a new audience for the oldest game in the book. There's something tremendously comforting about that. "It's the genre that created the industry," Findley sums up. "In the beginning, these were the only games that existed." Hunted: The Demon's Forge will be released for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2010.

My H, when we first met, fit somewhere in the middle of the extreme with his reactions. He used to turn a little too obviously to follow the progress of a female - (if he enjoyed the front view he wanted to also check out the rear), but with a few elbows to the ribs early on he became more discreet. He subscribed to Playboy for decades, and I never really objected to that. It was a different matter, however, if I caught him peering out the window at the sunbathing neighbor. Do you guys see the difference, and why this bothered me? (No A with the neighbor, thank goodness.) I believe he subscribed to the theory that it was acceptable to look but not touch, which I agreed with to a point. That also probably enabled him in falling into an OEA - he knew he was never going to be near this person or touch her - but that's a t/j for another day. Another thing he used to do that bothered me was if he was out somewhere in public - say a fair, or at the races, etc., and saw a young woman in revealing clothing that he could discreetly photograph, he would. I also saw that as being very different from the Playboy thing - somehow intruding on these women's privacy, even though they chose to dress that way in public. I didn't like it. Post d-day, I became much less 'understanding' - any female photos were destroyed. I believe his attitude about that type of thing has changed also - he's not a good actor, never has been. I think he is much less likely to just snap a photo of any pretty girl he sees. FWIW, when we met I was an aerobics instructor and did swimsuit modelling for the first several years of our marriage. So it's not as if I suffered from self-esteem issues about my appearance. I'm rambling all over the place here, sorry. Just got to thinking and wondering where most guys stand with regard to making the most of opportunities to look at women they find attractive. Thanks for bearing with me! While my boundaries might make it "okay" to look -- or strike up a conversation, or have some sort of minimal physical contact -- it might not be permissible within their boundary structure ... which makes it wrong. I get that this is something most people don't actively think about. I know I didn't for a very long time, and it's something I definitely spend time thinking about now. Guys do like to look. Its a natural drive. I consider myself fairly conservative and considerate, and even I like to look. That said, there is a difference between what is 'acceptable' and what is 'considerate'. I would never buy Playboy and certainly never photograph neighbours! Its about not only what I think is 'ok', but what my partner thinks is ok and not upsetting her, and in that respect is a very individual thing, I think. Bare in mind that whatever boundaries you set, he will bend them by about 10% anyway, so account for that too. [This message edited by Ixion at 2:06 AM, July 17th (Wednesday)] I have been in counseling and read numerous books. Pre-A I would notice and look at other women....in real life as well as pornography. My wife and I had very regular sex...I would say more then most couples we know...and I would masturbate regularly...my wife had almost full knowledge of this and she would view porn with me some too...I didn't sneak around but I didn't always tell her every time I did it either. I saw no harm in it then. Again, I thought this is a normal guy thing. Since the affair I have done what is recommended...I have worked on the only person I can change...ME! I have specifically concentrated on what intimacy is and how it is nurtured or destroyed. Most of the time I am 180 degrees different on this topic now. I say most of the time because it is a natural urge within me to still look. But just because it is a natural urge does not make it healthy...and certainly does not make it harmless. Maybe too much info following...but feel the need to explain how I have changed. I have masturbated exactly 7 times since DD (10 months ago)...each time it has felt less fulfilling. This is in the face of decreasing sex with my wife. So here I am...having less sex with my wife and spending less time masturbating too. I am literally shocked to find out that I can go days...weeks without sex. There was a point in my life that I literally thought a man HAS to have that release to be healthy. Even now I wonder sometimes if I will be able to do it after not doing it for weeks. I cant explain this crazy thought...just telling you it was such a part of me for decades that a part of me still gets concerned.... Now, in real life, I find myself bouncing my eyes more. I still have a strong desire to soak in the beauty of most women...not just Barbie types...but am getting pretty good at stopping myself. I am not taking credit for my wifes decision to have an affair...but I plainly see how my actions pre-A hurt intimacy in my marriage. And if it didn't always hurt it...it never helped nurture it. NOTE: Pre-A anytime I viewed an attractive woman in real life and thought inappropriate thoughts about her...it was all in a fantasy bubble. Since the A...I have had moments where I would view an attractive woman and see it as a real possibility...and that feeling scares the hell out of me! This is when I really started to focus on this aspect of ME...and what I was and am willing to do for myself and my wife. This entire experience is life-altering. God be with us all. [This message edited by blakesteele at 4:09 AM, July 17th (Wednesday)] I think it is only through conscious decisions that men will move in the unnatural direction of healthy intimacy and away from the natural, primal sex drive they have inside them. that's my honest perception. [This message edited by blakesteele at 4:15 AM, July 17th (Wednesday)] Just was pondering on the things he used to do and how I felt about it at the time. In the aftermath of the OEA I started to pick at old scabs and dig up issues that weren't fully dealt with back in the day. "You did THAT 20 yrs ago and it really hurt!" And of course we could start a whole other thread on how healthy it is for me to dig up old grudges on behaviors that haven't been an issue for years. Nah I don't think that last part. The dinosaurs thing. That part, I made that up. Taking pics or peeping on someone seems violating. Creepy level violating. Like, a few steps away from a wall filled criminal evidence kind of creepy. My H now seems embarrassed if I bring up his old behaviors. But I was also reminded of this topic not long ago when a co-worker was sharing that her H came back from a trip with his buddies with lots of Girls Gone Wild type photos - wet t-shirt contests, that type of thing. This lady didn't seem to mind her H doing that, seemed to think it was funny. Another coworker chimed in that she would NOT be happy if her own H did that. I kept quiet, didn't really want to share that my H used to be like that too. MartlArts, you said you could open another thread to discuss whether it's healthy to bring up "old grudges." I'll just address it in this thread. Examining patterns post d-day is really important. It's not fun, and it can hurt, but it helps you understand what's happened so that you can ensure it doesn't happen again. I have to add: photographing people without their consent is a HUGE breach of boundary, and I would have a real problem with it. As you turn things over in your mind, please be honest about their significance. This is a biggie. You went from being concerned to defending your husband, who's gone from worrisome WS to "getting better over the years." How did that happen? How did a man who's cheated in the very recent past graduate to "much better over the years?" Don't betray yourself by being dishonest while examining your life together. Trust me on this---there is NO worse betrayal to overcome than self-betrayal. Then she finally pushed too far, and he apparently had an OMG She's serious moment, and went NC after that. He didn't go so far as to block her, just stopped responding. The more he ignored the more desperate she got. At the time I got that weird gut feeling it had been several months since he'd responded to her and she was stepping up the campaign to recapture his attention, but not succeeding. I got in touch with her and let her know I had the ammunition to blow up her life, and that was that. And yes, I'm confident the above is accurate. I have filters on that H is unaware of. I also have cyberstalked her a bit and have indications she set her sights elsewhere. So cheating - yes, there was an EA, and it hurt that he gave that attention to someone else. He did not "get" the slippery slope he was on until she really got blatant. Then he thought he'd dodged a bullet by NC-ing her. We've now been through the Not Just Friends and other reading, and he understands and does NOT want to be part of that again. So - long answer to the very valid question you asked, sorry. But the fact is that it has been many years since the asshat behavior of ogling females. The OEA was a new type of stupid asshat behavior. He did not seem to get - in both those instances - that there were other types of cheating besides PA. He gets it now, I believe. But my mind was wondering about how the guys on here react, hence my question. [This message edited by MartlArts at 3:42 PM, July 17th (Wednesday)] The EA? Yeah. I can see how he sort of got clobbered by that. And it seems as though he has owned that, as well---which is often a real hurdle. I can't turn off my eyes, though sometimes I wish I could. I figure I'm wired to notice women, and I do - but my W didn't worry about it until her mid 50s. She's OK with it now, too, since I think she realizes I like seeing women, but I really like looking at her, if you see the diff. Playboy is pictures ... not real. Real people are real. I see a big diff there. Real people are entitled to some privacy. OTOH, if a neighbor is exhibiting herself inappropriately, I do my best not to buy into her game. Snapping photos surreptitiously is a violation of the subjects, IMO. The subject owns her image. A secret photo, even in a public place, seems a lot like stealing to me. (Besides, I'd much rather look at my W IRL than a pic of any random woman I fleetingly saw, so I really don't see the point. Except maybe if it's Salma Hayek or Megan Fox or someone like that.) Anyway, I look. I enjoy. I pass on. Seeing a sexy woman on the street is great, but it's only a fleeting pleasure for me. T/J - Strange thing, though...we go to an outdoor dance every Summer week. It starts with a lesson, and there's always a (different) woman who almost mesmerizes me. But when the dancing starts, if it's swing, there's a guy who draws my eye - I sure wish I could dance like he does.

Title: MOM WHO BEAT HER CHILD WAS MEMBER OF OCCULT BASED GROUP KNOWN AS "IRISH TRAVELERS", OR "GYPSIES", OR "TINKERERS" -- A GROUP SAID TO PRACTICE GENERATIONAL PEDOPHILIA Resources to aid your Understanding Learn how to protect yourself, your loved ones! Stand by for insights so startling you will never look at the news the same way again. YOU ARE NOW ON THE CUTTING EDGE This most unusual story has two very distinct sides: the Public and the Private. Our Lord Jesus warned us three times in Matthew 24 that the End of the Age would be characterized by extreme, unusual, and unprecedented deception in both the spiritual and political realm. In Matthew 24:24, Jesus warned of such great deception that it would even deceive the Elect of God, were that possible. Jesus said that the leaders of the End of the Age would practice unprecedented deception, but particularly false "Christs" (political figures, as "Christ" is the office of Messiah, Who will be King) and false "Prophets" (religious figures). This spiritual deception also naturally extends to both individuals and the communities of which they are a part. Thus, we have the examples of David Koresch leading his group astray and Jim Jones commanding the Jonestown mass suicide. But, we also have larger communities as well that fall into this area of deception. The Irish Travelers are just such a group. On the surface, they keep to themselves and consciously exclude outsiders. Even though they make a living by breaking the law, they are not shut down by law enforcement, even though some individuals are behind bars. Let us now examine the infamous case of Madelyne Toogood, who was caught on video tape beating and slapping her 4-year-old daughter in her van in a Kohl Shopping Center Mall. This story has a very dark, very sinister side to it that must be made public. You will be shocked to discover a probable linkage in goals between the Travelers and groups like NAMBLA (North American Man Boy Love Association) and some of our politicians in Congress! Let us examine the public story first. NEWS BRIEF: "Attorney: Videotaped mother to turn herself in", 9/20/02, CNN.com News. "SOUTH BEND, Indiana (CNN) -- The woman being sought by police after being caught on videotape apparently beating her 4-year-old daughter will turn herself in to authorities Saturday, her attorney told CNN ... Police have been searching for Toogood since a surveillance camera videotape aired nationwide Thursday showing her apparently slapping and punching her little girl inside an SUV in a store parking lot. The tape was made last week." This mother, Madelyn Toogood, was caught on surveillance tape in the parking lot of Kohl's Department Store beating her little daughter in the back seat of her SUV. While I was horrified at the mother's action, I first thought of the possibility that this case might serve as a launching pad for people opposed to the Biblical mandate of physical punishment of a child; my second thought was that this incident proves the pervasiveness of our surveillance society. Virtually everywhere a citizen goes, he or she is caught on surveillance camera. Our Forefathers knew that individual freedom is dependent upon individual anonymity, so the sudden pervasiveness of cameras everywhere is a threat to our liberty. Dictatorships throughout history maintained a pervasive penetration of society through the use of secret police who had paid and unpaid informants strewn thoroughly throughout society to watch the average citizen; our coming dictators will rely less upon traditional secret police tactics in surveillance because cameras will do much of the work for them. News stories showed a distraught mother, who had obviously done a lot of crying, pleading with authorities not to take her daughter and her other children from her. Many a parent has come to the verge of being distraught by a willfully stubborn child, but there is clearly no excuse for a parent to repeatedly strike a child in the head like this mother did. Further, parents all over the world will sympathize with a mother who may be about to lose custody of her children. Thus, the picture of a tearful, red-faced, mother on national news undoubtedly tugged at many a parent's heart. However, it did not take long for a very different angle to develop about Madelyne Toogood and her background. NEWS BRIEF: "Toogood and Daley: Believed to be members of Irish Travelers", 9/23/02, WNDU16 News Center, http://www.wndu.com/news/contact16/contact16_2450.php "Some local authorities will not refer to Madelyn Gorman/Toogood and Margaret Daley as 'Travelers' but a local expert on Travelers says from the video he's seen, he believes the women are Irish Travelers. There are an estimated 12,000 to 20,000 Irish Travelers in the United States, mostly in South Carolina and Texas. This is where it is believed Gorman and her family is from. Travelers live a nomadic lifestyle, moving from town to town in large groups to do seasonal work but they've also been labeled, by some, as scam artists. Most Irish Travelers in this country are descendants of 19th century Irish immigrants. They are also known as Irish gypsies or "tinkers". If you are like me, you have never heard of "Irish Travelers", unless you live in Texas or South Carolina. South Carolinians to whom I have spoken about the "Travelers" will tell you that they are a very close-knit community and that they are not trustworthy. However, this expert quoted on this WNDU16 News Center story tells us that they are "scam artists". This expert continues: "Traveler expert -- Elkhart resident Don Wright has been investigating the Travelers for 24 years. He's published books including one called 'Scam!'. Wright says many of these scams take place in our own backyard. Between April and October, there are between 15 to 20 families in the Michiana area running these scams. When Wright saw the Kohl's parking lot assault video, he knew this was more than just a case of child abuse. After seeing the video, Traveler expert Don Wright says he called police and other Travelers and came to this conclusion. "I started making calls right away and found out, yes indeed, they were Irish Travelers." Therefore, this mother beating her child was not an average, typical American housewife; she was likely involved in criminal activity so commonplace amongst Travelers. Scams and outright thievery is the way in which they earn their living. This Travelers expert continues: "Reasons behind the beating -- Wright believes the beating happened for one of two reasons. 'The little girl gave away the scam to an employee or the mom was so ticked off at not getting refunds she took it out on the little girl'." If a parent does not have the Christian values against stealing, as evidenced by their life of crime, what makes us think they would possess Christian values against beating their children as we saw on the video tape? Keep this thought in mind as we will return to it in a few moments. Now, let us return to more facts about the Travelers from Don Wright. "Why do they travel here? -- Wright has heard of Travelers working in the Michiana area. He says certain things in the video lend him to believe these women are Travelers. 'The fact that the license plate was from Texas - I knew who they were'. Wright wrote about Travelers who travel from Fort Worth, Texas, to Indiana in his 1996 book called 'Scam!' "A majority of the Travelers come to Elkhart a few times a year to pick up travel trailers they use for different scams. Wright says the trailer is a scam in and of itself. They live in it until they can sell it for an exorbitant price. Meanwhile, men of the Travelers do house scams and the women do shoplifting scams. Wright says it is common to take along their children. 'This is on the job training for kids. They learn to shoplift at their mothers elbows'." "Prosecutor Chris Toth said today that the reason Kohl's began to follow these two women and their daughters was because they had scammed the store before. Police in Fort Worth say in March they arrested Madelyn Gorman for an alleged theft at Kohls." Now, we have a more complete picture, do we not? Madelyne Toogood had scammed this store before, and had been arrested in March of this year for an alleged theft at Kohls. Once again, we have the picture emerging here of a mother who is a known shoplifter and refund scam artist. Refund artists have bedeviled retailers for decades now, as the losses of fraudulent merchandise returns routinely runs into the millions of dollars. Some professional refund scam artists garner $2,000 daily from hapless retailers who are afraid to say "No" for fearing of angering consumers. Madelyne Toogood is a member of the Irish Travelers, a nomadic group that has lived through scams and theft since they came to this country about 150 years ago. Thus, they are generational thieves. Here are some of their many scams. * While some men come to the front door to speak to the owner about doing repairs on their house, other Travelers were going in the back door to steal whatever they could carry in the time given them by the conversation with the owner. Obviously, the front door Travelers developed the art of keeping the owner occupied for a long period of time. * During the Fall Season, when produce was hanging thickly on the vine, Travelers would stop near a garden patch or a field. During the day, men, women and children would go through the community offering to read fortunes or palms; but, at night, the men would quietly pick the produce and load it into their trucks. The entire group would be gone before morning. These travelers would then go to a community some drive from the victims and sell the produce out of their tailgates as if they had grown it. * Travelers are known to target the elderly with a variety of scams designed to fleece them of their lifesavings. Starting to "fix" roofs that need no fixing, and where the owner gave no prior permission, is one common scam. Or, agreeing to fix a roof, and then demanding a large upfront fee is one scam, because the group will never finish the project once they have the money in hand. They will simply disappear. * While the men would normally target houses to scam, women and children typically target retailers. They will usually steal merchandise so they could later "return" it for a refund. They became expert at arguing for a cash refund rather than a credit slip. Evidently, this type of scam is what Madelyn Toogood was doing with her innocent looking daughter at her side. THE OCCULT NATURE OF THE TRAVELER'S As we have already noted, the Travelers are generational scam artists, and therefore, very much out of the realm of the Christian community. However, when the Traveler expert, Don Wright, noted that they were "gypsies", all sorts of red flags went up. Gypsies are a very distinct group in Europe, Great Britain, and Ireland. They are followers of White Magic Witchcraft, that type of witchcraft supposedly practiced for the "good of mankind". All over Europe and Ireland, gypsies would travel nomadically, offering their services, reading palms and telling fortunes; however, they also practiced many of the scams we have noted above, so they were not welcome in many communities. Recent European history offers us a very different perspective on the true depth of White Magic Witchcraft practiced by the Gypsies. When Adolf Hitler began to consolidate his power after 1933, he began a systematic campaign to annihilate anyone he considered to be either an enemy that threatened him, or anyone who could tell the German people that he was practicing Black Magick Witchcraft. You see, Hitler knew that White Magic practitioners would instantly recognize who he truly was, what his plans were for humanity, and the true dark source of his power. In Witchcraft, a person learns the details of the occult, the rituals, and the power. At some point in his or her occult path, each witch must determine whether they are going to use the power of the occult for the "good" of humanity or for "evil". If a person decides to use their occult knowledge and power for "good", they are said to have chosen the Right Hand Path of White Magic Witchcraft. If a person decides to use their occult knowledge and power for "evil", they are said to have chosen the Left Hand Path of Black Magic Witchcraft. The point is, a White Magic practitioner has the same knowledge, has gone through the same rituals, and accesses the same Satanic power as does a Black Magick practitioner. Therefore, Hitler realized that all White Magic folk knew exactly who he was and what occult power he possessed. As White Magic author, Trevor Ravenscroft reveals in his book on Hitler entitled, "The Spear of Destiny", Hitler began a systematic campaign to eradicate all White Magic practitioners in Europe so none could attempt to warn the German people that they had just elected a hard-core Satanist -- a monster -- as President of the Republic. As Ravenscroft names some of the prominent White Magic practitioners Hitler either killed or drove into hiding, he mentioned the plight of the Gypsies, who were rounded up by the entire community and either incarcerated or annihilated. For Hitler to be worried about the Gypsies, they had to have had occult leadership who were high practitioners of the art of Witchcraft. Therefore, Irish Travelers represent one of the greatest examples of Generational Witchcraft. Since their level of witchcraft was sufficient to draw the ire of Adolf Hitler, we know that they practice a fairly high level of this religion. In the section where we show the occult nature of the Travelers, we demonstrate that the Travelers do practice a very high level of witchcraft. Thus, it behooves us to examine the values of witchcraft relating to sexual behavior, because in so doing, we will discover a hidden secret of the Travelers. SATAN'S SEXUAL VALUES AND ATTITUDES Since the occult serves Satan, we should expect they would possess the opposite values toward sex as the Bible proclaims. God designed sex to occur only within His Plan for marriage, i.e., one husband and one wife. This prohibits sex between a man and a woman that are not married, as well as homosexual and lesbian "sex". "Old Testament Israel's covenant law prohibited adultery (Ex. 20:14) and thereby made faithfulness to the marriage relationship central in the divine will for human relationships. Many Old Testament regulations deal with adultery as the adulterous man's offense against the husband of the adulterous wife. Yet both the adulterous man and woman were viewed as guilty, and the punishment of death was prescribed for both (Lev. 20:10). The severity of the punishment indicates the serious consequences adultery has for the divine-human relationship (Ps. 51:4) as well as for marriage, family, and community relationships." [Holman Bible Dictionary] Since God severely restricted human sexuality, we should expect that Satan would remove all restrictions in the groups which serve him; we should also expect that Satan plans to remove all restrictions from the society he plans to create after he overthrows the Judeo-Christian Old World Order, replacing it with the Kingdom of Antichrist, also known as the New World Order. Indeed, this is exactly the case. Listen to the teaching on sexuality from The Satanic Bible, by Anton LaVey. * "No creed must be accepted upon authority of a 'divine' nature ... No moral dogma must be taken for granted -- no standard of measurement deified. There is nothing sacred about moral codes." [Page 31] Since God based His society upon firm dogma, Satan is teaching that no moral dogma is the basis upon which he will establish his coming society. Societies which already serve Satan can be logically expected to already possess this "no rules" attitude. In fact, a number of popular TV advertisements these days, and some computer games, are based upon the motto, "No Rules"! From this point on, you will recognize this attitude as being purely Satanic, even though the producers of these products may vehemently deny they are advocating a Satanic value. Now, back to The Satanic Bible: * "Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence" [Page 25] * "Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse, than those that walk on all-fours ..." [Page 25; NOTE: This is New Age, Illuminist, and Humanist teaching today. As this teaching becomes more prevalent, sexual rules will disappear, just as we expect no sexual rules from dogs in heat] * "Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!" [Page 25] * "No creed must be accepted upon authority of a 'divine' nature ... No moral dogma must be taken for granted -- no standard of measurement deified. There is nothing sacred about moral codes." [Page 31; indeed, when Satanism reaches full force, and becomes public, all laws regarding sexual activity will be abolished] * "The angel of self-deceit is camped in the souls of the 'righteous' -- the eternal flame of power through joy dwelleth within the flesh of the Satanist!" [Page 35; I can imagine that this is the attitude of the occultist within his heart of hearts. He despises the Christian ethic and just cannot wait until the day he can openly act out these Satanic values] * "The seven deadly sins of the Christian Church are: greed, pride, envy, anger, gluttony, lust, and sloth. Satanism advocates indulging in each of these 'sins', as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification." [Page 46] Defending the Sexual Predator and Calling His Actions "Normal" * "Are we not all predatory animals by instinct? If humans ceased wholly from preying upon each other, could they continue to exist? Is not 'lust and carnal desire' a more truthful term to describe 'love' when applied to the continuance of the race? Is not the 'love' of the fawning scriptures simply a euphemism for sexual activity ...?" [Page 33] I find it highly incredible that Anton LaVey defends the sexual predator as he preys on the innocent! He actually defends the predator! LaVey equates selfless "love" in a relationship to "lust and carnal desire". Get used to it, for this is the attitude of the Satanist, and it is a line we shall hear more of in coming days and years. However, remember that members of a society already given over to the values of the occult already possess this type of predatory nature. Moms and Dads should understand that any of their young daughters and sons are just "fair game" for this type of predator, just "steaks on the table". Keep this in mind as we discuss the next subject, toward the end of this article, and to the following article. Now, back to The Satanic Bible: * "Satanism represents a form of controlled selfishness". [Page 51] Just as true love is self-less, Satanic lust is "controlled selfishness". At least, LaVey admits that this is the case. This revelation is from the "horse's mouth", so to speak. * "Satanism is not a white light religion; it is a religion of the flesh, the mundane, the carnal -- all of which are ruled by Satan, the personification of the Left Hand Path." [Page 52] * "You should act upon your natural instincts, and then, if you cannot perform without feeling guilty, revel in your guilt." [Page 53]. This statement is very repugnant, don't you think? "Revel in your guilt" is the lowest form of spiritual advice anyone can give another; yet, do not be deceived, this is the secret residing within the heart of hearts of every occultist. * "Free love, in the Satanic concept, means exactly that -- freedom to either be faithful to one person or to indulge your sexual desires with as many others as you feel it necessary to satisfy your particular needs." [Page 66]. Now, we are getting closer to the subject of Pedophilia within Satanism that is simply exploding in our society today. All Pedophilia is an outgrowth of the Satanic spirit now sweeping this nation, whether it comes from the Catholic priests or within individuals. However, what most people do not realize is that the push toward de-criminalizing Pedophilia is running hot and strong just below the surface, but that is the subject of our next article. * "Satanism does not encourage orgiastic activity or extramarital affairs for those to whom they do not come naturally, For many, it would be very unnatural and detrimental to be unfaithful to their chosen mates. To others, it would be frustrating to be bound sexually to just one person. Each person must decide for himself what form of sexual activity best suits his individual needs." [Page 66] What if the occultist decides that the "form of sexual activity best suits his individual needs" cannot be found with an adult woman, but can only come from a girl less than 12 years of age? Keep this thought in mind as we move to our last section of this article. * "The Satanist realizes that if he is to be a sexual connoisseur (and truly free from sexual guilt) he cannot be stifled by the so-called sexual revolutionists any more than he can by the prudery of his guilt-ridden society ..." [Page 67]. A "sexual connoisseur"? A "connoisseur" is some one who elevates some act to the form of art, or to a professional level. A person becomes a wine "connoisseur" by tasting many types of wine, and then walking away; is a "sexual connoisseur" someone who "tastes" many types of sexual encounters and then walks away? Doubt it not! As we shall demonstrate in our next article, the secret occultists of our time are gathering strength with open practitioners of deviant sexual practices to agitate for laws lowering the minimum age of pornography and sexual activity to 16, and then 14, and then 12 and finally 8 years of age! This trend is getting so strong it is getting difficult to hide it any longer. We shall deal with this issue in our next article. Back to The Satanic Bible: * "Satanism condones any type of sexual activity which properly satisfies your individual desires -- be it heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or even asexual, if you choose." [Page 67] * "Satanism also sanctions any fetish or deviation which will enhance your sex life ... The prevalence of deviant and/or fetishistic behavior in our society would stagger the imagination of the sexually naive. There are more sexual variants than the unenlightened individual can perceive: transvestitism, sadism, masochism, urolagnia, exhibitionism -- to name only a few of the more predominant." [Pages 67-68] These quotes thoroughly document the sexual values and outlook of a society based on Satanic values. All Judeo-Christian rules are hated and are meant to be abolished in the New World Order now steadily coming upon us. However, within a coven, you would expect that these sexual values are practiced and are given the highest degree of glorification possible. In an occult society based upon these Satanic values, you would expect that the leaders of this society would have these values toward sex as Anton LaVey expressed; they would believe that man is just an animal that needs its sexual needs met, and can meet those needs with anyone willing to fulfill them. This belief also extends to the age of the sex partner. An occultist will not recognize any limit to the age of the sex partner. To see this is true, let us go to the Biblical account of Sodom, at the moment when God's angels arrived at Lot's house. Genesis 19:2-11. God's holy angels [who had taken the form of human men] sent to rescue Lot and his family before God destroyed the cities, spent the evening in Lot's house, where he fixed them dinner. In verse 4, we see quite a spectacle develop. The homosexual men of every part of the city, both young and old, surrounded the house to demand that the male guests in Lot's house come outside. Why did they want these disguised angels to come outside? So they could have sex with them. Now, wait a minute! The homosexual men outside Lot's house intended to have group sex with these 'men' in PUBLIC! In public! In America today, we still have laws that make it illegal for anyone to have sex outside, in public. Many, many public rest stops along our highways have been closed because homosexual men were meeting there and having sex there. We have laws that would have made these men of Sodom fearful of having sex IN PUBLIC. Therefore, because these men showed no fear of being arrested, we can only conclude that, prior to this event, the laws of Sodom had to have been changed, allowing public sex, laws which bestowed a mantle of societal approval upon public sex!! However, notice that the "young men" of Sodom were among those surrounding Lot's house demanding public sex with the Godly angels who had come in the form of men. Therefore, the young men were desiring sex with the angels and of course, were expecting reciprocal sex from the angels. Today, with our society still enforcing Judeo-Christian morality, we call this type of sexual activity with youngsters "pedophilia". The "Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, Eighth Edition", defines 'pedophilia' thusly: "A fondness for children; unnatural desire for sexual relations with children." Who called sexual relations with children "unnatural" and forbade it? God, speaking through His Holy Bible. Therefore, this medical dictionary is reflecting the predominate Judeo-Christian values by its definition. Once you step outside Judeo-Christian values, this definition changes, just as it did in Sodom. Since Sodom glorified sex, boy to man, you can bet it encouraged sex, girl to man. In fact, listen to the Holman Bible Dictionary as it describes the full list of sins for which God destroyed these two ancient cities. "The unnatural lusts of the men of Sodom (Gen. 19:4-8; Jude 7) have given us the modern term sodomy, but the city was guilty of a full spectrum of sins including pride, oppression of the poor, haughtiness, and 'abominable things' (Ezek. 16:49-50). Did you get that insight? The Holman Bible Dictionary says that God destroyed the city because it was guilty of a "full spectrum of sins", that God considered "abominable things". When you understand this fact, you will see that America is lurching toward the full gamut of Sodom's sexual sins. Societies based upon the occult will possess this attitude toward sex, even though they may try to keep it quiet. In fact, the smart thing to do is to disguise the sexual activity so the outsider will see it for something other than it really is. On this note, let us go to the final revelation of the society of the 'Travelers". NEWS BRIEF: "Clothing For Little Girls With Sexually-Connotative Lettering", 1/31/01, Rense.com, by Sheryl Jackson. "At the present time there is a body of lobbyists' in Washington, DC, whose agenda is to lower the age of teens for consensual sex to 16. This is not a new lobby. In fact, they claim to have a very wealthy constituency of over a million members. Most of them are really just pedophiles who have a motto of 'sex before eight, before it is too late'. Many of them are also members of a very suspect group of nomadic Americans who call themselves the 'Travelers". This group has been gaining in notoriety in this country, because they have fallen under the heading of 'newsworthy' by the mainstream media. But many of the characteristics and known behaviors of these people (male and female) remain hidden, vague and relatively unknown by the public at large." Wait a minute! This author has just stated that pedophilia runs within the "very suspect group of nomadic Americans who call themselves the 'Travelers'." Since we know that the Travelers is a very tight-knit group of people based upon a powerful practice of White Magic Witchcraft, we know that they probably do share the casual sexual attitude typical of occultists toward children. One South Carolinian citizen did not blink when I asked him if he would find it believable that Travelers encouraged sex with children, and marriage between adult men and girls as young as 8 years old. He said that would explain the odd pairing he had noted within that society. A subscriber recently faxed me a memorandum on a program she was watching that touched on this subject. Listen: "The program I was telling you about was on MSNBC with Ashleigh Banfield on September 23, around midnight. A home video was played showing very young Traveler girls wearing extremely fancy clothes, lots of makeup and big hair. A young girl about 10 or 11 was dancing in a very provocative manner, just unbelievable for a child. It was explained that these were 'parties' for men to choose brides. Then the film jumped to young girls in beautiful wedding gowns dancing with middle aged men. It was explained that these girls were around 12 years old and being married to these men through arranged marriages." Thus, MSNBC reported that the society of Travelers allowed -- or encouraged -- "parties" in which adult men could choose brides from young girls as young as 10 years old! While you might find this unbelievable, it is consistent with the occult values upon which the Travelers are based. This subscriber continued: "In my research this week, I was able to find articles where Charlie Condon, the Attorney General of South Carolina, changed the legal age of female marriages to 14 instead of 12, in response to the problem with Traveler men marrying children. This is well documented and ties in very well with the Washington lobby of wealthy people trying to get the laws changed to have sex with marriage at any age child. NAMBLA has been advocating this for years." TRAVELERS - ILLUMINATI CONNECTION At the top of this article, I mentioned a tie-in between the Travelers and NAMBLA, and this is it. They both are advocating a change in sex laws that would allow sex between an adult and a very young child, all the way down to age 8, "before it is too late". Thus, both these groups are advocating exactly the kind of societal change you would expect an occultist to desire. This change is also exactly what the Illuminati plans to institute once their Christ [Antichrist] is on the world scene. Remember, also, I asked the rhetorical question as to why law enforcement authority does not shut the Travelers down, when they certainly know this type of activity is occurring, and since so many people know that the Travelers make their living through various forms of thievery? This societal immunity to the arm of law enforcement suggests that the Travelers enjoy high-level protection. Since the back of our One Dollar Bill proves our government to be Illuminist [Seminar Two, "America Determines The Flow of History"], can we demonstrate an Illuminist connection to the Travelers? Listen to a former Satanist describe this connection: "Gypsies worship the Hindu goddess, Kali, who has both creation and destruction abilities. Kali's necklace in Indian legend consists of skulls with magical Sanskrit letters. Kali was, and is, worshipped by a great number of people, especially the Hindus. One group of worshippers has been the Thugs, who relate to the Assassins and the Knight Templars. Another group of Kali worshippers are the gypsies who left India in the middle ages and over the next following several hundreds of years traveled all over the world. "One group of people known for their traveling entertainment, the gypsies, have some interesting parallels with the Illuminati bloodlines. A gypsy proverb is, 'If you want to survive, you must be a devil'. Both the gypsies and the Illuminati families are secretive; both groups live double lives. Gypsy children will be given a secret magical name, and a name to use for outsiders, a very common Satanic trait. Gypsy children are often baptized in a magical circle. Both groups are into the practices of the occult, such as 'black magic', the 'evil eye", and white slavery. The gypsies believe in Charani, a big bird consumed by fire who rises from the ashes; the Illuminati calls this bird the 'Phoenix'. Both groups have a secret code that allows them to do anything to outsiders ( who are called "Gad" by gypsies meaning "enemy") The gypsies originated in India and migrated west to Iran and Turkey and then to Greece and then into the western Europe in the 1400s just prior to an occult revival in Europe. Other gypsy societies also worship Kali under different names such as the Black Virgin, for which they make an effigy called 'BIBIACA' which simply means 'LADY'." Thus, you can see the direct tie between Gypsies and the Illuminati bloodline families. Since this is true, Illuminati Mind Control is heavily at work amongst the Travelers as well. The former Satanist, quoted above, also stated that the Travelers prostitute their daughters out to make money, another very common trait of occultists. WAS THIS INCIDENT STAGED? If you wanted to tear down a Judeo-Christian society so you could replace it with a society that has no rules, no strict dogma, and certainly no rules regulating sex, would you not view the core family as your number one target? We have heard many Christian leaders and educators, especially Dr. James Dobson, declare repeatedly that the core family is under specific attack by various forces at work today within our society. What better way to tear Christian families apart than to successfully attack any home that upholds the Biblical teaching on corporal punishment? Before you rush to judgment to say this is not possible, consider the themes coming out of this incident of Madelyne Toogood beating her child: * How terrible it is to strike a child; let us make it a crime. * Homeschooled children are possibly being raised by cultists, criminals, nutcases. * The worst place for a kid is with his own parents. What may happen while we remain fixated on Mrs. Toogood is that courts and legislative bodies may start to make these above themes the law of the land. Just like the raptors in Jurassic Park, you don't have to worry so much about the Raptor in front of you, but you had best beware of the one sneaking up on you from the side or the back. We have to watch carefully in our communities to ensure that this type of restrictive legislation is not passed supposedly to "protect" the children. The most terrible laws have always been passed with the most lofty goals. As we continued to dig for information lying just below the surface concerning this incident of Madelyn Toogood beating her daughter in the public parking lot of Kohl's Department Stores, we found a lot of disturbing information. We discovered that Toogood was a member of a very occult group called the "Irish Travelers", a group that regularly allows sexual contact, even marriage, between adult men and young girls. We discovered that the Travelers tie in with the Gypsies of Ireland and Europe, a deeply occult group tied to the Illuminati. Now that we have this tie-in, we can see why law enforcement does not act upon the detailed information they possess in order to shut this society down for good. Further, we can see how this society might be part of the concerted campaign to bring sex and pornography down to youngsters as young as eight years of age. Truly, Western Society is becoming like Sodom and Gomorra. What was it Jesus said was a sign of the End of the Age? "As in the days of Lot ..." [Luke 17:28-31] Truly, we live in the End of the Age. Are you spiritually ready? Is your family? Are you adequately protecting your loved ones? This is the reason for this ministry, to enable you to first understand the peril facing you, and then help you develop strategies to warn and protect your loved ones. Once you have been thoroughly trained, you can also use your knowledge as a means to open the door of discussion with an unsaved person. I have been able to use it many times, and have seen people come to Jesus Christ as a result. These perilous times are also a time when we can reach many souls for Jesus Christ, making an eternal difference. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, but have been very lukewarm in your spiritual walk with Him, you need to immediately ask Him for forgiveness and for renewal. He will instantly forgive you, and fill your heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Then, you need to begin a daily walk of prayer and personal Bible Study. If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, but have come to realize His reality and the approaching End of the Age, and want to accept His FREE Gift of Eternal Life, you can also do so now, in the privacy of your home. Once you accept Him as Savior, you are spiritually Born Again, and are as assured of Heaven as if you were already there. Then, you can rest assured that the Kingdom of Antichrist will not touch you spiritually. If you would like to become Born Again, turn to our Salvation Page now. We hope you have been blessed by this ministry, which seeks to educate and warn people, so that they can see the coming New World Order -- Kingdom of Antichrist -- in their daily news. Finally, we would love to hear from you. You can write us at: You can contact us by mail or email. God bless you.

Hordes of raccoons invade Germany Residents are fighting back but experts fear the nocturnal marauders are there to stay. |Report an Error| Share via Email KASSEL, GERMANY—A retired man in Harleshausen, a suburb of the central German city of Kassel, had nothing more in mind than removing the tarp covering his lawn furniture. But then a hissing animal with markings like a safecracker’s mask shot toward him and sank its teeth into his left hand. It was a female raccoon intent on protecting her young, and she next attacked the man’s foot. The struggle lasted a minute or so before the man staggered into his house bleeding. That altercation is symptomatic of a nuisance that’s spreading through the country. Procyon lotor, the common raccoon, is not native to Germany, but its range is increasing. The population will soon number more than a million, according to forest biologist Ulf Hohmann. The first raccoons were brought to Germany around 1920 to be bred in captivity for their pelts. Their controlled introduction into the wild occurred on April 12, 1934, when Prussian hunting and game authorities released two pairs of raccoons near the Edersee, a reservoir near Kassel. Their stated purpose was to “enrich the fauna” of the area. A persistent rumour has it that Hermann Göring, one of the Nazi party’s most powerful figures, personally ordered that raccoons be released into the wild. The fact that this isn’t historically accurate didn’t stop British tabloid newspaper the Sun from running an article in 2007 titled “Nazi raccoons on warpath.” The article warned that they “are just across the Channel from Britain after marching through France, Belgium, Holland and Denmark in a furry blitzkrieg” and that they “are invading new territory — just like the Nazis did.” One raccoon sauntered into a police station in the eastern German city of Dresden. Another dozed in front of the Federal Administrative Court building in Leipzig. “A few individuals have even made it over the Alps,” Hohmann reports. Statistics kept by the German Hunting Association (DJV) offer proof of a downright invasion. It calculates that 67,700 raccoons were killed in Germany last season, a record. Many of them were caught using chocolate as bait in cage traps. There’s no law against trapping raccoons — in fact, quite the opposite is true. The EU recommends exterminating this invasive species on the grounds that it could pose a threat to biodiversity. Hunters complain that raccoons kill partridges and pheasants, devour bats and steal eggs from wild ducks’ nests. Raccoons also seem to have developed a taste for the endangered European pond turtle. Still, DJV officials are calling for calm, saying the environmental damage has only been minor. At most, they say, there is the potential danger to humans from rabies. Kassel isn’t the only city with a raccoon problem. In cities such as Dresden and Bielefeld, the animals have started banding together to harvest entire cherry or plum trees. Another problematic occurrence is when these marauding gangs make their homes in attics, where they tear the insulation to bits and leave their droppings everywhere. Some residents fight back with steel traps or poisonous gas. Some even eat the pests, which are said to taste best marinated with celeriac and onions. Animal lovers and activists feel the raccoon deserves protection despite its non-native status, and they are appalled by such crude responses. Ignoring all advice, they intentionally attract the animals to give them milk and advocate anything but shooting them. Meanwhile, forest wardens in the Habichtswald, a nature reserve that borders on Kassel’s city limits, are determined to fight the animals’ encroachment with bullets. They’re planning a hunt in October in which raccoons are the sole quarry. Still, hunting alone won’t take care of the problem. Over the past 70 years, the raccoons have proved themselves experts at surviving in a foreign environment and have gradually conquered new territory. “The species is firmly established here,” says Hohmann. - It would take 'pathological' anger to deliberately crash plane, expert says - Canadian airlines must now have two crew in cockpit at all times - Brockville wedding dress mix-up solved after province-wide search - Wave of ‘religious freedom’ bills raises fears of anti-gay discrimination - U of T strike over as teaching assistants vote to enter arbitration - 'It's a shock to your body,' bystander hit by stray bullet says - Daycare operator sued for calling the CAS - Panthers add to Maple Leafs' woes

Edward Weston Biography – A Photographers Love of Life, Essay by Alex Nyerges Edward Weston’s life is of near mythic proportions: a series of love affairs, sojourns to Mexico with exotic Tina Modotti, a Spartan lifestyle — truly the elements of which legends are made. Yet behind the often exaggerated stories and tales of the frequently misjudged artist stands a man driven by passion, deep emotion, and a unique eye. Although introspective, he was not the dark, brooding, bohemian intellectual and lover as he was often portrayed, but a man possessed by a relentless drive to seek beauty, perfection, and emotionally charged images. The real Edward Weston is a humble family man and a photographer of unequaled talent. He was dedicated to his four talented sons, devoted to his sister, Mary and eternally passionate toward his collection of friends, students, and lovers. This picture is considerably less romantic but clearly more accurate and appealing. After his death, his second wife Charis Wilson, expressed shock and dismay at the cliché-ridden myth that had been created to replace the flesh-and-blood man that she knew as Edward Weston. This exhibition delves into Edward Weston as brother, son, and father, the man “a robust lover of life…a man who found the world endlessly fascinating.” Weston’s mastery of photography is unparalleled. In a review of the traveling exhibition Edward Weston: Photography and Modernism at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Washington Post art critic Henry Allen wrote, “Through no fault of his own, Weston’s discoveries have become clichés. After all the imitation and reproductions, you can’t quite see his work for what it is, or was. But what wonderful pictures they are, when you stop thinking about them. The eros of the pepper, the classic purity of the chambered nautilus, the gleam of an ocean wrinkled like molten metal: No one had done what Weston did, and a lot of people have tried.” We think we know Edward Weston. His Daybooks provide a lengthy insight into his daily wanderings through a dozen of the most productive years of his career. Numerous books – some written by Weston himself – address his life and work. Weston’s voluminous correspondence complements his Daybooks to round out an amazing archive of primary source material. And, because Weston began writing early in his career, publishing an article in 1911 in Photo Era that would presage his prolific production as a writer on his own work, the world was given as window on the mind of this man behind the myth. But do we really know him? At first glance, the ocean of correspondence, journal entries, and other writing by Weston and about him is vast. One can easily wonder, “How could an artist be so verbose, so articulate, and so introspective about his work, his career, and his life, yet be so misunderstood?” In reality one needs to look more carefully at this body of writing to extract its underlying meaning – Weston’s translation of life’s every day trials and triumphs – to see what sparked him. One also needs to recognize that, like most people, Edward Weston changed and matured throughout his life. Weston the portrait photographer of the middle teens is vastly different from the Weston that journeyed to Mexico a few years later. And this Edward Weston is altogether different from the sated, mature artist who was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1936. The epicenter of his published work, The Daybooks of Edward Weston, relates to little more than a decade of his nearly half century career. This was a time, one should note, that was replete with many personal changes in his life: confrontations with his first wife, Flora; his prolonged sojourn to Mexico and separation from his beloved sons; and then his wanderings in California. This expansive and introspective journal – it is an impressive two volume set – ends shortly after he meets Charis Wilson and settles down more permanently in the early 1930’s in Carmel, California. Because our viewpoint today has been clouded by the passage of time and compounded by the natural complexities of human nature, we tend to see a distorted view of Weston through the murky lens of history. Time has passed, memories are faded or lost, and legend supplants truth. A Cliché-Ridden Myth . . . Charis Wilson, Edward Weston’s second wife and partner through his wonderfully productive 1930’s and the war years, remarked that she was shocked by the cliché-ridden myth he had become in the hands of his biographers and other writers. She blamed his distorted image on their sources of impressions, particularly his Daybooks, with their many limitations and a point of view Weston himself later lamented. By his own admission, Weston thought his Daybooks did not truly reflect all that he was engaged in emotionally as well as intellectually. He found them full of “immature thoughts” and “excess emotions.” Weston admitted, “I find far too many bellyaches; it is too personal, and a record of a not so nice person. I usually wrote to let off steam so the diary gives a one-sided picture which I do not like.” For Weston, his Daybooks represented “doubts, certainties and constant growth. They were a way of learning, clarifying my thoughts.” The myth of Edward Weston has grown dramatically during the past decades. Art historians, critics, and even friends have helped to perpetuate the image of the dark and brooding artist. The problem has persisted for decades. “The myths about my father are legendary,” his youngest son, Cole, exclaimed. “He was not apolitical. He was very athletic, loved to watch football. He loved to watch boxing. When I was very young I remember them well. We stood outside with a small radio to listen to the Dempsey-Tunney fight. He was a runner. He would take us down to Carmel Beach and beat us all.” Weston’s sons’ memories are certainly replete with photography, but it is their memories of their father as “dad” that come to the discussion with the greatest passion and enthusiasm. Visiting the behemoth retrospective exhibition of Weston’s work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1975, a New York Times art critic found his work to be “static, indrawn, remote and sometimes morbid.” This critic, like so many others since then, read his Daybooks, his biography, and a variety of other sources. From these were gathered an initial impression of Weston as a “vital and virile romantic who lived a life of physical simplicity and emotional richness” – a very accurate picture. Yet upon reading the Daybooks and the biography, the critic found herself remarking, “One’s sense of Weston darkens; one gets the feeling that he didn’t enjoy himself very much (What artist does?). He was happy at the start of a love affair (‘The idea means more to me than the actuality,’ he confessed, and pondered, ‘Is love like art – something always ahead, never quite attained?’).” This analysis concluded that the Daybooks expressed Weston’s “anxiety and loneliness and eccentricity that underlay and undermined the surface exuberance and gregariousness and conventional bohemianism.” The classic misconceptions of Weston and his work focus on his images of natural forms such as the shells and peppers. Many art historians have interpreted Weston’s Nautilus Shell and his Pepper No. 30 as suggesting sexual repression. One critic noted that it “reeks with sensuality.” They contended that the work had a “double meaning, reminding us of the double life that Weston was leading, making portraits that embarrassed him, constantly unfaithful to his lovers, never having time to be the good father to his sons that he had hoped to be.” These were opinions Weston vehemently denied. Weston stated more than once, unequivocally, that such viewpoints were both surprising and incorrect. “I am not sick and was never so free from sexual suppression . . . I am not blind to the sensuous quality . . . No! I had no physical thoughts, – never have. I worked with clearer vision of aesthetic form. I knew that I was recording from within, my feeling of inner life as I never had before.” Another historian claimed Weston’s kelp pictures were “sinister and dark,” while his shell rears “like a sea monster.” This harsh interpretation was taken even further, labeling Weston’s peppers, kelp, and fungi to “hint at a turbulent, even demonic imagination.” Those who knew Weston, especially his children and Charis, would absolutely refute this perspective. Little in Weston’s voluminous output of writing supports this speculation. But the myth of Weston continues to build. The criticism of Weston extends further, attacking his basic motivation. Some have claimed that Weston’s was “an extremist art” and that he was “drawn to whatever was most alienating, to extremes of desiccated and abandoned landscape . . . working always with regard for the twin poles of fullness and desiccation, life and death of the senses.” Even when art historians have tried to place Weston in context, they have often perpetuated the same myths. In one case, Weston was branded a “loner and solitary genius.” This clearly ignores the fact that his family, collaborators, lovers, and others often surrounded Weston. On his two-year-long Guggenheim travels during 1937-1938, Weston was almost always in the company of Charis Wilson and often one or more of his sons, usually in relatively close quarters – hardly the attributes or living style of a loner. Weston was, in fact, a gregarious and outward-looking person who craved solitude as a respite from those many moments he was surrounded by others. Weston’s late years as a photographer were subject to further misinterpretation. His works from the 1940’s, including his commission from the Limited Edition Book Club for a volume on Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, have been condemned with a “sense of age and aging . . . Old places, old things, old faces settle into an impression of inertness . . . Landscapes heavy with clouds seem brooding.” Damned as “funeral or elegiac,” it has been questioned whether “Weston’s changing state of mind” was the cause, referring to the serious marital difficulties he and Charis were beginning to experience, compounded by the uncertainties of war, which broke out in the middle of their Leaves of Grass journey. In an essay describing Weston’s late landscapes, one art historian contended that beginning with his Guggenheim fellowship in 1937, “and perhaps without the artist reading it – the subject of Weston’s photography became Death.” (Note that this is death with a capital “d” and that Weston himself may have been oblivious to this preoccupation that is apparent to so many others). This tangent was taken even further when Weston’s intention to fulfill his Guggenheim obligations with images “photographing Life” was described as “in retrospect, ironic.” Once again, critics read death into Weston’s work as a primary subject matter: “a burnt-out automobile, a wrecked car, an abandoned soda works, a dead man, a crumbling building in a Nevada ghost town, long views of Death Valley, the skull of a steer, the charred remnants of a forest fire, gravestones, and the twisted, bleached bark of juniper trees – a virtual catalogue of decay, dissolution and ruin. [emphasis added]” Critics have referred to his late work at Point Lobos as a “veritable theater of death.” However, according to this same critic, there are “enough pictures of ‘innocent’ subjects – dunes, cloud studies . . . to suggest that Weston was not exclusively preoccupied with death.” Earlier, in a review for the Weston retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1975, one critic had applied a psychoanalytical approach to his work. He noted that dark elements – “caves, rocks or simply heavy shadows – occur with sufficient frequency in Weston’s photographs after 1937 that may be said to comprise a motif . . . the motif . . . comes to suggest death.” The critic journeyed into this psychoanalytic interpretations of his work out of hand.” The critic found his rationale to do so in Weston’s strident denials, which “are what make the interpretation of his images so tempting.” Although it is correct that these subjects signaled a change in his theme and style, in no way were these “new additions to Weston’s artistic repertory.” Weston’s work with death in Mexico more than a decade earlier is ample evidence to this fact. Moreover, to contend that his final work constitutes a “theater of death” ignores his entire body of color work, which is full of light, color, and life. The contention that Weston became a brooding, dark, and morose individual in the last years of his life is, at the very least, highly misleading, and at worst, just plain incorrect. Charis Wilson says this narrowly focused image of Weston is further exaggerated by accounts of him in his final years, when he was suffering the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease and was no longer the “robust lover of life he had always been.” Lost was the “man who found the world endlessly fascinating.” Even his longtime friend and collaborator, the art historian Nancy Newhall, who edited his daybooks for publication, was lulled into furthering these misconceptions. She claimed “he never laughed out loud,” a notion adamantly refuted by Wilson, who recalls “many an uproarious bout of laughter.” For many who knew Weston late in his life, they only remember the man beset with the ravages of Parkinson’s that left him a shadow of his former self. Forgotten are the numerous accounts of laughter, dancing, and merry-making. Weston claimed, “A good laugh is cleansing.” It’s fortunate that not every photo historian and critic has taken this tack. The renowned curator and author John Szarkowski attributed Weston’s later inspirations to illustrate a “new spirit of ease and freedom” rather than a morbid focus on death and decay. He concluded, “A sense of the rich and open-ended asymmetry of the world enters the works, softening their love of order.” The noted photography historian and educator Peter Bunnell referred to Weston’s struggle with identity and his quest for intellectual wholeness as an underlying motivation for his remarkable ability to reinvent himself and his work several times throughout his career. This personal journey, rather than any of the various described preoccupations, was at the root of his influences. Bunnell also criticized the myopic focus other writers had on Weston’s love interest and the “narrowly dimensional characterization of Weston” that had skewed the public’s perception of the artist. The insightful photographer and author Robert Adams summarized it best when he chastised recent biographies of photographers as being based on little more than gossip. Adams says he hopes for a biography that looks to Weston’s inspirations: “I think they did not necessarily come from the sometimes foolish man who was a vegetarian but enjoyed bullfights, the one who believed in astrology and wore a velvet cape. They must have come from a more thoughtful person who suffered enough to learn.” Adams may have come closest to the truth when he claimed “The importance of the last pictures seems to me not so much that they show Weston’s awareness of death, but that they demonstrate the personal achievement of which Beaumont Newhall wrote after seeing Weston in a late stage of his illness: ‘He accepted his fate and was resolved to bear it.’ The progressively relaxed compositions of his later pictures testify to a willingness to affirm life on other than selective terms. They show the peace that is evident in his last letters to friends, letters as beautiful as any of which I know – brief, colloquial, dignified and urgent with affection.” Adams contended that, “running through much of Weston’s life was an engaging spirit of celebration, and that also grows in the late Point Lobos pictures . . . I think I see it in the photographs – a new sensitivity to light, to light just in the air, especially to light as it is caught by shooting into the sun.” Rather than harkening to the “dark side” of Weston, Adams correctly concluded, “He appears to have become, after many failed attempts, another person, growing away from his earlier egoism and its disappointments toward a more generous view of other people and the world as a whole.” If this is true, and a careful examination of Weston as the father, brother, son, husband, and friend will attest to this fact, the image of Weston needs an appropriate rejuvenation. My Greatest Influence . . . For Weston, his pure aims in photography were inseparable from his philosophy of life and living. He articulated this well in a classic line he penned to Henry Allen Moe at the Guggenheim Foundation as an addendum to his application for a fellowship in 1937: My work-purpose, my theme, can most clearly be stated as the recognition, recording and presentation of the interdependence, the relativity if all things – the universality of basic form . . . In a single day’s work within a radius of a mile, I might discover and record the skeleton of a bird, a blossoming fruit tree, a cloud, a smokestack; each of these being only a part of the whole, but each – in itself – becoming a symbol of the whole, of life. Although Weston was keenly aware of photography’s history and its renowned practitioners such as Paul Strand, Alfred Stieglitz, and Charles Sheeler, about whom much has already been written, his most important influences and inspirations were, interestingly enough, outside the bounds of the field. Weston was, in his own mind, first and foremost, an artist. He credited his true influences to all art forms. “To increase one’s art appreciation, literature, music, drama, and other arts are as important as the study of pictures, perhaps more so, for the former would not tend to influence one into merely copying other work,” he wrote in 1917. Responding to a criticism from Stieglitz that he had not been an influence in Weston’s life, Weston took time to reflect on what his most outstanding “inspirations” in his life and upon his work were: I feel that I have been more deeply-moved by music, literature, sculpture, painting, than I have by photography, – that is by the other workers in my own medium . . . seeing, hearing, reading something fine excited me to greater effort, – (“inspires” is just the word, but how it has been abused!). Reading about Stieglitz, for instance, means more to me than seeing his work. Kandinsky, Brancusi, Van Gogh, El Greco, have given me fresh impetus: and of late Keyserling, Spengler, Melville, (catholic taste!) in literature. I never hear Bach without deep enrichment, – I almost feel he has been my greatest “influence.” Weston’s camera was a conduit to understanding life and allowed him to capture what he considered its very essence. Describing his work in detail, Weston gave us insight into his philosophy: “The majestic old boats at anchor in an estuary across from San Francisco . . . the full bloom of Miriam’s body – responsive and stimulating – the gripping depths of Johan’s neurasthenia – the all-over pattern of huddled houses beneath my studio window on Union Street – in these varied approaches I have lately seen my life through my camera.” Weston himself relished in these descriptions, and they motivated him to greater heights. In a review of an exhibit in 1931, a critic wrote, “But in Carmel, we find him moving beyond the artist. It is here that he has transcended art and become a seer. Seen through his eyes, the concealed flight in the wing of a bird, the sculpture of a bud, is transformed from things seen to things known.” For Weston, beauty mattered. It was an indispensable part of life. Moved by the landscape, a stony outcrop on Point Lobos, or the crumbled remains of a ghost town, Weston sought beauty wherever he looked. “I am ‘old-fashioned’ enough to believe that beauty – whether in art or nature, exists as an end in itself: at least is does for me.” Nyerges, Alexander Lee. “Edward Weston: Lover of Life.” Edward Weston A Photographer’s Love of Life. Dayton, Ohio: The Dayton Art Institute, 2004. 21-93. Print.

Return to Transcripts main page STARTING POINT WITH SOLEDAD O'BRIEN Russian Security Forces Investigate Dagestan; Car Bomb in Syria Targets PM; Jets Release QB Tim Tebow; Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx Nominated for Transportation Secretary; Will Manchin-Toomey Be Brought Back?; Court Hearing for Mississippi Man; Have You Checked your Credit Report?; On the Wings of Man Aired April 29, 2013 - 08:30 ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to Boston. John Berman here. We begin with new developments in the Bostton bombing case. The mother of the suspected bombers just telling CNN's Nick Paton Walsh moments ago that she plans to travel to the United States, no matter what the risk, as long as she's able to see her surviving son. Now, Nick just spoke to the father, as well. His health, Nick says, is taking a bad turn. Overnight, Russian special forces raided a militant group with possible links to Tamerlan Tsarnaev taking out this man, purportedly a key member of that militant group. Now this comes as the FBI and Russian security officials try to piece together Tamerlan Tsarnaev's movements during his six months' visit to Russia. They want to know if others in the United States or Russia may have influenced or helped the Tsarnaev brothers -- that includes their mother as well as Tamerlan's wife, Katherine Russell, who converted to Islam when she married Tamerlan in 2010. As for whether the Boston Marathon bombers had help, the Texas Congressman who heads the House Homeland Security Committee appears convinced they did have help. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX), CHAIRMAN, HOMELAND SECURITY CMTE: I think given the level of sophistication of the device, the fact that the pressure cooker is a signature device that goes back to Pakistan, Afghanistan, leads me to believe in the way they handled these devices, and the tradecraft, leads me to believe that there was a trainer. (END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: Did they have help in Dagestan? CNN's Nic Robertson is following developments live from Dagestan this morning. Good morning, Nic. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, this is certainly a place where you could get bomb training and weapons training. There's a vicious fight going on between security forces and rebels hiding out in the mountains here, and roadside bombs, suicide bombs, are typical of what the rebels are using against government forces. So when Tsarnaev was here, did he have the opportunity to meet with bombmakers? Potentially absolutely yes. Is there a proven link? No. He attended a mosque here that has a very radical reputation, a mosque that Russian security services monitor, a mosque where people who have sympathies towards the rebels do attend. But were some of those people actual rebels, were they the rebel leaders that he later posted on one of his social networking sites, a video of one of them? Were they those people? It's just not clear. And did he actually talk to them? That's what Russian security services here will be asking themselves as they continue in this daily battle -- two fighters killed last night, three killed the day before in this daily battle Russian security forces have with the rebels here, John. BERMAN: These battles clearly intensifying there as this investigation there continues. Nic Robertson in Dagestan for us this morning. Thanks so much, Nic. We're standing about a block away from the finish line of the Boston Marathon and ten runners who could not complete the race because of the bombings, well, they got a second chance to compete in a marathon and cross that finish line -- in Oklahoma, of all places. Our affiliate KOCO says that these runenrs accepted an invitation to enter the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, which is an event that honors the victims of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Security was stepped up for the race and no backpacks were allowed. As we said, we're standing at the memorial here. This has become a Mecca for runners here in Boston. So many people going out for their morning jog stop by here and pay their respects at this memorial site. Let's go back to Christine Romans in New York for the rest of the day's top stories. Hey, Christine. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi John. Thanks. A car bomb exploded this morning in the Syrian capital Damascus and it looks like the intended target was Syria's prime minister. He was not hurt, but one person was killed. The blast taking place near President Bashar al Assad's palace. Senator John McCain has repeatedly called on President Obama to take a leading role in ending Syria's two year old civil war. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Our actions should not be dictated on -- by whether Bashar al-Assad used the chemical weapons or not. First of all, sooner or later, he most likely would in order to maintain his hold on power. (END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: The president has said Syria's use of chemical weapons would cross a red line, but on Friday, Mr. Obama insisted the intelligence assessment about chemical weapons is preliminary at this point. A rescue operation is slowly turning this to a recovery effort in Bangladesh. Crews are now using heavy machinery to remove wreckage at the site of that collapsed nine-story factory building indicating the search for survivors may be drawing to a close. The death toll is approaching 400 this morning. Three factory owners and two government engineers have been arrested. The building's owner was arrested as he tried to flee the country. And, again ,that factory housed companies that made garments intended for the U.S. -- U.S. consumers and European consumers. President Obama will nominate Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx to become the next Transportation Secretary today. Foxx's city hosted the Democratic National Convention, you'll recall, last year. The nomination would make him the only African-American picked for a Cabinet spot in the president's second term. New this morning, the experiment is over. Jets quarterback Tim Tebow has been released. "The New York Post" reports the decision comes just three days after the Jets drafted Geno Smith in the second round to compete for the starting QB slot. Tebow is now a free agent. It's not clear if another team will attempt to pick him up. The FAA saying employee furloughs are over and air traffic facilities should be back to their normal staffing now That should fix the problems from last week when flyers saw big delays at major airports. The FAA furloughed 13,000 controllers because of forced spending cuts. Congress passed a bill Friday to deal with the problem. Today marks six months since Superstorm Sandy slammed into the East Coast, causing massive damage and heartache in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut. Tens of thousands of people remain homeless today. Sandy brought death and devastation to Staten Island. Congressman Michael Grimm was here earlier this morning with Pat Dresch. Pat lost her husband and her 13-year-old daughter in that storm. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MICHAEL GRIMM (R), NEW YORK: It's been extremely difficult. I mean, don't get me wrong -- a lot has been done, but there is still so much more to do. In many ways, we're really just starting major aspects of the recovery. (END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: New Jersey residents and business owners have until Wednesday, May 1, to apply for disaster assistance from FEMA or for a loan from the Small Business Administration. A lesbian teacher fired from a Catholic school in Ohio is fighting to get her job back. Carla Hale mentioned her same-sex partner when she wrote her mother's obituary. The school found out and let her go after 19 years. Listen to former students reacting to the students. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel sad it had to happen this way. I feel sorry that it was so publicized and that she doesn't have a job anymore. But I also don't think the school or the diocese had a choice. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It goes against everything the Catholic Church preaches on homosexuality. Yes, they don't believe in marriage or homosexual partnerships, but they also preach love and compassion. (END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: The diocese says staff who publicly mention relationships that contradict church teachings cannot work for the church. Hale met over the weekend students, parents, and alumni who want her reinstated. An online petition supporting her has nearly 95,000 signatures. Now it's time to take today's Political News to the "Macks". Husband and wife team and former U.S. Republican representatives Connie and Mary Bono Mack, nice to see both of you. CONNIE MACK (R), FORMER FLORIDA CONGRESSMAN: Nice to see you too. MARY BONO MACK (R), FORMER CALIFORNIA CONGRESSWOMAN: Great to see you. ROMANS: I want to talk about gun control, because we haven't talked about that this week. CONNIE MACK: Of course you do. ROMANS: And Joe Manchin said something - let's listen to what Joe Manchin said and I want to get your response. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRIS WALLACE, FOX HOST: Pat Toomey, co-sponsor of Manchin-Toomey, says he's done. SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D), WEST VIRGINIA: I don't think he's done. I really don't. I was with Pat last night and Pat' totally committed to this bill. WALLACE: But I want to make it clear -- you are going to bring this bill back to the Senate floor and you think it's going be different this time? MANCHIN: I truly believe that if we have time to sell the bill and people will read the bill, and I'm willing to go anywhere in this country, I'm willing to debate anybody on this issue, read the bill and you tell me what you don't like. (END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: So he says it was misunderstood, there were misrepresentations about what's in the bill and he's going to bring it back, that it's not gone. Do you think there is a chance that could happen? MARY BONO MACK: Well, no bill passes immediately. I think if it does, you should be afraid of it anyway. But clearly there are people in Congress who have championed this issue for a long time who are going to continue to raise the profile of it this year. And of course Carolyn McCarthy is second to none as far as leading the way here. But that bill might have been rushed. I think that there was definitely an emotional time in the country to put it out there. But in this case, I think a little bit of kicking it around probably isn't a bad idea. ROMANS: The longer you wait, though, doesn't the -- I don't know, the public fury about Newtown start to fade? Is that a risk? CONNIE MACK: It's a risk, but it's not coming back to the -- I mean, I think this is the sponsor wants to try to get it back to the floor, wants to keep the issue alive. The Senate voted; they voted against it. It was a bipartisan vote that killed the bill. You're not going to see that bill again. They might try; they might try to push it in all different ways, but he's saying it's misunderstood. The president said that people opposed to it were lying about it. But at the end of the day, I think the senators are very clear where they stand on this issue. ROMANS: Can we talk about the bipartisanship we saw at the correspondents' dinner? Did see some of these zingers from the correspondents' dinner? There was a really good one I want to play about -- from Conan O'Brien about Governor Christie. Let's listen to that one. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CONAN O'BRIEN, COMEDIAN: Also, I'd like to acknowledge that earlier this evening there was some confusion with the seating chart. For a moment, someone accidentally sat Governor Chris Christie with the Republicans. That was awkward and I apologize. Very awkward. (END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: It's always funnier when there's a little bit of truth in there. MARY BONO MACK: That's always a great night. And I've been there before where the humor gets over the top and it gets so personal. But if Conan or whoever can tread that fine line, look, the president was great, President Bush was great, President Clinton was great. It's really a great night for them to shine and I think it's important for the town to come together despite what the critics say and actually like each other and be kind to each other. ROMANS: Do you think that there are too many celebrities, too? Do you think the celebrity thing is getting out of hand? CONNIE MACK: Who cares? Not who cares that they're there, but so a lot of celebrities went. I mean, celebrities, politicians - ROMANS: It's not like they're writing bills or anything. MARY BONO MACK: You mean the politicians aren't the celebrities? Because don't tell them that, because that might freak them out a little bit. CONNIE MACK: I think it's great. I know there are a lot of people out there who are saying enough of this and they're partying when the rest of the country is hurting. ROMANS: Well, even Tom Brokaw said it's getting a little -- he said when Lindsay Lohan goes, you know, she's the big celebrity at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, you've gone too far. CONNIE MACK: It sounds like sour grapes to me. I'm sorry. Maybe he's got other -- I don't know. Like people who are complaining about it, it sounds like they have another agenda. I think it's a great thing. Why not get humor in politics? Why not have an opportunity where people can have some fun? I mean, my god, it was a dinner party. ROMANS: Let me ask you quick about so the FAA, so now all the FAA people are going to be on duty again, those furloughs are over. Do you think we're going to see every single special interest group now, or lobbyist, pushing for their particular thing to be unsequestered? I mean has this turned into -- is this the beginning? MARY BONO MACK: If they're as clever as Ray LaHood. Apparently LaHood knew how to play this and how to play it to his benefit. The funny thing yesterday when we flew, Connie and I flew from California to here, they're still using sequestration as a reason why the airlines are slow and telling people hurry up and board quickly because sequestration is looming. CONNIE MACK: Let me just say this real quick. So over the last week I traveled a lot; I traveled out of New York, I traveled all around the country, and I didn't have one delay. You know? So what's going to happen now that all the money has been put back in place, they say, if I'm delayed, whose fault is it? ROMANS: I just want to know what your itinerary is so I can (INAUDIBLE). Tim Tebow quickly. You were crying in the greenroom. CONNIE MACK: You know what? He's such a great athlete and such great person. A team would be lucky to have him. I think that he'll get picked up and have another shot. And, look -- MARY BONO MACK: You consider him a god. CONNIE MACK: I just think he's such a role model for kids. He's everything you want -- ROMANS: A role model doesn't win games. CONNIE MACK: He wins games. Look, when he was in Denver, he won games. He's a winner. You put him in the game, he will win. If you put him in and you kind of hamstring him and don't let him play, he's not going to win. ROMANS: You need to be his agent. MARY BONO MACK: Stuck in this Gator moment right now. CONNIE MACK: It's Gator Nation. ROMANS: Nice to see you. Monday morning with the Macks, I love it. Thanks, guys. All right, ahead on STARTING POINT, the new suspect accused of sending poison laced letters to the president and to other officials, he appears in court today. The latest twist in this bizarre case may be linked to an old fashioned feud. That's next. Then a jaw dropping stunt. Hear from the man attempting to fly through a hole surrounded by boulders wearing only a wing suit. You're watching STARTING POINT. ROMANS: Welcome back. A Mississippi man is expected in court today accused of sending letters to President Obama and two others, letters tainted with the deadly poison ricin. 41-year-old James Everett Dutschke, a martial arts instructor, a former political candidate, he's charged with possession and use of a biological agent. Alina Machado is live for us this morning in Oxford, Mississippi. Good morning. ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Christine. Dutschke is expected to go before a federal court judge here in Oxford, Mississippi at some point today. Meanwhile the man who says he was framed by Dutschke tells us he is just happy an arrest was made. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MACHADO (voice over): Kevin Curtis is relieved after learning of James Everett Dutschke's arrest. PAUL KEVIN CURTIS, FORMER RICIN SUSPECT: I was just like -- I took a deep breath and I walk in there and I told my ex-wife, I said now I feel like a weight is so much lifted off of my shoulders. MACHADO: Investigators initially honed in on Curtis after someone sent ricin-laced letters to President Obama, Mississippi Senator Wicker and a county court judge. Charges filed against Curtis were dropped last week. After Curtis's released the FBI shifted its focus to Dutschke, a martial arts instructor and a former political candidate. ANDRE NABORS, NEIGHBOR: They all just surrounded the house and knocked on the door. And he came on out -- he came out willingly. So I mean, there wasn't any struggling going on or anything. MACHADO: Federal prosecutors have charged Dutschke with quote, "Knowingly developing, producing, stockpiling and possessing a biological agent for use as a weapon." Curtis' ex-wife Laura worked with Dutschke at an insurance company owned by Curtis's brother. She says Dutschke bragged about being a member of Mensa, a high IQ society. LAURA CURTIS, FORMER WIFE OF KEVIN CURTIS: He had a Mensa card and it was just one of his things he was proud of. MACHADO: And showed you the card. Kevin Curtis says Dutschke has been harassing him online since 2004. (On camera): Why do you think he was interested in you? K. CURTIS: I don't know. I'm still trying to find that out. I really don't know, I'm so curious. I've been curious for years. MACHADO: Dutschke denied Curtis's accusations and any involvement with the ricin letters in this statement posted on YouTube. JAMES EVERETT DUTSCHKE, CHARGED WITH SENDING RICIN-TAINTED LETTERS: I don't have anything at all to do with this. I don't hardly know the guy. In fact we've only met on two occasions. MACHADO: For now Curtis says he's focused on spending time with his four children and closing this chapter of his life. Alina Machado, CNN, Booneville, Mississippi. (END VIDEO CLIP) MACHADO: Now, Dutschke's court appearance here is expected to be very brief. We will bring you updates as we learn them -- Christine. ROMANS: All right, Alina Machado for us thank you so much Alina. Ahead on STARTING POINT this morning, he flies through the air with the greatest of ease. But he has to be a little crazy, right? Jeanne Moos has his story. You're watching STARTING POINT. ROMANS: Welcome back to STARTING POINT. I'm Christine Romans with "Smart is the New Rich". Stocks kicking off the week with a modest rally -- Dow futures are up about 50 points. Partially due to a data showing personal spending unexpectedly rose two-tenths of a percent last month. Wall Street had expected a drop. Investors also encouraged that Italy has formed a new government, a sign of stability in a country that's dealing with two trillion euros in debt and a nearly 12 percent unemployment rate. Have you checked your credit history? A new study says most people -- many people don't. According Find Law 22 percent of people have never looked at their credit report. Remember it's free from annualcreditreport.com. It's basically your financial report card, the thing every lender even potential employers look at this. So you should, too, especially if you're going to borrow money within the next -- next six to 12 months. All right, he's a wing suit pioneer, but there is something else to be said for a bird man trying to fly through a -- a tiny rock formation at 155 miles an hour. Here's Jeanne Moos. JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's one thing for James Bond to pull incredible stunts flying a plane. But a real flesh and blood guy whose goal is to fly through a hole on a Spanish mountain wearing a wing suit? That's winging it. 27-year-old Alexander Polli jumped out of a helicopter and flew at a top speed of around 115 miles per hour toward the mountain moving his body to control his direction. ALEXANDER POLLI, WINGSUIT PILOT: I am pulling your shoulders up and pulling them forwards. MOOS: He was aiming for a 20 by 20 hole he calls the bat cave. POLLI: That is magic, one of the biggest laws of my life, you know flying your body. MOOS: For practice he tried busting through 2013 targets. And before that, he tested his control by knocking off foam poles. But rock isn't foam. (on camera): You're heading for the hole. Are you thinking I could easily smash into the rocks? POLLI: No absolutely not. None of that. MOOS (voice over): Alexander's approach is Zen. POLLI: I did a full month of yoga and meditation. MOOS: He made the attempt only once and it was a hole in one. Flight lasted a minute and a half. He opened his parachute and floated to the ground. The bat cave was almost the same size as the gap between buildings that two of his wing suit pilot friends flew through. Last month in Brazil Alexander has flown behind water falls. He's even buzzed his mom. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There he is, my baby. Oh my God listen -- MOOS (on camera): Alexander doesn't lack nerve. But he does lack a sponsor. He's even tried to sponsor himself by starting his own clothing company. (voice over): His first t-shirt will feature a flightless penguin dreaming of flying like an eagle. (on camera): And if you're tempted to fly, you can buy a decent wing suit for $1,200 or $1,300. (voice over): Of course you'll still need a parachute and tons of skydiving experience and lessons in wing suit flying. Just the other day Alexander scraped his arm skydiving when his main parachute didn't deploy properly. POLLI: It wrapped around my arm and I had to cut it away and open the reserve. MOOS (voice over): Compared to skydiving wing suit flying is like a cross between a flying squirrel and the flying nun -- though even Alexander hasn't done this yet. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York. ROMANS: Wow. STARTING POINT is back in a moment.

If you've watched the endless interviews with survivors of natural disasters, you may have noticed that the news media representatives, faced with someone who may be too shocked or nervous before the cameras to offer sufficiently compelling testimony, often do some gentle prompting. "When you saw your home destroyed, were you just devastated?" "You've never seen anything like this before, have you?" "Your whole life changed in that moment, didn't it?" Not everyone who survived a disaster is YouTube clip-ready, so some need to be coached. There was one such interview after the tornado ran through Moore, Oklahoma that got some attention. Interviewing a woman as they stood before the tangled pile of debris that used to be her home and discussed her family's narrow escape, CNN's Wolf Blitzer said, "You guys did a great job. I guess you got to thank the Lord. Right?" When she hesitated, Blitzer pressed on. "Do you thank the Lord for that split-second decision?" She paused for a moment before responding, "I'm actually an atheist." Awkward laughs ensued. Blitzer's assumption was understandable; most Americans profess a faith in God, and there is an awful lot of Lord-thanking after a natural disaster. Atheists find this puzzling, to say the least; if God deserves your thanks and praise for being so merciful as to allow you to live through the tornado, maybe He could have been kind enough not to destroy your home and kill 24 of your neighbors in the first place. But at times of crisis, everyone looks for comfort where they can find it. It's often said that there are no atheists in foxholes, and I suppose Wolf Blitzer thought the same would be true of tornadoes. But when you stop to think about that old expression, you realize how insulting it is, not just to those who don't believe in an almighty but also to those who do. It says that the primary basis for religious faith is fear of death, and one's beliefs are so superficial that they are a function only of the proximity of danger. If you believe only because there's an enemy army or a tornado bearing down on you, you don't believe. Wolf Blitzer will no doubt be more careful next time. And perhaps he'll learn that those who hold to no religion are a fast-growing group, as many as one in six Americans in most polls, so there's at least a fair chance that the next disaster survivor he interviews will also be an atheist. Some of those secular folks are becoming more open about it as their numbers increase; for instance, when last week it came Arizona state representative Juan Mendez's turn to open the legislative session with a prayer, he instead chose an eloquent invocation of "my secular humanist tradition," including a quote from Carl Sagan. Afterward, Mendez said, "I hope today marks the beginning of a new era in which Arizona's non-believers can feel as welcome and valued here as believers." It's a nice thought, but it may take a while. There are signs of progress, though. Last week, Pope Francis made news around the world when in a homily, he delivered to his flock the shocking news that atheists are capable of doing good. They may not get to heaven, but on this planet they are not necessarily gripped by evil. This was certainly a step in the direction of mutual understanding that his predecessor was not inclined to make; Pope Benedict was aggressively hostile to those who don't believe in God, essentially blaming the crimes of the Third Reich on atheism. But I was surely not the only atheist who was a little underwhelmed by Francis' generosity of spirit. Atheists are capable of goodness? How kind of him to say. If you heard a man say, "You may not believe it, but women can be intelligent," you probably wouldn't respond, "What an admirable statement of his commitment to equality—thanks, Mr. Feminist!" But the bar is pretty low for religious leaders; we expect them to hold that all who do not share their particular beliefs are doomed to an eternity of the cruelest punishments the divine mind can devise. We speak of religious "tolerance" as the most we can expect when it comes to the treatment of other people's religions. But we "tolerate" not that which we love or respect but that which is unpleasant, painful, or worthy of mild contempt. We tolerate things which we'd just as soon see disappear. You tolerate a hangnail. Nevertheless, we can give the Pope credit for making a start, even if in public life the most vapid expressions of faith will continue to be the norm. Singers will thank the Lord for delivering unto them a Grammy, smiting the hopes of the other nominees, who are plainly vile in His sight. Football players will gather to pray before a last-second field goal, in the hopes that God will alter his divine plan in their favor and push the ball through the goalposts. And presidents Democratic and Republican will end every speech with "And may God bless the United States of America." As The Atlantic's James Fallows has noted many times, this utterly content-free bit of religiosity means nothing more than "This speech is now over." I don't know if hearing that at the end of a speech makes anyone feel more reassured or hopeful about our country's future. Perhaps it does. But that woman Wolf Blitzer interviewed? The group Atheists Unite put out a call to help her family rebuild their house, setting a goal of raising $50,000. They're already approaching $100,000. She no doubt feels thankful, but she'll be thanking her fellow human beings. 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- [sings] A little nonsense now and then Is relished by the wisest men. - Not original to this work, the proverb dates from at least the 18th century. - [in the tunnel] There's no earthly way of knowing, Which direction we are going. There's no knowing where we're rowing Or which way the river's flowing. Is it raining? Is it snowing? Is a hurricane a-blowing? Not a speck of light is showing, So the danger must be growing. Are the fires of hell a glowing? Is the grisly reaper mowing?! Yes! The danger must be growing, for the rowers keep on rowing. And they're certainly not showing... any signs that they are slowing! - [sing] Oompa loompa doompadee doo. - I've got a perfect puzzle for you. - Oompa loompa doompadee dee. - If you are wise, you'll listen to me. - What do you get when you guzzle down sweets? - Eating as much as an elephant eats. - What are you at getting terribly fat? - What do you think will come of that? - I don't like the look of it! - Oompa loompa doompadee dah. - If you're not greedy, you will go far. - You will live in happiness too, - Like the oompa loompa doompadee do! - Doompadee doo! - Computer Operator: Gentlemen, I know how anxious you've all been during these last few days. But now I think I can safely say that your time and money have been well-spent. We're about to witness the greatest miracle of the machine age. Based on the revolutionary Computonian Law of Probability, this machine will tell us the precise location of the 3 remaining golden tickets. [pushes buttons on the machine; the machine prints out a response] It says: "I won't tell. That would be cheating." [pushes the buttons on the machine again] I am now telling the computer that if it will tell me the correct answer, I will gladly share with it the grand prize. [the machine prints out another response] He says: "What would a computer do with a lifetime supply of chocolate?" [sighs, then pushes the buttons once again] I am now telling the computer exactly what he can do with the lifetime supply of chocolate. - Sam: I'll get even with you for this, Wonka, if it's the last thing I ever do!! [to himself; voice breaks] I got a blueberry for a daughter. - Violet: [about the Oompa-Loompas] Well, they can't be real people. - Wonka: Well, of course they're real people. - Mr. Salt: Stuff and nonsense! - Wonka: No. Oompa Loompas. - Group: [turn around] Oompa Loompas? - Wonka: From Loompaland. - Mrs. Teevee: Loompaland? There's no such place. - Wonka: Excuse me, dear lady... - Mrs. Teevee: Mr. Wonka, I am a teacher of geography. - Wonka: Oh, well, then you know all about it and what a terrible country it is. Nothing but desolate wastes and fierce beasts. And the poor little Oompa Loompas were so small and helpless, they would get gobbled up right and left. A Wangdoodle would eat ten of them for breakfast and think nothing of it. And so, I said, "Come and live with me in peace and safety, away from all the Wangdoodles, and Hornswogglers, and Snozzwangers, and rotten, Vermicious Knids." - Mr. Salt: Snozzwangers? Vermicious Knids? What kind of rubbish is that? - Wonka: I'm sorry, but all questions must be submitted in writing. [continues] And so, in the greatest of secrecy, I transported the entire population of Oompa Loompas to my factory here. - Veruca: Hey, Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa. I want you to get me an Oompa Loompa right away. - Mr. Salt: All right, Veruca. All right. I'll get you one before the day is out. - Veruca: I want an Oompa Loompa now! - Violet: Can it, you nit! - Grandpa Joe: Mr. Wonka? - Wonka: I am extraordinarily busy, sir. - Grandpa Joe: I just wanted to ask about the chocolate, the lifetime supply of chocolate, for Charlie. When does he get it? - Wonka: He doesn't. - Grandpa Joe: Why not? - Wonka: Because he broke the rules. - Grandpa Joe: What rules? We didn't see any rules, did we, Charlie? - Wonka: [angrily] Wrong, sir! Wrong! Under section 37B of the contract signed by him, it states quite clearly that all offers shall become null and void if - and you can read it for yourself in this photostatic copy - "I, the undersigned, shall forfeit all rights, privileges, and licenses herein and herein contained," et cetera, et cetera... "Fax mentis, incendium gloria cultum," et cetera, et cetera... Memo bis punitor delicatum! It's all there! Black and white, clear as crystal! You STOLE Fizzy-Lifting Drinks! You BUMPED into the ceiling, which now has to be washed and sterilized, so you get... NOTHING!!! You lose! GOOD DAY, SIR! [returns to work] - Grandpa Joe: [shocked] You're a crook... [furiously] You're a cheat and a swindler...! That's what you are! How can you do a thing like this?! Build up a little boy's hopes, and then smash all his dreams to pieces?! [lividly] You're an inhuman monster...! - Wonka: I said "GOOD DAY"!! [goes on about his work] - Grandpa Joe: Come on, Charlie. Let's get out of here. [sets to leave] I'll get even with him if it's the last thing I ever do. If Slugworth wants a Gobstopper, he'll get one. - [he and Charlie are about to leave, when Charlie slowly walks up to Wonka] - Charlie: Mr. Wonka? - [he places the Everlasting Gobstopper on Wonka's desk and sets off] - Wonka: [puts his hand on the Gobstopper, while writing] "So shines a good deed in a weary world." [looks up] Charlie? My boy. You've won! You did it! You did it! I knew you would! I just knew you would! Oh, Charlie, forgive me for putting you through this. Please, forgive me. Come in, Mr. Wilkinson! [The man originally known as Slugworth walks in.] Charlie, meet Mr. Wilkinson! - Wilkinson: Pleasure! - Charlie: Slugworth! - Wonka: No, no! That's not Slugworth. He works for me! - Charlie: For you? - Wonka: I had to test you, Charlie. And you passed the test! You won! - Grandpa Joe: Won what?! - Wonka: The jackpot, my dear sir! The grand and glorious jackpot! - Charlie: The chocolate? - Wonka: The chocolate, yes! The chocolate, but that's just the beginning! We hafta get on! We hafta get on! We have so much time, and so little to do! Strike that. Reverse it. This way, please! - [last lines] - Wonka: But, Charlie, don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted. - Charlie: What happened? - Wonka: He lived happily ever after. - It's everybody's non-pollutionary, anti-institutionary, pro-confectionery factory of fun! - It's Scrumdiddlyumptious! - Your golden ticket to imagination and adventure! - Charlie is let loose in the chocolate factory and every kid's dream comes true. - Enter a world of pure imagination.

|Disney's Animal Kingdom| |Soft opening date||January 26, 2006| |Opening date||April 7, 2006| |Designer||Walt Disney Imagineering| |Lift/launch system||Chain lift hill| |Height||112 ft (34 m)| |Drop||80 ft (24 m)| |Length||4,424 ft (1,348 m)| |Speed||50 mph (80 km/h)| |Capacity||2050 riders per hour| |Height restriction||44 in (112 cm)| |Trains||6 (max. 5 in operation) trains with 6 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 3 rows for a total of 36 riders per train.| Single rider line available |Expedition Everest at RCDB Pictures of Expedition Everest at RCDB Expedition Everest — Legend of the Forbidden Mountain is a steel roller coaster built by Vekoma at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The ride is themed around the Yeti hiding in Mount Everest. It is listed in the 2011 book of Guinness World Records as the most expensive roller coaster in the world. Including sets and extras, its total cost was reported to be US$100 million, following 6 years of planning and construction. It is the tallest of the artificial mountains at Walt Disney World and in the world. Contrary to popular belief, Expedition Everest is not Florida's tallest mountain. Expedition Everest stands at 199 feet tall (61 meters) while Walton County's Britton Hill is 345 feet tall (105 meters). It is Disney's 18th mountain-themed attraction. The attraction first was announced publicly on April 22, 2003, during an event to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Disney's Animal Kingdom. It took three years and more than 38 miles of rebar, 5,000 tons of structural steel, and 10,000 tons of concrete to build the mountain. Expedition Everest first opened for previews on January 26, 2006, and had its grand opening on April 7, 2006, in ceremonies led by Disney CEO Bob Iger and theme parks chairman Jay Rasulo. The attraction features a stand-by, Fastpass+, and a single rider line. The queue starts at the office of the fictional "Himalayan Escapes" travel agency, progressing to a replica temple with little holy figures. Visitors next enter a tea garden, followed by a room with equipment from a successful expedition, and then the "Yeti Museum", which contains information on the Yeti and a moulding of a Yeti footprint. There are also about 8,000 artifacts brought from the Nepal trip in the museum. The single rider line skips all of the exhibits. The train departs the station to the right and climbs a small lift leading to a short drop, then circles around to the 112-foot (34 m) lift hill, carrying the riders into the 200-foot-high (61 m) mountain. On the way up it passes through a ransacked temple with murals of the yeti, warning the riders that the mountain is his territory. At the top of the mountain the train curves around the main peak and goes through a cave. When it emerges, it draws to a halt in front of track that has been torn apart, presumably by the yeti. The train itself is held in place by a series of rubber tires while an automatic switch rotates the piece of track directly behind the train. The train then rolls backwards along a new route that spirals down through the mountain, coming to a halt in a large cave, where riders see the yeti's shadow on the wall as he tears up more track. This effect distracts riders from noticing another automatic track switch being thrown in front of them. As the shadow moves away, the train rolls forward out of the mountain and down the main 80-foot (24 m) drop. It enters a 360° helix and speeds back up through another cave in the mountain, where the roars of the yeti are heard once more. The train exits from the rear of the mountain and enters a large helix before being lifted back into the mountain a final time. The train drops through a cave, where a large yeti is reaching down toward it. On reaching the bottom of this drop, riders return to the unloading dock and depart into a gift shop. One ride takes about 2 minutes and 50 seconds. Expedition Everest has six steam-like trains, each with six cars that together provide 17 rows seating two abreast, for a total of 34 riders per train. The trains are themed as the "Anandapur Rail Service" and are made to look old and rusty. Riders must be at least 44 inches (110 cm) tall and are secured by a lap bar. Up to five trains usually operate at once, but fewer can be used if guest demand is low. To create the illusion of a "steam powered" train, engineers placed vents under the station. When a train comes into the station, steam comes up through the vents and enters the loading platform. The steel track is 4,424 feet (1,348 m) long and the lift is approximately 112 feet (34 m) high. Expedition Everest is the first ride to use Vekoma's newest track system, in which the rails are on the outside of the ties rather than on the inside. This was the first large-scale installation of such a system. Facts and details Although moderate in height and length by contemporary standards, Expedition Everest was the first ride for Disney to have its trains travel both forward and backward. This is accomplished through two sets of track switches, one before the rear segment and one after. This was the second Disney roller coaster to run backwards, the first being Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril: Backwards! at Disneyland Resort Paris (2000–2004). Expedition Everest, however, was the first Disney roller coaster to switch between forward and backward sections during a single ride. The mountain facade, the Yeti audio-animatronic, and the roller coaster are three independent structures. Each structure reaches the ground-level and does not touch the other two structures. This was achieved via 4-D scheduling software that told builders how to construct it. Expedition Everest is often compared to the 1959 Matterhorn Bobsleds roller coaster at Disneyland, which also features a snowy mountain setting and an "abominable snowman" figure throughout the ride. Expedition Everest's mountain is made from 1,800 tons of steel and painted with 2,000 gallons of paint. It is the tallest artificial mountain in Florida and the world, but not, as occasionally cited, the tallest point in Florida. It is Disney's 18th mountain-themed attraction. As of 2012, there are 20 mountain-themed attractions. The artificial mountain is a model, not of Mount Everest, but of the fictional "forbidden mountain" guarded by the yeti in the story created by Walt Disney Imagineering for the attraction. Everest is represented by the barren background peak on the far right, which is made to seem far in the distance (an example of forced perspective). The yeti is the largest and most complex audio-animatronic figure ever built by Walt Disney Imagineering. It is 25 feet (7.6 m) tall. Its "skin" measures 1,000 square feet (93 m2), and is held in place by 1,000 snaps and 250 zippers. Its movement is controlled by 19 actuators (when functioning in "A-mode", its full mode of operation). It can move 5 ft (1.5 m) horizontally and 18 in (46 cm) vertically when functioning in "A-mode". The yeti has not been in full "A-mode" operation since a few months after the ride's opening, when its framing split, causing significant risk of catastrophic malfunction if it were operated. It currently only operates in the alternative "B-mode", which is limited to a strobe-light effect designed to give the appearance of movement, earning it the nickname "Disco Yeti". The problem was caused by damage to the yeti's concrete base structure, which is unlikely to be repaired until a major refurbishment in the distant future, because the design limits access to the yeti without major disassembly of the superstructure. The problem with the concrete is rumored to have occurred due to a glitch in the 4-D scheduling software that prevented adequate curing of a portion of the Yeti's foundation prior to the overlapping fabrication of mountain elements and roller coaster track. Joe Rohde, the Imagineer in charge of building the attraction and Animal Kingdom, was asked at the D23 2013 Convention about the disco yeti. His response was "You have to understand, it's a giant complicated machine sitting on top of, like, a 46 foot tall tower in the middle of a finished building. So, it's really hard to fix, but we are working on it. And we continue to work on it. We have tried several "things", none of them quite get to the key, turning of the 40 foot tower inside of a finished building, but we are working on it..... I will fix the Yeti someday, I swear." In 2005, Disney, Discovery Networks and Conservation International conducted expeditions to Nepal as part of the promotion for Expedition Everest. The purpose was to conduct scientific and cultural research in remote areas of the Himalayas, the location of the yeti legend. Participants included Joe Rohde from Walt Disney Imagineering and scientists from Conservation International and Disney's Animal Kingdom. The expeditions and the making of the attraction were chronicled in three documentaries broadcast on Discovery's cable television channels in April 2006. The first was Expedition Everest: Journey to Sacred Lands, broadcast on the Travel Channel on April 9 to coincide with the attraction's grand opening. The second, Building A Thrill Ride: Expedition Everest, was aired on April 10 and detailed the planning and construction of the ride, along with some of the ideas that made it possible. (During construction, for example, instead of traditional scaffolding the Imagineers used interior poles that poked through the outside of the mountain and were connected by wooden platforms.) This documentary also featured survival tips from Les Stroud. The third, Corwin's Quest: Realm of the Yeti, was broadcast on Animal Planet on April 15 and featured American animal and nature conservationist Jeff Corwin. Everest in the City On February 15, 2006, Disney staged an elaborate publicity stunt called "Everest in the City" in Times Square, New York City. They draped large billboards over the sides of several buildings, depicting Everest with a coaster car careening down the mountainside and the yeti looking on from another peak, its eyes glowing red and flashing when the text message "4YETI" was sent to a phone number provided by Disney. |Wikinews has related news: Man dies on ride at Disney World in Florida; possibly had prior conditions| On December 18, 2007, a 44-year-old guest was found unconscious after the train returned to the station. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A preliminary autopsy by the Orange County medical examiner's office concluded that the victim had died of dilated cardiomyopathy. Awards and records Expedition Everest is listed in the 2011 book of Guinness World Records as the most expensive roller coaster in the world. Including sets and extras, the total cost of the ride was reported to be US$100 million following 6 years of planning and construction. Expedition Everest won the 2006 Theme Park Insider Award for the "World's Best New Theme Park Attraction". It has also been ranked in the Golden Ticket Awards and the Best Roller Coaster Poll. It was ranked 2nd for "Best New Ride For 2006" in the Golden Ticket Awards. |Golden Ticket Awards: Top steel Roller Coasters| |Ranking||–||32 (tied)||35||36||36||47||–||42 (tied)| |Mitch Hawker's Best Roller Coaster Poll: Best Steel-Tracked Roller Coaster| - "Expedition Everest Mouse Planet". Mouse Planet. Retrieved October 16, 2012. - "Disney's gets new Himalayan flavour". Orlando, Florida. May 3, 2006. Retrieved October 6, 2012. - Mraz, Stephen (August 10, 2006). "Engineering Expedition Everest, complete with a yeti". Machine Design. Retrieved October 15, 2012. - Florida's Highest Point, WTVY, updated April 09, 2007 - "Expedition Everest All Ears". AllEars.net. Retrieved October 11, 2012. - Johnson, Robert (May 3, 2003). "Disney Promises Adventure At Every Turn". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved October 6, 2012. - Boedeker, Hal (April 7, 2006). "Disney Aims For New Heights". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved October 6, 2012. - "Expedition Everest queue and ride". Lifthill.net. Retrieved October 6, 2012. - "Expedition Everest". Orlando Fun Tickets. Retrieved November 27, 2012. - "Himalayan Village an Architectural Wonder That Welcomes Expedition Everest Adventurers". Walt Disney World News. Retrieved November 27, 2012. - "Expedition Everest POV". Todd V. Retrieved October 6, 2012. - Marden, Duane. "Expedition Everest (Disney's Animal Kingdom)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved October 16, 2012. - "Expedition Everest WDW Magic". WDW Magic. Retrieved October 16, 2012. - Marden, Duane. "Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril (Disneyland (Paris))". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved October 7, 2012. - Jenkins, Robert (December 11, 2005). "A new peak for Disney". Retrieved October 7, 2012. - [written; Imagineers, designed by Alex Wright] ; the (2007). The imagineering field guide to Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World : an Imagineer's-eye tour (1st ed. ed.). New York: Disney Editions. ISBN 9781423103202. - "Matterhorn Bobsleds, All Ears". AllEars.net. Retrieved October 11, 2012. - Garcia, Jason (July 31, 2010). "Disney fans dismayed with ‘Disco Yeti’". The Daily Disney. Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved November 11, 2010. - "Broken Yeti on Expedition Everest - Mystery Solved?". Micechat.com. Retrieved 13 October 2014. - "D23 Expo Imagineering Panel: Craft of Creativity". youtube.com. The DIS. Retrieved 13 October 2014. - Gustin, Scott. "Joe Rohde: ‘I will fix the Yeti someday, I swear’". The Social Mouse. Retrieved 13 October 2014. - "New York's Times Square Transformed Into Mount Everest". Ultimate Roller Coaster. February 15, 2006. Retrieved October 30, 2012. - "Man who died after ride had heart condition". Associated Press. December 20, 2007. Retrieved October 16, 2012. - "The Theme Park Insider Awards". Theme Park Insider. Retrieved October 15, 2012. - "Amusement Today — Golden Ticket Winners 2006" (PDF). Amusement Today. Archived from the original on October 16, 2006. Retrieved December 22, 2012. - "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today: 26–27B. September 2006. Retrieved September 4, 2013. - "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today 11 (6.2): 36–37. September 2007. Retrieved September 4, 2013. - "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today 12 (6.2): 36–37. September 2008. Retrieved September 4, 2013. - "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today 13 (6.2): 32–33. September 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2013. - "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today 14 (6.2): 34–35. September 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2013. - "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today 15 (6.2): 38–39. September 2011. Retrieved September 4, 2013. - "Top 50 steel roller coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today 16 (6.2): 36–37. September 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2013. - "2013 Top 50 steel Roller Coasters" (PDF). Amusement Today 17 (6.2): 34–35. September 2013. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2013. - "Best Steel Roller Coaster Poll 11 year results table". BestRollerCoasterPoll.com. Retrieved October 4, 2012. |Wikimedia Commons has media related to Expedition Everest.| - Walt Disney World Resort – Expedition Everest - Expedition Everest at the Roller Coaster DataBase - A new peak for Disney – St. Petersburg Times article on Expedition Everest (December 11, 2005)

Amazon Fantasies and Realities A Responsible Traveler Takes a Magical Mystery Tour Have you always wanted to visit the Amazon but you are terrified by the idea of being lunch for a school of hungry piranha? Or falling out of a dugout canoe into the swift-moving waters of the world's biggest river? Or getting sick from contaminated water? Or being bitten by strange insects carrying deadly diseases? All in all, a trip to the Amazon could be a very scary adventure. On the other hand, have you ever imagined cruising up a mysterious, glass-topped river reflecting the ever-changing rainforest canopy and a clear blue sky? Or looking through binoculars at birds and butterflies of every conceivable color, description, and size--from the tiniest of hummingbirds to the biggest heron or noisy Screaming Piha? Or enjoying well-prepared meals in an air-conditioned dining room with panoramic views of the river? Or setting out each day on flat-bottomed motorboats to explore inland lakes, egret rookeries, or native villages--followed everywhere by the playful pink river Dolphins that the local people say will entice them into the unknown waters never to return? Prepare to spend some time way beyond the last vestiges of "civilization," and give up the nightly news of bombings and killings. Instead, learn to paddle a dugout canoe on an endless river and swim in silky cool waters on a hot day after a walk into the jungle. Follow me as we paddle back to La Amatista--our mothership and dragon-headed home away from home--so well-designed and professionally staffed that it was easy to feel safe and comfortable floating in the midst of a thousand mile flood! The river is truly a magical living being, able to transform the most obsessive personality into someone willing to lie down for a nap both before and after lunch or while awaiting the bell to board the boats for another adventure deeper into the jungle. Perhaps today we might spot an elusive band of howler monkeys or a big caiman sunning on the shore or maybe a prehistoric Hoatzin bird whose babies have claws on their "elbow joints." Earlier this year, I joined the La Amatista Amazon Riverboat Voyage under the auspices of the Ohio State Alumni Association tours to accompany my 78-year-old-father, who had recently recovered from open-heart surgery. As an advocate of responsible travel, I was amazed (and pleased) to experience the extent to which International Expeditions, the U.S.-based tour operator, and Jungle Expeditions, the local provider of the boats and crews, were committed to protecting both the environment and the cultural heritage of this amazing ecosystem. We were given every opportunity to see, hear, photograph, and learn about the profuse abundance of flora and fauna; yet this was not at the expense of the safety and sense of security needed by the birds and animals in order to nest, breed, and raise their young. The crew members were skilled and professional and yet there was also a feeling of family about the way they worked together, sharing roles and responsibilities by day and playing music together on the top deck at night. As a responsible traveler, I pondered the effect of our mere presence--a strange bunch of rich North Americans sailing by on a very large boat--on the people of a little village or on an isolated household where the whole family might own considerably fewer tangible goods than each of us casually tossed into our suitcases when packing for the trip. I tried to imagine what I might think and feel if I were a local child watching in awe and waving at these strange pale people: Did I want to become just like them and move to some faraway place? Or did I feel sorry that they obviously didn't know how to live with the river in perfect harmony as my ancestors had always done? Was I afraid that my way of life would disappear in the wake of the fantasy lives these outsiders seemed to live? During our week on the river we were welcomed visitors at two villages. We were invited to walk around, take pictures, and ultimately to trade some of our money with the women and children who had made necklaces and bracelets as well as toy canoes, paddles, bows and arrows, and blow guns--smaller versions of the ones that are still being used for hunting in the rainforest. Our guides, who had grown up in Amazonian villages much like those we visited, translated not only the words but also some portion of what each of us was attempting to express. I wished that I could give our hosts something better than an American dollar bill in exchange for their necklaces of seeds and nuts. I thought about "La Doctora," the woman doctor from Wisconsin who came on a voyage like mine and returned 10 years ago to become the only medical doctor within many miles. She saw what was needed and dedicated her life and her gifts to the well-being of the people. Although it was a romantic thought that I too could settle down here and do some good, I knew that I now had the incentive to return home to complete the tasks I had started. I was glad to know that the tour organizers were using some of my money to support the people who protect the habitat in these remote areas. Local people had been hired to build the boats we were on, and much of the food we ate was grown by villagers outside of Iquitos. In addition, International Expeditions played a large part in the creation of ACEER, the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research Foundation, the place I traveled down river to visit after escorting my father back to the airport at the end of the first week of my journey. ACEER is world famous for its Rainforest Canopy Walkway, a series of swinging bridges connecting platforms built into the treetops so that visitors and researchers can easily and safely access this unique part of the world's ecosystem. After a time with the animals and birds in the forest canopy, it felt good to return to the comfort of my single bed under a mosquito netting. Explorama Camp was built to duplicate the quarters that the local people have lived in for centuries--with a few extra amenities like divider walls. Light in the rooms was provided by kerosene lanterns. Tin cans with a hole for the burning wick lit the way to latrines and the shower rooms. On the way you might meet the resident agouti or the half-grown capybara--both of whom resembled giant guinea pigs as playful as your favorite cat. The local people here (95 miles or so downriver from the town of Iquitos with its 600,000 people, and 2,300 river miles from the mouth of the Amazon) are more "worldly" than those we had seen upriver in the headwaters; yet, in a visit to the clinic of "La Doctora," I was reminded of the conditions of my Peace Corps days of 30 years ago. Cuzco and Machu Picchu On the third leg of my trip, I left the lowland jungles of the Amazon basin and journeyed by air another 1,000 or so miles upstream to the Urubamba River in the Andes and the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco. Here the highland people who live in the rarefied air at 11,000 feet tend their herds of sheep, goats, llamas, and alpacas and farm the ancient crops in lush river valleys surrounded by snow-covered peaks. The houses are made of stone and adobe. The air is cool, and rain clouds, misty skies, and rainbows are continuous. After two full days in the ruins of Machu Picchu and two nights in a the beautiful hotel "El Pueblo," in the little town of Aguas Calientes at the foot of the mountain below Machu Picchu, I climbed the 11,000-foot peak called Huanya Picchu which rises practically straight up into the air, one of the two mountains that guard this sacred ceremonial site. Looking down on Machu Picchu from this height was dazzling (not to mention dizzying). After a soak in the Aguas Calientes municipal hot baths and another day in this friendly little town, I returned by train to enchanting Cuzco, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the western hemisphere, before returning--a slightly altered person--to my "normal" time and space at home in Oregon. Amazon Contact Information International Expeditions, Inc., 1 Environs Park, Helena, AL 35080. Contacts: Tom Grasse or Alisha McDonald at (800) 633-4734 or (205) 428-1700, fax (205) 428-1714; email@example.com, www.ietravel.com. International Expeditions offers a dazzling array of environmentally responsible nature expeditions. Jungle Expeditions, Pevas 199, Iquitos, Peru. Contact: Roberto Rotondo at (011) 51-94-23-1870, fax (011) 51-94-23-1157; www.junglex.com. This company that supplies boats and staff for the Amazon Voyages currently has three river vessels of varying sizes with two more under construction. The standard of quality and service is high. ACEER (Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research Foundation), www.aceer.org. This U.S. and Peruvian nonprofit provides rainforest education and research facilities and programs such as the International School-to-School Program, the Volunteers in Environmental Service Program, and International Rainforest Workshops. Explorama Tours, x 446, Iquitos, Peru. Contact: Peter Jenson or Pam Bucur at (011) 51-94-25-2526 or 2530, fax (011) 51-94-2533; in the U.S.: (800) 707-5275; firstname.lastname@example.org, www.explorama.com. This group provides transportation, food, lodging and experienced guides for the Explorama Inn and Lodge and the ExplorNapo Camp located near ACEER and the Canopy Walkway. Peruvian Odyssey. Lima office: Avenida La Paz, Off. 301, Miraflores, Lima, Peru; (011) 51-14-44-8797, fax (011) 51-12-42-4751; Cusco office: Pasaje Pumaqchupan # 831, Cusco, Peru; (011) 51-84-22-2105, fax (011) 51-84-4167. Provided the guide and pick-up services for Machu Picchu extension. Ohio State Alumni Tours, Alumni House, 2400 Olentangy River Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1061. Contacts: Jeanne Cobb or Patti Pennell at (614) 292-2372 or (800) 852-8687, fax (614) 292-7697. You do not have to be an OSU graduate or student to participate in their numerous tours. To learn more about the city of Iquitos and other opportunities in the Amazon, contact: Gerald W. Mayeaux, Tourist Manager, Maynas City Hall, Napo-226, Iquitos, Peru; (011) 51-94-235621; email@example.com. This retired American oil man has taken up the challenge of resurrecting Iquitos from a city left behind after its rubber baron days. To learn more about the adventures of Dr. Linnea Smith, get her book La Doctora: The Journal of an American Doctor Practicing Medicine on the Amazon River; to support her work to provide medical care for the people near the sites of the Explorama Lodges, contact: Amazon Medical Project, 5372 Mahocker Rd., Mazomanie, WI 53560; fax (608) 795-2646; firstname.lastname@example.org, www.amazonmedical.org. Finally, Hidden Amazon by Dick Lutz (available from International Expeditions) tells the story of one traveler's experience on a trip similar to mine and is good reading for those who aren't quite ready to face the real thing.

The actual 2012 NHL Entry Draft takes place on June 22nd-23rd in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Every year it seems I contemplate whether or not to go through the intriguing yet dubious task of putting together a mock draft. We all know how fascinating it is to go through the process of formulating which team should select which prospect and at what point in the draft. We also know how quickly a mock draft can go off the rails when the actual NHL draft takes place. Whether it be the Phoenix Coyotes going off the board to take a Blake Wheeler or theLos Angeles Kings selecting Thomas Hickey seemingly out of nowhere, one’s mock draft can be wrecked faster than Michael Grabner can do a lap around the rink. Of course, temptation got the best of me again yet again this season as today’s article embarks on my second mock draft of the season. - This is not an attempt to rank prospects – rankings will follow similar to preceding years. This is mere a “guesstimate” at what teams might choose if they were to draft today based on weighing out best player available with team need and past experiences at the draft table, with an obvious dose of influence from my personal thoughts. - The order used in this mock draft is based on Stanley Cup odds as used by colleague David O’Connor when he completed his March mock draft to allow one to compare the two directly. Standings and thus team drafting positions will obviously fluctuate on a day-to-day basis from here on end. - No trades will be completed during the mock, but may be presented as a desirable option for the respective NHL franchise being discussed. - For much more information on the NHL entry draft, be sure to check out our live updated draft home page: It is essential to the Blue Jackets organization that they strike gold with this pick, or deal the pick for a franchise cornerstone. Back in my January mock, Columbus selected Matt Dumba with the 1st overall selection. While I highly covet the elite and passionate blueliner, the reality is that Yakupov is a cut above his peers in this year’s draft. The fear for the Blue Jackets as I noted before: “…given the franchise’s atrocious history with drafting talented Russian players near the top of the draft, they are likely terrified of having similar outcomes as with the two “Niks” – Zherdev and Filatov – and thus go against the consensus Fail for Nail or Mikhail theme of this draft.” For this reason, while Columbus may end up selecting him in the end, there is a stronger likelihood that they either deal the pick or deal Yakupov after selecting him. Is Matthew Dumba a more physical version of Paul Coffey as the Oilers brass attempt to revamp and relive the glory days of the 1980s? The Red Deer Rebel defenseman is an explosive and dynamic player with a seemingly unmatched passion for the game. Counterpoint: fellow THW prospect writer David O’Connor very wisely selected Ryan Murray in his mock draft for the Oilers. It’s difficult to argue with the reasoning: “Murray is the complete package; he has offensive abilities, a physical side to his game, he’s a natural leader, plus he’s stable on the back-end. That’s exactly the kind of player the Oilers need on their team.” The Oilers, like Columbus before them, may instead elect to trade the pick in an attempt to more quickly stock up their NHL blueline core. 3. Ryan Murray D (Everett Silvertips) (WHL) The Islanders role in this draft is fairly straight forward – select one of Ryan Murray or Matt Dumba – whichever of the two slips to their third draft slot. If they instead opt for a forward, the immensely talented Russian centreman Mikhail Grigorenko is also a viable option – that is, if Isle brass can put nightmarish memories of Alexei Yashin aside. In this mock, they go for perhaps the safest bet of the draft – Ryan Murray. As noted above, Murray is a silky smooth skating defender with all-around abilities who will go a long ways in stabilizing the blueline for the next decade. 4. Alex Galchenyuk F (Sarnia Sting) (OHL) The Habs end up in the enviable position of choosing between talented centremen Alex Galchenyuk and Mikhail Grigorenko. They end up deciding on Galchenyuk despite the fact that Alex has missed most of the year falling victim to the now infamous NHL 2012 draft injury bug. Galchenyuk is now back for the OHL playoffs and wasted little time finding the scoresheet. THW colleague Brendan Ross sums up Alex’s skill-set brilliantly: “Galchenyuk’s vision, stick wizardry and ability to operate in traffic are elite attributes and they complement his masterful playmaking skills perfectly. Alex’s sturdy frame and strong stick makes him difficult to knock off of the puck and a force to deal with in the offensive zone often resulting in more space for his linemates.” 5. Mikhail Grigorenko F (Quebec Remparts) (QMJHL) The Hurricans do not mind one bit that one of the most supremely talented players in the draft land in their lap with the fifth selection. The big Russian centerman is an exceptional talent that can control the tempo of a game. Consistency comes into question, but there’s no denying the game-changing ability he possesses. 6. Griffin Reinhart D (Edmonton Oil Kings) (WHL) Griffin Reinhart possesses not only excellent bloodlines, as the son of ex-NHLer Paul Reinhart, but is a very talented player in his own right. He, along with his brothers Max and Sam, are all destined to make an impact in the NHL, albeit with three vastly different playing styles. The middle brother Griffin is a talented two-way blueliner whose 6’4″ height does not affect his superior skating ability. Vision and passing ability are high up amongst the list of Reinhart’s assets. He could use his size more and there is the occasional lapse in decision making, but his upside is tremendous. The Wild look to replace the gaping hole left by the departed Brent Burns. The Ducks do have Cam Fowler in the fold, but cannot pass up the dynamic offensive defenseman, Morgan Rielly. Rielly has missed most of the year with a knee injury, but may suit up for at least part of the WHL playoffs. While Morgan is far from the biggest blueliner, he more than makes up for lack of size with exceptional skating ability, zen-like hockey sense, puck poise and the ability to be defense dissecting powerplay QB. He was averaging a PPG in the Dub before tearing his ACL in the fall. Forsberg, no relation to Swedish hockey legend Peter, makes players around him better. That might just be enough said for the WJC gold-medal Swedish forward and whether or not he fits into what the Toronto Maple Leafs want and need in this draft. The Leafs could opt for the size, talent and two-way play of forwards Radek Faksa or Brendan Gauce as well. Forsberg can play in all situations and possesses excellent character, which Coach of Sweden’s WJC team Roger Ronnberg highlighted repeatedly. GM Steve Yzerman looks at Gaunce and sees a fearless warrior on ice that is part of his hockey blueprint and vision to bring the Lightning back to Stanley Cup glory. He is a gutsy power forward with good size, two-way ability, gives you a relentless effort, and has excellent character. While some question his offensive upside, he appears to be one of those prospects who excels as the stakes get higher. In breaking down his options with this pick, in the end Yzerman is enamoured with the tantalizing package of skill, grit, leadership ability and strong two-way play that Gaunce brings to the rink. 10. Jacob Trouba D (USNDP) (USHL) Trouba possesses good size and skill and brings a physicality aspect with his game. He was one of the few bright spots for Team USA at the 2012 World Juniors. He has been compared to both fellow American blueliners Cam Fowler and Jack Johnson, but I’m not so certain of that comparison. He is a talented two-way physical defender with a howitzer of a shot. GM Darcy Regier, after trading Paul Gaustad at the deadline, also has the luxury of having a second 1st round pick this year. Faksa’s draft stock has been rising and it would not be surprising to see him land in the top 10 of the draft. He has made an excellent transition to the North American game. He possesses excellent size and is another talented two-way forward. It may come down to who a particular team likes better – Gaunce or Faksa. Radek is a passionate player and a coach’s dream. He averaged over a PPG in his first season in the OHL while still being defensive responsible player. The Jets continue to look for injections of skill to the forward ranks and select Swedish speedy sniper Sebastian Collberg. Perhaps no skater increased his stock more than Collberg in the 2012 World Juniors. He notched 4 goals and 3 assists for 7 points in 6 games for the gold-medal winning Team Sweden; add in two super-slick shootout goals to round out his impressive performance. Collberg has a goal-scorers vision and NHL calibre release. He possesses excellent patience and puck control, and an inextinguishable desire to have the puck when it matters. GM George McPhee could go in a lot of directions in this draft, but Maatta fits the bill as a defensive first blueliner with good size and skating ability, a little bit of edge to his game, and some offensive ability. While I’d personally rank Cody Ceci higher, Maatta is better fit for the Capitals as they continue to strive for improved team chemistry amongst the mightily talented squad. The 6’3″ defenseman can fill the role of powerplay quarterback and is calm and steady in his own zone. He has been one of the OHL’s most improved players this season. While he doesn’t bring a huge element of physicality to the rink, his combination of size and skill is coveted by scouts. He impressively averaged nearly a PPG in his first draft eligible year. The Blue Jackets luck out with landing the smooth skating Ceci this late in the first round. GM Jay Feaster and the scouting team make a somewhat surprising selection in this slot, but they are absolutely salivating at the prospects of having Thrower patrol the blueline in the not so distant future. The Flames get the guy that fits the needs of the team on multiple levels. Dalton is not the biggest blueliner that will be selected in the first round, but he still plays an effective physical game. He is a silky smooth and efficient skater. His game goes well beyond the numbers, but he did finish 8th in defenseman scoring in the WHL. He can man the left or right point, delivers crisp and accurate passes, and has a blistering shot. Teammates will love going into battle with this talented blueliner. Christopher Ralph is THW’s prospect and draft analyst.

Pittsburgh Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of a man who robbed the GameStop at Edgewood Towne Centre on Dec. 18. After shopping for about a half-hour before the store closed, a black male drew a silver handgun when the cashier told the man the cost and opened the register, according to a Crime Stoppers press release. Police said the robber took a bag of items and also demanded cash from the register. About $800 to $900 in cash was taken. The items and cash totaled about $2,000. Police said the suspect is about 5 feet 8 inches and 180 pounds, with short, neatly trimmed hair, a goatee, and "distinct" light brown eyes. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 412-255-8477. Callers may remain anonymous.neigh_east

Talking managers and the Hall of Fame today. I reference Mike Axisa’s CBS Sports article like crazy in this podcast. You can read it by clicking HERE. Which current managers belong in the Hall, who is on the cusp and how unfair is it to judge managers based not only on post season berths but also by victories. It is a fill out the lineup card and watch them play episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast. By Nicholas Delahanty (MLB Reports Writer) Follow @Nick_Delahanty Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports It is very possible that history is made with regards to this year’s MLB Hall of Fame induction class. In the past, the committee has been hesitant to vote in more than three players in one class, and it has been very rare to see more than three voted in at one time. In the past, the committee voted in four players twice (1947 and 1955) and five players only once (1936- the first year of the voting process). As the decision day quickly approaches, there is speculation that the BBWAA could possibly end the long drought and elect five players this year. With this year’s ballot having a ton of players who could make a legitimate case to be inducted, I decided to go to the process of picking my own ballot (which doesn’t count for the BBWAA), and after taking the time and effort to research my ballet, I realized that it was a much harder process then I anticipated it would be. Like us on Facebook hereFollow @mlbreports By Lou Hebert (MLB Reports Colorado Rockies Correspondent): Follow @hebertreport The Colorado Rockies have low odds of winning the National League West division title despite having three players on the 2013 MLB All-Star roster. Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez and Michael Cuddyer are not enough to help Colorado regain their momentum against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers this season, which may encourage the Rockies to sell before the MLB trade deadline. One month ago, the Rockies were favored to contend for the NL West division pennant this season. Then Troy Tulowitzki broke a rib on June 13 while making a diving catch, which marked the beginning of a decline in Rockies success this season. Dexter Fowler’s 2 HR Sunday December 2nd, 2012 Jake Dal Porto (Baseball Writer): With the move to the American League West, the Houston Astros are likely years away from contending in one of the toughest divisons in baseball. So basically, the Astros won’t be in the market for immediate impact players because that type of approach likely won’t get them anywhere in the standings. There’s one exception, though—Lance Berkman. Berkman played with the Astros for 12 years before being traded to the Yankees in the midst of the 2010 season, and eventually signing with the Cardinals where he has spent the last two years. Given his age (36) and his derailed body, Berkman might choose to end his career with the team that drafted and brought him up. It would be bittersweet for both sides involved, and something positive for a struggling Astros’ organization. The timing for the Astros and Berkman to reunite is seemingly perfect. See, if the Astros still played in the National League, it would be unlikely that Berkman could endure another year of wear and tear on his fragile frame. Well, he could, but the likelihood of him suffering an injury would balloon dramatically. Luckily, the Astros now have the benefit of the designated hitter. It’s like adding another hitter. This is where Berkman comes into play. Read the rest of this entry Monday January 2, 2012 MLB reports – Jonathan Hacohen: One of the pleasures I enjoy in writing for MLB reports is that I get to speak with many of the key personalities in the game of baseball. Over the past year, I have been very fortunate to interview some of baseball’s most important movers and shakers. Derrick Hall, President and C.E.O. of the Diamondbacks. Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Adam Jones, star outfielder of the Baltimore Orioles. Casey Bond, former baseball player and actor in a little film known as Moneyball. Writer Danny Knobler of CBS Sports. Author Howard Megdal. From each interview, I always walk away with more wisdom by having received the opportunity to talk baseball with leading industry people. While my love of baseball fuels me to write about the game, analyze and discuss it, I never believe that I am above the game. I always feel that there is more to learn and understand. Baseball is an endless pursuit of knowledge. With its long rich history, it is impossible to know everything about the game. We just try to keep up as best as we can. With that in mind, there is one baseball personality that I have longed to interview for some time. One of my idols in the business. He may not be a walking baseball encyclopedia, but he is pretty darn close. Jon Heyman, formerly of Sports Illustrated and now with CBS Sports. Jon’s story is well-known in the industry. He worked for Newsday for 16 years covering the New York Yankees. Jon was also at one point a Baseball Columnist for the Sporting News. He became the Senior Baseball Writer for Sports Illustrated before joining CBS Sports just last month. There are several aspects to Jon Heyman’s writing that I was always found appealing. He is very well-connected in the industry. If there is a story to be broken, generally he is one of the first (if not THE first to break it). He has a strong ability to analyze different aspects of the game and to break down various subjects (whether it be a trade or free agent signing) in concise terms. Jon is opinionated and is not afraid to share his two cents. He is engaging with his readers and is very accommodating in answering the many questions and comments he receives. But most importantly, he is human. Jon Heyman does not believe that he is superior to his readers and writes to them, not above them. It is a very fine skill that only the top writers possess. Jon Heyman is one of those writers in my estimation. When I speak to young writers starting in the industry (usually those starting their own websites/blogs), I tell them all one key point. The most important thing to remember in writing is that you want to invoke reactions from your readers. They could be good reactions…or negative. But at least you are able to elicit emotions. There is nothing worse for a writer than to produce material that nobody reads or cares about. Some posts may fuel anger and backlash. Young writers tend to be afraid of turning off or losing readers by upsetting them. It is a delicate balance, but my advice is those posts that are received negatively are often the ones most read. From there, readers will return because “they want to see what you will say next”. Nobody knows this better than Jon Heyman. For the writing genius that Heyman is, I have never seen a writer that receives more negative backlash and criticism from readers. Yet the ironic twist is that those same “haters” are the ones that are the first to read Jon’s work. It is almost like some readers are watching his every move, just waiting to find a mistake so that they can pounce and call him out on his errors. Jon knows this and thrives on it. Another reason why he is one of the best in the industry. Baseball writing is a high stakes field. Reputations are built by the strength of a person’s writing and ability to report the news. In this golden age of internet and social media, getting the “scoops” is more competitive than ever. But as the reporting game changes, Jon Heyman remains a constant. A leader in his field, he inspires other writers like myself to grow and develop our craft. Today Jon joins us to discuss his storied career. From his start in Newsday, to his shift to Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports. To his possible future in baseball broadcasting (including his analyst role on the MLB Network). Jon shares his favorite all-time interview (you won’t believe this one!) To his opinions on a variety of baseball topics, including the next MLB commissioner, realignment and an international draft. After bringing so many interviews to his audience, the tables are turned- and today Jon Heyman becomes the featured subject. You know the scoops. You know the stories. Now get ready to know the person behind the headlines. I am proud to present my interview with famed baseball writer (and Cooperstown candidate, regardless of what he says): CBS Sports Baseball Writer, Jon Heyman. MLB reports: Welcome to MLB reports Jon Heyman. It is an honor to be speaking to you today. You were born in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A beautiful area that I have visited before (my uncle lived for many years in Taos). At what age did your family move to New York and why the relocation? Jon Heyman: I was 6 when we moved to New York. My mother was from New York, and she had a nice childhood, so I’m guessing that is why we moved to New York (it’s so long ago I can’t be sure). MLB reports: If you hadn’t grown up in New York, would you still have pursued journalism? Jon Heyman: I guess I’ll never know the answer to that one. I’d guess so. MLB reports: At what age did the writing bug first bite you? When did you decide that you would write about baseball for a living? Jon Heyman: At Lawrence High School on Long Island I wrote for the school newspaper, The Mental Pabulum, which is a dumb name that I think means ‘food for thought’… or something like that. It was probably my senior year that I started to think about it. Then when I went to Northwestern, it seemed like the thing to do. It really wasn’t much more complicated than that. MLB reports: If you had not pursued writing as a career, what would you be doing today for a living? Jon Heyman: Maybe something with numbers. The sabremetric folks may find that hard to believe. But I loved math as a kid. I outgrew that though. MLB reports: Being a well-regarded baseball writer, you must be constantly on the go. What percentage of the year are you on the road? Jon Heyman: First of all, thanks for the nice word. Not everyone would agree with that characterization. I’m on the road for spring training, the All-Star Game, the playoffs, the World Series and the GM and Winter Meetings. So about three months out of the year. Although since I live in Miami, I spend about two weeks of spring training at home. MLB reports: I understand that you are now primarily located between Miami and New York. What factors played a role in your decision on residence? Jon Heyman: We lived in New York when I was at Newsday, and it’s a good spot for baseball so we keep a small place there. My family loves Miami. MLB reports: Aside from a successful career, you are also married with a daughter. How do you balance work and home life? Jon Heyman: Family is much more important. Sometimes I need to remind myself of that, especially when I’m spending hours trying to nail down a Guillermo Mota signing. MLB reports: What was your first big break in the industry? I presume it was the job with Newsday as a Yankees beat writer? Jon Heyman: My first break was the opening of The National. Although they didn’t hire me, they opened up jobs at newspapers all over the country by hiring tens of sports writers at major papers. The best day of my career was the day I got the call from Jeff Williams of Newsday offering me a job at Newsday, the paper I delivered as a kid. I was working at the Copley Los Angeles papers at the time, covering the Angels for the Santa Monica Outlook and the Torrance Daily Breeze, and that was a great way to break into daily beat coverage, on the West Coast for an afternoon paper. But Newsday was the pinnacle for me at the time. I got a call the same day from the Los Angeles Times for a possible backup Angels job. But I wanted to go home. My mother still lived in New York. So it was an easy call for me. MLB reports: Did you choose to cover the Yankees….or did the Yankees choose you? Jon Heyman: The job Newsday had was covering the Yankees. They decided to promote Tom Verducci to national baseball writer (good decision there), and Marty Noble preferred the Mets, so the opening they had was for the Yankees. A lot of folks were afraid to cover the Steinbrenner Yankees. I didn’t know any better. They were my favorite team growing up. At that time it was a dream job. MLB reports: Since leaving Newsday, do you find you still have a special relationship/affinity for the Yankees? How did you find the change from Newsday to SI? Jon Heyman: Once I started covering baseball, I stopped rooting for the Yankees or any one team. There’s someone on the web who claims I am a big Yankees honk, but some of the pro-Yankees websites know better. The only team I root for now is Northwestern football. MLB reports: You arrived at Sports Illustrated in 2006 after a lengthy stint with Newsday. Tell us about the process of joining Sports Illustrated and how you were selected to become one of their senior baseball writers. Jon Heyman: My time was about up at Newsday. They had new management that wanted to pay themselves high salaries while cutting the writing staff to bare bones. I went to Sports Illustrated and pitched a mostly Web job, and they decided to give me a shot. As it turned out, I was pretty fortunate, because as I suspected, Newsday laid off its two other general sports columnists. There isn’t a question in my mind they would have laid me off, too. MLB reports: What is your favorite interview that you have conducted in your career? Jon Heyman: That’s easy. It was Pascual Perez in a limo outside a strip club in Pompano Beach after he failed a (recreational) drug test. Don Burke, the beat guy from the Bergen (N.J.) Record and I went from strip club to strip club in the Fort Lauderdale area (there were plenty of them) looking for Pascual, and we finally found him a bit north of Lauderdale on US 1. MLB reports: Best baseball event/moment that you covered? Jon Heyman: Got to the Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. Great game. Unreal performance by Jack Morris and John Smoltz. MLB reports: Do you end up forming many personal relationships/friendships with the players through your role, or is it kept to a neutral basis? Jon Heyman: I’m friendly with some of the guys I covered as players: Chili Davis, Mike Gallego, Jim Abbott, but not friends. So no, it’s not like the really old days where players and writers used to hang out. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, the players weren’t gazillionaires and maybe had a bit more in common with the writers. That changed to some degree by the ’80s. MLB reports: After so many years as one of the faces for SI baseball, what brought you to CBS Sports this December? (Please give us an insight as to why you left SI and decided to join CBS Sports.) Jon Heyman: I’d established a relationship over the years with the editor at CBSSports.com, Mark Swanson. I don’t recall how it started, but they are located in Fort Lauderdale (seems like Fort Lauderdale has played a big role in my career). We did lunch at the Longhorn Steakhouse maybe a dozen times over the past several years. They have been an increasingly big player in the sports internet world but this year they made huge strides in content and breaking stories by hiring several established and talented writers like Jeff Goodman, Bruce Feldman, Brett McMurphy and many others. It was clear they were serious. I interviewed right after the World Series, and we had a deal a month later. MLB reports: Has your role changed from your time at SI to CBS Sports? What is your primary focus with CBS Sports? Jon Heyman: It isn’t too much different. CBS has me doing more blogs to get the news out there more quickly. There are two other veteran baseball writers, Danny Knobler and Scott Miller, who are also actively seeking news and working on newsy angles. There’s a lot of discussion, planning and teamwork at CBS, and fortunately, the teammates are great. Sports Illustrated was great in many ways but totally different. MLB reports: If you were the commissioner, what would you do to the change the game of baseball? Is the current system working? Jon Heyman: In general, yes. I am worried about the new rules to contain bonuses for drafted amateur talent, and whether that will curtail poor teams from making up the talent gap. MLB reports: Time to play Rapid Fire: Tell us your immediate reaction to the following words: Jon Heyman: There should be 15 teams in each league. Even steven. Jon Heyman: I don’t think that’ll be in the baseball lexicon for a while. Jon Heyman: Not happening. Jon Heyman: Sorry to be wishy-washy, but I’m taking a wait and see approach. Future of the Designated Hitter Jon Heyman: It’ll be here awhile. Jon Heyman: Against. World Baseball Classic Jon Heyman: Like it. Wish it would catch on more in the U.S. Baseball in the Olympics Jon Heyman: Not necessary. Collective Bargaining Agreement Jon Heyman: Looks good, except for the draft thing. Hall of Fame Voting Jon Heyman: A privilege, but one I get hit over the head for annually (that’s ok, too). MLB reports: Who do you expect will be the next commissioner of baseball and why? Jon Heyman: Rob Manfred. He’s the guy doing the heaviest lifting. Anyone else would be for unfair, and strictly for name recognition. MLB reports: What are your future plans Jon? Where will find you in the next 10+ years? As an insider for the MLB Network, do you have plans to move into full-time broadcasting? Jon Heyman: After 10 years of broadcasting, I think I am finally starting to improve to the point where I occasionally know which camera to look at. Heavens no! I enjoy it, and the producers at MLB Network are nice and incredibly patient and forgiving. But I am a writer. I’d probably be docked at one of those places where the interviewer fancies himself a great intellectual, but I think CBS is my last job. MLB reports: What are your feelings on the explosion of baseball blogs and social media like Twitter and Facebook? Is it good for the game? Jon Heyman: I’m OK with twitter. It makes me nervous 24 hours a day, but I’m getting used to it. Facebook isn’t something I know anything about. MLB reports: One day you will likely be getting a call confirming election into Cooperstown as a Baseball Writer. Have you considered it? How would you feel about being elected into the Hall of Fame? Jon Heyman: Ha, ha. I don’t think writers should be in the Hall of Fame. (Technically, I’m told they aren’t.) It’s self aggrandizing and a popularity contest and serves no purpose. I liked when Ross Newhan was elected because he’s a nice man and very good writer. But maybe we should have just elected Murray Chass and Peter Gammons, and called it a day (although we could have done without Murray’s speech). Those really were the game changers. MLB reports: Final question: What advice would you give to aspiring baseball writers? What does it take to become the next Jon Heyman? Jon Heyman: Not sure anyone would want to be that. But I’d stay to find some aspect of journalism, and concentrate on that, whether it be writing, reporting, editing or whatever. If it’s writing, write a lot. And read a lot. Read the New York Times even if you think it’s too liberal, because on average, noting compares as far as daily newspapers. In general, journalism is like anything else. With a few exceptions, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. MLB reports: Thank you again Jon and I look forward to speaking to you soon. Happy New Year to you and your family! Jon Heyman: You, too! ***A special thank you to Jon Heyman for taking the time out of his hectic schedule today for us on MLB reports. You can follow Jon on Twitter (@JonHeymanCBS) and yes, he responds to questions and comments! Be sure to also catch Jon’s column on CBS Sports. It is a MUST baseball read for all fans!*** Jonathan Hacohen is the Lead Baseball Columnist & Editor for MLB reports: You can follow Jonathan on Twitter (@JHacohen) Please e-mail us at: MLBreports@gmail.com with any questions and feedback. You can follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook . To subscribe to our website and have the daily Reports sent directly to your inbox , click here and follow the link at the top of our homepage.

Jewish World ReviewFeb. 23, 2001 / 30 Shevat, 5761 As I have written before, what we really need is one guy with a rifle and sniper scope. Instead of making raids on the Saddam Hussein's Iraq, instead of sanctioning him, instead of waiting for him to complete his weapons of mass destruction, what we really need to do is ice the guy. I am not being bloodthirsty. On the contrary, I am being a humanitarian. It is almost universally recognized that Iraq is in the grip of a dictatorial madman, a murderous lunatic who has armed his country to the teeth with terrible weapons including chemical, biological and possibly nuclear devices. Former President Bush once compared him to Adolph Hitler and the stated policy of the U.S. government since Saddam's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 has been to "destabilize" his government and "topple" him. How can we do that? In 1991 we sent 467,539 U.S. troops, sustained 760 casualties including 148 battlefield deaths and spent $7.4 billion of our own money (plus $53.7 billion of our allies' money) to fight Saddam. Saddam is still in power, but Bush got toppled in the next election. President Clinton also launched raids against Saddam. In order to minimize the risk to U.S. airmen, Clinton preferred using Tomahawk missiles. These are so-called "smart" weapons" but in reality they are not all that smart. Of the 23 missiles we sent into Baghdad on June 26, 1993, three went astray and killed eight civilians. Why should those eight innocent people have to die for Saddam Hussein's policies? Shouldn't Hussein be the one to pay for his own evil deeds? Assassination is a terrible word and a terrible deed. Except when the alternatives are worse. Why spend all that money and risk the lives of our soldiers when all we need is one assassin or a small team of assassins? Three U.S. presidents -- Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan -- issued executive orders, still in effect, that make assassination illegal for any "person employed or acting on behalf of the United States government." We can't assassinate or "conspire" to assassinate. But on Jan. 3 of this year, Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., a man whose politics I rarely agree with, introduced the Terrorist Elimination Act of 2001 that would nullify those executive orders. "Our federal government should never put the lives of our troops at risk when there is an alternative method of accomplishing the same goals," Barr said. Barr's bill currently has absolutely no support. He has not a single co-sponsor, no hearings are scheduled and a similar bill he introduced in 1999 went nowhere. But that does not mean Barr is wrong. The last time the United States apparently tried to kill a head of state it was 1986, the target was Muammar el Kadafi and we attempted it from 1,500 feet. President Reagan sent 33 jets on a bombing raid into Libya where they dropped 64,000 pounds of explosives on Kadafi's living quarters. We missed him, but unfortunately killed his 15-month-old daughter. We also lost a U.S. pilot in the raid. Officially, the raid was not an assassination attempt. Secretary of State George Schultz explained the difference: Because Kadafi was not "a direct target" -- anyone in his living quarters was -- it could not be called an attempt at assassination. Which is a pretty fine line to draw. If you send in a single shooter, it is assassination. If you send in 33 jets, it is ... what? The glories of combat? What's the difference, except that jets and bombs are far more likely to kill innocent people? There is no difference. Death is death; killing is killing. But as Voltaire once wrote, "Killing a man is murder unless you do it to the sound of trumpets." Planes, ships and Tomahawk missiles give America that nice sound of trumpets. But they don't make sense in some situations. We all know that Saddam Hussein is going to continue to threaten the stability of the Middle East and the world unless we do something about him. But why risk the lives of U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians to do it? If one guy is the problem, we should take out that one

From the Washington Times, the article follows: Sen. Barack Obama has grown up with the teaching of very angry, militant white and black people: the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, William Ayers and Rev. Michael Pfleger. We cannot say we are not affected by teachers who are militant and angry. We know too well that we become like them, and Mr. Obama will run this country in their mindset. The Democratic Party, in its quest for power, has managed a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure in a man who falls short in every way. It seems to me that if Mr. Obama wins the presidential election, then Messrs. Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers and Pfleger will gain power for their need to demoralize this country and help create a socialist America. The Democrats have targeted young people, knowing how easy it is to bring forth whatever is needed to program their minds. I know this process well. I was caught up in the hysteria during the Vietnam era, which was brought about through Marxist propaganda underlying the so-called peace movement. The radicals of that era were successful in giving the communists power to bring forth the killing fields and slaughter 2.5 million people in Cambodia and South Vietnam. Did they stop the war, or did they bring the war to those innocent people? In the end, they turned their backs on all the horror and suffering they helped create and walked away. Those same leaders who were in the streets in the '60s are very powerful today in their work to bring down the Iraq war and to attack our president, and they have found their way into our schools. William Ayers is a good example of that. Thank God, today, we have a strong generation of young soldiers who know exactly who they are and what they must do to protect our freedom and our democracy. And we have the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus, who has brought hope and stability to Iraq and prevented the terrorists from establishing a base in that country. Our soldiers are lifting us to an example of patriotism at a time when we've almost forgotten who we are and what is at stake. If Mr. Obama had his way, he would have pulled our troops from Iraq years ago and initiated an unprecedented bloodbath, turning over that country to the barbarianism of our enemies. With what he has openly stated about his plans for our military, and his lack of understanding about the true nature of our enemies, there's not a cell in my body that can accept the idea that Mr. Obama can keep us safe from the terrorists around the world, and from Iran, which is making great strides toward getting the atomic bomb. And while a misleading portrait of Mr. Obama is being perpetrated by a media controlled by the Democrats, the Obama camp has sent out people to attack the greatness of Sen. John McCain, whose suffering and courage in a Hanoi prison camp is an American legend. Gen. Wesley Clark, who himself has shame upon him, having been relieved of his command, has done their bidding and become a lying fool in his need to demean a fellow soldier and a true hero. This is a perilous time, and more than ever, the world needs a united and strong America. If, God forbid, we live to see Mr. Obama president, we will live through a socialist era that America has not seen before, and our country will be weakened in every way. Jon, you were the sort of a "good" white man in Rosewood: And, you were a prominent character in the remake of Transformers: Add to that honor role, Anaconda!!! J-Lo got a brother sprung... Of course, Heat, THE movie which Deniro and Pacino co-starred in, and which Batman: the Dark Knight was heavily influenced by...extra points for that Mr. Voight: And you starred in Karate Dog! Why are you disappointing your public? Mr. Voight, why are you doing this? Tired, confused, exhausted, or manipulated by outside powers. Is this a senior moment which we should forgive you for?

FROM EXECUTIVE PRODUCER CARI HERNANDEZ More and more parents are failing to pay child support due to the recession. Caught on either side? Send us your questions In our 10am hour, a family law expert will answer your questions. I fully understand a parent's duty to pay their child support. My question is when a father has lost his job, and is temporarily unable to pay child support, while the mother refuses to work (since she is remarried), what happens? Should the mother take responsibility for the children as well? It is not the father's choice to be about of a job. I am currently on unemployment, it's my only income, however Arizona has an attributable income calculation, I can no longer afford to pay what I used to pay, how can i be sure the court will lower my child support payments to what I can afford today? why is it when a father is orderd to pay support he has no rights to care for siad child when taken from childs mother by c.p.s. the child is placed in foster care instead of the fathers care. father is told to hire a lawyer to gain custady for the child but the courts orded the father to pay support no lawyer was need for the father to have that done doesnt the father who pays support have any rights? if said father is behind in his support there is no problum as to who is the childs father but yet in a custady mater there is a question doesnt that seem byus? child support needs to stop being a means to an end and start being what it is intended to be in the first place, CHILD SUPPORT!...Primarily, it needs to benefit both sides of the balance sheet. There is no need to continue to attempt a support action when the other parent that is making the primary income during the relationship has the children and the other parent is disabled, is there? what can a parent do? I am presently not working, one because of the economy and the other reason is the amount of time that I was spending in court, I have not seen my son for almost a year and he will be 2 in august. I filed contempt and it was denied further fueling the fire and ensuring her stance against any contact with my son. What can I do, I can't afford child support, an attorney and gifts for my son nor can I see him. Please talk more about women using the courts to keep the child from it's dad. I want to be in his life more than imaginable, but the courts seem to lean on the side of the mother, please bring national light to this negative movement. After spending so much time in court, I noticed it is an epidemic. If you can help one way or another please do. I Have Been Out Of Work For A Year And Just Started A New Job 3 Weeks Ago. I Am About $4,000 Behind In Child Support. I Have A Court Date Next Week. My Ex Wife And I Are On Good Terms. She Called The Court To See If She Could Push Back The Court Date They Said No There Was nothing She Could Do. Now I Worried About Going To Jail. I Have A Family With My Current Wife and If I Go to Jail Im Worried How They Are Going To Be Because My Wife Now Is Out Of Work. I Have Been Able To Pay $500 When I Got My Taxes Back. Please Give me Some Advice. I'm engaged to a man who has full custody of his three children. He's had full custody since November of 2005 and out of the 187 weeks since then, his ex has only paid 2 weeks worth of child support. Our county even took her to court for non-payment in October of 2008 for the arrearages, and that "court order" has been completely ignored. Betty, you asked for my question, so here it is: How is it possible that our court system could be so indifferent to this blatent injustice? Job or no job...recession or no recession...our system has failed our family as they allow this behavior to continue. Why are there to courses of action for someone who has paid less than 1% of a court ordered obligation? What can we do? I would like to know where a person can go for legal assistance when they are behind on their child support payments and have no money for legal help due to being out of work. My job hours has been reduced from 40 per week to 20. My child support monthly is about $300.00 a month. I earn minimum wage at $6.25/hr. I provide almost half of my salary to my child. I live with my family. I feel like I'm drowning to keep up and provide for my child. I've tried every week here in Ft. Lauderdale to get a second job but no one's hiring. I don't want to get into problems with the law. What can I do? i lost my job in January, I'm paying child support out of my unemployment. I'm the none custodial parent. if i cant make my payments i could go to jail, loose any license i hold. why aren't there any laws that put the custodial parent in the same position where if they don't work or contribute they help to same laws. it's not fair for a father to have to pay and not get to see his children while the other party stays home and collects a check. in my case it's like I'm being punished for trying to be a good father getting hit with high child support payment and at the same time not seeing my children. what can i do? i guess just sit back and take it! If you can't work you can't pay and in this economy there's not a lot people can do about that. But why would they go as far as suspending your lisence or even putting you in jail if they want your money? If you ask me, they should try employment placement as apposed to the $7.50 monthly state prison tip. In my experience, child support could care less about circumstance so I guess my only question is, what advice could you possibly give me for this revolving cycle that just keeps feeding on itsself? The only answer I can see is the one they keep giving me........FIND A JOB! HA, easier said than done! Question: I was divorced in FT Worth, Texas and my spuse who is a Japanse Citizen now resides in Japan. Do I still need to make payments if she is no longer a legal resident of the United States? In a few months , my 16 year old and is about to be declared as an adult in the state of Kentucky. How will this affect my Joint Custody and Child Support? Not to mention I'm unemployed and my child support has increased 190%! HELP! One of my friends fell behind in his support payments. The current law suspended his license. How can he be expected to work if his privelege to drive to work has been taken away. He can't pull the owed money out of the air to regain his license. The law is now threatning to jail him. Doesn't this law hurt both father and child due to the added handicap to the father. I paid child support until my daughter was 11 years old. The mother married a loser who attempted to sexually assault my daughter. The mother took my daughter to a park and asked her if she wants to just go to church counseling or if she wants her to call the police. Poor Daughter didn't know what to do having such weighted question put on her so she said nothing. Mother did nothing. When my daughter told a friend in school, her friend was the bigger woman and told auhtorities who arrested both the mother and the stepfather. The mother went to parental counseling etc and my daughter wanted to continue going to the same school. I had full custody for 1 year, but she got an attorney and I couldn't afford one. I wound up with a joint custody agreement where my daughter was supposed to go to school 1 year up here and 1 year down there alternating and neither have to pay child support. I signed it, but my daughter wanted to go to her school and I forgave her mother and let my daughter move in with the mother. the step father is in jail and she got divorced. Now my daughter has been there for two years and I have kept her both summers, the mother is threatening she wants to go after me for child support and wants it based on what I make. I am strapped with bills and mortgage, and cannot get any overtime. my girlfriend lost her job and I am stuck with all the bills insurance on two cars. I cannot afford to pay what she wants. I am unsure of my rights and what I should do. I am the second wife in this nightmare with child support. My husband has three sons from a previous marriage in NY. The eldest is 24, 21, and 17. He paid child support until he became disabled in 2006. He worked until he just couldn't do it anymore. He filed for disability, and we lived off of my little paycheck as a presser in a cleaners. Him and I moved from NY in 2005 to Florida with the hopes of things getting better. In 2007 I was diagnosed with breast cancer, ok there went my job. We lived with very very little assistance from public assistance and the help from God. We almost lost our home due to no mortgage payments for about a year. He receives 1527.00 per month. How could child support take over half of that for child support. He have children here. What happens to them, live in the street because we can't afford or mortgage, lights or anything else. What happens to the support for the family here. When is someone going to step in about this crazy child support thing these people have going on. Also who controls how this support money is spent, for that matter who cares, Everyone is not dead beat parents. Who protects the inocent from child support abusers. I was paying child support when I lost my job on 2008, due to the economy. Moved to another state where I got a job and continued paying support. Two month later lost the job again, and missed some chl spt payments. I started a new job making less that the one before, unable to pay rent, utilities and chl spt at the same time I had to choose to keep a roof over my head, food to eat and utilities. During 4 months I missed some payments but still sent some of them. Tried to get a 2nd job but was unable to get one. I had my full paycheck taken by child support, and 4 days later lost my job again. Company downsized. Now I just didn't have my job but the money to pay rent, food or the utilities. Within a week I received letter from Child Support that they will take the money from my bank account, after they took it. After 2 months I got a job again, within a week of started I received another letter: a court hearing schedule in other state (where children lives), I don't have the resource to travel there and if I do I'll lose my job again, but If I don't, they'll issue a warrant for my arrest. I'm ready to start sending payments again. How I'm suppost to pay if I'm on jail or have no job. How this help the children? Midtime, I have no car, no furniture, an air matress, no money to hire an attorney an ex wife living on a house with 2 new cars and a job making over 45k yr. Nobody cares what kind of lame excuses spin around in the heads of parents that don't pay their child support. It is insane for any adult to have so much self loathing that they deprive their own flesh and blood of the fundamental right to eat and take shelter. What's more, America is very straight forward about it. We call it child abuse. So, any parent who thinks they have a pitiful tragedy that justifies child abandonment, better think long and hard about it. Hi can you extend VA GI Bill benefits by 2 / 3 years from 10 years to 12-13 years? Mine are running out next year this will help laid off Vets going back to college like myself. PLEASE PLEASE extend to 12 years for college GI Bill even if it’s for a 3 or 4 year Temp program. Thank Mr. President and CNN. My husband and I have paid our child support for his daughter from his first marriage for many years, now she is 18 and lives with us full time, we are paying for her college education and still paying child support to her mother, who refuses to help in any way. What can we do? My question is my husband just recently got laid off from his job....he has two children from a previous marriage and pays child support. Well, he was until he lost his job. How will this affect the child support payments? His ex wife just had him served with paperwork holding him in contempt of court. How do we find legal aid that doesn't cost $3500? I realize that this has nothing to do with it, but her husband died last year and she claimed that my husband NEVER paid any child support so that she could claim social security under her dead husband for my husband's children. She now gets $2800.00 a month from social security and child support. Will she have to clain the extra as income? I had disability through mental health in the 90's. Trying to get it back. I am unable to work. Can I have the court order hardship and relieve me from continuous incarcerations? my son is 21 and has a child of his own im still paying child support as they say i owe back money is this right I am umemployed. I lost my factory job because the work was sent to China. I am un able to find work but I have earn a degree in business since my unemployment. 260.00 a month was order because my son father show Social Service a receipt stating he makes 6.00 a hour. This was also based on child care which I was only paying 88.00 a month, which was based on my income before I recieved child support payments. My son's father owns his own baber shop and has 3 other babers working in the shop. He is taken me back to court to have the child support modify. What can I do or say to get the courts to use his tax forms from the passed three years instead of a receipt. Hi I'm unemployed, so I joined the Reserves 2 yrs ago, I was scheduled to go to Iraq back in February and was flagged for Dental. I havent had a job for almost 2yrs. I dont know why, I've tried hard to get jobs but I believe its because of my duty statis. As a reservsist you have to let employors know that your in the Reserves and you could leave at anytime. EVERYTIME I do that at an interview, I dont recieve a call back. Now my child support is way behind, Recieved a letter in the mail about warrant against me for child support. I'm currently on standby to go to Afghanistan, and can't leave my state. This is unbelieveable how you can get a FELONY D in Missouri charge and your on standby from the MILITARY, jobs are not responding, I'm all over the internet with resumes. This is crazy. I didnt even recieve a court date, I just got a letter in the mail. I tried to talk to CFS the reduce the payments, but that didnt work. Now with all this going on my baby mama wont answer her cell phone. THIS IS CRAZY.... This system is bad for Fathers, and is not balanced at all. i got divorce in DEcember 2004 i was paying $300.00 a month for 1 child then the judge reduced it to $225.00 amonth that not even included in the additional $55.00 amonth being taken out for health and insurance purposes the the court went by my income and not hers she even has a job also I am all for child support when the custodial parent needs it. I do not think someone should be on food stamps because deadbeat dad won't pony up some $. However, when the custodial parent makes $150K a year dad makes $50K a year why in the world should he have to pay to have her live lavishly regardless of "his flesh and blood". People assume that everyone that collects child support are welefare receiptants that that simply isn't the case. I am the 2nd wife and this is our problem. We have 1 child together and he had one with his ex wife. She makes twice what we make but we have to pay her. So he has to take from his son (with me) to pay for his daughter (with her) when they live so much better than us anyway. Where is the balance in that? Fathers no rights when it comes to child support. if we lose our job. we still have to find a way to pay even if she wont work or anything. the system has a huge flaw, and father have the worst end of the deal I have been supporting my son for 18 years,,,my ex found out my new wife and I brought a new home,,now she is seeking child support,,understand I went through the G.I Bill,no money down,,she is using the courts out of anger,,,,can I fight her on this? Click here to access transcripts from recent shows. Get every new post delivered to your Inbox. Join 23,818 other followers

Bongos in 2003 was the blasting off point for the Taipei burger wave, and Lunman’s career as a successful restaurant owner. By 2004 the burgers, beer and Mexican food place in the Gongguan student ghetto was “busy every day”, he said. Despite a somewhat hard-to-find location, Bongo’s made a beefy splash in both the foreign and local NTU student community. People loved the food and the price was right, just 190NT for a good burger, fries and drink. Although larger operations were in his future, Lunman says, “I never equaled the return on investment I got from Bongos.” It was the culmination of several streams of experience in Lunman’s life. One of these was education. Lunman graduated in management economics at Guelph University, cooking his way through college. After graduation, he became a loans officer – “Frosty the No Man” as he put it – for the Royal Bank of Canada. He hated that for 8 months, then decided to go on the road. That’s where he got some of his core restaurant cooking experience. In 1999 he ended up in Australia with almost no money, so he started working for various restaurants to make some cash. He soon had to a chance to apply for a rather posh job at Club Med in the Whitsunday Islands, a position that was pretty far above his level of restaurant experience at that time. However, Lunman says that he was “creative in the interview process”, and managed to score a test of competency at the job, which was a demo cooking position, cooking right out in front of the customers. It was a serious challenge to live up to the performance requirements of a restaurant run by French chefs, one that he says he met with a “laser like focus”, working long hours, asking questions, and swotting up on the manuals for the Australian Culinary School. Then one day, something totally unexpected happened. He was working diligently away out in the dining room when flames and smoke started shooting out of the main Club Med kitchen, 30 meters away. Too focused on trying to keep up with orders to think about anything else, he kept cooking away while the place was being evacuated and the fire brigade came in. “After that, they thought I was utterly unflappable!” This may have helped him pass his probation and keep the job! He and stayed on for about 6 months, eventually leaving so he could travel around Australia for a few years. But then it was time to go back to Canada. Lunman worked in Whistler, British Columbia doing Italian and French food, because the mountain tourist town just north of Vancouver was always busy with tourists. It was also a well-known stop on the travelers’ trail that he had come to love. But he didn’t want to do this forever: “It was too much work for too little money. And I realized that I didn’t want to be a kitchen slave or an office monkey.” He said that he was ready to go to Asia and make some money teaching English. “I had an international mindset. I was a rolling stone, and didn’t want to settle into a 9 to 5 career. That was not the way I wanted to live my life.” So he came to Taiwan in 2001, hoping to find what he called “a paid adventure”. He started off teaching kids and then became a hockey coach as well, working long hours. But then he noticed the lack of good Western food. “There was nothing really good. There was Grandma Nitty’s, and places like TGI Friday’s, which isn’t good food, or you end up paying 600 – 700 NT for a meal.” He said to himself, “Here’s an opportunity!” So he opened his first restaurant, Blast Burger: “I just jumped in, boots and all.” It was in a high traffic area in a food court in Zhonghe by an RT Mart hypermarket and under a large apartment building. He signed contracts, bought equipment, and just went for it, with a menu that included fish and chips, wings, quesadillas, burgers, sausages, and weekly specials. But it didn’t work out. “I made only a little bit of money, and not enough to pay back my initial investment.” However, he said that it was a real learning experience. He wasn’t so busy, so he had time to observe the walkers by, and see who showed an interest. “Every type of person that you can imagine walked through that food court.” Old people, young people, city slickers and Uncle Binlang in his white and blue flip flops, everybody, he said. He said he began to enjoy profiling the people to try and guess where they’d stop and eat in the food court, which had noodle places, dumpling places, etc. “I started to see very clearly what choices people made. I realized who my customers were. They were all under 30, nobody over 35. And they were fairly well dressed. They wore Western brands, fashionable things.” He also learned some other useful lessons. “You have to be careful with contracts,” he said. “Things like cleaning services and upgraded electricity never happened.” “That entire food court was built on lies,” he said. When he left he remembers a Taiwanese man from the food court committee in a shiny suit smiling at him and saying, “Now you know what it’s like to do business in Taiwan!” Undeterred, and now reinforced with Debby, his then girlfriend and current wife, he decided to try again. He now had all the experience he needed: management skills, cooking skills, and a target market that was chosen from real experience. The result was Bongo’s, which he renovated by himself with “duct tape and bubble gum.” By 2004 and he was already experiencing “the growing pains of success” from the roaring burger trade he was doing. “I was so busy, just absorbed in it.” He said he had two restaurants’ worth of business, so that’s when he decided to open CODA, another success story. “If I didn’t copy myself, somebody else was going to do it.” CODA, he said, was a good facility with a purpose built kitchen. In fact, he says that he planned CODA as a central kitchen for further restaurant projects. CODA, just around the corners from Bongo’s, was more upscale, including special salads, pastas and thin crust pizza. “Food I wanted to do,” he said. He also said he wanted the brand to stand by itself. “I never wanted it to be ‘Andrew’s store,’” grunted Lunman. His plan worked and CODA started thriving too, adding another cash cow to his small but growing herd. There were some interesting cultural bumps along the road. He said there was an old man with an illegal breakfast shop near CODA and Bongos. Lunman would visit it every day, and the old man running it always smiled at him very politely. But then things started happening: the police were called on late night noise complaints. “But we were only open to 10pm!” There were other false allegations made, like that they were having karaoke nights, or lacked required equipment, like a smoke hood and fan. He said someone even bribed a Taipei City official to pull his business license, which he only got back by using a local ombudsman from the community. Then one day one of his neighbors finally told him about what was going on: it was the old man. He had been instantly averse to having a foreigner set up shop in in the neighborhood, and had been constantly complaining to everyone all the time about Bongo’s. He was furious when Lunman got his business license back, and showed no sign of being willing to accept the foreign element in his neighborhood. So Lunman started to retaliate: “I started to make official complaints about his business! And the police and the city people kept showed up at his place. Eventually he gave up.” Exploring the topic of culture more, Lunman talks about racism in Taiwan. He says that there is a lot of xenophobia about foreigners, but not much overt racism. But when it does exist, it can be sneaky. He had told me before how foreigners stick out here, and can therefore attract problems with illegal or semi-legal businesses. They also lack the support network of guanxi that locals have, so they should be very careful with their relationships. “When my landlord came over to renegotiate the lease, I’d drink tea with him for a couple of hours.” Now that his operation was on a roll, Lunman launched Forkers, the first true gourmet burger restaurant in Taipei, near Zhongxiao Dunhua. The restaurant exploded almost from day one. Success was “instant and overwhelming,” said Lunman. “Forkers paid for itself in six months. There was a bit of burnout and success shock. But it was nice to see all my plans come to fruition.” Riding the wave, he opened Forkers 2, near Zhongshan MRT. He said it grossed 1,000,000 NT in the first month. He now had four stores going on. “It was too much on my plate.” He said his success had painted a bullseye on his chest: “The green eyed monster reared its ugly head.” He was getting constant neighbor complaints and online smearing. He was still top of the heap, but the competitive environment was changing. Many other gourmet burger places started up, like Evans, KGB, and many more. “By 2011, there were about 1000 burger restaurants in Taiwan.” Costs were going up, but he couldn’t increase prices too much or else he’d lose customers to cheaper competitors. One example was fryer oil: “When I started out, 18L cost 280NT. In 2012, it was up to 1000NT.” Rent was increasing too, as the property market kept heating up. “I could see the writing on the wall. There were stormy seas ahead,” he said. He saw only two choices: either go bigger still, or sell and consolidate. He chose the latter option, selling off Forkers 1 and 2, and consolidating Bongo’s and CODA into one location. That done, he started thinking about going home to Canada with Debby, and spending some time with his family there. But before that, he had something else to do. “I wanted to give back to the community. When I started all my businesses, I had no one there to turn to. I wanted to have a foreigner small business network where people could support each other, so they wouldn’t have to operate in a vacuum.” So, even though it took a huge amount of effort, the CCCT’s Taiwan Small Business Network was born, and had soon made a name for itself. It was a packed house at CODA September 2015 that started off the recent monthly series of TSBN events, where successful foreign entrepreneurs shared their knowledge. “I am very happy with the CCCT right now. There is a happy and active chamber, and a board environment that is more open. And there’s a strong and active SBC that is actually helping small business people today.” There are lots of new faces now. And we’re really helping them, hearing their thanks. That’s why we do it.” On behalf of everyone that you have helped, thank you again, Andrew Lunman, boss of the burger, promoter of poutine, giver of gravy, brother in beer, shooter of pucks, stalwart of the small business community! Before our interview ended, he shared a few parting words of mentorship to future entrepreneurs. “If you really feel the drive, its right for you. But if you are running away from something you don’t like, if you are sick of teaching, this is not a good reason to start your own business.” He says that he usually tells this to people as a warning. For those that insist on going that route, he has this to say: “Be careful! Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone. It’s stressful, challenging, exhausting and risky. Not just ‘I didn’t make any money risky’. Not making money is not what I mean by failure. In addition to draining bank accounts, it can destroy relationships, affect your self-esteem, even your mental stability. It’s a real risk.”

History Carnival No 14 Sit back, relax, read, enjoy Like an ancient Greek host who got to choose in what proportions to mix the wine and water, and so whether to host a decorous debate or a riotous rampage, as carnival organiser I get to decide who gets invited and what sort of tunes they can play. I've restricted the number of links to 40, so the party doesn't drag on too long, and tried for a mix of tones. You'll find some serious research here, and some original sources, but also posts that tell a good yarn: a love of narrative is a weakness of mine. So let the symposium begin ... Being the middle of August, when many academics have more surf on their minds than web surfing, there's no great historiographic debates in this carnival, unless you count a question of literary history: Do the Hobbits come from Kentucky? In this post The Elfin Ethicist conducts some empirical research, building on posts by other bloggers. Perhaps this carnival could start a blogosphere meme instead? I'm taken by the idea of a manuscript wishlist, found on Sauvage Noble: five texts (or set of texts) that you wish had survived but apparently haven't. The canapes: modern tastes Something about the weather seems to mean many are finding in history lessons relevant to today. A Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land reviews a book about his homeland's own "McCarthy era" (and draws parallels with the new witchhunts being begun today). Clews: The Historical True Crime Blog, meanwhile, has recovered a horrifying story (perhaps not for those who are already having a depressing day) about a "family annihilator" called George Hassell, who in 1920s America murdered two sets of his "nearest and dearest": a total of two women and 11 children. It's a lesson for those who like to blame aspects of contemporary culture - like those pesky feminists - for similar crimes today. Fragblog has found some papers showing how cavalier the [British] Foreign Office was about arms sales in the Seventies. On the lighter side, with the treason law also in the news in Britain, The Sharpener reports that "thanks to an Act from the reign of George I, if your faithful mutt shags one of the Queen's corgis, technically you are committing treason". Got Medieval, meanwhile, finds that the American Right has developed a rosy-eyed view of the Middle Ages. In related news, over on the History News Network's Liberty & Power Blog, Sudha Shenoy muses on the origin of the word jingoism in 19th-century Britain and the lessons for America today. Is that a little modern for you? Well, off to Achaemenid Persia, where Alun is examining the theory that Zoroaster's Kaba is an astronomical instrument. Alun's conclusion - "I haven't the faintest idea" - is refreshingly honest (oddly enough you never get people quoted in newspapers saying that), but Alun does set out some of the questions that should be asked. The ancients too had their almost unimaginable sorrows. Snail's Tales has rediscovered, with the help of George Bean, Niobe, who lost her 14 children to the wrath of the goddess Leto. Towards an Archaeology of Iconoclasm is meanwhile shedding some light on the place of pagans in the Corinth of his period, while Hypotyposeis is on the trail of the first patron saint of Venice The Velveteen Rabbi has been holding a comparative reading of the Koran and the Torah, finding some subtle differences and surprising similarities at "the intersections of our family history". There seems to have been a lot of fascinating posts relating to Jewish history recently: The Rhine River considers the 19th and 20th-century history of the Jewish body, and the difficulties some have had in accepting studies on the topic. Then, can a carnival point to another carnival? I can't see why not, so check out the Temple Mount blogburst on Kesher Talk. Do you fancy a revolution? Well I've got a selection to choose from. Mohraz reports on the Babylonian revolution (aided by Cyrus the Great) that produced "the first declaration of human rights". Supermaxwell, meanwhile, is listening in to the French Assembly on the 4th of August 216 years ago, which heard how: "Men are everywhere eager to throw it off a yoke that has for so many ages pressed upon them so heavily ..." (Women too, I'd guess.) Chapati Mystery has an account of the Trial of Mangal Pandey, the sepoy who might be labelled the originator of what the British call the Indian Mutiny. Then, while you couldn't call him a revolutionary exactly, Dom Mintoff was Malta's first post-independence Prime Minister and, Wired Temples reports, a complex and interesting character, and a survivor. And while the Space Revolution has yet to properly take off, the latest flight suggests it is still (just) moving. Ideas in Progress looks back to the decision in the 1980s not to provide a space shuttle repair kit, and asks what has changed today. After those meaty main courses, it must be time for some entertainment: no dancing girls or boys, sorry, but a musical revolution, courtesy of Regions of the Mind, who finds that Trinidadian carnaval musical was shaped by British colonial prohibitions. And it might be a good time to inspect the crockery: perhaps some Japanese Satsuma Ware for the cultural mix, courtesy of Purple Tigress on Blogcritics*. Then a commentary on comedy from an old-time "blogger", Isaac D'Israeli (1766-1848). Mr H., who personally blogs at the delightful, highly illustrated Gionale Nuovo, is posting his Curiosities of Literature as a blog. The entry to which I'm pointing has D'Israeli sounding curiously modern in criticising "humour, arising from a personal defect, [which] is but a miserable substitute for that of a more genuine kind". For another old-time "blogger" check out the post on Public Brewery about Mark Twain. WordHoard has also been considering a list of potential bloggers of history, noting the similarity of the practice to the tradition of the miscellany. I was pleased to see she's also a fan of Sei Shonagon - if you haven't read her, do! Now I used to work with an editor who didn't think a newspaper was complete without a recipe of some kind. (Fish conservation stories were always accompanied by one, which did seem a little odd.) I haven't exactly found a recipe to go with the wine for this carnival, but then if the offering consists of roast sheep's eyes, eaten from the sockets with a spoon, and bull's testicles, grilled and peeled, you might not want one. That's the non-recommendation of the neo-Darwinian biologist George Gaylord Simpson in 1934, recorded on Copernicus Sashimi. But you don't want to go hungry either. Eastman's Online Geneology Newsletter has found that behind a phrase that has survived at least five generations in the United States - "1800 and froze to death" - there is a well-documented story of hunger and migration. The year in fact was 1816; I was surprised to see just how good the weather records are for the period. And I haven't got a ghost tale to finish off the variety show, but perhaps a nice spooky Eighties spy story, ala Len Deighton, would do the trick: Dirk used to listen into top-secret shortwave messages to spies in Europe, and he explains the whys and wherefores. Or perhaps you'd prefer a modern novelist's research into ancient Roman poisons? Do taste these berries ... The beggars at the door If you particularly like history from the point of view of the underdog, in London the whole area of Southwark has to get a mention. The author of The Aimless Ramblings of Zefrog - transplanted from ParisXXX(whoops, correction, from Dijon) - is exploring the history (and geography) of his adopted home. On Sleepwalker's Glory, meanwhile, there's a discussion of the politically fraught history of naming, still a big issue in parts of the world today. War Historian, meanwhile, has collected documents about the difficulties of black soldiers in the American Civil War, and Greenespace has been revisiting the site of the Carrollton massacre. Disability Studies has found examples of 19th-century teachers with disabilities. Is there yet a specialist field of "disability history"? If not, it seems to me there should be. And if you are a bored 20th-century housewife who just can't be bothered to get up in the morning to cook your man a three-course breakfast with all of the trimmings, check out Barista's post on old pharmaceutical adverts: you'll find a pill that will make you a Stepford Wife in no time at all. The chief historical anniversary in the past fortnight, which unsurprisingly generated a flood of blog posts, was that of the Hiroshima bombing. I've given it a special section, and restricted the number of posts linked, because otherwise it would have overwhelmed the carnival. Through the cellardoor of existence collects two contemporary responses - one official, one a record of an eyewitness, while Paul on Soapgun tackles the big question - why was the bomb really used? He concludes: "In the end, those two cities were not victims of American/Soviet realpolitik, but of their own ultra-nationalist, unrelenting, fascist leadership." Siris, meanwhile, reports on how early this debate started, with a post on Elizabeth Anscombe's 1956 protest against the proposal that Harry Truman be given an honorary Oxford degree, while Respectful Insolence notes that early opponents to the decision to bomb tended to be conservatives, an indication of how far political axes have moved. Now that marks the end of the party proper, but for those of you still hanging around for those curious green liqueuers drunk only at this stage of the evening, check out Six Apart's pictorial account of what would have happened If Bloggers Had been Around Throughout History. And if you need a book to cover hung-over eyes on the beach tomorrow, you might want to read The Little Professor's take on The Historian before deciding it's the one. Instead, you might like to decide, having analysed the bodice-ripping genre, as has Creating Textiles, to write one of your own. Then, for the real long-stayers, I'll use the host's right to the final word to point you to a little puzzle that I've been exploring: what is the oldest surviving handwriting by a woman? The next Carnival will be hosted by Jeremy Boggs at Clioweb on 1 September, email jboggs AT gmu DOT edu. If you've inexplicable missed the others, you can find a list of them here. No 13 is here and you can find other carnivals here. Thanks to all who sent me links. Any errors are of course mine - please tell me. I'll be happy to make any necessary corrections.) * Declaration of interest: I'm an (unpaid) editor and contributor on Blogcritics. The main image is a scene from a "south-Italian (probably Apulian) figured vase, as drawn in W. Tischbein, Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases", 1793-1803, taken from The Englightenment: Discovering the World in the Eighteenth Century, K. Sloan (ed), The British Museum Press, 2003. The dividers come from Claudius. History, a Technorati tag

News from Diane I have a few writing plans for the upcoming year. There will be one more book in Jared and Alex’s story, but that’s much later this year. My current work in progress is a little darker than most of my writing, with a supernatural edge featuring what I hope is a different twist on the usual vampire story. After that I’m going to write on the next Southern Comfort book, I’m looking forward to visiting with Gage and Trent in book two. you all so much for stopping to say hello. If you have time to leave a comment there could be a $10 amazon gift card in it for you (to be chosen by random drawing of course). Happy Valentine’s Day and much love to you all. Facebook: Diane Adams It may not be the most romantic thing I’ve ever written, but Jared and Alex exchanging their wedding vows in If the Stars Fall, The Making of a Man Book 5 is the closest to my heart. I hope you enjoy this excerpt from the book. Alex turned his gaze back to Jared, taking a slight step closer. Jared's breath caught at the intensity in his eyes. "There's something we've talked about a few times. What influences in a person's life turns them in one direction or another. It's an age-old question, and I can only guess the answer to be different for everyone. Perhaps most people have no idea what or who shaped their lives. But I know." Alex chewed his bottom lip and his eyes dropped away from Jared's. Reaching out, Jared captured his hands, and after a second Alex lifted his gaze from the floor. Jared smiled encouragement. Alex smiled tremulously in return, his fingers tightened on Jared's. "Jared Douglas, you were the making of this man and I promise to love you for all time. I will be yours if the world stops spinning and the stars fall." Jared's heart lurched, his hands clutched Alex's, and the lights went out. Their guests gasped with shock in the sudden darkness, and a couple of children sobbed. Jared couldn't see a thing and then a different group of lights lit in branches overhead. They dripped from the branches like stars falling from the sky. It took every ounce of Jared's control to keep from catching Alex up in his arms and kissing him breathless. Exchanging a grin of delight with Alex as their guests clapped and exclaimed with enchantment, he feared everyone would find his promises dry and boring. He reminded himself Alex would get it and nothing else mattered. Another light came on, illuminating the platform enough to see without distracting from the beauty of Alex's illusion of falling stars. Silence fell over the crowd as Jared dug in his pockets. He pulled out a scrap of paper and pressed it into Alex's hand. He glanced up at Jared, his expression puzzled before returning his attention to the note. Alex unfolded the paper and stared at it so long Jared started to worry about the dim lighting. It would be bad if he couldn't see to read. Without looking up Alex read aloud in his clear voice. "I give myself." Jared had the next scrap ready. He placed it into his hands and saw his fingers tremble when he opened it. Alex didn't say anything for a long moment; the guests began to shift restlessly before he finally read the message, his voice less steady. "I promise forever." His bottom lip caught between his teeth, Alex looked up and seemed not to notice when Jared put another slip of paper into his hands. Then his fingers fisted closed on it. Jared gave him a small nod. Alex made an attempt to smile before dropping his gaze to the open note. He frowned, and bewildered, looked back up, the blank scrap of paper clutched in his hand. Jared cupped Alex's jaw in his palm, fingers stroking his cheek over the scar. "I love you." The words were barely out of his mouth before Alex threw himself at him in a way he hadn't since he'd been a teen. He wrapped his legs around Jared's waist, hands buried in his hair. Jared staggered under the unexpected assault but didn't fall. One hand moved to support Alex's bottom and the other cupped the back of his head as their lips met and their guests cheered. Love Lane Books | Amazon.com

Posted on May 24, 2014 On this date in 1578, some workers just outside of Rome, Italy, were digging up some pozzolano earth to be used to make cement. And they discovered something very cool. Or maybe very creepy! The workers discovered a stairway going downward, underground, and opening out to a series of narrow rooms or galleries that had been carved out of rock. And the creepy part is that these were burial galleries! When the Catacombs were discovered by accident, there was some excitement, but nobody put the effort in to study them. But in 1593 a young man named Antonio Bosio decided that they were interesting – and important! - and he began to explore them. He explored the Catacombs for more than 27 years! Basically, he explored them for the rest of his life. Bosio found 30 more entrances – 30 more sets of stairs going underground. And he discovered that the chambers that were first found were connected to more and more – and more and more – narrow tunnels and galleries. |Some of the walls in some| catacombs were decorated I read that, if you laid out all the branching galleries end to end, they would stretch the length of the country of Italy! (And yet all these lie just outside the city of Rome.) I also read that the estimate of the number of bodies buried in the Catacombs is about two million...Crazy, huh?! The people buried in the Catacombs were Jews and (mostly) early Christians who lived in Rome. Apparently ancient Romans cremated their dead and kept the ashes in family tombs, but the Jews who lived in Rome followed the Jewish tradition of burial. Because the graves in Palestine were mostly tombs cut into rock, covered with slabs of stone, the Jews of Rome carved out similar rock tombs underground. And since early Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism, so did the early Christians. Bosio ended up writing a book called Roma Sotterranea (Underground Rome), in which he carefully described many of the catacombs he had explored. Modern scholars are grateful that he did this, because some of the catacombs he had explored have since been destroyed. Under Rome and the land surrounding Rome is a thick layer of tuff (sometimes called tufa). This volcanic rock is made from layers of ash spewed from volcanoes and washed down into low-lying areas. The ash is pressed together by additional layers of ash and soil, and it hardens into rock. Although the tuff found in some places of the world is pretty brittle—even fragile—the tuff that is the bedrock of Rome is pretty strong. Many ancient and even modern Roman buildings have been built of blocks of tuff. Still, I imagine that tuff is a little easier to carve into than some sorts of rock. It was probably ideal for creating rock graves—and that's why the catacombs were used for so long, by so many. When Christianity became the official religion of Rome, in 380, various buildings and temples were torn down or changed to become churches, and burials began to be in more familiar churchyards and cemeteries. Eventually the catacombs were forgotten, their stairway-entrances buried—perhaps for a thousand years—until that accidental discovery on May 31, 1578. Also on this date: National Reconciliation Week in Australia (May 27 – June 3) Check out my Pinterest boards for: And here are my Pinterest boards for:

Open World Multiplayer Survival Experience Blasts Off On Steam! Atari®, one of the world’s most recognized publishers and producers of interactive entertainment, today announced Early Access availability for Asteroids: Outpost™. The sandbox, open world, multiplayer shooter is a dramatic reboot of the 1979 arcade classic. Set in the distant future, Asteroids: Outpost updates the asteroid-blasting action of the original by putting players in the role of deep-space miners, harvesting rare ore and expanding their bases, while protecting themselves from deadly asteroid showers and claim jumpers. To commemorate the1979 arcade release of Asteroids, Asteroids: Outpost will be discounted 34 percent to just $19.79 for a limited time!To find out more, visit the Asteroids: Outpost Steam page at: http://bit.ly/AsteroidsOutpostSteam. In Asteroids: Outpost, mankind has expanded its reach into the distant corners of the solar system. Near-space vessels, heavy industry on the moon and thriving colonies on Mars extend humanity’s empire into the great blackness of space. Our solar system’s massive Asteroid Belt is a mother lode of resources, just waiting to be torn free and shipped home. “The Belt” is humanity’s newest frontier, as wild and untamed as any that man has faced. Ambitious prospectors blast off with little more than an Outpost Module and a Mining Tool to break open fallen asteroids to find their fortunes. This bonanza doesn’t come without risks and mere survival is a daily struggle. Asteroid storms bombard the surface, destroying Outposts, and hostile claim jumpers can appear at any moment. For the brave, there is a fortune to be made. For the foolish – there is only death. Welcome to the new Gold Rush. “Asteroids: Outpost is bringing a completely new premise to the world-renowned Asteroids arcade shooter by combining survival and crafting gameplay mechanics in a multiplayer intergalactic setting,” said Fred Chesnais, Chief Executive Officer, Atari. “During the Early Access period, Asteroids: Outpost will build on the current gameplay while adding compelling new elements and expanding on the open world.” Key gameplay features available at the Early Access launch include: - Tool & Weapon Crafting – Using tech and ore, gamers craft upgrades to their tools to create advanced weapons. - Base-Building & Degradation – Serving as both a player’s mining headquarters and home, bases are easily built in a square grid pattern by crafting and connecting modular pieces. - Asteroid Showers – Recurring showers of smaller asteroids represent both a source of wealth and a deadly threat, as players must shoot down incoming projectiles to defend their claims and harvest components from the fallen rock. - Resource Gathering – Mine the asteroid’s surface or scavenge bases and crash sites to gather resources required to craft and upgrade materials. - Terrain Exploration – Utilize in-game suits and vehicles to explore the lunar terrain and search complex landscapes featuring craters, boulders, cliffs and valleys, crystal formations, lava flows, gas plumes, and more. - Attacking & Looting –Bases include resource refining equipment and storage areas that are susceptible to looting, meaning players not only need to protect the precious resources they’ve collected but they also have the opportunity to seek out and loot nearby bases. “This is part of our new strategy. We are going to be teaming up with young and innovative studios to take a refreshing look at each game from our extensive portfolio,” said Todd Shallbetter, Chief Operating Officer, Atari. “Releasing Asteroids: Outpost through the Early Access program will also help us get feedback from the community. Asteroids is the first of a long series of re-births, and we are considering doing the same for our other iconic games such as Warlords, Adventure, Tempest, Missile Command and many more.” “We’ve created this massive world with base-building, crafting, and blasting asteroids out of the sky and we believe this game has great potential,” said Peter Banks, Executive Producer, Atari. “We also understand we need players to make this world thrive and turn this game into a super fun experience. We want players to know the game will evolve over time and this is why we are releasing the game in Early Access.” Asteroids: Outpost is developed by indie developer, Salty Games. Players that participate in Early Access are encouraged to assist in the future development of Asteroids: Outpost, and can provide feedback at http://steamcommunity.com/app/330210/discussions/. For the latest news and releases on Asteroids: Outpost, sign up for email updates at www.asteroidsoutpost.com. Fans can also join the conversation by liking Asteroids: Outpost on Facebook at facebook.com/asteroidsgame, and following Asteroids: Outpost on Twitter at @Atari_Asteroids.

Nailing It with Your Eyebrows I loved your article on eyebrows. Most girls have no idea how important improving your eyebrows can be. By having my eyebrows waxed once a month, I find I can navigate either world quite easily. By having trimmed eyebrows, you add just enough ambiguity so that others just aren't quite sure if you are a man or woman. It then takes very little extra to help them decide. I live in the north where we get cold winters and we need to bundle up for shopping. Let me share a couple examples of what happens when I go out with a close shave, trimmed eyebrows, gender neutral winter clothes and a stocking cap. Last week I went into a shoe store and was asked if they could help me find something. I just said I was looking to see what they had for sale. The saleswoman then asked, for men or women. Without any gender-specific clothing visible, I doubt that without nicely-trimmed eyebrows they would have asked that. They would have just sent me to the area where men's shoes were on sale. I asked for women's shoes and was directed to that area. Awhile back my wife and I were leaving the grocery store with me dressed the same way. As we left, the cashier said, "Have a nice evening, ladies." Wearing less "gender neutral" clothing, I make it easy for others to put me in the "camp" I desire. When I dress fully feminine, the eyebrows don't give me away. So how do you go about achieving these results? I started with the person that cuts my hair. She does both men and women's hair as well as eyebrow waxing. She always trims eyebrows of both her men and women clients. All it took was a couple of times saying, "I wish my eyebrows weren't quite so thick because it gets my glasses greasy," for her to say, "Well, we could always wax them." I said, "Sure, I'll give it a try." I now have it done every month when I have my hair cut. After that, it was just fine-tuning the waxing with comments like "Maybe just a little thinner so they don't rub on my glasses," "How about a little arch at the end so they aren't so close to my glasses," "Maybe a little shorter because they grow so fast." And before you know it, I had eyebrows that work in either world. If I go to a stylist in an area away from home, I just tell them I want them waxed very femininely. No one waxing my eyebrows has ever complained and not taken my money. Also, no one I know socially has ever asked me about my eyebrows. If someone ever did and I was the least bit concerned about their comments, I could always say, "I have them trimmed so they don't rub on my glasses" or "the woman that cuts my hair trims my eyebrows and got a little carried away." But being retired and not caring so much about what others think, I'd probably say, "Yes, I really like them, what do you think?" With my eyebrows waxed and this knowledge, I feel comfortable going into any store shopping for clothes, regardless of the gender. If I want to go one step further, I just put on a stocking cap that is a little more feminine, then there's no question in most saleswomen's minds. The results I shared so far are just wearing mainly gender-neutral clothes. Let me end by telling you about the last time I went out with a nice little black dress, full makeup, wig, etc. I stopped in a shop where the saleslady has helped me in both boy and girl mode (and know it's one person). Her comment was "Wow, you really nailed it! "

BY THE REW. CHRISTOPHER NESSE, OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.— Ephesians vi. 24. THESE words may well be treated on without much preface, there being nothing in them which speaks any dependence upon or connexion with anything that went before. Some form of benediction we find used by this great apostle, at the conclusion of every epistle; (Rom. xvi. 24; 1 Cor. xvi. 23, 24; 2 Cor. xiii. 14; Gal. vi. 18;) and accordingly, having driven his excellent design, in this to the church of Ephesus, to a full period or issue, he first makes an affectionate address to God, and to the Mediator, in their behalf: “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;” (verse 23;) and then leaves his apostolical benediction upon them: “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity:” (verse 24:) or, “The blessing of the eternal God be upon all the sincere-hearted Christians among you;” for so I look upon the latter words of the verse as a periphrasis of all real Christians; love to Christ being as essential to the Christian, as the rational soul is to the man. The only difficulty in the words, that will require our stay, is to inquire what is meant by εν αφθαρσια, “in sincerity;” some refer it to the χαρις, “grace,” mentioned at the beginning of the verse; as if it had been read, εις αφθαρσια, “unto incorruption,” or “to bring them to eternal life,” or “until they come to a state of immortality: ” so, many the ancients, and of the modern interpreters, Beza, Tremellius, and of others. Others read it in conjunction with the “love of the Lord Jesus Christ;” making it a qualification or a discriminating note of that love, which is sound, real, and sincere, from that which is but pretended, counterfeit, and easy to be corrupted by every difficulty and temptation. And, accordingly, they translate, some in incorruptione; others, absque; a third sort, amore non vitiato nec culpato; all to the same sense with our English translation, “in sincerity.” There are others who consider this phrase apart by itself; some explaining it by purity of heart and conversation, others as denoting thereby the “duration of love,” tam prosperis quam adversis, or “both in good and bad times.” Piscator makes it a distinct branch of the apostle's prayer; as if he had said, “Grace be with all them,” &c., “and life eternal;” taking no notice of the preposition that is added, and varies the construction. It is the conjecture of a learned divine, that the apostle, in adding this clause, hath some reflection on the Gnostics, who had mingled themselves with the Christians of Ephesus, and were, what ever they pretended, neither pure in their love to Christ, having mixed his doctrine with abominable corruptions, nor yet sincere and lasting therein, being ready, upon every blast of persecution that did arise, to deny him, and apostatize from him. I shall for the present, with Musculus, leave the matter indifferent, not only which of the two first, but of all the other fore-mentioned, opinions is fixed upon, finding no cause, so far as concerns my present purpose, to be peremptory in either; the apostle doubtless meaning none else by “lovers of Christ,” but such whose hearts were sincerely and entirely affected to him, whether he intended to characterize them any further by εν αφθαρσια, or no, which, I presume, might easily be manifested from other parallel places, where this grace is mentioned and understood properly, having no additional qualification made thereto; (1 Cor. xvi. 22; John xiv. 15, 23; xxi. 15 —17; 1 Peter i. 8;) and from the design of the words themselves; for certainly he would not so solemnly have entitled the rotten-hearted hypocrites, that did only pretend love to Christ, unto the benediction of the great and blessed God. And if that stand good, we have enough for our purpose; and more need not be contended for. Let this suffice, then, for their meaning. The subject-matter of them, whether you look to the first clause or the last, is very noble, and might well deserve a large consideration; but I am confined to this single use of them, which is, to make them the foundation of these two cases of conscience: What are the genuine characters of a soul’s sincere love to Christ? And how may that love to him be kindled and inflamed? And there are but two or three things that I desire to suggest, and then we shall immediately begin to treat upon them in their order. 1. Let it be considered, that there is a vast difference between these cases, and such others as do refer only to lower duties. When we inquire after the sincerity of our love to Christ, it is all one as if we were upon the search whether we are Christians, yea or not; and whether, consequently, our portion doth lie in the divine promises or threatenings; and what is our immediate duty, that, all other set aside, we must attend unto. And, again, when we seek for directions to help us unto the love of Christ, our inquiry is not, how we may order this or that inferior action, but how we may attain to saving religion and Christianity; how we may escape the great damning sin of the world, and entitle ourselves to the love of God and Christ, and to all the rare privileges which belong to the communion of saints; in a word, to the grace of God here, and to eternal life hereafter. (See 1 Cor. ii. 9; James i. 12; ii. 5; John xiv. 21, 23.) 2. Let it be considered, that it is not the distinct resolution of these cases that will be of final advantage to any person, unless there be added to the former an impartial soul-searching examination of themselves; and to the latter, as the case shall require, a conscientious practice; the resolutions given to cases of conscience about the right performance of duties being nothing else but the bare providing the food or physic; and again the discoveries of men's states thereby, being but the presenting looking-glasses to them; neither of which are effectual, or do any good but to such as faithfully use them. 3. Let me humbly mind you, that the more uncertainty you are at, touching your estates, when you have examined them by the CHARACTERS, the more diligence you are concerned to use in the practice of the DIRECTIONS. And let me add this, that where you cannot undeniably and demonstratively conclude the sincerity of your love, which I think few in comparison on this side of heaven can, there you must never lay by the advice about the last case; no, not although your probabilities should be great: it being at the worst but an easy and sweet trouble to be still doing this great work over again, whereas it is irrecoverably dangerous and desperate, upon presumption that we have done it already, to leave it wholly neglected: and I beseech you, remember this useful rule, that in all trials, which Christians make about grace, it is safer to want credulity than to be over-hasty therein. The cases are two, and very fit to follow each other in the order that is given to them. I begin with the first. CASE I. What are the genuine characters of a soul's sincere love to Christ? And in order to the resolution thereof, I must premise these several PROP. I. That there is a great deal of difference between love, as it is seated in the will or rational appetite, and the same act or principle of love as seated in the sensitive.—In the former, it is a settled, rational, uniform, and deliberate motion, co-incident with the very natural act of the will itself; to love, as the great schoolman notes, being nothing else but intensive velle, “to will intensely,” either person or thing. The motion of the will towards the object, as good and desirable, and the earnest embracing thereof—this is rational love. And according to the various aspect which it hath thereto, either as present or absent, perfect or imperfect, it is called love of desire, or fruition, dependence, or compla cency: and if the object be such as can or doth reciprocate affection, then it is friendship, or amor amicitize [“the love inherent in friend ship.”] But now take love, as it is an affection properly so called, and seated in the lower faculties of the soul; and so there is a great variety and inequality in its motions, much easier to be felt than expressed. Sometimes the soul is in a kind of ecstasy, rapt above itself; and then by and by it is flat and dull again. I note this first, for this reason, —that you may understand what kind of love it is that our inquiry doth proceed upon, namely, rational love; it being, as a judicious divine hath often observed, “not so safe for Christians to try their states by the passionate motions of grace in the lower parts of the soul, or the affec tions, as by the more equal and uniform actings thereof in the will itself,” the το ηγεμονικον, “commandress” of the soul. PROP. II. The acts of the will, in specie morali, derive their goodness or viciousness partly from the nature of the object upon which they are fired.—I do not assert this to be the only ground, whence they are concluded good or evil; for the principle, and the end, and sometimes the degree, of the act are all necessary thereto; but only that this is one thing necessary. Thus the willing of God, or any of those things which are in a direct order to his glory, is that [which] we call “the grace of love;” as, on the other side, when the will moveth towards any thing which standeth in opposition thereto, this is that [which] we call “sinful concupiscence.” PROP. III. It is not barely the object, in itself considered, but as clothed with its proper excellences that agree to it and all its necessary relations, which the will in its motions must have respect unto, before any of those motions can truly be said to be gracious.—For the nature of grace lies not in the act or motion of the will, simply and nakedly considered, but as it is suited and proportioned to the excellences of the object, and those relations which do inseparably belong thereto. For instance: to delight in God; it is not every act of delight which the soul may have upon the apprehension of him, such as a bare philosophical conception of God may sometimes raise the heart unto; but when the believing soul, having taken a view of the excellences of God, and its own sweet relation to him as a gracious Father, is carried forth in a holy rapture and exultancy of spirit. This is the grace of delight. PROP. IV. Though the love of God, and the love of Christ, are never found one without the other, yet is there a distinction necessary to be put between them; and that even as great, in proportion, as is between God and the Mediator, or between the last end and the principal means conducing thereto.—The love of the soul to God is amor finis ultimi, [“the love of the ultimate end,”] or of such a being as it will be an etermal happiness to be united unto. The love of the soul to Christ as Mediator, is amor medii principalis, [“the love of the principal means,”] or of one by whom we may have access to God, and find our happiness in him. The formal reason of the former is the divine all-sufficiency and blessedness; but [that] of the latter, the personal excellences that are in Christ, together with his ability and willingness to free us from our undoing straits and exigencies, as we are in a state of apostasy and elongation from God. And, if I mistake mot, the not observing this necessary distinction between the acts of the soul, as respecting God, and the same acts, in specie, or “in kind,” as respecting the Mediator, hath occasioned much confusion in those answers which are given to this, and many such like inquiries; such arguments as are only proper to the one, being made use of to discover the sincerity of our hearts in the other. PROP. V. Love, as it is an act or habit of the will, and hath Christ for its object, is not properly the evangelical grace of love to Christ, unless it have respect to him, according to the various excellences of his person, and the several distinct relations which are by God invested in him. Or thus: The Gospel grace of love is not the intensive willing a naked Christ, but Christ as represented with his peculiar personal excellences, and with his various offices and relations unto us in the Gospel.— This proposition undeniably follows from the third before laid down. But yet, because it gives some special light to help us to discover the true nature of this grace, and is intended as the foundation of some of those characters that will afterwards come to be insisted on, I must crave your patience, while I offer something farther for the confirmation there of. That certainly is no true moral act which is not suited to the nature of the object: thus, for a man to love his friend no otherwise than he loves his beast, would not be a true moral act of love. And again: as plain a truth it is, that where the act of love doth not bear some gradual proportion to the various excellences of the object that it is conversant about, neither can that act have any moral truth or goodness in it. For instance: to love God or Christ with no higher love than we love inferior persons, whether friends, relations, or superiors in the world, —this were not sincerely to love either of them. (See 1 John ii. 15; Matt. x. 37; Luke xiv. 26.) I add, in the last place, (which is no less evident than either of the former,) that where there are relations or offices necessarily invested in and inseparable from the person beloved, then, if our love doth not respect the object as under those relations and offices, it will be far from being love in sincerity. Some instances will clear this also beyond contradiction: Suppose a woman that hath a husband, and she loves him no otherwise than one friend loves another; and the case is the same between a scholar and his master, a servant and his lord, a subject and his prince; if the affections be without reverence, obedience, and loyalty, will either of these be reputed true love? Why, no more are such to be accounted the sincere lovers of Christ who do not bear an affection to him, in all his offices and relations. And this I take to be so demonstrative a truth, and of such necessary consideration in our present inquiry, that nothing could be spoken in judgment thereto, until we had first made our way unto it, and laid it down: I am sure it will be found fundamental to the right understanding the nature of sincere love to Christ, and the greatest part of the characters which are laid down in the scripture of this grace. It might now be here expected, and it is almost necessary, to give some account of Christ's personal excellences, and also of his offices, what they were; and briefly to intimate what new qualifications each of them would put upon a Christian's intensive willing of Christ, which is but the substratum or matter of this grace. But I am not now to discourse the nature of this grace at large; and so much thereof as is necessary will come in, when we lay down some of the characters of it: and I have but two things more, and then we come to them. PROP. VI. The love of the soul to Christ in sincerity is not any one indivisible act or habit, but a holy frame of spirit, made up of many gracious inclinations, carrying the whole soul along with it unto Christ, jor union and communion with him.—I told you in the beginning, that it is used here by the apostle as the periphrasis of a Christian, a brother, a real saint; and therefore it is not a sudden and transient flash of the soul, or any one act, but comprehensive of much of that wherein the nature of Christianity doth essentially lie. This follows necessarily from the last proposition; and, indeed, to make faith or love to Christ such single physical acts as many do, as it renders the doctrine of Chris tianity perplexed, so doth it exceedingly tend to the amusing of the consciences of weak Christians, and, I am afraid, engender also to licentiousness; it being too usual with such persons, who presumptuously conceive themselves to be Christians, because they discern, as they think, those supposed particular acts, to take up with them, and to grow remiss and careless in other duties, as essential to Christianity and necessary to salvation as those graces themselves. To conclude this proposition: you may note, that as love to God is the soul of natural piety, and is incorporated into every branch of it, so is love to Christ the very spirit that diffuseth itself through and animates all those duties which are required by the new covenant, and respect Jesus Christ as Mediator. PROP. VII. When we inquire after this love, by its genuine characters, you are not to understand thereby only such special properties as argue the essence of this grace a posteriori; but you are to know that we under stand it in such a latitude, as leaving room for all those arguments by which the conscience of a Christian may be resolved, whether this grace was ever truly wrought in his soul or not. And, these things premised, the characters which evidently discover whether we love Christ in sincerity are these that follow. CHAR. I. We may know it by our former convictions.—And the rule is this: Where love to Christ is sincere, there hath been a conviction of the soul's undone condition without him, and of the sufficiency and willing ness of Christ to recover the soul out of that condition. (Isai. lv. 1; lxi. 1–3; Matt. xi. 28.) And wherever this conviction hath been fully wrought, and the wound made thereby regularly healed, there dwells sincere love to him. I put this first, as containing the original birth of evangelical love. I dare affirm, “No conviction, no love; no contrition of heart for sin, no affection in the soul for Christ.” “Every degree of true spiritual love,” saith a divine, that had well studied this point, “proceeds from a proportionable act of saving faith.” (1 Peter i. 8.) And to the same purpose, saith Dr. Preston, and he presseth it ear nestly,–two things must concur to beget love. 1. The sight of Christ's willingness and readiness to relieve. 2. His ability and sufficiency to help. These two, willingness and ability, are the crown upon the head of Christ, when undone souls do first take delight in him ; they are the sweet ointments of our Lord which, by their savour, do attract virgin , souls to betroth themselves unto him. (Canticles iii. 11; i. 3.) What ever men may vainly talk, it is brokenness of heart, and a sense of approaching ruin, that gives the soul the first occasion of acquainting itself in good earnest with Christ; (Acts ii. 36, 37; ix. 5, 6; Matt. ix. 12;) and when faith hath thereupon found the suitableness of Christ to itself, in its present state of misery, then the fire of love begins to burn. So that it is not a blind, casual passion, but a matter of right reason, mature judgment, and choice. It is not a frame of spirit that persons were delivered into they know not how; but such, whereof they that have it can give undeniable reasons; so that, if the question were put to any love-sick soul, as to the spouse in the Canticles, “What is thy beloved more than another beloved? she could give an account, if not so glossy and rhetorical, yet as logical and rational as that which is there given. (Canticles v. 9, 10; i. 3, 12; ii. 3.) She hath seen that in Christ, —so much excellency in his person, and so much readiness and sufficiency, as resulting from his several offices,—which hath even ravished her, and made “him comely to her for delights,” yea, “the very chiefest of ten thousands : ” (Canticles v. 10:) and therefore she both can and doth clasp fast about him, and takes him for her Physician, Husband, King, Priest, and Prophet. “Since he is willing and fit to be my Saviour, O,” saith the soul, “I will be his disciple, servant, subject, or any thing.” Thus she can hold no longer, but falls down-right sick of love. (Canticles ii. 5; v. 4.) And this is the first character. Take it now, and ask thy soul, “Didst thou ever yet find thyself lost and undone? not able to bear up against the terrors of an accusing and condemning conscience; even dying away for fear lest God should spend all his arrows upon thee, and leave thee a horror to thyself, and an amazement to all about thee? (Deut. xxxii. 23; Job vi. 4; Psalm xxxviii. 2.) And was it in this dark valley that thou camest first seriously acquainted with Christ? and didst thou see his bowels yearning to thee, (Jer. xxxi. 20,) and that he was fully able to set thee in the light of the countenance of that God whose terror was upon thee? (Acts ir. 5.) And under this conviction was it that thou didst first close with him?” Why, this is love, not in pretense and compliment, but in sincerity: whereas, on the other side, if thy pretended affection wants this foundation; if it hath been always alike, neither more nor less; if that senseless conceit runs through thy soul, that thou hast loved Christ ever since thou wast born, and never didst feel the least stirrings of enmity against him; if education, custom, outward communion,” be all that thou hast to say to prove thy love; in faithfulness to thy soul, I warn thee to take heed of self-deceit, for surely “the root of the matter is not in thee;” (Job xix. 28;) and if thou wilt still presume, notwithstanding this confident denial, I have but one word more, and that is, to commend to thy serious perusal that judicious tract of Mr. Pinke, on this very case and text; where these counterfeit grounds of love are fully convicted of insufficiency, and there fore I would not do it here again. CHAR. II. Where love to Christ dwells in sincerity, there hath been some sensible impression, taste, and feeling of the Father's love to the soul in him.—I do not mean, the Father's love, as it lies in the womb of election, (Rom. viii. 30; ix. 13,) but as it hath broken forth in a powerful, actual vocation. The pedigree of a Christian's love to his Saviour is to be fetched from the Father's love to souls in Christ. (John xiv. 6.) “We love him, because he first loved us.” (1 John iv. 19.) Christ himself, as Mediator, is but a means whereby souls may come to God, their final end and blessedness; (John xiv. 9; xv. 23;) and therefore, as the soul that loves him loves the blessed God much more, so, before we can fix upon him with full satisfaction, some beams thereof must light upon us; it being too great a difficulty for the soul to prevail with itself to trust all its concernments in the hands of a crucified Christ, and to be fond I of him, until it hath gained some sweet assurance of the Father's love to itself in him. And hence it is that our Saviour tells us: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” (John vi. 44.) By “coming to Christ,” I take it for granted, may be understood either faith or love; and these cannot be without the Father's drawing. What is that Morally, it lies in the clear discoveries of his willingness to be reconciled to us in Christ; when, in conformity to his being “in Christ, reconciling the world to himself,” (2 Cor. v. 19,) he is pleased to vouchsafe us his own beseechings of us to be reconciled, then he draws us. The promise, therefore, of reconciliation must first be made known; and by the sweet influence thereof the soul is allured with cheerfulness to throw itself into the arms of its Saviour: and this is love. Try by this also: Didst thou ever find those cords of a man, those bonds of divine and ravishing love, thrown upon thee! Didst thou ever see God to be thy happiness, and offering himself to thee as such, and so alluring thee? Then thou art married to Christ; for this speaks thee united to God in love; and the end must include the means, and the greater the lesser. CHAR. III. We then love Christ in sincerity, when that affection in us is qualified according to the various excellences that belong to the person of our Lord.—When it respects him according to the manifesta tion made of him in the gospel; namely, not simply as a person, who is historically made known to us by such a name; but according to the true character of him, as God and man in one person, Θεανθρωπος as one filled with the Spirit of God, above measure, (John iii. 34,) by an ineffable unction; as one admirably condescending, and laying aside his Divine splendour and majesty, that he might appear “in the form of a servant, and be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” for the salvation of sinners; (Phil. ii. 6—8;) and, lastly, as one raised from the dead by God, (Acts v. 30,) made able, and declaring his high satisfaction in the access of sinners unto God by him: and so there are these four graces, which are always attendant upon and are, as it were, incorporated into the nature of this evangelical affection: 1. Humble and reverent admiration.—It is an admiring love. Objects that are incomparably excellent do always first affect with admiration; and though that affection dissolve into love, yet doth it not usually wholly cease, especially if the object be not thoroughly comprehended. It is thus with thy soul, Christian, that art a sincere lover of thy Redeemer, and hast not set up some image of an ordinary person, in the place of him: thou admirest him, whom thou lovest, as never being able to comprehend his glory: (Canticles v. 16; Eph. iii. 17:) the Lord whom thou lovest being God as well as man, and man as well as God, and all this in one person: (John i. 1, 14; 1 Tim. iii. 16:) an object in whom heaven and earth are so admirably blended together, that the acutest reason loseth itself, and stands amazed at the union : whence we find one of the ancients thus speaking of it: “I know that the Word was made flesh; but how or in what manner this was done, I know not. Dost thou wonder that I profess my ignorance? Why, the whole creation is ignorant of it as well as I.” And another of them gives this advice: “If reason go about to cavil, ωροφερε (ετοιμην λυσιν) την ωιστιν, do not dispute, but apply thyself to the common refuge against cavils in matters of faith, even faith itself: God hath said it, and therefore I must and will believe it.” These things considered, I dare boldly tell thee, that thou canst not love in sincerity, but together therewith thou wilt be under a holy rapture of admiration; and, together with thy love, thy admiration will be always increasing. 2. Sweet and refreshing delight.—It is a delighting, rejoicing love. (Canticles ii. 3.) “Love,” saith Aquinas, est complacentia amantis in amato, “is the rest and satisfaction of the soul in the object loved.” The nature of love lies much in delight. Thou canst not, Christian, love thy Lord, but thou wilt find thy heart even ravished with delight in him; as being one in whom “the fulness of the Godhead dwells,” σωματικως, or “personally,” (Col. ii. 9,) non per efficaciam solilm aut assistentiam, sed per unionem hypostaticam; or not virtually, or only in a way of external help and assistance; and being also one that had such an unction of the Spirit upon him, that hath fully fitted him for the delight of thy soul. (Canticles iv. 15.) And hence it is, that we find the spouse in the book of Canticles so often letting forth her heart in holy delight to her Beloved, as is manifested by her many loving compellations, and several other expressions, (“He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts,” Canticles i. 13,) too large and many to be mentioned here; and therefore I refer you to the book itself. 3. Ingenuous gratitude and thankfulness.—It is a grateful and thankful love, as that which is begotten in the soul by the sense of Christ's unspeakable goodness and condescension, and which is also ever after fed and maintained thereby. Now the condescension of Christ lies in three things: (1.) In his voluntary undertaking the work of reconciliation and mediation with God for persons so unworthy. (Rom. v. 8.) “He took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” (Heb. ii. 16.) It was the cause of sinners which this great Lord undertook to plead. (2.) In his unwearied diligence, and invincible patience, in fulfilling the severe law of redemption, which he had submitted to. Though the injury that was done him by man was so great and manifest, and the terror of the Lord against him also so severe and unspeakable, “yet he opened not his mouth : he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.” (Isai. liii. 7.) (3.) In being willing to communicate the benefits purchased thereby to sinful and rebellious men, upon such easy terms; bidding us do nothing else but turn to God by repent ance and self-denial, and believe in himself; and then, whatever our sins had been, all the advantages merited by his death should be made over to us. (Matt. xi. 30; Rom. x. 8–10; Isai. i. 16—18.) Now, when all these are considered, (as by every soul that sincerely loves him more or less they are,) do they not sweetly affect with thankfulness, as well as love? Christian, canst thou look upon such a Redeemer without some sense of an obligation laid upon thy soul thereby ? Wilt thou think one single and separate affection enough for him? Or rather, will not thy heart empty itself into the bosom of the Lord, with love and thankfulness both at once, and each of them contending which shall outdo the other? 4. Supporting hope and confidence.—It is a hoping and confiding love; it is not a languishing affection, but that which brings life into the soul from the fulness of that Christ it feeds upon. “Perfect love,” saith the apostle, “casteth out fear.” (1 John iv. 18.) There will not be so much as the shadow of fear upon the soul, when this affection is ripened into perfect fruition. And, in the mean time, as the degrees of it do increase, so is the soul heightened in its hopes, and tramples upon its former jealousies, fears, and discouragements. And to this sense some interpret those words: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” &c.: (Rom. viii. 35–39 ) as if they were the exultation of faith upon the view of love's conquest, and victorious triumph over all its enemies. Love gives confidence of access to Christ, and unto God by him; and this confidence lies in the soul, as a cordial against all its faintings and despondencies: not that there may not be a sinking of spirits, and a swooning away for a time; but love will restore the soul again, and knowing Christ to be good, as well as all-sufficient for its condition, it will recover life and spirits again, and not suffer it utterly to faint under its own sad apprehensions. (Canticles vi. 12, 13.) And this is the third character. Take now all these four qualifications of sincere love, and try yourselves by them. CHAR. IV. If our love be sincere, it is an affection which respecteth not a naked Christ, but Christ as Mediator; or, it is a hearty desire of, and complacency in, Christ, in all his offices, as King, and Priest, and Prophet.—And of such moment is the right knowledge of this character, that, Christian, I must desire thee principally to study it, and pass a judgment upon thyself thereby. For, whatever fondness and sudden flashings of love thou mayest find within thee, they will not so clearly tell thee what thou art, as the knowledge of thyself by this mark. Take it for a clear truth, that if thou lovest not Christ as thy Sovereign Lord; if thy heart be not knit to him as thy High Priest with God; if thou hast not affectionately entertained him as thy Master and Teacher; in a word, if thou art not consecrated unto God by Christ, if thou art not a loyal subject, and a willing disciple; love in sincerity doth not dwell in thee; thou art still an enemy, and wilt so be judged. It is not fondness of expression, nor any outward compliment that men put upon Christ, which reacheth the New-Testament motion of love to Christ; but when as loyal subjects and willing disciples we are always doing the things that are grateful, and are obedient to him: this is love. And hence it is, that in so many places our Lord puts us upon trying our love by our obedience, by keeping his words and commandments; and speaks of libertimes, infidels, the carmally-wise, rebels, and apostates, as enemies and haters of him, whatever their pretences are to the contrary. (John xiv. 15, 21 ; xv. 8, 10, 21, 23, 24; 1 John v. 3; Luke xix. 27; Heb. x. 28; John xiv. 23, 24.) And, verily, so essential is this to sincere love, that, unless you understand it, you will be able to give but a lame account of most of the scripture-characters thereof, (as, if I had time, I could easily demonstrate,) because they do all pre-suppose it. If thou wouldest know, therefore, whether this grace be in thee in truth, take thy heart, Christian, to Christ in every office, and try it, by such interrogatories as may result from the consideration of them; and this will tell thee thy case distinctly. Begin first with Christ as High Priest; for this did lay the foundation of the other two offices; and if thou hast any love to Christ in sincerity, it was the sight of him in this that first kindled it. And thus bespeak thyself: “Didst thou ever, O my soul, seriously consider what Christ hath undertaken in thy behalf with the jealous God, whose face thou couldst not see, and live? Wast thou ever convinced, that all thy prayers, duties, outward privileges, and devotions were little worth, and could not have aught availed thee, unless by his own blood he had first entered within the vail, and made atonement for thee; (Heb. x. 10, 12; 1 Cor. ii. 2;) and then with the same blood went afterwards to the right hand of God, and put him in mind of his covenant, to procure actual grace, and peace, and adoption for thee! And is it a pleasure to thee, as well as thy admiration, to be always musing and searching what such an abyss of grace and goodness should mean? And in the midst of thy musings was it that thy affections first took this holy fire, and were even surprised into love? Is it by his mediation that thou findest thy expectations from God, and thy delight in him, supported? (Rom. viii. 34; Phil. iii. 7, 8.) And dost thou rejoice in him, as one whose goodness thou adorest, and whose favour with God, purchased by his own merit, thou admirest; and therefore art most willing to trust all thy concernments in his hands; and in all thy addresses to God comest leaning upon the arms of him, as thy beloved Mediator and Intercessor? (Canticles viii. 5.) Why, thus to renounce our own righteousness, and to feel our hearts warmed into a further estimation of his; to attribute all our acceptance with God to him; briefly, to be intensively willing of Christ, and to look upon him with full satisfaction of spirit in all his priestly administrations;–this is sincerely to love Christ as our High Priest. And, on the contrary, to undervalue his blood either as needless by presumption, or as worthless by desperation ; to be ascribing to ourselves, when we receive any kindness or favour from God; to doat upon our own worth and righteousness, as that which is sufficient without either Christ's righteousness, satisfaction, or intercession;–this is interpretatively to reject him from being our High Priest, and to hate the person of our Lord. (Heb. x. 28.) Thus try yourselves, whether ye love Christ in his priestly office; and when you have done with that, take thy soul to his prophetical office; and make a further trial, by bespeaking thyself after the same manner. Thus: “Didst thou ever, O my soul, seriously consider that thou wast made for an eternal life, and that none could ever chalk thee out the way thereto, it being only to be learned in the school of this great Prophet? And thereupon hast thou wholly ceased from listening unto any other? and, as a loving disciple, hast thou found pleasure in seeking the law, even the word of thy salvation, at his mouth? Doth thy heart thoroughly savour his doctrine! And dost thou like the discipline of his school? Dost thou make it thy study to know, and lay it as a charge upon thyself to keep, the words of this great Master and Prophet? (John xiv. 23, 24.) And even now, that he is gone to heaven, and hath left his word in the scripture behind him, and hath sent his Spirit, and set up under-officers in his school, and precious ordinances for thy guidance and direction; dost thou value the scriptures above all other writings in the world, and witness thy esteem of them by thy daily perusal and study of them? Dost thou bear a reverence in thy breast to all Christ's offices and institutions! Dost thou account the mouth of Christ most sweet, and even delight to hear his voice in the scripture, and in every ordinance? And when thou hast heard, dost thou lay up what thou hast been taught as the faithful counsel of thy dearest Teacher, and rejoice therein? (Canticles v. 16; Psalm i. 2; Heb. ii. I.) More particularly, what is thy carriage towards his Spirit? Dost thou hear when he calls? And art thou tractable to all his motions! Dost thou grieve him, or art thou willing to be instructed and guided by him? Why, thus to cease from leaning to our own understandings; to give up ourselves to Christ, and his Spirit in the scriptures, and in all the ordinances of the gospel; to be the serious and willing disciples of Christ;-this is to love Christ as our Prophet in sincerity. That is the second office. Once more, to make the trial by this mark complete: and that will respect his kingly office: and this is as easy as either of the former; for, our loyalty and voluntary subjection to Christ as commanding and governing, this is love; and the heart's rebellion against Christ, rejecting his dominion, murmuring against his laws, finding fault with his administrations, disturbing his subjects, and disquieting the peace of his kingdom, envying him the multitude of his subjects, and yielding no obedience to his commands;–all these are several branches of enmity against Christ as King and Sovereign. Put the case, therefore, home to thy own soul, if thou wouldest not be mistaken, and say: “Doth Christ rule within thee, O my soul, or doth self and Satan? Art thou glad with his sovereignty, or is it the yoke thou canst not bear? Do the laws of his kingdom bear sway within thee, or is it the law of thy members and carnal self? (Rom. vi.) When both come in competition, whose command dost thou in the course of thy life most commonly fulfil? Whose kingdom art thou most delighted in the advancement of? Is it a pleasure to thee, that thy Lord doth reign, and that his throne is more universally exalted? Or else, doth thy heart rise against the advancement of Christ's kingdom In whom dost thou find thy greatest delight? Is it rather in the company of rebels, that would pull the crown from the head of Christ, than in the humble and obedient subjects of thy Lord? Dost thou take Christ to be thy Prince and Sovereign? And dost thou love the peace and glory of his kingdom, as becomes an obedient subject of so great a Lord?” Why, this is intensively to will Christum Regem, or to love him as King. And this is the third office, and the fourth character. If you would make sure work, this is a rule which will not deceive you. CHAR. V. If we have a fellowship with Christ in his honours and dis honours, or in his joys and sorrows, then is our love not feigned unto Christ, but in sincerity.—True love, if I may be allowed so to speak, mixeth concernments: my meaning is, that it makes another's joys and sorrows to be mine, as well as his: they may write “hatred” upon themselves, who are regardless whether it go well or ill with Christ's interests in the world. No communion with Christ, no love. Even the personal reproaches and abuses which Christ endured here below, though so many hundred years since, do yet affect them; and they that love him have a sympathy with him in them. Neither is it his joy alone that he was personally advanced by being raised again from the dead, and taken up to glory, to sit therein at the right hand of God, but theirs also. (Luke xxiv. 52; Acts ii. 26.) Tell a loyal wife, that her husband is honoured, and her heart will leap at the tidings that are brought to her. It is good news to love-sick souls to hear that Christ is now in glory; they savour the advancements of their Lord, according to those words of Christ himself to his apostles: “If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.” (John xiv. 28.) They are glad by faith to see the Sun of Righteousness after a dark and cloudy morning in his meridian altitude. (John xx. 20.) They die, and are crucified with Christ in his death; (Rom. vi. 3; Gal. ii. 19:) and they feel a reviving of themselves in the resur rection of their Lord ; and hence it is said of them, that they are “quickened together with him,” and that they “sit together in heavenly places with him.” (Eph. ii. 5; i. 20.) We read of Mary, that she went weeping to the grave of her Lord; but hearing that he was arisen, she came away rejoicing: (John xx. 11; Matt. xxviii. 8:) and no otherwise was it with his disciples. Christ doth not triumph alone in his ascension; but all such as love him share therein together with him. And as they share with Christ in his personal joys and troubles; so do they no less when any of his concernments in the world do either prosper, or else are trampled upon and clouded. It is as the arrows of death to see either his laws, ordinances, officers, or subjects trampled upon. The reproaches of the rebellious world reproaching their Lord fall upon them, and are as so many darts struck into their own souls. (Psalm xlii. 10; lxix. 9.) This is that which successively feeds their joys and sorrows, that it goes well with the militant church here below, or that a cloud of displeasure and persecution is spread over it. CHAR. VI. Where love to Christ is sincere, there Christ is accounted by the soul to be its treasure; and there is a longing desire in every such soul of the nearest communion with him.—I put both these together, though there be a very clear distinction between them, for brevity. It is a truly conjugal love, which can neither bear with distance, nor brook any rival. And this is the meaning of the spouse in that double expression, calling him “the chiefest among ten thousand,” and professing him to be “altogether lovely.” (Canticles v. 10, 16.) The soul that loves Christ may love other things, and esteem them lovely; but she will say of none, that they are “altogether lovely,” but only of her Lord. When one asked Alexander to show him his treasure, the report is, that he pointed to his friend Hephæstion: the treasure of a soul that sincerely loves Christ, is Christ himself: Deus meus est omnia, or “My God is my all,” saith the soul that loves God as his ultimate end. Hence is that of David: “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” (Psalmlyxiii. 25.) Christus meus est omnia, or, “My Christ is my all,” saith the soul that is upon inquiry how to find accepta tion with God. Whence is that of Paul: “Doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Phil. iii. 8.) It is the proper motto of a love-sick soul, “None but Christ:” the sincerity of a Christian's love lies in giving a pre-eminence to the Redeemer, whom it loves above every thing else. The soul that loves Christ, values nothing in comparison of him, no, not his own benefits. Meretricius amor est, plus annulum quam sponsum amare, or, “It is a note of a harlot, to prefer the portion before the person.” And that is a no less true than noble speech of the devout A Kempis: Nobilis amator non quiescit in dono, sed in Christo super omne donum, or “The worthy and noble lover values not Christ so much by what he brings, as by what he is himself.” The soul that loves Christ, loves ordinances, because they are the “banqueting-house” of her Lord, wherein she is often refreshed by him; (Canticles ii. 4;) she loves the privileges of the gospel, because they are the purchase of her Lord's blood. (Canticles iv. l, &c.) She loves her own graces, because they are the rare ornaments which Christ hath put upon her, to render her beautiful, and fit her for his own embraces; and yet, after all, her language to Christ is, “Not thine, but thee: ” she will not so value them, as to forget Him that gives them; Christ is her centre, and therefore she rests not, but will lay by, and through all to come to him; she can scarce forbear a fit of impatience sometimes to think of that distance that is still between them. “Make haste, my beloved,” saith the spouse to Christ, “and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.” (Canticles viii. 14.) And such another ejaculation is that, where the whole church is brought-in crying to Christ: “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” (Rev. xxii. 17, 20.) While our hearts dwell below upon the thick clay, and have no daily desires to send forth, as doves from the ark, for communion with Christ, there is little sign of sincere love to him. CHAR. VII. We may know our sincerity in love, by the value we put upon ourselves, as well as upon Christ.—If our interest in Christ be the rule by which we value ourselves, that will argue true love: when this makes it day in our souls, that Christ smiles upon us; and, on the other side, when this spreads the darkness of the might over us, that he hides his face from us; then we love him. David loved God heartily; and, therefore, when God smiled, he rejoiced; and when God hid his face, he was as much troubled then as before delighted. (Psalm iv. 6; xxx. 7.) It is thus in every relation, where there is sincerity of affection as the bond thereof, and a dependence between them of the one upon the other. It is thus between a prince and a loyal favourite; between a husband and a loving wife. It is thus between the love-sick soul and Christ; when she enjoys him, then none so lightsome in countenance as she. According to the nature of love, her affections are hardly concealed; they are even too big for her heart to cover, and therefore she can scarce with hold herself from a holy exultation before every one that meets her. Whereas, on the other side, if Christ but withdraws; if she calls, and he gives no answer; if he seems to avoid her company, and to despise her familiarity; what then? O then her joy is turned into gall, and her Pleasantness into wormwood; then her countenance grows dark and sable, and her thoughts within her are full of horror, dejection, and confusion; she goes up and down like a person almost distracted, and every Place is made to echo to her griefs and mournings; she goes from ordinance to ordinance, and from one watchman to another, and proclaims to them all the sickness of her soul, if peradventure she may recover again sight of her Beloved. All this and much more with incomparable elegance you may read described in the Song of Solomon. Thus, as the marigold opens to the sun in the firmament, so doth the heart of a sincere Christian to the Sun of Righteousness, Christ in glory. CHAR. V.III. Where love is sincere, the soul will be often on the wing of meditation, and busied in the contemplation of Christ.—It is an old rule and a true one, Anima est ubi amat, non ubi animat, or, “The soul dwells as much where it hath fixed its love, may, more there, than where it hath its most natural operation.” Christ, and the believer that loves him, live as if they had but one soul betwixt them. It is not the dis tance between earth and heaven that can separate them; true love will find out Christ wherever he is ; when he was upon the earth, they that loved him kept his company; and now that he is gone to heaven, and out of sight, those that love him are frequently sending up their hearts unto him. And, indeed, they never think themselves intelligent in any thing that is worth the knowing, until they have made their souls much acquainted and familiar with their crucified Saviour. (I Cor. ii. 2.) CHAR. IX. There will be a willingness to part with all for him.— How many goodly things do persons of all sorts contemn for some one thing which they love! Ammon, Ahab, and Haman, are three great examples of this. (2 Sam. xiii. 2; 1 Kings xxi. 4; Esther v. 13.) Take but one instance, and it shall be of a covetous man: why, he disregards all the learned accomplishments in the world for a little gain; he thinks himself better, when he hath got that which comes out of the bowels of the earth he treads on, than that which comes from the mansion-house of God, in the heaven above him; and, therefore, how familiarly and easily will he part with the one to choose the other No bonds of nature or religion are enough to restrain him. (Acts xx. 24.) It is the resolution of a soul that loves Christ, that nothing shall part them. They are habitually martyrs already; and if he put them to it, it is not life itself that they will account too precious to lay down for the sake of him. (Matt. x. 37; Rev. xii. 11.) All the waters and floods of persecution, temptation, and affliction shall not quench their flames of love. (Canticles viii. 7.) Witness those words of Ignatius: Πυρ και σταυρος, &c.; or, “Let fire, cross,” &c., “and all the torments, which by men or beasts can be inflicted on my body, yea, and add to them what all the devils in hell can do upon it, if it were by solemn sentence of excommunication delivered to them; yet would I go through them all, to come to the bosom of my Lord.” CHAR. X. There will be a willingness to stoop to the meanest offices, for the service of Christ.—“Love,” we use to say, “stands not with majesty;” it did not do so in the person of our Saviour, when he washed and wiped his disciples' feet; (John xiii. 5, 6, 14;) and those that love him will not think it much to conform to his example; they will not think they can ever stoop too low for the sake of him. (John xxi. 15.) CHAR. XI. If it sticks not barely in the person of Christ, but reacheth to all that have an union with him.—If it be to Christ mystical as well as personal; if you love their persons, their graces, their fellowship, &c. “Tell me,” saith the spouse, “where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noon.” (Canticles i. 7.) She delights to be led forth with them into the green pastures of his ordinances, and to feed together with them. If she hath anything, it is all theirs, who have an equal interest in Christ with herself. (Acts ii. 44, 45.) She will make use of her graces, substance, and all, that fellow-members may be refreshed. It makes them of catholic spirits. The apostle is peremptory, and brandeth them all as liars that pretend to the one of these without the other. See 1 John iv. 19, 20; v. 1; John xiii. 34, 35. CHAR. XII. We may know it by its concomitants.-Sincere love goes not but in the company of every other grace: it either presupposeth, or strongly implieth and inferreth, the whole duty of a Christian. Diligere Christum, saith Aquinas, est Christo in omnibus se subjicere, et regulam praeceptorum ejus in omnibus sequi; or, “To love Christ, is to fulfil the whole law of Christ.” (John xiv. 15.) It is a most comprehensive grace; it is the abstract of the new creature, the whole image of God. In one word: it is the substance of the divine workmanship upon the soul. They are but ciphers, and signify nothing in Christianity, who are without it. Briefly: to love Christ, it is in some measure to partake of every grace, and to be a Christian altogether. These are the characters: some I have omitted, and in others I have been brief, because I would reserve a little room for the second case. Give me leave but briefly to suggest a few things for satisfaction of one doubt, and I shall presently come to that, Will some say, “If this be love in sincerity, who then loves him aright?” It is no less dangerous to draw out the description of a grace so as none can find it, than to leave it so as none may suspect the want or absence thereof in them selves; and upon that rock, they will tell me, I have split in the decision of this case, there being hardly any one that can go from character to character, and say, after a thorough search, “Now I know that I am a lover of Christ in sincerity:” for answer to which scruple, I shall barely suggest a few considerations. 1. It is most certain and notorious, that there is much counterfeit love abroad.—And it was not the least part of my design to unmask it. Characters serve as well to convince the presumptuous, as to establish the sincere and upright. There is much in the world that looks like love, that is not: such are those vagous affections that are to a Christ in general, and not to Him as King, Priest, and Prophet; and those counterfeit affections, which are to Christ upon the sole arguments of education, custom, which are as truly in a Turk to his Mahomet, and serve as well to justify the Jew in his blasphemy against Christ, as the Christian in his pretended love of him: (for love to Christ, say divines, is not so much to be measured by the degree and fervour, as by the grounds and motives:) and also that barren love which works up the soul to no measure of obedience unto him; and, lastly, that which allows Christ but the world's leavings in our hearts, every thing being constantly preferred before him; and what a vast number of persons go no further than these! 2. Many persons are truly gracious, who yet know not whether they have any grace or not.—It requires more skill to search out the nature of a grace, and to find it in ourselves, than barely to exercise it; the former are works of much judgment, and require a deep acquaintance with our own hearts; whereas to the latter, it is enough if a person be but of an ordinary understanding, and an honest heart. Besides, graces have their degrees, like the waters of the sanctuary; (Ezek. xlvii. 3–5;) and where grace is very shallow and little, it is exceeding difficult to know that there is any at all; and such persons should do well, who are so weak, rather to spend time in the exercise of grace, than in trying whe ther they have grace or no; for commonly it is but labour in vain. 3. There are no souls in whom this grace is really planted, but they have all these characters drawn upon their hearts to know it by, more or less.--I do not say, they can find them in themselves, and know they have them; but only, that they have them. And of this I need give no further evidence than what you will easily find yourselves, if you will but study the nature of love to Christ, by the rule of it laid down in the fifth proposition premised, and by the third and fourth characters; for I am well assured that Christ cannot be loved as therein described, unless all these particulars mentioned be either antecedent thereto, or connexed with it. And so I come to the second case; namely, How we may get our love to him kindled and inflamed. And I shall proceed in the resolution of this, by these four steps. I. I will discover the danger of being without this grace. II. I will add some moving considerations to provoke all that love their souls, to look after it. III. I will give directions to them that have it not, how to get it. IV. I will add a few more directions for them that have it, how it may be increased and inflamed. I. I begin with the first, which I will dispatch by these two steps: 1. By discovering the heinousness of sin. 2. The terror of the punish ment due thereto. 1. Now, that you may understand the first, besides what hath been said in the fore-mentioned tract, proving it to be a sin against the Father's love and wisdom, the whole work of the Son, and the special economy of the Holy Ghost; I add, (1.) It is a sin utterly subverting the whole design of the Gospel:— Casting a scorn upon the grace of all the three Persons, and not so much as acknowledging what was done by them as worthy the least acceptance, it writes “vanity” upon all the promises, and is a frustration to the design of Christ in that noble dispensation; there being nothing that he did more aim at than to testify his own and his Father's love to us, and to recover from us our love to them again. (John iii. 17; 1 John i. 3.) (2.) It is interpretatively a confederacy with Satan against God and Christ. (Matt. vi. 24; Acts xiii. 10.)—The proper and grand wickedness of the devil being his opposition to the design of God in glorifying himself by the salvation of mankind through Christ, which yet, so far as we are haters of Christ, we are in our measure guilty of, as well as he. (Heb. x. 28.) (3.) It is a complicated sin; many sins in one.—Such as are foul ingratitude, rebellion; it being the casting off the sovereignty of a rightful Lord; cruelty to Christ, and, as it were, a kicking him upon the bowels, a Christicidium; and to ourselves, (Prov. viii. 36,) the tearing out, our own bowels with our own hands, spiritual uncleanness and adultery; (James iv. 4;) it being a treacherous revolting from Christ, after profession of marriage to him. (4). It is a sin which opens the door to all wickedness.-Resistance of the Spirit, contempt of the gospel and them that bring it, slighting of ordinances, treason against Christ as King, and implacable bitterness and enmity against his subjects and children. (John xv. 18, 19.) (5.) It is an irrational sin.—Or such for which there cannot be the least apology; because Christ was lovely in himself; (Canticles i. 13, 14; v. 9, 16;) did much to engage our hearts to him; earnestly entreated us to place our affections upon him; sending his messengers to woo us; bestowing gifts upon us, like a king, to oblige us; (1 Peter i. 4;) and making almost incredible offers of much more that he would do for us; yea, finally, threatening us even with Anathema Maranatha, (1 Cor. xvi. 22,) if we withhold our hearts from him. And can such a sin after all this be extenuated? (6.) It is a sin brought forth and nursed by the foulest abominations. —Such as spiritual darkness, and ignorance; (1 Cor. ii. 8;) notorious infidelity, as to the doctrine of the gospel; (John v. 43,44, 47;) horrible pride, self-righteousness, idolatrous and carnal self-love. (7.) It is a sin against all our covenants and engagements.-Especially our baptismal bond, wherein we did solemnly promise Christ our hearts, and that in opposition to all others; (2 Cor. xi. 2;) the bond of Christian ingenuity, self-love, and proper interest, profession, and relation, as we bear his name in the world. (8.) And, lastly, It is a sin utterly inconsistent with the presence of any one grace in the soul.—It being impossible that any thing should prosper, where this weed hath once settled and rooted itself. You may as well expect to find branches without a root, as the graces of the Spirit without love. Thus very briefly you have an account of the danger of being without love to Christ, from the nature of the sin. 2. I argue it from the terror of the punishment.—And certainly the just God hath proportioned the evil of this, to the quality of that. Study well these few places of scripture: John iii. 19; Matt. xxi. 41; Heb. ii. 3; x. 28, 29 ; xii. 25; Rev. ii. iii. throughout. O the terrors of the Lord, that will one day be heaped upon the haters of his Son! (See Rev. vi. 16.) But we need not look any further for this matter, than into the awakened conscience of a rebel against Christ in a fit of desperation: what scorpion-lashes doth such a man's conscience give him! O the heat of this burning caldron With what rage and fury doth it break forth on every side, until the soul is even become a hell to itself! “And wouldest thou not love Christ,” will enraged conscience then say, “so lovely in himself, and so full of love to thee? Couldst thou see him sighing, bleeding, sweating, dying for thy sake, and yet not love him? Couldst thou spurn at such bowels, and contemn such prodigious mercy? and that when this love would have opened to thee the door of glory! how great, how infinite, glory! and when the rejecting of it would infallibly plunge thy soul into misery; how dreadful, how intolerable! Was ever madness like thine, O my soul?” will conscience say. “Certainly hell is too easy a punishment for such a serpent, such an incarnate devil as thou art. Well may God rejoice to be avenged on such a wretch as thee, and make thee to drink up the very dregs of his indignation; while others that ‘dwell in God’ shall ‘dwell in love,’ O how will God be nothing else but fury, and wrath, and vengeance to thee! Thou shalt one day (and that day such as never shall have an end) hear Justice call upon Omnipotency still to add more flame to thy torment!’” Thus conscience will look backward and forward, and even wreak itself, with the most dismal flaming language that it can find out, upon the haters of Christ. And is not that a dreadful sin, which shall thus set a man against himself, and put a sword into the hand of cruel conscience to cleave the soul in pieces! And is not that a dreadful punishment, when a man shall become his own accuser, judge, and executioner? when conscience shall burn so hot within a man, that he shall be a terror to himself, and an eternal amazement? And yet, alas! what is all this to the immediate impressions of the wrath of God upon the soul? when He that hath said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” (Rom xii. 19,) shall grasp the soul in his dreadful hand; which might be farther improved, and be demonstrated to be incomparably the sorest part of the punishment. II. But I come to the second particular, which was, to lay down some moving considerations to provoke such as love themselves to love Christ; and, besides the particulars last mentioned, 1. Consider who it is that I plead for this day.—Sirs, I do not call you to doat upon thick clay, filth, and vanity. I do not plead to gain your hearts to one that is not worthy, or hath not deserved that you should place your affections upon him: if you can make either of these manifest, hate him and spare not. But I plead for one who is, (1.) Glorious and excellent: if you doubt it, read his character, Canticles v. 9. What sayest thou now? Is he not altogether lovely 7 Is there any blemish to be found in him? And if thou mistrustest the judgment of the church, sure thou canst not doubt of God's. Hear his sentence: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (Matt. iii. 17.) He knew of whom he spake, for he was his Son; and he doth not say, he was pleased with him only, but well-pleased, that is, delighted, and satisfied. (See Prov. viii. 30.) And was he worthy of God's love; and dost thou doubt whether he have deserved thine! (2.) Consider, he is one that died for thee; first, to purchase thy love; and since is gone to heaven, where yet he doth not cease to call upon thee, and invite thee to bestow thy heart upon him. Were he excellent, but proud, it would be little to thy advantage; but he stoops, and wooes, and entreats thee. It is a day of the gladness of his heart when he prevails but with one soul to close with him; and all the rage of his persecutors did not grieve him more, than you will, if you stand it out against him. (Isai. lv. 1; Luke xv. 20; Acts ix. 4; John v. 21, 26.) (3.) Consider, he is one that hath the power of thy life and death in his own hands; and this is one part of his covenant, upon which thy life or death depends; as offered in the promise, so he waits; but as love is the condition of it, so if thou hearkenest not, thou losest thy share therein; and what thou choosest, be it life or death, thou shalt certainly have. 2. Consider, what it is I plead for.—Why, all that I ask is love; and will you deny Christ that? I call thee to think well of Christ, to desire him, to take complacency in him, to breathe after union and eternal communion with him; and which of these dost thou think too much for such an object? Or where canst thou place them more fitly than upon him What is he worthy of, if not of this? Did ever death content itself with such a recompence? Was ever any debt easier paid, any service so easily performed, as this, only to love? Hath God made Christ a King, Priest, and Prophet? and is that all which thou must do, to partake of his love in him, to love him in those relations! and wilt thou stick at this? Hast thou any other way to the bosom of God but by him and yet, rather than thou wilt come thither by love, wilt thou damn thy soul by hating Christ? Is not the enjoyment of God worth the labour of love? (1 Thess. i. 3.) Shall all go, rather than be saved by love to thy Redeemer? 3. Consider, what he will do for thee, if thou art a sincere lorer of him.—He comes not to court thee, and flatter thee to thy loss; but his reward is great, and he brings it with him. (Rev. xxii. 12.) Give me leave to tell thee some particulars thereof. (1.) If thou wilt love him, he will betroth thee to himself in dearest love; (Hosea ii. 19, 20;) he will be thy bridegroom, and thou shalt be his bride; (Eph. v. 32;) it is not all thy filthy garments, rags, or poverty, that shall hinder; (Zech. iii. 4;) but he will be to thee the covering of thine eyes; (Gen. xx. 16;) and a gladness of heart shalt thou be unto him; (Zeph. iii. 17;) thou shalt be the joy of Christ himself; (Rev. xxi. 9;) for “as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.” (Isai. lxii. 5.) (2.) He will dwell with thee: (John xiv. 23, 24:) husband and wife dwell together, and so do the betrothed soul and Christ: “I in them, and they in me,” saith Christ. (John xvii. 23.) Now this is a privilege which carries many in the womb of it; such as are these: (i.) Intimacy and daily familiarity; Christ and Christians take their meals together; (Rev. iii.20;) there is no communion so near, as that which is between them: (Eph. v. 23:) “One spirit.” (1 Cor. vi. 17.) (ii.) Maintenance and provision. “He is worse than an infidel, that provides not for his own house.” (1 Tim. v. 8.) All that live under the same roof with Christ have their daily bread provided for them at his charges; and he hath said, that he will never leave them. (Heb. xiii. 5.) (iii.) Protection. Every man's house is his castle; they are under safe covert that dwell with Christ. (iv.) Counsel, guidance, and direction: this great husband dwells with all his family according to knowledge; (1 Peter iii. 7;) for he teacheth them all his secrets, and shows them his covenant. (Psalm xxv. 14.) (3.) He will interest thee in all his own riches, purchases, possessions, and dignities; together with his person, he offers heaven and earth for a dowry. All things are his by purchase, and thou shalt be a co-partner or co-heir with him, when thou art espoused to him. (Rom. viii. 17; 1 Cor. iii.22, 23.) (4.) He will manifest the highest indulgence and tenderness towards thee. (Isai. liv. 7, 8.) Not all thy cross walkings (if through temptations it shall so fall out) shall put him upon any more than a momentary departure from thee; for he hath resolved that his faithfulness towards thee shall never fail; (Psalm lxxxix. 33;) and there fore when thou seemest almost lost, and ready to despond, he will return to thee again; and the more time he hath lost by absence, the more full will his heart be of ravishing love and affections to thee. (Canticles vi. 3.) (5.) He will turn all to thy good: neither thy sins, though many and great, northy miseries, though overwhelming and discouraging, no, nor, lastly, shall death itself be ever able to make a divorce between thee and him; but serve as a passage to thee, when thy work is done, into the bride-chamber of thy Lord. (Rom. viii. 28, 38; Phil. i. 21.) And now tell me, hast not thou reason to love him? 4. Consider but thy case, while this virgin affection to thy Saviour is wanting. (1.) Thou multipliest thy whoredoms and thy abominations continually.—For what are thy intensive willings of other things, but so many acts of spiritual adultery, and base prostitutions of thy soul to thy dishonour and disadvantage, while other things usurp the room of Christ? (2.) Thou art a treacherous hypocrite and deceiver.—Forasmuch as thou pretendest to the eye of the world to be Christ's, and yet art nothing less than his. (3.) You lay a bar in against yourselves, and the acceptance of all your duties.—When “faith works by love,” (Gal. v. 6,) then is obedience illustrious, and meet for a gracious acceptation. That obedience which owes no part of itself to love, is worth little, and brings-in no more than it is worth. (4.) You make bonds for yourselves in death, and lay up terrible reproaches in your consciences against the day of judgment. (Job xxvii. 6.) (5.) You make your damnation necessary: there being no congruity to any of the divine attributes, much less to the offices of Christ, that that man should ever be saved, who never had any sincere affection to him. These are some of the considerations, which may be of use to them that have no spark of love yet kindled in their hearts. There are a few of the other kind, which may provoke to get this love inflamed where it is: such are these :— 1. Consider, the love of Christ to thee was a growing, increasing love. —I do not mean in respect of the habit, but in the outward demonstration thereof. The nearer he was to his death, the more exuberant in love; and when he rose again, his heart did overflow with tender indulgence; as appears by the meltings of his bowels towards Mary and over Peter; and much more may we believe him now to be full of them, now that he is at the right hand of God. 2. There is more loveliness in Christ, than ever thou canst find out or fathom.—When we have let out our affections to the utmost, there will still be more than we can find affection for; our love to eternity will have something of admiration mixed with it. 3. It is all you can return to him.—It is all he looks for at our hands. That which lies in love, and which flows from it, is the whole that is required to complete Christianity. 4. The more you love him, the more lovely you are unto him.—Then hath Christ the highest complacency in us, when our hearts are under the greatest raptures of love to him. 5. It is the honour of a man to love Christ superlatively.—It is the sweetest part of our lives, and that which Christ values us more by than by any thing else: it is heaven on earth. 6. According to the measure of your love, so will all the rest of your services and graces be.—That is, either more or less, better or worse. Love is like the master-wheel in an engine, making the whole soul to move faster or slower. These are the considerations of the last kind. Will some say?—“O, but what shall we do to get this blessed affection into our souls?" which was the third thing proposed: and in order thereto, I offer these DIRECTION I. Be well acquainted with the nature of this great duty. —The great mistake of the world lies in this, that is thought to be love, which is not; and thence men and women grow bold and confident, and value themselves more than they ought. I have given-in my best assistance, so far as the nature of the first case would permit, to prevent mistakes in this matter, before; and therefore I will not do it over again. Only remember, if you would not miscarry, that it is not a naked Christ, but a Christ advanced by incomparable personal excellences, and clothed with his offices of King, and Priest, and Prophet, that is THE CHRIST to be loved; and you cannot well miscarry. This is that damning mistake of the world; they love Christ, but not as dignified by God with any of his offices. DIREC. II. Be much in the study of yourselves.—What you were originally, and what you are since become through your own miscarriage, wilfulness, and folly. Take your souls to the glass of the law, and go from one precept to another; and when you have done there, go to the gospel: and be sure you do not deal slightly, but understand thoroughly how much you have offended. And when you have well studied the number and quality of your sins, then consider the justice and holiness of the eternal God, which you shall understand by the same law and gospel, where they speak the Divine terror against offending sinners; but more especially shall ye know it by going to the cross of Christ, and wisely and seriously considering the horror of that punishment which Christ there endured; for we never know as we ought the evil of sin, and our misery thereby, until we know what he endured to make an expiation for it. Do this, and do it faithfully. They that never knew themselves, they are most certainly without love to Christ: and it is enough to prove it; because, unless this foundation be first laid, they can see no sufficient reason for it. DIREC. III. Get a true conviction concerning thy own ultimate end and happiness.--Where it lies, namely, not in the objects of sense, (Matt. xvi. 26,) but in the beatifical vision of God. Possess thy soul, by scripture-light, of the grand importance of securing thy interest therein: while you think your happiness lies any where else than in God, it will be irrational to love Christ, because his purpose and design is to take our hearts from the pursuit of all but God. And until you know God to be your happiness, you will never understand the best reasons (that I may not say, the only) that you have to love him. That man loves Christ best that most fully knows God to be his eternal Rest and Blessedness, and loves him as such. DIREC. IV. Get a gospel knowledge of Christ.—Both what he was originally, and what he hath stooped and humbled himself to be for thy sake; why he came into the world, how he lived and died, and what was the covenant between the Father and him; how he is exalted and honoured by God, and what great things are promised both by Father and Son to all that in Christ sincerely draw nigh to God. O the sweet gales of affection which, by spiritual meditation upon Christ, will begin to blow within us! We cannot muse upon Christ's dying, and rising again, and inviting us to love him, but the fire will burn: a considering faith in Christ will naturally bud and blossom into love. DIREC. V. Believe the reality of his love to thee.—I mean, that he did all that ever he did for thee out of a hearty and real affection to thee; and that he still desires to have the match made up betwixt thy soul and himself. This fond prejudice, whereby souls put discouragements upon themselves, is that which spoils many a match. Do not weaken thy soul by making difficulties where there are none. If thou hearest Christ inviting, stir up thyself, O thou convinced soul, as if thou heardest him even calling to thee by name. Believe it, that Christ is never better pleased than when he is loved; and that he came no less to procure thy love than to testify his own. The way to love Christ in good earnest is to believe that he is so in his offers of grace to us. DIREC. VI. Understand the world thoroughly, and be jealous of thy own heart therein.—Remember that of the apostle, who knew what it was to love Christ, as well as any man ever did: “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John ii. 15.) We may well enough add, “Nor the love of the Son.” We may offer to our Lord cor fractum, or “a broken heart;” but we must not presume to desire him to accept our cor divisum, or “divided heart.” Remember that Christ and the world are two, contrary each to other; and the single stream of love cannot run two contrary ways at once. If our hearts be not crucified to the world, the love of Christ will never live within us. DIREC. VII. Be much in attendance on those means or ordinances, wherein Christ is evidently set forth, and by his Spirit wooing souls to lore him.—If faith comes by hearing, so no less certainly doth love. Christ most commonly honours his own ordinances and officers, in making up the match between himself and souls; so he did Paul. (2 Cor. xi. 2.) DIREC. VIII. Go to God and Christ for love.—When you have gotten your hearts well warmed with the use of all the fore-mentioned means, then go to God and Christ, and turn thy meditations into petitions. Plead hard and heartily all those moving considerations which were set down to usher-in these directions. God delights to honour prayer in this great work of his, in drawing souls to Christ. “No prayer, no. faith:” and it is as true, “No prayer, no love, no marriage to Christ.” I have done with the directions of the first kind; and have therein almost prevented myself from going any further; it being a rule in the spiritual, as well as the natural, growth, that we are nourished by the very same that gave us our first beings. If we know by what means we came by our love at first, and have but appetites whetted-on to a further growth, we need little more. And therefore having first persuaded you carefully to continue to practise-over the fore-mentioned directions, I only add:— DIREC. I. Consider much your own experiences, and the great advan tages you have made by this grace.—I need not tell what they are, because ye know them well enough already; and the sense of past advantage will best quicken to future diligence; which is the second direction. DIREC. II. Be constant in the exercise of that love ye have.—The best way to strengthen any habit, is to be often repeating its acts. We can not do any thing better to increase love, than to be often acting love. DIREC. III. Get faith more rooted.—And that will make your love to be more inflamed. If you would have fruitful branches, you must keep the root of the tree fat; and if you would have any grace to thrive, you must be sure to strengthen faith. DIREC. IV. Take heed you be not willingly guilty of any known wickedness against Christ.—For this will cause Christ to withdraw; it will occasion in thy heart a jealousy, and that will be an abatement of thy love. Be conscientiously diligent in all known duties. DIREC. V. Get thy heart daily more thoroughly crucified to the world, and better acquainted with heaven and the love of God.—The more you love God, the more you will and must love Christ. DIREC. VI. Be much in the communion of saints.—And then, especially when together with them, thou mayest look on, and admire the love of thy crucified Saviour in the Lord's supper. They that are most where Christ is to be enjoyed, love him best. And these are briefly the heads of DIRECTIONS in answer to each of these inquiries: they might have been more largely insisted on and pressed; but this defect must be supplied by yourselves. Remember, again, and with that I will conclude,-that it is not the knowledge of these directions that will advantage you, but the serious and diligent practice of them. And so “grace be with all them that,” in the diligent use of these means, get and inflame their “love to the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.”

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One of the things people often ask me is whether or not I think autism is on the rise. Or if I have any ideas as to how Liam became autistic. Was it the traumatic birth? Was it the Zoloft? Are there other people with autism in the family? To be honest, I’m sick of these questions. As much as I want to be able to blame something or follow a trend as to what causes autism, to point my finger at the thing that’s redefined this entire family, I’m just not capable. Is autism more prevalent? Maybe. But it used to be that kids like mine were sent to military school, or tossed in the back of the class, or beaten. Times change, and it’s hard to know for sure. To me, it just doesn’t matter what caused it or why. The fact of the matter is that this is my son. This is how he is. He’s not normative. And so many of his challenges are wrapped up in the “high-functioning” category that most people write him off. Even teachers have written him off. And he’s not stupid. He knows it. He can tell when adults look at him, judge him, pass him by. And he turns it on himself. It’s a horrible thing to see in such a young child. Right now, we’re rebuilding his educational foundations. We have to tear down his experiences and fears and show him that there are adults in the world who don’t just care for him, but want him to flourish. Grown-ups who are dedicated to seeing him accomplish amazing things—things we know he’s capable of—regardless of his challenges. I wish his other teachers had seen it this way. Chapel Hill is known for its amazing schools. And one of the reasons we’ve lived here so long is to take advantage of that. In North Carolina, a state lagging in teacher pay and in quality of schools, we felt that Chapel Hill had the best to offer. And for the most part, his teachers were excellent. Especially his kindergarten and second grade teachers. But teacher assistants are another story. I don’t know anything about hiring processes or credentials—and I’ll say that this is entirely anecdotal evidence—but in the first and second grade Liam struggled immensely with his teacher assistants. He frequently told me they yelled at him in his face (if you have a kid on the spectrum, you know how frustrating that is), took away his recess (in spite of our insistence that they find another way to exact their punishment), and sent them to the principal’s office again and again. Listen. I know my kid can be a jerk. He doesn’t mean to be. But for those involved in his education, it’s important that they at least do the bare minimum and work to understand him. It’s not that we don’t discipline him at home. It’s not that we’re lax parents. It’s not that he just needs a firmer hand or that he’s a problem child. His life is a web of anxiety, and he’s like a wild horse at this point. Mostly because he knows that adults give up on him. I have no idea of knowing what these teacher assistants have said to him behind closed doors, but I know he saves the kind of ire he has for them for very few. He knows them all by name, and it breaks my heart that their influence is greater than the good teachers he has. Today I went to pick Liam up at afterschool. It’s a small program at his new school. Both Michael and I work, and we don’t have any other options—it’s hard to find an inclusive afterschool program—so I get there as soon as I can… usually around 5pm, the cutoff time. I saw through the window that a tall young man was escorting Liam to the playground in an excited manner. My first thought was that he’d gotten in trouble—we all have programming—but I followed them nonetheless. I opened the door and watched them play and race cars. The young man brought as much exuberance and enthusiasm as another kid would, yet managed not to talk down to Liam. They were laughing, playing almost as peers. When I announced my presence, Liam let me know they were going to do one more race and then we’d go home. And he held to his word and got ready to leave, something he doesn’t often do. The young man introduced himself as Liam’s teacher assistant. I did a double take. This man had spent the majority of the day with my kid. MY KID, who generally exhausts most adults with his inflexibility, stubbornness, and inability to carry on a two person conversation. But this teacher—who’s new to the school, I should add—treated Liam, at the end of an undoubtedly long day—with friendliness, compassion, and fun. And did I mention this wasn’t even required? He did this because of a staff meeting, and he took the extra time with Liam… just because. It’s one of the hardest things in the world to see adults judge your child. To put them in a box. To give up on them. You feel alone. So, so, terribly alone. I want to tell them how wrong they were. I want to tell them I understand being scared, I understand that he doesn’t make sense. That he is maddening and frustrating and confusing. But he’s a beautiful child who’s been dealt a very tough hand of cards, and he needs people to believe in him more than anything else in the world. And if they just let go for a second, if they just stopped yelling and saw that… he could have had a fighting chance. But now I’m not worrying. I know his teacher’s assistant believes in him. Finally. There have been so many instances during his first three weeks at school that show me we’re not alone. The gifted teachers and teacher assistants at Liam’s school understand that he’s a whole person, with experiences and fears, but also joys and interests. They are in this like we are in this. Yes, we’ve invested in him. Our friends who’ve donated have invested, too. But it’s a process. A process he’s just starting. We’re making lots of adjustments here, because we know that Liam’s education is the most important hurdle of our lives right now. It may be that he isn’t here forever. It may be that he is. But every day I’m reminded of how important this investment is. If you can, please share Liam’s story. We have a long road ahead, both emotionally and financially. Every bit helps. You can donate to the GoFundMe campaign directly, you can share this story on social media, or you can buy from Amazon with our code and we’ll make a small commission.

Yes! – it’s long and was written in-between all those important things in life – so feel free to read and return rather than log-in for the duration. NB: For all you *pedants* out-there feel free to let me know just how bad my broken English really is – if it matters to you that much. The important thing is to do it – not just doubt it… I’m going to walk on the water across to Sweden…. On the Beach at Marienlyst, Helsingør . Early Spring 2017. After 18 months we finally took the decision to leave the North-Eastern frontier of Denmark and return to inner-city life in Copenhagen. Even though I’ve enjoyed living and working outside of the centre in a state of what some people might call “splendid isolation” and still believe – like the German Artist Joseph Beuys and the Scottish Artist/Hiroshima witness: George Wylie that the centre really is always where you’re active creatively – from the experience, I can only say that the reason the long Winter – and not so great Spring this year – were tolerable, was because for most of it I was in that “different place” that you find yourself in when working creatively. Work in progress, Helsingør Winter 2016-17 Over the winter months, you can wander on the empty beaches in Helsingør and come across no-one except dog walkers, ghosts and lost Korean or Japanese tourists in search of a “Hamlet experience” only encountering the locals in smoky bars or in Kvickly – Denmark’s version of the Co-op for the uninitiated – Or catch glimpses of their shadows through the old town’s windows, which at night are lit-up by the light from large LED TV’s – including our own – that are mostly showing Game of Thrones and reheats of BBC lifestyle TV or their Danish re-bakes. After returning from Iraq and Kurdistan last Autumn, I’ve been working in my cutting room aka: the spare room to deliver a series of Mine Awareness virals for Spirit of Soccer, as well as continuing work on Minefield – which has involved further filming close to the front-line; In the refugee camps of Dohuk on the road to Mosul, in the former Daesh held territories of Jalawala/Khaniqin province and in the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk which – although under Kurdish control is still regularly attacked by Daesh sleeper cells and snipers. Working out what it’s all about: Minefield. Winter 2017. I also delivered – later than I had intended – the development materials for Legacy of an Invisible bullet and am happy to say that both the actor Charlotte Munck and musician/poet Dane TS Hawk are still on-board and ready to move into some difficult and challenging territory in what comes next – of which I’ll write more about. At another time and in a different place than here in Helsingør . Which really is the “dark star” of this blog. In the end the decision to move – after we finally found a flat in Copenhagen that we both liked – along with the added bonus of no longer putting cash every month into the pocket of a private landlord – was a no-brainer really. And the truth is, that the only thing I’ll really miss about life in Helsingør – along with the solitude I’ve sought-out, in-between spending my working life filming people – is the sea. The Øresund and Swedistan By my nature – and even though I’m a Capricorn – I’m a “water person” and have spent a fair bit of my time in Helsingør either on/in/under or by the sea. And when I say “on” I really do mean walking “on” water on a SUP board which – as I’ve started suffering from the old surfer and run-and-gun filmmaker’s complaint of “sore shoulders” – has become along with swimming, walking and shopping trips to Kvickly – my main choice of regular exercise. Without going too far down the hippy-karma trail toward nirvana, SUP boarding too has become a soulful and spiritual thing for me rather than a competitive sport – which is rapidly becoming too hip-by-half in Copenhagen – and it’s great to stand, catch and ride waves, and feel the elements and power of the planet, rather than – as I did back in Scotland – catch short rides before “wiping-out” in the Atlantic ocean’s washing machine during a “hold-down” And it’s SUP boarding too that’s helped me get through the toughest of times since 2013. I’ve written variously over the past few years that I’m no fan of the “snake-oil charms of the feel-good business” and do believe strongly that it’s important in all that we do in our lives to “Just doubt it”; I do confess that SUP boarding – along with film-making and most importantly of all people – has played a significant positive role in my recovery during those dark days and long nights that I’ve lived through since 2013. Although I am aware – after I take my thyroxine everyday that helps me stay alive, as well as I’ve recently discovered helps stop me from going clinically insane – that I’ll never be “well” again in the way that I once was, before all this started. While one further side effect too of the removal of my entire thyroid, along with the cancerous tumour’s and the radioactive iodine treatment I’ve been through, is that I don’t feel the cold any more. Which I guess can only be an advantage when I realize an ambition I have to “walk on water” across the Øresund to Sweden on a SUP board… On the Dog Beach Our local beach in Helsingør at Marienlyst isn’t anything special really despite its blue flag and geographical location on the optimistically named “Nordic Riviera” At its north-end is a spa-hotel of the same name – an architectural “dog’s dinner” rather than a fine example of cool and stylish Danish design – which seems to be populated mostly by rich OAP’s on week days who don’t like to go out much, and at the weekends by what look like the Nordic or Baltic Mafia and their “porn queen” looking girlfriends; along with a slightly more legit “Mafia” from the Media and Advertising world, who are mostly here on team building exercises, or attending what the Danes might call “Tink-tanks” which seems to involve hanging out in the bars and hotel casino. For the most part, the hotel’s residents don’t really use the beach, which provides them with a spectacular view out-over the Øresund to Sweden, lying just 6 kilometres or so away. But then neither do many of the locals – or their newly promoted to the Superliga football team – who play close by, on what looks like a Scottish junior league pitch; While those locals who do use it – for leisure or pleasure – tend to use it as a place for drinking under-age alcohol and teenage sex adventures, or mainly as a dog toilet for most of the year; Before both they and their hounds are restricted to an area to the south end of the beach during the Summer months, that’s marked-off by a storm battered fence and badly painted sign which reads: The Dog Beach. But for me the Dog beach – with its teenage doggers and dog walkers alike has become something a bit special. A place in winter to walk and witness storm’s, or see the supernatural plays on light and sea mist, that are known as: “Brocken spectres” and hear the ghostly fog horns of big but invisible ships out somewhere on the Øresund, all of which when taken together give the Dog Beach and the entire coastline here a supernatural feel. And then when the spring and summer arrive, the Dog Beach becomes a place to swim and snorkel and cultivate – in-between working at a screen in a dark room most of the day – the best suntan that I’ve had since I was a teenager. On the Beach, early Spring 2017. Helsingør. With Marie Olesen. Helsingør itself seems like 2 very different towns in one…and if it were a human – and psychologically speaking – you probably could say that it was a bit “bi-polar” Geographically, it’s made up of what an American visitor would probably describe as a “quaint” old town and harbour, that’s full of history, shadows and ghosts that date back to the early Middle Ages, the times of the Baltic League – and even a Scottish/Celtic connection and settlement – which perhaps accounts for some of the ginger-haired and firey-eyed locals that I’ve come across shopping in Kvickly or drinking and watching football in the town’s only Irish bar, which has a mural in its male toilet that seems to try to appease both Catholic and Protestant, Celtic and Ranger and Provo and Ulster Volunteer alike. And then around the old town – and buffered by a semi-detached suburban “boring bit” – there’s a much newer town; A ring of concrete built during the 60’s and 70’s and that bares a striking resemblance to the new towns you’ll find in Scotland like: Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Bellshill and Glenrothes. And from what I can tell cycling around and getting lost in this place, it seems just as soulless in every respect as the new towns of Scotland, which have attracted unwanted nick-names such as “Spam Valley” because of the acute levels of poverty, or “Valium City” because of the high levels of depression among local bored housewives. But unlike back in Scotland where such concrete jungle’s have produced some fantastic art, writing, films and music from out of frustrated, bored and angry teenage bedrooms over the decades, with bands like the Jesus and the Marychain, Teenage Fan club not to mention Sheena Easton as being just a few examples, Helsingør it seems hasn’t really produced anything even slightly that remarkable – especially musically at least that I’ve got to hear about. Because they seem to like 70’s Rock music in Helsingør and the kind of street-punk music that use to call itself Oi! back in the UK and which rightly and wrongly became associated with fascism and white noise.. But then…..I really hope that I’m wrong about Helsingør …. Or even a Danish Sheena Easton… So I guess in the end: What do I know…? Not being as the locals say in a very certain way “Helsingør” It’s in this concrete ring too you’ll find the only indoor swimming pool in town. It’s free and over used sauna and steam room filled with modestly covered middle-eastern males, butt-naked OAP’s and tattooed locals, who tolerate rather than welcome the presence of their new neighbours. Close to the pool too, you’ll find a skate-park, which my son Danny – a Glasgow street skater – rates, because it’s been designed for “goofy”riders and encounter the only hijabs that you’re likely to see in Helsingør worn by pram-pushing ladies who’ve found themselves and their families living their new lives on what would be called in the UK “a sink housing estate” or in Scotland a “housing scheme” Only this one is out on the Northern extreme of Europe and in a place where Denmark runs out, with their dream destination: Sweden, visible so close yet so far away across the cold waters of the Øresund. Helsingør you soon discover, is the end of the line in every respect because it’s also where the Øresund Express terminates. End of the line, Helsingør. On occasions there have been check-points at the railway station, mostly manned by Arabic, Turkish and Kurdish speaking private security guards – who are themselves the sons and daughters of an earlier generation of migrants to Denmark – whose job it now is to tell people from their own former homelands that Helsingør is as far as they’re going. But the real problem with check-points in the end – as I’ve discovered on my journey’s around the planet – is that once installed even if only temporarily – as in Helsingør’s case – that they are designed to intimidate and create unnatural and permanent borders in people’s hearts and minds. Apart from the Bridge to Malmo – which we’ve all heard about because of a certain over-rated “Nordic noir” detective series – the Helsingør to Helsingborg ferry is probably the shortest direct sea route across to “Swedistan” as some of my Kurdish friends once called it. But the nearby railway station, is the closest that many refugees – who’ve already made a perilous journey across the Mediterranean – will get to their desired destination, only to discover cruelly that Sweden is now closed too them and their kind….and that the Øresund is a cold watery boarder preventing them from reaching their dream. Although I can only imagine some have tried to get there in other ways. And may have failed and disappeared in their last desperate attempts. Outside the train station there’s another reminder of Helsingør’s relationship to what I’ll call “victims of geography”: A monument that’s dedicated to the locals who helped Denmark’s Jews escape the Nazi occupation, across to the safety of neutral Sweden, and who often sacrificed their own – and their family’s – lives in the process. Although speaking over the past few years with several frustrated documentary Producer’s who’ve tried to tell the real story what happened here, this action on the part of the locals it appears wasn’t always a humanitarian gesture but a business deal. Nor is it a story that involves “good Danish” and “bad Germans” in a heroic plot-line. For the Swedes though – coming over in the opposite direction from Helsingborg and beyond – Helsingør represents a different kind of land of milk and honey… And on most weekends and public holidays, the old-town centre is filled with drunks of all ages behaving badly, some dressed in the kind of tracksuits and sporting the kind of mullet haircuts and moustaches – along with the attitudes to go with them – that disappeared back in the 1970’s. Like most seaports it’s fair to say that Helsingør has a drink problem as much as it has an alcohol business that keeps some locals gainfully employed. It’s town centre is filled with “old school” bars which don’t sell pints normally, but only bottles of beer and chaser shots of fire-water – that tastes a lot like the fisherman’s friends we sucked as kids; Along side them are discount off-sales, where the Swedish invasion stock-up with contraband booze, before heading back over the Øresund with a hang-over to their homeland, where there is still a kind of prohibition in place on the purchase of alcohol. So in that respect – and not to do Helsingør down, as well as bring up the Celtic connection once again – Friday and Saturday night’s here are just like they would be in Argyle Street or Sauchiehall St in Glasgow. But then perhaps too, it’s a bit more like Trumpton with an alcohol problem and steam train that runs past our house at the week-ends, rather than a “Mean City” There’s also a large number of Thai massage parlours around the old town too, and I can only guess that either the population of Helsingør have married a lot of Thai’s because they have serious back problems, or that the term “happy ending” means the same as it does in any language, anywhere in the world. And along with Swedish booze cruisers out to satisfy basic instincts, there are also the kind of shops that more affluent country folk like, which sell the kind of conservative clothing – and not so conservative lingerie – that conservative voting country women – and most men – like everywhere. There’s also what claims to be ” probably the best cheese shop in Denmark” – even if some of its staff could do with a bit of 21st century customer service training in international relations – having once been refused service last Christmas because I didn’t speak Danish and they were “too busy”. And along with the nationalist cheese seller’s, cafes, pubs and restaurants, there’s also a bad curry house that’s thankfully recently shut-down, Chinese and Thai buffet’s offering “refuel” for drunken Swede’s, kebab, Pizza and one of the best sushi restaurants that you’ll find anywhere on the planet at Sushi Taro. But if Helsingør were to stake its respectable reputation on one thing alone in a definitive tourist brochure for visitors from everywhere – other than Sweden it would seem – it would be as the home-town of Hamlet and a story which is both set and performed regularly around town and in the gothic Kronborg castle, which we always liked to say to people was “Just down the end of our street….” Close to the end of the line. Ghosts of a steam train echo down a track… Cake and Coffee…. Victims of Geography Goofy skate parks… Fascist Cheese sellers…. Conservative clothing and risqué’ lingerie shops… But now it’s time to stop sounding-off like some kind of existentialist tourist guide lost in Hamletland and get on to more serious psycho-geographic stuff….. The darker things that make Helsingør a bit “Nordic noir” as well as Trumpton with an alcohol problem… Explore the “Occulture” that lies hidden beneath the cobblestones of the old town…. Because Helsingør is also home to a large Masonic lodge flying a Templar flag, it’s “all-seeing eye” on top of a pyramid watching all of us here in the old town, and a higher power which I walk past regularly while en-route to nearby Kvickly….While hidden out in the boring suburbs – and probably on the same ley-line as the lodge where strange things happen – is a reinforced, steel plated and bomb-proof bunker…The local home franchise of the Bandidos – a biker gang who’ve been fighting a turf war with the Hell’s Angels for generations, and whose members as they’ve grown older – and I have to say I’ve only ever seen old geezers on Harley’s in Helsingør with Bandido leathers on – have probably found their ways into the temple of the illuminati It’s a conspiracy theory you could say featuring former rebels without a cause, who’ve found their way into the other much darker and older lodge in town, where the real power and knowledge lies…. Which is as it has been here since the Middle Ages…. But despite all that I’ve said so far, I don’t really want to diss’ Helsingør. But then too, our relationship was never a lover affair…. More an ambivalent tinder date without a happy ending…. And I have to confess that I liked living in Helsingør and only wish that the locals who say “Helsingør” in the same way a Glaswegian says “Glesga” would talk themselves up a bit more. As well as learn to be nice to foreigners who might want to buy their cheese. As an “in-comer” to Denmark I’ve been lucky – and privileged – to get to observe a different side to the land of milk and honey than one that’s all life-style “hygge bollocks” over-rated Nordic Noir, style over substance, over-rated design and Smørrebrød And I’ve become acutely aware that if Copenhagener’s do genius and arrogance then “Helsingør’s” for their part are to get all Victorian values: “A bit too humble by half….” And I should know. Because we British invented arrogance. While also – coming as I do from a disenfranchised, council estate, white, underclass background – a concrete ring – I know all about “knowing my place” “doffing my cap to those better than me” and the need to be “ever so umble” in the Charles Dickensian sense. Which is why I escaped the UK and now prefer Smørrebrød to eating “humble pie” any day – even if I have recently cultivated an aversion to sild, rye bread and hard-boiled eggs. But then perhaps I ate too much of it living in Helsingør, where I always preferred the sushi anyhow… Not being from “Helsingør” It’s probably only a matter of time too before the hipsters and skint, displaced artists – like me – who can’t afford the rents of Copenhagen start moving into the neighbourhood as “the shock troops of gentrification” and probably the reason why plans for a “Copenhagen express” which would turn a 40 minute train journey into a 20 minute one, is something that many real “Helsingør’s” who’ve been here for generations dread. Although in passing I should mention that Helsingør already has an established hipster barbershop and a clothing-come DiY-come-household goods shop, that’s straight out of the “Ladybird book of Hipsters” and which is also happens to be a former documentary commissioner at the DFI’s favourite shop. And then there’s the Celtic connection again. Shipbuilding, Helsingør. Denmark. Because just like back in Glasgow – and on the west coast of Scotland – they used to build ships in Helsingør. But unlike in Scotland – which doesn’t seem to want or know how – to celebrate its maritime heritage culture warts and all, Helsingør has become the home to the Danish museum of the sea or M/S Museet for Søfart built into the old shipyard dry dock, and a place where you could until recently see a Peter Greenaway installation called “Sex and the Sea” So along with: Coffee and Cake… Conservative clothing and risqué’ lingerie… Fascist cheese sellers… Sex and the Sea and happy endings …..there’s also Culture. The Cultureyard or Kulturværftet is the place where an old industry – shipbuilding – has been replaced by a new, 21st century one that involves culture and creativity in what call’s itself – although I’m still not sure exactly what they are – The Creative Industries. All I know is that instead of shipyard workers there are now arts workers and “content providers” – just like me and probably you – who work for free for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter everyday, while we make our under-budgeted and often unseen and unloved films, in-between pitching and pimping our talents and ideas in the wind, and existing in what feels like a permanent state of “development hell” And instead of Managers and Gaffers in this new industry there are “Consultants” who like to say that they don’t do “Art” they do “Cultural policy” Although Denmark doesn’t have such a rigidly a defined class system as the one in which I was brought up in, resented and am still traumatized by in the UK, it still none the less exists, and is something that I’ve become acutely aware of living in Helsingør. And that it’s probably the reason why the kind of “content” and “culture” associated with the Culture yard is viewed by many of the locals – our neighbours include who remembered Helsingør when it built ships – as being “Not for the likes of them….” Philip Glass Performing in an old ship yard shed, Click Festival, Kulturværftet, Helsingør But its been here in Helsingør in what was once an old shipyard at the end of our street, at the end of the line and on the north-eastern front of Denmark – just 6 kilometres or so from Sweden – a place so faraway and yet so close for many Asylum seekers, that we experienced Philip Glass performing his marathon “Music in Twelve Parts” which is now regarded as one of the classical masterpieces of the 20th Century and “a cornerstone in classical minimalism” A different kind of music…Helsingør shipyard. As we listened in an old engineering shed, you got the feeling that you were escaping from time itself, and as day turned to night escaping into another place. That other place….. A place that is and that isn’t Helsingør. Conscious too that all around us, there was history and the ghosts of shipyard workers, listening – somewhere – up in the rafters and crane lofts. …That other older Helsingør that’s still here….in the walls, in the rusting cranes and railway tracks…in the shadows as well as in the statues and murals of the old town….In the faces of real “Helsingør’s” And it’s here too that we heard Laurie Anderson performing along with the ghost of her late husband Lou Reed….who she said was still on his way to the nirvana that he believed in as a Buddhist, but was stuck in some sort of transit lounge for souls on his journey to paradise. Here too that I met for the first time a stalwart of Danish culture and film-making Jørgen Leth after a live show that he was doing, which I never attend because it was in Danish and so “not for the likes of me” because I don’t speak the language that the Danes live in. A show too about the frustrations of growing old and facing the end of life…. In this world at least…. If life really does have an end…or instead is just something we perpetually return to and re-live… If life really does have an end…or instead is just something we perpetually return to and re-live… The Cultureyard or Kulturværftet in Helsingør In the sea-town and military port where I grew up the Medway Towns conurbation of Gillingham, Chatham and Rochester, the old matlows or sailors and dockers would say the seagulls were the spirits of dead gaffers and managers, or the Officer-class watching over them, and making sure that they worked and were well behaved….Helsingør has its seagull spirits too, but it also has some seriously large, noisy black crows and magpies – huge ones in fact – that have been here ever since time began….and the ghosts and spirits of locals watching over the town new and old alike and listening to: Lou Reed, Jørgen Leth, Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass… Even if it it wasn’t once-upon-a-time: “For the likes of them….” At the start of May and the start of the Summer we’ve also experienced for the past 2 years the wonderful Click festival a celebration of the weird, the wonderful and – call it what it is – at times pretentious cutting edge of contemporary art, cyber culture and music. But despite being a bit “up itself” – remember not everything from Japan is really always that cool and that sometimes porn is just what it says on the label – it is an event I’ll be returning to long after we’ve left Helsingør; Along with the Knejper festival – which is a glorified musical pub-crawl through the old town’s bars, and where old and new cultures clash and get pissed – and which I missed last year because I was away filming in Iraq. Being a seaside town too means that – just like back in the UK – Helsingør has its fair-share of the kind of rock concerts that feature fading rock and pop legends whose star-status has faded and moved then from being stadium rockers to Helsingør harbour performers. Both Sting and more recently Bryan Adams have played here at well attended open air concerts, along with numerous Danish Rock and Pop dinosaurs who for some reason even my most progressive Danish friends and partner seem to be totally loyal to. Although I have to say when I listen I can’t help but be reminded of those British comedies featuring Rock bands like Spinal Tap, or of a Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse sketch about naive European rockers with the kind of mullet haircuts that you see walking drunk around Helsingør in search of a happy ending… But then what do I know? Not being “Helsingør” Tucked away at the back of the Culture yard and Street/Fast food market, you can find the old clocking-in office for the shipyard’s workers along with a Manager’s observation point that in its day would have looked out over at the workers in the dry docks – just as the seagulls do today – and a museum filled with the 00 scale models of the many ships built here. On culture night last October – which is a yearly event through-out Denmark that marks the transition into Autumn and dark nights – and just before I went out on my most recent assignment to Iraq on Minefield I shared a beer and got talking to an old shipyard worker in the museum – translated through my partner and who is often the “we” in my writing Marie Olesen and our friend Lisbet Matz. And it’s here too that I confess that my instinct as a hunter-gatherer of stories kicked into action… Because I really do think that there is a film in what follows….somewhere. 2 of the final ships to be built in the Helsingør yard – which many locals blame for the yard’s bankruptcy – were commissioned prior to the start of the first Gulf War by Saddam Hussein who although viewed as a “sonofabitch was still at least America’s sonofabitch” The story it seems has become part of the local folk-lore of the area, as well as a lesson in how Politicians and Business people who – being either greedy, corrupt or just plain stupid – were so eager to appease the demands of the Arab despot and his fickle and psychopathic family that they sacrificed not just their own business and political careers, but more importantly a centuries old way of life. In fact it could be said that “the suits” in the yard – and some are probably still along at the local lodge in the pointy hats – might just as well have signed a contract with the devil himself – and believe me when I say “devil” many of my Arab and Kurdish friends would say that Saddam was “Shayṭān” It was a contract too that included a confidentiality agreement signed by both Managers and workers alike that take us off into the realms of paranoia, secrecy and a James Bond plot-line….Because the larger of the 2 ships which was called in the true hubris of Shayṭān himself “Al Mansur”or “The Victor”and it included special 007 features like a submarine escape pod for the Dictator and his cronies as well as a hidden anti-aircraft missile system – which in the end proved useless, as the boat was eventually destroyed in a Top-Gun raid with Tomcat missiles by the American’s in 2003 down in Basra harbour, Iraq. “Al Mansur”or “The Victor” However the other ship that was commissioned still exists at sea Although “The Qadisiyah Saddam” is really more of a luxury shallow bottom barge than it is a conventional ship and was designed mainly to navigate in Iraq or “the land of the 2 rivers” on the Tigres and Euphrates. It’s also since changed its name to escape its ties with the devil to the chilled-out “Ocean Breeze” and was last heard of down in Basra being used as a 5-star luxury marine biology research and survey vessel. At the Helsingør end, the story goes that the ships were never paid for by Saddam, whose tab was eventually picked-up by the Saudi Royals, who in turn “gifted” the Ocean Breeze to the Jordanian Royal family, who have long since returned it back into Iraqi ownership, where it remains the subject of a legal dispute about who actually owns it and war reparation claims . The Ocean Breeze with a devil in its name. Although Saddam’s ships and the pact made with a devil may – or may not – have brought down the Helsingør shipyard in the end – the story also goes that many of the shipyard’s workers – and you can guarantee Managers who turned a blind eye – did extract some kind of compensation from it all. Even if it did in then end happen to have “fallen out of the back of a shipyard” and into their private homes of the locals, in the form of quality pieces of furniture, fittings, hard-woods and other luxury materials such as gold-plated toilet-roll holders – which were deemed at the time of construction to be substandard by Saddam – probably because he was stalling and getting ready to “do a runner” A runner which in the end was aided and abetted by the US military, who did what the US military do all over the world when someone who they thought was their sonofabitch falls out with them. I promised then as a film-maker after hearing the shipbuilder’s story, that I would go in search of those ships and what’s left of them and its since become the basis for an I’m developing in my own filmmaker’s version of hell: It’s kind of heart of darkness/Apocalypse Now journey through the land of the 2 rivers: Iraq – down the Euphrates and Tigress – in search of the remaining ship which – even though I know where it can be found – shouldn’t stand in the way of telling a ripping yarn that’s connecting Iraq and Helsingør and what’s happened in the 2 very different places since. A story too that’s about Hamlet, coffee, cake, drunken Swedes, unhappy Asylum seekers, bad curry, sex and the sea in conservative clothing and risqué lingerie…. Thai massage parlours….. And happy endings. Clocking in time again. Helsingør shipyard. Heading back to Helsingør as newly installed residents of Copenhagen to hand-over our keys to our former landlord was a reminder too of how the Øresund Express has become a regular feature in our life up in the “ør” Most of our journeys from the end of the line to Copenhagen and back again were uneventful, pleasant and peaceful enough, but on one occasion while travelling home alone, things turned ugly and I became involved with a group of young, drunk and stoned asylum seeker youths from Kokkedal who – having humiliated an elderly Danish man wearing a flu viral mask and his wife – decided to turn on me for stepping-in….before disappearing like a pack of jackals back into the concrete sink estate that they’ve ended up being dumped in. All that I really want to say about the incident – apart from the fact that it ended up hurting me as well as it did some of them – is that I’ve never tolerated bullying of any kind….and that I really couldn’t careless – if you happen to read this someday any of you – where you may have come from or what you may have been through to end up where it is you are now….and that irrespective of whatever religion or tribe, or God you may happen to follow: You don’t assault or humiliate the vulnerable, sick, poor or old… And that perhaps you should show – if not respect – then some courtesy to people like the old Danish man who you humiliated and whose country has offered you, your family and friends a new life in Denmark. A place where you can find a voice and a freedom you may have never experienced before…and a freedom which means you can speak out without fear of violence. A freedom too which means that you can get drunk if you like. But it’s freedom that comes with a price involving a bit of humility, accountability and self-discipline on your part to go along with all the sweat and machismo of your beautiful and angry youth. But then if all you really want to do is be a “hard man” or “gangsta” like every other weak-minded and brain-dead nobody – out in a nowhere place like Kokkedal – and want to use the kind of mindless violence and fear that I witnessed you use to assert your power and get a laugh at the expense of others who are weaker than yourselves, then perhaps you too should have stayed in your homelands, and turned all that misguided anger and violence and frustration into violence for a reason – rather than just resort to the mindless violence of idiots. In the end you are here because your Fathers and Mothers, brothers and sisters didn’t want or could stomach war any more…. I have only respect, admiration and love for the beautiful people I know in the Middle-East. People who’ve welcomed me into their homes and protected me over the years…. People who’ve stayed and fought, or done something else that’s just as brave for their families, friends and homelands…. Men and women whom I’ve had the privilege to film in places where there is nothing but war…. Places too where they crucify people and bury or skin them alive if they speak out, or dare to be different…. But I have zero respect for thugs and bullies and the kind of gangsta-culture that you may aspire to… And I’m not going to stand back, remain silent and allow or just ignore the kind of behaviour that I and sadly others who sat in silence and did nothing, witnessed on the Øresund express on that particular night. As someone whose job it is to look at the world and film people’s stories I’d like to meet you again someday – not for some macho/Diehard act of a vengeance thing – or as a reality TV exercise in the humiliation of the disenfranchised that TV Executives all over the world seem to relish and get off on. Because in the end you’ve obviously got a problem with how and where life and the troubled times we all live in have taken you to in Kokkedal…. But then perhaps tolerance and respect for difference are beyond you now – sadly and coming as you do from a world where the bully rules, the “gangstar” shines and the fittest survive…. ….While the weak and poor get crushed or are sent to fight in rich men’s wars against their will. A world that you may have come from and where there’s now not 1 but a 1,000 or more Saddam’s…. At the very least – if we ever did meet – we could talk. Because a dialogue is always a start if you really want to bring about a change in your world….. But then perhaps it really is too late for you after all…. Fragments from the Dog Beach, Copenhagen, Summer 2017. There’s no beach where I live now. Just a small kids sand pit, along with a few pieces of driftwood and pebbles – some jetsam from the Øresund that I picked-up from the Dog Beach – which has already been removed by one of my new and over-zealous neighbours. But then: Beneath the cobblestones there’s always a beach. If not a Dog Beach or a Hunde Strand – like in Helsingør – with all its stories, shadows and ghosts – living and dead, lost or never really alive – that are floating in the wind and watching over us…. Leaving their footprints in the sand on a beach that looks out over the Øresund to Sweden – which I’ll walk on water to….

Cam: I’m a changeling, a shapeshifter born to protect the innocent and serve my Queen, Hecate. While patrolling the Castle grounds in our supernatural world, a scent leads me through a portal to the Mortal Plane where I meet my mate and his charming daughter. An evil plot between his world and mine is trying to take them away from me, but I’ll die -- or go against my Queen -- to protect my new family. Ben: My daughter, Seda, is my world, though I try not to give in and let her have everything she wants. But I can’t say no to her keeping the large cat she finds while we’re on vacation. It turns out this cat really is different -- he turns into a very sexy man who crashes into my life and steals my heart. When something evil tries to cross into our world, Cam vows to put his life on the line to protect my child. I may lose one to save the other, and I don’t know how I’ll ever survive the loss.

The women of the Bible present fascinating stories, but it is important to remember their exploits, faith and courage as instruction to all us. Ruth’s story is 3000 years old yet highly relevant instruction regarding the sovereignty of God, the sexual nature of humanity and the mercy of God. Sarah was so beautiful kings desired her, but she was also tough, smart, and resourceful. Women today can be called her children, “if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening” (1 Peter 3:6). There are many others, but of all the women of the Bible, Jesus exhorts us to “remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32). He does not tell us to remember Abraham, Sarah, Ruth, David, or Mary. He picks a person who didn’t “get it” to give us one of the most important teachings in scripture. Why is it so important to remember Lot’s wife? Like no other man or woman, Lot’s wife is a solemn warning to all of us. Jesus gives the warning to His disciples, not to the Scribes and Pharisees. Any one of us can quickly slip into forgetting the subject of her story. Jesus is telling us to look at her story as an example of divine judgment that comes quickly on those who do not wholeheartedly obey the commands of the Lord. We risk it all if we fail to heed this warning. Lot’s wife had the one of the best spiritual opportunities and powerful experiences of her day. Her uncle by marriage was Abraham, a godly man whom God used to rescue her when she was taken hostage. She was married to a godly man. She had the experience of seeing angels who came to rescue her from the wrath of God. Yet in the end she died without regret for her attitude. She lived for what she wanted in life, not God’s will. She never understood what it meant to “set your mind on things that are above, not on earthy things” (Col. 3:2). I would suggest that there are many people in the Church today just like Lot’s wife. Lot’s wife was not a murderer or an adulteress, which when the Law of God was eventually given to Moses, required the death penalty. Her one sin is a disturbingly simple act; she “looked back.” The looking was nothing in and of itself. In reality, it revealed the condition of a heart secretly enamored with the world. The question we must carefully ask ourselves: “What is in my heart when it comes to worldliness?” We see the progression so often as a child grows into adulthood. They start out faithfully saying their nightly prayers. As a teenager they are active in the youth group, memorizing scripture and going on missions trips. Early indications of a potential problem are innocent indulgences: heavily involved in sports, video games, texting their friends and interest in the opposite sex. In adulthood, their spirituality is lite. Their passions become a good education, a successful career, a fulfilling marriage, more money, more rewards, etc. Is there a bigger problem below the surface? On the one hand their faithful church attendance looks like they are walking away from sin as Lot’s wife walked away from Sodom. Notice carefully those around you, and you may see that they have looked back. We must also look at ourselves. “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves . . .” (2 Cor. 13:5). You can be alive one moment, a flesh and blood breathing human being, and instantly become a “pillar of salt.” The image is a hopeless, worthless state; the reality is lost in hell. Suddenly there is no opportunity to repent. Don’t believe what others say, “God is too merciful to punish anyone eternally.” Jesus says, “Remember Lot’s wife.” “Repent or perish” (Luke 13:3, 5). Paul was driven to tears over the people he knew that “walk as enemies of the cross of Christ” (Phil. 3:18). He describes them as having “minds set on earthly things” (vs. 19). No one in their right mind would choose to be an enemy of the cross of Christ. The choice is more benign; a heart, a mind, and then more than a look, but a life set on earthly things. We must save ourselves from the great delusion of a spiritual life that fails to go far enough and is always seeking to find its self among the dead things of the world. Likely Paul was remembering Lot’s wife when he said, “The appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:29-31). The scriptures consistently instruct us to always live each day believing that Christ’s can come at any unforeseen moment. We must prioritize human relationships, material possessions, and worldly dealings. John warns us of being devoted to a system that is opposed to God. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of possessions, is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17). What does it look like when the will of God is first, not television, not the Internet, not your iPod, not your hobbies, not your finances, or not your manner of dress? Do we even know? Any discussion of these and other issues begins with the heart, not legalistic restrictions and enforced rules. Getting to the heart of the matter is challenging, but this is where is begins. Can others around you tell you apart from your unconverted neighbors or coworkers? If there is little or no difference, maybe you have already looked back. Jesus’ warning is an expression of His mercy, designed to protect us. Let’s remember Lot’s wife!

I finished reading NT Wright’s latest “The Day the Revolution Began” on Christmas day 2016, and have been ruminating on it since. It is indeed the paradigm challenging book that it was touted to be, although some of his arguments are familiar to fans who have read his other books. And though Michael Gorman helped exorcise my atonement theory demons last year, it seems Wright has put the final nail to the coffin. So I intend in this post to share some lessons I have learnt from these 2 theologians about how to read the Bible properly in order to understand Jesus’s behaviour and actions, including understanding perhaps the most important action of all – his death on the cross. 1Center The Discussion – Start from The Gospels Just like Gorman, Wright challenges us to answer this all important question by not first looking to later commentaries about Jesus’s death, especially from Paul’s letters, but by starting from the the best record of Jesus’s own life themselves ie from the Gospels. And just like Gorman, he brings in the significance of Jesus choosing to die not on the day of atonement (Yom Kippur), but rather during Passover. Some of the results of doing this is already mentioned in my review of Gorman’s book, and in this respect he and Wright are aligned in their thinking so I will not repeat it here. Suffice it to say that they point out a very obvious problem that I have noticed in Christendom – we just don’t pay enough attention to the Gospels, and even when we do, we totally ignore the fact that the context for understanding the Gospels is 2nd Temple Judaism, not 21st century Christianity (or any other period of Christian history). 2“According to Scripture” – Know the Story of Israel In 1 Cor 15:4, Paul makes a very important statement – “Christ died for our sins, ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURES”. Many Christians I have met and interacted with assume that Paul is talking about proof-texting ie finding 1 or 2 passages in the Old Testament that seem to foreshadow Jesus’ death. And in the case of answering why Jesus died, the go-to place has been Isaiah 53. But as Richard Hays points out in his book “Reading Backwards”, such attempts to look for individual passages or chapters in the OT to explain the NT without understanding the story of the people of Israel always leads to abuse of scripture. When Paul said “according to scripture”, he meant according to the whole witness of the Old Testament regarding the purpose of existence of the people of Israel, and not according to individual scriptural passages taken out of their historical context – which is the aforementioned story of Israel. Let me give a clear example of how this bad attitude within Christianity towards the story of Israel has so distorted our understanding of scripture. If you were to ask an ordinary Christian, or myriads of pastors, what Jesus meant by “forgiveness of sins” in his statement at Passover ie. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Mt 26:27-28 NIV)”, you will get the classical answer which goes from Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden to how Jesus died to save us from the effects of this one particular sin. They will totally jump over the biblical story of Abraham, the Exodus, Israel as a nation as well as the exile and return from exile, as if none of that intervening bit recorded in the bible matters. But when a Jew of Jesus’ day hears Jesus talk about “forgiveness of sins”, the “sins” that would have come to mind are not Adam’s sin which they inherited, but the sins of their forefathers which led them into exile, and even after returning from exile, into a state of slavery in their own nation. In an interesting set of coincidences (all Chapter 9), one can see which “sins” they mean by reading the prayers for Yahweh’s mercy on Israel recorded in Daniel 9, Ezra 9 and Nehemiah 9 – 3 different prayers from 3 different people offered during and after the exile. I quote from some of these passages below. “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws … All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. Therefore, the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses … have been poured out on us … You have fulfilled the words spoken against us … by bring on us great disaster” (Dan 9:4-12, Daniel’s prayer to Yahweh to have mercy during the exile). “I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens … Because of our sins, we and our kings and priests have been subjected to the sward and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hands of foreign kings, as it is today” (Ez 9:6-7, Ezra’s prayer to Yahweh to have mercy after returning from the exile) “But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they turned their backs on your law. They killed your prophets, who had waned them in order to turn them back to you … So you delivered them into the hands of their enemies, who oppressed them … But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our ancestors so that they could eat it its fruit and the other good things it produces. Because of our sins, it’s abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress” (Neh 9:26,27,36-37, A prayer of the people of Israel to Yahweh for mercy after returning from exile) But one may then ask – if “forgiveness of sins” was about the sins of Israel leading to exile, then how can we, non-Jews who didn’t participate in the “sins” that lead to the exile, receive “forgiveness of sins” in Jesus’s death on the cross? Here we go to the 3rd lesson. 3Covenant is the Key – Repent of Your Legal Filters For centuries, and especially within Protestant tradition, many have focused on using law-court metaphors to understand not just places where they seem to appear – like Paul’s letters, especially to the Romans – but to read all of scripture, including the Old Testament. This is despite the fact that ancient Israel was founded on Israel’s covenant relationship with Yahweh – a relationship that was entered into not on the basis of “law keeping” but on the basis of trust – Abraham’s trust in Yahweh. The giving of the law was meant to keep the covenant relationship that had already been enacted intact, and not the basis of foundation of the covenant. Yahweh actually specifies the reason why he calls Abraham right from the get go. “I will make you into a great nation … and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:2-3). The purpose of the relationship of Yahweh to Abraham was the salvation of the world. This is reiterated again to focus specifically on the nation Israel as the “inheriters” of Abraham’s task and promise. “I, the Lord have called you [Israel] in righteousness, I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you [Israel] to be a covenant for the people, and a light to the Gentiles” (Is 42:6) Hence, when Abraham’s offspring missed the way, the means of salvation for the world had been missed. And since the exile was caused by the “sins” of idolatory and injustice, Yahweh needed to forgive these “sins” in order to restore covenant relationship. Hence the words of the prophets “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah … for I will forgive their wickedness, and will remember their sins no more” (Jer 31:31,34) Note that Yahweh didn’t say “I will make a new covenant with everyone in the world”, but with Israel and Judah – the northern and southern parts of the divided nation which had both gone into exile. Abraham (and subsequently, Israel) is God’s vehicle of salvation of the world, including Gentiles like you and I. Therefore, Jesus’s death is the means of restoration of the covenant so that you and I, 2000 years after, can also be beneficiaries by becoming part of the chosen people of God – becoming part of the new Israel constituted “in Christ”. This is why Paul says “Christ redeemed us [Jews/Israel] from the curse of the law [exile] by becoming a curse for us; for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole’. He redeemed us [Jews/Israel] in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit” (Gal 3:13-14 NIV) Reading the bible with legal-metaphor filters however prevents one from seeing why covenant is so crucial to the bible. To make sense of the bible in a legal manner, Protestants especially, following their favourite forefather St. Augustine, have had to resort to reading Adam and Eve as breakers of moral laws, which sin is transmitted via direct inheritance (aka Adam as the first man) in order to make everyone guilty so that Jesus can come to save us all. It has been interesting to me listening to friends and pastors who read scripture with this filter explain Paul’s references to Israel, Abraham, “law”, “sin”, “inheritance”, “promises” etc that appear all over his letters, all the while skipping over the details of Israel’s story and trying to universalize the guilt of everyone so scriptures which applied to Israel will somehow apply to us all. 4Recover Vocation – Re-Read Genesis and Revelations Again And so we begin at the beginning. NT Wright makes a very important suggestion about reading the bible, not just in individual books but especially about the beginning (Genesis) and the end (Revelations). Reading the end of every story helps you to understand what the beginning and middle was all about. This is obvious advise, which is why the end of a movie or a novel explains all that happened before. And in that sense, he points out a very important but critically overlooked point in the book of Revelation. That there are 3 passages which point out the purpose of salvation, but which hardly feature in most people’s conversation about salvation. “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father – to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen” (Rev 1:6) “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Rev 5:10) “Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years” (Rev 20:6) You will note that the idea of being made a kingdom of priests and a royal nation is exactly the reason why Yahweh chose Israel in Ex 19. “You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex 19:6). Now, step back a bit, and ask yourself how God made human beings? He made them “in his image and likeness” (Gen 1:26). This would mean then that salvation is about that primary reason he created man – to set us free to become fully human, properly bearing the image of God. Humans were created with a vocation – to be priests and kings mediating God’s presence on the earth and reflecting his praises to him. The failure of Adam and Eve then is not simply about “law-keeping”, but about refusing to act as images of God through reliance on him as their source of wisdom, and deciding to be images of themselves, making themselves the ultimate source of wisdom. This is why “Wisdom” is such an important concept in the Old Testament – there was no true wisdom without “the fear of Yahweh” (Prov 9:10). As Paul mentioned in Romans 1 when condemning non-believing Gentiles, whenever humans refuse to worship Yahweh and follow in his ways, they become less of themselves, falling to immoral behaviour. The solution then, is a restoration to covenant relationship, and learning from the Human One – Jesus the Messiah – what it means to worship Yahweh, and to be made in Yahweh’s image – which is fully revealed in Jesus. Afterall, a certain apostle once wrote. “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son” (Ro 8:29) I have more to say about salvation as a recovery of the human vocation as “the image of God”, but let me finish reading J. Richard Middleton’s “The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1”, and i’ll give you my thoughts. Suffice it to say that moving the conversation from “savings souls from hell to heaven” to “inviting people into a community where they can live life as genuine human beings both now and in eternity” is where we need to be headed. And I’m definitely on board with Wright, Gorman,Walton, Middleton et al. The revolution against the powers of sin and death has begun in the death of the Messiah on the cross. Long live the revolution!!!

“The man is quite simply top-to-toe hilarious” ★★★★★ The Telegraph Britain's biggest comedian Michael McIntyre is heading to Montreal as part of his Big World Tour. Michael has sold over 3 million tickets in his career and sold out arenas around the world, including a record 28 times at London's 16,000 capacity O2 Arena where he has become the biggest selling artist in its history. In addition to stand-up, Michael presents his own television show, Michael McIntyre's Big Show, on BBC1. With a fifth season starting later this year, the show has been a huge success, averaging over 7 million viewers and winning Michael the BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance. Please note, no latecomers will be admitted to the performance during the first part of the show, before the intermission. There is no opening act for this show, Michael McIntyre will be onstage at 7pm. We are not able to offer refunds to latecomers.

REYHANLI, Turkey — Mosab al-Jamal sees his family once a week, and sleeps only four hours a night. As he lights his fifth cigarette in almost as many minutes, he stops talking and looks out the window onto a dusty, quiet street, beyond which lies Syria. “So many students, so many educations interrupted,” he murmurs quietly. A former law professor at Damascus University and a portly man in his late fifties, al-Jamal is the leader of a group of academics who have created the Free Syrian University, an academic institution that began teaching classes in November in the once-sleepy Turkish town of Reyhanli, only a few miles from the Syrian border. “This is only temporary,” he says, arms swinging as he surveys his surroundings in his office on the top floor of a modest apartment building. A Free Syrian Army flag lies folded in the corner of the room, and an elaborate but weathered sign works hard to bestow legitimacy to his operation, saying simply, “Legal Authority of Syrian Revolution.” Worn furniture, scattered ashtrays, and empty demitasses round out the rest of the room. The effort to get the school off the ground comes as the Syrian conflict, which has left more than 130,000 dead and produced more than 2 million refugees, enters its 34th month. Amid the horrific day-to-day death and destruction, several concerned academics are taking the long view—realizing that regardless of the outcome of the war, Syria, whose society has long respected those with advanced degrees and whose state-run educational institutions were once points of pride, stands to lose the minds of an entire generation of educated youth. It is these young people who will be essential for the country’s rehabilitation after the last bullet is fired. Until then, ongoing conflict has ended almost all educational opportunities for Syrian youth, many of whom struggle in nearby countries to advance their educations against linguistic, cultural, and economic barriers. Ismail is one of them, eager to build on his education in neighboring Turkey but thus far unable to enroll in classes. The 22-year-old was a law student at Damascus University before Syria’s civil war erupted and attended the peaceful protests in 2011. “I was scared, but I was kind of optimistic too. The regime was there filming us, but, amazingly, nothing happened. I think this encouraged us. We were all dancing in the street,” he recalls, eagerly showing videos taken on his iPhone that have received thousands of hits on YouTube. “Then, within a month or two, they started shooting at us. What [was] I supposed to do? They started shelling areas full of the youth, killing children.” Ismail, who asked that his last name not be used, left Syria in early 2012 and arrived in Turkey via Aleppo as the fighting worsened. Now delivering water for a Turkish company in Gaziantep, a city 40 minutes from the Syrian border, Ismail embodies the challenges facing displaced Syrian students hoping to continue their educations. “I have almost no options,” he explains. “First, I have to take Turkish-language classes for nine months, and have to start university all over again, and that’s only if I have the proper paperwork. But the FSA [Free Syrian Army] doesn’t give out passports and the regime makes you collect your passport in person, so I have no paperwork. Second, there’s lots of confusing information about scholarships—the Turkish government has announced them publicly, but when I ask about them, I am told they don’t exist. And the fees for university here are high for Syrians, the Syrian pound is worthless now.” Asked if he could continue his studies at Damascus University, which is still holding classes and contributing to the veneer of normalcy that the Assad regime has sought to promote, Ismail is dismissive. “There is no more education in Syria,” he says. “It’s all for show, whatever is left.” “We university professors have an enormous responsibility to face this reality,” says al-Jamal. “Ours is an academic duty to answer this educational crisis.” The idea for the Free Syrian University took root one year ago among several former classmates who attended Damascus University with al-Jamal in the 1970s and fled Syria for Turkey at the outbreak of violence. These include Ibrahimi al-Haji, who for 18 years was the chief justice in a court in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and who now functions as the university’s legal advisor. Support has also come from professors among the Syrian diaspora living in Europe, who have offered to teach classes both in Turkey and from afar via the Internet, primarily through Facebook and Skype. The curriculum, al-Jamal says, is “a combination of the old regime curriculum and new information from Sweden and Germany in particular. For example, we are adding English to each student’s courses each semester, so that all of our graduates can easily find work.” University officials are offering students 13 majors, including political science, law, media, education, psychology, economics, business, Arabic literature, and pharmacology. Perhaps with a nod to the university’s location, the institution will also offer degrees in Turkish and English translation. “We have 32 professors ready here in Reyhanli and more than 60 around the world who are helping,” says a young female lawyer from Damascus who is working at the university and who asked to remain anonymous because her family is still in Syria. “All are Syrian.” For young Syrian refugees like Ismail who are in Turkey, classes are taught in a three-story office building in Reyhanli. But al-Jamal is intent on also providing educational opportunities to students trapped or displaced inside Syria. To that end, through what he terms an “open-learning” approach, the Syrian academic is making heavy use of the Internet, including social networks like Facebook, to deliver lessons to students still in Syria. Syrian professors in Turkey and around the world are working to record lessons relevant to the set curriculum and post them online. University staff then distribute these lessons to a growing mailing list divided by major. “This is temporary, to immediately address this reality,” al-Jamal says. The school sends most of its news out via its Facebook page, which more than 6,000 people follow. The Free Syrian University has formally enrolled 870 students in Turkey and has hundreds more on digital mailing lists inside Syria and other neighboring countries, mainly in Jordan. “The enrollment looks great,” al-Jamal says. He estimates that enrollment could reach as high as 11,500 in just a few years if the conflict continues, mainly because there are so few options for Syrians seeking an advanced degree, and because students may eventually come from Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon to study. A modest fee structure is in place, though more than 90 percent of students are unable to pay anything and attend classes for free. “We charge $280 per semester to those students inside Syria, and $560 per semester to those students outside,” says al-Jamal. “We would prefer to charge nothing, but supplies are expensive and our teaching staff have families who need their support. This income just covers our costs.” The university will admit any Syrian who was a student prior to the fighting as well as those who would have been scheduled to attend college. Al-Jamal repeatedly stresses that no one has supported the venture financially, and that all costs are paid out of pocket, many by the university professors themselves. “We give new professors $1,500 when they sign up. Total. That’s all we can give them,” he notes, adding that he hopes others will see the importance of supporting Syria’s future leaders. The university’s stated goal is “to prepare educated generations who seek to build a country of law and justice and institutions.” Though there is no outright political agenda in classrooms and operations are largely funded by professors themselves, the university—with both its name and its mandate from the Free Syrian Legal Authority, a type of clearinghouse organization that proves the organization functions with the blessing of the Free Syrian Army—is directly connected to the armed resistance against the Assad regime. Depending on the outcome of the war, this could prove problematic for graduates as well as university officials should they seek accreditation or re-enter Syria. When we interviewed al-Jamal, this connection was personified by a quiet, chain-smoking man in a leather jacket who was introduced only as “the colonel” and who was never out of earshot during our conversation. He interrupted only when talk turned to the nature of the conflict in Syria. “This is a revolution, nothing else,” he said sharply when the wrong vernacular was used. He is certain the Assad regime will fall “any day now.” For now, the Free Syrian University’s bespectacled academics know there is no going back to Syria. “I burned my life in Syria when I left,” says al-Jamal, eliciting nods of agreement from Syrian academics around him. “It was the suppression of the educated. It was the suppression of the arts. And the suppression of all those outside of the regime over the last decades—that is our reason for being a part of this.” “We have these new ideas,” he adds. “That is why we started this.”

As a Trump supporter, I've said repeatedly that four more years of Donald Trump will not solve America's problems. Not even close. At the same time, according to a leader of the underground church of China who is now in America, Trump is the only thing holding back America from a fall into socialism. (This was shared with me privately this week.) What, then, are we to make of this? To me, it's a simple equation. The government has one role and the gospel has another role. And while those roles intersect, they are in many ways distinct. The government can enact and enforce laws, but it cannot change people's hearts. As for the president, he can nominate judges who will uphold the Constitution. But, as John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." And that's where the church comes in. That's where the gospel comes in. As we preach and live the gospel, we help create that "moral and religious people" of whom Adams spoke. And that people, in turn, will look to the government to uphold the values of the Constitution. That's the way our system works. In my new book Evangelicals at the Crossroads: Will We Pass the Trump Test?, I explain that the bottom line for me is simple. I have the privilege of casting a vote for a presidential candidate every four years, so I evaluate who will best represent the issues that are important to me. And so, even when I consider Trump's many obvious flaws, I would still rather see Trump in the White House than Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden or Mario Cuomo or any of the other major Democratic candidates. It's really not that complicated. And it's only a vote. That's it. I am not selling my soul. I am not making a deal with the devil or any other spiritual entity. I am not pledging my life to a party. I am not putting all my eggs in a political basket. I'm simply casting a vote. If the person I vote for loses, so be it. Life goes on. Ministry goes on. Loving God and loving my neighbor goes on. I will continue to pray and study the Scriptures. I will continue to care for my wife and family. I will continue to write books and articles. I will continue to travel and preach and teach and do radio broadcasts and debates and take a stand for what I believe is right. I will continue to speak up and speak out—at least, as long I have the freedom to do so. But I am not looking to the president to save the soul of America. Or to transform the heart of America. I'm looking to the president to stand up for the life of the unborn. To stand for religious freedom. To stand against social anarchy. To stand against world tyranny and terrorism. To stand for peace in the Middle East. (Just to mention a few of the items most important to me.) Of course, I would love it if the president were also a moral icon. It would be terrific if he was a powerful unifier. I would be thrilled if he didn't give his opponents so much fodder for their hatred. And it would be wonderful if he lifted up the national dialogue rather than helped drag it down. But, given the choices that lie before us, I would much prefer a Trump presidency to a Biden presidency. At the same time, while Trump functions as a wedge in the door to stop the encroaching flood of chaos, the church must get busier than ever preaching and living the gospel, thereby changing hearts and attitudes of the masses. Otherwise, we are just forestalling the inevitable collapse of our nation. That means, should Trump be reelected, we cannot take our foot off the gas pedal. To the contrary, we need to put the pedal to the metal and accelerate our gospel efforts. That means more prayer and fasting and spiritual desperation. That means more sharing of our faith and living our faith. That means more efforts to present our pro-family, pro-morality case to the nation. That means working even harder while it is yet day before the night overtakes us. And while we do our part, we encourage the president and our elected officials to do their part. That means advocating for the best interests of our citizens. And enacting programs that will truly help those in greatest need. And standing for justice and equity. And populating the courts with worthy justices. And working with our allies to oppose injustice and tyranny worldwide. But, to say it again, we cannot look to the president or the government to do what only the church can do, as God's people rise up in the fullness of the Spirit and without fear, proclaiming the truth without compromise. And when a critic asks us, "How can you, a professing Christian, vote for a man like Trump?" Our answer is simple (as I've said nonstop for years now): "Jesus is our Savior, and He gets our heart and soul and life. Trump is our president, and he gets our vote. And when we contrast where Trump or Joe Biden will take us when it comes to abortion and socialism and relations with China and religious freedoms and radical LGBTQ+ activism and Israel and more, Trump gets my vote." It's really not that complicated. I'm not looking to the president to do the work of the church, and I'm not looking to the church to do the work of the president. That means I'm not confusing Donald Trump (or any president) with the Savior. Not a chance. Get Spirit-filled content delivered right to your inbox! Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. Great Resources to help you excel in 2019! #1 John Eckhardt's "Prayers That..." 6-Book Bundle. Prayer helps you overcome anything life throws at you. Get a FREE Bonus with this bundle. #2 Learn to walk in the fullness of your purpose and destiny by living each day with Holy Spirit. Buy a set of Life in the Spirit, get a second set FREE.

Michelangelo’s Pieta is the first and last art piece that the famous artist ever signed. But why did Michelangelo only sign the Pieta? An Italian art historian of the period, Giorgio Vasari, claims that Michelangelo signed his sculpture after overhearing a visitor giving credit to a rival artist. But after spontaneously signing the work, he regretted it and swore never to sign any of his works ever again. However, other art historians argue that his decision to sign the Pieta afterward wasn’t a spontaneous act at all. Instead, they believe that the signature was planned before the artwork was ever displayed. No matter the truth, the signature shows that Michelangelo’s Pieta was unique to him, and getting credit for it was important to him, at least in the moment. Keep reading to get the full story of Michelangelo’s signature on one of the most famous sculptures in the world. (This article may contain affiliate links. This means if you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, I will receive a commission at no extra cost to you) Up Your Creative Game! Master your craft with classes taught by the world's best creatives → View All Creative Courses Table of Contents Who was Michelangelo? Michelangelo (1475-1564) was a sculptor, painter, architect, and poet in Renaissance Italy. He is considered one of mankind’s greatest artists and has created numerous famous works of art. Although Michelangelo is famous for his painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he is even better known for his incredible sculptures. You are probably very familiar with his Statue of David, but it was actually Michelangelo’s Pieta, that started his career on an upward trajectory. Michelangelo’s Pieta Sculpture The Pieta was made in 1498-1499 by Michelangelo and is 68.5 × 76.8 inches in size. Michelangelo’s Pieta is a marble sculpture depicting the Virgin Mary holding Jesus’ body in her lap. The sculpture has a pyramidal structure with Mary’s head on the top corner. Mary’s dress widens, creating the pyramidal structure to the base, representing the Rock of Calvary (aka Golgotha, the site of Jesus’ crucifixion). Jesus is represented with a serene facial expression and the marks from his crucifixion are visible on his palms and stomach. Michelangelo’s Pieta is his first art piece in a series of sculptures following the same theme – a crucified Jesus in the arms of a grieving Mary. These kinds of sculptures are all called “Pieta,” which is Italian for “pity” or “compassion.” The Pieta is one of three ways that a sorrowful Virgin Mary is often portrayed. Michelangelo’s Pieta is carved from marble making it different from other Pieta sculptures. Earlier Pieta statues were usually much smaller and carved from wood. History Behind Michelangelo’s Pieta The Pieta statue was commissioned by the French Cardinal Jean de Bilhères as a funeral monument for himself. But the Cardinal died on August 6, 1499, before the sculpture could be completed. Although the Cardinal never saw Michelangelo’s Pieta, the famous sculpture was still placed in the Chapel of Santa Petronilla as a funeral monument for the Cardinal until it was moved in the 18th century to St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Michelangelo’s Pieta is the only piece made by a famous Renaissance artist to be installed in St. Peter’s Basilica and accepted by the Chapter of St. Peter. Michelangelo’s Pietra was inspired by the art of the Alps and the Germanic sculpture group, the Vesperbilder. Michelangelo’s Pieta and The Virgin Mary Something else that makes Michelangelo’s Pieta different from other Pieta statues is his take on a youthful Virgin Mary. She is portrayed as unusually youthful and more peaceful than the older, sorrowing Mary that most Pieta’s show. Michelangelo had two reasons for portraying her in this youthful way: - Since all beauty comes from God, and Mary is closely connected to the holy spirit, Michelangelo wanted her to be portrayed as young and beautiful. - Since the Virgin Mary is considered to be a moral and beautiful person on the inside, it was important to him that she reflected that beauty on the outside. Something else that sets this Pieta apart from Michelangelo’s other Pieta sculptures is the role of the Virgin Mary. She is alone, grieving and holding Jesus’ body in her lap. In Michelangelo’s lesser-known Pieta called The Deposition (1547-1555), the Virgin Mary is not holding Jesus’ body alone, but instead is being helped by Nicodemus and Mary Magdelene. Michelangelo’s Pieta Signature However, the most important detail that makes this sculpture stand out from Michelangelo’s other works is that this Pieta contains his signature. Michelangelo never signed any of his other artistic works making this Pieta extremely unique. So, out of all his works, why did Michelangelo only sign this Pieta? The most widespread story of why Michelangelo signed this Pieta originates from a biography of Michelangelo made by the famous Italian artist and historian Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574). According to Vasari, Michelangelo had overheard visitors thinking that rival artist Christoforo Solari had made the sculpture. So, in a spontaneous act, Michelangelo took his hammer and chisel and scrawled: “MICHAELA[N]GELUS BONAROTUS FLORENTIN[US] FACIEBA[T]” which translates to “Michelangelo Buonarroti, Florentine, made this” This signature was chiseled into the sash across Mary’s chest. Vasari reports that Michelangelo regretted his impulsive and prideful decision and was determined never to sign a piece of his work again. But others claim that Michelangelo’s signature was not a spontaneous outburst like Vasari reports. Associate art curator, Aileen June Wang, published an article in 2004, claiming that Michelangelo’s signature was carefully planned. Wang states that Michelangelo’s signature was a deliberate move to increase his reputation and overall image as an artist. Wang claims in her research that the band across the chest of the Virgin Mary serves no other purpose than holding Michelangelo’s signature. Also, his signature style looks more like it was carefully carved than written as an afterthought, just like his choice of wording. Michelangelo used an ancient Greek imperfect verb tense, suggesting that much thought was put into it. She believes that the deliberate separation of Michelangelo’s name emphasizes his self-perception as a creator conveying God’s message. These details make Wang believe that the story behind Michelangelo’s signature has more to it than what Vasari has accounted for. Even though we lack the whole truth, there is one thing we do know: This was the only time that Michelangelo ever signed any of his works. So in that way, Michelangelo’s Pieta is unique. The Effect of Michelangelo’s Famous Pieta Not only was Michelangelo’s Pieta his first commissioned artwork, but it is now one of the most valuable art pieces in the world today. He was just 24 years old when he created the piece, and the sculpture set the tone for the remainder of his long and successful career. Although Michelangelo’s Pieta has gotten a lot of positive attention throughout the years, it has also had its critics. In 1972 Michelangelo’s sculpture was attacked by a man wielding a hammer. The man rained down 12 damaging blows before being stopped. Since that time, Pieta has been surrounded by protective, bulletproof glass. Unfortunately, the sculpture was also damaged when movers accidentally broke off four of Mary’s fingers. However, all of the damage from both cases has been restored. Aside from these incidents, Michelangelo’s Pieta has inspired faith, emotion, and imitation through its unique depiction of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. Many people seek to be in its presence for both artistic and spiritual reasons. The piece itself is not fully renaissance nor entirely classical in its form; Michelangelo managed to blend the two art styles. In addition, he didn’t use realistic proportions when sculpting the piece, giving the viewer a more creative and more accessible interpretation of this scene. When Did Artists Start Signing Their Artwork? Prior to the renaissance and Michelangelo’s time, it was not common for artists to sign their work. So it is not surprising that Michelangelo didn’t add signatures to his artwork. Sophilos was the first known artist to sign his artwork. He added “Sophilos painted me” (Sophilos me grafsen) on pottery that he painted in 590-570 BC. But the ongoing trend of signing one’s artwork didn’t start until the Renaissance period and most likely had just started to gain popularity around the time of Michelangelo’s career. The trend, however, began to ensure that artists were credited for their work. In addition, an artist’s signature proved to be helpful to viewers and collectors of artwork to determine creation date and authenticity. Finally, artists like Picasso began to use their signatures to express creativity and to show transformation as an artist at times where he changed his signature. No wonder Michelangelo’s Pieta has gained so much attention; I mean, the sculpture itself is a masterpiece. I would understand why Michelangelo would want to mark this piece as his own and not have it accredited to someone else. Even if his signature wasn’t a spontaneous afterthought, the fact that he never signed any of his other works makes his signature on Pieta special.

Judge Ben Saylor considers it an emergency, when the office vending machine runs out of Combos. Our reviews of Emergency! Season One (published January 30th, 2006), Emergency! Season Two (published March 8th, 2006), Emergency! Season Four (published February 6th, 2008), and Emergency! The Final Rescues (published March 30th, 2011) are also available. "Station 51, KMG 365." Rampart, this is Squad 51. We have a five-disc DVD set of Emergency! Season Five, episodes are approximately 34 years old, set appears to have been given a lackluster, near-barebones release by Universal. Stand by for vitals… Facts of the Case Emergency! follows the daily (and sometimes nightly) activities of both a Los Angeles County fire station as well as the emergency room staff at Rampart General Hospital. Firefighter/paramedics John Gage (Randolph Mantooth, As the World Turns) and Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe, Eight Men Out), along with the rest of Station 51, treat victims of a variety of injuries and ailments. Once taken to Rampart, these victims are treated by Drs. Brackett (Robert Fuller), Early (Bobby Troup) and Morton (Ron Pinkard) along with head nurse Dixie McCall (Julie London, Man of the West). I was an Emergency! novice going into this review, but after watching several episodes I didn't need an EKG strip to tell me the show followed a distinct pattern. Each episode generally has Gage and DeSoto responding to a variety of incidents that are interspersed with some sort of station-related subplot that is more often than not light in tone, such as firefighter Chet Kelly's (Tim Donnelly) efforts to restore a pair of scratched skis, or Gage's quest to replace the firehouse T.V. set after he set the previous unit on fire. I don't know if Emergency! was always this silly, but some of these side stories get old fast (although they aren't all goofy; one episode has DeSoto and Gage working with a female trainee). Anyway, by the end of a given episode, you can pretty much bet that some kind of major fire that requires the participation of all of Station 51 will come along. During all of the emergency response scenes, all clowning around disappears, and the men become disciplined and precise professionals. As my colleague Judge Kristin Munson pointed out in her review of season four of this show, Emergency!, unlike E.R., is unencumbered by endless subplots about the characters' personal lives, meaning that the bulk of a given Emergency! episode is dedicated to the many, many different kinds of incidents Gage and DeSoto find themselves responding to. In season five alone, you'll find a parachutist caught on a power line, several different car/traffic accidents, heart attacks, suicide attempts, a landslide, and even a catfish whisker sting. While it goes without saying that the medical techniques employed on the show are not the way things are done today, that's also part of the show's appeal, at least for newcomers like myself. It helps that many of the emergency situations are actually quite suspenseful despite the fact that victims on this show tend to pull through. Like Adam-12 before it, acting/character is mostly irrelevant on a show like Emergency! given the focus on the characters in their professional world. The staff of Rampart General, especially, are nearly interchangeable when it comes to personality. Gage and DeSoto, at least, are two distinct characters; Gage is prone to harebrained schemes like trying wire a tape recorder to the squad's radio and the afore-mentioned T.V. business, whereas bemused family man DeSoto is the more levelheaded voice of reason. Kelly is the station cutup, and Capt. Stanley (Michael Norell, who also wrote four episodes) is the no-nonsense leader who refers to his firefighters as "pal" and, at least one time, "babe" while on-scene. Universal packages the 22 episodes of Emergency! Season Five on five discs (the packaging erroneously lists 24 episodes) in three slim cases, with episode synopses printed on the back of each case. While the discs are all single-sided (not always the case with Emergency! on DVD) the technical quality is similar to what Judge Munson described for Season Four. These transfers are in very poor shape, with all manner of scratches, blotches, and blurriness. At best, the image is passable. At worst, it evokes a VHS taped off T.V. The sound, while nothing great itself, seems about right for a show of this vintage. In terms of extras, this season has just one, but it's actually pretty good: an episode of Adam-12 featuring the cast of Emergency!. The image and sound on this bonus are much better than that of the main attraction here, and since Adam-12 DVD releases are being handled by Shout! Factory now, I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise. 51, go ahead and tell readers that despite the quality of the show itself, extreme caution should be exercised when purchasing this DVD in light of the weak technical signs here. The show itself is not guilty, but Universal sure is for indifferently dumping these episodes onto DVD. Give us your feedback! What's "fair"? Whether positive or negative, our reviews should be unbiased, informative, and critique the material on its own merits. Scales of Justice • Crossover with Adam-12 Review content copyright © 2009 Ben Saylor; Site design and review layout copyright © 2013 Verdict Partners LLC. All rights reserved.

Buenos Aires bombing widower finds new lease on life "Being here in Israel has given me a sense of inner peace," says Rabbi Angel Kreiman. Rabbi Angel Kreiman Photo: Courtesy Rabbi Angel Kreiman On the night of February 27, 2010, the sixth-strongest earthquake ever recorded violently shook central Chile, leaving hundreds dead, thousands wounded and conjuring up painful memories for a bereaved rabbi. In the aftermath of the 8.8-magnitude tremor, Rabbi Angel Kreiman was found walking the streets of Concepcion in a state of bewilderment, telling passersby he was on his way to the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, where his wife had died in a bombing in 1994. “I was in my underwear telling people I’m going to the AMIA building,” he recalled, referring to the headquarters of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association several hundred miles away from Concepcion. “I told them that it had just been blown up.” The rabbi soon regained control of his faculties and realized he was still deeply traumatized by the loss of his wife. It was then that he decided the best way to deal with his demons was to make aliya. Six months ago, Kreiman relocated to Jerusalem in a move he says amounts to a new lease on life. “Being here has given me a sense of inner peace,” the 66-year-old Conservative rabbi said over the phone, “and I thank God for bringing me to Jerusalem.” For Kreiman, who for years had been a senior religious figure in Chile fighting for human rights under the regime of dictator Augusto Pinochet, life changed forever on July 18, 1994, exactly 18 years ago. That day, a truck laden with explosives that is believed to have been driven by a Hezbollah operative detonated in front of the AMIA headquarters in downtown Buenos Aires. The huge explosion leveled the multi-storied building, killing 95 people – including Kreiman’s wife Susy Wolisnky, who was an AMIA executive – and wounding over 300 others. “I spoke to my wife 10 minutes before the blast,” said Kreiman. “She said she would call me back because there were many people in line waiting to apply for work; 10 minutes later, the secretary walked in and told me they bombed AMIA.” Kreiman, whose offices were on the other side of town, quickly jumped into his car and drove in the direction of the cloud of smoke and ash rapidly rising above where the AMIA building had stood, but police cordoned off the entire area and he was unable to reach the site. For days, he waited, praying that she might be found alive, and visited hospitals and morgues where the dead and wounded were taken, trying to determine if his wife was among the unidentified victims. His wife’s parents in Israel were the first to learn she had died when they saw her lifeless body being pulled from the rubble on CNN. “My mother-in-law said she worried about her children in Israel being hurt in terror attacks, not the one in Argentina,” Kreiman recalled. He, along with others who lost loved ones in the AMIA bombing, feel deeply aggrieved by successive Argentinean governments. To this day, no one has been charged for carrying out the attack or the similar one at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992. Warrants for Iranians and Lebanese suspects have been issued, but so far no one has been arrested. Over the years, information has emerged that high-ranking Argentinean politicians, policemen and judges were allegedly involved in a series of investigatory mishaps and cover-ups. “I’m very angry, especially at Carlos Menem,” he said, pointing a finger at the politician who was president of Argentina at the time. Last March, an Argentine court ruled Menem would face trial for allegedly thwarting the investigation into the AMIA bombing, which Israel, the US and other countries believe was carried out to avenge the previous slaying of a Hezbollah leader in Lebanon by the IDF. But the prospects of bringing any culprits to justice are slim. Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman told Israeli and Jewish officials last year his country would not rest until it found the perpetrators, but he did not mention either Hezbollah or Iran by name, an indication that the government led by President Cristina Kirchner would not confront the two main suspects. For a religious man like Kreiman, the death of his wife and the failure by authorities to punish those responsible for her murder have put his faith to the test. “If I believe [in God], then I have someone to argue with,” he said. “After the attack, I suddenly understood what it must have been like for those who lost loved ones in the Holocaust. Our family arrived in Argentina in the 19th century, so we never had relatives who underwent that experience, but now I am beginning to understand.” Since he arrived in Jerusalem, he alternates between Conservative synagogues each Friday, where he occasionally gives sermons. He said life after making aliya has become less of an uphill struggle and that one of his biggest pleasures is spending time with his three daughters and their families. “One of my daughters lives in Ra’anana,” he said. “Another lives in Boston and a third in Lima, but she visits me here more often than she does Chile. I’ve found my joy in life.”

When James A. Young was a child growing up in Philadelphia, Mississippi, his father would sleep on the sofa in the family's living room with a shotgun on his chest because the Klan was always nearby. Today James A. Young, age 53, is the mayor of the small town. The town is best known as the place where the where the killings of Civil Rights workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney were murdered for trying to register African Americans to vote. The events of that June 21, 1964 summer are long gone, but the memory is still there.Sadly Republicans like George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan have held significant events in Philadelphia. Their acts were to signal to their White Southern base that they honor the racist history of the south. Today, the tide turns with the election of Young, but the problems still linger across America where Blacks lag behind in justice, employment and education. In my opinion this gap exists by design. In spite of the design to keep Blacks at the bottom of the economic and social well, we still rise. This week, the world was told that in addition to James A. Young becoming Mayor of Philadelphia, Ms. Ursula Burns became the President of one the world's largest corporations - XEROX. Burns becomes the first African American female to head up a large Fortune 500 Corporation. Burns, who is 50, has been with Xerox since 1976 as a sales person and has steadily worked her way to the top, proving the old adage that hard work, talent and perseverance pays off. The message from both these role models is while: "God may not come when you want him, he is always on time." Both of these achievements came within one year of the election of 47 year old Barack Obama as President of the United States. How timely is that? While these extraordinary events are happening Blacks are aware that there are events happening that tell us there is still work to be done. This past week I was in court representing one young White male who was being charged with a misdemeanor for holding a party at a theater in South Pasadena. The young man who goes to John Muir High School in Pasadena discovered that many of his Black friends could not afford to go to their Senior Prom. Instead of going out begging for the money he and his friends decided to hold a dance to raise the money. The group chose a theater which is located in South Pasadena. The event went off without any problems. As the young people were leaving the party, they were confronted by South Pasadena Police Officers and San Marino Police Officers. The young man who arranged the party was the only White person there, and he was cited for doing business without a business license for the party. The Theater manager was also cited for allowing the party without a business license. Historically, White folks have had parties at this theater without a business license, and they continue to do so all the time, and they don't risk having their life messed up with a misdemeanor conviction. It seems to me that racism is the reason for this arrest. The message to the White kid is clear, "Don't be bringing all those Blacks into South Pasadena." Ironically, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were White students in Philadelphia, Mississippi when they were killed for helping African Americans. Now this! This event comes on the heels of President Obama being denied an honorary Doctorate by Arizona State University even though he was the invited commencement speaker. Of course it was significant that Arizona was the last state to approve a Martin Luther King Holiday. This week in American history will also be remembered as the week that Dick Chaney attacked President Obama's plans in keeping America safe. But then we must never forget that Chaney was once an official for America and voted to keep Mandela in Prison. Arizona eventually lost the battle to keep King's birthday from becoming a holiday. Chaney lost the battle to keep Mandela in prison. And in spite of Chaney's antics of riding in a wheel chair at Obama's inauguration rather than standing in honor of Obama's accomplishments, Obama is the President and Chaney is an ugly voice crying in the wilderness trying to stop the tides of change in the world. I note that Andrew Chaney was the only Black person killed in the events of June, 1964 in Philadelphia, Mississippi and that Dick Chaney is also a far removed cousin of Barack Obama. Maybe he's trying to hide his family ties. Surely he "doth protest too much. " Chaney and those people in South Pasadena need to read the scriptures and they will discover that nothing can stop the hand of God. And while he may not come when you wanted him to in Mississippi in 1964, or to South Africa in 1990, or to Arizona in the 80's, He is always on time.

After the Detroit City Council decided not to allow a millage proposal on the November ballot that would cost property owners hundreds of dollars a year, a twitter storm broke out. One Detroit pastor dug into City Councilman Kenneth Cockrel Jr. after Tuesday’s vote. The twitter spat seemed ironic coming from a pastor, whose faith, above all things, commands forgiveness and non-judgment. The background of the dispute started on Tuesday when Police Chief Ralph Godbee and the Detroit Police Commission had the city council decide whether to ask voters in November if the city should put 8 mills on property tax and that could raise enough money to put 500 police officers to the street. For people who own houses worth $50,000 the tax would be $250 a year on top of other city taxes and millages. Cockrel went to twitter after the council voted 7-2 to strike down the ballot proposal, saying the police department financial problems should not be on the backs of the people who are already “taxed to the max”. Cockrel criticized Police Chief Ralph Godbee in a tweet: "I am not convinced that our problem is a lack of manpower issue. I'm convinced that our problem is a lack of an effective management plan issue." That’s when J.A. Williams II, senior pastor of Spirit & Truth Christian Ministries and presiding prelate of Kingdom Builders Association jumped in to defend Godbee. The following twitter spat ensued: Williams: @kencockreljr2, @Ralph_Godbee is a much more efficient administrator of DPD than you've been as a councilman or mayoral fill-in. #ijs Cockrel: @BishopJawill @Ralph_Godbee Both crime stats and word on the street suggest otherwise. Williams: @KenCockrelJr2 @ralph_godbee On the other hand sir, the City was in the black when you first took your seat. Cockrel: @BishopJawill @ralph_godbeeUntrue. It was my admin that actually uncovered the extent to which city's budget books hadn't been maintained. Williams didn’t stop there. He continued: Williams:…We meant every word. We continue to pray for you, our city & other leaders - even Ken Cockrel. Lol. Williams:Detroit City Council = cowardly. @Ralph_Godbee = courageous. I normally don't express these positions publicly but WE DESERVE SAFE STREETS! Was Pastor Williams being fair or should he been more of a twitter diplomat? Racism these days is all about hiding in plain sight. Everyone seems to agree that racism exists, but no one admits to being one. Not even the guy who killed a young innocent black man just because he looked like he didn't belong in a gated community. George Zimmerman told Fox News, "I'm not a racist." George, if you don't want to look like a racist, don't give exclusive interviews with Fox News. And don't say you have no regrets and that it was God's plan to murder Trayvon. Oh, and don't brag about the white supremacists who supported you in prison. In an interview with Fox New's Sean Hannity, George Zimmerman, the man who killed black teenager Treyvon Matrin, said he has no regrets about the killing. A statement from his family reaffirmed this, saying: "George Zimmerman said that he does not regret getting out of his vehicle, he does not regret following Trayvon, in fact he does not regret anything he did that night. He wouldn't do anything different and he concluded it was God's plan." Zimmerman gave the interview to Fox News in hopes of shoring up some donations to help fund his high-profile case. But it might backfire. What he told Hannity and what he told police the night of the killing are two different things: "At the time, Zimmerman told the police dispatcher by phone that Martin was running away from him. But in Wednesday night’s interview, he said that Martin was “skipping, going away quickly. He wasn’t running out of fear." In case you missed it: To watch the Zimmerman interview on Fox News, Click HERE. There was no shortage of law enforcement officers at the Detroit Fireworks Monday evening: Federal officers, State troopers, Detroit Police, Coast Guards, Wayne, Macomb, Oakland County Sheriffs, and a number of DNR officers patrolled the riverfront. The city’s efforts to keep the event safe and well patrolled by pulling in neighboring law enforcement resources from anywhere possible, really showed. Groups of uniformed officers speckled the crowd of thousands of people, and it seemed the majority of them were not even Detroit Police. Hart Plaza and the popular hill that many watched fireworks from in the past was closed due to construction, officials said. The officers were friendly, just the numbers of officers was impressive. Although I didn't personally witness any detainments, the Detroit News reported that officers detained 250 minors for being unaccompanied by adults past the citywide curfew of 6 p.m. Take a look at some of the views from the event: Digital Daily Signup Sign up now for the Michigan Chronicle Digital Daily newsletter!

Yesterday I reported that Democratic state representative Thomas Caltagirone had sent a note to his fellow Democrats announcing his intention to support current Republican Speaker of the House John Perzel over the probably Democratic speaker Bill DeWeese. I suggested there were likely shenanigans involved. VoicePA has put together a money trail. I haven't gone through and verified their research but it looks believable to me. Want to know why people are cynical about government? This could be exhibit B, right after the payraise exhibit A. DeWeese doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in me either, but Perzel is no reformer either. What I want to know is why Caltagirone would announce his intentions in public. Why also wouldn't he suggest a Democratic alternative? It's all fishy to me and what VoicePA has come up with makes sense. Update: The Inky has set up a blog, run by state govt reporter Mario Cattabiani, to report on the situation. See http://pagavel.blogspot.com/index.html Sunday, December 31, 2006 Yesterday I reported that Democratic state representative Thomas Caltagirone had sent a note to his fellow Democrats announcing his intention to support current Republican Speaker of the House John Perzel over the probably Democratic speaker Bill DeWeese. I suggested there were likely shenanigans involved. VoicePA has put together a money trail. I haven't gone through and verified their research but it looks believable to me. Saturday, December 30, 2006 Both PoliticsPA and the Inky are reporting that Reading's Democratic Rep. Tom Caltagirone has notified his colleagues that he intends to vote for GOP John Perzel to retain his Speaker of the House position even though there is now a Democratic majority in the House. Stay tuned. I suspect shenanigans. Sorting through the "to be blogged about" pile, I've discarded many items whose timeliness has passed. One did catch my eye. It is customary this time of year to offer toasts and remembrances and no doubt many a glass will be raised for our soldiers and veterans. A passage from an article in the Dec. 11 Wall Street Journal really struck me, probably because my father spent most of his 20 years in the army as a sergeant (primarily drill and platoon) and one sibling served as a supply sergeant before going to college and emerging as an officer (much to my father's great pride and chagrin). As we celebrate the victories and mourn the losses of 2006, let us remember the sergeants. “Escalating Tab: Despite Its $168 Billion Budget, The Army Faces a Cash Crunch, by Greg Jaffe, WSJ Dec. 11, continuation on p. A4 One of the most pressing personnel problems is the lack of sergeants, the enlisted leaders who do most of the day-to-day supervising of the rank-and-file soldiers. At Fort Hood, Texas, the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, which returned from Iraq in March, has about 75% of the soldiers it needs to fill its ranks, but only about half of its sergeants. The 5,000-soldier unit likely will go back to Iraq in the fall of next year, and leaders in the regiment say they will get more sergeants before they deploy, but not as many as they would like. “The sergeant is the one that the soldiers take after,” says First Sgt. James Adcock, who oversees about 30 of the unit’s soldiers. He can make or break how effective the privates are.” Friday, December 29, 2006 I finally finished reading this week's Wall Street Journal and found a few interesting Pennsylvania-related items: Mullins, Brody, "Strings Attached: As Earmarked Funding Swells, Some Recipients Don't Want it," Dec. 26, p. A1+. This is from p. A10: Leaders in both parties use earmarks to reward lawmakers. For example, Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. John Murtha, who will be chairman of the defense spending panel, won't allow members to add earmarks to the defense-spending bill unless they agree to support it, according to aides on the appropriations committee. This year's defense bill, which included nearly 3,000 earmarks took a mere 20 minutes to pass the House in October. Megan Grote, a spokeswoman for Mr. Murtha, says that "members of Congress who appreciate the synergy between local communities and the [Department of Defense] are much more likely to support the bill, and that is the essential goal -- to get members to support the defense bill." According to the article about 4% of the nation's budget, about 40.8 billion dollars, goes to earmarks. In the Saturday/Sunday, December 23-24 issue, a front page article, "By the Bedside: In Nursing Homes, A Drug Middleman Finds Big Profits," by Sarah Lueck, a Pennsylvania company gets a mention on the p. A7 continuation: Omnicare isn't the only company in the field receiving rebates. AmerisourceBergen Corp. of Chesterbrook, Pa, which has a subsidiary supplying drugs to nursing homes, also gets them. "It's part of how we get paid," says AmerisourceBergen spokesman Michael N. Kilpatrick, adding that the rebates are for medically beneficial drugs. Since 1994 Omnicare has hired he College of Pharmacy at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia to compile an annual book -- now running to about 800 pages -- that lays out the best drugs to use in the elderly based on research. The company says the book is the basis for its drug recommendations. "This book is scrutinized by people who have no vested interest in helping Omnicare financially," says Catherine Dragon, driectory of the guidelines project at the university, describing the editorial process. I found the entire article a little alarming. In the interest of full disclosure let me mention that the investment club I belong to owns Omnicare stock. This is the last part of my review of Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope. Chapter Seven: Race As the only American senator with known African ancestry, Obama is in a unique position to discuss race. He talks, for example, about the importance of the support he received from wealthy African Americans early in his political career and senatorial campaign, and how, in past years, there simply wouldn’t have been that many people of color with that kind of money. But, even so, the gaps in income, education and net worth that exist today between racial and ethnic groups defy the notion that we have or are becoming a racially blind society. To be sure, he talks about individual responsibility in regards to education and family stability, but contrasts these issues with ways that public policy could help reduce the income gaps among differing groups of people. One example he gives is the possibility of scholarships for minority students in math and science graduate programs where the number of African American and Latino students is comparatively miniscule. Consider this excerpt from p. 259: What would that be worth to all of us – an American in which crime has fallen, more children are cared for, cities are reborn, and the biases, fear, and discord that black poverty feeds are slowly drained away? Would it be worth what we’ve spent in the past year in Iraq? Would it be worth relinquishing demands for estate tax repeal? It’s hard to quantify the benefits of such changes – precisely because the benefits would be immeasurable. He also talks about the hard working parents trying to keep their kids out of trouble and teach them good values and a work ethic. He mentions a man in Chicago who owns a number of businesses and hires young men off the street to teach them job skills. His turnover is high but those who stay with him for any length of time start talking about college or trade school. In this chapter he also touches on illegal immigration. On pages 265 and 266 he recounts a conversation he had with a Republican senator on an immigration bill. I wish he had named names because the senator in question says “These Mexicans are just willing to work harder than Americans do.” Chapter Eight: The World Beyond Our Borders This is the foreign policy chapter and Obama discusses in detail the years of his childhood spent in Indonesia with his mother and stepfather. Again, he gives a brief overview of American history in this area. He discusses in depth his visits to Iraq and the former Soviet Union. There are a number of pithy statements in this chapter but none that I thought were representative of the entire thought pattern. It is interesting to read and difficult to summarize or excerpt from. Chapter Nine: Family The family chapter is perhaps the most personal chapter in the book. He recounts meeting his wife and their courtship. He expands this to discuss the American family in general. Like many people today he was raised by a single parent and he talks about the issues involved in his childhood and in single parent families more broadly. He touches on marriage and child care. It is almost a requirement for politicians to write or talk about how wonderful their spouses are and Obama is no exception. His wife is lawyer and the two of them have the money to afford good reliable child care. In addition his mother-in-law lives nearby. He writes of knowing how fortunate they are to have family close at hand and the means to fill in the gaps where needed, as well as some flexibility in work hours, and of how many American do not have these luxuries. Again he brings personal responsibility into the discussion but also some ideas on ways that public policy could ease the day to day existence of many people. Obama recounts the two times he attended the Democratic National Convention, one with more fanfare and success than the other. He ends the book by going back to a theme in the prologue, that of value of public service. While the book is primarily a personal narrative he does include some facts and other information that should be cited. In lieu of a standard bibliography or list of footnotes, source material is available on a website for the book, www.audacityofhope.com. Sources are primarily reports, magazine, and newspaper articles; many if not most are from within the past few years. It is difficult to have too many sources but the list Obama (or, according to the acknowledgements, someone else) has put together is more than adequate to document what he says. As I said at the beginning of this review, I enjoyed this book immensely. He has a gift with words and writes beautifully, almost lyrically in places. Yet he writes with substance and I often had to stop and think about what he had said. He has that rare knack to talk about something significant and sometimes painful without being overblown or melodramatic about it. Some of his discussions on race, of people throwing their keys at him outside restaurants, assuming he is a valet, are loaded with emotion but presented in passing. Someone else describing an upbringing similar to his could easily do so in the harsh and jagged tones of deprivation and victimization. Obama talks of it in simple nonjudgmental terms of acceptance. I found it impossible to read the book and not maintain or increase my opinion of him. I did not walk away with a clear understanding of the specific policy measures he would like to see put into place, but I do think I have a better idea of what general goals he has for the country, and I like them. Thursday, December 28, 2006 I had been, by and large, blissfully ignoring the Philadelphia mayor's race, but it landed in my inbox yesterday so I should probably start paying attention. In one of those serendipitous finds, while perusing the magazine rack while in the checkout line of the grocery store last night, I noticed that the January issue of Philadelphia Magazine has a nice long article on declared candidate and former city councilman Michael Nutter. When fate thumps you it's a good idea to take the hint so I bought the magazine and read the article. It's well done and provides a political history of Nutter and how he came to be where he is, complete with reputation as a reform candidate. For local netroots fans, city activist Hannah Miller, who served as state representative-elect Rick Taylor's campaign manager, is quoted in a couple of places. The article, "Michael Nutter's Dilemma: Is this man too much of a reformer to be mayor? Or so hungry to be mayor that he can't be a real reformer?," by Jason Fagone, is available on the magazine's website: http://www.phillymag.com/articles/michael_nutters_dilemma/, at least for now, so click quickly. Picking up where the previous post left off, here are my thoughts on chapters 3-6 of Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope. Chapter Three: Our Constitution In this chapter he discusses the senate and the separation of powers. He also goes into detail on laws, and the devil being in the details. Those wanting a brief description of partisanship in relation to judicial nominees and the “nuclear option” regarding filibusters will find this chapter particularly interesting. As a former professor of constitutional law his lengthy and heartfelt review of the Constitution, its history and the development of current interpretation of it. Here are two comments, the first from p.86 And yet for all our disagreements we would be hard pressed to find a conservative or liberal in America today, whether Republican or Democrat, academic or layman, who doesn’t subscribe to the basic set of individual liberties identified by the Founders and enshrined in our Constitution and our common law: the right to speak our minds; the right to worship how and if we wish; the right to peaceably assemble to petition our government; the right to own, buy and sell property and not have it taken without fair compensation; the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures; the right not to be detained by the state without due process; the right to a fair and speedy trial; and the right to make our own determinations, with minimal restriction regarding family life and the way we raise our children. And this from p. 96 on slavery: How can I, an American with the blood of Africa coursing through my veins, chose sides in such a dispute? I can’t. I love America too much, am too invested in what this country has become, too committed to its institutions, its beauty, and even its ugliness, to focus entirely on the circumstances of its birth. But neither can I brush aside the magnitude of the injustice done, or erase the ghosts of generations past, or ignore the open wound, the aching spirit, that ails this country still. Throughout the chapter, but especially at the beginning (the third page in) and ending he mentions Sen. Robert Byrd, who wrote a multi-volume history of the senate. I won’t give it away, but Byrd’s discussion of one of his few regrets in life is one that must have touched them both. Chapter Four: Politics This is my favorite chapter in the book. It is a bluntly honest description of fundraising and campaigning and how those things change people, specifically candidates and elected officials. If you haven’t ever seen the inside of a political race, this will provide a good introduction. It was so well-constructed that I found impossible to pull out any one paragraph or group of sentences that were any better than the others or able to stand on their own without including more of an excerpt than I thought people would want to read. Just go through the whole thing; it’s only 35 pages. Chapter Five: Opportunity Obama opens and closes this chapter with stories of what happens when you do and don’t fly on private jets. This comparison was my favorite anecdote (or connected series of anecdotes) in the entire book. I won’t spoil it for you by including any of those stories here. Again, read it yourself. In between he gives a brief history of the role of government in business, education, and energy. Doing so in such a short space means it is only the most cursory of overviews, to provide the structure needed in setting the stage for what is happening today. Later he takes on social security and health care, acknowledging the complexity of these issues and not pretending to come up with quick and easy solutions. Here is a paragraph from p. 187 Americans are willing to compete with the world. We work harder than the people of any other wealthy nation. We are willing to tolerate more economic instability and are willing to take more personal risks to get ahead. But we can only compete if our government makes the investments that give us a fighting chance – and if we know that our families have some net beneath which they cannot fall. He wraps up the chapter with a story about meeting Warren Buffet and talking with him about tax policy. They agreed on the need for the wealthy to pay more, as noted on p. 193: And perhaps I possess a certain Midwestern sensibility that I inherited from my mother and her parents, a sensibility that Warren Buffet seems to share: that at a certain point one has enough, that you can derive as much pleasure from a Picasso hanging in a museum as from one that’s hanging in your den, that you can get an awfully good meal in a restaurant for less than twenty dollars, and that once your drapes costs more than the average American’s yearly salary, then you can afford to pay a bit more in taxes. Chapter Six: Faith It has been something of a fad for some Democrats to wear their religious beliefs on their sleeve. Obama doesn’t do that. Instead he gives the development of his own faith and how it has informed his politics. I like this statement as a good summation of what he has to say, from p. 221: In judging the persuasiveness of various moral claims, we should be on the lookout for inconsistency in how such claims are applied: As a general rule, I am more pronte to listen to those who are as outraged by homelessness as they are by the indecency of music videos. And we need to recognize that sometimes our arguments are less about what is right than bout who makes the final determination – whether we need the coercive arm of the state to enforce our values, or whether the subject is one best left to individual conscience and evolving norms. He does argue in favor of inviting people of faith into the Democratic Party, and not simply letting the conservative Republicans lay sole claim to votes who profess religious beliefs. Wednesday, December 27, 2006 Obama, Barack. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. NY: Crown Publishers, 2006. 375 pp. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Obama writes very well. No co-author is listed anywhere and he writes much as he speaks so I assume these are all his words. It took me longer than I expected to finish the book. The writing is a pleasure to read so it wasn’t a matter of having to slog through. Quite the contrary, much of what I read was sufficiently engaging and thought-provoking that I would have to stop and savor or absorb what he says. There are nine chapters, plus a prologue and an epilogue (also acknowledgements and an index). As any good prologue does, this one introduces the book, why he is writing it, and so on. He provides a very succinct overview of his political philosophy on pages 1 and 2, as a response to those who ask why he, or anyone, would want to get involved in anything as nasty as politics. He says: “In response, I would usually smile and nod and say that I understood the skepticism, but that there was – and always had been – another tradition to politics, a tradition that stretched from the days of the country’s founding to the glory of the civil rights movement, a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve very problem, but we can get something meaningful done.” He lays out his overarching policy statements in a very simple way. Each of these items opens up a huge can of worms but finding common ground to start with is the best beginning and we can wrestle with such things as merit pay for teachers versus seniority and health care plans a few steps down the road. But this is a good start: If anything, what struck me was just how modest people’s hopes were, and how much of what they believed seemed to hold constant across race, region, religion, and class. Most of them thought that anybody willing to work should be able to find a job that paid a living wage. They figured that people shouldn’t have to file for bankruptcy because they got sick. They believed that every child should have a genuinely good education – that it shouldn’t just be a bunch of talk – and that those same children should be able to go to college even if their parents weren’t rich. They wanted to be safe, from criminals and terrorists; they wanted clean air, clean water, and time with their kids. And when the got old, they wanted to be able to retire with some dignity and respect. Okay, I can sign on to all of those things. He isn’t calling for free tuition at Harvard, just the ability to go to college, not free health care, just options other than bankruptcy. One of the things I like best about this book is his repeated discussion of finding common values and working from those. His book is not, as many political works are, divisive or aimed to incite one particular base (or, if it is, I’m part of that base and don’t see it). He addresses some of that in this passage from p. 7: ”You don’t need a poll to know that the vast majority of Americans – Republican, Democrat, and independent – are weary of the dead zone that politics has become, in which narrow interests vie for advantage and ideological minorities seek to impose their own versions of absolute truth. Whether we’re from red states or blue states, we feel in our gut the lack of honesty, rigor, and common sense in our policy debates, and dislike what appears to be a continuous menu of false or cramped choices.” It is almost impossible to separate our beliefs from our life experiences and Obama acknowledges that, by calling himself a prisoner of his own biography (p.10). Chapter One: Republicans and Democrats The first chapter gives an overview of partisanship and a general political history of the country, especially in his lifetime and devoting a lot of space to the Reagan and Clinton years. He talks especially about the increase of incivility and partisanship. In such a small number of pages there is only so much he can cover and his goal is not to provide a complete history, but to provide a structure to his discussion, mixed in with his own views and philosophy. For example, this section from p. 22 struck me because, I too, become weary of pronouncements that we live in the worst of times: ”When Democrats run up to me at events and insist that we live in the worse of political times, that a creeping fascism is closing its grip around our throats, I may mention the internment of Japanese Americans under FDR, the Alien and Sedition Acts under John Adams, or a hundred years of lynching under several dozen administrations as having been possibly worse, and suggest we all take a deep breath. When people at dinner parties ask me how I can possibly operate in the current political environment, with all the negative campaigning and personal attacks, I may mention Nelson Mandela, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, or some guy in a Chinese or Egyptian prison somewhere. In truth, being called names is not such a bad deal.” He declines to return partisanship for partisanship, spelled out on p. 41-42. ”There are out there, I think to myself, those ordinary citizens who have grown up in the midst of all the political and cultural battles, but who have found a way – in their own lives at least – to make peace with their neighbors, and themselves.” He provides a very thought-provoking list of examples that I would encourage you to read. Chapter Two: Values On page 45 he has an excellent description of the president. Having met George W. Bush I would agree with his observations. Again, a theme in this chapter is that the dividing lines in American society are products of political parties and the media more than easily found lines in residential and business communities. He talks about the things we as citizens of this county hold dear, regardless of our political, religious, sexual, or other orientation. He quotes from the Declaration of Independence and talks about how American values have become clearer to him for having lived and visited with family in Indonesia and Kenya. As one example of starting from common values when working on contentious policy he discusses a bill he introduced into the state legislature to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessionals in capital cases. In sitting down with all the parties involved, police, prosecutors, public defenders, death penalty opponents, and others, they started with the view that no innocent person should end up on death row. All were agreed on that, and worked their way down into the specifics. In places the bill was modified. Against the odds and predictions, it passed. From here he ventures into dangerous waters. I agree with him on what he said but understand why it gets him into trouble. He says that Democrats should not be afraid to discuss social values and preferences, even when we do not think these values should be written into law. The examples he uses are advertisements on television during sports events that families might watch together and the mores of television characters, whether real or imagined. He is not suggesting that we legislate what is shown but that people show better judgment. As a contrast he points out the conservative blind spot when it comes to executive pay. He ends the chapter with a discussion of values on the campaign trail and some remembrances of lessons learned from his mother and grandparents and how some of his values evolved as he matured. He ends with some very good points (p. 68): When I was a community organizer, way back in the eighties, I would often challenge neighborhood leaders by asking them where they put their time, energy, and money. Those are the true tests of what we value, I’d tell them, regardless of what we like to tell ourselves. If we aren’t willing to pay a price for our values, if we aren’t willing to make some sacrifices in order to realize them, then we should ask ourselves whether we truly believe in them at all. Last year over the holidays I read Rick Santorum's book. This year I decided to get a head start on the 2008 presidential race by reading books by some of the hopefuls. This post will serve as an aggregation of relevant postings over the next few weeks or later as more material become available and as more people announce their intentions. Barack Obama. The Audacity of Hope. Part I (prologue through chapter 2) Part II (chapters 3 through 6) Part III (chapter 7 through the epilogue) Tuesday, December 26, 2006 One of the fun things about coming home after being away a few days is going through several newspapers at once. I haven't gotten completely caught up with the Inky yet, but a story in Saturday's paper (For 2 new lawmakers, giving back pay raises is hard to do," by Mari A. Schaefer) got my attention. I tried to find a good holiday-related title for this blog post, something about the Grinch or no good deed goes unpunished, but nothing really seemed to fit. In any event, two newly elected state representatives, Bryan Lentz (D-161) and Tom Murt (R-152) don't want their salaries to reflect this year's cost of living increase. They want their salary to be what it was when they ran for office. Apparently there is no way to do that. They can contribute the amount of the increase to charity, but they will still be taxed on the full amount. Superior Court Judge Joan Orie Melvin ran into the same problem in October and has been refusing to accept her paychecks, sending them back to the state until the issue can be resolved. Saturday, December 23, 2006 As might be expected not much happened in the state house and senate this week. In fact the only action reported was something that happened in the house in July (sometimes, for some reason, it takes months for these things to show up in the daily emails). HB 471 Prior Printer's Nos. 510, 2280, 4761, 4885, 4923. Printer's No. 4947. An Act amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929, providing for transfers of appropriations and for notice of transfers and loans between funds; extending the time period covered by an application considered for the Merchant Marine World War II Veterans Bonus and the expiration of the Merchant Marine World War II Veterans Bonus Act; establishing the Cardiovascular Disease Advisory Committee and a Statewide stroke database; providing for biennial renewal of certain licenses for volunteer health services; and making inconsistent repeals relating to the Merchant Marine World War II Veterans Bonus Act. The governor vetoed it in late November. No idea why reporting this was so delayed. I'm taking a few days off. Back the 26th or 27th. Friday, December 22, 2006 The Inky's wonderful blog on the count and recount in the Chester County house race reports yesterday that Democrat Barbara McIlvaine Smith is the new representative from the 156th district. That puts the Democrats in the majority (just barely). Kudos to the Inquirer for running the temporary blog, http://chescocount.blogspot.com/. Thursday, December 21, 2006 These are rough notes from Rep-elect Joe Sestak's (D-07) appearance on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" on Dec. 17, 2006. It was the second segment of the show, with Sestak and Ret. Army Gen. Jack Keane. At one point it was available online at http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/. As always my apologies for any errors or misinterpretations. GS: plan for more troops JK: security plan is part of the comprehensive situation. In terms of the strategy itself, theessence of it is the security of the people in Baghdad. Never taken this on before. Put in a 24/7 force and do not go back to bases at night. GS: how many new troops and how long will they stay JK: additional 4 or 5 brigades, 25K people, in Al Ambar, mission to keep insurgents off base in Baghdad, 2 marine regiments, another 10K, go into fall of year. Then move focus to Al Ambar. Another 6 to 7 months GS: what’s wrong with this strategy JS: We’re on the road to nowhere. 1) We had troops in Al Ambar, no effect, in fact violence increased. 2) letting Iraqis have more political & military dependence on us 3) hurting here at home, army strained. Not a military issue but a political issue. Need a date certain [for withdrawal]. GS: if we give date certain will there be an increase in violence JS: without a doubt. No perfect strategy. They don’t have to take action because we’re there doing it. What’s the overall strategic issue for America? We need to look at North Korea, Afghanistan. We need to redeploy. Leave some special forces there. GS: previously the joint chiefs agreed with some of JS’s points JK: His argument is choice, can we do something in the intervening year or just cut our losses. What we didn’t do militarily in the past is see this as a security mission. There is a value in seeing this as a regional issue and want regional powers involved. Use economic incentives. GS: Why are you convinced it can’t work? JS: We‘re imposing what we want on the county; polls show they don’t want that. Another illusive ever changing goal. Not a military solution. Real loss not Iraq but loss in overall world security. Mentions Afghanistan again. Taliban back in southern provinces. We aren’t able to pay attention GS: Gen, Sen Reid said Dems support an additional few months JK: impossible. Need to clear insurgents and death squads and then bring in protection forces and don’t have them go back to bases and then bring in economic incentives. Problem in past never put secure forces into areas. Iraqi forces not capable yet. GS: Doesn’t that mean when we leave the insurgents come back JK: The people will isolate insurgents and they don’t come back. Over relied on political solutions throughout, never saw this as a military problem GS: Will the president accept this? JK: doesn’t know. Wednesday, December 20, 2006 This week I received three letters of thanks from three congressional representatives (or representatives elect), Patrick Murphy (D-08), Allyson Schwartz (D-13), and Joe Sestak (D-07). One was dated November but it was new to me. The three candidates have either an exact or slightly alerted text of the letter on their websites so link away if you want to read what I'm writing about. I looked at them from four viewpoints: writing, unique characteristics, typography / design, and fundraising. Looking at the words used and how the letters were structured you do see three different styles. Schwartz was running for second term in office so hers was a bit different. Here are the paragraphis I thought were the most well-written from each: "Across the nation this November, we made history. We called for an end to cronyism and crooked politics and demanded real change from our government. Now, with a new Democratic Majority, we can move this country in the right direction – working to ensure affordable healthcare, to put on the path to energy independence and to strengthen and secure our nation." (Schwartz) "Now begins the real journey – not just for me, but for all of us here in the 8th District. We are going to bring back optimism. We are going to bring back hope. And we are going to bring back possibility." (Murphy) "I believe the voters most want a coming together to bring about a better America, a “commonwealth” approach to solving our nation’s challenges of the future. I intend to bring people together – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – to work hard on the issues that are most important to us all: to raise our children well; to own a home; to provide quality education for our children; to have a comfortable retirement; and to live a healthy life in a safe and prosperous America." (Sestak, with points taken off for overuse of semi-colons) Most tortured paragraph (enough with security already): "I entered this race this past February because I believed our country was headed in the wrong direction, and we needed a new course. Congress seemed to have forgotten that true national security begins at home, in the economic, health, and educational security of our citizens. These securities, along with our defense security, were being eroded by the failures of this Congress to act on the issues most important to Americans, and by the tragic misadventure in Iraq. But I believe that if we properly invest and solve our challenges in these four pillars of security, then we have true national security." (Sestak) Words of Gratitude: Sestak is thankful and indebted and hopes to live up to our expectations. Murphy is thankful, grateful, and promises to make us proud. Schwartz is humbled. She takes much more of a “we worked together” approach, perhaps indicative of her incumbent status, while the other two were challengers who ousted incumbents. Schwartz mentions that she is only the second Democratic woman from Pennsylvania to be elected to a second term and the only woman congressional representative from the state. Murphy mentions his army service in Iraq. Sestak mentions his margin of victory – 56% to 44%. Sestak and Murphy sign their first and last names; Schwartz just signs her first name. Typography / design: This section involves verbal descriptions of graphics. If you find this annoying, skip to the next section. One of these days I’ll figure out how to use the scanner on the new printer or maybe Santa will bring me a digital camera. Years ago I took a graduate seminar in printing; we learned to throw type (being able to read upside down and backwards is very useful in typesetting) and I’ve had an interest in typography ever since. It was interesting to note some of the design qualities in the logos and typefaces used. The gentlemen used blue for their logos, both put their surnames in all caps. Sestak used only a surname; Murphy included his first name, also in capital letters. Both used stars – Murphy had one at the end of the Murphy06 logo; Sestak had three, one above and below the initial S and the other to the left of it. Both had “for Congress” under their name, in italics and mixed case for Sestak, Murphy had all caps. Both used sans serif fonts (read about serifs). I couldn’t quite place them (gotten rusty over the years, time was I could name a type face right off). Sestak looked like Eras Demi ITC but that isn’t quite right. Murphy used a thicker font, something similar to a Gill. Schwartz used red for her logo. She also used a more traditional font. I don’t see anything similar in the Microsoft font list. It looks like an old typewriter font but the serifs on the A are unusual – the serif on top of the capital A is very large and flat. She doesn’t have “for Congress” but instead “U.S. Representative” under her name. Her letter is almost a page and a half; the other two take up the front of the paper only. All three have a union logo at the bottom of the sheet. Schwartz is known for her fundraising abilities and her talents in this area show in her letter. For one thing, she includes a donation card and envelope so you can make a contribution to help with her next election. She even includes this paragraph: "The end-of-year filing deadline will be used as a measure of my strength. A strong fundraising report on December 31st will send a clear signal that I will not be defeated. Please consider a contribution … to kick off my re-election campaign.” To make the point even clearer she says earlier in the letter: "But the truth is victory did not come easily. We helped ensure our success by running a smart campaign and working hard for my re-election right out of the gate. By raising the money early that I needed to run a strong campaign, I sent a message that I was going to have the resources necessary to defend my seat.” Ummm, as I recall, she didn’t have any real opposition to speak of. She is very adept at fundraising though. Neither Murphy nor Sestak make an outright request for money (take note, fellahs, the GOP is already gunning for you) but their letterheads include campaign website URLs and contributions can be made there. They also include postal addresses and phone numbers. Schwartz’s letter does not have those, but they are included on the donation card and self-addressed envelope. The donation card has an “Allyson Schwartz for Congress” logo on it that has many of the characteristics of the other two – blue color, all caps and use of stars. I’m sure a lot of lawyers have gone over all these details to make sure they conform to FEC regulations. Schwartz is a smart cookie. Okay, this is an odd thing to write about, but all three letters arrived within a day or so of each other. As much as I like to tell you my dining room table is clean and uncluttered, it would be a lie. When I was clearing the table off the letters ended up in a pile together and that just naturally suggests comparison. Plus, other than casinos in Philadelphia, there isn’t a lot going on right now. Take note graduate students, there is a thesis somewhere in the study of thank you letters; I'm sure of it. Tuesday, December 19, 2006 We don't have a full list of congressional committee assignments yet but here is what is known so far about area Democrats. Chris Carney (D-10) -- Transportation and Infrastructure Patrick Murphy (D-08) -- Armed Services Allyson Schwartz (D-13) -- Ways and Means Joe Sestak (D-07) -- Armed Services Monday, December 18, 2006 It appears that incumbent Republican Montgomery County Commissioner Tom Ellis plans to run for re-election, even after the release of a poll paid for by incumbent Republican Montgomery County Attorney General Bruce Castor showed him to have some serious negatives in the eyes of the public. Vowing he will not be "bullied," Montgomery County Commissioners Chairman Thomas J. Ellis says he intends to seek re-election next year despite his poor showing in a controversial poll commissioned by fellow Republican, county District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. "It is my belief that polls will say whatever you want them to say, depending on who is paying for it," said Ellis, a lawyer from Cheltenham who will be seeking a second four-year term as commissioner. ("Ellis will pursue re-election despite negative poll," By Margaret Gibbons, Times Herald 12/18/2006) Okay, so let's all keep in mind that, in his view, no polls are reliable. He plans to pay for one himself, which he expects to be favorable but equally unreliable. Good use of money there. Further into the article it says that State Rep. Kate Harper (R-61) may jump into the race. It will be very interesting to see who the Democratic candidates are, other than incumbent Ruth Damsker. We’ve all read about the upcoming sale of PoliticsPA and there are likely to be some changes in the site that I, and many of you, consider as much a part of our mornings as breakfast and the newspaper. To give a look back as well as forward, the site’s anonymous editor, Sy Snyder, took the time to answer a few questions. I’ve mentioned this before but it is relevant to mention again, in the interest of full disclosure, it was at Sy’s suggestion that I started blogging. Our email correspondence has been ongoing for over 4 years and while I have barked at Sy, Sy has always been civil to me. My thanks to Sy for the opportunity to post this interview. I hope my readers enjoy it. [Update: GrassrootsPA also has an interview with Sy Snyder. Read that interview here.] In your time as editor of the site what do you think is the most significant event to have happened in Pennsylvania politics? I think nailing down one single event over the last five years is impossible. But overall, the gains by Democrats in southeast Pennsylvania is dramatically changing the dynamic of how things happen here. Southeast PA used to be a bastion of moderate Republicans, but that’s changing fast. What change would you most like to see in the campaign process, both federal and state? Politics is fun and artful. I think that severe gerrymandering can distort the process and be bad for public policy, but even worse, it ruins the game. The money doesn’t bother me like it does others. If someone like Frank Ryan wants to spend $545,648 to garner 9,026 votes, good for him. What change would you most like to see in voter behavior? I’d like to see more people involved in the process. Young people don’t vote… and they wonder why social security will go broke. How has use of the Internet changed state politics? When we launched PoliticsPA in the fall of 2001, we were the only ones out there. Blogs didn’t exist. RSS didn’t exist. Flash ads were too much to handle. We had a dial-up connection. The technology was so primitive. But now, the news cycle has sped up so fast that newspapers are now forced to have their own blogs just to keep up with us. How does this change state politics? Ask any opposition researcher what their #1 tool for releasing the fruits of their labor. Ron Harper, we love you. On the continuum of enjoying being the all-powerful Oz and being a little lonely back there behind the curtain, where do you fall most days? Wasn’t Oz a little lonely? What are you going to do with yourself now? How long do you plan to continue being involved with PoliticsPA and what will you do afterwards (generally or as far as you can say)? I’m very happy to be working with my new partners Larry Ceisler and David Urban. Over the last five years I have taken PoliticsPA as far as possible without losing my anonymity or sanity. I’ll be involved with PoliticsPA until I’m asked to leave or Patriot News reporter Brett Lieberman finally outs me. I should have been tougher on bad reporters. There is one reporter who could double as Worf at a Star Trek convention who still hasn’t gotten what she deserves. I am tough on people who deserve it. I don’t regret any of the shots I’ve taken with perhaps the exception of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission when they unsuccessfully attempted to force us to remove an image from our website until State Representative Mike Veon intervened. What do you consider your notable successes, other than just the site itself? It’s rarely noticed, but as a policy, we never attack lower level staffers and operatives. I’m proud to have protected budding talent and helped foster their growth and success, regardless of party. What did you enjoy most / least about running PoliticsPA? I enjoy the private correspondence with my readers. There’s something about the anonymity that really lets people open up, and I’m grateful to have been trusted with some serious secrets. On the other hand, PoliticsPA is updated every business day… that’s required me to anonymously log on to a computer in the early morning hours for nearly 1800 consecutive days, occasionally from very public places and once from Europe. (Cal Ripken’s got nothing on me.) We receive about one thousand press releases per month. It’s an important service to post them all, but it can be tedious. Otherwise, this is an absolute pleasure. You must have a ton of blackmail material squirreled away somewhere. What are you going to do with it? Is there a memoir in the works? My secrets will always be secrets. Anything less would be a betrayal of the friendships I value. Have there been primarily one or two Sys or have a host of people reading all the emails we’ve been sending over the years? Despite rumors, there has been virtually no internal turnover behind the curtain. The people you heard from in 2001 are the same today. Saturday, December 16, 2006 I'm catching up on this week's Wall Street Journal issues and noted this reference to Pennsylvania's 5th district congressman. ("Democrat's Energy Policy to Stress Cutting Demand," by John J. Fialka 12/11/06, p. A14): Leaders of the coalition that pushed the last energy bill through Congress -- the offshore-drilling measure passed early Sturday morning -- had hoped to pen a much larger area before Republicans gave up control. But they celebrated victory nonethless. "When it comes to passing important legislation around here," said Rep. John E. Peterson (R., Pa), "you learn to shoot for the stars in the hope that you might land on the moon. I don't know that we even approached the stratosphere with this bill, but I do believe it represents an important first step." For those last minute gift shoppers, here are a few ideas: Books: This year during the holidays I hope to post reviews of books written by 2008 presidential hopefuls. I’m working on the review for Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope now. It is a fantastic book. It look me longer than expected to read because I had to keep stopping to think about something he wrote or just absorb what was read. The writing is powerful but not overwhelming or heavy-handed. Appropriate for almost everyone, those interested in politics, current events, values, social commentary, biography, and so on. He writes like he talks. ‘Nuff said. Computer Games: Zoo Tycoon is a favorite in our house, with everyone that plays computer games (everyone but me). It allows you to create a zoo, exhibits, amenities, hire workers, set admission prices, and so on. Players start with a certain amount of money and it decreases as they build and buy and increases as people pay to attend. Teaches a lot of valuable lessons, from environmental awareness to sound business practices. One of the little Janes came running up to me one day and said “All my workers are happy and the bathrooms are clean.” What could be better? The program tells you when the animals are unhappy and why, so turf can be replaced, exhibits enlarged, and so on. In an early outing one of the little Janes had purchased all of the animals in the same gender and they were unhappy about this. It lead to one of those “teachable moments.” Good stuff all around. Gadgetry: Someone in a pr firm hired by Best Buy sent me an email about an online feature they had which helps people select gifts. No money changed hands and no offers of freebies were made. The person left a name. I checked into her and the firm and they seem legit. I gave the feature a test run and someone at work did the same. Neither of us made any purchases based on it but we found it interesting and useful. If you aren’t sure what to get someone but you know they’d want something techie, try this out: www.wowfactorfinder.com Friday, December 15, 2006 One of the children I featured in a Missing Monday post earlier this year has been found. I don't have any details other than the name, which I won't post to let the family have some privacy. For those unfamiliar with it, some bloggers in the region highlight a local missing persons case on the first Monday of each month. Most of the time we don't know if the case is solved afterwards. In this case I noticed a flash of hits in sitemeter for the missing child's name and looked into it to see why there was sudden interest. A quick google search found a report of the recovery. Welcome home, young one! [Update: Curious, I went back through other Missing Monday posts and found three other cases that have been removed from the missing persons databases I use. So those cases were resolved, one way or another. This is interesting. In the future I will keep closer watch.] Thursday, December 14, 2006 I’ve been reading a lot about outgoing state Senator Joe Conti being named CEO of the state’s liquor board. There has been a lot of discussion and some outrage. Here are a few excerpts from newspapers: Pennsylvania's 643 liquor stores have been racking up record sales in recent years, but it was concern about the system's rising expenses that led to the hiring of a just-retired state senator to fill the newly created job of chief executive. Bucks County Republican Joe Conti, also a Penn State trustee, was hired Wednesday by a 2-1 vote, with a strong dissent from Liquor Control Board Chairman Jonathan Newman. Newman said Conti's salary of $150,000 -- more than twice what Newman makes -- is too high, and the process by which he was selected was too secretive. (“Ex-senator hired as new CEO: Secretive selection, $150,000 salary draws criticism,” Mark Scolforo Centre Daily Times 12/14/06) In another article, one of the liquor control board members, Thomas Goldsmith said this: "It's a bargain price. This is a $1.7 billion business," he said. "In the private sector, a CEO would be making $1 million a year." [Board member T. J.] Stapleton called the salary "peanuts," adding that Conti "is very knowledgable about the operation of the agency. And this isn't an agency that's easy to understand." If I remember correctly, we the voters are supposed to be tickled pink to be getting a few hundred dollars back on our property taxes. I don’t think that was called peanuts before the election. The article goes on: Conti becomes the third known retiring state lawmaker to quickly parlay his legislative career into a lucrative job in state government. Many others in the General Assembly's large outgoing class are trying to do the same. Last week, Mark McNaughton, a Republican who represented the Harrisburg suburbs in the House for 10 years, was nominated by Speaker John M. Perzel to the Gaming Control Board. He would replace outgoing member Joseph W. "Chip" Marshall III in a job that pays $145,000, more than double the $72,187 McNaughton was making as a legislator when he left office Nov. 30. Brett Feese, who represented Lycoming County for 12 years in the House, the last two years as the Appropriations Committee chairman, began work as chief counsel to House Republicans Dec. 1, the day after his term ended. He is making $155,000 annually. (“$150,000 LCB post for retired legislator: Joe Conti will become CEO, a new position. The liquor board's chair said he was "very disappointed" by the move.” By Mario F. Cattabiani Philadelphia Inquirer 12/13/06 Conti has owned at least two restaurants and held a liquor license himself as well as having served on the senate committee that oversees liquor control issues. No one can doubt that he his qualified. It is the process that is unseemly. He is the only person interviewed for the job and that just never looks good. I wish I could muster a little outrage but the whole thing just makes me tired. It never ends. Could we at least ask for a little window dressing? Couldn’t the governor bring in a few courtesy interviews? Humor the electorate at little bit, go through a process. I spent part of this evening at a PTA meeting where the conversation swirled around the school district budget and the restrictions placed on it by that bit of wording the governor stuck into the property tax reform bill. The possibility of losing music and art weigh heavily in the air. Classes are likely to be larger next year in at least one grade. We are trying to find someone to volunteer to run our major fundraiser of the year, which brings in about $10,000. It pays for classroom and playground balls and lets us buy all the teachers a $50 gift card to help pay for the things they buy for their rooms and students. As a family we are preparing for the holidays. It is just too hard sometimes to watch everything that needs to be watched, but it does not mean that it isn’t noted. This incident and other similar incidents are noted and they leave a bad taste. Wednesday, December 13, 2006 This note from Rick Taylor's campaign: Excited to begin offering services to the constituents of the PA 151st Legislative District, Representative-Elect Rick Taylor announced today that his District office will be located at 701 Horsham Road in Horsham , PA. The office, which will open just before the holidays, will be a full service center to accommodate the needs of all constituents in the District. “My number one goal is to provide excellent constituent services for everyone. I ran for public office with the promise of taking care of our families and I will follow through with that promise – one constituent need at a time” Taylor said. In addition to the office in Horsham, Taylor plans to have a mobile “office” to accommodate those who may not be able to travel due to medical or other reasons. “My staff and I will travel to all parts of the District in order to insure all constituent needs are handled quickly and efficiently.” Taylor added. For those in the city limits, check out this event: You are invited to the opening event of Local Politics Matter! We're holding a toy drive for families in South Philly, who are in need during the holiday season. Mayoral and City Council Candidates are expected to attend and show their support for the community. Please join us at 1601 on Tuesday, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m. It's located at 1601 South 10th Street, on the corner of 10th and Tasker streets. You can also visit the events calendar at www.localpoliticsmatter.com for more details. There is no cost to attend, and all we ask is that you bring a new, unwrapped toy. The toys will be distributed to children through a church a couple of blocks away. This bandaid is being pulled off very slowly. More information has been released from the poll Mclaughlin & Associates did for Bruce Castor, Montgomery County Attorney General. The telephone poll was of 300 likely voters in Montco. Note this paragraph from the executive summary (from politicspa): In a divided political environment such as this, it appears the domestic violence scandal affecting [Republican county commissioner]Tom Ellis not only hurts his candidacy but could also have a damaging affect on the campaigns of other Montgomery County Republican candidates. Trying to inoculate Tom Ellis from the scandal would be very expensive due to his low name recognition. Republicans would have to spend a lot of money upfront to raise Tom Ellis’ favorables and positive profile before the Democrats define him with the scandal. Even then, Tom Ellis would most likely be looking at a tough race. If defined by the Democrats and the news reports of his scandal, Republicans would have an extremely hard time rehabilitating Tom Ellis’ campaign and run a serious risk of polluting the campaigns of other Republicans. This could be a very long year. Tuesday, December 12, 2006 This evening I watched "Taking the Hill," which followed four veterans running for congress. These are only my impressions and rough notes. I encourage you to seek an opportunity to watch it yourself. Taking the Hill (12/12/06) Discovery Times channel 2/08/06 Band of Brothers meeting. Mike Lyon director of the Band of Brothers. Eric Massa watches himself at the rally on tv. Over 50 veterans running as Dems. Only 1 Republican. Massa and Cleland on Air America. “I wore a uniform almost all my life so other people could become millionaires and now I’m calling those people for help.” Patrick Murphy in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. “When I got back [from Iraq] I thought I’d live a normal life but when your country needs you your country needs you.” Follows Murphy’s parents campaigning for him. When he first decided to run he talked with Sen. Max Cleland to get his advice. Scenes from a bbq in Bristol (Paul Lang in the background). Murphy talking to Gwen Ifill. Says he is there to make a change not to keep a seat. Rick Bolanos from Texas, dad came from Mexico. His family had four brothers serve in Vietnam. Campaigns with two of his brothers against VA cuts. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. Says the bridesmaid at her wedding is now flying helicopters in Iraq. Duckworth lost both her legs in Iraq. Eric Massa fundraising in NY, dialing for dollars at the dinner table, talking about how difficult it is. Meeting with professional fundraiser. Massa talks about all the advice he gets, such as not being so outspoken. Bolanos of Texas. Has a truck with an MIA flag on it. His Texas flag was stolen. Running on passion not on money. Doesn’t have money to mail out brochures so takes them and hands them out at grocery stores, etc. National Dems say “if you raise a million dollars we’ll give you a million dollars.” Congressman Rahm Emanuel, chair of DCCC, goes to meet Eric Massa. RE says you have to raise $200K every month. Don’t be so angry, be more likeable. Don’t let your family down. Murphy, Duckworth, Duck (MD), and another veteran candidate in Chicago for Vanity Fair shoot. Duckworth in Wheaten Ill for 4th of July parade. Sen. Durbin campaigns with/for her. Murphy at debate with Fitzpatrick at the Intelligencer. After the debate Murphy says he won. “Paratroopers call it like it is.” Massa says he raised more in this congressional race than in his entire military career but D’s say he is a fundraising failure. Has a tv ad. D’s say too Republican. Asks Cleland who says too warm and fuzzy. Bolanos checks on rally. Says if it’s an anti-war rally he can’t stay because we need to support the troops. Visits home of young woman soldier who died in the war. He speaks to her parents. Murphy at a fundraiser with Stephen Stills. Massa looking at the Red to Blue website. He is not on the list. He debates the incumbent, Rep. Randy Kuhn. Says in debate that he would not ban flagburning. Massa thinks it will cost him the election. Murphy in his campaign headquarters, talking about incumbent Fitzpatrick’s press conference where Murphy’s service was questioned. Clinton campaigns for Murphy. Bolanos says his family is spending every cent on his campaign. Drops out of the race. Duckworth debates Republican Peter Roskam. Massa says if he wins it won’t be with DC’s help. Cleland and Clinton campaign for him. Massa wonders where Rahn Emanuel is that day. Murphy at a union meeting. "23 hours away from greatness (election)." Duckworth at rally. Focus on getting the vote out. Barack Obama campaigns for her. Massa on election day. Says he loves campaigning on the street, much more than calling people and asking for money. Murphy the day before election day. Fitzpatrick is a the same train station as Murphy, says Murphy is a one issue candidate. Murphy says he has been at the station every single work day and Fitzpatrick’s last minute campaigning won’t help. Massa watching the returns. Gets annoyed when Rahm Emanuel says he found veteran candidates. Massa says if he wins it is against all the odds. Murphy showing his 82nd airborne cufflinks. Hearing returns. Murphy wins. Promises to make supporters proud. Won by 1521 votes. Duckworth concedes to Roskam. Massa gets 49% of the vote. Only 4 of the original 62 Band of Brothers elected. The 2007 congress will have the fewest number of veterans since World War I. Monday, December 11, 2006 A number of political industry announcements in the inbox recently: Campaigns & Elections is having a seminar on All Things Ethical / Political in Las Vegas on March 15 and 16. Topics they plan to cover include: Handling Ethical Dilemmas Fund Raising Ethics and The Law Direct Mail Standards – How far can you go? Internet Ethics: Changing Concepts, Changing Ethics? Negative Television Advertising – Is negative the new positive? Religiously Incorrect? The Appropriate Role of Religion in Politics Polling – Defining your message Progressive States has an agenda and they want your help with it: With you, we can win the fight for paid sick days, ensuring that workers don't have to choose between taking care of their sick kids and having the money to pay rent. We will win the fight for election day registration and expanded vote-by-mail that ensure every eligible voter can cast a ballot easily and that all the ballots are counted fairly. We will win the fight for renewable energy development, freeing us from foreign domination of our energy economy while creating clean jobs here at home. On our own, the Progressive States Network is just a handful of people with some good ideas. With you and your friends on our team, we can be a force to change America. The man who developed a campaign finance software for Russ Diamond's independent campaign for governor is making his product available to the public. Details here. Sunday, December 10, 2006 Tomorrow (Monday) at 9:00 p.m. "Taking the Hill" airs on the Discovery Times Channel. It follows the races of select veteran candidates including PA-08's Patrick Murphy. I hope to watch and blog about it. DSL has been very sketchy this past week. The nice people at Verizon has said a new modem/router will arrive tomorrow. In the meantime Mr. J. and I watch the modem/router we have for elusive five lights needed for a connection. However, usually as soon as you touch the keyboard one of the lights go out. It's maddening. Hopefully tomorrow all will be well again. Saturday, December 09, 2006 PA Society Dinner Re-broadcast on PCN I started watching when the rebroadcast came on at 10:00 p.m. Sen. Specter tripped slightly, or took a wrong step, when walking on the dias. James Nevels stood out as being the only non-white person on the dias. Judge Rendell wore a very zippy blouse but carried it off with dignity and style. PA Society now has a website: www.pasociety.com Gov. Rendell speaks, good news on PA’s economy. Asks for a moment of silence to honor Pennsylvanians serving their country. There were two musical groups, the University of Pennsylvania Glee Club and a string trio called Time for Three (I think, this may be wrong). It's 11:30 p.m., the awards are being given out, and I'm going to call it it a night. Every now and then the camera pans the audience. I don't recognize a single solitary soul. The post-election drop in readership is appearing as expected but my old blogposts on the Pennsylvania Society are keeping me afloat. More than half of all the visitors directly to the blog today were looking for information the organization. Friday, December 08, 2006 Our friends at The Next Mayor are live blogging from the Pennsylvania Society. You can put on your party hat and play along from home. The truly inventive can make their own scorecards or a boardgame with Fattah, Brady, Evans, Johnny Doc, Nutter and Knox tokens. What could be more fun? No bills were passed in their the Pennsyvlania House or Senate this week. One was shuffled off to committe but that was about it. A slow week; perhaps everyone was getting ready for the big doins' at the Pennsylvania Society in New York. Our accountant friends at PICPA did prepare their weekly update last week but I missed it. My apologies. From today's Inquirer ("As Congress Winds Down, It's Time to Get a Move On," by Darlene Superville), I note this paragraph: Thanks to the election, the Senate will have a new candyman or woman next year. [Rick] Santorum was the keeper of the desk that is traditionally the source of sweets for senators coming into the chamber. He stocked it with Hershey chocolates as well as jellybeans and candy corn. Let me get this straight, an incumbent senator faces an uphill re-election battle and is especially having trouble getting traction with woman voters. He has a secret stash of chocolate and he's doling it out to old white men in the senate!!! I hate to play into stereotypes but where is the logic in giving chocolate to people who can't vote for you? He should have been throwing bags of the stuff at every public appearance. I swear. Thursday, December 07, 2006 Oh me, oh my! The poll alluded to earlier this week, of Montgomery County commissioners, done at the request of county Attorney General Bruce Castor has been released, or at least leaked. See the full results at PoliticsPA. Republican County Commissioner Jim Mathews has a favorable rating of 21.1%, with 38.2% having no opinion and 36.4% never having heard of him. Ouch!! He just ran for lieutenant governor on the ticket with Lynn Swann. Fellow Republic commissioner Tom Ellis has a 10.1% favorable rating, 36.7% have no opinion and 50% have never heard of him. Lone Democrat Ruth Damsker has a 12.1% favorable rating, with 32.4% having no opinion and 52% have never heard of her. Yowza!!!! That is not good. Even worse, of those polled 51.8% said they would be less likely to vote for Ellis if they knew about a protection from abuse order filed against him in recent years. Castor, by comparison, comes up roses. 44.2% have a favorable opinion of him, 27.5% have no opinion and only 20.8% have never heard of him. Castor held a meeting for GOP officials to show them the poll results. Going by this memo, it sounds like Ellis, the county party chair, and a (if not the) primary party power broker skipped the meeting. The poll's methodology was not included in the information provided. McLaughlin & Associates conducted the poll. I say it again, oh me, oh my! Wednesday, December 06, 2006 This weekend is the annual Pennsylvania Society meeting in New York City, where Pennsylvania officials, politicos, and the monied political elite gather. If, like me, you have some interest in what will be happening there, you might want to review the schedule of events currently available on PoliticsPA. Please note that they are invitation only. If, like me, you weren't actually invited to any of the events, and would be too cheap to spend the money for travel, hotel, and taxi or train expenses, you might want to watch Saturday's Annual Dinner on PCN live at 7:00 p.m., replayed at 9:00 p.m. and again on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. (or so their schedule, subject to change, says). I plan to put on my sequined bunny slippers, sweet talk Mr. J into making cinnamon toast, and watch in style from the comfort of Casa Jane's media room (otherwise known as the den or the basement, depending). I'm watching the Philadelphia mayoral race from a distance, but trying to keep some level of current knowlege. Here are my three primary information resources, in addition to the local papers (which seem to not be going on strike. Hooray!!!!) 1) The Next Mayor. This project is an innovative, two-year multimedia partnership to focus on the issues - not just the personalities - leading to the 2007 mayor's race. It was created by the Daily News, WHYY and the Committee of Seventy. The project is funded in part by a $330,000 grant to WHYY from the William Penn Foundation. URL: http://www.thenextmayor.com/ (yes, they do have a blog and it is updated regularly). 2) A Smoke-Filled Room. City blogger ACM does a great job annotating and linking to news stories relating to the race, in addition to her usual daily news round up. URL: http://www.asmokefilledroom.blogspot.com/ 3) Young Philly Politics. This vibrant, youth-oriented city blog has enticed some of the city elders, including possible mayoral candidate Rep. Bob Brady to join in the fray. URL: http://www.youngphillypolitics.com There are doubtless other reputable resources out there. These are just the ones that come to my mind the quickest. Tuesday, December 05, 2006 Joe Sestak, Congressman-elect from Pennsylvania’s 7th district was the guest yesterday on PCN’s Call-In Show. The video is currently available on PCN’s website www.pcntv.com. Francine Schertzer is the host. These are my notes from the show. As always, my apologies for any errors or misinterpretations. In two places the video stalled (with interesting face melting effect) and I wasn’t able to capture Sestak’s entire answer. This was more likely my dsl line that PCN’s feed. Q: What issues do you anticipate working on? JS: Democratic party was not given a mandante but an opportunity. Issues: 1) Iraq 2) affordable health care 3) education pre-k through college, 4) pay as you go economy Q: Which is nearest and dearest to you? JS: health care. His daughter spent 4 months in the oncology ward. Tells the story of the boy on the other side of the curtain on the ward whose family had no health coverage, and of overhearing social workers talk with the parents about whether he could stay. Also economy, cannot keep mortgaging our future, tragic misadventure in iraq Q: health care, how to make it more affordable JS: shared responsibility between individual and society as well as business. It can only be done if bipartisan, looked at the Massachusetts plan closely. It mandates everyone participate, with the healthy participating it brings premiums down. Small businesses join together to make larger pools, competition makes costs go down Q: how to prevent insurance from raising premiums JS: competition. Massachusetts plan takes 20 or so insurance plans, allows small businesses to join together to negotiate among 20 or so plans for the best price. Q: how would the MA plan differ from European and Canadian social medicine? JS: There is a significant difference. The European model has a single payer. We should rely on competition to ensure that everyone sees what each plan offers and negotiate for best price. Q: reward practitioners for quality not quantity? JS: called fee for service in medicare. When he was looking for doctor for his daughter the military gave him information so he could tell what docs were better. Having an IT revolution would help individuals see where they might get the best performance for their medical care. Then shift from fee for service to preventive care and early diagnosis. Caller: Congrats. America is lacking a good energy policy, need to be more energy independent JS: Agree. Time to move towards energy independence has come. Need strategic plan. Change tax incentive structure. Not to oil companies to drill more but to companies that use alternative energy. Nation should shift towards alternative and renewables. Incentives to consumers to buy hybrids, etc. that help us have clean and alternative energies. Can be good for business. When JS was endorsed by the Sierra Club, he invited people from a venture capital company in Radnor with many investments in alternative energy to attend. We cannot continue to be dependent on other countries. Caller: pay as you go, besides health care, what are 2 or 3 other examples JS: First, cap on discretionary spending, Clinton established a cap on discretionary spending, Any new program must include the revenues to pay for it or shift them from another program. Will allow inflationary rise. Need discipline and accountability Q: Would programs or services cut? JS: No, but they would be challenged. Forces us to prioritize, not borrow and spend. Is it more important to spend $8 billion on a tragic misadventure in Iraq or here on homeland security? Over 50% of our debt is owned by foreign nations. Not good. Caller: Pres. Bush indicates he wants to add troops to Iraq. Can this be reversed? JS: Disagrees with Bush. Recently moved more troops to Baghdad and violence increased. Congress must argue, compel, and provide oversight. Citizens of this nation do not want increase in troops. Military people in Congress like JS can add experience and background (mentions his own service in the military and the Clinton administration). Mentions redeployment 2007. Encourage Iraq to accept responsibility Q; withdrawal plan JS: We must provide a timetable, at least a year in advance, to give parties in that country time to ask surrounding nations in region to come together, with us at the table if they want us, to work toward resolving political issues in that country. The US can call an international conference to pursue peaceful resolution to challenges there. We would redeploy to other parts of the region. Iraq must accept responsibility. Every day we are in Iraq our own security is less. The Taliban is growing again in Afghanistan. Iran and nuclear weapon. Middle East. We need to pay attention to the entire global neighborhood not just one house, Iraq. We must have a date certain. Caller: How to bridge the gap in our country divided? JS: If voters gave one message is that they want a coming together to address problems. JS did not running on the left or the right but to fix problems. Wants to fix problems. Spent time since elections reaching out across the aisle, meeting with local leaders, mentions names, chambers of commerce, met with union that supported Weldon. Coming together to address our problems. That’s why he is taken with MA health care plan – a bipartisan coming together of a Republican governor and a Democratic legislature. Must tactically work together. Caller: You ran a great classy campaign. Caller recently lost his grandfather to Parkinson’s. Stem cell research? JS: 110% in support of stem cell research. 3000 individuals (sympathies to caller) die prematurely that might have lived if stem cell research successful. Mentions daughter’s chemo (daughter now doing well). How can JS not be for it? Caller: Voted for you. What will you do with elderly with drugs and cost of high heating oil? JS: Prescription drugs issue, wants to address early to change approach. Should have federal government negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to get best price, like veterans administration does. Median drug price at VA is 46% less than that via medicare. Current law does not permit the federal government to negotiate drug prices. Donut hole could be closed if can get fair prices. It is wrong if a drug made here can be sold overseas for less than here but cannot be reimported. JS recognizes how imp the pharmaceutical industry is (daughter) and how important R&D is, but wants to be fair to seniors. Donut hole can cost seniors an additional 18% of their income. Caller: jobs going overseas. Your thoughts on outsourcing? JS: One short-term, change tax incentives that reward companies that move off shore or move jobs offshore. Second, key is to tie knowledge to innovation. America’s educational system allowed us to get competitive edge. Economists believe that if things don’t change China will be #1 world economy by 2050 with India #2. Education is key. China admires not only Harvard but community colleges that produce artisans (welders, etc). E.g. working with businesses for clean energy. Imagine wind turbines made here. Must work with businesses to keep us competitive. Make sure worker rights and environmental standard are included in trade agreements. Caller: environment, global warming JS: When we had 16 EPA administrators this past year say global warming is real and a challenge, plus all the scientists saying the same thing, how can we not believe it? Supportive of Kyoto treaty, and further in long term. Increase CAFÉ standards. Must change how we measure mpg. Detroit made cars lighter to get better mpg, Japan made more efficient. JS: Great district. Born and raised here. Left for Navy for 30 years. Came back to visit family. Middle class working family is primary component of district. People are just comfortable with one another. Caller: ethics and accountability. Did election speak to those demanding great accountability? JS: public concerned about reality and perception of influence by lobbyists on votes. JS could vote for any ethics, lobbying or campaign finance law, none would be too strong. All JS needs to know he learned in the Navy : don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal. The government’s loss of credibility is tragic. At orientation week, Nancy Peolosi said ethics was her highest priority (said it 4 times). Q: what was orientation week like? JS: Good, Republicans were together with Democrats for part of it. JS had been so focused on his own race he did not know about other races, enjoyed meeting other new congressional reps. Learned about staffing requirements, protocols. Met with Democratic caucus. Looking forward to getting back to DC when Congress reconvenes in January. Q: Have committee assignments been made yet? JS: Not yet. JS would like defense security, intelligence, armed services, or appropriations, but really most wants to serve on a committee that concerns domestic issues mentioned in this show. Believes in investing in people. Caller: public education, underfund schools but implement programs like No Child Left Behind? JS: Must establish pay as you go economy, then say if NCLB is of value then need to invest $40 billion needed to achieve it’s potential success. Need to change it, fully fund it but also change type of testing. Must judge a school if scores go up depending on where the kids start not judge them all together (if kids start with lower scores, must take improvements into consideration, not just one standard for all). Watching his daughter, he is more appreciative of accessible pre-k for those who want it. $1 in pre-k gets $7 in more productivity when that child is an adult, less crime and less time in jail. Affordable accessible college or training. Tax credits to college or training school or grad school. Knowledge and innovation undergirds the economy. Parallel investment in health of individuals. Caller: Congrats. Health care. Plans for health care for young people. College grads but jobs don’t provide health care and can’t afford it indivdually. JS: Spoke today at Chester Co Industry and Business Council and at chambers of commerce. 4-5 years ago 60% of companies with 200 or more employees offered health care, now much lower. Small businesses provides most new jobs. But can’t offer health care. Shared responsibility between individuals and companies. Mandate that all must participate and company must be in pool with other small companies to leverage negotiating power. Premiums will go down. Healthy people in plans, premiums go down. Preventive care means lower taxes because public spending goes down. We are close to $9 trillion in debt but when Clinton left office we had a $5 trillion surplus. We have to reverse that. Caller: Congrats. Grad student, worried about interest rates on Stafford loans, and also pell grants which haven’t gone up in 5 years. JS: We should take student loan interest rates back to where they were. Cut interest rates in half to where they were. We need to take all tuition assistance programs (6 of them) and combine them into a simple $3000 tax credit per year that you are in college. More parents are investing in college savings plan. Often that will cover costs of public college. In PA, public university tuitions risen over 50%, JS would love to be on Education committee to work on disciplining costs. [choppy video] Caller: 73 years old. Best economy in his lifetime. Limo driver. Sees help wanted signs and stock market going up. How come public didn’t know that. JS: GNP gone up 3% each year, unemployment at an all time low. But real wages gone down 1800$. Productivity has gone up. Real wages have declined. Fruits of that has gone to the wealthy. Tax credits for top 1% wealthy. If you earned $42K, you got $16, if you were a millionaire you got a Lexus. In first 2 years of Bush administration over 2 million jobs were lost. Jobs have come back but median wage of jobs lost was app. 34K, new jobs at app. 30K. Add in a 70% increase in health costs, college tuition gone up 50%, but tax credits for wealthy? Not good. Caller: Congrats. Privatization of social security. JS: opposed to privatization. [choppy video] Caller: Congrats. Tax reform. Alternative minimum tax. JS: Surprised and disappointed that this congress has not addressed alternative min tax. Meant to address millionaire and multimillionaires and now encroaches on middle-class. Caller: term limits. Also, as a congressman are you required to pay for health care? JS: Will not be taking congressional health care, sticking with what he has. Does not like term limits. There would be no need for campaign finance reform if all candidates, even incumbents, had a certain amount of money to spend. Incumbents would run on record. Need more even footing. The current need to raise money in campaigns is harmful to the process. A lot of good men and women donated to his campaign. Those who have vibrant ideas and integrity should stay in office. Monday, December 04, 2006 Just in time, Alison Hawkes of the Intelligencer has published an article called "New House speaker needs a translator," which provides a list of comments by presumed new Pennsylvania Speaker of the State House Rep. Bill DeWeese, with options for their meaning. I didn't do so well. You can try your luck. Maybe the house will appoint a speaker who doesn't believe in secret leadership slush funds and doesn't need a translator and didn't demote people for voting against the July, 2005 pay raise? For the month of September the Pennsylvania State Senate met in full session for five days, the 19th, 20th, 25th, 26th, and 27th. As promised, when the fall journals were made available I am starting to note when senators were on legislative or other types of leave. If it becomes too much trouble I’ll stop. It will also probably take a few months for me to get the hang of all the different types of leave. But, here, goes, as always, since bills passing the state house or senate are reported in the weekly legislative update, I look specifically for interesting debates or comments in the journals: Sept. 19 (46 p.): legislative leave for Sens. Kitchen, O’Pake, and Anthony Williams. Not much of interest was reported in the journal itself. On pages 45-6 of the pdf, 2013-2104 of the print, Sen. Fumo talks about Iraq (again). Sept 20 (7 p.): legislative leave for Sens. Fumo, Kitchen, and Mellow. Nothing of interest in the journal itself. Sept. 25 (12 p.): legislative leave for Sens. Greenleaf (later cancelled) and Mary Jo White. Temporary leave for Sens. Kasunic (later cancelled) and Punt. Leave for personal reasons for Sen. Fumo. Sept. 26 (17 p.): Legislative leave for Sens. Scarnati (later cancelled), Mellow and C. Williams. Temporary leave for Sen. Punt Sept. 27th (11 p.): Legislative leave for Sens. Mellow, Washington, C. Williams, Wozniak, Stout, Mary Jo White and Kasunic (later cancelled). Temporary leave for Sen. Conti. On pages 8-0 of the pdf (2060-2061 of the print) Sen. Fumo talks about Iraq (again). Later, on pages 9-11 of the pdf (2061-2063 of the print), Sen. Hughes talks about gun control and violence. Sunday, December 03, 2006 It's the first Monday of the month, time to highlight a missing person's case. KRISTOPHER ALONSO PHILLIPS Case Type: Endangered Runaway DOB: May 28, 1992 Missing Date: Oct 4, 2006 (age 14) Height: 5'2" / Weight: 100 lbs Missing City: PHILADELPHIA Hair: Black / Eyes: Brown Circumstances: Kristopher was last seen on October 4, 2006. He may still be in the local area, or he may have traveled to Washington, DC. Kristopher's left ear is pierced, and he has a scar on his left forearm. Bruce Castor, Montgomery County District Attorney, commissioned a poll to see how incumbent Republican officials are viewd by the electorate and it came up with a few surprises. The only name leaked so far is county commissioner Tom Ellis, who "fared poorly." This information, and more, is provided in an article from the Times Herald, "Poll: Ellis' re-eleciton chances 'real low," by Margaret Gibbons (12/01/06). It isn't online but both GrassrootsPA and PoliticsPA have a pdf copy. And here I thought things might be boring out here in the 'burbs in '07. Guess not. Saturday, December 02, 2006 A few tidbits from the inbox, the mailbox, and things tucked inside the screen door: The folks at Clean Water Action would like you to write your congressperson and urge them to pass the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act when they reconvene in January. Pro-Choice America has released a report called Winning the Pro-Choice Swing Vote: NARAL’s Pro-Choice Positive Impact on the 2006 Elections which includes data on PA-08 and PA-07. Evan Bayh's All America PAC is conducting a short survey to give online activists an opportunity to weigh in on the issues they care about the most. I looked at the first page and wow! are they on target for collecting useful data. They do ask for your opinion on issues but they also ask how you were active in the last election (wrote a letter, attended a fundraiser, hosted a house party, etc) and your email. Useful data to have if you hope to build a grassroots movement.

|Buy F&SF • Read F&SF • Contact F&SF • Advertise In F&SF • Blog • Forum| Shambling Towards Hiroshima, by James Morrow, Tachyon, 2009, $14.95. How to Make Friends with Demons, by Graham Joyce, Night Shade Books, 2009, $14.95. The Last Theorem, by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl, Del Rey, 2009, $15 (reprint). City at the End of Time, by Greg Bear, Del Rey, 2009, $16 (reprint). Implied Spaces, by Walter Jon Williams, Night Shade Books, 2009, $7.99 (reprint). THIS month, my pets, I have a whole armful of pretty shiny new books for you. Interestingly, however—and this was completely unintentional on my part—none of them are by pretty shiny new writers. If this month's column has a theme, it's that old dogs still have plenty of tricks left in them. In fact, the overload of new books from old favorites was so great that I'm having to put one off—and it's a big one. So here's fair warning for the faint-hearted: my next column will be a C. J. Cherryh extravaganza, not limited to currently in-print books (after all, why should it be, when we all have internet booksellers at our fingertips?) and centering on this year's Regenesis—the eighteen-year-awaited sequel to Cherryh's dark masterpiece, Cyteen. Actually, I'm a bit regretful about the postponement because Regenesis offers fascinating parallels with Greg Bear's City at the End of Time. Both books showcase great hard sf writers revisiting the settings and themes that defined their most ambitious mid-career books. In Bear's case I find this backtracking particularly satisfying because I've always felt that the Campbellian cyberpunk-fantasy mythos of Queen of Angels was an underrated pivotal moment in our genre. But more on that later. In the meantime, we have other fish to fry. They are big fish, dear reader, and we won't be gentle with them. So take these reviews with a bushel of salt. These are all phenomenal writers working at the absolute top of their game. No need for kid-glove first-novel treatment here. When you're dealing with gods, honesty is always the safest policy. I know it's an accepted reviewing cliche to call any remotely humorous book a "romp," but Shambling Towards Hiroshima actually is one. In every sense of the word. James Morrow, if you haven't yet encountered him, is the exasperatingly yet charmingly quirky author of a long line of metaphysical satires like Towing Jehovah, The Eternal Footman, and The Last Witchfinder. In Shambling Towards Hiroshima, he is up to his usual mischief. He parachutes us into the bizarro underworld of B-movie monsters and their groupies. When Syms Thorley, a.k.a. Gorgantis, is press-ganged onto a top-secret navy project to secure Japan's surrender with fake movie footage of the destruction of Tokyo by fire-breathing reptiles, he sees Operation Fortune Cookie mainly as an interruption of his "serious" monster oeuvre. However, things turn grim when the movie fails to convince the Japanese High Command and Truman is forced to use the A-bomb. Thorley plunges into a morass of regrets and self-recrimination. Was he somehow responsible for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? If his shambling had been better, would history have unfolded differently? In the midst of his existential despair, Thorley experiences a sudden improvement in his professional fortunes: rediscovered top-secret footage of Thorley's performance sparks a monster movie revival in Japan, including a slew of new Gorgantis movies. He becomes an international B-movie star, toasted at sf conventions around the globe. And yet, he stays true to his principles, accepting Guest of Honor invites only to harangue his bewildered fans with impassioned anti-nuke speeches in which he likens himself to the hibakusha, the "burned people" of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Does this all sound unbelievably tasteless yet? If so, then I've probably done a decent job of describing the book. None of which changes the fact that this book was a ridiculously fun read. God only knows why. I certainly don't. This is the sort of folderol that only James Morrow could pull off. Which he does. With a full measure of his usual exasperating charm. The one flat note in this otherwise pitch-perfect satire is its curiously dated feel. It reads like a book that was written back in the Reagan era. The framing narrative pays lip service to the idea of a "lost" manuscript, but there is no real thematic heft to the conceit. Morrow's characters—from his straight-arrow G-men to his Swanson-esque horror divas—are clever riffs on atomic age stereotypes. But in the end it is the story itself that feels antique. Our big fears have changed over the last few decades. Nuclear annihilation seems almost quaint compared to humanity's other self-inflicted wounds. (Yeah, I'm talking about you, global warming, religious wackjobs, dying oceans, and that creepy thing that's happening to frogs lately.…) In the end, reading this book felt like listening to an oldies station. And to the extent that Morrow fails to grapple with this disconnect, the book remains a charming and nostalgic romp and not the powerful political satire that Morrow is capable of delivering. Still, there's a lot to be said for a charming romp. It's sure as heck more fun than sitting around thinking about six-headed frogs. If we are picking our favorite literary fantasy writers, then I vote for Graham Joyce. Early and often. Okay, maybe Geoff Ryman can give him a run for the money. Maybe. But I wouldn't bet Auntie Em's farm on it. How to Make Friends with Demons is the story of William Heaney, a man who has lived his entire adult life convinced that he is under a curse. He tries to neutralize the curse by living a rational "demon-free" existence and performing convoluted (and not always legal) acts of charity. When a scheme to sell counterfeit first editions of Jane Austen throws him into the path of a demon-possessed Gulf War vet, Heaney's carefully constructed life comes unraveled and he is forced to resurrect his past in order to figure out where things went so terribly wrong for him. This novel builds up a powerful head of steam—but it does it slowly enough that I wondered at times how Joyce was going to pull all the threads together by the end of the relatively slender volume. This is typical of Joyce's novels. They aren't zero to sixty in point six seconds Ferrari-style books. They're more like old-style Soviet tractors: the kind that run on bear grease at eighty below zero, plow a straight furrow in solid rock, and can be conveniently retrofitted as tank chassis the next time the Germans invade. Also vintage Joyce is the book's slightly off-kilter narrative arc. His novels always have an odd little hitch in their get-along that keeps you from ever truly relaxing into the story. Every time I pick up a new Graham Joyce book I'm terrified that some idiotic editor will finally have put the thumb screws on him to "fix" these "mistakes" …which of course aren't mistakes at all, but elegant crimes against reader complacency committed with malice aforethought. Happily, Mr. Joyce seems to be fairly resistant to thumbscrew-wielding editors. But just in case he ever wavers—where do I mail my check in support of the Keep Graham Joyce Just the Way He Is Foundation? I hope I get old like Frederik Pohl and Arthur C. Clarke. In fact, I hope we all get old like these guys. If we could figure out how to do that we could probably end war, stop global warming, and maybe even fix that thing with the frogs. Sorry to say, most people are already on the wrong track by the time they're about seven. Be that as it may, The Last Theorem is a genuine and highly satisfying blend of these two great writers. True, it does not have the austere majesty of early Clarke. True, it didn't really pan out as a novel about number theory. True, there isn't really any Big Sexy New Science Idea in the book. And true, the science ideas and social mores of this book feel rather quaint at times. Sometimes the quaintness is charming. ("Hey, look, Myrtle, it's a Sky Hook!") At other times …not so much. (For example, the hero's homosexual affair with his college roommate is written off as a "youthful indiscretion" from which he recovers with about as much emotional conflict as most people recover from a head cold. And then his suspiciously June Cleaver-ish wife gets her Ph.D. from MIT and then uncomplainingly takes ten years off to stay at home with the kids because—as she explains it—that's just the way life is, and sensible women just try to keep up with the professional literature in their spare time. I know this is going to make me sound like a shallow and trivial person (which I am), but I spent a distressing amount of time wondering just how apocalyptically bad this couple's sex life was.… Honestly, though—who cares about all that? This is a genuine Frederik Pohl and Arthur C. Clarke novel. It's a worthy addition to both men's works. And, best of all, it's a chance to sit down one more time with a pair of old, old friends and find them just as sharp, witty, and wise as they ever have been. I haven't been paying enough attention to Greg Bear lately. In theory he's one of my favorite hard sf writers. But lately he seems to have abandoned sf in favor of mainstream-ish near-future technothrillers. And reading airport books by Greg Bear is sort of like listening to Glenn Gould play the Boston Pops. He writes them so well that it seems downright churlish to complain. But for cripes sake…doesn't the guy who wrote Slant and Blood Music and Queen of Angels have better things to do? Or anyway, that's my excuse for letting City at the End of Time languish unread on my desk for several months before I got around to looking at it. What was I thinking? City at the End of Time is about the furthest thing in the multiverse from an airport novel. It's also true hard sf. Reviewers who've characterized the book as Miéville-esque urban fantasy haven't just missed the boat—they're still staggering around in the fog trying to find their way down to the water. In essence, this book is a vast, oceanic riff on Jorge Luis Borges's "Library of Babel." Bear is not the first writer to pen a meditation on this seminal story. However, this is the only "Babel" variant I can remember that has enough intellectual and emotional muscle to read like an independent story, rather than a mere retelling. It all begins with a map, natürlich. Thus far we are still in the domain of fantasy. But this is not one of those "worlds with square corners" maps that Ursula K. Le Guin likes to make fun of. Instead, it is a forbiddingly abstract set of interlocking circles: a cryptic image that challenges readers to produce their own explanations. On first seeing it I wondered if it might represent a mitochondria's eye view of the world outside the sheltering cell walls. Or perhaps the sort of inside-out, topsy-turvy cosmology that might be conceived by beings that inhabit the mantle of a star? Or, maybe…well, my other speculations were all even more embarrassingly off target. The map is a tease, of course. But Greg Bear is an honest tease—as are all great writers. He keeps the mystery alive not by stingily withholding information but by presenting rich, vivid, wonderfully polyvalent clues that challenge readers to come up with new hypotheses and test them against the unfolding story. It is a gauge of Bear's mastery that the book never feels like a cheat and that he manages to craft a reading experience that blends the rigors of scientific method with the more homespun pleasures of good gossip. The reading experience was not wholly gripping on a page-by-page level. At least not for me. But slack moments are inevitable in a long novel whose core subject matter has more to do with quantum physics than human emotions. And when I did catch myself skimming it was almost always because I was impatient to find out what was happening in the other storyline. That says volumes. I also felt another kind of impatience while reading this book—one that is characteristic of the experience of reading really great hard sf. I wanted to know what Bear was after. I wanted to get to the end of the book in order to be able to look back and take stock of the whole territory. And not just the territory of this particular book. Because of course much of the pleasure of reading fine work by a writer deep into his career is the chance to see how each new book fits into the larger picture of the writer's work as a whole. In many ways, City at the End of Time represents the fruition of the strand of Bear's work exemplified by Queen of Angels. I confess, I feel vindicated by this, since I've always felt that Queen of Angels deserves more attention than it gets. That novel's major weakness—both internally and in terms of its wider reception—was Bear's overt reliance on voodoo mythology. For reasons that had nothing to do with the book itself, it became hard for readers to separate the loas in Queen of Angels from their opposite and better known numbers in William Gibson's neuromancer trilogy. But Gibson's loas are largely arbitrary names overlaid onto the fundamentally alien processes of emergent artificial life. Whereas I've always thought that Bear was after something else—some Straussian web of meaning flexible enough to encompass all of our worlds, internal as well as external, artificial as well as organic. I think—I think—that this is what he's still after. And in City at the End of Time, he successfully recasts his quest in terms broad enough to encompass quantum cosmology, modern theories about galactic evolution, and even Buddhist and Hindu mythology. The result is a novel as intellectually challenging and aesthetically satisfying as anything he has ever written before. And now we come to the last old dog on our list: Walter Jon Williams. I guess I ought to give you the most important news first: this book was by far the most entertaining read of anything I looked at while preparing this month's column. Its send-up of gamer culture is a hoot. The plot charges ahead like a bullet train. (This is, of course, always the case in Williams's books, but sometimes one needs to say even the things that go without saying.) The characters are intelligent and charismatic enough to resonate long, long after the last page is turned. And I haven't even gotten around to mentioning Williams's masterful deployment of the infinite narrative possibilities of pocket universes. I complained in a prior column that NASA killed Science Fantasy. But happily technology giveth as well as taketh away. And everything we lost when NASA made Mars boring has been recouped in spades on the VR frontier. Want sword-slinging Amazons riding giant telepathic lizards? You got 'em—and all at the low, low price of a little painless handwaving about Vingean singularities, Matrioshka arrays, and pocket universes. Williams has taken full advantage of this technopoetic license to weave together a world that combines the sensual thrill of slumming it in the science fantasy badlands with the more cerebral joys of working out just how those lizard-straddling Amazons got there. Best of all, he has placed at the center of his book a hero uniquely conceived to illuminate the landscape: a "scholar of implied spaces" who charts the evolution of artificial universes. This is where Implied Spaces makes the jump from mere space opera (not that there's anything wrong with that!) to full-fledged hard sf. This is new—to the best of my knowledge. And it's important. One of the great structural weaknesses of most current hard sf is the failure to grasp the true scope of evolution. It's not really anyone's fault, strictly speaking; it's just that sf writers, albeit Very Smart Persons (VSPs), are still members of the human species. And our species still hasn't quite wrapped its collective mind around Darwin. (For more on this, see Dennett, Dawkins, Wilson, Szathmary, and a lot of other VSPs.) All systems evolve. Including systems of information. Artificial, organic, biosphere, noosphere. It's all information. It all evolves. Even the very cogs and flywheels of evolution itself evolve. (After all, what is natural selection but a marvelously honed system for the transmission and preservation of genetic information?) The failure to appreciate the arbitrary nature of our habitual division between natural and artificial information systems has resulted in a sort of unspoken notion among many sf writers that post-Singularity minds and bodies will somehow be subject to different rules of evolution—or perhaps not subject to evolution at all. Oh, no one says it. But it is the ghost in the machine—or rather, the absence of a ghost. It is there in the overly tidy political systems, in the static biospheres, in the absence of mosquitoes, in the general sentiment that stuff, including the stuff we're made of, is going to work better in the future. Life without mosquitoes (or some artificial version thereof) wouldn't work. More to the point, life without mosquitoes—and all their biospheric and noospheric equivalents—would be boring. Walter Jon Williams grabs this fundamental truth two-fisted—and runs with it. I won't rob you of the pleasure of watching his meditation on artificial evolution unfold through the course of this masterful novel, but I have one word that should perk up the ears of any reader of Gould and Dawkins: Okay. That's it then. Get off your duff and go read the book. And happy squinch hunting.… To contact us, send an email to Fantasy & Science Fiction. Copyright © 1998–2013 Fantasy & Science Fiction All Rights Reserved Worldwide If you find any errors, typos or anything else worth mentioning, please send it to firstname.lastname@example.org. To contact us, send an email to Fantasy & Science Fiction. Copyright © 1998–2013 Fantasy & Science Fiction All Rights Reserved Worldwide

A Daily Word from the Word for Monday, October 29, 2012 “You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; so light will shine on your ways.” – Job 22:28 Photo credit: mfmegbedaregion.org Tragically, too many people, including many of God’s own children, declare the wrong things in their lives and then seem surprised when these wrong things manifest for them. As human beings, created with free will, there are only two positions to take concerning what we come into agreement with: what God has said about us, or the lies that the devil has said and continues to say regarding who we are, and what path our lives should take. We either speak life, which is to come into agreement with what God has spoken concerning us, which is “‘I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11); or we come into agreement with Satan, which is to speak death, because “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Proverbs 18:21 warns us that “Life and death are in the power of the tongue. And those who love it will eat its fruit.” God has given us the power to speak life and death. When you speak life, then you will eat its fruit, and make manifest those glorious things which God has planned for you; however, if you speak death, then you will also eat its fruit, bringing to pass those unfortunate things that are not part of God’s will for you and your life. Most times (not all), when something bad happens to someone, and they declare “see, something bad always happens to me!” That bad thing happened for the very reason that it was spoken out! It is the words that came out of the individual’s mouth which manifested in their life. When tragedy struck Job, he lamented “the very thing which I feared has come upon me” (Job 3:25). Why did this “thing” come upon Job? Because he spoke it out! Job gave life to this impending doom. Rather than rebuking it, binding it up, and canceling it out; he came into agreement with it and gave it life. The word “declare” as used in this verse comes from the Greek word gazar (pr. gaw-zar), meaning “to cut down or off, to destroy, divide, exclude, decide, decree, snatch” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance). Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines “divide” as “to possess, enjoy; to cause to separate into opposing sides,” and further defines “decide” as “to select as a course of action.” In addition, to “decree,” according to Mr. Webster, is ‘to foreordain,” which is to “appoint in advance, to put in place, set in readiness.” What is it that we should be declaring over ourselves and our lives? I am glad you asked :-). Let us back up and look at the word that appears before “declare,” which is the word “also.” This word “also” used here comes from the Greek gam (pr. gam), which means “often repeated.” What is it that we are to repeat? God gives us the answer in Isaiah 43:26, when He tells us to put Him in remembrance of His Word. God is all knowing and all powerful; so certainly, God doesn’t forget what He says. The reason why God instructs us to put Him in remembrance of what He said concerning us is not because He needs to be reminded; but so that we can know what God has said concerning us by repeating what God has said, speak it out, and come into agreement with it. So that we can speak life into us and into our lives. The “thing” that we are to establish is that which God has already spoken concerning us. Every “thing” we are to speak is omer (pr. o-mer), which is “promise, thing, word, appointed unto him.” Webster defines “appointed” as “to provide complete and usually appropriate or elegant furnishings.” These are the things of God: His promises, elegant furnishings, everything pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). These are the words that God spoke into us when He said “Let Us make man in Our Image…” (Genesis 1:26). These are the things that God spoke into us when He formed us, these very things that God spoke concerning us before He even laid the foundation of the world, before He knitted us in our mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5, Job 38:4, Ephesians 1:4). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1-3). My brothers and sisters, it is these things that we must also declare. Before I drift off to sleep at night, one my closing declarations is “God, I call down a sweet sleep from Heaven filled with your revelation, filled with the things you know about me, so that I too can know.” And without fail, my brother who is searching to know who you really are; without fail, my sister, who longs to know the love of a father—God speaks, and I become a little more transformed and carry, in greater measure, the One who spoke of me before He created time itself. And what He has done for me, He most certainly will do for you (Acts 10:34). So take the first step, and ask your Father to tell you the story of when you were born. Father, thank You for not allowing us to miss it, and for Your instructions that we come into agreement and declare those things that You have spoken concerning us. Set a guard over our mouths, and set a watch over the doors of our lips that we only speak what is good and pleasing to you (Psalm 141:3). Father, we choose to speak life; and we curse, rebuke, forsake, and come out of agreement with death, lack, and any other thing that is of the devil and not of You. In Jesus Name, we thank you that we have life, and life abundantly because we speak life over ourselves, our families, and our lives. Amen and Amen. Take action! Challenge your thinking! Choose to repeat what God has said about you. Choose to dismiss the lies that the devil tries to speak into you. Make it a daily practice to ask God to tell you what He knows about you. And continue to fight the good fight of declaring Godly things over you and your life; for God, your True Identity, has already given you the victory! Pre-order a copy of my new book today, “Sixty Days of Restoration: Awakening the Image of God within YOU!” Visit www.RestoreInSixty.com for more information, and to order so you have it before Christmas. God tells us that we are blessed to be a blessing (Genesis 12:2). Be a blessing to someone by sending them this word of encouragement. If God did not already put someone in your spirit and on your heart who needs to read this uplifting message from above, simply ask your Heavenly Father who to bless on today. Forward this message right now by email, facebook, or twitter. May God Bless you and keep you always. With warmest regards, And, in service of The Most High King, Receive other messages of encouragement by ‘liking’ HMD Ministries on facebook at www.facebook.com/hmdministries

Final part to the family. I would really appreciate any feedback as I am considering furthering the adventures of the family if there is an interest in it. I woke up several hours later. The daylight now bathing the room and I was happy to see Jill still fast asleep and snuggled closely to me. Her head resting on my shoulder and her left arm draped across my chest. She looked so beautiful laying there asleep as I looked down at her. I watched her breathe softly but I didn't have the heart to wake her even though I had to pee real badly. Finally she stired just enough to where it gave me an opportunity to gently release myself from her and make my way to the bathroom. I was careful to make as little noise as possible as I quietly stepped into the hallway. From upstairs I could hear the faint sound of conversation and laughter probably coming from the kitchen so I knew some of the family were up and about. I was however surprised that nobody was in the bathroom when I stepped inside and flicked on the light while closing the door yet leaving it unlocked. Sure, I could have used the toilet for my morning pee but let's be honest. There is nothing like a good hard pee inside of your morning shower. Besides I had a pretty good feeling of what was to come. And I was right. I got the water heated up pretty good and I no sooner stepped into the roomy confines of the rock shower when Jill entered after me just as naked as she was when I left her sleeping in my bed. "is this a private shower?" She asked as she wrapped her arms around my waist. "Not anymore." I said as I leaned in and kissed her deeply. My morning hard on was still pretty prominent and with Jill now with me, it would surely be sticking around a lot longer. "Are you up for trying what we talked about last night?" She asked. "Well, I am all ready up, and I haven't gone yet so of course. Besides, I had a pretty good idea that you would be joining me in here anyways." "I was hoping you would say that" said Jill as she went to her knees in front of me. Her soft petite hand wrapped around my semi hard cock as she readied herself for the first hot stream of my piss. As she looked up at me with a smile of anticipation, I released a hard squirt that hit her neck and made her flinch a little bit in surprise but she was not only quick to get used to it, she seemed like she was genuinely enjoying it. My stream was still pretty strong and when she learned how to manipulate my dick where she wanted it to squirt; she let it splash on one of her firm tits before switching over to hose the other one off. She finally was brazen enough before my peeing finished to aim my dick for a little squirt into her mouth for a little bit of a taste. I watched as she held the liquid in her mouth while she was clearly gauging the taste before spitting it out onto the floor of the shower. By now I was finished peeing but she was in no hurry to get back to her feet. Her hand still curled around my shaft while her other hand washed it with the hot shower water. She looked up at me with her big beautiful green eyes before taking my cock into her mouth for one of her mind blowing blow jobs that I have quickly grown to love. Her tongue slid expertly up and down my length while her hand cupped my balls. Occasionally she would release me only to keep just the head engulfed in between her hot wet mouth while teasing the underside with her swirling tongue. She must have known I was about to finally blow my load as she took my cock all the way into her throat once again. Jill gave my shaft a few strokes and my muscles tightened as I released a thick load of cum into her mouth. To be honest, with the day I had yesterday, I was surprised that I was able to give Jill the amount that I had given her but she swallowed everything I had before releasing my dick from her thin red lips. Naturally I took her by the hands and helped her to her feet before I took her tiny body into my arms and kissed her deeply. "Now its my turn" I told her before getting on my knees to return the favor. She seemed not only excited by what was about to come but also finally getting to release her own morning bladder. Gently I spread her legs apart as she found the sides of the shower to brace herself for balance. No matter how many times I see her pussy, I will forever be in awe of the most beautiful sight I have ever laid eyes on. I couldn't resist running my finger up and down her slit while parting the lips with my thumb and forefinger. Leaning my head forward I gave her clit a few licks with my tongue to get her nice and excited to relieve herself. "Whenever you are ready" I said still holding her pussy lips open with my fingers. I have only seen it once but I kind of considered myself a seasoned pro by now at the art of water sports. She tilted her head back as the first squirt came out but immediately she was intent on watching every moment of the action and what I planned to do with her nectar once it started to gush in a steady stream. I positioned my mouth for a quick swallow before letting the rest go into my wide open mouth and dribble back out while my tongue flicked away at her clit for the whole duration. The sensation was a bit much for her to take as she gripped my head tightly with both hands and rode the wave of a mini orgasm. As Jill was catching her breath, I gave her labia and her wet hole a passionate kiss before getting back to my feet and holding her tightly to me. With her head pressed against my chest and her arms wrapped around me, I applied some body wash to a scrubber and massaged her back and firm little ass with the rich lather. She moaned into my shoulder when my hand massaged into the crack of her ass and I slid a finger into her tight little asshole. After a couple of minutes, Jill gave me a kiss on my neck before looking up at me with her big green almond shaped eyes. "I want you to fuck me once more before we leave the shower Jake. I have become addicted to having your hard cock inside of me." How could I pass up a request like that. My dick has become addicted to her too. She wasn’t the only fuck I have ever had but surely one of the finest. I’m not sure if it was because she was my sister or if she really was that talented and loving. Probably a combination of all of the above. Whatever the case, I needed my sister again and I needed her bad. I turned her around and she held on to the shower head for support while I took my already rock hard dick and slid the head up and down the crack of her ass until it found the hot wet opening of her tight cunny. When my dick found its mark, Jill spread her legs further while I pushed further into her. Her pussy is nothing short of amazing as her muscles gripped my thick hardness and pulled me further and further inside of her until I was in to the hilt and ready to pull back out and repeat the rhythm. To keep things interesting and pleasurable for her I wrapped one arm around her chest and fondled her firm tits while my other arm wrapped lower around her waist where I found her stiff little clit poking out as if begging to be stimulated. My cock still sawed in and out of her lovely hole as she was soon moaning loudly and her legs now showing signs of buckling under the pressure. With my arms still tightly around her, she was unable to control herself any longer and quaked violently while whimpering softly. Her soft smooth body turned to jelly as she was nothing more than dead weight in my grasp with my still hard cock buried deep into her pussy. While she was recovering, I bent down and softly kissed her on her neck while I gently fondled her breasts. "That was incredible Josh. I think I passed out for a moment" said Jill as she fought to regain her normal breathing. When her strength was coming back and she finally realized that I was still inside of her, she started to slowly push herself back into me to resume our fucking. It wasn't long before we found our rhythm again and her cunt muscles pulled me further inside of her. When she reached down between her legs and started fondling my balls, I couldn't take much more. I drove my cock in one last time until I was pressed against her cervix and emptied the contents of my balls into my sister one more time. Now it seemed to be my turn to go weak kneed as she clamped down to keep me inside as long as possible to milk every last drop from my shaft. After it was all said and done, my softening cock finally slid out of her and Jill turned herself to face me, wrapped her arms around me in a tight embrace and kissed me with incredible passion. "I love you so much Aaron." "I love you too Jill, merry Christmas." It was finally time to get out of the shower once we had finished cleaning each other of the messes we had made. I grabbed a towel and wrapping it around Jill’s back, I grabbed the other end and used it to pull her closer to my body so I could take a little time drying her off while I continued to kiss her. Neither of us bothered with any real clothes, choosing instead to slip on our thick bath robes after drying off before finally making our way downstairs to our already awake family. As we stepped into the kitchen, Dad, Aunt Sonja, Molly, and Keri were all sitting at the table finishing breakfast and having coffee while Mom and Uncle Bill were at the counter by the sink doing not sure what. I had quickly noticed that the rest of the family decided to wear the same morning attire as Jill and I. I wondered silently to myself if they were also naked underneath their robes as well. My guess would be a resounding, "of course" but I am sure I will find out soon eventually. "The whole family is finally awake now" said dad."It's about time you both decided to join us. We all have been up for hours." Obviously dad was bullshitting again as he always does and we looked over to mom for assurance. We both smiled as unbeknownst to dad, mom held up one finger and silently mouthed, "one hour." "Nice try dad" I responded as made my way around the table giving good morning kisses to the ladies of my family while Jill walked over and sat on dads lap with a hug and a kiss of her own. "What about me?" Asked mom feeling a bit left out. I then made my way over to the sink where mom and Uncle Bill were standing and gave mom a kiss as well. Not sure why it surprised me as much as it did even though it shouldn’t have. Mom took the aggressors role when my lips touched hers and grabbed my head while firmly pressing her lips tighter to mine while her tongue snaked its way into mine. I responded by reaching my hands down and grabbed both of her robe covered ass cheeks and gave then a tight squeeze while my uncle watched it all in silent amusement. She let out a little squeal when I pulled her groin tightly to mine. "Whoa, patience dear horny son of mine. In due time" Mom said as she reached down and gave my cock a hearty squeeze through the outside of my robe. As she teasingly walked away from me I reached into the cupboard for a glass to pour myself some cold orange juice from the fridge. Aunt Sonja was the first to break the sudden quiet by acknowledging the fact that it was Christmas morning. "Merry Christmas everybody. Once everybody has finally had their breakfast, I think we should take this party into the living room. There are presents waiting to be opened." As she said that, I noticed that Aunt Sonja glanced over to Mom with a slight grin but I shrugged it off for whatever reason while mom returned the grin. It was a matter of minutes that we all made our exodus into the living room picking out where we going to sit. Jill and I snuggled into the big plush recliner with her mostly on my lap. Mom, Dad, Aunt Sonja and Uncle Scott all fit onto the sectional while Molly and Keri were seated on the floor. It even looked like a Norman Rockwell painting with the brightly lit tree and the fire roaring in the fire place. Presents were passed out and we spent a good hour unwrapping our gifts and sharing some good laughs and holiday cheer. It was Keri that announced that the last package had left the bottom of the tree. "It might be the last present under the tree but the gifts are far from being passed out" said Mom. She obviously had something up her sleeve when some of us looked at each other for confirmation. When I saw that it was only the guys that looked confused, I soon realized that all the girls were in on something. Molly ran out of the room real quick and returned a minute later carrying what looked like black velvet cloth of some sort and my look of confusion was even more evident. Aunt Sonja became the spokeswoman for the group of girls. “The girls and I have a bit of a surprise for the three of you. Rather a competition of sorts if you are up for it?" I looked over at Dad and Uncle Scott and even though I had no clue what they were planning, something told me that the other two guys had a semi good idea as they both smiled and nodded in the affirmative. I felt comfortable enough to do the same. “What we are going to do is play a little game of sensory deprivation. The idea is we will all disrobe. You can't hear us and you will not see us. You will not be allowed to feel us with anything but your cocks and even then we will do the holding of those. The idea of this game is that we will do certain things to each of you while your job is to guess which one of us is doing them to you. The game will continue till you cum. Once you do so, we will remove the earplugs while leaving the bag on your head. It is then your time to guess who your partner was before the bag is removed. Still game?" Of course we were all game. What horny guy wouldn't be? Getting the unanimous approval they were looking for, Molly stepped eagerly forward with the black cloths she had left the room to get. I still wasn't sure what they were but got a better idea when Dad was the first one up. She handed each of us a pair of ear plugs to insert into our ears then took one of the cloths and opened it up while pulling it over his entire head. I noticed it was made out of velvet, had a drawstring around the opening and the only hole in it happened to have been an opening right where a person’s mouth is to prevent suffocation. With each velvet bag, Molly drew slightly each drawstring so as not to be uncomfortable since that wasn't the idea. Next was Uncle Scott and then myself. I think it is safe to say the girls have piqued my curiosity at this point. As the game got underway, I felt a pair of hands standing me up. The silence was amazing and I was actually quite interested in what was going to happen next. Once I was standing I felt possibly the same set of hands undo the tie on my robe and slowly removing it from me, leaving me standing ass naked in front of the rest of the family. Even though I couldn't see, hear, nor feel anything, I was pretty sure I wasn't the only naked person in this room right now. Once I was completely disrobed, I felt my guiding hands gently seat me back down in my chair. I waited in dark silence for a moment before I felt a soft hand wrapped around my semi hard shaft, giving it a few slow strokes. Suddenly a warm and wet set of lips engulfed the head while taking it's time sliding my length as far into her throat as she could go. As calm and relaxed as I now was, my mind raced back and forth over who was giving me this most incredible blow job. It finally occurred to me that I didn't much care at this point and that I would just sit back and enjoy what was happening to me. The funny thing about sensory deprivation is it makes you pay more attention to things you would normally take for granted. I fought the urge to reach out and touch the hair of my mystery dick sucker but the moment my arm went to reach, I felt another hand grab my arm and pull it back where it should be as a reminder of the no touching rule. "Apparently I have two women around me. One to give me pleasure and the other to keep me in line" I thought to myself. I was starting to get the hang of things. As the sucking continued, I was suddenly surprised by a new sensation. A soft breast with an obviously erect nipple was now being sensuously rubbed up and down my chest. It was almost sensory overload for me which was a bit on the ironic side seeing how I was supposed to be deprived of all that right now. The longer the girls kept it up, the harder it was getting for me to keep from blasting a load down someone’s throat but I fought it and fought it well. That was until the owner of the tit on my chest redirected herself into the only opening on my head bag which was my mouth. I was very thankful for the offering as I accepted it and drew the hard nipple between my lips and swirled my tongue around it. This was my first real chance to make an uneducated guess on who my lady was. My only advantage in this game was the fact that I have not only seen all the ladies in the house completely naked but I have now fucked each one. It was hard to gauge the size of the whole breast by just the feel of the nipple with a tongue but the nipple felt fairly big, fairly adult in size and tasted vaguely sweet and familiar. I was having my doubts that it was Jill, Keri or Molly. When the mystery tit was exhumed from my lips, I was somewhat saddened because I was really enjoying being able to suck on it but my disappointment wasn't to last long at all. My guiding hands suddenly grabbed me by both wrists, helped me to my feet and walked me forward a few feet before helping me to my knees on the floor. Thank God for helping hands because I would have been a clumsy mess if I was left to do it blindly on my own. I was soon aware that someone was now on the floor in front of me as I could feel her silky smooth legs brushing up against my own. If I didn't know any better, it felt like I was in a doggy style position with someone I would not see. Once in position, I didn't have time to seek thing out for myself. I felt a soft set of fingers yet again wrap around the shaft of my now rock hard dick. She gave it a few good courtesy strokes before reaching me forward to place the head of my dick at the entrance of it's unseen target. Once it was connected to its mark, the recipient pushed back until I was buried inside of her. I was hoping this would be the giveaway on who my girl was by maybe narrowing it down to whether or not I could feel any pubic hair but my mystery hands was still there to make it that much harder for me. "These girls thought of everything!" I thought to myself. As I was matching the rhythm of my partner, my mystery hands had her fingers still wrapped gently around my shaft to keep me from accidentally slipping out of the pussy while the other hand was holding my ass and helping me to keep up the fuck tempo. It was a strange feeling but I enjoyed it very much. Even though I couldn't see my partner she was doing a great job keeping rhythm with me while her pussy gripped me tight with every stroke. Mystery hands now took a slight break from pushing on my ass to reaching through my legs to fondle my full and aching ball sack. I didn't know how much more I could take but I continued to fight it some more until I surprised even myself. I couldn't believe how hot, wet and tight this pussy was. Most of all I was surprised it wasn't more obvious to me who it belonged to because where I know I experienced this pussy at least once before, it just felt much different this go around. After several minutes, the fingers around my cock tightened their hold and pulled me out of of my mystery lover. I was actually a little thankful for the relief even though I didn't have a clue what was going to happen next but I knelt in silence while wondering to myself if Dad and Uncle Scott were enjoying themselves nearly as much as I was at this moment. My train of thought soon derailed as my attentions now drifted to the now familiar set of fingers gripping my cock for a few more strokes to keep me hard and at attention. It suddenly dawned on me that my fuck buddy from a few minutes ago was still actually positioned in front of me and has not moved. Her legs still pressed slightly to mine. The fingers working my cock suddenly stopped and I could feel a condom being rolled onto my hard shaft. Now I was a little confused but I was curious enough to find out where this was going to take me. The mystery hand holding my now sheath laden dick had once again lined up the head of my dick to it's intended point of entry, however my point of entry was now not where I was before. My dick now snuggled into the entrance of my lover’s asshole where once again she pushed back into me like before. The only difference is the push was much more resistant and tighter. "My God! I am in someone’s ass" I thought to myself as the familiar guiding hands held my cock and pushed my ass forward with each arousing thrust. I could somewhat feel my partners hand rubbing furiously at her clit while her pace quickened like a mad woman pushing violently back into me. Her pace suddenly stopped as my partner seized up in an intense orgasm that I felt even through my body. Her anal muscles gripped my cock even tighter as I slowed my pace to long deep lunges to add to her intensity before I finally felt her go a little limp and relaxed. It was now up to me to bring her back to life as I found my second wind and started to pound into her with a greater speed. I knew I wasn't going to be far behind her and apparently the mystery hand holding my cock knew it too as she suddenly pulled me out of my lovers asshole and quickly tore my condom off. My cum blasted out all over the recipients ass cheeks and her back while the hand jerked my cock of every last drop of cum it get. I was exhausted and speechless as I sat there catching my breath. I could feel a warm set of lips engulfing my cock once again to clean me off before feeling a hand reach up under my head bag to remove my ear plugs finally. The sudden sounds once again was not as peaceful as it was a few minutes ago but I could still hear slight moaning from around the room letting me know there were still people fucking around me. With my head bag still on, a voice suddenly spoke. "Now that you have blown your load, do you think you know who your mystery lady is?" The voice sounded like Aunt Sonja but it dawned on me that I had no more idea now than I did when we started but I was willing to give it my best guess. "I am almost convinced my partner was Mom." "Are you ready to find out if you were right?" The voice asked. "As ready as I will ever be. Let’s do it." I said eagerly. The bag came slowly off and even though my eyes were trying to adjust to the sudden light, I got the surprise of my life. I was floored. Before me still on her hands and knees was my Moms Mom, ass up with my cum splattered all over her ass and back. She turned her head back to me and gave me a big smile before blowing me a kiss. Gran was one of them ladies that even though she was in her early sixties still looked pretty hot for her age. She was a natural beauty with long black hair and big green eyes. Almost gypsy like which is where I imagine Jill inherited her smoldering looks from. On top of all that, she always took great care of herself and had never smoked a day in her life so her skin was naturally healthy. I lunged forward giving Gran a big hug as we have always been really close and I was happy to have her here with the rest of the family. "Thats quite a dick you got on you dear boy. Glad I finally got a chance to try it out" said Gran. "Thanks Gran" I said before finally becoming aware of my surroundings."Hey, where is Grandpa?" She didn't say a word but merely just pointed her finger behind me. I turned around to see a most surreal sight. Grandpa was behind me on the farthest side of room. Aunt Sonja was on her back with her legs sticking straight in the air. Grandpa was between her legs fucking her missionary style. Keri, who had joined the fun, was sitting a top her moms head facing Grandpa. Aunt Sonja was eating Keri's pussy while Keri made out with Grandpa. This was my first look at all the action that was now going on around the room since having the bag removed from my head. Dad was seated in a chair with his bag still on. Molly was kneeling on the floor with his dick halfway down her throat giving him what looked like a most incredible blow job. Uncle Scott on the other hand was on the floor on his knees with his hands somehow handcuffed behind his back. In front of him was Jill on her hands and knees getting fucked doggy style. He still had his bag on as well so obviously neither he nor Dad had came yet either. I had decided to have a seat on the chair I was in when we started this game just so I could watch all the action going on in the room. As I propped my feet up on the recliners foot rest, Grandma had decided to join me by climbing up into my lap with her back facing me. My semi hard dick rested between her legs just inches away from her still wet pussy. As we watched Jill and Uncle Scott, Grandma reached down, grabbed my cock and started to stroke me for a while my hands sought out and caressed her big firm mammaries. “I see you are a titty man just like the rest of the men in this family” Grandma said in between soft moans. If she only knew. As we watched Uncle Scott, it was getting pretty clear that he was about to bust his nut. Scotts pace quickened and Jill moaned loud enough for me to wonder if Scott and Dad were able to hear her. Scott gave a small groan before seizing up and I knew that he was cumming inside of Jill. Once he let loose with everything he had, he paused for a moment before leaning back and letting himself slide out of Jill’s pussy. She laid her chest against the floor while her ass was still in the air and I could see Uncle Scotts cum dribbling out of her messy reddened hole. Mom moved over and reached up under the bag and removed his earplugs while asking. “Ok, you have now finished. Any clue as to who your partner was?” Uncle Scott was silent for a moment and while he was thinking about the answer, Grandma now had my cock standing at attention once again. As she spread her pussy lips apart, she lined up the head of my cock to her wet hole and let it slide in with much ease. “I am going to take a wild guess and say my girl was Molly” said Uncle Scott when he finally made up his mind. Mom reached down and lifted the bag off of his head as his first view was Jill’s luscious ass staring straight up at him. “Hi Uncle Scott!” said Jill with a cute eager wave. Scott looked around to survey the scene around him and was very surprised to see Grandma riding my dick. It was obvious that he was unaware Grandma was visiting too. “Mom! How long have you been here? Where is Dad?” As Grandma rode me for all she was worth, she only pointed her thumb in the direction behind us. Scott followed the direction of her thumb and saw his dad now fucking his wife doggy style while Keri was now lying on her back in front of Aunt Sonja with her legs spread. Sonja’s head was buried between her legs while her mom continued to eat her out. Our attentions now switched to Dad as we watched Molly astride his lap riding him much like Grandma was currently riding me only Molly was facing dad while she held onto the back of the sofa for stability. He looked like he was having a difficult time fighting the urge to just reach up and grab handfuls of ass cheeks like any guy would but he kept it under control and let his arms lay motionless to his sides. It was very erotic watching Molly’s firm tits rubbing furiously against Dads chest as she rode for all she was worth Mom kept herself busy by making her way over to Uncle Scott and taking his dick down her throat to clean all the excess cum and her daughter’s juices off of him. Grandma on the other hand had reached down and was now fondling my balls while my cock sawed in and out of her hot pussy. I moved a hand down in front of her until it found her hardened clitoris and I started to massage her little button. My fingers must have been doing the trick because she suddenly started twitching and I realized that I was giving my Grandma an orgasm. How many Grand sons can actually lay claim to that? Her orgasm soon triggered my own and with her constant fondling of my balls, I unleashed a flood of cum deep inside of her hot snatch. Neither of us felt the need to go anywhere or separate so we sat with my cock still buried inside of her to finish watching dad. It was actually Dads loud sudden grunting that turned our attentions to him as he was the next one to cum. Molly still sitting atop of him while he squirted forcibly into her. Molly’s grunts and moans were fainter as she took all he had to give her as quietly as possible. The routine was the same with dad as had been with myself and Uncle Scott. Mom walked over and removed his ear plugs from underneath his bag while asking the familiar question. “Ok, it’s the moment of truth. Who is your mystery girl? Dad didn’t hesitate at all like Scott and I did. He was quite sure of himself on who he thought he had. “No doubt about it. I have been fucking Molly.” Mom reached for the bag and slowly pulled it off to add to the suspense. As the cloth cleared his eye, he was now staring directly at Molly with their face just inches apart. “Hi Uncle Thomas! Thank you for fucking me” said Molly as she immediately planted her lips to his. Dad was the only one who guessed correctly And his smile turned to surprise as he spotted his mother in law sitting on his sons lap. “Mom! Holy shit. Where is Dad?” By now, we all knew the drill as we heard it enough. Only this time five us said nothing but pointed our finger to the back corner just in time to see Grandpa pulling his massive prick out of Aunt Sonja’s pussy while jerking the biggest load of cum I had ever seen onto her ass cheeks and up onto the back of her neck while at the same time yelling out.

African rhinoceros are near extinction, animal protection, animal rescue, animal rights, cats and dogs, COMPASSION, dog fights, domestic animal abuse, environment, Hope for Paws, humanity, illegal poaching of rhinoceros for horns, national registry of animal abusers petition, nature and animal protection, no-kill animal shelter, petition to S. African government to save rhinoceros from extinction, protecting Mother Earth, S African rhinoceros, saving rhinoceros from extinction, Siberian tiger conservation, Siberian Tiger rescue project, terrorism The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by the way its animals are treated. ~ Mahatma Gandhi When I see such grave injustice and #animalabuse, I can’t keep silent! I just signed two petitions at change.org to protect the animals: first one against outrageously barbaric practice of killing #rhinoceros in Africa for their highly prized horns, which threatens to annihilate the last survivors of this ancient and rare species; second – for creating a registry of all known domestic animal abusers in the USA. The innocent animals that are a subject of these two petitions are as different as they get, but the conclusion is, unfortunately, the same – the predator, the abuser, the murderer in all cases is A HUMAN! This makes me very sad to be a part of the human race. There is only one hope: those of us who are conscious, those who have compassion and those who care for life on our planet, must take action by signing petitions and spreading awareness, so that such horrible atrocities would stop now! Please spread the word, comment, like, RT, FB, G+, re-post, and re-blog this post! Please sign these petitions! We need more signatures! Petition 1. Rhinoceros in South Africa need your help before their extinction! Sign petition to the Government of South Africa: https://www.change.org/petitions/rhinoceros-in-south-africa-need-your-help-before-their-extinction Note: Below are some pictures that are highly disturbing. My absolute preference would be to NOT post such pictures on my beautiful and positive Lada Ray Blog. However, I see no other way to raise awareness of such horrific acts! From the petition: “Background: The rhinoceros is a large mammal that in fact dates from the Miocene era millions of years ago. In recent decades rhinos have been relentlessly hunted to the point of near extinction. Since 1970 the world rhino population has declined by 90 percent, with five species remaining in the world today, all of which are endangered. Humans are the cause of the demise of the rhinos. Last very sad new on July 21 : Source: The Guradian/The Observer. Photograph: Reuters. “The last rhinoceros cow in #Krugersdorp park, #SouthAfrica, bled to death on Wednesday after poachers hacked off her horn – South African wildlife experts are calling for urgent action against poachers after the last female rhinoceros in a popular game reserve near Johannesburg bled to death after having its horn hacked off. Wildlife officials say poaching for the prized horns has now reached an all-time high. “Last year, 129 rhinos were killed for their horns in South Africa. This year, we have already had 136 deaths,” said Japie Mostert, chief game ranger at the 1,500-hectare Krugersdorp game reserve. The gang used tranquilliser guns and a helicopter to bring down the nine-year-old rhino cow. Her distraught calf was moved to a nearby estate where it was introduced to two other orphaned white rhinos.” In the wild, the adult black or white rhino has no true natural predators and, despite its size and antagonistic reputation, it is extremely easy for man to kill. A creature of habit that lives in a well-defined home range, it usually goes to water holes daily, where it is easily ambushed and killed. Africa’s rhinos are facing a constant threat due to poachers and trophy hunting. Poaching is on a general increase whilst efforts to protect the rhinoceros are being considered increasingly ineffective. The reports found that 95% of rhino poaching in Africa since 2006 had occurred in Zimbabwe and South Africa : these two nations collectively form the epicentre of an unrelenting poaching crisis in southern Africa.” Read more. Baby rhino mourning his mother, who was killed and mutilated by poachers in front of his eyes! And this is done in the supposedly highly protected National Parks! “A pregnant female named Matterhorn, was the fifth to be lost to poaching at Lewa in 30 years. Her two-year-old calf was injured in the attack, but is expected to recover. The incident occurred even though the reserve is protected by a 150-strong security force unparalleled in the conservation world, and is a grim indication of the rising demand for ivory and rhino horn, and the risks poachers are willing to take to feed it. The problem is not limited to Kenya. Poaching throughout Africa is at its highest level since the ivory trade ban was introduced in 1990, and the amount of raw ivory intercepted last year was the highest for 20 years.” “Affluent Vietnamese driving rhino poaching in S. Africa.” “From research done by TRAFFIC and reports by independent journalists, it has become clear that 90% of illicit Rhino Horn trade is being conducted in or near Hanoi, Vietnam. Yet very few traditional medicine dealers are raided by police. It is simply not a priority – yet. Should the carnage continue, it would mean that the species, which have existed for more than 10 million years, will become extinct in less than 5 years.” “Elephants and Rhinoceros – Other Victims of Terrorism in Africa. Elephant Action League (EAL) recalled that the horns of rhinoceros and the ivory extracted from elephants’ tusks are sold on the black market at a higher price than gold or cocaine in some Asian regions. An investigation that EAL entitled “The White Gold of Jihad” assures that 40 percent of the illegal capital administered by terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab comes from pouching in African jungles.” “Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Angola are heading for a collision with rhino conservationists after it emerged that their governments had agreed to the sale of rhino horn powder in clinics and pharmacies.” “London, Capital of the Rhino Horn Business.” A word from Lada: Humans have developed weapons that no animal on this planet, no matter how large, can counter or protect themselves against. Meanwhile, humans should be the stewards and protectors of the living, breathing Mother Earth. It is shameful that the opposite is true, with a human being by far the most vicious, most feared predator on our planet. All illegal animal parts trade must be strictly banned / enforced worldwide, all hunting of endangered species, and any hunting for sport of innocent animals must cease! Rhinos are amazing, unique animals that speak of biodiversity and beauty of our common home, the Earth. We must protect them, and the guilty ones have to be punished in such a way that these incidents would never repeat again!!! If we don’t change this terrible status quo, who will? P.S. Also needed petitions to the governments of China, Vietnam and other Asian countries known to import or smuggle highly prized parts of rare animals, such as elephant and rhino horns, Siberian tiger teeth, whiskers and pelts. These governments don’t do nearly enough, and sometimes even close their eyes on illicit practices! These governments must do MUCH MORE to educate their respective populations, to raise awareness of the need for animal conservation/protection, to ban such despicable practices, and to adequately enforce these bans! And this is what they should have looked like! Mom rhinoceros and white baby rhino resting in the sun. Petition 2: Petitioning United States Senate to Create a Public National Registry of ALL Known Animal Abusers From the petition: “People who abuse animals are psychologically diminished. They are incapable of forming healthy relationships and are dangerous to society. The correlation between violent criminals and those who abuse animals is nearly perfect. If you know someone who has done this or has talked about abusing animals it is important that they be reported. A child, defenseless adult or senior citizen will most likely be the next victim. Even if you think “it’s only an animal” remember this; animal abusers don’t stop at defenseless animals.” Michael Moore.” A word from Lada: Just imagine the cruelty of those who put a muzzle on a dog and use him as bait while training other dogs to fight! Just imagine the despicable subhumans who first abuse their dog’s loyalty and desire to please their owner by making him fight other dogs for money, and then, after it is badly injured and can’t fight any more, throw it out on the street to die! Can you imagine any of this? It’s very hard, I know. I personally have a lot of trouble imagining what kind of a… no, not animal; I couldn’t insult animals like that… a wild beast would do such things! Unfortunately, these beasts, these subhumans are all members of the same human race. If we, those who are not like them, don’t stop them, who will? So, while I agree with above petition statement, my biggest goal in creating a public registry of all known animal abusers would be to actually protect defenseless animals, so that those who’ve ever been known or even suspected of #animalabuse would be prevented from ever being anywhere near another innocent creature they could abuse and so they could never get any job even remotely related to dealing with animals, or be allowed to purchase or adopt an animal! I can immediately tell by looking at animals what kind of people they live with. I can also tell right away what kind of town I am in by how the animals in such town behave. Happy animals = good people. Thank you for signing the above petitions and thank you for spreading the word! Each signature matters, each RT, FB, G+, reblog, repost is important! Please like and comment! In addition to all the above, I want to mention this amazing organization that rescues animals in LA: HOPE FOR PAWS They do a lot of exceptionally brave and selfless work in the most adverse conditions to rescue abused and abandoned animals, mostly dogs. Watch one of their many viral dog rescue vids: Last but not least, don’t forget to check out my viral post:

|The American Presidency Project| |• William J. Clinton| |The President's Radio Address| |February 7, 1998| |President Clinton. Good morning. Today I am pleased to be joined by an honored guest of our Nation, Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom. We are speaking to you from the Map Room in the White House, where more than half a century ago President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill charted our path to victory in World War II. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, that was no ordinary time. But neither is the new era we are entering. At home, we must prepare all our citizens to succeed in the information age. And abroad, we must not only take advantage of real new possibilities but combat a new nexus of threats, none more dangerous than chemical and biological weapons and the terrorists, criminals, and outlaw states that seek to acquire them. As we face the challenges of the 21st century, the alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom remains unshakable. I'd like to ask Prime Minister Blair to say a word about what we have achieved together this week. Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom. Thank you. And thank you for asking me to share in your weekly address to the American people. Britain and America have so much in common: language, values, belief in family and community, and a real sense of national pride. We share many problems, too, and it has been clear from our discussions that we are agreed, in general terms, about some of the solutions. You took the tough decisions needed for longterm economic stability. We are doing so. You have focused on education, welfare reform, a new approach to crime. So are we. Together, we are breaking down boundaries of left and right and creating a new politics of the radical center. But no issue has been more pressing in our discussions than the threat to world peace and stability posed by Saddam Hussein. I stand foursquare with you in our determination to bring Saddam into line with the agreement he made at the end of the Gulf war. This is a man who has already compiled sufficient chemical and biological weapons to wipe out the world's population. When he invaded Kuwait, people could see easily a wrong being committed. But what he is doing now, in continuing to defy the international community, in continuing to develop his program for weapons of mass destruction, is potentially far more dangerous. Simply, he must be stopped. We are pursuing all the diplomatic avenues open to us. But if they fail and force is the only way to get him into line, then force must be used. If that happens, Britain will be there, as we have been in the past, at the forefront in our determination to uphold international peace and security. President Clinton. Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. On Iraq, as on so many issues, the United States and Britain speak with one voice. Since the end of the Gulf war, the United Nations inspectors in Iraq have done a remarkable job. They have found and destroyed 38,000 chemical weapons, more than 100,000 gallons of the agents used in those weapons, 48 missiles, 30 warheads specially fitted for chemical and biological weapons, and a large plant for producing deadly biological agents on a massive scale. But their job is not yet done. Iraq continues to conceal chemical and biological weapons and missiles that can deliver them. And Iraq has the capacity to quickly restart production of these weapons. The United States and Britain are determined to prevent Saddam Hussein from threatening the world with weapons of mass destruction again. Now, the best way to do that is to get the inspectors back on the job, with full and free access to all the sites, so they can root out whatever else needs to be destroyed and then continue to monitor suspect sites. It's up to Saddam to make that happen. If he doesn't, we must be—and we are—prepared to act. As we speak, the British aircraft carrier Invincible is patrolling the waters of the Persian Gulf with America's 5th Fleet. United with our allies abroad, we are also united here at home. I thank the many Republicans and Democrats who have expressed strong support for our stand against this menace to global security. No one should doubt our resolve. Throughout the 20th century, the alliance between the United States and Britain made all the difference between tyranny and freedom, chaos and security. Now, we are turning to face the challenges of a new century. And together, we will again prevail. Thanks for listening. |Citation: William J. Clinton: "The President's Radio Address", February 7, 1998. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=55315.| © 1999-2011 - Gerhard Peters - The American Presidency Project

They came by sea and air, shattering the peace of a Mediterranean night. Shortly after 4.30am yesterday, in international waters, the elite Flotilla 13 unit of the Israeli navy stormed the Mavi Marmara, the flagship of a flotilla crewed by an alliance of pro-Palestinian activists who had combined to deliver 10,000 tonnes of aid to Gaza. In a blitz of military strength, masked commandos rapelled on to the Turkish ship's deck from a helicopter and boarded from the side by fast attack launch. They were armed with guns, stun grenades and tear gas. Assault craft drenched their target in dazzling light and used booming tannoys to warn the ship's passengers to halt their mission or face Israel taking "all the necessary measures in order to enforce this blockade". The activists from as many as 50 different countries stood little chance in the face of such a show of strength. But if Israel had been hoping to benefit from the cover of darkness by attacking at night, they did not reckon on the presence of a network of on-board video cameras recording their opening moves. Turkish television footage showed how one by one as the commandos descended by ropes to the deck they were ambushed by waiting passengers armed with what appeared to be metal bars, sticks and in one case, a table. The reception for two commandos descending from a helicopter was brutal – the first was battered to the ground and heavily beaten and the second, landing seconds later, was assaulted by a man with a bar and forced to retreat into a doorway before fighting back out. Whether these were the first blows struck in an incident that ended with the deaths of at least nine people and the injury of at least 50, is disputed. Those on board, including a reporter for Al Jazeera, said the Israelis fired on the boat before boarding. Israel said it opened fire after its commandos were attacked by activists wielding knives, clubs and pistols wrested from its soldiers. It was impossible yesterday to verify either account. What is certainly true is that shortly after the assault, all communications with the flotilla were blocked. Mobile phones, satellite phones and internet access all went down, making it all but impossible to glean any account from the passengers about what had happened, beyond the few minutes that were captured on film. Israel's version of events became the only one available in any detail. The Guardian has attempted to piece together the story from electronic communications from the flotilla, video footage taken on board, interviews with the flotilla organisers, reports from journalists on board the Mavi Marmara, reports from journalists embedded with the Israeli military and statements from the Israelis. During Sunday on the journey from Cyprus towards Gaza, the trip had been progressing well, with spirits high among the pro-Palestinian activists, according to messages received from the flotilla at the Cyprus base of Free Gaza, one of the campaign groups behind the mission. "They were excited because they knew they were on their way," Greta Berlin, a Free Gaza activist in Cyprus who was in frequent contact, said. "We would get little messages saying 'we are on a Mediterranean cruise, it is really quite lovely'. There was no feeling until around midnight that anyone was in any danger." Little did they know that three hours earlier than that, at around 9pm, three Israeli naval craft had left the northern Israeli port of Haifa to intercept them. The plan was for Israel's elite Flotilla 13 unit to disembark on the top deck of the Mavi Marmara, and from there rush to the vessel's bridge and order the Marmara's captain to stop, said Israeli journalist, Ron Ben Yishai, who was embedded with the Israeli military. By around 11pm Israel's taskforce was alongside the flotilla of six vessels and one of the navy ships broadcast a warning to the flotilla not to approach Gaza. "If you ignore this order and enter the blockaded area, the Israeli navy will be forced to take all the necessary measures in order to enforce this blockade," the message said, according to a recording later broadcast on Israeli radio. Then around midnight the flotilla co-ordinators appeared to become worried and Lubna Masarwa, a Palestinian Israeli on board the Marmara issued a series of urgent messages via Twitter. "We didn't expect them now," she said. "We thought they will arrive at the morning, please stay in touch with the other boats … People here put there life jackets [sic], everybody preparing here. We are in international waters … Three boats are coming, not two, Three Israeli boats, we are 78 mile from Israel … Two Israeli ships coming toward us … they contact the ship asked who we are and disappeared, getting close to the ship we can see them." The Free Gaza campaign was worried enough to issue "a call to the world from the people on the boats". "This flotilla is bringing supplies the people of Gaza and are being met by military force," it said. Over the next few hours as the Israeli ships circled, the flotilla issued a series of brief messages through their spot locator, a telecommunications device which charted their progress on a web site. "This is a HELP message," it said at 12.30am. "We have been contacted by the Israelis but are still fine, don't worry." Shortly afterwards another states: "Challenger 2 [one of the boats] contacted by Israeli Defence Force radio A/O approached by IDF ships", and another: "Going ahead". Three more "OK" signals between 1.30am and 2.30am were then replaced at 4.30am by a red exclamation mark stating: "Last position before IDF attack. 04:30 GMT, Latitude:32.64113, Longitude:33.56727" – around 70 miles from the coast of northern Israel and 90 miles from Gaza. The assault had been under way for at least 30 minutes, according to Dr Arafat Madi, one of the European organisers of the convoy who spoke to the activists by satellite phone shortly afterwards. "The Israelis took the phones from us as we were talking," he said. "We heard from them that the Israeli army attacked all the ships at once with hundreds of soldiers." He said the Greek captain of one of the smaller vessels, the 8000, had been shot and two others were injured. But he had no information about injuries on the other vessels and said they were struggling to get any information from the Israelis to give to worried families of the activists. Video footage of the assault on the Mavi Marmara showed at least half a dozen armed and masked commandos gathering themselves on the bow deck of the ship, apparently having been helicoptered on. During the assault, which began in earnest 40 miles from the coast, several journalists continued to broadcast from the aft deck, sharing a microphone in a relay as they broadcast to the world. Reporting for Press TV, an Iranian state-run channel, one said: "We are being hit by tear gas, stun grenades. We have navy ships on every side and helicopters ahead. We are being attacked on every side." Activists on the ship were shown on video mustering at the top of a flight of stairs, armed with makeshift weapons. The ship's captain could be heard speaking over the tannoy, urging them to give up: "Please, all the brothers, go back to your cabin and sit on your seats. Stop your resistance. They are using live ammunition. We can't protect ourselves." Over the noise of gunfire, Jamal Elshayyal, reporting for Al Jazeera, said two passengers had been killed. He claimed a white flag of surrender had been raised on board "after Israeli commandos descended upon the ship from a helicopter as well as surrounding it on all sides [in boats]." He continued: "Despite the white flag being raised, the Israeli army is still shooting, still firing live munitions." Shortly afterwards the broadcasts stopped and all internet and satellite phone connections were lost. The Israeli military had been surprised by the resistance they met, according to an account by Ben Yishai. He said the commandos were carrying paintball rifles. He said they were equipped with handguns but were only authorised to use them in life-threatening situations. "The navy commandos were prepared to mostly encounter political activists seeking to hold a protest, rather than trained street fighters," he wrote on the Ynet News website. "The rioters on the top deck, whose number swelled up to 30 by that time, kept on beating up about 30 commandos who kept gliding their way one by one from the helicopter." He claimed activists stole a handgun from one commando and threw him 30 feet over a rail, causing serious head injuries. Only after this were commandos authorised to use live ammunition and then shot at activists' legs, he said. He added that passengers pounded soldiers' hands as they tried to climb on board. Footage from inside the ship, broadcast on Turkish television, showed the impact of the battle. A woman carried a bloodstained stretcher, men were shown bleeding from wounds, people moved about tending the injured. People were stretched out on the floor and it was not clear if they were alive or dead. Flotilla 13, the Israeli naval commando unit that intercepted the Gaza Freedom flotilla, is one of the country's elite military formations, with rigorous selection and training procedures and a reputation for ruthless efficiency. It is known to have been involved in numerous clandestine seaborne operations, including many raids on neighbouring Lebanon. It works closely with the Mossad secret service. It was also involved in a curious foreshadowing of the Gaza incident in February 1988, when Flotilla 13 is reported to have sabotaged an attempt by the PLO to highlight the issue of Palestinian refugees by sailing a ship to an Israeli port, forcing Israel either to sink it or board it or let it land the refugees. The night before the vessel, al-Awda ("The Return") was due to sail, it was blown up and sunk in Limassol harbour, Cyprus — with no loss of life or political embarrassment. In recent years the naval commando force has played a key role in intercepting arms shipments from Iran and Syria to Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hizbullah in Lebanon. Flotilla 13 is often compared to the US Navy Seals and Britain's Special Boat Service.

A Newark, N.J. responder was reportedly killed Monday in a crash believed to have been caused by a police chase, reports http://newyork.cbslocal.com. "Keith Chipepo, 30, of Montclair, N.J., was killed in the accident when a Chrysler Pacifica that was apparently being chased by police slammed into the private ambulance in which he was riding," the station reports. The driver of the ambulance reportedly drove into an intersection trying to get out of the way of the police chase coming up from behind. The ambulance was heavily damaged and was part of a chain-reaction crash that also included a food distribution truck and a transportation bus. Chipepo was pronounced dead at University Hospital in Newark, where three other people remained hospitalized as of Monday evening, the station reports: the 26-year-old ambulance driver, a 57-year-old woman, and a 34-year-old man who was driving the food truck.

|WORLD Magazine / Telling the Truth / Chapter Three| |A Great Cloud of Journalistic Witnesses| |NEXT » Field Reporting and Interviewing| « PREVIOUS Directed Reporting |You may get so wrapped up in day-to-day pursuits that you forget long-term goals. The best antidote for distorting impulses is daily Bible-reading. A lesser antidote is some knowledge of the great cloud of journalistic witnesses. Like the heroes of faith told about in Hebrews 11, our Christian journalistic predecessors sacrificed much to gain the opportunity to pursue biblically directed journalism. Christian writers and editor-journalists in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries gave up their freedom and sometimes even their lives to win for us, their theological posterity, the right to publish God-glorifying and hard-hitting articles. Throughout this book, which emphasizes so much the immediate task, well be stepping back every third chapter to take a broader perspective.* Let us start about two thousand years ago, when Christs emphasis on trusting the Father in heaven contrasted so sharply with Romes official story of governmental power and wisdom. Caesars message was, "If you obey, we will take care of you." Published news was what authorities wanted people to know. The Acta Diurna, a handwritten news sheet posted in the Roman Forum and copied by scribes for transmission throughout the empire, emphasized governmental decrees but also gained readership by posting gladiatorial results and news of other popular events. Julius Caesar used the Acta to attack some of his opponents in the Roman senatebut there could be no criticism of Caesar. (Had there been independent journalism, he might have survived the Ides of March.) The Bible, with its emphasis on truth-tellingLuke (1:34 niv) wrote that he personally had "carefully investigated everything from the beginning" so that Theophilus would "know the certainty of the things you have been taught"was unique in ancient times. New Testament writers comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable. Once the Catholic Church entered its bureaucratic phase, however, it showed no sympathy for independent truth-telling. In medieval times ballads and poems that mocked rulers could be passed on orally from person to person, but all the news considered fit to write down and copy reflected the desires of earthly rulers. The tiny and fairly barbaric part of the world where English was spoken was no exception to the general rule. In 1275, the statute of Westminster I outlawed "tales whereby discord or occasion of discord or slander may grow between the king and his people or the great men of the realm." You might think that church leaders would advocate Bible-reading, but anything that could inspire such discordincluding the Bible, which stated laws of God under which every man and woman, whether king or commoner, had to livewas banned from common use. After John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English during the late-fourteenth century, a church synod forbade Scripture translation. Wycliffes books were burned in 1410 and 1412; his bones were dug up and burned in 1428. The technological opportunity for a big change came in the mid-1400s, with the development of movable type in the Mainz workshop of Johann Gutenberg. Innovation creates possibility; worldviews determine whether, and how quickly, inventions are used. Demand from monasteries and kings or commercial leaders for big Latin Bibles was growing, and at first printed volumes merely met that demand: The Bibles were usually for show rather than tell. Printing created potential for change, but as long as priests discouraged Bible-reading and governments jailed or killed independent printers, journalism that was dependent on God but independent from state or state church pressures had little opportunity to flourish. Early post-Gutenberg developments in England showed the limited effect of the technological revolution by itself. Printing began there in 1476 when William Caxton, given royal encouragement and grant of privileges upon good behavior, set up a press in Westminster. Others followed, but were careful to avoid publishing works that might irritate king or prelates. Regulations limited the number of printers and apprentices. Royal patents created printing monopolies. Importation, printing, and distribution of threatening bookssuch as English translations of the Biblewere prohibited. In this policy England remained in line with other state-church countries during the early 1500sbut then came the providential sound of a hammer on a door, and the beginning of a theological onslaught (aided by journalistic means) that changed Europe. The effect of Martin Luthers theses and his subsequent publications is well known, but one aspect often is missed: Luthers primary impact was not as a producer of treatises, but as a very popular writer of vigorous prose that concerned not only theological issues but their social and political ramifications. Between 1517 and 1530 Luthers thirty publications probably sold well over three hundred thousand copies, an astounding total at a time when illiteracy was rampant and printing still an infant. Luther and other Reformation leaders emphasized the importance of Bible-reading; Christians were to find out for themselves what God was saying. Literacy rates began to skyrocket everywhere that the Reformation took root, while remaining low wherever it was fought off. Luther not only praised the translation of the Bible into vernacular languages but also made a masterful one himself. In preparing his German translation, Luther so understood the need for specific detail to glorify God and attract readers that when he wanted to picture the precious stones and coins mentioned in the Bible, he first examined German court jewels and numismatic collections. Similarly, when Luther needed to describe Old Testament sacrifices, he visited slaughterhouses and gained information from butchers. Furthermore, Luther understood that it was important to present bad news as well as good. Luthers Reformed theological understanding led him to write, "Gods favor is so communicated in the form of wrath that it seems farthest when it is at hand. Man must first cry out that there is no health in him. He must be consumed with horror. . . . In this disturbance salvation begins. When a man believes himself to be utterly lost, light breaks. Peace comes in the word of Christ through faith." Reformation leaders believed that people would seek the good news only after they became fully aware of bad news: Man needs to become aware of his own corruption in order to change through Gods grace, and if you help make readers aware of sin you do them a service. In England, Henry VIII broke from Rome not to battle sin but to try to advance his own. The bishops that he appointed became little more than political arms of the state, used to stamp out religious dissent, which was seen as a threat to social order. When Catholics opposed to unlimited governmental authority, such as Thomas More, refused to endorse Henrys whims, he beheaded them. Henry added new antipress legislation almost as often as he added new wives. In 1534, his "Proclamation for Seditious Books" ordered that no one should print any English book without a license from the kings councils or those persons appointed by the king as licensers. His "Proclamation of 1538" left the press with only one master: the king. Parliaments regulatory law of 1542-43 was totalitarian: "Nothing shall be taught or maintained contrary to the Kings instructions." The law stated: There shall be no annotations or preambles in Bibles or New Testaments in English. The Bible shall not be read in English in any church. No women or artificers, prentices, journeymen, servingmen of the degree of yeomen or under, husbandmen, nor labourers, shall read the New Testament in English. . . . if any spiritual person preach, teach, or maintain anything contrary to the Kings instructions or determinations, made or to be made, and shall be thereof convict, he shall for his first offense recant, for his second abjure and bear a fagot, and for his third shall be adjudged an heretick, and be burned. Henry VIIIs structure of government and society was simple: The state, with its official church, was at the center, giving orders to other social institutions. But in the thought of Reformation leaders such as John Calvin, the kingdom of God could not be equated with state interests. Instead, the Reformers believed that God reigns everywhere and man can serve God directly in every area of lifein government, journalism, education, business, or whatever. Reformed thinkers placed Gods laws above those of the state or any other institution. The Reformers did not advocate extremist intransigence or easy disobedience of governmental authority. Scotlands John Knox, for instance, appealed for moderation and compromise whenever truly fundamental issues were not at stake. But under the Reformed doctrine, for the first time, journalists could be more than purveyors of public relations. They had their own independent authority and could appeal to biblical principle when officials tried to shackle them. The Bible had to be carefully followed, and the interpretations of those who had studied it at length were not to be negligently disregarded, but the Bible was clear enough on most matters for ordinary individuals to read it themselves and see its truths for themselves. During the reign of Mary Tudor, "Bloody Mary," from 1553 to 1558, government confrontation with those who based their lives on sola scripturathe Bible onlyreached its zenith. One of the first Protestants to go to the stake was John Hooper, publicly burned at Gloucester on February 9, 1555. He was joined by about seventy-five men and women who were burned as heretics that year, and many more during the following two years. Soon, reports of those burnings spread illegally throughout England: Ballads and other publicationsone was called Sacke full of Newesattacked the queen and praised the heroism of the martyrs. The sixteenth-century journalist who made the greatest impression on several generations of English men and women originally had no desire to report on current events. John Foxe, born in 1516, was an excellent student. He became a fellow at Oxford, but was converted to the Reformed faith and had to give up his stipend if he wanted to go beyond doing public relations for the king. In 1548, Foxe began writing a scholarly history of Christian martyrdom, but it turned journalistic in 1553 when Mary became queen. Facing death in 1554 Foxe left England and began earning a poor living as a proofreader with a Swiss printer, but he continued to collect historical material about past persecutions and testimony about current ones. Foxe published two volumes in Latin during the 1550s but switched to English for his journalistic output, with the goal of telling the martyrs stories in a readable manner. He was able to return to England with the ascension of Elizabeth to the throne in 1558 and then spend five more years interviewing, collecting materials, and writing, before publishing the sensational account that became known as Foxes Book of Martyrs. To make sure everything was accurate, he worked seven years more before putting out in 1570 an expanded, second edition that contained woodcuts portraying burnings and whippings; later, large-scale editions increased the number of illustrations. Foxe was following Lukes biblical tradition of careful investigation and interviewing of eyewitnesses. Foxe vividly wrote of how John Hooper, tied to a stake, prayed for a short time. Then the fire was lit, but the green wood was slow to burn. Hooper was shown a box and told it contained his pardon if he would give in: "Away with it!" he cried. As the fire reached Hoopers legs a gust of wind blew it out. A second fire then slowly burned up Hoopers legs, but went out with Hoopers upper body still intact. Using specific detail, Foxe wrote of how the fire was rekindled, and soon Hooper was heard to say repeatedly, "Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me; Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me; Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" Hoopers lips continued to move even when his throat was so scorched that no sound could come from it: Even "when he was black in the mouth, and his tongue swollen, that he could not speak, yet his lips went till they were shrunk to the gums." Finally, one of Hoopers arms fell off, and the other, with "fat, water, and blood" dripping out at the ends of the fingers, stuck to what remained of his chest. At that point Hooper bowed his head forward and died. Foxe also described the deaths of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. Ridley, chained over another of those slow-burning fires, was in agony, but Latimer seemed to be dying with amazing easeFoxe wrote that he appeared to be bathing his hands and face in the fire. Latimers last words to his suffering friend were, "Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, [so that] we shall this day light such a candle, by Gods grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out." Foxes third famous report concerned the death of Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the English Protestants. Imprisoned for months without support of friends, Cranmer received daily ideological hammering from theological adversaries. After watching Ridley die, he wrote out a recantation and apology in return for pardon. When Cranmer was told later that he had allegedly led so many people astray that he would have to burn anyway, his courage returned and he resolved to go out boldly. He declared in one final statement that his recantation was "written with my hand contrary to the truth which is in my heart, and written for fear of death." He offered a pledge: "As my hand hath offended, writing contrary to my heart, therefore my hand shall first be punished; for when I come to the fire, it shall be first burned." Foxe wrote of how Cranmer made good on that promise; sent to the stake, he placed his right hand firmly in the fire and held it steadily there until it appeared like a coal to observers. Soon, Cranmers entire body was burned. Foxes book became very popular not only because of its combination of theological fervor and grisly detail, but through its use of colorful Bible-based imagery. For example, Foxes report on the impending death of John Hooper described how light overcame darkness as Hooper was led through London to Newgate prison. Officers had ordered all candles along the way be put out; perhaps, being burdened with an evil conscience, they thought darkness to be a most fit season for such a business. But notwithstanding this device, the people having some foreknowledge of his coming, many of them came forth of their doors with lights, and saluted him; praising God for his constancy in the true doctrine which he had taught them. . . . Foxes stress on accuracy was maintained by Miles Coverdale, who wrote in 1564 that "it doth us good to read and heare, not the lying legendes . . . triflyng toyes & forged fables of corrupted writers: but such true, holy . . . epistles & letters, as do set forth unto us ye blessed behaviour of gods deare servantes." (Think of the forged fables that todays "spin doctors" provide.) For a time it appeared that a free press, with careful fact-checking, might arisebut Queen Elizabeth, while allowing direct criticism of her predecessor, Mary, cracked down on anyone who objected to her reign or to the domination of the established Anglican religion. In 1570, Elizabeths proclamation offered a reward to those who informed against anyone writing or dispersing books in opposition to the queen or nobles. The secret tribunal known as the Star Chamber did not hesitate to prosecute and persecute Puritan rebels, including Hugh Singleton, Robert Waldegrave, John Stroud, and John Hodgkins. Puritans as an organized journalistic group first went public in 1572 with An Admonition to Parliament, a sixty-page attack on state churches; Admonition authors John Field and Thomas Wilcocks spent a year in prison. Other pamphlets soon appeared. John Stubbes, an English Puritan who in 1579 wrote a pamphlet respectfully criticizing Queen Elizabeth, was punished by having his right hand "cut off by the blow of a Butchers knife." A contemporary account tells of his amazing response: "John Stubbes, so soone as his right hand was off, put off his hat with the left, and cryed aloud, God save the Queene." Stubbes, under such duress, set the pattern of respecting those in authority over us, while exposing their unbiblical actions. Among the best-read Puritan products at the end of the sixteenth century were pamphlets published in 1588 and 1589 and called the Martin Marprelate tracts; these tracts humorously satirized and ridiculed the heavy-handed theological treatises put out by defenders of the established church. The tracts, printed by John Hodgkins on a press that was dismantled repeatedly and moved around by cart, irritated king and court so much that a massive search for its producers began. Hodgkins escaped harm until he was unloading his press one day in the town of Warrington before curious onlookers. A few small pieces of metal type fell from one of the boxes. A bystander picked up a letter and showed it to an official, who understood the significance of the discovery and summoned constables. Arrested and repeatedly tortured, Hodgkins refused to admit guilt and implicate others. The bravery of Hodgkins, like that of Martin Luther, John Hooper, John Stubbes, and many others, could not be ignored; persecution of the Puritans, instead of stamping them out, led to new conversions. When James I became king of England in 1603 and Puritans presented petitions for religious and press freedom, he threatened to "harry them out of the land, or else do worse." James, arguing that he was "above the law by his absolute power," and that "it is presumptuous and high contempt in a subject to dispute what a king can do, or say that a king cannot do this or that," advised subjects to "rest in that which is the kings revealed word in his law." But that is something that Puritan writers, committed as they were to following Gods law whatever the costs, would not do. Puritan doctrines won increasing acceptance particularly in English towns; opposition to James and his successor, Charles I, increased. When one Puritan critic, Alexander Leighton, wrote and published a pamphlet in 1630 entitled An Appeal to Parliament, Charles and his court were outraged. Leighton insisted that Scripture was above everything, including kings, so that subjects could remain loyal while evaluating their kings against biblical standards; Leighton said his goal was to correct existing problems "for the honour of the king, the quiet of the people, and the peace of the church." The Star Chamber saw the situation differently, terming Leightons work "seditious and scandalous." On November 16, 1630, Leighton was whipped at Westminster, and had one of his ears cut off, his nose slit, and one side of his face branded. One week later the mutilation was repeated on the other side. The penalty did not stop other Puritans. John Bastwick, Henry Burton, and William Prynne were hauled into the Star Chamber in 1637 and charged with seditious libel for writing pamphlets that criticized royal actions. Each man was sentenced to huge fines, perpetual imprisonment without access to writing materials, and the loss of their ears. The royal authorities, believing that they had the populace on their side, proclaimed a public holiday highlighted by the public mutilations. But when the three men were allowed to make public statements, according to the custom of the day, as the officials waited with knives, they were cheered. Prynne was actually arrested and maimed twice; when he was released from prison and allowed to return to London, he was greeted by a crowd of ten thousand. Barbarous attempts to control the press prompted even more determined opposition; as a Boston Gazette essayist would note over a century later, the English civil war had as its "original, true and real Cause" suppression of the press, and "had not Prynn lost his Ears, K. Charles would have never lost his Head." The verbal battle of Parliament versus crown, and Puritans versus Anglicans, led to war during the 1640s. The changed political environment led to a journalistic surge, as a Puritan-dominated Parliament, remembering past oppression, abolished in 1641 the torture-prone Star Chamber. The result, according to a parliamentary committee in 1643, was that many printers "have taken upon them to set up sundry private Printing Presses in corners, and to print, vend, publish and disperse Books, pamphlets and papers. . . . ." Some of these publications were regular newspapers with high standards. Samuel Peckes weekly, A Perfect Diurnall, began with these words: "You may henceforth expect from this relator to be informed only of such things as are of credit. . . ." Pecke did not make up things. Although clearly a Puritan partisan, he truthfully reported royalist military victories, and twice covered wrongful conduct by Parliamentary soldiers. He also gave opponents space to express their views: When Archbishop Laud was executed for murder, Pecke included a transcript of the archbishops speech from the scaffold. Similarly, when John Dillingham began his newspaper, The Parliament Scout, in 1643, he pledged "to tell the truth" and not to "vapour and say such a one was routed, defeated," when there actually had been no battle. Dillingham wrote of plundering by Cromwells soldiers, the bravery of some captured Royalists, and the need for better medical treatment of the wounded on both sides. He did what we should do today: Support the side fighting for biblical values, but tell the truth about our own vices and our opponents virtues. Some Puritan leaders did not like criticism any more than the kings officials did, but most were committed to the idea of biblical rather than personal authority, and of letting individuals read for themselves. One Puritan leader and friend of John Milton, Samuel Hartlib, reflected general hopes when he predicted in 1641 that "the art of Printing will so spread knowledge that the common people, knowing their own rights and liberties, will not be governed by way of oppression." Parliament in 1643 did pass a law that restricted sales of pamphlets and newsbooks, but it received little enforcement and much criticism. Puritan pamphleteer William Walwyn noted that licensing might restrict some evil publications but would also "stopt the mouthes of good men, who must either not write at all, or no more than is suitable to the judgments or interests of the Licensers." Another Puritan, Henry Robinson, proposed that theological and political combat should "be fought out upon eaven ground, on equal termes, neither side must expect to have greater liberty of speech, writing, Printing, or whatsoever else, than the other." The most famous response to the new law was penned by Milton himself. Licensing, he wrote, brought back memories of Bloody Mary, she of "the most unchristian council and the most tyrannous inquisition that ever inquired," and was inconsistent with the "mild, free and human government" that the Puritans said they would provide. Miltons most famous words in his Areopagetica were: >Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple; who ever knew truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter. Milton had faith in Gods invisible hand over journalism; he asked, "For who knows not that truth is strong, next to the Almighty? She needs no policies, nor stratagems, nor licensings to make victorious; those are shifts and the defenses that error uses against her power." The greatest journalistic talent of seventeenth-century England emerged during this mid-1640s period of relative freedom. Marchamont Nedham was born in 1620 in a small town near Oxford. He studied Greek, Latin, and history as a child, received a bachelors degree from Oxford University in 1637, and spent the next six years as a schoolteacher, law clerk, and dabbler in medicine. During those six years, Nedham underwent a theological and political transformation that led him to side with the Puritans. When King Charles established in 1643 his own weekly newspaper, the Mercurius Aulicus, Nedham was hired to help out with a competing newspaper from the Parliamentary side, Mercurius Britanicus. Within a year Nedham was in charge and doing almost all of the writing for a newspaper that was eight pages long and typographically clean enough to make possible headache-free reading of it three centuries later. Nedhams writing was sensational and colorful; rather than theorizing or preaching, he provided specific detail about the vices of Royalists. Lord Ratcliffe, for example, was "bathing in luxury, and swimming in the fat of the land, and cramming his Hens and Capons with Almonds and Raisins," and Lord Porter was "that Exchequer of Flesh, which hath a whole Subsidie in his small guts and his panch, and hath bestowed the Sessments, and taxes of the State in sawces." Nedham saw himself turning darkness into light by exposing corruption; when Nedham reviewed his work as editor, he wrote: I have by an excellent and powerful Providence led the people through the labyrinths of the enemies Plots . . . King could not keepe an evil Councellour, but I must needs speake of him. The Queene could not bring in Popery, but I must needs tell all the world of it. . . . I undisguised the Declarations, and Protestations, and Masqueries of the Court. Nedham, while thoroughly partisan, desired accuracy and criticized the propagandistic tendencies of Royalist newspaper editor John Birkenhead. Oh! what Prodigious Service hath he done, he could tell of Battailes and victories, when there was not so much as an Alarme or skirmish, he could change Pistolls into Demi-Cannons, and Carbines into Culverings, and Squadrons and Troopes into Regiments and Brigades, he could rally routed Armies and put them into a better condition when they were beaten then before. Unlike Birkenhead, Nedham commented on his own sides difficulties: "The King is too nimble for us in horse, and his designers ride, while ours go on foot, and we lacquey beside him, and usually fall short of his Army, and we shall scarce be able to encounter him, unless he please to turn back and fight with us." Furthermore, he made theological points through laying up specific detail, rather than by preaching: "Prince Rupert abides in Westchester . . . the young man is lately grown so devout, that he cannot keep the Lords day without a Bull baiting, or Beare baiting." Nedham rarely drew attention to himself, but in one issue he explained that "I took up my pen for disabusing his Majesty, and for disbishoping, and dispoping his good subjects." Exposure was his goal: He wanted to take off the "vailes and disguises which the Scribes and Pharisees at Oxford had put upon a treasonable and popish Cause." He enjoyed his effectiveness: "I have served a Parliament and Reformation hitherto in unmaking and unhooding incendiaries of all sorts. . . . Everyone can point out the evill Counsellours now." But, in a question-and-answer note (an early version of "Dear Abby") at the end of each issue of Mercurius Britanicus, he regularly cautioned against arrogance: When asked, "What are we to do or expect now in this time when our forces are so considerable?" Nedham answered, "Not to trust nor looke too much upon them, but through them to a Diviner power, lest we suffer as we did before." Nedham had many ups and downs over the next two decades, as the Puritan revolution soured and the monarchy returned in 1660. In May 1662, the new, Royalist-dominated Parliament passed a bill enacting a new, stringent censorship system. No more, said Parliament, would evil disposed persons [sell] heretical, schismatical, blasphemous, seditious and treasonable books, pamphlets and papers . . . endangering the peace of these kingdoms, and raising a disaffection to his most excellent Majesty and his government. Nedham retired from journalism and turned to the practice of medicine. A tight censorship eliminated regular news coverage unless it helped to propel the official news. For Puritan journalists, life was even harder than it had been before the revolution. For example, John Twyn in 1663 was convicted of sedition for printing a book arguing that citizens should call to account a king whose decrees violated biblical law. After Twyn refused to provide the name of the books author, his "privy-members" were cut off before his eyes, and he was then beheaded. Twyns body was cut into four pieces, and each was nailed to a different gate of the city as a warning to other printers or writers. If you are a biblically directed journalist today, you do not have to fear punishment similar to Twyns. You may be fired, but only occupationallyand, if Twyn could know the risk and still write directly, what excuse do you have for dithering? |NEXT » Field Reporting and Interviewing| |« PREVIOUS Directed Reporting|

Five myths about Africa Matt Damon, listen up: After five years of covering Africa, our departing correspondent tells how his perceptions have changed about a complex continent, including why some Africans resent celebrity visits. Monitor staff file photo Johannesburg, South Africa Here we were, stuck axle-deep on a muddy road in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, after a very impressive midafternoon rainstorm. Ten miles behind us was a small village with a deep hole in the ground where the village men would dig up chunks of tin and sell them to traveling salesmen. This was the last village under government control before the tin trade fell into the hands of a genocidal rebel group called the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda. So, with dusk falling, the rain starting, and a mile or two to walk to the closest friendly village, there was nothing to do but get on the cellphone to inform my wife I wouldn't make it to the hotel that night in Bukavu. Later, in the village, my colleague Stephanie Nolen of the Toronto Globe and Mail would send an e-mail from her BlackBerry to her paper's editors, explaining that she was safe. Welcome to the jungle. Now complete with 3G mobile phone connectivity. I'm not sure what I expected when I arrived on the African continent. Having lived in India for five-plus years, I knew enough to distrust the "white man's burden" perspective of British colonialism, or the quaint "noble savage" messages embedded in Belgian comics like Tin-Tin. Instead, I buried myself in the African fiction of Chinua Achebe and the plays of Athol Fugard, and hoped that I would quickly find people in our new home in Johannesburg, South Africa, to guide us toward a real sense of what Africa was all about. Five years later, having served as Africa bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor – living in the upper-middle-class comforts of Johannesburg and traveling to the squatter camps of Chad, the artisanal tin mines of Congo, the deserts of Timbuktu – I have plenty of stories to tell. But while I have seen the same violence you read about in the news, and share the same concerns others have about the state of governance here, I remain convinced that much coverage of Africa remains needlessly tilted toward the negative. Nobody I know here denies the problems of this continent, but too few outsiders hear about the positive strides being made and the people who are making them. Think of all the images one gets of Africa – starving babies, child soldiers, incessant conflict, unapologetic greed. Certainly every one of these images is based in fact. Is there starvation in Africa? Ask someone who has visited the Horn of Africa, with its horrific drought and its decades-long civil war. Is there violence? Ask a Tutsi woman who has lost her entire family in the 1994 genocide; or ask a Congolese family whose male children have been kidnapped as child soldiers by the Lord's Resistance Army. But these images don't tell the whole story of Africa. Here are a few of the more common misperceptions: Africa is poor; Africa is violent; Africa is technologically backward; Africa needs "our" help; and my favorite, Africa is a country. Add those all up, and you start to wonder why people live here. Repeat them out loud, and you might annoy some of your African friends. Report on them, year after year, and you can spend a very fruitful career in Nairobi or Dakar, in Cairo or Johannesburg. If you never look for Africans who are perfectly aware of these problems and who are actively searching for solutions, well, it's almost certain that you'll never find them. Yet those people do exist. Here are some of the people I met along the way, who changed how I saw Africa. 1. Africa is 'poor' I met Olga Thimbela and Pontsho Monamodi in their tin-shack dwelling in an informal settlement outside Roodepoort almost four years ago. On paper, they were among the poorest people in South Africa. In a good month, Pontsho earned 1,400 rand (about $200) working as a security guard, protecting the homes of middle-class South Africans. Olga had just given up a part-time job as a housecleaner in many of those homes to look after her children. Considering that she had eight to look after – two of her own, and six others who were the orphaned children of relatives who had died of AIDS – Olga had work enough to manage at home. Olga and Pontsho are part of a massive demographic trend in South Africa, the surviving relatives who must care for the children of the estimated 2 million South Africans who have died of AIDS in the past decade and a half. It's a disease that has disproportionately struck the poorest of the poor, those who must travel long distances to seek work and those who often have little information on the dangers of unprotected sex. And it's a disease that has massive economic and social consequences for a nation that should be building for the future, but instead is struggling with looking after an entire generation of children – as many as 1.4 million orphans in all. The striking part of Olga and Pontsho's story is that theirs is a common narrative. More than a quarter of all South Africans are jobless, according to official statistics. More than 65 percent live on less than 550 rand ($75) per month, or $2.60 a day. And yet, the gross domestic product, on a per capita basis, is $10,700. What those figures suggest is that South Africa isn't a poor country: It's a country where the wealth is concentrated in a few hands. Sitting in Olga and Pontsho's home – with a throng of young faces staring at me – I was dumbfounded by their generosity. Many middle-class families give to charity, perhaps with a check to Oxfam or by volunteering to build homes for Habitat for Humanity. But when charity becomes a matter of daily life, it is taking the concept to another level. South Africans call it ubuntu, a Zulu word that means "humanness." In the philosophy of ubuntu, you are only a human being if you are connected to and helping out other human beings. For Olga, ubuntu was as natural as breathing. "I do a lot of stuff for my kids and my sister's kids because I didn't want to see these kids to go to eat in the dustbin or to go to steal," Olga told me, her voice shaking with emotion. But she trusted then that doing good for others wouldn't cause her own family harm. Bulelwa, a seventh-grader and the daughter of Olga's aunt, said that Olga "give us equal food. She doesn't call us names. She treat us equal like her children." Olga's choice took her on a very bumpy road during the four years that the Monitor followed her. With relatives pestering her for a portion of the government-provided $90 monthly child-welfare grants, her marriage with Pontsho broke up. Little Bulelwa rebelled and became pregnant. In our last meeting, last year, Olga blamed herself for taking on so much responsibility. But getting to know Olga a bit over the years, I can't imagine her not shouldering such a great burden. It wasn't poverty that tore up Olga's family: It was greed by family members. Today, Olga blames generosity for her downfall. But that generosity speaks of a cultural wealth that is still deeply felt in most South African communities. The word ubuntu has been so often used by politicians that it is fast losing its credit, but as long as the impulse remains, South Africans will have a foundation stone for building a new, more equitable South Africa. 2. Africa is 'violent' On a sunny March morning in 2007, I was robbed at gunpoint. I had just gone to our local bank in Johannesburg to withdraw a large amount of money ahead of a trip to Kenya and Somalia. From the bank, I went to a pet store (we had just gotten a parrot) a few blocks down the road. In the parking lot, I found myself facing a young man with a gun, and behind him several other men, who proceeded to shout at me and look in my car. "Where is the money?" the leader yelled. "What money?" I asked. They were insistent. "Where is the money?" I pointed at the glove compartment, where I had stowed the cash in an envelope. They grabbed it, made me empty my pockets, jumped in their car, and fled. I sank to the ground, shocked but unharmed. Several things are important in this incident. One, it occurred just six months after I had arrived, and it made a strong impression on me about South Africa's crime problem. Two, it was definitely not random. Police later determined that a bank employee had tipped off the robbers after I had shown up earlier without proper ID and promised I would return in an hour to complete the withdrawal. Three, the robbers never touched me. In that sense, it was emblematic: For every shootout that ends in a death, for every carjacking or "smash and grab," for every home invasion that shocks the nation – and there are plenty of those – many more criminal acts are professional, dispassionate, strictly business, like this one. It is hardly surprising that crime exists in South Africa. This is, after all, a country with the highest disparity between rich and poor, where multimillion-dollar homes lie within sight of the tin shacks of settlements like Diepsloot and Alexandra townships. What is surprising is that more crime doesn't occur. Friends of ours from Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro have told us that crime here is nothing compared with what they have back home. Violence on a broader scale in Africa is more complicated than it is often portrayed as well. The places where the most violence occurs are not necessarily big cities like Johannesburg or Lagos, Nigeria, but full-force war zones like Sudan's Darfur region (where perhaps 300,000 have died since 2005) or the Democratic Republic of Congo (where an estimated 5 million have died in multiple wars since 1996). Even then, the highest death tolls have come not from war wounds, but rather the starvation or diseases that result from uprooting families and moving them hundreds of miles to refugee camps. Does the violence of these wars make Africa a violent place? Not any more, necessarily, than the violence of the Bosnian-Serb conflict of the early 1990s made Europe a dangerous place. Wars in Africa are about the same sort of stuff that they are about on other continents: power. And just as there are warmongers in every society, so, too, there are peacemakers. In Kenya, when politicians were busy whipping up ethnic hatred among rival groups after the botched presidential elections of December 2007, there were church leaders, human rights activists, youth leaders, and others who risked their lives to appeal for calm. Hezron Masitsa was one of those young men. As a practicing Quaker and a trained mediator at the Alternatives to Violence Program in Nairobi, Hezron had helped Christian and Muslim communities along the Kenyan coast rebuild trust after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States soured relations between the two communities. At the time, Christian pastors were telling their flocks that all Muslims were terrorists, and Muslim preachers told their followers that Christians were determined to destroy Islam. To get the communities talking again, Hezron invited elders of each side to attend a meeting, and then made them participate in "silly games" and trust-building exercises. When I met him in mid-January 2008, he had hopes of doing the same thing in Kenya's Rift Valley. But he knew he had to wait until tempers cooled. Some 800 Kenyans had just been killed in postelection violence, and the murderous wave was still spreading. "The emotions are very high right now, so first we need to talk with people, find out what they are feeling, and create a space where people can speak freely," Hezron told me at the Quaker church he attends. He said that when violence was occurring, it was too difficult to get local elders to sit down with their perceived enemies. But when it ebbed, Hezron would be there, creating a place for enemies to air their views and to establish the conditions once more for peaceful coexistence. "It's not easy; you can't expect people to go back to normal when all this is going on," Hezron said with a sigh. "We need to build trust in one another again." If you meet one Hezron Masitsa, you'll think he's an anomaly. But spend enough time as a reporter in Africa, and you'll find a peacemaker like him in nearly every community. It may be a doctor like Denis Mukwege setting up a gynecological hospital for the rape victims of eastern Congo. It may be a Wangari Maathai planting greenbelts to prevent the desertification of northern Kenya. It may be an aid worker like Emmanuel Uwurukundo, who lost much of his family during the Rwandan genocide and decided his survival gave him an obligation to help others, such as Darfuri refugees in camps in eastern Chad. Pessimism is terribly fashionable these days, but optimism tells me there's a reason societies produce peacemakers, and they should be given as much attention as the warmongers. 3. Africa needs our help It wasn't long after my arrival here that I noticed a steady stream of celebrities to Africa. Oprah Winfrey would come to check on her boarding school for girls outside Johannesburg. Former President Bill Clinton would come to Nairobi. George Clooney and Mia Farrow would visit the Darfur refugee camps in eastern Chad. Angelina Jolie would visit refugee camps in eastern Congo, and later give birth to a child in Namibia. Madonna would come, twice, to adopt children, and to set up an Oprah-style school for underprivileged girls. Some of these celebrities had studied their material, as Matt Damon appears to have done on drinking water projects in Zambia. Others – let's just leave them unnamed – had not. Yet the derision of many Africans toward these famous outsiders was often the same, regardless. "Oh, look," one South African friend muttered to me one day, seeing the perfect jaw line of a Hollywood star in a magazine article about that person's activism in Africa. "Another white Tarzan has come to save us benighted Africans." It has taken me a while to get to the root of this ridicule. Is it because these famous politicians, supermodels, or box-office giants are making a big deal about a small problem? No, certainly genocide in Rwanda and war crimes in Darfur are matters that deserve attention. Is it that they are using these good acts to burnish their image? Maybe so. But the real reason has to do with the perception that Africa is incapable of solving its own problems. Everyone needs a little assistance during a natural disaster, of course. In the ongoing drought in parts of Somalia, Ethiopia, and northern Kenya, food aid will keep millions of people alive who might otherwise die. During the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in the US, even the world's richest nations were willing to take assistance from other nations, and Africa is no exception. But when it comes to long-term development – taking a very poor and underdeveloped nation like Rwanda, for instance, and turning it into a high-tech oriented information center like Singapore – many African politicians and intellectuals say they want the West to butt out. Western aid comes with strings attached, including lengthy lectures on the merits of democracy, good governance, and human rights. Many Africans are tempted to interrupt this sermonizing with a question: "What about Guantánamo Bay?" Across the continent, a new generation of leaders is starting to put its growing self-confidence into action by rejecting outside assistance, for both noble and ignoble reasons. Prominent among them was former South African President Thabo Mbeki, whose mantra of "African solutions for African problems," guided everything from the country's disdain for European-led peacekeeping missions to American-funded drugs for AIDS treatment. More recently, Malawi's president, Bingu Mutharika, decided to forgo £22 million in British development aid this year, rather than comply with strict British rules for reforming its economy and imposing good-governance measures. Kenyan leaders, angry that fellow politicians might face trial for international human rights charges from the postelection violence, have urged other African nations to join them in boycotting any future cooperation with the International Criminal Court at The Hague. And then there's Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who tends to tell his Western critics to simply "go hang." Is all this just members of a "Dictator's Club" protecting their own interests? Sure. But what about those African intellectuals who are critical of their leaders, yet still insist that Africans need to develop their own ability to solve problems? Last year, I got to meet the son of a man whose influence ripples far beyond his native South Africa. Nkosinathi Biko, the son of slain black-consciousness leader Steve Biko, has tailored his father's message of pride in African heritage to the post-apartheid age. It's a time when young black schoolchildren know they have political freedom, he told me, but when many young black South Africans still lack confidence in their culture. Being proud of who you are, he said, is key for black South Africans to find their place in their world. I found that pride in extreme places, like the Touloum refugee camp in eastern Chad. Having talked to a Darfuri woman displaced from her farm in Sudan, photographer Melanie Stetson Freeman and I were preparing to leave when the refugee woman insisted on giving us tea and biscuits. Her poverty was no excuse, in her mind, for not offering typical Darfuri hospitality for guests from afar. 4. Africa is 'backward' If it is difficult to turn Steve Biko's vision of black consciousness – confident Africans doing things for themselves – into action, it isn't because Africans lack the motivation or inventiveness to do so. In Kenya, I've seen people use their cellphones for banking, an idea just gaining a foothold in many Western countries. On payday, they take their money to a local cellphone shop, buy a few scratch cards for airtime, and send the code numbers to their relatives by text message. Their family members, in turn, either use the airtime or give that code to their own shopkeeper, who gives them cash. In fact, it was this common practice of using airtime to send money that attracted the attention of the cellphone company Safaricom and the British Department for International Development to launch a new service called M-PESA. Today, M-PESA serves effectively as one of Kenya's largest banks, with some 75 percent of the 9.5 million M-PESA account holders using it to store money, according to a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The project worked so well, it has now spread to South Africa – a country with a world-class banking sector – and plans are afoot to take it elsewhere in Africa. Please note: It was ordinary Kenyans, not Safaricom, who started cellphone banking, a business that is rapidly giving traditional banks and money-transfer companies like Western Union a run for their wired money. It's a fact that I keep in my head whenever I hear pessimistic Africans (especially white South Africans) sigh and tell me, "This is Africa." It sounds like an obvious statement of geography. It is meant as a catchall excuse for inefficiency. What did you expect? This is Africa. Yet I saw ingenuity where others saw backwardness. In a refugee camp in Chad for the exiles of Sudan's Darfur region, I watched women use handmade foil-and-cardboard solar stoves to cook meals. In Malawi, I read about a boy who had built his own windmill to generate electricity in his rural home. In Mali, I saw farmers use ancient irrigation systems to divert water from the Niger River into rice fields they had carved out of the desert, and in Ethiopia I met farmers who used cellphones to find the best price for their crops. In the end, we all look at the same evidence and take away lessons that we want to learn. What Africa lacks is not inventiveness but rather effective governance. When Africans get the leaders who will do the job of making the power plants, water systems, roads, and schools actually work, then you'll see the beginnings of an African renaissance. 5. Africa is a country The young Ethiopian office workers ripped up pieces of spongy injera bread and mopped up the sauce from a spicy grilled meat dish called "tibs." They were laughing, flirting, feeding each other, and telling me about the dating scene in Ethiopia. "I couldn't marry an African man," said one pretty Ethiopian young lady, flatly, referring to any male outside Ethiopia, and other women at the table nodded their heads. The young lady began to list her reasons why, and I won't list them here, because if a white person said them, he would be accused of racism. What stunned me, though, was her use of the word "African." On my map of Africa, the country of Ethiopia is clearly attached to the continent. So why did these Ethiopians not consider themselves to be Africans? The experience evoked a kind of déjà vu. In Johannesburg, my South African neighbors often would ask me, the exotic foreign correspondent, if I would be traveling "to Africa" anytime soon. When this sort of thing happens to me often enough, I start to doubt my understanding of the word "Africa." Whether we like to admit it or not, non-Africans have a picture in their mind of Africa, one that looks remarkably like the film images of "Out of Africa." But the continent is, in fact, divided up into 54 countries, along lines that have remained largely unchanged since a group of European kings and prime ministers sketched boundaries at a conference in Berlin in 1885. But there is a temptation to speak of Africans as if they are one people, with a common history, with common cultures and traits and beliefs. And it just isn't so. Encouraging this view are intellectual giants of the anticolonial period such as Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, and Leopold Senghor. Fighting against the colonial method of divide and rule, Mr. Garvey urged Africans to embrace a broader African unity. Senegalese poet Mr. Senghor wrote lengthy books about a Pan-African culture, common among the various colonial peoples, and called this sense of Africanness "Negritude." But after independence, many people embraced an identity much closer to home. In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, activists told me the source of their problems was the domination of the Shona-speaking tribes loyal to Mr. Mugabe, who had ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. They told me about a brutal military operation called "Gukuruhundi" against Ndebele-speaking people, in which an estimated 20,000 civilians were killed. "We can't even think of ourselves as Zimbabwean," said one activist from a local federalist party that was seeking autonomy for the Matabeleland region that includes Bulawayo. "We are Ndebeles, and we have to look out for our own interest and govern our own affairs. This country you call Zimbabwe will never work." It's a sentiment that the newly independent nation of South Sudan would sympathize with, now that they have freed themselves from the Arab-dominated nation of Sudan; and that Somalilanders would appreciate as well, as they declare unilateral secession from the Somali government in Mogadishu. But it's a sentiment that policymakers in Washington and Paris and London – and aid workers and celebrity fundraisers should keep in mind. This month, when Fast Company magazine ran a story about Matt Damon's worthy efforts to fund clean-drinking water projects in Zambia, the chattering class known as Twitter murmured over the prevailing stereotype of Africa. Reading the headline – "Can Matt Damon Bring Clean Water to Africa?" – one person tweeted sarcastically: "Really? All of it?"

Here’s a head-scratcher for you: Can zombies argue that they don’t exist? The philosophy of mind is a thriving field in recent decades, with new books and articles appearing with increasing frequency. This article is the second in an occasional series on the role of mind in the universe and, thus, in science. Strangely, modern science is dominated by the idea that to be scientific means to remove consciousness from our explanations, in order to be “objective.” This was, of course, the rationale behind behaviorism, a now-dead theory of psychology that took this trend to a perverse extreme. Behaviorists like John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner scrupulously avoided any discussion of what their subjects thought, intended, or wanted and focused, instead, entirely on behavior. They thought that because thoughts in other peoples’ heads, or in animals’, are impossible to know with certainty, we should simply ignore them in our theories. We can only be truly scientific, they asserted, if we focus solely on what can be directly observed and measured: behavior. This point of view is known most generally as “positivism,” which asserts that only those things we can measure directly should be part of our theories in science. Positivism has held sway in various branches of science to varying degrees over the last couple of centuries. Einstein was in his early career strongly inspired by Ernst Mach’s version of positivism, creating his special theory of relativity in 1905 partly as a response to this philosophy (and thus expelling the luminiferous ether from physics as “superfluous”). But Einstein learned better, rejecting positivism by the middle of his career as inadequate. A great passage from Walter Isaacson’s biography of Einstein is very telling: “We cannot observe electron orbits inside the atom,” Heisenberg said [to Einstein]. “A good theory must be based on directly observable magnitudes.” “But you don’t seriously believe,” Einstein protested, “that none but observable magnitudes must go into a physical theory?” “Isn’t that precisely what you have done with relativity?” Heisenberg asked with some surprise. “Possibly I did use this kind of reasoning,” Einstein admitted, “but it is nonsense all the same.” In other words, Einstein’s approach had evolved. Einstein had a similar conversation with his friend in Prague, Philipp Frank. “A new fashion has arisen in physics,” Einstein complained, which declares that certain things cannot be observed and therefore should not be ascribed reality. “But the fashion you speak of,” Frank protested, “was invented by you in 1905!” Replied Einstein: “A good joke should not be repeated too often.” 21st Century scientists and philosophers are steadily beginning to come around to Einstein’s view and most physicists have generally abandoned a strong positivist stance. But modern science still suffers in many ways from its own version of cognitive dissonance by maintaining what is essentially a behaviorist/positivist stance in, of all places, the philosophy of mind (and in biology, the focus of my next installment in this series). Erwin Schrödinger, one of the key architects of quantum mechanics in the early part of the 20th Century, labeled this approach in 1954 the “principle of objectivation” and expressed it clearly: “By [the principle of objectivation] I mean … a certain simplification which we adopt in order to master the infinitely intricate problem of nature. Without being aware of it and without being rigorously systematic about it, we exclude the Subject of Cognizance from the domain of nature that we endeavor to understand. We step with our own person back into the part of an onlooker who does not belong to the world, which by this very procedure becomes an objective world.” Schrödinger did, however, identify both the problem and the solution. He recognized that “objectivation” is just a simplification that is a temporary step in the progress of science in understanding the natural world. We are now at the point where we must abandon, where appropriate, the principle of objectivation – and so gain a more complete understanding of reality, and thus ourselves. Now back to the zombies: In defending positivism and a radical materialist view of consciousness, some writers have argued that consciousness is an illusion, a view described as “eliminativism” because it attempts to resolve the problem of explaining consciousness by arguing that it doesn’t really exist. Once we have explained what brains do, under this view, we have said all there is to say about consciousness. So “mind” and subjectivity reduces to what the brain does, which is just matter and energy in motion. Daniel Dennett, W.V.O. Quine, Douglas Hofstadter, and Susan Blackmore all arguably fall into this camp. These writers argue, accordingly, that they themselves, as subjective beings, don’t exist. Let us call this the “zombie defense.” A zombie, in the philosophy of mind, is a person who looks and acts exactly the same as a real person. But the zombie lacks any inner life, any consciousness. Eliminativists, who argue that mind can be explained entirely as electrochemical signals in the brain, are arguing, effectively, that they are themselves zombies, and so is everyone else. Now, my description here isn’t entirely fair, because no philosopher has, to my knowledge, argued literally that she is a zombie. But arguing that consciousness itself is an illusion amounts to the same thing. This strange state of affairs should prompt us to re-examine our terminology – and more closely examine the writings of the eliminativists. Dennett is the most well-known of these philosophers. But he has also stated, in a key 1988 article, “I don’t deny the reality of conscious experience.” So Dennett’s position is arguably contradictory. The better interpretation is, however, that Dennett’s key argument is primarily directed against any type of Cartesian dualism, under which there is a special substance that we can call mind, spirit, or soul that is distinct from matter. The tension in Dennett’s position is that by acknowledging (necessarily, it would seem) the reality of conscious experience, Dennett can’t also argue that purely externalist objective explanations of consciousness say all that can be said about conscious experience. Rather, if conscious experience is real, it is surely different than simply describing – in as much detail as one likes – the electrochemical processes of a human brain. No matter how much detail we provide about electrochemical processes, such descriptions will never say anything at all about the quality of the subjective experience. This is the whole point of accepting an epistemological dualism between the “inside” and “outside” of things. Materialism, under this line of reasoning, reduces to what I label “crypto-panpsychism.” This is the case because if we accept that subjectivity is the most real thing we know, and that it springs from matter, then we can come to the view that all matter has some degree of mind or subjectivity – panpsychism under a different name. To be even more geeky, we can give this position a more complete label of “panpsychist materialism,” and this is what philosopher David Ray Griffin has done in his book Unsnarling the World-Knot (though he uses the similar phrase “panexperiential physicalism”). To sum up, by ignoring mind in nature we ignore the only way we know the world – because the “world” is, for each of us, wholly a creation of our own mind, based on the imperfect sense data we receive from the objective world – but we also ignore the more complete science made possible by accepting mind as present in all of nature. Human minds are, then, a natural product of the evolution of mind and matter, which are just two aspects of the same thing. Human minds represent the most complex form of mind in this corner of our universe. We are special in the complexity of our minds, but we are not distinct in a qualitative sense from the rest of nature. In the last analysis, Teilhard de Chardin, another panpsychist, had it right and, as always, expressed the thought beautifully in his 1959 book, The Phenomenon of Man: “To decipher man is essentially to try to find out how the world was made and how it ought to go on making itself.” Tam Hunt is a philosopher, lawyer and biologist. He lives in Santa Barbara and keeps a blog, Thought, Spirit, Politik at tamhunt.blogspot.com.

An attempt is being made to convert the state of Pakistan into the state of terrorism. All the forces have joined hands against Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, who is presently at war with the terrorists in the country. Most of the tribesmen were of the opinion that he must win this war against terrorism. The Voice For Peace, an representative organisation of the people of tribal areas have called for full concentration of elimination of terrorism in Pakistan. According to them, terrorism is threat to the whole world. "The people should also cooperate with the president without caring for whether he is a military men or civilian. A leading daily of Pakistan in its editorian stated that a hundred-strong group of terrorists armed with rockets, hand grenades and automatic rifles, assaulted the house of a government official in the Tank district of the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) on Thursday and killed 13 men, women and children in an act of “Islamic execution”. This is another incident inside the settled areas of the province pointing to the diminishing hold of the government and state on its territory. Tank used to be a part of the Dera Ismail Khan (DI Khan) district, but now exists as an independent district 40 miles from it and 200 miles from Peshawar, the capital of the province. The man whose house was attacked was the political agent of Khyber Agency, Syed Amiruddin Shah, who was not at home. (Tank as a settled district doesn’t have a political agent but a nazim.) His brothers were cruelly put to death, while one brother, Pir Atiqur Rehman, who lives in Karachi and whose controversial writings could have unleashed the attacks, was not present in the house. The warlord offended with the family was one-legged Abdullah Mehsud, an old inmate of Guantanamo Bay released by the Americans some years ago. Mr Mehsud was connected to the Deobandi-jihadi seminary of Banuri Mosque complex at Karachi through his spiritual mentor Mufti Jamil who was killed in the sectarian war of 2003-04 along with other leaders of the Banuri complex. Convinced that the state was involved in the death of his teachers, Abdullah Mehsud kidnapped foreign Chinese workers from the Tribal Areas and ended up killing one of them. The quarrel with the family of Syed Amiruddin Shah arose from the clash that all Deobandis have with the Sufi or mystical version of Islam. But Shah’s brother Atiqur Rehman actually practised the Barelvi version of Islam and had a large following as a pir in Tank. When Talibanisation came to the area, he fled to Karachi and began accusing the Taliban warlords, in particular Abdullah Mehsud, of being US agents (sic!). The geography of Tank forbids this kind of rebellion against the ruling creed: Tank district is bounded by South Waziristan to the southwest, west, and northwest. The NWFP information minister, Asif Iqbal, has said the people attacking Tank represented “small independent groups” operating under the Taliban who are inspired by Al Qaeda and are busy spreading its nihilist worldview across Pakistani territory. A former adviser on the affairs of the troubled tribal areas, Brigadier (Retd) Mehmood Shah, thinks that the latest spike of terrorist attacks inside the NWFP is the punishment that the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) is enduring for not cooperating with the federal government in eliminating the troublemakers. The brigadier has clearly got it wrong. What is happening in the region is what the JUI within the MMA has long wanted. The manifesto of the NWFP government clearly shows that it anticipated Talibanisation and vowed to support it by bringing laws that would allow the government clerics to do exactly what the warlords are doing today in the various districts of the province. So he got it right when he said, “The JUI (Fazlur Rehman group) is the political face of Islamic militancy in Pakistan”. But he got it wrong again when he said, “Had the MMA helped us crush tribal militancy, they would not have faced the Tank situation today”. The MMA supports tribal militancy. How can it help the government crush it? There is a lot of confusion in Pakistan over understanding the nature of violence in the country. What the Taliban want in the Tribal Areas is articulated in the mosques of the big cities in the settled areas. At any given time in Lahore, for instance, you will hear demands for the setting up of precisely the kind of governance demanded by the Taliban and implemented in the tribal areas. Most of us think that this kind of worldview in Lahore comes from fringe elements, but on close examination more and more people are embracing this discourse as their key to replacing the present “America-enslaved” system. Most of us shy away from disputing this worldview with the clergy because the clergy quotes the Quran and hadith, thus exposing us to the possibility of blasphemy through repudiating the scripture. This is the “winning” discourse in Pakistan and elsewhere in the Islamic world — and the expatriate Muslim communities now at odds with the societies in which they live. This discourse comes to the fore on a daily basis through the nostalgic Urdu columns praising the “Golden Age of the Taliban rule” when “you could travel across Afghanistan with a box of jewellery without being robbed”. The current phase of Muslim thought is nihilistic, of tearing down without building, of creating disorder to oppose the order we don’t like because we think it is West-ordained. The tribal areas and increasingly parts of the NWFP are in the grip of this anarchy of our minds. The tragedy is that the state doesn’t know how to deal with this situation. The Voice For Peace think that for peace in the world elimination of terrorism is must. Terrorists have been disturbing the peace of the world and giving justification to the rulers to use army. Terrorists whether they are the Taliban of Pakistan or living in other parts of the world should be dealt with sternly.

A traffic stop that turned into a potentially deadly struggle over a gun brought to life “probably the worst fear a police officer and the officer’s family has every time the officer goes to work,” a judge said Wednesday before sentencing the man who fired the gun at police. Norman Conner, 32, of Columbus, was sentenced to 22 years in prison by visiting Judge Charles Wittenberg in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. The judge ordered Conner to serve the sentence at the same time he completes an eight-year prison term for being a felon in possession of a firearm. “Every time a police office stops an automobile, he or she does not know what to expect, and with the proliferation of handguns on the streets, I think the odds of someone in the car having a handgun have increased dramatically over the last several years,” Judge Wittenberg said. Conner was found guilty last week of two counts of felonious assault with firearms specifications after a bench trial before Judge Wittenberg. Conner was acquitted on a third count of felonious assault. On Feb. 5, 2011, Conner was a passenger in a car driven by Raishaun Williams when police stopped the vehicle and Conner reached for a loaded 9mm handgun under the seat. He fired one round toward Sgt. Daniel Raab that struck Mr. Williams in the leg, and, during a struggle with officers outside the car, he fired another round that nearly struck Officer Ward Lemke’s head. Frank Spryszak, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor, pointed out that Conner had a prior conviction for felonious assault with a firearms specification. “I think it’s clear Mr. Conner is a dangerous individual, especially when he’s around handguns,” Mr. Spryszak said. Before a courtroom filled with Toledo police officers, both in and out of uniform, Conner turned around and apologized, saying he was just glad no one was seriously hurt. While defense attorney Dave Klucas argued the incidents were part of one course of conduct and therefore should not warrant consecutive sentences, the judge disagreed, saying Conner twice pulled the trigger and twice nearly shot two officers. Conner asked the judge to appoint an attorney to file an appeal. Contact Jennifer Feehan at: email@example.com or 419-213-2134.

Guatemala: Zetas massacre 27 farmworkers Guatemalan authorities announced May 15 the discovery of 27 bodies—all but one decapitated—at a ranch known as Los Cocos in La Libertad municipality of the northern jungle department of Petén. The Public Ministry and National Civil Police (PNC) said the victims were farmworkers who were massacred by a narco-trafficking cell known as "Z-200," believed to be an arm of the Mexico-based criminal paramilitary network Los Zetas. The PNC was alerted to the ranch by local campesinos, and found the bodies spread out on the patio. Only six have thus far been identified. The PNC identified the remains as: "One complete body, 26 headless bodies, and 23 heads." The dead are said to consist of 25 men and two women. Some of the corpses still had their hands tied behind their backs. Two walls of the ranch were defaced with threats written in the blood of the victims, directed at Otto Salguero, who authorities initially named as the owner of the ranch. Later accounts said the ranch was owned by Haroldo Waldemar León Lara, brother of Juan José León AKA "Juancho," a Guatemalan trafficker who was assassinated in the city of Zacapa in 2008, presumably by Zetas. Haroldo León was reportedly killed elsewhere in Petén just before the massacre at the ranch. Preliminary investigations indicate the ranch was invaded in the pre-dawn hours by some 50 men in military uniforms, who arrived in 12 vehicles, mostly farm trucks. They demanded to know where the owner of the ranch was—and, not receiving an answer, began to kill the farmworkers one by one. While the bulk of the bodies were left on the patio, where the killing apparently took place, parts of the remains were strewn around the property, with one head thrown down a well. The squad of assassins was reportedly led by a man they called they called "Kaibil" (suggesting he may be a veteran of the Kaibiles, the Guatemalan army's elite counter-insurgency force). Police gathered the account from one worker who was left alive and ordered by the assassins to look after the various children that lived on the property. At least three members of the Salguero family had been kidnapped by presumed Zetas in recent months. One was released on ransom, the other two killed—their mutilated bodies found on the Libertad-Sayaxché road through Petén just days before the massacre. A note found with the bodies read: "Otto Salguero voy por tu cabeza, Z-200" ("Otto Salguero, I'm coming for your head, Z-200"). The Guatemalan army announced after the massacre that it has mobilized its 1st Infantry Brigade to hunt down the killers and attack the Zeta network in Petén. (Prensa Libre, Prensa Libre, Guatemala, May 16; Miami Herald, May 15 )

Skip to comments.Dick Morris: Obama is going to lose big Posted on 04/05/2012 9:01:40 AM PDT by varmintman Dick Morris' "Lunch" video this morning involves a claim that a realistic reading of today's polls indicate that Romney (or anybody else other than Rick Santorum more or less) will beat Obama very badly. The basic gist is that Obama needs to be over 50% among likely voters at this point to break even and the fact of his being no better than around 45 spells wipeout in November since the undecideds almost never break for an incumbent under such circumstances. Morris notes that it's as if marriages were five year contracts with options to renew and somebody were to ask your husband or wife at year four if they were planning on renewing, and they said they'd have to think about it... When is the last time Morris was right about anything? Uh Oh.... Dicky boy is often very wrong in his predictions.... Last time I checked. WTH data is Morris looking at? Morris predictions are worthless. Tell me which of Kerry's states, if any, he's not going to carry. How does he lose them? What groups fade away. Give me specifics. But in this case, we're talking about many millions of very dull sheeple who are quite willing to receive abuse so long as they get an occasional freebie thrown their way. “Uh Oh.... Dicky boy is often very wrong in his predictions.... Yeah. This is what worries me about hearing something Morris says that I agree with. I DO think (most of the time) that 0bama loses big. Who is Obama going to run against then? Romney sure the he!! isn’t going to beat Obama! I agree. In firming up his base, Obama is showing his true nature and alienating moderate middle-class voters. Moreover, many people who say they are leaning to Obama are just giving the politically correct answer, and in the privacy of the voting booth will pull the other lever. It could be comparable to 1980, IMHO. It doesn’t matter how bad Romney is, people will be voting against the incumbent. Oh no. Say it isn’t so, Dick. Many things can happen between now and November. That’s an entire baseball season + the World Series. Mitt is going in with his obvious problems: low support from Conservatives, RomneyCare and his magic underwear. Obama is dragged down by ObamaCare, high gas prices, high unemployment, and trillions in new debt. It’s really a question of who reeks less and how many dead people vote in blue states. The American voter can’t really be trusted to decide based on what is true or prudent. today’s rasmussen tracking poll (as shown on rcp) shows Romney over obama by 2 nationally, and Santorum under obama by 2 nationally. Pretty close election either way. At this stage, today, Romney is polling slightly better than Santorum, but Santorum is very much within range. Romney does not have a lock in the “electability” argument with TODAYS NUMBERS. But he does have an advantage over Santorum. (I am not advocating anything by the above. I’m just reporting the facts and drawing some basic conclusions. personally, I think obama is the favorite for November....but I would love to be wrong!) Exactly. Obama has 250+ all but guaranteed EVs before the first vote is recorded. He gets all of Kerry's states, plus NV and probably CO. Romney has about 160. All else will be up for grabs. If gas prices stay high he will lose many more states, especially rural Midwest states like MI. Bingo. Most don't have a clue of why certain issues are vital to this country. They keep a narrow view on what puts a couple more $ in their pocket, along with their favorite social cause and focus on those. So I don’t have to feel bad about not voting for the RINO in November? The city of Destroyed will have to depopulate a whole lot more between now and November for Romney to have a shot of winning MI. "Obama's Stash" is very popular there. Just what Obama has done on gas prices should make him toast. But even that is not needed. Obama has spit in the face of the white folks that got him elected. A tiny few will be back voting for him due to white guilt but because Obama has divided the races on purpose and basically said those white folks are racists they won't be voting for him again. Obama, simply put, is a dumbass. He had the greatest opportunity in American history to bring the country together. Instead he has been a punk and a puke. A thug. Obama has been the punk in the hooded jacket walking very closly behind us on a dark street. This is going to cost him dearly. There is a long list of other things that will contribute to his being defeated in a landslide. And it will be a very big landslide. A tsunami that voter fraud will not be able to overcome. No, I don't need Morris to tell me this. I knew it already. I'm voting for a conservative. I wouldn’t take the chance if I were y’all. I hope Dick Morris is right, but what’s his record. Vote against Obama. I agree with the Toe Sucker, but for different reasons. In the Trayvon Martin case, Obama has lit the fuse on a nationwide race war. Any voter who is not black realizes that he or she is the target of that war, and will be in serious trouble if the leader of that war were to gain a second term. So they’ll run screaming to the GOP and vote for a yellow dog, a warm bucket of spit, or perhaps even Mitt Romney. It’s the Southern Strategy, more wildly successful than Nixon ever dreamed it could be. My thoughts exactly. From your lips to God's ears!! Comrade "O" has got to GO!!! It is being said George Soros likes Romney. That means Romney will change nothing Obama has done and will make things worse. We need to elect someone else. Anyone other than Obama and Romney. i think obama is the favorite...but, I also think what you say here could end up being relevant: “Any voter who is not black realizes that he or she is the target of that war, and will be in serious trouble if the leader of that war were to gain a second term.” obviously that sentiment will not show up clearly in polling anytime soon...SO...there IS a possibility that come mid October, obama could start sinking and it could end up a blow out, ala 1980. That “could” happen. (Note to Romney: if you end up winning big, it doesn’t mean you are Reagan. It just means that obama is worse than Carter). Based off the Kerry states won, Obama will struggle with PA and WI. We need to worry about VA, NC, and FL. Not sure about NV, NM, and CO going Red. If we keep those 3 and PA or WI flips + the others hold steady, even Willard can win. Not too big an “if” IMHO. The sentiment is out there now. Wait until they start burning Detroit, Philly and Baltimore this summer. Not to mention the neo-hippie antics of Occupy Wall Street. I still chuckle about Morris and his toe sucking incident. The woman who was involved was not only from Pittsburgh....she was from the exact neighborhood in Pittsburgh were, when I was a kid, you used to go cruising if your intentions were to meet a girl like that. I take it he’s not accounting for the third-party spoiler by which Obama can win with a plurality. Did that last time. And dangit.. he still won. One thing I really appreciate about the FR experience is the centralization of valuable, pertinent information. At one time, admittedly out of ignorance, I was 50/50 about Romney. But the wealth of information that has since flowed in here has convinced me that beneath that carefully arranged wool disguise is a liberal wolf anxious to spring out into full view. The man is full of more sh*t than a Christmas goose, and those conservative-flavored soundbites are simply rehearsed garbage. I'm convinced. Voting for Romney is one.. BAD.. idea. “Romney sure the he!! isnt going to beat Obama!” Remember how we had that hope back in 2008, i.e. the hoped-for, but nonexistent "Bradley Effect?" That ought to be one of those mindless chants i.e. “One-two-three-fo’ comrade “O” has got to go!” yet.....obama is still, at this time, if you go state by state, the odds on favorite: The crabby “principled” Freepers and the Soros brigade have shown up. They enthusiastically agree that we are going to get four more years of Our Beloved Leader. I can’t go along with that. As a doctor, I do not first kill my patient in order to save him. Obama is killing America, aided and abetted by communists and Freepers. That’s unadulterated bullshit! How do you fix your mouth to speak of Freepers that way! How old are? You're not seriously comparing one of the greatest politicians, communicators and Presidents of all-time to one of the weakest potential Presidential nominees in history, Mitt Romney, are you? Or MAYBE you are really thinking "obama is a big loser..." all the time? I don't care! OFF WITH YOUR HEAD! Mitt Romney is the Nidal Hasan of the Republican party, someone on the liberal side of the war ready to destroy as much of conservatism as possible. in the true tradition of free republic....where we are compelled to prove how conservative we are but implicitly if not explicitly advocating obama’s re-election. But, Romney isn't going to do the same thing and set back the conservative movement at the same time? Romney will leave the Republican party in worse shape than George W. Bush did. And, we'll get Romneycare, new taxes and, perhaps, another David Souter before he is done. I prefer “Welcome to FR! Come for the analysis, stay for the knee-jerking!” Obama’s going to cream romney so bad the GOP will completely implode and vanish by 2016, but it won’t make a difference since this will be the last real election. Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Catalysts For Change by Naomi Canton Cover: Photo: Variables, Patterns 2010 by Steve McPherson www.stevemcpherson.co.uk No Back Issue available Photo © Lindsay Duffield/Survival www.survivalinternational.org Naomi Canton meets a former rogue elephant hunter who is now battling for Adivasi (tribal) rights in India. He has shot nineteen rogue elephants in his homeland India, over a dozen of them man-killers and others crop destroyers, so shooting pheasants in Wiltshire is probably rather inconsequential to the aristocratic professional hunter Bulu Imam. The 70-year-old had more pressing things on his mind during his recent trip to England: the proposed destruction of 200 tribal villages, of more than 2,000 square kilometres of rich fertile agricultural land and of precious forest wildlife corridors in the North Karanpura Valley of Jharkhand in India where he lives, to make way for 31 open-cast mining projects. The north of the valley boasts 1,230 sq. km of coalfields, which make up nine per cent of India’s coal reserves. Imam, an environmentalist and author, who has spent years researching and documenting tribal culture, is bitterly opposed to the project because the land the coalfields lie beneath happens to be the homeland of millions of India’s indigenous people who have lived there for centuries. Not only do they rely on the land and forest for their livelihood, but they worship sacred rocks there, the land underpins their cultural way of life and the bones of their ancestors, whom they worship, are buried under megaliths there, some even dating back to before 2000 B.C. There are approximately 100 million tribal people in India, most of whom, live in the forests. Sixty million tribal people have so far been ruthlessly displaced to make way for moneymaking industrial projects to extract rich mineral resources which lie beneath their homes. Approximately 51 billion tones or 27 per cent of India’s coal reserves lie in Jharkhand alone. Twenty-seven years ago, at the age of 43, Imam first heard about plans by an Australian company, Whyte Industries Limited of Sydney, coming to mine 600m tonnes of coal at Piparwar, just 80 kilometres from his country mansion. Two hundred villages, an environmentally sustainable way of life and fertile land were all earmarked for destruction. “I was appalled. I knew the jungle very well and the villagers would come to our house and we would go to their villages on horses,” he says, sipping tea at a relative’s home in Wiltshire, on his recent trip. “I was a man who shot tigers and knew people were going to get displaced and I thought how can I protect them?” Dressed in a bright red checked shirt, Imam explains how he soon heard from Australian engineers that the discovery of aboriginal rock art had been used to establish territory in northern Australia to stop mining. The art had been taken as title to the land and it dawned on him that maybe he could do the same in India. Six years later, Imam miraculously brought to light the first of more than a dozen Palaeolithic rock art sites more than 5,000 years old, in the Upper Damodar Valley, one of the areas threatened by the industrial projects. He also found palaeoarchaeologial sites connected with the Mesolithic rock art, ancient megaliths and Buddhist archaeological sites. He got them all “noted” by the Archaeological Survey of India, which is in charge of preserving the cultural heritage of India; that led to the Ministry of Environment and Forests making archaeological and environmental clearance for mining projects in the Upper Damodar Valley mandatory, leading to substantial delays on all of the 23 mining projects that were proposed in that region. He then remarkably established a link between the prehistoric rock art and the living mural paintings by tribal women of wild animals and plants on the mud walls of their homes. They paint these murals to celebrate weddings and at harvest time. He hoped this would persuade the authorities to stop the mining, as the art categorically established the rights of the people to the valley and land. It was this passion for tribal people in fact, and their rights to their land that had brought Imam, who is married to a tribal woman, to England. He had been chosen to receive the Gandhi International Peace Award 2011 from The Gandhi Foundation in London jointly with Dr Binayak Sen on behalf of "The Adivasis - The Tribal Peoples of India". In Imam's case, it was for the work he had done identifying and preserving tribal cultural heritage in the region. The award was meant to have been handed to the duo on 9 November 2011 at Amnesty International's UK head office in London, but it was postponed because of complaints from some Adivasi activists to the Gandhi Foundation that neither of them was an Adivasi (meaning original inhabitant). However, the Gandhi Foundation remained committed to granting the award in recognition of their influential work. It has now confirmed that Imam and Dr Sen will jointly receive The Gandhi Foundation International Peace Award for 2011 on 12 June 2012 at The House of Lords for their humanitarian work. In 1995, Imam founded The Tribal Women Artists’ Cooperative (TWAC) which exhibits tribal women’s mural paintings made with mud pigments and binder on cloth and canvas across the world with seminars publicising the mining issues. TWAC has held 50 international exhibitions so far. The art has been instrumental in giving a human face to the destruction by mining, showing how it is not just tribal land, but ancient tribal cultural and artistic traditions which are being lost. About fifty Indian tribal women currently benefit from the project, many of which focus on specific mines. Several times artists from TWAC have attended the United Nations’ Working Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneva to present their case against the impact of new open-cast coal mining upon the tribal people in the Upper Damodar Valley. During the last 50 years, the lower Damodar River has been completely ravaged by open-cast and underground mining and a relentless construction of big dams, thermal power stations and other industrialisation. Hellish underground mine fires are even causing subsidence, Imam says. “Several thousand villages were destroyed and tribals displaced in the Lower Valley of Damodar first in 1949 in what was known as ‘Nehru’s Dream’,” Imam says. “A staggering area measuring 400 kilometres by 200 kilometres of old growth forest land was destroyed. Today the Lower Valley is one vast industrial landscape like the Rhine Valley in Germany. The mining companies are now turning their eye to the Upper Valley for coal and coal-based gas,” he adds. Pakri Barwadhi, 40 kilometres from his house, is one example. It has just been given environmental clearance and the Australian company Thiess is expected to commence open-cast coal mining there this year. Thousands of villagers and wildlife corridors are to be displaced soon for that mine, from which seven hundred million tonnes of coal are expected to be extracted. It is also an area rich in palaeoarchaeological sites, megaliths, and Buddhist stupa remains. More than one dozen villages will be destroyed in the first phase of mining. “There has been massive road building through a plateau of green forests and a railway line from the north cuts through 60kms of forest 200 yards wide. How many million trees have been cut, I can’t calculate!” Imam laments. Imam is very concerned about the impact of the felling of hundreds of thousands of ancient trees on the ecosystem of his beloved subcontinent, since these fruiting, medicinal, indigenous trees are not being replaced. “This has destroyed the tiger as it needs hundreds of square kilometers of interconnected forest and they are now all dying of thirst during the hot summer months. The migration of elephants has also been affected by the vast new mines - some over 400 feet deep - and they have no water and now they are going into villages and killing people as the forest fodder plants have been destroyed,” he explains. The elephants are being forced to migrate in a different direction to the one they want to take, he says and since the deer are dead, there is nothing even for tigers to eat so they are living on village cattle now, according to him. Imam comes from one of India’s oldest most distinguished Muslim families. The great grandson of Nawab Imdad Imam, a famous Urdu poet, he has published hundreds of papers and monographs documenting rock art, archaeological sites, megaliths and tribal art in Jharkhand, hoping to halt mining by proving how tribal heritage is at risk. “Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R & R) by the mining companies is a complete failure,” Imam declares. He says many tribal people do not get compensation, as they do not have papers to prove they own their land. Some have documents that have not been honoured and some officers are not re-registering their land after the new state of Jharkhand was formed 12 years ago. Those that are compensated are unable to find a job so the windfall is soon spent. They are skilled at hunting and farming and cannot get work in the mines. The displacement also creates a huge cultural and spiritual vacuum for them. “The concrete resettlement camps are just houses in a row and they will put a Hindu temple there, yet the people are not Hindu," Imam explains. "They worship stones, rivers and trees and sacrifice animals instead. These resettlement homes are depressing: they don’t have any light inside, the roofs leak; they have low ceilings and are too hot. These people are used to living in mud huts with art painted on them, tiled roofs and to having at least 20 acres of agricultural land each with thousands of square kilometers of forest nearby to depend on for forest produce which, they have now lost.” According to him only one in 1,000 are provided squalid concrete resettlement camps. Some migrate to cities where they become environmental refugees working on construction sites and sleeping on the streets. Others are taken under the wing of Hindu or Christian fundamentalists who offer them housing and education if they convert. But in doing so, they lose their ancient values and way of life, access to forest resources and cultural traditions. Some end up living in ghetto conditions in industrial villages that have been set up for the mine workers, where they suffer racist abuse and do not have the skills to find work. Much of the work in the mines is mechanised and for any jobs that there are, foreign engineers from outside India or from neighbouring states are brought in, Imam says. The tribals end up cutting wood and selling it, or stealing coal and selling it. Prostitution has also become rife in these areas and an illegal drink trade has started. Some may have even joined the Maoist movement, he says. Surprisingly, no foreign NGOs are working in the area. Imam says he does not think this industrialisation and economic development can benefit India. “By chopping down all these trees and destroying the landscape, only two per cent of the people benefit and 98 per cent are adversely affected,” he says. “We already know that carbon dioxide pollution is going to end the planet," he continues. According to Imam, Indian coal is very low quality and inefficient. He says the largest Indian companies are already using coal from Africa and China instead. "The kind of development we are talking about is going to displace people and destroy non-renewable resources and the cost is much more than the gains through mining. Think of the impact of displacing millions of people?" he asks. Imam sees part of the solution as investment in solar energy, green technologies and moving to low energy bulbs. "If India moved to low energy bulbs, 200 mines could close down. What I want to see is for the Indian Government to give subsidies to solar power. The transport of electricity is very expensive, so it needs to be replaced. In India, sixty per cent of electricity is stolen or lost in unaccounted consumption," he points out. Despite the mindless decimation of forest and an ancient indigenous way of life, he remains optimistic. "The parents of today will be old men and women tomorrow and the children of today will be parents tomorrow," he says. He is confident the younger generation will want to change things. “We have to influence the consciousness of the planet, because if we can get a change of consciousness, we will win the battle and people will save money and conserve energy and find an alternative way of living. We can’t go on living the way we are. But I think there is a change of consciousness already taking place," he says hopefully. Bulu Imam will be awarded The Gandhi Foundation International Peace Award on 12 June 2012 at The House of Lords. Naomi Canton is a freelance journalist based in Britain. Until recently she was living in India working as a special correspondent for The Hindustan Times in Mumbai.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016 ROCKFORD — A former Evanston, Ill. man was sentenced Tuesday in federal court on a federal bank robbery charge. The defendant, CONRAD J. GONZALEZ, 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Kapala to 234 months in federal prison, and ordered to serve 3 years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment. On January 7, 2016, following a three-day trial before Judge Kapala, Gonzalez was found guilty by a federal jury of robbing the First Federal Savings Bank, located at 701 1st Ave., in Rock Falls, Ill. on Oct. 30, 2013. According to the indictment and evidence at trial, at approximately 1:00 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2013, Gonzalez entered First Federal wearing a baseball cap and Chicago Bears sweatshirt. Gonzalez approached a bank teller and handed her a note demanding money. When the teller attempted to retrieve the note from the counter, Gonzalez said, “That was a stupid thing to do,” and took the note back. The teller then handed $1,870 to Gonzalez, who then walked out of the bank on foot. The sentencing was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Michael J. Anderson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Rock Falls and Sterling Police Departments assisted in the investigation. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph C. Pedersen and Monica V. Mallory. Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District of Illinois This content has been produced from its original source.

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I helped to organize a fun afternoon with evolution course students from High Tech High School, North County, this week. They toured the lab, checked out SDSU’s impressive collections of mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects, and were of course greeted by my faithful arachnid buddy, the whipscorpion Mittens. 🙂 Thanks for your visit, folks! Mittens says “‘Sup.” Labmate Shahan shows students some local harvestmen species. I’ve been participating lately in a couple of really cool projects: talking science and art with the Fleet Science Center’s brilliant 2 Scientists program… …and preparing to welcome a North County high school group learning about evolution to my lab and department! Since the high schoolers are planning to visit the Museum of Man the morning prior to coming to SDSU, I decided to make my own visit to the museum, eventually finding myself in this temporary exhibit on cannibalism! I received my very own corpse medicine prescription for skull moss (good for nosebleeds and anxiety!). Had a great time in New Orleans, LA for the 2017 SICB meeting, starting off with a memorable drive to visit my aunt in southern Alabama! It was surprisingly cold week in the American South (maybe San Diego is spoiling me?), but I bravely soldiered forth and enjoyed great talks and discussion about animal physiology. Thank goodness I brought a scarf! #LFC When scientists and pop culture fans meet… who’re ya gonna call?! In an amazing coincidence, a Wizard World Comic Con was happening in the same convention center as SICB! I would have loved to get a photo with cosplayers but, in a hurry, I settled for this Ghostbusters truck parked along my walk.

Gospel authors take us back in time, providing a God-like lens. We become polite passive bystanders silently observing Jesus’ every move, word and deed. We know how the story ends. Jesus is clearly the good guy; we easily identify the bad guys (Boo! Hiss!); roll our eyes at the stupid guys and pity the least, lost and left out. Have you ever thrown yourself in a Bible passage, changing it to a first person testimony? Let’s put ourselves in the place of our biblical sister caught in adultery (John 8: 3-11): At dawn, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees dragged me out of my bed into the temple courts where all the people were gathered. I was barely clothed, caught in the embrace of my lover. I could still feel his body upon mine, taste his kiss and enjoy his scent. They pushed me to the center of the crowd and made me stand before the group. They said to the man called Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” What? They weren’t allowed to kill me, only the Romans could execute. Who is this man? Why did everyone suddenly care what I did in the privacy of my own home? And where was my lover? He was in bed with me. It takes two to commit adultery! Was this the end? Would this be what I would forever be known for – my obituary? Who is this man? I heard he’d been causing trouble, some type of prophet. Did he really have the power to condemn me? I needed to look into his eyes, deep into his eyes. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When the religious guys kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. OH dear God NO! I tried to look at each of them but everyone looked away. Each began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with me. I was still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked me, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” I said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Lord, thank you for saving me from my sins; and from the stones of my neighbors. Thank you for not taking advantage of me or rightly condemning me. Thank you especially for looking away, for not casting your eyes on my nakedness and treating me with dignity. Thank you for your grace and for all the women you rescue from shame and death. Amen

Enrico and I maintained a long-distance relationship for over two years; he was doing his PhD at Yale, I was working in Washington, DC. At first, we saw each other about once a month, then about every three weeks, then about every two weeks… Luckily, there was an airline price war on in those days, and a roundtrip NYC-DC could be had for as little as $59 (DC-NYC cost more, I suppose because more DC residents wanted to escape to New York for the weekend than vice-versa). We took our first vacation together in the spring of 1987. Neither of us could afford much more than airfare, so we flew to Texas and stayed with my aunt Rosie, in Coupland, about an hour’s drive outside Austin. One night we were driving back from Austin, not knowing that there had been a fatal accident on the county road the night before, and the local police were jumpy. We got pulled over because Enrico, true to his Italian heritage, was speeding. Worried about the culture clash I thought likely to ensue, and how much it might cost us, I started to get out to go around the car and talk to the nice policeman. “Get back in that car!” he yelled. The road was very dark; he was concerned about someone driving into me. He talked to Enrico for some time, then came around to my side of the car. “Where did he say he was from?” asked the policeman. “He’s from Italy.” “Well, you tell him that we don’t drive that way in Texas.” And he let us go – without a ticket. My first visit to Italy was Christmas, 1987. I don’t now remember much about it, except being intensely frustrated that Italians, when in a group with other Italians, will not speak anything EXCEPT Italian – regardless of whether that leaves someone (me) completely out of the conversation. Which did provide motivation for me to learn Italian, though this was difficult to do well, with only weekly evening classes at the US Department of Agriculture (why the Dept. of Ag. sponsors language classes is a mystery to me, but they do, and that’s how I started). For spring break ’88, we went to California. It was either on the flight over or the flight back that Enrico finally proposed. Well, sort of. He didn’t actually say: “Will you marry me?” or anything of the kind. What he said was: “I’d like to have children with you.” “Uh, okay, but aren’t we missing a step?” So we agreed to get married, at some unspecified future date. It seems that this is not an unusual way for an Italian man to propose. Another American woman married to an Italian told me that her husband “proposed” in much the same words; they now have three lovely daughters. And Enrico and I have just had our 15th anniversary. Well, one of our two anniversaries. But that’s another story.

A witness who saw a British couple and their son beaten unconscious has described how he tried to help them but was attacked so violently he now needs surgery. CCTV footage captured the attack at around 2am in the popular tourist resort of Hua Hin, where the elderly couple and their middle-aged son were celebrating Thai New Year. The row appears to escalate from nowhere as the woman is punched to the ground while the men are being overwhelmed by punches and kicks in the background. He claims he was walking with his wife and tried to intervene, pushing a youth away who was beating the woman, but was himself attacked and he now needs dental surgery due to his injuries. ‘The girls in the bar I was in all night waved goodbye to two elderly customers and their son and my wife and I followed only seconds after them.’Within 20-30 metres of leaving the bar the Thais were punching the 65-year-old lady in the face!! ‘The elderly gentleman was down on the floor and their son was beaten very badly!’At this point I caught up to the scene and pushed one of the youths away from the woman. I got severely punched and kicked for my troubles, but felt the need to protect this frail lady. ‘Not one person (other than myself) came to aid these old folk and they ended up laid in the road bleeding..so if you’re still out in the wee hours tonight please be alert. ‘These pockets of youths were intent on causing harm, and did blend in with all others beforehand. ‘The three of them are still hospitalised, and I will need cosmetic dental work done. It is not clear in the clip what is being said to provoke the outbreak of violence.But a melee ensues between the tourists and the gang members, with the British woman, who is believed to be in her 60s, approaching one of the gang and speaking to him. The man then punches her in the face and knocks her to the ground, while both men are being kicked and punched in the uproar. As she tries to sit back up, one of the gang kicks her violently in the jaw and knocks her out. The three holidaymakers were left knocked out cold and lying in the street as their attackers disappear into the crowds of passersby during the Songkran festivities. Police are using the CCTV footage from a camera at the entrance to a small street of bars to trace the attackers. They say they have arrested four suspects and are confident of arresting others.

A PLAY FOR TWO VOICES A) You know I’ve noticed something. A) You used to talk. A) Yes talk…you know…how the weather was…how you felt about what was happening in the world. B) The world? A) Yes you used to converse about a range of topics. A) All of that was before you saw ‘The Dumb Waiter’! B) What waiter? A) The dumb one or was it ‘The Homecoming’? B) I don’t know. A) Whatever…before Pinter. Yes…before Pinter. B.P. Not B.C. but B.P. B) British Petroleum. A) (ANGRY) Not British Petroleum. Before Pinter! B) Harold Pinter A) Exactly. B.P. Before you got caught by those Pinter two handers, three handers…whatever. Yes, before Pinter you could hold an interesting con-ver-sation. Do you remember? B) Last year in Marienbad. A) (ANGRY) That was not Pinter. That was the Robbe-Grillet frog marching off to nowhere…set within a sumptuous baroque vanishing point. B) French pomp! A) Yes you may be right. Robbe-Grillet may have indeed contributed to your minimalist behavior. You are right…Pinter could have got the bug from Grillet. (PAUSE) Does it matter? A) No. Perfect. Perfectly expressed. No. Like ‘No’s Knife’. Ambiguity highly atmospheric. Highly uplifting…some think! Waiting for crap! No, I’m not waiting for any more crap. Do you get it Godot? B) You’re tired? A) Tired! Tired? You may be right. I may be tired. Tired of waiting for years… A) Yes years! Don’t you get it? You haven’t spoken a whole sentence for years. And I’m not meaning a long sentence. Just a sentence. A beginning, a middle and an end. A proper English sentence. No clipped Gallic crap. An English sentence saying something that you mean. Something which makes sense. Something that you want to say. Not just yes…no…O.K….when? A sentence. It doesn’t have to be that arresting. Or even interesting! A) (ANGRY) No! Look are you pretending you’re not purposely torturing me with your laconic comments? As you can see, I’m not laconic. Not like that trio of language stranglers. Beckett, Robbe-Grillet and Sartre! I love language. Even when it is excessively flowery… Rococo…Baroque. Did you know that linguistic pessimism leads to fascism? A) Yes you rather like living within uncertainty. Uncertainty drives me up the wall! (PAUSE) Was this Sartre’s real purpose? Wanting everyone to share his HELL? ‘Huis Clos’. No exit. Perfect. Beckett makes the philosophical proposition—‘No God is coming to get us out of this HELL.’ And Sartre rubs it in. Hell is other people. Other people’s state of mind. Becket exposes this concealed inner bullfight on the stage… and Sartre becomes his matador…and you, yes you like nothing better than acting as Sartre’s picador…and with increasing relish hurl your cold sharp pointed darts into my screaming mind! B) Long speech! A) Another dart. Saint Sebastian is all-ways on hand. Poor blighter. Not the ending he anticipated. No way. Not the ending for a Captain in the Roman Praetorian Guard. B) Saving Christians. A) Exactly. Tortured for saving Christians from torture and death! A) Well spotted! (PAUSE) Well spotted! You’re awake! I’ve noticed that. Yes… despite everything… you still want to give the impression that your eye is still on the mental ball. That you’re still mentally awake. Still in contact with the human dilemma. A) O there’s no dilemma in the human world? No atrocities in Syria? No starving children in Africa? Dilemma? Haven’t you heard that this glorious planet’s hidden name is ‘Total Dilemma’? Look, is it really getting hotter or not? B) Greenhouse effect? A) YES!!! YEEEEEES! Are we going down inside a greenhouse or not? WHO can I trust to tell me? TRUST? Tell me, for God’s sake, in a series of sensible sentences. They don’t have to be well crafted. Just honest. To the point, without any uncertainty. Hotter or colder? No… what’s the word…? A) Equivocation! Yes! Yes! Now there’s a word. A word not heard every day of the week. Not every day. That’s exactly what I want. NO equivocation. No whiff of any political jargon. No bad smell from any politician. I’d rather a good old fashioned safe-breaker tell me the score! B) The score? A) Yes the score concerning this notion of global catastrophe… whether from too many people, too many floods or not enough fresh water. B) Nuclear pollution. A) Yes, well that’s the cherry on the top of the greenhouse fantasy. A) Yes it’s a story. A STORY! No one really knows what’s going on any more. B) Any more A) YES. (SHOUTS) ANY MORE! I know, I know, did anyone ever know what the real point is of our existence? Did they? A) That’s the point isn’t it? Who are they? B) Hidden persuaders! A) Vance Packard! Yes, we can’t say we haven’t been warned! You notice I said ‘we’? A) Well then there seems to be a question of sides. Divisions. Us and them. The persuaders aren’t just office boys. A) We don’t know who they are. If we did they wouldn’t be hidden would they? A) Exactly. They could be gods…or magicians who… B) Walk through walls. A) That’s right. They’re beyond our ken. We postulate aliens operating in different dimensions. B) Higher vibrations! A) Or lower vibrations. Don’t forget that possibility. Lower demonic vibrations. Hellish worlds. A) Exactly. We’ve been invaded…and are STILL being invaded from demonic worlds. And what are they trying to do? They are trying to drive me mad! A) O give over. The darts! Your verbal innocent darts! Thrown at me! ME! And your feigned innocence is a major factor in driving me around THE BEND! And don’t say bend! A) Am I off my trolly? Very clever insinuation. Is the Earth a trolly being pulled round the sun? Dave Tomlin suggested it was. Sun Trolly was the name of the band he formed. A) Of course! A band of musicians…not a band of trouble-makers…or winkle-pickers…irate protesters. Yes…those were the days. The days of bright colours and endless rhythm. This is the funeral.(PAUSE) Yes I feel sorry for the young. A) Unfair? When was fairness ever a light in human worldly interaction? Of course it’s unfair to be blown up in your pram! B) Iraq. Syria. A) Libya. Egypt. B) Balham High Street. A) Now you’re talking. Balham High Street. You’re closing right in. It’s where I live. Out the door…down the road—the very busy road—and just round the corner…157 Balham High Street. And right outside my door…a bomb could go off in a pram or a van…at any moment. B) Or never. A) Never is too loose. I can’t focus on the notion of ‘never’. I need a point to focus on. B) Potential explosion. A) Well that’s what’s being pushed down my throat. Greenhouse gas explosion! Where’s the fun? Real fun. Human warm fun. Not idiotic T.V. gags and falsity. NO! I don’t have one. You don’t have one. B) We’re quits. A) On this score, yes. Yes, we’ve quitted the dumbing down enclosure. A) Willful suicide. A) That’s a point. Computers. They’re actually different. A) Yes, T.V.s and computers both have screens. True. But there’s more you can do with a computer. A) Of course! You know what? You’re getting more…helpful. I’m feeling less like a Saint Sebastian dartboard. Like I’m feeling less like a class enemy. In fact I’m convinced that you’re making an effort to be more friendly. B) More friendly? A) Yes…more friendly. Of course you’re right on the money. There’s no question of ‘more’. I should have said, ‘now you’re being friendly’. Not MORE…since you were decidedly un-friendly before this…this…what shall I call it? Before this welcome thaw? B) Let’s dance. (HE PUTS ON AFRICAN DANCE MUSIC) (THEY DANCE) A) (WHILST DANCING) You know, I have never got used to dancing with a man. I don’t know what it is? As you can see I’m not against it. It’s …what shall I say…slightly un-nerving. Definitely un-nerving. Perhaps it’s in my blood? B) Not English. (DOES A TWIRL. BOTH STILL DANCING) A) Exactly! Well of course (DOES A TWIRL) the old school frowns down on such past-times. Don’t you long for the fun we once shared? (THEY BOTH STOP DANCING) A) Yes I agree. Was anything ever shared? A) Ah! Longing. Yes… I see it! … Like those spell-binding sunsets…on the Nile… near Luxor. Would ‘longing for Godot’ be an improvement? A) Only different? Longing and waiting. Longing for what one is waiting. Perhaps waiting for the end of all longing. That longing for love. A) Waiting for love. B) Never comes. A) Then the sudden shock! A) No… The unexpected arrival of love. A) (TRIUMPHANT) YES! Love is normality! B) Acceptance. (BOTH START DANCING AGAIN) A) Real life. B) Real life. A) Is real life the same as perfect life? A) Exactly. Someone to bestow grace upon us. B) Female presence. A) Of course. You remember those days? Those days when one felt so light hearted… so light hearted—it seemed one lived inside a dome of golden liquid light. Now almost … B) The Golden Forgotten. A) You say it so calmly as if you hardly care that we are no longer alive inside that life-giving eternity of golden light. You must understand… that for me, as it appears to be NOW… this condition we’re in NOW… is as close to Hell… that I want to come. I can hardly breathe inside this fog of lies we seem forced to inhabit. A) Now you’re talking. How have I become dependent on what poisons my soul? How have I become dependent on LIES? Even afraid to come clean about the lies I manage like circus animals. I disgust myself… my un-nerving weakness. That’s it isn’t it? Supporting lies with one’s soul… makes one’s soul weak… and a weak soul succumbs to ingesting more lies. A) Exactly. It is I who is producing this noxious horrible fog I inhabit. O.K. (PAUSE) I was going to call you ‘Mr Smart-ass’. But I saw…just in time… that would indeed make this gruesome atmosphere which I’ve been breathing… absorbing, even more dark and poisonous. So, my dear friend, your quiet steadiness has uplifted my soul. Please forgive me for projecting on to you my twisted assumptions. I can see now that your laconic engagements with my sleeping soul were a form of medicine. B) Necessary medicine. A) Yes, very necessary… but when we were in love wasn’t that a marvelous medicine? B) Yes… marvelous. A) But now neither sister graces our endless aloneness. We have been forced to learn something I find very, very difficult. Hard. But slowly, an odd moment here… an odd moment there… I find myself able to appreciate life without being supported by love. B) Without her. A) Yes of course… appreciating being alive…without her hand in mine. B) Heart breaking. A) One could cry. Crack up. Fall to pieces. Give up. Give in. But no… that won’t do. A) YES! Exactly I am ALIVE! Now is the opportunity for a completely different approach to my daily existence. A) Yes… that could be it! Living by faith! Faith in life. In this miracle that I exist. And you exist. EXIST! How I’ve overlooked this miracle of my own existence. B) Embroiled in views. A) Exactly to the point. Instead of enjoying being alive I put my life into my views on existence. Of course I was heart-broken. Lonely. Desperate. And I tried one way after another to escape my aloneness. I didn’t want to be alone. It seemed so unfair. So deadly. Of course I never gave myself a chance to find out what aloneness actually is. I just re-acted to my fear of what I thought it was like. B) Self defeat. A) In a nut shell. And inside the claustrophobic smallness of a nutshell I existed. In fear. Yes my friend, I’ve been suffocating inside an empty nutshell… for a very long time. Suffocating ‘inside a sense of injustice’. A sense of being un-fairly abandoned. B) By love. A) Yes! Yes! Yes! Abandoned by love. Did I deserve that? I say no! I didn’t deserve to be abandoned in hell! But… A) There’s something not right in what I’m saying. I was abandoned because I projected my hellish fear onto her. She couldn’t take my mad fits of paranoia and anger. I could see it coming and tried to convince her that she would be making a BIG MISTAKE if she left me. That convinced her that it was time to take flight. Being a night bird she left me in the dark… for ever. A) Yes… very tragic. B) Very tragic. A) But you too. Yes you also were left bereft. But like the good boy scout… you already were prepared for your fall from grace. You’ve always seemed to cope with adversity. No bewilderment like Hamlet … but like our dear friend Sebastian… you’ve taken every arrow of outrageous fortune like a real man… standing upright … with even a hint of a smile. Now at last I understand what it is… you always know more than your assailants… you always understand more deeply… more profoundly… than your enemies. Even when she left you for dead on that battlefield. A) Carnage. The mind-numbing horror of a losing battle. Of course she was a man at that point. Your bosom friend… riding off at speed… on your horse. B) White steed. A) Of course. Of course.! You no doubt were brilliant. The hero in shining armour. Was I there? That’s the issue isn’t it? Was it I that made the cowardly escape and not her? How could I be sure? B) Want to be. A) Yes of course I would have to have a burning need to know the truth of this. A) Do I want to know? Want to? Do I want to know if I was your wife one hundred years ago who abandoned you then…as I had done long before when I was your soldier companion… a fellow Crusader? B) A fellow Crusader. A) Quite frankly enmity is arising in me again. Everything felt so much better when we were dancing. How have we come to this? A) Of course! I’m not sure about my identity. Not sure about who you are. Different memories. Does it matter? A) I shouldn’t have asked. It matters because It seems I’m blindly—that is unconsciously—going round and round on the same infernal dementing carousel. Going from the tiger to the elephant to the horse to the cockerel … but always staying on board… and getting nowhere. Why don’t I jump OFF? A) Thank you. Well I can’t refute that assessment. Yes it was my own words. On board an infernal dementing carousel. And the real point is—I must be on it NOW! And you’re a wounded spectator watching me whizz by every now and then. A) No wonder I can’t change. B) Can’t change? A) Yes! Yes! I see it. It’s not I can’t change. I won’t change. A) Yes I’m an addict. A junkie hooked on tomorrow. A) Guilt… of course. I took your horse and left you to die with your guts hanging out…and then… when I was your wife… I left you for your best friend. B) In France. A) Yes. Yes. In France. Of course I remember. Did my unconscious influence Rob Grillet? It should have been ‘Last Lifetime In Marienbad’. Where was the battle? A) What is it like to be so clear? So calm? Why don’t you hate me for being such a bastard to you? A) Jesus Christ… of course. Saint Sebastian is a different kettle of fish. In all those sexy paintings where he’s penetrated by one arrow after another… you would imagine he’s at death’s door. Wrong! He didn’t die! Helen—I think that’s her name… A) Yes of course! Irene—bless her—The dear woman got him back to her house—and somehow he recovers. B) The healing power of love! A) Exactly! Exactly so…But then… that bastard Emperor went riding by Irene’s house accompanied by his retinue of thugs. So, determined to let the bastard Emperor know what he thought of him… Sebastian stood on the step outside Irene’s house and not feeling full of forgiveness… but feeling raging anger… screamed pointed insults at the Emperor!!! B) Death wish. A) Perhaps. Perhaps. Well yes…the boss immediately dispatches his louts to beat up poor Sebastian… who ends up a sorry mess… dying in a sewer. Bastard Roman Emperor. A) For they know not what they do. A) Yes. Exactly. The true human being endlessly crucified by the mindless robots. Love trampled under mindless swine. B) Our story. A) Endless betrayal. B) Animal Farm. A) God we are trawling beyond the common comfort zones. Time to dance again. (THEY DANCE TO MORE AFRICAN DRUM MUSIC) You know, I’m definitely getting over my shyness. Feeling more alive. You look… amused. Why shouldn’t you? We’ve crossed a few barriers today. A) I was afraid you’d say that! Look I’m dancing. And so are you! Neil Oram 2013 Pic: Dave Cooper

Greg C. Brown, ISA AM, Fine Art, Antiques, Furnishings + Decorative Arts, Specialty Studies: Asian Art and Antiques; Antiquities; Fossils Greg C. Brown ISA member since Dec 27, 2011 (888) 815-9430 (Office) Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 , United States map Universitas Curriculum Vitae Gregory C. Brown, M.S.; ISA AM Business: Greg C. Brown & Associates, Inc. Greg C. Brown Fine Art and Antiques Brokerage, Inc. National and International Clientele. Locally: Bainbridge Island – Greater Seattle – Olympic Peninsula, WA. Business: 1-888-815-9430, 24 hour voicemail. Going back at least four generations, I was born into a family of anthropologists, archaeologists, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists. This seemingly genetic predisposition to antiquity, business, charity, and science led me to academic pursuits and research in astrophysics, cosmology, comparative anthropology, ethnography, fine and studio arts, geology, history, marine zoology (inter-species communications between man and dolphin), palaeontology, and physics. Subsequently, I enjoy discovering truth and communal enlightenment through research and continue to develop knowledge through academic pursuits and hands-on experience with art and artifacts from around the world. I have done business and appraisals across the U.S and Internationally. My world-wide travels and field work have included spending time with curators, indigenous peoples, and spiritual elders of societies that have maintained direct connections with their ancient symbolic and cultural roots. These travels and interactions provide me with a unique perspective and a heightened ability to differentiate authentic items from reproductions and fakes during appraisal, brokering and consultation work. Through this work, I have developed a worldwide network of experts to collaborate with. I have successfully completed all of the requirements for and have been awarded the designation of being an International Society of Appraisers Accredited Member (ISA AM). I have successfully completed the International Society of Appraisers (ISA) 5-year Re-qualification Course as well as the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) 7-Hour re-qualification (three times, most recently February 13, 2018) and the 15-hour USPAP course and examination, the Congressionally-recognized set of appraisal standards promulgated by The Appraisal Foundation, through a joint offering of New York University (NYU) and the Appraisers Association of America (AAA). I have successfully completed the ISA Core Course in Appraisal Studies and examination, as well as the ISA Asian Art I (twice), II & III courses, and the ISA Antiques and Residential Contents course (ARC) and examination. I also successfully completed the Personal Property Appraisal course and examination and was awarded the designation of Certified Personal Property Appraiser by the Certified Appraisers Guild of America (CAGA) in 2005. I have enrolled in art, antiques, Asian art, and personal property appraisal courses and webinars through: the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS); the ISA; the AAA; and the Appraisal Society of America (ASA), the ISA, AAA and ASA are considered to be the three legitimate appraisal organizations in the United States. I had the great privileged of being asked to appraiser a full Columbian mammoth tusk that was found at a building site in Seattle in 2015, and another great honor of being hired by world renown admiralty lawyer Peter Hess, Esq. (permission given to disclose) as a consultant to him on proper professional appraisal practices for the RMS Titanic artifacts federal court case in 2009. I am a member of The Explorers Club, a world renown professional non-profit exploration organization whose members include such famous names as; Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, Amelia Earhart, Sir Edmund Hillary, Thor Hyerdahl, Robert Falcon Scott and James Cameron, among others. In 2012, I was given a personal invitation by the world renown art and antiques expert, Mr. Lark Mason, of Sothebys and Antiques Roadshow fame, to become one of his esteemed Associates at iGavel auctions of New York to auction items through his auction company any time I choose. And, most recently I have been asked for expert assistance for the TV show, American Pickers on the History Channel. Brief highlights of artists and projects worked on A partial list of artists works worked on: Ansel Adams (American Photographer); Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (Filipino Landscape and Portrait Painter); T.C. Cannon (Native American Muralist and Western Ukiyo-e (Japanese Woodblock) Print Maker of Contemporary Southern Plains Native American Art); Marc Chagall (European Early Modernist Artist); Chu Teh-Chun (Traditional Chinese + Abstract Expressionist Art); Chuang Che (Traditional Chinese + Abstract Expressionist Art); Edward Curtis (Early American Western Photography); Ando Hiroshige (Japanese Ukiyo-e Printmaker); Louis Justin Laurent Icart (French Art Deco Painter, Sculptor, Printmaker); Robert Kakaygeesick Jr. (Ojibwa/Chippewa Native American Contemporary Art); Robert Kipniss (Contemporary American Painter and Printmaker); Les Kuba (American Wildlife Art); Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese Ukiyo-e Printmaker and Painter); Giacomo Manzu (Italian modern sculptor); Chiura Obata (Japanese American WWII Internment Camp Artist, Mixture of Western and Traditional Sumi-e (ink) Painting and Ukiyo-e + Contemporary American Art); Pablo Picasso (European Traditional, Abstract, Cubist, Modernist Painter, Sculptor, Printmaker and Ceramicist);Fredrick Remington (American Western Illustrator, Painter and Sculptor); Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist artist, one of the fathers of Impressionism); François Auguste René Rodin (French modern sculptor and painter); Charles M. Russell (American Western Illustrator, Painter and Sculptor); Richard Throssel (Early Native American Cree Reservation Photographer); Salvador Dali (Spanish surrealist Filmmaker, Jeweller, Painter, Photographer, Printmaker, Sculptor); (Andy Warhol (American Pop Artist); Edward Weston (American Photographer); Xu Beihong (Chinese Traditional and Modern Painter); Hiroshi Yoshida (20thcentury Japanese Painter and Shin-Hanga (New-Prints) Woodblock Print Maker); among others. Other items I have been privileged to work on include such things as: An intact full Mammoth tusk found at a Washington State construction site; Doris Wiener provenance Chinese Ming dynasty Yongli (r. 1623-1662) mark and period gilded bronze Manjushri (subsequently sold through Sotheby's for $1,335,000.00); RMS Titanic artifact appraisal review for the 2009 Federal Court Case; Pacific Northwest Coastal First Nations/Native American collection; Important Lakota/Dakota/Nakota/Sioux collection; Mimbres River Culture collection; WWII-era copy of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender; museum artifacts, pro bono assistance on items for such organizations as the Seattle Children's Hospital's Bainbridge Island Bargain Boutique, and the Bainbridge Island Rotary Club Auction. Alphabetical list of countries/territories/states whose items I have worked on(*designates countries/states/territories I have spent time in). Afghanistan, Algeria, Austria*, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, British Virgin Islands*, Bulgaria, Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada*, China*, Democratic Republic of the Congo/Zaire, Cote d'Ivoire, Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic, Egypt, East Germany*, Ethiopia, Fiji*, France*, Georgia, Germany*, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong*, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy*, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, South Korea*, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macau, Macedonia, Malaysia*, Mali, Malta, Mexico*, Mongolia*, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, North Korea, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan/Gandhara, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico*, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Sierra Leone, Singapore*, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain*, Sri Lanka/Ceylon, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand/Siam*, Tibet, Tonga*, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom*, Vietnam, U.S. Virgin Islands*, Zimbabwe, United States of America* (35 states including: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawai'i, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington D.C., Washington State, Wisconsin, Wyoming). 2018-2019: USPAP 7-Hour Re-qualification Course, passed. 2017-2022: ISA 5-year Re-qualification Course, passed. 2017: Organizer of ISA Lewis and Clark Chapter Seminar, “Endangered Species, What Every Person Should Know: A presentation by US Fish and Wildlife Agent Eric Marek and Washington State Fish and Wildlife Detective Lauren Wendt.” 2016-2017: USPAP 7-Hour Re-qualification Course, passed. 2016: President, Washington State, Lewis & Clark Chapter of the International Society of Appraisers. 2014-2015: USPAP 7-Hour Re-qualification Course, passed. 2014-present: ISA Accredited Member (ISA AM). 2013-2014: Board member, Northwind Art Alliance/Center, Port Townsend, WA. 2012-present: Personally invited Associate of Mr. Lark Mason and iGavel auctions. 2012-present: International Society of Appraisers (ISA) Member. 2012-2014: USPAP 15-Hour course and examination passed. 2011: Awarded Masters Of Science, Mongolian History, Chinggis Khaan University, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (graduated number one in the graduate school class). 2013-present: Greg C. Brown & Associates (appraisals, brokering and consulting of fine art and antiques as well as other fine personal property). 2005-2013: Certified Appraiser, Certified Appraisers Guild of America (CAGA). 2000-2013: Owner of Asian Elegance, Inc., a direct importing company of fine Asian art and antiques. Gallery owned and operated from August 2001 - December 2006. 1997-2013: Owner of BroCo., Incorporated. 1996-1998: Curator of Paleontology, University of Minnesota's Bell Museum of Natural History, Minnesota Geological Survey and University of Minnesota Graduate School. 1996-1998: Minnesota State Paleontologist, Minnesota Geological Survey and University of Minnesota Graduate School. 1996-1998: Master of Science Graduate School training in Geology and Paleontology. 1993: Accepted into the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology Honors Program. 1991-1993: High Energy Physics research assistant. 1990: 1 quarter, Teaching assistant, Color Theory, Studio Arts, College of Liberal Arts. December 1997 to Present:Appraiser of Personal Property, BroCo. Inc. (1997-2013), Asian Elegance (2001-2013), and Greg C. Brown & Associates, Inc. (2013-present). The market focus was Asian art and antiques, as well as fossils and fine art prints, and performing personal property appraisals throughout North America. Handled all sales, budgeting, advertising, research and report preparations and brokering. -Brokered various art and antique items for private clients. -Performed appraisals of personal property for nonprofit and for-profit assignments. -2012, consulted with the National Museum of Mongolia on items in their main collection. -2012, Founding Member of the International Institute of Chinggis Khaan Studies. -2011, attended short course at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. -2009, hired as a consultant by admiralty attorney Peter Hess, Esq. (permission to disclose given) representing the RMS Titanic artifacts federal court case. December 2000 to 2006: Direct Importer of Fine Asian Art and Antiques, Asian Elegance/ BroCo., Inc. The market focus was in directly importing Asian art and antiques to Minnesota for sales at my retail gallery, which was open from August 2001 through December 2006. Locations at “50thand France” and Wayzata, MN. I have relocated to Seattle, WA and am considering opening a new venue in the Pacific Northwest. Handled all purchasing, shipping, sales, budgeting and advertising. -In charge of all Importation of full container loads, generally 40', into the US multiple times per year, advertising, budgeting, and book keeping. -Despite the difficult time for opening, kept the gallery running in the black each year. -Conducted all field and store identifications and verifications. -2018-2019: ISA, successfully completed the 7-Hour USPAP Re-qualification Course. -2017-2022: ISA, successfully completed the ISA 5-year Re-qualification Course. -2016-2017: Appraisers Association of America (AAA), successfully completed the USPAP 7-Hour re-qualification course. -2014-2015: Appraisers Association of America (AAA)/New York University (NYU), successfully completed the USPAP 7-Hour re-qualification course. -2015: ASA, successfully completed the ASA Alaska Native Art: Artifacts to Contemporary Craft course. -2015: ISA, successfully completed the ISA Asian Art I (second time) & III courses. -2014: Awarded the International Society of Appraisers (ISA) Accredited Member Designation (AM). -2013: ISA, successfully completed the ISA Antiques and Residential Contents course and examination. -2013: ISA, successfully completed the ISA Asian Art I & II courses. -2012-2014: Appraisers Association of America (AAA)/New York University (NYU), successfully completed the 15-Hour Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practices (USPAP) course and examination. -2012: ISA, successfully completed the ISA Core Course in Appraisal Studies and examination and awarded ISA Member status. -2005: Certified Appraisers Guild of America (CAGA), successfully completed the CAGA Certified Personal Property Appraiser course and examination. -Further details, see “Continuing Education,” below. -2011: Master of Science, Mongolian History, Chinggis Khaan University, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. -1996-1998: Graduate School, Geology and Palaeontology, University of Minnesota. -1993: IT Honors Program, Physics, University of Minnesota. -1990: Bachelor of Arts, Studio Arts, University of Minnesota. -1972-1983: The Blake College Preparatory School, Minneapolis, Minnesota. -Seattle Art Museum/Seattle Asian Art Museum, 2014-present. -International Society of Appraisers, 2012-present. -American Center for Mongolian Studies, 2012-present. -Minnesota Science Museum, 2010-2012. -Explorers Club, 2009-present. -Certified Appraisers Guild of America, 2005-2014. -Friends of the Library, University of Minnesota, 2005-2012. -Minnesota Antique Dealers Association, 2001-2013. -Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2001-2012. -Asian Arts Curatorial Council, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2001-2010. -President, WA, Lewis and Clark Chapter of the International Society of Appraisers, 2016-Interim; 2018-2020. -Accredited Member, International Society of Appraisers, 2014-present. -Board member, Northwind Art Center, Port Townsend, WA, 2013-2014. -Associate, Lark Mason & Associates and iGavel Auctions, 2012-present. -Finalist, Rolex Awards for Enterprise, 2012. -Co-founder, The International Institute for Chinggis Khaan Studies, February, 2012. -Explorers Club Flag Honor Award winner (Flag 74) and Double Expedition Leader, Mongolia, January-May 2012. -Explorers Club Expedition Leader, Mongolia, February-June 2011. -Visiting Scholar, State Central Library, Mongolia, 2011-present. -National Member, The Explorers Club, 2009-present. -Certified Appraiser of Personal Property, Certified Appraisers Guild of America, 2005. -(Former) State Paleontologist, Minnesota Geological Survey/University of MN Graduate School. -(Former) Curator of Paleontology, Bell Museum of Natural History/MN Geological Survey/U of MN Grad School. Continuing Education, Exhibits and Highlights -2018-2019: ISA, successfully completed the USPAP 7-Hour Re-qualification Course. -2018: When it's not a masterpiece: evaluating comparables in the middle market., by Steve Roach, JD, ISA CAPP. ISA webinar. -2018: “Northwest Design at Mid-Century.” Presented by David Martin, Curator, Cascadia Art Museum, Edmonds, Washington. -2018: “Mid-Century Modern: Presidents And Regional Influences.” Lecture by Brian Crowley, Edmonds City Hall, Presented by Historic Seattle, Docomoco and the Cascadia Art Museum, Edmonds, Washington. -2016-2017: Appraisers Association of America (AAA)/New York University (NYU), successfully completed the USPAP 7-Hour re-qualification course. -2017: Coordinator, ISA Lewis and Clark Chapter Seminar, “Endangered Species, What Every Person Should Know: A presentation by US Fish and Wildlife Agent Eric Marek and Washington State Fish and Wildlife Detective Lauren Wendt.” - 2017: “Unlocking the Value of Art Assets.” Presented by Madelaine D'Angelo, Arthena, New York, N.Y. - 2017: “Abstractions in Wood,” Solo Exhibition by Alan New, Bainbridge Island Art Museum, Bainbridge Island, WA. - 2017: “Weaving the Dream,” Solo Exhibition by Annette Fourbears, Bainbridge Island Art Museum, Bainbridge Island, WA. -2016: “Hand Made In Camp: What We Couldn't Carry: An Exhibit of Items of Daily Necessity, Crafted by Incarcerated Japanese Americans During WWII.” White River Valley Museum, Auburn, WA. -2016: “Double Realities: The Complex Lives of Ancient Khmer Statuary.” Presented by Prof. Ashely Thompson, University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, “Inaugural Lecture Series at SOAS,” May 6, 2016, London, England. SOAS online archive. -2014-2015: AAA/NYU, successfully completed the USPAP 7-Hour re-qualification course. -2015: ASA, successfully completed the ASA Alaska Native Art: Artifacts to Contemporary Craft course webinar. -2015: Private ISA tour of the Art Institute of Chicago, Asian Ceramic Collection. -2015: Asian Art III, Asian Ceramics, Susan Lahey, M.A., ISA AM, ISA course, Naperville, IL. -2015: Asian Art I Japanese Prints, Daphne Rosenzwieg, Ph.D., ISA, CAPP, ISA course, Naperville, IL -2015: “Supernatural Themes in Manju Netsuke from the Ashmolean Museum.” Presented by Joyce Seamn, Research Associate, Japanese Department, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. Asian Art in Brussels 2014, lecture series, Brussels, Belgium, webinar. -2015: “Hokusai's - The Great Wave Off Kanagawa”, an episode of the BBC Documentary Series, The Private Life of a Masterpiece, originally broadcast on Saturday, April 26, 2008. -2014: Good Better Best Appraiser Workshop, Jane Brennom, ISA CAPP and Todd Sigety, ISA CAPP, Appraiser Workshops, Alexandria, VA. 2013: Mysteries of the Osireion: Underwater Archeology in the Desert (Egypt), Jim Westerman, lead investigator, Joint Explorers Club and Adventures Club Event, Chicago, IL. -2013: Antiques and Residential Contents course, Leon Castner, Ph.D., ISA CAPP; Michael Logan, ISA CAPP; Valerie Hale, ISA CAPP, ISA course, Naperville, IL. -2013: Asian Art II, Asian Paintings and Screens, Daphne Rosenzwieg, Ph.D., ISA, CAPP, ISA course, Naperville, IL. Covered Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and other Asian Screens. -2013: Asian Art I Japanese Prints, Daphne Rosenzwieg, Ph.D., ISA, CAPP, ISA course, Naperville, IL -2013: Lecture 4A, Tang Dynasty Figure Painting. A Pure and Remote View: Visualizing Early Chinese Landscape Painting. A Lecture Series with James Cahill, online lecture series. -2013: Lecture 3, Six Dynasties Painting and Pictorial Design. A Pure and Remote View: Visualizing Early Chinese Landscape Painting. A Lecture Series with James Cahill, online lecture series. -2013: Lecture 2, Han Painting and Pictorial Designs. A Pure and Remote View: Visualizing Early Chinese Landscape Painting. A Lecture Series with James Cahill, online lecture series. -2013: Lecture 1, Introduction and Pre-Han Pictorial Art. A Pure and Remote View: Visualizing Early Chinese Landscape Painting. A Lecture Series with James Cahill, Professor Emeritus, UC Berkeley. Presented by the Institute of East Asian Studies University of California, Berkeley in association with the Tang Research Foundation and Chatterbox Films, online lecture series. -2013: Home Furnishings and Accessories Currently Being Produced and Retailed – Where are They Coming From? What are They Made of? Etc., by Jeff Baker. ISA webinar. -2013: Together Again: Nuxalk Faces of the Sky, Native American Art, Seattle Art Museum, Members Art History Lecture Series, Seattle, WA. -2012: Problems in Asian Art, ASA lecture, Robert Waterhouse, Salmagundi Art Club, New York, NY. -2012: China's Terracotta Warriors, The First Emperor's Legacy, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, -2012: Appraising Outliers at the High-End of the Art Market: Four Rare Portraits by Gilbert Stuart What I Didn't Know I Didn't Know, Cindy Charleston Rosenberg, ISA webinar. -2012: Chinese Jades: Values and Power, Susan Lahey, ISA webinar. -2012: Chinese Porcelain Mania, Part II, Export Porcelain, Susan Lahey, ISA webinar. -2012: Chinese Porcelain Mania, Part I, Susan Lahey, ISA webinar. -2012: Rembrandt in America, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN. -2012: Real Pirates, National Geographic Society and the Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN -2011: “Journey Through the After Life, Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead,” British Museum, -2011: Diploma in Asian Art Program short course, “Early Empires of the Silk Road,” University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, London, UK. -2011: “Egypt Past and Present,” Zahi Hawass Lecture, National Geographic Society and the Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. -2011: “Tutankhamun, The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs,” National Geographic Society and the Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. -2010: “The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. -2010: “The Art of the Native Americans, The Thaw Collection,” Minneapolis Institute of Arts, -2010: Members Only Lecture, “Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins,” Donald Johanson, The Explorers Club, New York, NY. -2010: Explorers Club Annual Dinner Lecture, “Super Aviator and Orcasub Submersibles, the Exciting Future of Manned Undersea Exploration,” Dr. Alfred McLaren, USN Capt., Ret. -2009: Art of Wizardry: The Conjured Realms of Sesson Shukei, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, -2001-2010: Multiple Asian Arts Curatorial Council member seminars, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, -2001: “Monet,” Minneapolis, Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN. -1999: Invited guest, to consider doing a Ph.D. in Palaeontology, of Beijing University and the China University of Geosciences. -1989: Guest at a private meeting with Dr. Stephan Hawking and Dr. Keith Olive, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota. -1989: “Imaginary Time,” Dr. Stephan Hawking Lecture, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota. -1989: “The Challenge in Particle Physics” and “Charged Dark Matter,” Dr. Sheldon L. Glashow, Nobel Laureate, 9thAbigail and John Van Vleck Lecture, Institute of Technology, University of -1980's: Jane Goodall, Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. -1980's: Pablo Picasso, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN. -1978: King Tutankhamun Exhibition, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA. -1970's: Mary Leakey Seminar, Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. -1970's: Richard Leakey Seminar, Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. -Long term and continuing: International and National Museum exhibitions while traveling in China, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Mongolia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand and many -Long term and continuing: Fine art and Asian art exhibits, lectures, seminars and talks, Minneapolis -Institute of Arts, Seattle Art Museum and Seattle Asian Art Museum. -Long term: varying exhibits, lectures, seminars and talks, Minnesota Science Museum. Educational Course Highlights. Art:Mentor in Asian Art and Antiques as well as general residential contents 2012-present, Lark Mason, Lark Mason & Associates, iGavel, Antiques Roadshow, Sothebys (1979-2003).Mentor/Senior Advisor 1987-2002, Malcolm Myers (1917-2002), University of Minnesota (winner of two Guggenheim Fellowships). Print Making, Intaglio: Studio Art 1510; Watercolor Painting: Studio Arts 3160; Print Making, Intaglio: Studio Arts 3510; Print Making, Lithography: Studio Arts 1520; Sculpture: Studio Arts 1301; Print Making, Lithography: Studio Arts 3520; Drawing I: Studio Arts 1101; Watercolor Painting: Studio Arts 5160X; Color Theory: Studio Arts 1404 (also T.A.ed 1 quarter of Color Theory); Photo Medium: Studio Arts 1701. Art History:Ancient Art: Art History 3008; 19thCentury Graphic Arts: Art History 3422; Roman Sculpture: Art History 5107. Asian Studies:Mentor in Asian Art and Antiques 2012-present, Daphne Rosenzwieg, Ph.D., ISA CAPP, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL.Mentor/Chinese Master of Calligraphy, Donglong Wang (University of Minnesota). Diploma in Asian Art Program short course, “Early Empires of the Silk Road,” University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, London, UK. Chinese Calligraphy: East Asian Studies 3001, U of MN; Chinese Poetry in English: Chinese Studies 3161, U of MN; Modern Japanese Literature in English: Japanese Studies 3164, U of MN. Palaeontology, Geology, Anthropology, etc: Mentor, Dr. Leo Laporte (University of California, Santa Cruz). Mentor, Dr. Robert Sloan ((University of Minnesota), who was also my Graduate School Advisor until his retirement). The Fossil Record: Earth Science, 119; Advanced Palaeontology, Earth Sciences, 120; Human Origins: Anthropology 1101; Introduction to Palaeontology: Geology 5151; Vertebrate Palaeontology I: Geology 5154; Vertebrate Palaeontology II: Geology 5155; Sedimentology: Geology 5261; Geochronology/Stratigraphy: Geology 5101; Electron Microprobe: Geology 5454; Comparative Animal Physiology: Ecology, Evolution and Behavior 5156; Structural Geology: Geology 5201; Evolution: Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, 5044. Complete my Certified Appraiser of Personal Property (CAPP) designation with the ISA. Complete my Ph.D. A number of national expeditions and international expeditions in Asia and North America. I have a very strong interest in the relationship between the oral traditional stories of the Mongol-Siberian and Native American Shamans. I have spent 4 months during each of the two winters (2011, 2012), and 2 months during the summer of 2007, conducting expeditions on the Mongolian steppe, and researching this topic in Mongolia and the United States. In the Winter of 2012, I was awarded an Explorers Club Flag Award by the Flag and Honors Committee of The Explorers Club for leading my two expeditions into remote locations in Mongolia to observe and participate in traditional Shaman ceremonies, and for documenting the oral traditional stories of the Mongol-Siberian Shamans for four months from January through May. During my three trips to, and five expeditions in Mongolia, I traveled approximately 14,000+ km (more than 9,000 miles), 90+% off-road, to important historic, ceremonial and archaeological sites across the steppe. I have a deep interest in astrophysics, cosmology and space-time. I am very interested in increasing my skills through increasingly challenging education for my appraisal business. I am also interested in the invention process and the mental skills and insight involved in creation and jumps in scientific thinking and visualization. National and International Service Area and Clientele References Letters Avialable Upon Request If we have met, let me know how, where and when, thank you. - Art - Asian - Ceramics - Asian - Furniture - Asian - Paintings - Asian - Sculpture - Asian - Damage Claims - Equitable Distribution - Estate Evaluations - Estate Probate - Insurance Claims - Investment Evaluation - Non-Cash Charitable Donations Performs Appraisals Of - Art - American - Art - Asian - Art - European - Art - Greco-Roman - Art - Middle Eastern - Art - Russian - Art Deco & Art Nouveau - Artifacts & Archeological Items - Carpets & Rugs - Oriental - Ceramics - Asian - Ceramics - Middle Eastern - Furniture - Asian - Natural Resources - Ivory - Netsuke Inro & Ojime - Paintings - Asian - Photography & Photographs - Prints - Japanese - Sculpture - Asian - Silver - Asian - Textiles - Asian

With close to $30 million earned earned late last night, the problematic Eclipse is expected to pull down $150 million by the end of the July 4th holiday, or by the evening of Monday, July 5th. As Peter O’Toole says to Donald Wolfit in Becket, “I would spit if I were not in God’s house.” Which alludes to my idea about theatres being churches. A stretch, agreed, but it allows me to quote Anouilh. I feel so dispirited about Taylor Hackford‘s Love Ranch that I haven’t been able to write anything about it. This is primarily because the bluntly phrased dialogue — the most irritating aspect because of its colloquial boilerplate tone, particularly as spoken by Joe Pesci‘s Joe Conforte-ish character — was written by Mark Jacobson, a New York magazine contributor whom I know slightly and have admired for many years. All I can figure is that (a) Jacobson was asked to dumb it down by Hackford because the latter felt it “right” that the characters speak this way, and Jacobson did so in order to get paid, (b) he gave the dialogue an uneducated Nevada goombah flavor as a perverse exercise of some kind or (c) his dialogue was of a higher pedigree but Hackford urged the actors (especially Pesci) to slop it down and say it the way they felt it. Indiewire‘s Anne Thompson has summarized some of the reviews thus far. TheWrap‘s Hunter Walker has posted a grotesque story about Robert Sanchez, 36 year-old honcho of the recently defunct fanboy site IESB.net, having run for the hills over allegations of sexual misconduct with his step-daughter. HE mentioned Sanchez twice in ’07 concerning (a) his being involved in a police-supervised sting that recovered Indy 4 photos that had been stolen from Steven Spielberg’s office, and (b) early-bird set photos of Robert Downey, Jr. in his Iron Man outfit that Sanchez posted but then took down due to legal warnings. Sanchez “has gone missing for roughly three weeks after allegations of sexual misconduct with his underage stepdaughter,” Hunter’s story reports. “Detectives were seeking Sanchez in connection with allegations of sexual abuse regarding ‘things to do with his stepdaughter and the internet,’ Tracy Dorsey, a spokeswoman for the Rancho Cucamonga police department, told TheWrap on Wednesday. “Asked about rumors going around Hollywood’s digital movie media circles that the 36-year-old Sanchez had drugged and raped his stepdaughter and videotaped the act, Dorsey replied: ‘We’re looking into all of those allegations.’ She stressed that no charges have been filed, and there is currently no warrant for his arrest; nor has he been classified as a missing person. “Jamie Williams, one of Sanchez’ writers for IESB.com, resigned on Monday in a post on the site. Though the post is largely innocuous, he told TheWrap in an email Wednesday morning that he and the IESB staff were told a few weeks ago that there was a ‘family emergency/tragedy.’ “‘Then as of this past Friday evening, it was heavily implied that Robert had passed away,’ Williams wrote. ‘We agreed to stay on and help for the time being under these circumstances. It wasn’t until Monday evening we were aware of the details of Robert being on the run and his actions. And the icing on the cake was us being forwarded bills for IESB.’ “Sanchez’ whereabouts have been unknown for about three weeks, though he is not listed as a missing person. “Sanchez lives in Alta Loma; his home phone had been disconnected. The IESB.net Twitter feed was taken down early this week.” IESB is an acronym standing for “Inland Empire Strikes Back.” I don’t believe that Francis Coppola was fired off Patton — i.e., relieved of screenwriting duties — solely because his 20th Century Fox bosses didn’t care for the opening speech-to-the-troops scene. (Other factors must have been in play.) But I love his message about how “the things you’re fired for when young are often the same things you’re given awards for later in life.” This bit appears on Patton DVD and Bluray. I agree with all but one of the best shot films between ’98 and ’08 named in an American Cinematographer poll. I concur with the celebrating of Amelie, Children of Men, Saving Private Ryan, There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, The Dark Knight, Road to Perdition, City of God and American Beauty…but I say “no” to Jeff Cronenweth‘s cinematography of David Fincher‘s Fight Club . Sorry but I’ve always despised the somewhat murky, underlit look of that film — as if the negative had been soaked in a vat of cappucino mixed with guacamole and string beans. Throughout most of the film Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter‘s skin looks greenish-gray. The last time I watched it (on Bluray) it pissed me off and made me feel depressed all over again. Replace Fight Club with Roger Deakins‘ capturing of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford or John Toland‘s work on The Thin Red Line or Harris Savides‘ shooting of Zodiac and we’re good to go. I finally tried Vanity Fair‘s Movie Madness Trivia app, and it’s kind of fun because of four factors. One, many of the questions (suggested by VF contributors Peter Biskind, David Kamp, Frank DiGiacomo and Rebecca Keegan) aren’t easy. Two, you have to answer fairly quickly or you lose. Three, you have to prove your mettle before taking all the quizzes (i.e., if you’re too clueless you “stay back” like in high school). And four, the animated “Little Graydon” character gives snappy little replies whether you’re right or wrong. I did fairly well — well, not too badly — but I also dropped the ball a few times, partly out of ignorance and partly due to the ticking-clock thing making me nervous. The app asks two wrongos though — misleading questions in which the “answer” is incorrect. One asks which actress has never appeared nude in a film. Two of the choices are Julia Roberts and Julie Andrews . Everyone knows Roberts has never gone there, but for some reason I chose Andrews because (a) Roberts has shown more skin than Andrews ever did with somewhat revealing outfits or bikinis, and (b) the only skin-revealing moment Andrews had in a film was a fleeting breast-baring moment in Blake Edwards‘ S.O.B (’79). But the VF app said I was wrong. No, they’re wrong. “Breast-baring” does not equal “nude scene.” Another asks which actor “constantly wears a football helmet” during his screen time in this or that film. VF’s correct answer is Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider. Except Nicholson’s alcoholic Southern lawyer doesn’t constantly wear a football helmet — he wears it in maybe two scenes (if that) when he’s shown riding on the back of Peter Fonda‘s chopper. The rest of the time we’re shown Jack’s natural follicles (i.e., what little he had of them, even back in ’69). So I didn’t choose Nicholson, and the app said I was wrong and “Little Graydon” put me down besides…little fucker. Otherwise the app is very cool. It’s the most difficult film trivia test I’ve ever taken since the late Stuart Byron used to run exra-difficult movie quizzes in the Village Voice in the late ’70s. What’s wrong with the dialogue in this clip? What’s the particular disturbance, more to the point, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota? Did she bring up the midnight showings of Eclipse to suggest that Elena Kagan is jes’ folks and…what, gets what’s happening in the culture of families these days? Surreal. This assemblage has some funny stuff, though. I don’t want to see Paramount eat it with The Last Airbender (7.1). I have no dog in this fight. And I understand why I wasn’t invited to a screening because they know I hate this stuff going in. But for a movie that cost $150 million to make and is costing a king’s ransom to market, I’m not feeling the molecular current, even though it opens tomorrow. No buzz, nobody’s talking about it, and only two negative Rotten Tomatoes reviews so far. Everyone’s seen this East of Eden audition clip in which Paul Newman was trying for the role of Aaron, the older brother of Cal (i.e., James Dean‘s role). It’s clear who the more delicate and vulnerable actor is. Newman has that jokey-gruff streetcorner thing down as a covering mechanism while Dean is a bit more open to whatever. He obviously senses this, and so he throws Newman a line he knows will tap him off-balance. You can see Dean’s idea beginning to happen around the eight-second mark. At the 14-second mark he says “kiss me” and Newman quickly says “can’t hear.” They both laugh it off, but it’s obvious that if Newman had been receptive Dean would have been the woman in the relationship. I mean that in a complimentary way. A year or so later Dean had landed the role of Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me. Newman got the part, of course, after Dean’s car-crash death in September 1955. The Robert Wise-directed boxing drama came out in December 1956. I saw it sometime in the mid ’90s. It hasn’t aged well. Newman’s dese-dom-dose accent feels conspicuously “acted” each and every second. The film has moments (the ones with Pier Angeli, the final fight scene) but it mainly feels too “scripted” in the then-popular vein of ’50s televised drama. It’s a little too sentimental, emotionally underlined, on-the-nose. If Dean had played Graziano, though, it would probably have a more elevated reputation today. Who cares about this movie today? Bottom line: in the mid ’50s Dean was twice if not three times the actor that Newman was. Newman found a more naturalistic, less-actorish groove starting with his legendary performance in Hud in ’63, and for all we know Dean, had he lived, might not have grown or developed as successfully. But in the mid ’50s Dean was the live-wire hare and Newman was…well, not a tortoise but a hare who hadn’t yet figured himself out. I spoke early this afternoon with Vikram Jayanti, director of The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector, which I reviewed at length last weekend. I left my Canon Elph at the Soho House last night so I was forced to use my iPhone 4. I’m now sitting in a noisy Starbucks without my earphones, so I don’t even know how loud or clear the sound is. Whatever — these two clips represent most of our 19-minute chat. Jayanti emphasized that he didn’t choose to make an Errol Morris film that would bore deeply into the particulars of Spector’s guilt (or possible innocence) in the death of Lana Clarkson. He believes, however, that there is an area of reasonable doubt as to whether Spector shot Clarkson or not. I believe that at worst the shooting was a stupid accident. (In the video Jayanti passes along a rumor that I hadn’t heard about Clarkson and handguns that I’d rather not repeat it in print.) Jayanti reports that the jailed Spector is being kept in solitary except for a half-hour per day of exercise, and that all he has for diversion is a lousy black-and-white TV set and that he’s basically “in hell.” He also reports that Spector got into a fracas with some Latino guy and that the guy punched Spector and knocked his front teeth out. If you were to regard “Spector” as an acronym, what would the letters stand for? I saw David Slade‘s Eclipse (Summit, 6.30) at last night”s Manhattan all-media screening. Whoo, boy. The first wave of Eclipse commenters who said it’s better than New Moon didn’t lie — it is. Somewhat. But it’s still not good enough to matter. It’s a slow, boring, unimaginative, tediously written slog and is not — repeat, not — better than the first Twilight film. It’s not “organic” in the slightest, as Indiewire‘s Anne Thompson recently said. It’s about a bunch of young actors with bad wigs and conspicuous vampire makeup standing around trying to look captivating and speaking stiff soap-opera dialogue and going through the paces because they’ve been well paid to do so. It’s Fake-itude Incarnate. It doesn’t groove or flow or put the hook in even slightly. Okay, it does here and there. I’ll give it that. Some young women in the rear of the balcony went “whoo-hoo!” when Taylor Lautner and/or Robert Pattinson did or said something sexy with Kristen Stewart. I didn’t understand why because this movie is in and out, at best. And mostly out. I have to protect you, Bella. Here…hop on my motorcycle. I can protect you better than he can. We can deal with the The Newborns. All you werewolves need to meet us in the forest so we can train for the coming battle. I’m gonna die and become a vampire. Mom? Don’t count too much on having grandkids. Feel my warm heart beating inside my naked muscle-toned chest. Edward isn’t even alive. My feelings are hard to express but this is kinda how I’m feeling…I think. Isn’t that what finally matters? What we feel, who we love, and…like, you know, how much money this movie makes? Why does Bella even hang with Jacob, knowing as she does that it just tortures Edward? What is this ‘torn between two lovers’ shit when she doesn’t really want Jacob in the first place? Why am I polluting my intellect by even thinking about this stuff? I’ve had it with the faux-creepy milieu, those forests, Jacob’s torso, those werewolves, Edward’s glistening skin and red eyes, Bella’s anxious expressions and her dad’s idiotic urgings that she hang out with Jacob instead of Edward, and the whole teen angst vibe. Do these kids know how bad this dialoge sounds? Have they ever heard of Search for Tomorrow, General Hospital, The Secret Storm, etc.? I sat next to a plump, big-haired Latina mom and her similarly proportioned daughter. As soon as they arrived and sat down the mom asked what her daughter wanted at the candy counter and said, “Okay, be right back.” She returned nine or ten minutes later with two family-sized Twizzlers, two medium-monster popcorns, two extra-large drinks and a hot dog. I tried not to listen to the sounds of their eating.

Would you like to save as your currency permanently or for this visit only? Good to know cheapest month to stay expected price decrease most expensive time to stay expected price increase FAQs when booking a hotel in Long Bay Village How much is a cheap hotel in Long Bay Village? KAYAK users have found double rooms in Long Bay Village for as cheap as $228 in the last 3 days. The average price is $1921. How can I find hotels near me? Take a look at our extensive hotel Heatmaps to find the best hotels near you. Where to stay in Long Bay Village? Our Heatmaps tool will help you find the perfect place to stay in Long Bay Village by showing you how close hotel options are to major activities Best Long Bay Village hotelsShow all When you stay at Zemi Beach House Hotel & Spa in Shoal Bay, you'll be on the beach, within a 5-minute walk of Shoal Bay Beach and Leeward Islands. Featured amenities include dry cleaning/laundry services, a 24-hour front desk, and luggage storage. Free self parking is available onsite. Pros: Incredible place! The location and the facilities and the rooms are exceptional. Pros: Great beach location. Cons: breakfast was terrible, poor selection and quality. Staff were inconsistent. Not good service pool side. Overpriced food. Fine dining restaurant was not good. Pros: Friendly, attentive staff Pros: Staff absolutely adorable! They try to help you in the best way possible. The pool is great! Wi-fi is fast. Cons: The side where the hotel is located is not the best on the beach. The restaurant 20 knots let us down! Pros: The resort was beautiful and extremely relaxing. From our accommodations to the pool and beach everything was great, no overcrowding or fighting for space. Also the hotel restaurant and bars were excellent. Lastly, the staff was friendly and outstanding. Cons: I loved everything about our stay, the resort and staff exceeded our expectations. We are definitely looking forward to a return visit in the near future. Pros: The bed was super comfy and we LOVED the Frette linens. The deluxe room was spacious and we enjoyed the large balcony for our intimate breakfasts. The property is impeccable; from Rhum Room to fine dining and on-the-beach service and from the unique Thai House Spa with Hammam and bathing ritual to the gym...it was exceptional. The views are spectacular. Cons: Nothing! or maybe one thing...the lack of dessert selection. Pros: The entire resort was calming, loving. A wonderful 11 days Pros: The decore was beautiful. From the rooms to the pools to the restaurants. It is all top notch. Our room had an incredible view of the ocean. We enjoyed sitting out on our balcony and just taking everything in. The restaurant had delicious meals. Great buffet in the morning. The staff was very attentive and friendly. I enjoyed a wonderful time at the spa. It was so quiet and perfect to relax. Having chairs and umbrellas set up each morning was a big plus. I am fair skin and just sitting under the umbrellas reading my book with a cocktail was a treat. Cons: I can't think of anything I did not like. Pros: Greeting when you arrive is wonderful. the staff is so very nice and accommodating. Cons: this time of year undercurrents strong, could not get into ocean, of course not Zemi's fault. Pros: There isn't a better location than Shoal Bay in terms of access to one of the top beaches in the Caribbean, snorkeling, great food within walking distance, and scenery! Zemi has really created a Zen atmosphere, the staff is wonderful, friendly, and eager to make your stay a pleasure. The gourmet breakfast buffet is enough for two meals! Go to one of the many fine restaurants in Anguilla for dinner. The hotel is spotless with a great spa and pools. Cons: Nothing could have been better--expensive resort, but worth the price if you really want to be pampered and be on Shoal Beach. Wouldn't stay anywhere else! When you a stay at Four Seasons Resort and Residence Anguilla in West End Village, you'll be on the beach, just steps from Leeward Islands and Meads Bay Pond. Featured amenities include complimentary wired Internet access, a computer station, and dry cleaning/laundry services. A roundtrip airport shuttle is provided for a surcharge (available 24 hours), and free self parking is available onsite. Pros: Food was amazing. Staff was helpful, friendly and very generous. Amazing beaches of the hotel. Room was huge. Pros: This property is outstanding romantic if traveling in couple as I did ...loved it can’t wait to go back Cons: If any hiccups the staff will make sure you are taken care of to overpass anything Pros: We liked the beauty, comfort, convenience, staff, & amenities about this property Cons: Maybe the loose chickens-esp the roosters. They crowed all day! Pros: Architectural design Cons: The gouging on the transport from the hotel to the facility Pros: Snorkeling right off the resort is amazing. Easy to grab water toys. Chef was happy to accommodate food restrictions and delivered amazing fresh cuisine. Staff are phenomenal (as one would expect at the 4 seasons). If you’re looking to book a worry free stay where you can maximize your time outdoors and let the resort take care of “everything else” this is the place! Cons: Property is first rate. No complaints Pros: We are a family from another small island closed by, and could say that we have enjoyed, loved everything this island has to offer. I admire to see how Anguilla has recovered pretty well after Hurricane Irma. First time at this hotel, and I will definitely will come back. Cons: I would recommend a small or convenient breakfast bar. Quick bite to eat besides the main restaurant for buffet in the morning The Greek architecture of Belmond Cap Juluca provides a signature design that frames every view. We offer one of the finest beaches in the world, three restaurants, soothing spa services and a welcoming staff. Anguilla is a small treasure in the northern Caribbean. Serene and secluded, it is a flat island with almost no hills ensuring almost constant trade winds. The island is well known for its expansive coral reefs, private bays, turquoise blue ocean, exquisite white sand beaches and wonderful and varied Caribbean cuisine. Overlooking the mountains of St. Maarten only seven miles away, Belmond Cap Juluca has become a destination for the discerning traveler by offering the ultimate in privacy. Belmond Cap Juluca remains one of the most romantic and exclusive resorts in the world and is the essence of tranquility for a Caribbean vacation getaway. Pros: One of the best hotels I even stayed in my life. The rooms facing the ocean and just steps away from the sand are incredible. Soaking tub, double sink, everything in the room was elegant and practical. Guests have a B&O bluetooth portable speaker at their disposal. Designated sunbeds and giant umbrellas and very kind beach service. Incredible breakfast with a breathtaking view. Concierge arranged everything we needed - from ferry transport, to restaurant reservations and car rentals. It is indeed a 5 star hotel in everything you can think of. Pros: The beach at Belmond hotel is the BEST on the island! The staff is amazing. My wife and I were taken care of from the moment we landed in St. Maarten. Cons: The Buffet Bbq on the beach was not the best, but the atmosphere was nice. Pros: Don’t read any reviews dating before December 2018 because they’re not really relevant anymore - Belmond has acquired the resort and after a stunning renovation, transformed the most beautiful strip of sand and water in Anguilla into a quiet, luxurious paradise. Aside from the stunning pristine beach, the best part about Cap Juluca is its tranquility. Nothing is too loud, overdone or forced. The breakfast buffet is good, the rooms are new and spacious, all with beachfront views. Service impeccable and everyone genuinely friendly. Two chairs are reserved for you everyday so there’s no clamor to claim your space. The Cap Shack, a good truck at the western end of the beach, serves phenomenal tacos. Free champagne at 6pm every night. Nightly turndown service. The list goes on. If you’re looking for a flawless setting with an eye on relaxation or romance, you’ve found your nirvana. Cons: The two more formal restaurants, Pimms and CIp’s are still working out some kinks Pros: Love love everything ! The privacy and absolute comfort, easy access to the beach ! The staff are wonderful, great people ! Lynval is the best butler !!! Will definitely come back Cons: The food choices ! Add Caribbean style restaurants !!! Pros: Outstanding location and property. Service very good. Beautiful beach with very comfortable beach chairs. Cons: Having stayed at property before renovations do not particularly like new room configuration. Cons: Bugs by the pool at night When you a stay at CuisinArt Golf Resort & Spa in Rendezvous Bay, you'll be on the beach, just steps from Leeward Islands and Rendezvous Bay Beach. Featured amenities include a business center, express check-in, and express check-out. Guests may use a ferry terminal shuttle for a surcharge, and free valet parking is available onsite. Pros: Location was absolutly perfect as I am a beach lover The whole resort is beautiful, clean and elegant Breakfast was well presented and excellent quality Rooms were large with everything that you could need Sun beds with deep cushions and 2 towels made up for you Evening Lobster BBQ at beach bar was delicious and value for money Cons: We were told we might be able to check into rooms earlier than 3pm when we arrived at 11am The receptionist told us she would check so we sat in the foyer by reception but an hour later she had still not informed us if we could. When I asked she told us we would have to wait longer so we went for lunch. When I returned she informed me that it would be 3pm so we used the beach facilities. I just felt I wasted time sat in reception waiting to be informed but this did not deter us from having the most wonderful stay at your resort, it is beautiful Pros: This resort is absolutely gorgeous and we loved our stay here! The junior villa was very spacious and beautiful! It was nice to have a closet area and a separate bathroom. The steamer, Babyliss hairdryer, Occitane soap, and Rusk products were nice. The staff was always friendly/welcoming and the housekeeping always came when we were going to breakfast-not too early or too late. (We have always had to wait until 3 or 4 PM in other Caribbean areas.) The breakfast was excellent with omelets and many other choices. It was great to have healthy offerings for lunch that were so tasty. The beach was beautiful, uncrowded and right next to our favorite hangout at Bankie Bank's. We love that nobody gave Bankie's dog a hard time when she was on the beach. It is a public beach, she was such a friendly joy and didn't bother anyone. Elbert was the best beach attendant!! Cons: I scored one off on staff because we requested a reservation for a restaurant and did not get a callback. We also inquired about another restaurant menu-asking if Crayfish was available and did not receive a callback. We had to ask for coffee pods-not a big deal- but figured it would be refilled as needed. The fridge was also not stocked after we used items, but a phone call would have taken care of it. We planned to pay for our cab by charging it to our room, but staff was having difficulty getting it to process. An ATM machine on site would be helpful! Elbert was the best beach attendant, but we had another who was nice, yet didn't check to see if we needed anything after setting us up. The gift shop should have more sunscreen offerings at a more reasonable price. (Excessivley inflated!) We didn't eat at the Japanese restaurant since it is indoor only. Who wants to eat inside when in the Caribbean? We want the views and warm weather! When you a stay at Carimar Beach Club in West End Village, you'll be on the beach, just steps from Leeward Islands and Meads Bay. Featured amenities include complimentary newspapers in the lobby, dry cleaning/laundry services, and luggage storage. Free self parking is available onsite. Pros: Very friendly and helpful staff. Great location. Very good restaurants nearby Cons: Single beds were rather small Pros: Little extras like welcome drinks and bicycles. The position and beach was stunning for us! It was in walking distance of other beach restaurants too. Pros: Location!! Beach access. Water was great! Cons: A few employees at the front desk were not friendly. Bikes not in the best condition. Pros: Fantastic beach. Old time Caribbean charm that is hard to find anymore. Laid back and relaxed atmosphere with modern amenities. Very friendly staff. Close to good restaurants and bars. What more could anyone ask for in a vacation spot. You should stay here. Pros: Quiet beach front property, close to many great restaurants Pros: Everything! The staff friendliness is awesome, they do everything possible so that the host has a good stay and feel at home, the apartment has everything we need and a great view, and the beach was the best. Cons: I've been 9 nights at Carimar and the bed sheets have'nt been replaced. Pros: Friendly and helpful staff, the sensational beach and the proximity to some fabulous restaurants and the complimentary bottle of Rum. Pros: Nice beach Cons: Staff treat different gay couples. Not kind service Pros: The garden at Carimar is beautiful, the grounds were impeccable. The room was very clean, and the bed was comfortable. The fully equipped kitchen allowed us to prepare our own meals when we weren't enjoying the delicious food at Blachard's Beach Shack or Blanchard's restaurant beside Carimar. We really enjoyed being able to have fresh air every day, having the windows open. They have a/c but we opted not to use it. The water is so clear, the most beautiful beach we have ever been to. The section of sandy beach at meads bay was so quiet, peaceful, relaxing. Breathtaking views from the beach chairs as well as in the ocean. The staff at Carimar were all very friendly, accommodating, and did a wonderful job keeping our room and the grounds clean. We also enjoyed using the complimentary bicycles to ride to the nearby market and to Irie Life and E's Oven. We fell in love with Anguilla, Carimar, and Blanchard's beach shack and their staff. We will definitely be back. With a stay at Frangipani Resort in West End Village, you'll be 4.9 mi (7.9 km) from Dolphin Discovery and 10.9 mi (17.6 km) from Shoal Bay Beach. Featured amenities include dry cleaning/laundry services, a 24-hour front desk, and luggage storage. Free self parking is available onsite. With a stay at La Vue Boutique Inn in South Hill, you'll be near the beach, within a 15-minute drive of Shoal Bay Beach and Leeward Islands. Featured amenities include limo/town car service, dry cleaning/laundry services, and multilingual staff. Planning an event in South Hill? This hotel has facilities measuring 1200.00 square feet (111 square meters), including a conference center. Free self parking is available onsite. Pros: The view is really nice. Room is huge. Thomas from the front desk is really nice. Near Sandyground beach, where there’s a few restaurant/bars and the only scuba diving operator in the island - scubashack. Cons: Area around the hotel is quite run down. Rooms have a good view but are facing a road. Pros: Lovely staff! On site restaurant was delicious: serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks. Trail to beach is steep in spots, but close to hotel. Cons: Bathroom was definitely acceptable, but could be better maintained. Pros: Spacious,clean and comfortable Great view Friendly, helpful staff Cons: Although the staff tried their best ,the restaurant was not up to par Pros: Upon arrival I received a welcome complementary glass of tropical punch and a wet towel to cool me down from the humidity. I was pleasantly surprised and felt like a queen. The young man at the reception desk was very helpful, informative and friendly. The room was large and the bed was comfy. The kitchen was quite adequate. The beach was several minutes walk away and a bit of a hike. Was worth it. The ocean view balcony had amazing views of the beach and dock. I was well relaxed and safe. Pros: Nice small kitchen, nice view, great staff. Cons: The included breakfast is OK but few options that repeat daily with subtle changes. Pros: The View! Pros: The people who worked there could not have been nicer. The rooms were quite large and it nicely appointed. Cons: Food prices at the onsite restaurant were quite high given the value of the hotel itself. Pros: Charming, helpful reception staff, Thomas and Joy. Maids kept our room immaculate. It was large, comfortable with a balcony overlooking Road Bay and Sandy Island, a lovely view which changed every day. Plenty of parking and a nice pool with small patio and loungers, but we mostly hit the pristine beaches so did not need it. Central but quiet location on Back Street, 5 minute drive from excellent beach bars and restaurants at Sandy Ground. We had our own kitchenette for breakfast and snacks. Cons: Air-con a little noisy Pros: The accommodation was cleaned daily and every was in top condition. The local people is extremely nice and friendly and welcoming and the managers were friendly and accommodating. We could not find a single fault. I would recommend it to any one with confidence. We would like to thank everyone for a brilliant time. M.Reid Cons: The island is my husbands place of birth. So we reconnected and relaxed. Pros: Great location and view. Nice large room with nice balcony. Pool is nice and it is a short walk to Sandy Ground beach. Pros: Staff were super helpful, friendly and professional. Thomas was especially excellent! View was beautiful! Location excellent! Room was perfect! Extremely clean. Very happy with LaVue...would definitely return and highly recommend! When you a stay at Malliouhana, An Auberge Resort in West End Village, you'll be next to a golf course, just steps from Leeward Islands and Meads Bay. Featured amenities include dry cleaning/laundry services, a 24-hour front desk, and luggage storage. Free valet parking is available onsite. Pros: The location on Mead's Bay is fantastic, short walk to restaurants and bars (highly recommend Blanchard's sit down restaurant for dinners and Straw Hat for breakfasts). The Malliouhana property also has many beach areas (some private, some public) so you feel like you have different options everyday whether you want to lay out, snorkel, swim, etc. The options allow so you rarely bump into other guests and gain a sense of seclusion. The pool is amazing as well as the rooms. We stayed in an ocean view king and couldn't have been happier. Overall vibe of the property is very laid back and relaxing. Staff are extremely helpful and friendly. Andrea was very gracious upon check in and check out as were all of the gentlemen manning the entrance. Would recommend this hotel over others on the island due to location, atmosphere, and scenery. This hotel feels natural, as if it belongs in Anguilla, while others seem forced and out of place. Also, much different crowds per hotel. We stopped in other locations just to see for future visits (this is our 2nd time in Anguilla). Malliouhana is tranquil in comparison while others appeared stuffy and or pretentious. Just depends what you're looking for but we prefer the casual elegance of Malliouhana by far. When we return we will definitely be staying at this property again for all of these reasons and more. PS - contact Andy through insta and rent yourself a moke! Best way to tour the island and not much more than a rental car. Hassle free drop off and pick up at the hotel, well worth it. @Malliouhana, you should consider making Moke rentals a staple of your property for your guests, just sayin ;). Cons: I wouldn't say there was anything I didn't like but I would recommend more lay flat loungers at the adult pool. Really only 4 loungers that lay flat and they are first come first serve. At the least, replace the fixed loungers in the water to be lay flat loungers to provide more space for those looking to sun in the adult pool area. Outside of the adult pool there are plenty of lounger options. Other than that, everything was perfect! Pros: The service was beyond impeccable. The location and views are probably the best on the island. Exquisite beaches on either side of property. Cons: Some facilities not finished after hurricane. The dinner menu could have used some more variety, though the food was delicious. Pros: Perfect location, friendly and attentive staff, lovely room, and delicious dinner. Cons: Lunch menu could have been better as it was too limited. With a stay at Paradise Cove Resort in Cove Bay, you'll be next to a golf course, just a 1-minute walk from Leeward Islands and 7 minutes by foot from Cove Bay. Featured amenities include complimentary wired Internet access, a business center, and dry cleaning/laundry services. Event facilities at this resort consist of a conference center and a meeting room. Free self parking is available onsite. With a stay at The Reef By CuisinArt in Merrywing Bay, you'll be on the beach, just a 1-minute walk from Leeward Islands and 9 minutes by foot from Cove Bay. Featured amenities include a business center, dry cleaning/laundry services, and luggage storage. Free valet parking is available onsite. Just a 4 mile drive from Shoal Bay Beach, Ocean Terrace Condominiums is located on the southeastern coast of Anguilla and it offers a freshwater pool, a sun terrace and gym. Each bright air-conditioned apartment has wonderful views of the Caribbean Sea. The elegant Ocean Terrace apartments feature furnished terraces, free Wi-Fi and a living-dining room with cable TV. There is also a bathroom, a walk-in wardrobe and a kitchen with an oven and dishwasher. Daily maid service is included, while a private chef and laundry facilities are available on request. Car rental can be arranged and free private parking is provided on site. Ocean Terrace Condominiums is situated just 5 km from Anguilla Wallblake Airport, while Blowing Point Ferry Terminal is 11 km away. Shops and restaurants can be found within a 5-minute drive. Pros: Privacy, quietness, respect and friendliness Cons: No cable T.V. due to recent hurricane storm, hope there will be soon Pros: A very relaxing stay; the accommodations were very comfortable with incredible views of the Caribbean and St. Martin. Ambrose the owner was gracious and friendly, Loved the pool with cool breezes and great views. Highly recommend ! Cons: A little remote; which made for nice quiet evenings, but is on a dirt road which might not be for everyone... With a stay at Royal Palms Hotel in South Hill, you'll be near the beach, just steps from Leeward Islands and a 3-minute drive from Meads Bay Pond. Featured amenities include luggage storage and laundry facilities. Free self parking is available onsite. When you a stay at Meads Bay Beach Villas in West End Village, you'll be on the beach, just steps from Leeward Islands and Meads Bay. Featured amenities include dry cleaning/laundry services, luggage storage, and laundry facilities. Free self parking is available onsite. When you stay at Serenity Cottages in Shoal Bay, you'll be on the beach, just steps from Shoal Bay Beach and Leeward Islands. Featured amenities include complimentary wired Internet access, dry cleaning/laundry services, and luggage storage. Guests may use a roundtrip airport shuttle for a surcharge, and free self parking is available onsite. With a stay at Solaire Villas Anguilla in Blowing Point, you'll be on the beach, within a 15-minute drive of Shoal Bay Beach and Leeward Islands. Featured amenities include luggage storage, laundry facilities, and a safe deposit box at the front desk. Free self parking is available onsite. With a stay at this villa in Island Harbour, you'll be within a 15-minute drive of Shoal Bay Beach and Leeward Islands. A roundtrip airport shuttle is provided for a surcharge (available on request), and free self parking is available onsite. With a stay at Arawak Beach Inn in Island Harbour (Sea Rocks), you'll be within a 5-minute drive of Shoal Bay Beach and Leeward Islands. Featured amenities include a computer station, dry cleaning/laundry services, and laundry facilities. Free self parking is available onsite.